ALONG CAME A SPIDER -- (Grade: D) Missing in action since 1997's Kiss the Girls, Morgan Freeman finally returns as Washington, D.C., police detective and psychologist Alex Cross. Surprisingly, Freeman's return is somewhat of a disappointment. In director Lee Tamahori's adaptation of author James Patterson's 1999 novel, Freeman's steely charisma is incapable of energizing what turns out to be a thrill-less thriller.After the daughter of a U.S. Senator is kidnapped from a posh private school, her kidnapper, Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott) contacts Cross and pulls him into the chase. FBI Agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter) turns out to be Cross' pretty girl Friday. The catch is for Cross and Flannigan to outwit Soneji in time to save the girl.

It's Tamahori who turns out to be the film's real villain. After an explosive beginning that pays homage to Vertigo, Tamahori never manages to build much suspense out of Patterson's tricks and double-crosses. In Along Came a Spider, the ultimate victim is Freeman's wasted performance. -- SR (Rated R.)

BLOW -- (Grade: B) OK, here it is: Blow is the best film of 2001. So far. I know, we've got a long way to go. But we may have to wait a while before the next best thing comes along.Blow is based on the true story of George Jung (Johnny Depp), the American behind the introduction of Colombian cocaine into the U.S. during the late '70s and early '80s. The film has its share of the wild signs of the times that politicians and other moral pundits will eagerly denounce without paying attention to the human lessons.

Blow has the spirit of Boogie Nights and the substance of Traffic. But Demme's film comes to life in the flesh-and-bone story of its doomed man. It's Depp who makes Jung as compelling as his story. -- t.t. clinkscales (Rated R.)

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY -- (Grade: C) From the producers of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill comes the latest romantic comedy to feature Hugh Grant opposite an American actress. Bridget Jones's Diary is based on the best-selling book by Helen Fielding. Grant enjoys a stretch here, playing a cad. Renée Zellweger gamely takes on a Brit accent and some well-publicized extra weight to bring this thirty-something "singleton" to life. Bridget Jones's Diary is full of supposedly adult, professional girls hooking up with the wrong guys at work, listening to the same Van Morrison song, and making embarrassing, public declarations of love.

To its credit, Bridget Jones's Diary doesn't stop there. Bridget fumbles into a bit of success on the job and observes her parents working through their own relationship issues. These real-life moments elevate a film that, like its heroine, desperately wants to be loved. Zellweger's efforts aren't entirely wasted, but I don't fall in love so easily. -- t.t. clinkscales (Rated R.)

THE BROTHERS -- (Grade: C) With The Brothers, writer/director Gary Hardwick has given us what he knows. Unfortunately, what he knows is too familiar. The Brothers feels like the next installment of The Best Man, The Wood and love jones. Its drama of African-American men-in-midlife-crisis is something we've seen many times before. The casting of recognizable faces -- Morris Chestnut and Bill Bellamy as two of the four leads, with D. L. Hughley and Shemar Moore rounding out the titular quartet -- fuels this sense of dejà vu. There is nothing brave or new about a movie where each character's major flaw is explored and resolved before the toast in the final moments. Adding further insult is a soundtrack that sells songs never heard during the movie. -- 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. -- 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. Still, 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.)

CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES -- (Grade: F) TV spokesperson, Aussie actor Paul Hogan dusts off his Crocodile Dundee outfit for another movie adventure. But the idea of making a sequel for a film series that nobody today seems to care about is rather confusing. The laughless Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles confirms that Hogan's trademark hero is yesterday's joke. Hogan's real-life wife, Linda Kozlowski, returns as Dundee's long-time partner Sue Charlton. Filling out the family Crocodile is their 9-year-old son Mikey (Serge Cockburn). Director Simon Wincer's fish-out-of-water gags require the family Dundee to make a quick shift to wacky California. A mystery about a missing newspaper editor and a shady Hollywood studio executive (Jere Burns) attempts to provide Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles with some kind of drama.

By the time Dundee pokes fun at L.A. traffic jams, valet parking, remote control Jacuzzis and coffee enemas, any semblance of storytelling is lost. Whatever comic spark that made the first two Crocodile Dundee films so popular with 1980s audiences is clearly missing from this third Dundee adventure. -- SR (Rated PG.)

