Ali (R) Ali gives us a scattershot picture, at best, of this iconic figure. Will Smith is passable as Ali, but fails to bring the considerable grandeur, gravity and, frankly, raw charisma that this role demands.
Amelie (NR) Plucky, quintessentially quirky Amelie (saucer-eyed Audrey Tautou) spends her time choreographing good deeds and love connections for her neighbors and, eventually, herself. Amelie, which is as much a fairy tale as it is a cartoon, brims with imagination and emotion.
A Beautiful Mind (PG-13) A Russell Crowe performance that has Oscar written all over it is the main reason to see this atypically twisty Ron Howard production about an emotionally fragile genius whose life spins out of control in all sorts of unexpected ways. The movie's later sections feel a little too close for comfort to a disease-of-the-week movie, and the whole thing could be shortened by at least 20 minutes, but A Beautiful Mind is still rarely less than engaging.
Beauty and the Beast (G) The modern Disney classic is alive with great scenes, songs and characters, and features a script by turns clever and emotionally resonant, and stripped down the essence of its timeless tale. Playing at IMAX Dome Theater and at Channelside Cinemas IMAX. Call theaters to confirm.
Behind Enemy Lines (R) This film was completed before 9-11, so instead of jihad-crazy Muslims, the nasty bad guys here are the murderous Serbs who shoot down bored Yankee fly-boy Owen Wilson during a routine reconnaissance mission over Bosnia. Wilson then spends the entire movie on the run from his vicious pursuers while his NATO superiors bicker over the delicate particulars of his rescue. The movie has all the depth of a Little Lulu comic, but director John Moore shoots the action in such a blatantly visceral, hyper-kinetic manner that we just can't look away.
Big Fat Liar (PG) Malcolm in the Middle's Frankie Muniz stars as an irate kid who tracks down the bigshot Hollywood producer who stole his class paper and turned into a hit movie. Also stars Paul Giamatti and Amanda Bynes. (Not Reviewed)
Birthday Girl (R) The less one knows about Birthday Girl the more one is probably apt to enjoy it, so don't expect a full plot run-down here. Suffice to say that the movie starts out being about the oddly touching romance between a bashful British bank clerk (Ben Chaplin) and his Russian mail order bride (Nicole Kidman), and then transforms into something quite different and, in its way, exciting. 
Black Hawk Down (R) Basically just a breathless account of the last hours of a small group of American soldiers trapped deep within enemy territory in Somalia and brutally besieged by hordes of unseen enemies hell-bent on making them bleed. The movie's agenda is a purely visceral one, putting us squarely into the fray, and Scott films it all in a pumped-up but gritty, claustrophobic manner that seems to suck all the air out of the room. Stars Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore and Sam Shephard.
Brotherhood of the Wolf (R) A big-budget French import constructed from elements that will appeal to art film buffs and popcorn movie fans alike, although for completely different reasons. Taking as its source a famous French legend, Brotherhood takes place circa 1765 in rural area in France being terrorized by what is said to be a monstrous, wolf-like creature. Hot on the beast's trail are the naturalist Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan, sporting a tres unfortunate David Lee Roth coiffure) and his Iroquois blood brother Mani (Mark Dacascos of Crying Freeman fame) — both of whom just happen to be world-class kung-fu experts.
Collateral Damage (R) Arnold Scharzenegger single-handedly takes on the international network of terror in this murky and not terribly exciting action vehicle. Schwarzenegger basically assumes Charles Bronson's Death Wish role, making for a sort of Arnold vs. mock-Osama mano a mano, as our hero goes to the ends of the earth (well, Colombia) tracking down the terrorist who snuffed his wife and kid.
The Count of Monte Cristo (PG-13) Director Kevin Reynold's big screen adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic plays even more like a Cliffs Notes version than we might have imagined, although that doesn't necessarily make the film unwatchable. The movie looks good, the action scenes are fairly well choreographed and some of the performances are worth a look. 
Crossroads (PG-13) Pop star Britney Spears stars as young woman taking a cross-country trip with her two best pals from childhood. Also stars Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning.
