Bell's dead-on performance fills Billy Elliot with scenes of credible, heartfelt emotion. Granted, the film possesses more than its share of trite melodrama. Luckily, our most powerful images from the film remain focused on Billy's lively dancing. It's how it should be. After all, Billy Elliot owes its brassy entertainment to its bouncing, boy hero. -- SR (Rated R.) Blow dry -- (Grade: B) The latest British sleeper brought to us by the Brothers Weinstein at Miramax is an inside look at the spirited competition within the hair styling community -- a decidedly misrepresented bit of pageantry behind its more glamorous cousins in beauty and dance.It's a messy do, but with a solid Brit cast including Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson and Rachel Griffiths along with hip but cute American youngsters Rachel Leigh Cook and Josh Harnett, the movie has a certain easy charm. No one seems overly concerned about the end which is baldly set from the beginning. Blow Dry seems to say, until we come up with new clichés, let's not take the old ones too seriously. Not a new look, but worth the cost of the trim and not an embarrassment when you leave the chair. -- t.t. clinkscales (Rated R.) CAST AWAY -- (Grade: B) Director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) re-teams with Tom Hanks for a challenging, Robinson Crusoe-like tale. Granted, the film's set-up is rather ordinary. As FedEx troubleshooter Chuck Noland, Hanks sets out to portray a man ruled by time and schedules. Despite Hanks' earnestness, one never gets a firm grasp of Noland's psyche. It's up to Hanks' average Joe personality to pull us into his drama. The highlight of Cast Away is its middle act where Hanks becomes the star of a one-man show. It's these mostly dialogue-free scenes, where Noland is trying to survive alone on a desert island after his plane crashes, that make the most dramatic impact.

In an era where the Crusoe legend is defined by TV's Survivor, Zemeckis and Hanks offer a thoughtful alternative. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)CHOCOLAT -- (Grade: C) Juliette Binoche dazzles as Vianne, a pretty chocolate shopkeeper with a mysterious past. She's also a single mother whose spicy chocolates change prudish lifestyles of the inhabitants of a French village. I admire how Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules, My Life as a Dog) directs movies that are unashamedly liberal. Chocolat, based on Joanne Harris' 1999 novel, is a film that qualifies as a democratic drama at a time when much of the nation is decidedly conservative.

Johnny Depp gives Binoche competition in the chiseled cheekbones department as a handsome gypsy passing through town. Like most moviemade couples, Binoche and Depp look great together. Unfortunately, their attractive looks never ignite any much-needed passion.

Despite a sweet, fairy tale-like ending, Chocolat never comes fully to life. By the closing credits, you feel as if Binoche's magical smile and winsome personality have been wasted. -- SR (Rated PG-13.) CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON -- (Grade: A) Breathtaking action, incredible stunts, spectacular landscapes and a childlike sense of make-believe lifts director Ang Lee's Taiwanese epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the level of a fairy tale. Set among ornate palaces, teaming Peking streets and rural villages, the film evolves into a martial arts Western that's both poetic and spiritual. Warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is yearning to leave his fighting lifestyle behind, but when a young thief, Jen (Zhang Ziyi), steals Li's ancient sword, Green Destiny, Li gets pulled back into his warrior ways. Only Lu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), Li's longtime friend, looks capable of helping return Green Destiny from Jen and her mentor Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei).

Although working in the action genre, Lee once again emphasizes rich characters, substantial storytelling and humanistic ideals. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is momentous not because of the size of its spectacle. It's timeless because of the size of its heart.-- SR (Rated PG-13.)DOWN TO EARTH -- (Grade: F) American Pie co-creators Chris and Paul Weitz tweak Warren Beatty's 1978 romance Heaven Can Wait into a one-joke social satire about a struggling black comedian who dies and returns to Earth as a white millionaire. The sorry target of the Weitz Boys' derivative comedy is real-life comedian Chris Rock. As Lance Barton, a Brooklyn bicycle messenger with show-biz aspirations, Rock receives the brunt of Down To Earth's laughless storytelling.It's a stretch for Rock to play a struggling comedian. He's just too naturally funny. Still, Down To Earth manages to make Rock look clumsy in comparison to his real-life self. Dressed in a clownish wardrobe of golf pants and a sweater, it's clear that Rock has just been bamboozled by one awful comedy. -- SR (Rated PG-13.) 15 minuteS --(Grade: D) Pair a legendary actor with a young stud and let them chew scenery in what could fairly be described as a nouveau Seven. Can't miss, right? Wrong! 15 Minutes manages to suck both the fun and edge out of its intriguing premise. If the acting has to be over-the-top, then don't try to be creepy. And if the plot forces a gritty tone, then don't compromise it with a trite, crapper of an ending.Two Eastern European thugs find themselves the center of a sensationalized murder spree. Inspired by OJ, among others, they believe their "15 minutes of fame" will eventually acquit them. I think we're supposed to be turned on by the reality-TV feel of the movie, too much of which was filmed through a hand-held video camera.