THE DISH -- (Grade: B) Director Rob Sitch's heartwarming comedy The Dish takes a humorous look back to July 1969 and Australia's role in the Apollo 11 moon mission. NASA had intended to use a radio telescope in California as its prime receiver for televising Neil Armstrong's historical moonwalk. But a last-minute change in the Apollo 11 flight schedule rendered the California telescope ineffective and the Aussie dish became NASA's only hope for broadcasting man's first steps on the moon.Sam Neill plays Cliff Buxton, leader of the Australian radio telescope crew. When disaster strikes the Australian telescope, it's up to Buxton to make sure that Armstrong's moonwalk will be seen around the world.

The Dish possesses the type of easygoing storytelling necessary to make a feel-good movie. Alongside the laughs and retro soundtrack, there are themes about human loss and scientific achievement. What's even more unique is The Dish captures America's great scientific achievement and recreates it with an Australian point of view.

Ultimately, The Dish proves that feel-good comedy can also be part of the independent film movement. For those art house audiences looking for something gritty, The Dish turns out to be a warm and fuzzy surprise. -- 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.)

DRIVEN -- (Grade: F) Ever walk into a theater, hoping to God that the bad film you're about to watch will surprise you and turn out to be a fairly watchable movie? This is not one of those movies. Driven is predictably bad for the reasons we thought it would be. Joe Tanto (Sly Stallone) is a one-time champion racer who becomes the mentor of rookie racer Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue). It seems that Bly is slipping in the rankings and Tanto is just the man to straighten him out. To say anything more would give the impression that Driven actually tells a substantial story.

First, consider its writer. That would be one Sly Stallone. Throw out the first couple of Rockys, and what has this guy done to deserve a spot in the writers union? Then there's director Renny Harlin. An inventive filmmaker at one time in his career, Harlin has come to mean "dud" in Hollywood. Pair together these two over-rated hacks and you get, well, a vacant movie like Driven.

New generation directors like Guy Ritchie (Snatch) and Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) make movies that are visually hyperkinetic and still cool. Harlin tries it and ends up with something visually annoying, even migraine-causing. The racing effects, arguably the film's lone draw for non-race fans, are weak too. But if you're a fan of Cutthroat Island, or if you dug the dialogue in Rambo II, then this movie just might surprise you. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

FREDDY GOT FINGERED -- (Grade: D) It's admirable how MTV madman Tom Green squeezes all his gross-out fantasies into one chaotic film. He swings a newborn baby around by its umbilical cord. A bloody deer carcass turns into a makeshift coat. When Green isn't busy caning his paraplegic girlfriend (Marisa Coughlan), he's busy masturbating an elephant. And that's just for starters. Green directs, stars and co-writes this tale about a slackerish twentysomething who wants to be a Hollywood animator, but ends up returning to live in his parents' basement, much to the chagrin of his disgusted father (Rip Torn).

Freddy Got Fingered is one of those rowdy comedies that slaps family values hard on its fanny. Its intentional bad taste makes Freddy a guilty pleasure for moviegoers interested in a safe form of rebellion. I frequently enjoy a movie as unabashedly low-brow as Freddy. But what's shocking is how few laughs exist beneath the film's surface layer of disgusting slapstick. I don't have a problem with an absurd comedy that makes me scream in disgust. That's what I expect from a slapstick buffoon like Green. Freddy's failures lie in its inability to make me laugh. -- SR (Rated R.)

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.)

JOE DIRT -- (Grade: C) The one thing broad comedies tend to lack, besides intelligence, is heart. Joe Dirt, the white trash David Spade vehicle, has loads of heart. If only it had a hair more class, the movie might really have been something. Of course, we're talking about a mullet-sporting hero. Class has no place here.Dirt (Spade) is traveling the country looking for his parents, after (he believes) he was mistakenly left at the Grand Canyon. His adventures lead him to several colorful characters and several off-color situations. Toilet humor used to mean anything "dirty." Now it literally means someone gets crapped on. We just don't need to see it.

Spade loses his smart-aleck Spade-isms and vaguely attempts to act. It's a valiant effort. Luckily, the character is well-drawn enough to keep you liking Dirt. Dennis Miller is his usual brilliant self, and Christopher Walken is the most alive we've seen him in years. Kid Rock makes his cinematic debut but, like the film, it's too hollow to really care about it. All in all, Joe Dirt is a fun but soiled movie. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS -- (Grade: D) The guitar riffs are fast and loud. The lyrics are of the bubble-gum variety. Everything about Josie and the Pussycats is intentionally sugarcoated. The problem is what works for a three-minute Pop song can't possibly sustain a feature film. It's surprising how fast Josie and the Pussycats loses its comic fizz.Co-directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan never fully capitalize on the film's flair for teen consumerism amidst piles of Bloomingdale's shopping bags and Steve Madden shoes. They're too busy trying to make sense of a comic book plot about an evil record label that's putting subliminal messages in the Pussycats' music.

Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson offer little support as the back-up Pussycats, although Rachel Leigh Cook shows promising charisma as the spunky Josie. But Cook's punky red hair and big brown eyes are no match for Parker Posey's manic energy as the demented CEO of the Pussycats' record label. In this moviemade cat fight between Cook and Posey, it's Posey who ultimately wins hands down. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

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 dizzying fashion. Anything less stomach-churning would be considered a disappointment. -- SR (Unrated.)

KEEP THE RIVER ON YOUR RIGHT: A MODERN CANNIBAL TALE -- (Grade: B) The cult celebrity of New York artist Tobias Schneebaum first occurred in 1955 when the U.S. State Department announced that he was missing in the Peruvian jungle. Several months after his disappearance, Schneebaum walked out of the jungle naked and covered in body paint. He understood that his life would never be the same again. First-time directors David and Laurie Gwen Shapiro refocus the spotlight on the now 78-year-old Schneebaum for the insightful documentary Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale. Schneebaum first documented his participation in tribal raids and cannibalism in his 1969 memoir. After years on the luxury cruise lecture circuit, the Shapiros convince Schneebaum to make a return visit to the jungle. Schneebaum's personality and spirit for adventure prevents Keep the River on Your Right from becoming a simple travelogue. Schneebaum may no longer be a celebrity cannibal, but this insightful documentary proves that he is as compelling as ever. -- SR (Unrated.)

KINGDOM COME -- (Grade: D) Playing the Slocumb family matriach, Whoopi Goldberg is the pillar of dramatic stability in director Doug McHenry's chaotic ensemble comedy. In a film that frequently seems desperate for a laugh, Goldberg's cool demeanor is a welcome shot of comic subtlety. L.L. Cool J, Anthony Anderson, Jada Pinkett Smith and Vivica A. Fox are the children in the oddball Slocumb family who return for the funeral of their mean daddy Woodrow "Bud" Slocumb. Inevitably, they get on each other's nerves.

Based on the play Dearly Departed, Kingdom Come flaunts its army of dysfunctional characters in the spirit of Robert Altman. But like many Altman films, Kingdom Come also struggles to connect its loose threads in time for a comedic payoff. The film's storytelling quickly dissolves into shrill hysterics. It makes one wish that McHenry would have paid more attention to Goldberg's restraint. -- SR (Rated PG.)

A KNIGHT'S TALE -- (Grade: B) A Knight's Tale begins with the unexpected death of a veteran knight. Squire William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) doesn't hesitate to put on the deceased knight's armor and take his place in the jousting tournament. It's a life-changing opportunity the would-be knight refuses to ignore.Writer/director Brian Helgeland (screenwriter of L.A. Confidential) infuses what appears at first glance to be an ordinary boyhood costume adventure with fun-loving verve, modern-day attitude and a surprising 1980s Rock soundtrack.

It's a testament to Helgeland's clever storytelling that the film's medieval/modern-day scramble works so well. It's safe to say that A Knight's Tale would be trite and kitschy in another director's hands. Instead, Helgeland appropriates wisely from past costume spectacles like Gladiator and The Adventures of Robin Hood. The result is a spirited and light-hearted film.

Still, A Knight's Tale ultimately belongs to Ledger's boyish hero. It's impressive how he is able to keep Helgeland's sprawling costume epic focused on its human story. Without a compelling hero, a film like A Knight's Tale would quickly unravel. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

MEMENTO -- (Grade: A) Director Christopher Nolan's stylish thriller is a moviemade puzzle that keeps getting better each time I watch the film. What's astounding is how Nolan makes sense out of a narrative whirlwind of friends, foes and shadowy locales. Guy Pearce is riveting as Leonard Shelby, a man desperate to avenge his wife's brutal murder. But there is something odd about Shelby. He wears expensive suits and drives a Jaguar. Yet, he also lives in fleabag motels and pays for everything with a thick wad of cash. Shelby's problem is that he suffers from a rare affliction of short-term memory loss. Basically, Shelby is incapable of remembering what happened 15 minutes ago. With the help of photographs, charts, notes and tattoos across his body, Shelby tries to find his wife's murderer.

