A BEAUTIFUL MIND -- (Grade: A) Russell Crowe's characters have heretofore been manly men. He's played tough men of loyalty who'd rather fight than have their honor questioned. In A Beautiful Mind, Crowe plays troubled John Forbes Nash Jr., a man who wants to be a strong intellect. A Beautiful Mind is a loose biopic that follows Nash's journey from his break-though mathematical discovery and acceptance into top-secret government work to his eventual breakdown. Jennifer Connelly continues her comeback with a fine performance as Nash's unfailing wife. In this Oscar hopeful season, A Beautiful Mind is one film that completely deserves its accolades. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

BEHIND ENEMY LINES -- (Grade: D) Behind Enemy Lines is either a response to the current military crisis or a not-so-clever bit of counter programming in light of Tony Scott's new blond-boys-in-trouble pic Spy Games. Behind Enemy Lines covers a military action to retrieve an American pilot (Owen Wilson) who is shot down during a reconnaissance mission over Bosnia. If a film like Behind Enemy Lines is how Hollywood is going to help bolster our spirits, then maybe its time to ask Hollywood to start by boosting its IQ. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

BIRTHDAY GIRL -- (Grade: B) Birthday Girl is the rare film that suffers from multiple personalities but is not overcome by its disparate genre stew. What starts out as a quirky British romantic comedy about lonely banker John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin) and his Russian mail-order bride Nadia (Nicole Kidman) quickly descends into noirish territory with the arrival of Nadia's cousin Alexei (Vincent Cassel) and his manic friend Yuri (Mathieu Kassovitz). Chaplin and Kidman keep their wits and hearts about them as things begin to spin out of control. Don't assume the ending guarantees happily ever after and you might enjoy the film even more. -- ttc (Rated R.)

BLACK HAWK DOWN -- (Grade: A) Mogadishu. October 1993. U.S. Rangers and Deltas embark on what was supposed to be an hour-and-a-half infiltration mission to capture two lieutenants of a renegade warlord. Seventeen hours later, two Black Hawk helicopters have been destroyed and the U.S. forces have lost 18 men in the most intense and sustained firefight since the Vietnam War. Black Hawk Down honors its subject with a sense that's both relentless and direct without being a polemic or a Hollywood version of the events. -- ttc (Rated R.)

BLACK KNIGHT -- (Grade: F) Martin Lawrence needs to figure out a way to turn his performances into something remotely entertaining. In Black Knight, Lawrence doesn't just flip the script -- he throws it out the window. In one almost-funny sequence, Lawrence becomes a bandleader in the James Brown mold and gets medieval to Sly Stone's "Dance to the Music." Lawrence's manic goofiness had a certain charm. But with the limits relaxed on the big screen, he suffers from too much idle time. Maybe Lawrence should stop performing and try acting. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF -- (Grade: B) A mysterious woodland monster meets kung fu heroics in director Christophe Gans rousing update on the Hammer horror film. The Brotherhood of the Wolf follows the adventures of naturalist Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Mohawk-Iroquois partner Mani (Marc Decasos) as they search the 18th-century French countryside for a bloodthirsty beast. Along the way, a pretty noblewoman (Emilie Dequenne) and a sultry witch (Monica Bellucci) help Fronsac solve the mystery. Gans has made a moviemade comic book that makes most Hollywood epics look dull by comparison. -- SR (Rated R.)

COLLATERAL DAMAGE -- (Grade: D) One of the first things Warner Bros. did in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was to postpone Collateral Damage. In the film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a fireman who loses his family to a terrorist attack on a Los Angeles office tower. I don't think audiences will find Collateral Damage's terrorist plot offensive or unpatriotic. At the same time, I can't imagine that anyone will be all that entertained. Boasting 20 explosions too many, Collateral Damage is an action thriller that doesn't know when to stop. -- SR (Rated R.)