(Not Reviewed)
Gosford Park (PG-13) Just a few years shy of his eighth decade of life, Robert Altman has ventured into virgin territory once more in Gosford Park, although the results lack the fire and sheer imagination of Altman's best works. Gosford Park is Altman's spin on one of those English dramas where a bunch of well-heeled types congregate at someone's swanky country estate for the weekend and, eventually, someone gets murdered. Stars Emily Watson, Ryan Phillippe, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Jeremy Northam and Alan Bates.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PG) A wizard, a true star. Living up to the hype in almost every way, Chris Columbus' big screen adaptation of the first Harry Potter book is a rousing blend of fantasy, mystery, action and pure charm that puts the film in a league with modern adventure classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark or the original Star Wars trilogy.
Hart's War (R) Despite top billing, Bruce Willis is not the featured attraction in this well-produced but problematic courtroom drama disguised as a World War II adventure. Colin Farrell, as idealistic young Lt. Tom Hart, is the film's real focus, while Willis takes a back seat as Col. William McNamara, a hardboiled war hero in charge of the American prisoners in a German POW camp. The film begins as a fairly engaging tale of men at war but turns into something else entirely when an African-American soldier (Terrence Howard) is brought into the all-white POW camp. Hart's War then mutates again, this time into a well intentioned but somewhat stodgy courtroom drama, when the black soldier is accused of killing one of the white prisoners.
I Am Sam (PG-13) Sean Penn gives Dustin Hoffman a run for his money, offering up a respectable Rain Man routine in the otherwise unremarkable I Am Sam. Penn plays a lovable, mentally challenged adult who struggles with being a single father to a 7-year-old girl who's smarter than he is. The movie switches gears midway through to focus on a troubled yuppie lawyer (Michele Pfeiffer), who takes on Sam's case when his daughter's taken away from him. The movie's intentions seem to start out from a halfway respectable place, but the film soon winds up tripping all over itself in a rush to push our buttons.
Impostor (PG-13) In the not-too-distant future, a patriotic weapons designer (Gary Sinise) finds himself the object of a massive manhunt when authorities come to believe that he's actually a cyborg assassin planted by nasty aliens. For the most part, Impostor is dull, murky looking, confusingly shot and features the worst ever performance by the normally dependable Vincent D'Onofrio. Also stars Madeline Stowe.
The Independent (R) Stephen Kessler's hilarious mockumentary about a fictitious maverick moviemaker doesn't add up to much in terms of story, but it contains some of the funniest bits and pieces you'll ever see on screen. The subject of The Independent is Morty Fineman (Jerry Stiller, Ben's dad), a schlock filmmaker and self-described artist who churns out flicks filled with big-breasted babes, explosions and ham-fisted social messages. Clips from those Fineman productions punctuate The Independent, and most of them are insanely funny. The movie's characters are great cartoons but The Independent gets bogged down when it tries to turn them into real people (a subplot involving Morty's strained relationship with daughter Janeane Garofalo is particularly unnecessary).
In the Bedroom (R) A remarkable drama by turns subtle and fearsomely intense, Todd Fields' directorial debut always seems to be one step ahead of our expectations. The character-driven film introduces us to a handful of small-town folks (mostly the members of a white collar family living in a predominantly blue collar New England town) and then, just when we think we've figured out who and what the movie's about, we find the rug's been pulled out from under us and the movie's main focus is really somewhere else entirely. Stars Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marisa Tomei.
Iris (R) A flawed but beautifully acted memory piece about, among other things, how memory betrayed a brilliant woman. Based on a true story, Iris is the tale of the 40-year relationship between eccentric English intellectuals John Bayley and Iris Murdoch, a writer whose exceptional mind eventually surrendered to the ravages of Alzheimer's. The characters' long, unconventional love story is told half in flashback and half in the present: Kate Winslet (again offering up her obligatory nude scene) plays young Iris and Judi Dench is quite good as old Iris, while Jim Broadbent delivers one of the most remarkable performances of recent years as old Bayley.
Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius (G) It takes a little while for this computer-animated feature from Nickelodeon to find its groove, but once it does, it rarely lets us down. The brisk little romp of a story will appeal to adults almost as much as to kids (a pint-size savant with a hairdo like a scoop of softserve leads a rescue mission for alien-abducted parents).
John Q (PG-13) This shrill, preachy two-hour commercial for National Health Care is a major disappointment from everyone involved. Denzel Washington stars as the title character, a decent but down-on-his-luck dad who takes an emergency room hostage when he finds his insurance won't cover an expensive heart transplant operation for his adorable little son. The movie features some credible performances and big names (Denzel, James Woods, Robert Duvall), but it's simplistic, bombastic and blatantly manipulative as it crams scene after scene down our throats of John Q and company suffering, sobbing and just generally being screwed over by the system. The movie's righteously indignant heart is certainly in the right place, but John Q unintentionally verges on caricature. 
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (PG-13) The martial arts genre gets the broad spoof treatment — a la Scary Movie — but with reportedly not the same level of skill. The plot, such as it is, revolves around a guy called The Chosen One who sets out to avenge his parents' death at the hands of an evil kung fu legend.
(Not Reviewed)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (PG-13) The first of Peter Jackson's long-awaited adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy succeeds on just about every level it's supposed to. For virtually its entire three-hour running time, Jackson's epic fantasy keeps us happily immersed in the stuff of legends, sort of like a Harry Potter for grown-ups. Stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee.
Monster's Ball (R) Not exactly a character study and not quite a love story, although there are elements of both here: Monster's Ball is essentially about two very different people whose lives happen to intersect at a given moment when both are very much in need of something that the other is able to give. That one of the characters is black and the other white (and a bigot to boot), just makes the film all the more interesting, although by the end Monster's Ball winds up coming a little too close to simply being a morality play about the redemption of a racist. Stars Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry.
The Mothman Prophecies (PG-13) Welcome to Point Pleasant, W. Va, creepiest little community outside of Twin Peaks. Strange things have begun happening here — people having visions, folks bleeding from the ears and eyes, mysterious messages foretelling the future, not to mention the occasional eight-foot tall winged creature turning up in the back yard. Richard Gere plays a Washington Post reporter who's sucked right into the mystery, and Laura Linney is the local cop at his side.
No Man's Land (NR) The Oscar-nominated No Man's Land, which might very loosely be called a comedy of bad manners, is sly, savvy and heavy without being heavy-handed — a slapstick farce that carries the weight of the world on its shoulders. The movie is both absurdist and intensely anguished as it offers up what sometimes seems to be a tongue-in-cheek take on the oh-so-serious subject of Serb-Bosnian politics, re-imagined as the blackest, bloodiest comedy on the block. The film is essentially a chamber piece focused on a mutually antagonistic Serb and Bosnian trapped together in ridiculously close quarters — an existentialist hell worthy of Sartre by way of the Marx Brothers. The whole thing plays out like a version of the Serb-Bosnian conflict in miniature, with two bitter enemies stuck together in a hole between enemy lines, in limbo, with only a human bomb for company. The media and the U.N. eventually get involved, at which point No Man's Land begins manifesting a circus-like atmosphere a little like something that Preston Sturges or even Fellini might have concocted, although the closest comparison would be an Eastern European take on that great Hollywood classic Ace in the Hole (a.k.a. The Big Carnival). Stars Branko Djoric, Rene Bitorajac and Karin Cartlidge. At Channelside Cinemas. Call theater to confirm.
Ocean's Eleven (PG-13) Steven Soderbergh's briskly entertaining remake of the 1960 Rat Pack vehicle is about as disposable as the original but, as with the original, it's so much fun you'll hardly notice. About all that really happens here is the planning and execution of an elaborate Las Vegas casino heist, but Soderbergh stages and shoots the action with such an appealingly economic style and immediacy that we find ourselves sucked right into the proceedings. Stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.