Carrie-Anne Moss offers gritty support as a femme fatale who appears at Shelby's side. Joe Pantoliano is even creepier as a supposed friend with a shady purpose.

Watched earlier at festivals in Toronto and Sundance, it's clear that Memento ultimately belongs to Pearce and his obsessive habits. He's the intense soul of Nolan's clever memory thriller. -- SR (Rated R.)

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.)

THE MUMMY RETURNS -- (Grade: D) Everybody runs in writer/director Stephen Sommers' silly update of Boris Karloff's archaeological villain. Adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) runs from giant bugs and mummified warriors. O'Connell's Egyptologist wife, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), dodges a 3,000-year-old reincarnated royal (Patricia Velasquez). O'Connell's desert friend Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) sidesteps an army of undead jackals. All of them run from a supernatural creepie called The Scorpion King (played by WWF Wrestling Champion Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson).In a tale set eight years after Sommers' first Mummy adventure, O'Connell and Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) face new dangers when their long-time foe Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) is resurrected at London's British Museum. Rick and Evelyn are now parents of a young son named Alex (Freddie Boath). But these husband-and-wife adventurers have no interest in hiring a babysitter. For the O'Connells, saving the world becomes a family affair.

The Mummy Returns is one of those computer-generated blockbusters disinterested in taking the time to develop characters, build dramatic suspense or tell a substantial story. Sommers tosses out every computer-generated trick in a desperate attempt to compensate for his film's threadbare storytelling.. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

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.)

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. It's reasonably inspiring. When Sara takes the stage for her Juilliard audition, even the most cynical filmgoer secretly roots for her.

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.)

SHREK -- (Grade: A) In directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson's Shrek, the role of the handsome prince is switched to something ugly and green. Everything about Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) screams, "Blech!" It's what one expects from a Scottish ogre. In the school of animated heroes, Shrek is intentionally unorthodox. The adventure starts when the laughable villain Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow) sends Shrek and his unlikely friend, a talking donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy), to rescue Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) to bring her back to be Farquaad's bride. Of course, Shrek doesn't realize Fiona is cursed with a magic spell.

Lifelike computer imagery courtesy of the engineers at Pacific Data Images (the company who made Antz) gives Shrek a stylish edge over its animated peers.

Shrek takes full advantage of every satirical opportunity with parodies that run the gamut from Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Dating Game to Gladiator and big-time wrestling. Some of Shrek's best gags lie with its pokes at the Disney mythos.

Fractured or otherwise, Shrek is still a fairy tale at heart. That matters end "happily ever after" is a dramatic given. Shrek just happens to give the time-honored phrase a playful jab in the ribs. -- SR (Rated PG.)

SPY KIDS -- (Grade: B) There is a valuable lesson tucked alongside the chases, explosions and gadgetry of writer/director Robert Rodriguez's rousing family adventure Spy Kids. Beneath the surface of a tranquil family life, a child can discover great adventure. He'll also find the hero inside himself.

Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) and his big sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) can't believe that their parents Ingrid and Gregorio (Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas) are secret agents. After Gregorio and Ingrid's first assignment in nine years places them in the clutches of an evil genius (Alan Cumming), it's up to Juni and Carmen to become junior James Bonds and save their parents.

Banderas and Gugino make an attractive pair of secret agents. But Spy Kids ultimately succeeds thanks to the bravery of its pint-sized heroes, Sabara and Vega.

In fact, the only letdown is that a junior agent adventure like Spy Kids proves incapable of producing a Bond-like finale of over-the-top explosions and outrageous stunts. Still, Spy Kids did borrow one important detail from the Bond movie handbook. Its closing scene sets up the next Spy Kids adventure. -- SR (Rated PG.)

THE TAILOR OF PANAMA -- (Grade: C) Pierce Brosnan steps away from his 007 character to play Brit spy Andy Osnard in director John Boorman's unsatisfying adaptation of John Le Carre's The Tailor of Panama.Brosnan is wonderfully creepy as Le Carre's corrupt spy boy who plots political chaos for the Panamanian government and its newfound ownership of the Panama Canal. Geoffrey Rush bumbles admirably as the well-connected tailor with his own closet full of skeletons. But The Tailor of Panama soon falters despite the efforts of its male leads. A clumsy finale makes it clear that Boorman re-shot the film's ending after poor test screenings. Still, it's hard to imagine how The Tailor of Panama could possibly be more disappointing. Boorman has given us an adult spy thriller that simultaneously closes the door on the adult spy thriller. Somehow, I don't think that was his intention. -- 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 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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