15 Minutes is a major wakeup call. No actor -- not even a great like Robert DeNiro -- is infallible. It's sad to see him wasted. It's also a shame to realize that Ed Burns can't act. But that's why they play the game. -- RP (Rated R.)GET over IT -- (Grade: D) Once arty Miramax delivers another lame-o teen comedy, this time without the services of doofus Freddie Prinze Jr. In director Tommy O'Haver's Get Over It, perky Kirsten Dunst plays matchmaker for her lovelorn male bud (Ben Foster). Inevitably, they start to notice each other as more than friends.

O'Haver mixes together an attractive young cast and an indie soundtrack to no avail. Get Over It is the least original of the current wave of teen comedies. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)HANNIBAL -- (Grade: B) In The Silence of the Lambs, our fear is that the bogeyman is watching our every move. In Hannibal, Scott's elegant, but less effective thriller, we obsess over the bogeyman and all that he does. In Hannibal, fetishism drives the plot, action and mood.

Anthony Hopkins is creepier than ever as film's most elegant cannibal. Replacing Jodie Foster in the role of FBI Agent Clarice Starling, indie queen Julianne Moore captures the cool discipline and all-business attitude that's so integral to the role.

Scott builds adequate suspense out of the bloody reunion between Lecter and Starling. After months of hype and innuendo, Hannibal succeeds as a gory manhunt drama. It's clear that Lecter continues to fascinate us. Welcome back, psycho. We've missed you and your well-mannered bloodiness. -- SR (Rated R.)

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE -- (Grade: A) Heartache makes its impact silently in Wong Kar-wai's potent melodrama In the Mood for Love. Scenes unfold without dialogue. Its melodrama leaps weeks, months, even years free of traditional storytelling. Yet, like some unintentional homage to a Douglas Sirk weepie, In the Mood for Love takes an old-fashioned stance in its tale of missed opportunities and unrequited love. It's Hong Kong in 1962 and two young couples rent rooms in the same apartment building. Pretty Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) is a secretary in an export office whose husband is frequently away on business. Down the hall, Chow (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is a newspaper editor married to a woman who is also frequently out of town. For Li-zhen and Chow, what starts out as a neighborly friendship slowly turns into something more intimate.

Its melodramatic heartache is what ultimately makes the film so riveting. For a hip filmmaker best known as "the Godard of the East," In the Mood for Love is a welcome attempt at subtle and deliberate storytelling. -- SR (Rated PG.) JOURNEY INTO AMAZING CAVES -- (Grade: B) Cavers Nancy Aulenbach and Hazel Barton put an adventurous face on microbiology in the rousing OMNIMAX film Journey Into Amazing Caves. All the OMNIMAX tricks are tossed into this family-friendly nature documentary about exploring the Earth's underground frontiers. Actor Liam Neeson provides celebrity narration. The Moody Blues supply a soundtrack appropriate for aging baby boomers. Endless tracking shots take audiences over canyons, rain forests and icy tundra in dizzy fashion. Anything less stomach-churning would be considered a disappointment. -- SR (Unrated.)

The mexican -- (Grade: B) Samantha Barzel (Julia Roberts) and her boyfriend, Jerry Welbach (Brad Pitt), yell at each other constantly. Sometimes Samantha shrieks and Jerry just listens.

Pitt plays Jerry, a slackerish bagman who is sent south of the border to retrieve an antique pistol known as "The Mexican." Of course, Samantha (Roberts) wants Jerry to leave the mob for more honest employment.

It's not long before Jerry's simple gangland errand turns badly. But things turn even more complicated after Samantha is kidnapped by a hit man (Gandolfini) to ensure the pistol's safe recovery.