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO -- (Grade: C) The Count of Monte Cristo is Alexandre Dumas' classic tale of Edmund Dantes, a falsely imprisoned man (James Caviezel) who escapes from captivity and hatches a Machiavellian plan to take vengeance with the assistance of a recovered fortune. In a surprisingly natural twist on the original story, Dantes' main accuser Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce) happens to be a jealous childhood friend and rival for the affections of Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk). But it is character actor Luis Guzman who steals the show as Caviezel's manservant. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE -- (Grade: F) John Travolta is ready for his next comeback. I say "comeback" because, even though he's been here, I wish he hadn't. And that goes double for Vince Vaughn. These two come together for a little Domestic Disturbance, which succeeds only in dumbing down Hitchcock's philosophy of suspense. We see the bad guys (Vaughn and Steve Buscemi) a mile off. We cheer for the good guy (Travolta) as he defeats the bad guy and saves his son (Matthew O'Leary), ex-wife (Teri Polo) and himself. John, why not really go away for a while and then try it for real? -- ttc (Rated R.)

GOSFORD PARK -- (Grade: B) On paper, Robert Altman's Gosford Park sounds like an Agatha Christie remake. Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his young wife, Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), have invited family and assorted friends to their country estate for a genteel shooting party. When a murder disrupts the elegant gathering, it's Constance's maid, Mary Maceachran (Kelly Macdonald), who begins to unravel the source of the foul play. Altman's smug and cynical film stands on its own merits.-SR (Rated PG)

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE -- (Grade: D) Little humor, fun or feeling finds its way into director Chris Columbus' adaptation of J.K. Rowling's popular children's book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The story follows an 11-year-old orphan named Harry Potter, who lives with his cruel aunt and uncle. Harry's dreams of escaping his hard-knock life are answered when he is accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The film's young star, Daniel Radcliffe only succeeds in looking like Potter. Harry Potter is just Hollywood's latest manufactured extravaganza, void of emotional honesty and storytelling.-- SR (Rated PG.)

HOW HIGH -- (Grade: D) As 2001 comes to a close, Harvard University gets another student body makeover. After going Legally Blonde, now it's time to see just How High Method Man and Redman from the Wu Tang Clan can take higher education. The story starts off tight as the dope duo get high off some heavenly stuff, ace their entrance exams and answer the freshman call from Harvard's hallowed halls. But somewhere after their introduction to campus life and its stock characters, How High gets lost in its own smoke. -- ttc (Rated R.)

I AM SAM -- (Grade: D) Michelle Pfeiffer's matter-of-fact performance is the best thing about director Jessie Nelson's trite melodrama. In I Am Sam, Pfeiffer plays Rita Harrison, a high-powered attorney who handles Sam Dawson's (Sean Penn) custody battle for his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning). Sam is mentally challenged and a team of social workers want Lucy in foster care. Penn is consistent in maintaining the quirks of a mentally handicapped individual, unfortunately I Am Sam is the type of clumsy melodrama that hits its audience over the head for the purpose of generating one tear. -- SR (Rated R.)

IN THE BEDROOM -- (Grade: A) In a film that is all about the inability to express emotions, at least actor-turned-first-time director Todd Field was able to find the perfect face. As the grief-stricken mother, Sissy Spacek embodies every possible emotion in Field's melodrama. Spacek watches as her son (Nick Stahl) carries on with an older, separated mother (Marisa Tomei) with two young boys. Spacek seethes as her husband (Tom Wilkinson) admires the son's youthful indiscretion. Fortunately, In The Bedroom all but guarantees there will be other Todd Field films. -- ttc (Rated R.)

JIMMY NEURTON: BOY GENIUS -- (Grade: A) Some of 2001's best movies were kids' films, the streak continues with Nickelodeon's animated Boy Genuis. James Isaac Neutron has the big-brained ingenuity of MacGyver and a practical nature for using his inventions to solve the problems of daily life. When he mistakenly brings about the kidnapping of all the parents by hungry, chicken-like aliens, Jimmy leads his pals into space to save the day. I especially enjoyed the campfire scene with frights supplied by a great synopsis of The Blair Witch Project. That scene alone will probably send kids to the video store screaming for the movie. -- ttc (Rated G.)