Queen of the Damned (R) The third and silliest of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles slithers its way to the big screen. Stuart Townsend takes over for Tom Cruise as Lestat, who's now become a rock star whose groovy vampire tunes have the power to awaken the long-dormant, all-powerful blood-suckin' Queenie herself (Aaliyah, in her final role). Also stars Marguerite Moreau and Vincent Perez. Opens Feb. 22 at local theaters
(Not Reviewed)
Return to Neverland (G) While it's not exactly an out-and-out bad movie, this sequel to Disney's classic Peter Pan — much like the recent straight-to-video sequels to The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, et. al — wouldn't make a particularly large dent on anyone's consciousness even if it didn't have so much to live up to. Return to Neverland simply moves the story forward in time a decade or two, reprises most of the popular characters from Peter Pan (subbing Wendy's daughter, Jane, for the now grown-up Wendy), and allows them to chase around after each other for 70 minutes or so.
Rollerball (PG-13) Chris Klein, L.L. Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos are teammates playing the world's most dangerous game in the proverbial not-so-distant future. An update of Norman Jewison's forgettable 1975 sci-fi movie, courtesy of director John McTiernan (who oddly enough also remade yet another tepid Jewison film not so long ago, The Thomas Crown Affair). Also stars Jean Reno.
(Not Reviewed)
The Royal Tenenbaums (PG-13) Tragedy has rarely been so much fun as in this latest black comedy extravaganza from director Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore). This time out, Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson (who also stars) give us the epic tale of the rise and fall of a brilliant, relentlessly bizarre and fatally damaged American family — the cumulative effect of the film being a sort of cross between The Magnificent Ambersons, a J.D. Salinger short story and The Addams Family. Stars Gene Hackman, Angelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke and Owen Wilson, Bill Murray and Danny Glover.
Sing-A-Long Sound of Music (G) This interactive theater experience guarantees to be a hit with just about anyone who secretly belts out Climb Every Mountain in the shower. What it entails: The musical numbers in The Sound of Music are subtitled in English (lo siento, amigos) for the audience to sing along to. For those of you who don't know this movie … insert puzzled look here … it's the 1965 Academy Award-winning, Rodgers and Hammerstein classic about a single dad, his impertinent ex-nun nanny and Nazis. Other tunes include the famous title track, My Favorite Things and 16 Going on 17. Stars handsome man Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews as the saucy babysitter who gets crafty with curtains. Watch and sing in the splendiferous glory of Tampa Theatre, but be sure to down a few stiff ones at the nearby Hub beforehand for optimum camp enjoyment. Now playing at Tampa Theatre.
—Julie Garisto
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure (PG) An engaging mix of history, drama, fascinating archival footage and breathtaking, state-of-the-art photography, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure tells the incredible true tale of an epic battle for survival in the wake of a failed expedition to cross Antarctica in 1914.
Slackers (R) A terminally obnoxious nerd (Rushmore's Jason Schwartzman) threatens to expose a trio of college con artists unless they hook him up with the girl of his dreams. Outside of a few scattered moments of inexplicable savvy, this is an astonishingly inept and unfunny comedy in which perhaps one joke out of every 10 manages to not fall flat on its face. 
Snow Dogs (PG) Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a Miami dentist who inherits a team of sled dogs, and must learn to race them or lose the pack to a grizzled old mountain man.
(Not reviewed)
Super Troopers (R) Immoral but spunky state troopers find their jobs threatened when their department becomes the target of a massive budget cut. It's a comedy. Stars Steve Lemme and Kevin Hefferman.
(Not Reviewed)
Vanilla Sky (R) Tom Cruise chews up the screen in this faithful-to-a-fault remake of a Spanish cult film about a self-obsessed playboy who finds reality and fantasy blurring after he's involved in a terrible accident.
A Walk to Remember (PG) High school romance between the coolest guy in class (Shane West) and a preacher's daughter (pop star Mandy Moore). Also stars Peter Coyote and Daryl Hannah.
(Not Reviewed)
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Feb 20-26, 2002.