AMÉLIE -- (Grade: A) The most magical film this year is French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet's playful fantasy Amélie. This eye-popping tale follows the adventures of a pixyish waitress named Amélie (Audrey Tautou) in Paris' Montmartre neighborhood. Amélie watches movies with wide--eyed amazement, oblivious to the packed Parisian theater audience around her. She catches small details that ordinary moviegoers would ordinarily miss. She loves movies, and the movies seem to love Amélie right back. Dizzy photography and slapstick comedy keep the film moving. Amélie has more than enough trick shots to keep Jeunet's long-time fans happy. -- SR (Rated R.)

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.)

BIG FAT LIAR -- (Grade: D) Hollywood producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti) and 14-year-old Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) are the two truth-impaired guys who cross paths when Shepard's school assignment turns into Wolf's pitch for a summer blockbuster. By the end of Big Fat Liar, Wolf receives his comeuppance for stealing Shepherd's paper, and Shepherd experiences redemption. Big Fat Liar springs from Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids mold, but TV director Shawn Levy (The Adventures of Jett Jackson) is no Rodriguez. It's too bad the film ends up feeling like a reunion special for a show that never was, thanks to a supporting role from Lee Majors (Six Million Dollar Man). -- ttc (Rated PG.)

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.)

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.)

CROSSROADS -- (Grade: D) It looks like 2002 will be the year that featured the Duel of the Pop Teen Divas. Following Mandy Moore's memorable Walk comes Britney Spears' trip to the Crossroads. Britney is the class valedictorian, who writes poetry and dreams of exposing her midriff. Britney hits the road with two girlfriends (Zoé Saldana and Taryn Manning) and a guitar-playing boy (Anson Mount). If everyone remembers that she's just acting, then everything will be fine, unless she decides to do something like this again. I guarantee that no one wants to see Return to the Crossroads. -- 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)

HART'S WAR -- (Grade: C) In the recent surfeit of war movies, Hart's War is one of the more earnest ones you're likely to see. Bruce Willis is solemn as Col. William McNamara, a fourth-generation soldier who struggles to make a difference in the war effort from a German POW camp in the Belgian countryside. Hart's War is a matter-of-fact POW movie until the arrival of two black airman turns the film into a courtroom drama. Split down its dramatic middle, Hart's War tells neither story very well and stumbles around its racial themes. -- SR (Rated R.)

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.)

ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS -- (Grade: A) The cinematic surprise of the year is Italian for Beginners. Film buffs won't know what hit them. Denmark's gritty and cynical Dogme 95 movement unleashes a winning romantic-comedy about a relocated parish minister (Anders W. Berthelsern) and the other lovesick inhabitants of a Copenhagen suburb. Writer/director Lone Scherfig stays true to the Dogme rule book of realistic filmmaking. Italian for Beginners possesses the photographic style of a low-budget documentary and its joyful spirit comes out of Scherfig's playful storytelling. By Italian for Beginner's sweet-natured finale, you can't help but be smitten by its charms. -- SR (Rated R.)

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.)

JOHN Q. -- (Grade: F) The first half of John Q. is an enjoyable blue-collar drama. The second half of John Q. is so relentless in its attempts to generate audience tears that you can't help but laugh out loud. Denzel Washington is John Q. Archibald, a factory worker struggling to make ends meet for his family on his downsized salary. When his son Michael (Daniel E. Smith) becomes ill, John discovers that his insurance won't cover the bills. John Q. packs some appealing messages about the country's health care system. Unfortunately, these messages are soon washed over by the film's unintentional comedy. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

KATE & LEOPOLD -- (Grade: B) Hugh Jackman's frothy performance as a 19th-century duke transported to 2001 Manhattan is the best thing about co-writer/director James Mangold's likable romantic-fantasy. Clad in period garb, Jackman makes the chivalrous Leopold into the romantic lead of your dreams. The reliably perky Meg Ryan makes a sarcastic target for Jackman's charms. Their on-screen chemistry more than compensates for a script that offers few surprises. By the time Kate & Leopold reaches its sugary climax, it is clear that Mangold has delivered one of the more enjoyable comedies of the year. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

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.)

MONSTER'S BALL -- (Grade: A) Halle Berry throws fashionable wardrobes out the window in the stark drama Monster's Ball. As Leticia Musgrove, a Southern widow who falls for the death-row prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) who executed her convicted-killer husband (Rapper Sean Combs), Berry looks intentionally drab. Monster's Ball is a love story, although it focuses on race, telling its story in a deliberately black-and-white manner. While a movie like Monster's Ball is considered low-budget, its performances outshine most of this year's large-scale movies. -SR (Rated R.)

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.)

MOULIN ROUGE -- (Grade: A) Right from the start, it's evident that Moulin Rouge sets out to push cinema's storytelling boundaries. For director Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge is a triumphant reinterpretation of Golden Age Hollywood musicals. Lurhmann combines old-fashioned melodrama, operatic staging and a Pop-influenced soundtrack into a hip and frenetic package that's appealing to today's techno-influenced moviegoers. Moulin Rouge offers audiences a roller-coaster perspective of its colorful Parisian nightclub. The cameras never stop moving. Ewan McGregor, playing Christian, a young writer who has come to Paris to experience the bohemian revolution, captures the shyness and emotional clumsiness that's appropriate for a love-struck poet. As the film's whirling dervish in red curls, Nicole Kidman is equally sexy and funny as the vamping Satine. There's no doubt that her comic sass is the spark that keeps Moulin Rouge running at full speed. -- SR (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. 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.)

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.)

RETURN TO NEVERLAND -- (Grade: D) Disney animators create a dull Peter Pan adventure that's not half as fun as the 1953 original movie. Return to Neverland reunites Pan (voice of Blayne Weaver) with his fairy companion Tinkerbell and colorful nemesis Captain Hook (voice of Corey Burton). It's World War II and Pan's old friend Wendy is grown-up now, with children. Wendy's young daughter, Jane (voice of Harriet Owen), doesn't believe in Neverland's fantasies. So it's up to Pan to convince Jane to resume acting like a child. It's too bad Disney marred his return with a lackluster movie. -- SR (Rated G.)

ROLLERBALL -- (Grade: F) Director John McTiernan remakes the 1975 film Rollerball, a vacant actioner about a 21st-century form of roller derby, and manages to create a film 10 times worse than the disjointed original. Chris Klein plays star Rollerballer Jonathan Cross, but offers little more than a cheesy smile. After the team's money-hungry owner (Jean Reno) discovers that violence makes the TV ratings jump, he puts his players' lives in constant jeopardy. McTiernan edited the film's action to fit a "PG-13" rating, but I can't imagine how more violence could have saved this. -- SR (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.)

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.)

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.)

SUPER TROOPERS -- (Grade: C) Watched at last year's Sundance Film Festival, director Jay Chandrasekhar's indie homage to Police Academy movies packs enough sly humor to stand alone on its own comic merits. Veteran actor Brian Cox is the mentor of a bunch of rag-tag Vermont State Troopers who fight to keep their station from closing. Cox's dramatic presence gives Super Troopers sufficient indie credibility. Super Troopers is the type of throw-away comedy that's not meant to be taken seriously, which explains the special appearance by Wonder Woman Lynda Carter. -- SR (Rated R.)

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