Pitt and Roberts are only together for a handful of scenes in The Mexican. As a result, the film offers more comedy than romance. Luckily, for director Gore Verbinski's The Mexican, their separate adventures are clever, fast-paced and very funny. But it's Sopranos star (James Gandolfini) who surprisingly comes between celebrity co-stars Pitt and Roberts. A true scene-stealer, Gandolfini's performance as a soft-hearted hit man is the best thing in The Mexican. -- SR (Rated R.)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- (Grade: C) Over the last 15 years, the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) have created a unique cinematic universe. With O Brother, Where Art Thou? the brothers once again display their distinct talents, but with much less success. When the story begins, Ulysses (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) have just escaped from a chain gang in '30s Mississippi. We then follow the trio through a variety of set pieces; everything from the cutting of a hit record under the moniker, "The Soggy Bottom Boys" to an encounter with Babyface Nelson (Michael Badalucco) to the sabotage of a KKK rally. All of these plot twists unfold with little interest in creating a substantial narrative. The complex story lines of their past films (Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Fargo) are sorely lacking in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Longtime Coen cinematographer Roger Deakins is once again enlisted, and his services help immensely. But even Deakins can't overcome a miscast Clooney and the continued insistence of the Coens to stick to their increasingly ironic stance. Oh yeah, it's based on Homer's Odyssey. -- Jason Gargano (Rated PG-13.) pollock -- (Grade: B) In Pollock, a look inside tortured artist Jackson Pollock, Ed Harris -- as both director and star -- avoids giving the audience docu-style talking heads and a cast of quirks in search of their characters. What he presents is quiet and sometimes truly intimate, yet is still removed from the vital essence of Pollock. We look at (and not into) him, because of what Harris the director gives us. The one true and unerring thing in Pollock's life and this film was not necessarily his prodigious talent, but his wife and fellow artist Lee Krasner (Marcia Gay Harden). The Academy Award nomination for Harden is recognition for her deft mini-portrait of the woman who willingly provided a lifeline for Pollock's vision. Harris is also rewarded for his obvious labor of love that is far from perfect, but pleasing at a certain distance. -- t.t. clinkscales (Rated R.) RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT -- (Grade: B) What does this say about the world we live in when kids' movies like Recess are far and away more intelligent than teen/young adult movies? Perhaps the "dumbing down" of America is more accelerated than we thought. Recess is a fun, tight little movie. It moves quickly, packing in loads of mostly innocuous jokes that are worth a few chuckles. Unlike any family film since Chicken Run, Recess appeals to both targeted generations.But the plot is all for kids. While the whole gang (the same one from the Saturday morning Recess cartoon) is enjoying summer vacation, an evil genius (James Woods) is cooking up a global-freezing scheme to end summer vacation forever. It's, of course, up to TJ (voice of Andy Lawrence) and his ethnically and socially diverse pals to save the day.

The animation quality falls somewhere between Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, but the writing is better than either. Its refusal to simply be a kids' flick is what ultimately saves it. -- RP (Rated G.)SAVE THE LAST DANCE -- (Grade: C) It's Romeo and Juliet 'n the hood. Uprooted from her home, Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles) loses her mother and her will to dance when she moves to inner-city Chicago to stay with her father. Not only does she have to make new friends, Sara has to adapt to life as a minority in her predominantly black school.Save the Last Dance just tries too hard, attempting to be too many things at the same time. But why in a movie celebrating racial diversity would the white character ever so slowly through the course of the film become black? She stops dressing "cool" and starts "lookin' slamming." By film's end, Sara is one fly white girl.

Stiles is good, showing considerable emotional and physical range for her age. Sean Patrick Thomas as suitor Derek Reynolds is even better. Derek needs to be charismatic and dynamic and Thomas is both. He holds the film together, even while the script strays from its intended path. -- RP (Rated PG-13.) SEE SPOT RUN -- (Grade: C) I don't know how child-appropriate a movie is when a running gag involves a gangster who loses a testicle in a dogfight. If I'm squirming over the bad taste, I can't imagine the parents who later have to explain the joke.It's a shame the makers of See Spot Run didn't lose the adult humor in this mildly charming tale of kid who needs a father and a man who needs to grow up. Angus T. Jones has all the requisite cute traits to pull off the part of the boy. And David Arquette may be the perfect actor to play the dim man-child.

Let's not forget dear Spot. This is, after all, a dog movie. Or is it? When Spot isn't fetching balls, he fades a bit into the background. Which is fine, because See Spot Run doesn't need any more crude comedy. That would be nuts. -- RP (Rated PG.) Shadow of the vampire -- (Grade: B) In Shadow of the Vampire, E. Elias Merhige and writer Seven Katz's homage to pioneer filmmaking, comedy mixes delicately with horror. The film legend behind Merhige's fantasy is German filmmaker F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, the silent film that introduced Count Dracula to moviegoers. Nosferatu starred German actor Max Schreck as Count Orlock, a character based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Shadow of the Vampire proposes the idea that Schreck was a real vampire, intent on wreaking havoc on Murnau's set. Thanks to Willem Dafoe's stand-out performance as Schreck, it's a premise we're willing to accept as true.John Malkovich is droll and eccentric as Murnau. But in terms of comic moments, Dafoe gets to deliver all the best lines. His verve ultimately steals the eerie spotlight as the creepy Schreck. As he has done so often throughout his career, Dafoe completely transforms himself into somebody else. -- SR (Rated R.) TRAFFIC -- (Grade: A) Its cross-country array of locales gives Traffic, director Steven Soderbergh's complex, drug-trade thriller, the visual quality of an epic drama. Traffic flips nimbly from a courthouse in Columbus to the Mexican border town of Tijuana, from crack houses in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to upscale homes in La Jolla, Calif., and ultimately, the White House itself.

An extensive ensemble cast helps Soderbergh tell his complex story. Michael Douglas is the big name as conservative Ohio State Supreme Court Justice, Robert Wakefield, but it's Benicio Del Toro who grabs hold of Traffic's dramatic spotlight as conflicted Tijuana cop, Javier Rodriquez.Sharp, stylish, and well spoken, Traffic is rightfully a Soderbergh film. In an era best represented by mindless blockbusters, Traffic is literate and substantial, a political drama that thrives on screenwriter Stephen Gaghan's script. -- SR (Rated R.)

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