JOE SOMEBODY -- (Grade: F) It's the holiday season and veteran television director John Pasquin went for the stocking stuffer approach with Joe Somebody. The cast is full of TV performers looking for a big screen break. Tim Allen plays the titular hero who gets abused by the company bully who's TV alter ego is none other than The Tick (Patrick Warburton). Joe Somebody is a Charlie Brown story for adults. Rather than wasting money on movie tickets, stay home and enjoy your remote control, you'll see all of these actors in far better situations. -- ttc (Rated PG.)

KANDAHAR -- (Grade: A) Kandahar tells the story of Nafas (Nelofer Pazira), a young journalist born in Afghanistan and raised in Canada. When her family fled Afghanistan, her younger sister was accidentally left behind in the chaos. After receiving a letter where her sister threatens to commit suicide on the last eclipse of the millennium -- she can't live under the Taliban any longer -- Nafas sneaks into Afghanistan to save her sister's life. When Nafas suffocates under the heavy robes and veils she wears to enter Afghanistan, Kandahar makes a political statement far stronger than any TV news report. -- SR (Unrated.)

KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST -- (Grade: D) Moronic characters, stupid storytelling and truly adolescent gags are the genuinely good qualities of Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Steve Oedekerk has decided to bring his unoriginal brand of humor to the kung fu genre. There's a certain level of imagination in Kung Pow, because there are laughs to be had. Oedekerk uses Kung Pow as a means to indulge in his case of arrested development, all while onscreen. As goofy as Kung Pow was, I found myself curious about its next installment, which is previewed as part of the closing credits. --- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

LANTANA -- (Grade: A) Anthony LaPaglia's engaging performance as an adulterous police detective is the emotional force behind director Ray Lawrence's rich thriller. LaPaglia plays Leon Zat, a middle-aged man who's turned cool towards the touch of his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong). Zat's investigation into the whereabouts of Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey), a well-known psychiatrist who's been missing for days, opens the wounds of his own troubled marriage. Nothing in the film is what it appears to be on the surface. LaPaglia's unhappy police detective is the soul of Lawrence's riveting movie. --SR (Rated R.)

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWHIP OF THE RING -- (Grade: A) Director Peter Jackson tackles J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy books set in Middle-earth with a creative force. The results are extraordinary. The film tells the story of hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and the powerful Ruling Ring he inherits from his Uncle Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). There is plenty of showmanship in Fellowship, but there is also substantive storytelling. Fellowship of the Ring is so good that I imagine high-brow audiences who normally avoid these types of films will find themselves having a great time if they give the film a chance. ­ SR (Rated PG-13.)

THE MAJESTIC -- (Grade: B) We've come to expect amazing story-telling from director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). He does nothing differently this time out, but The Majestic lacks the riveting narrative of his past work. Unapologetically Capra-esque, The Majestic is the type of film our nation began craving after Sept. 11. While the film does suffer at times from over-sentimentality, it also has moments of true joy and sadness. Credit Jim Carrey for raising the film from mushy to charming. It is a sweet performance. He tucks away the gimmicky performance tricks that made him a household name and just acts. -- RP (Rated PG.)

MONSTERS, INC. -- (Grade: B) The best part of director Peter Docter's witty animated adventure is Billy Crystal's screechy voice. Crystal's sarcasm and dead-on comic timing brings Mike, a bulbous, green, one-eyed manager at the monster-run company to life. Produced by Pixar, Monsters, Inc. trades the humanistic themes of their Toy Story films for something sassier. The monsters' lives are turned upside-down after a small girl named Boo accidentally stumbles into Monstropolis. Crystal's feisty Mike will make every member of the family laugh, and that's an impressive achievement for any family movie. -- SR (Rated G.)

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES -- (Grade: B) What if, throughout history, there has been a force, some otherworldly presence, that has tried to alert us to impending tragedy? So asks The Mothman Prophecies, a refreshingly smart spooker directed by Mark Pellington. John Klein (Richard Gere) is haunted by a vision his wife sees before an accident. In his quest to understand the "moth-like" image, he finds himself in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a sleepy burg whose inhabitants are also haunted. If the choice is between an intelligent thriller that doesn't take sides and 13 Ghosts, I'll take Mothman. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

NO MAN'S LAND -- (Grade: B) Emphasizing the absurdity of war allows writer/director Danis Tanovic to aim his Bosnian war drama No Man's Land into an intentionally satirical direction. Ciki (Branko Djuric ), a member of a Bosnian relief patrol, dives into a trench after being ambushed by a Serb platoon. Inside the trench, Ciki comes face-to-face with a Serbian soldier (Rene Bitorajac). Their hatred for each other results in a tirade of insults. Their arguing stops only after they realize that another soldier lies wounded in the trench. By emphasizing these human characters over military hardware, it's clear that Tanovic realizes that the most persuasive arguments belong to an engaging story. -- SR (Rated R.)

NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE -- (Grade: F) Are Not Another Teen Movie's targets Freddie Prinze, Jr., Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Rachel Leigh Cook and Paul Walker the latest edition of the Brat Pack? If Teen Movie director Joel Gallen and his cracked team of writers put the satirical bulls-eye on John Hughes pictures as classics, how could they not include the granddaddy of them all, Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Are She's All That, Cruel Intentions, Varsity Blues and 10 Things I Hate About You really worth the treatment they get in Teen Movie? Teen movie characters have no character now, only character traits. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

OCEAN'S ELEVEN -- (Grade: C) In as good a description of the film as any, Steven Soderbergh has said that Ocean's 11 is an old-fashioned heist movie with lots of stars. Just released from prison, unreformed thief Danny Ocean (George Clooney) corrals 11 retired criminals for a shot at robbing three Las Vegas casinos, all owned by a Vegas tycoon (Andy Garcia) who's romantically involved with Ocean's ex-wife (Julia Roberts). By the time Ocean and his 11 hoods leave Vegas, their impossible heist no longer seems important. -- SR (Rated PG-13).

ORANGE COUNTY -- (Grade: D) Orange County has a boatload of rising and established talent. Colin Hanks and Schuyler Fisk headline a cast including Jack Black, John Lithgow, Catherine O'Hara, Lily Tomlin and a host of surprise cameos. Shaun (Hanks) is a smart kid who desperately wants to attend Stanford where he can study to become a writer. His path is blocked by the unstable cast of characters in his life, Along the way to solving his issues, Shaun realizes Orange County may inspire him, much how Yoknapatawpha County, Miss., inspired William Faulkner. -- ttc (Rated PG-13.)

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS -- (Grade: A) Everything comes together perfectly in filmmaker Wes Anderson's playful comedy, The Royal Tenenbaums. The film's story, co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson, is about a family of Upper East Side geniuses reunited after 20 years of betrayals. Gwyneth Paltrow is wonderfully pouty as Margot Tenenbaum, a somber playwright who hasn't written anything in seven years. Gene Hackman gives one of the best performances of his career as cranky Royal Tenenbaum. Tenenbaums is a comic celebration of dysfunctional behavior. They're eccentrics struggling through daily life, and nothing is richer than that. -- SR (Rated R.)

SERENDIPITY -- (Grade: A) Director Peter Chelsom blends a witty script with breezy pacing and a top-notch cast to concoct a please-everyone love story. After a chance encounter, Sara (Kate Beckinsale) and Jonathan (John Cusack) flirtatiously agree that the spark between them exists, but Sara insists that fate be tested. He puts his name on a five-dollar bill and she puts hers in a book. They part and let destiny run its course. Serendipity isn't groundbreaking. But the film manages to find magic during its course. Chalk that up to great chemistry between Beckinsale and Cusack. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

SHACKLETON'S ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE -- (Grade: C) One of the greatest tales of human courage and adventure is shrunk down to a 45-miniute, routine OMNIMAX film. Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure, a documentary about Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated 1914 journey to Antarctica, replaces interviews with descendents of Shackleton's crew with dramatizations of Shackleton's struggle to rescue his men. Compared to the archival film footage and still photography shot by Frank Hurley, a Shackleton crewmember, the dramatizations are amateurish and uninteresting. -- SR (Unrated.)

SHALLOW HAL -- (Grade: D) The guys who brought you frozen snot in Dumb and Dumber turn their attentions to the issue of inner beauty. The result isn't pretty. Peter and Bobby Farrelly had a great concept for a comedy: a shallow guy is hypnotized into only seeing a woman based on her inner beauty. Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), in reality is a 300-pound "nice girl." Of course to Hal she looks like a movie star. The guys who thought to show Ben Stiller's privates trapped in a zipper actually go too far the wrong way. -- RP (Rated R.)

THE SHIPPING NEWS -- (Grade: D) Director Lasse Hallström's star vehicle adaptation of Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1993 novel turns out to be the worst of Hollywood's big holiday films. Kevin Spacey is sleepy as Quoyle, a single father who looks to revive his life as a journalist in a Newfoundland town. Julianne Moore offers little chemistry as Wavey, the single mom who befriends Quoyle. Only Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett provide dramatic sparks with their supporting roles. Still, whenever Dench and Blanchett are off camera, The Shipping News dissolves into lulling, sloppy melodrama. -- SR (Rated R.)

SLACKERS --(Grade: F) Director Dewey Nicks botches the Animal House formula with an unfunny story about three, smooth-talking, college roommates (Devon Sawa, Jason Segel and Michael C. Maronna) who try to persuade the campus beauty (James King) to hook up with the campus nerd (Jason Schwartzman). The friendship between the scheming buddies feels false and uninteresting. Jason Schwartzman is clumsily annoying as Slackers' geek boy. James King is pretty wallpaper, used as the film's target for some shameless gags. It's Slackers' inability to generate any laughs that make it such a comedy failure. -- SR (Rated R.)

SNOW DOGS -- (Grade: D) The closing credits of Snow Dogs reveal that the story was suggested by the book Winterdance by Gary Paulsen. Snow Dogs presents animals manipulated into exhibiting more human characteristics. I'm sure the kids might get something out of the good messages, but Snow Dogs offers far less than animated features like Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Monsters, Inc. I might have been far more inclined to go along with the "hokey black guy from Florida inherits a dog sled team in Alaska" story if the producers had gone the animated route.. -- ttc (Rated PG.)

13 GHOSTS -- (Grade: D) When the original 13 Ghosts appeared in theaters in 1960, audiences were issued "ghost viewer" glasses that revealed the spirits on the screen. And that's what's lacking in this year's take on the story. Arthur (Tony Shalhoub) inherits a house from a strange uncle (F. Murray Abraham), only to find that it is no house, but a machine made to unleash the powers of hell. To operate it, 12 ghosts' souls are sacrificed. There are enough cheap tricks to entertain some, unless you ask a little more of your scary movie. -- RP (Rated R.)

VANILLA SKY -- (Grade: B) A complex and mature performance by the usually lackadaisical Tom Cruise is the highlight of director Cameron Crowe's erotic remake of Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 thriller Abre Los Ojos. Cruise plays David Aames, a wealthy heir to a Manhattan publishing company, Cameron Diaz plays Julie Gianni, a flirty actress and Aames' girlfriend. The dependable Jason Lee plays Aames' jealous best friend. Co-star Penélope Cruz makes a believable "dream" girl, reinventing the role she played in Amenábar's original film. Crowe brings dramatic tweaks and surrealist flourishes to Amenábar's film about a man who loses his chance at true happines. -- SR (Rated R)

A WALK TO REMEMBER --(Grade: B) Adapted from the novel by Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember feels familiar because it follows countless teen love stories. There is the hip high school court that's ruled by a James Dean-style prince named Landon Carter (Shane West). His main admirer is Jaime Sullivan (Mandy Moore), an ugly duckling on the verge of achieving swanlike grace. What makes director Adam Shankman's Walk different is that Moore doesn't quite transform Sullivan into a beautiful swan. Nice to see a teen movie willing to wear its heart on its sleeve. --ttc (Rated PG.)

personals | classifieds | cover | news | columns | music | movies | arts | dining | listings | classifieds | mediakit | home