The Profit (NR) Local production about a secretive cult leader whose promises of salvation are a cover for shady doings. Oh, did we mention the cult leader's name is L. Conrad Powers? Any bells ringing yet? Opens Aug. 24 at the Cinema Cafe in Clearwater.
(Not Reviewed)
Rat Race (PG) One long madcap chase that basically looks to be an uncredited remake of Stanely Kramer's 1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (or maybe even (ulp!) Cannonball Run). As much as it's about anything, Rat Race is about a wacky ensemble of mismatched characters frantically racing against time and against each other to get their hands on a huge stash of cash. The one-damn-thing-after-another scenario is performed by a gaggle of mostly past-their-prime celebrity-comedians while. Rat Race isn't exactly a good movie, but it is surprisingly funny, in fits and starts, if you're able to just take it for what it is and turn off pretty much all portions of your brain but the reptilian core. Also stars Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Seth Green and Jon Lovitz. 
The Road Home (NR) A love story as simple as it is infectious, Zhang Yimou's The Road Home is something quite new for this most daring and demanding of filmmakers: a sweet, unaffected and unabashedly emotional ode to first love, last love, and all the love in between. The film begins with the death of a man's father and then unfolds as an extended flashback in which we're presented with the courtship of the grieving man's parents. The centerpiece in all this is the face of Zhang Ziyi, the young actress now known widely to western audiences for her high-flying turn in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Here she's all dimpled, pigtailed, uncomplicated girlishness and a seemingly boundless affection for the handsome young schoolteacher with whom she's fallen instantly in puppy-love. A film of great charm and delicacy, the bulk of The Road Home simply details the gentle and thoroughly innocent courtship of Zhang's character and the young teacher. At the Beach Theatre. Call for confirmation.
Rush Hour 2 (PG-13) Pretty much everything that happens in this Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker rematch is according to formula, but it's a workable and, for the most part, highly enjoyable formula. Chan and Tucker's characters travel from Hong Kong to L.A. to Las Vegas trying to break up a big counterfeiting ring. The movie's a modest success, but, in a dreary summer like this one, sure to rank as one of the highlights (and box office champs) of the season.
Sexy Beast (R) Gal Dove (Ray Winstone), a retired professional thief, recently relocated from gray, drizzly London to the sunny south of Spain, finds his good life disrupted in a major way when an awful face from the past shows up at his door with an offer he can't refuse. The face belongs to the volatile, barely human gangster Don Logan (Ben Kingsley in a career-topping performance), a London East End equivalent to Joe Pesci's loose cannon in GoodFellas, only scarier.
Summer Catch (PG-13) Freddie Prinze, Jr. plays a hotheaded blue-collar kid whose dreams of playing major league ball are complicated by his dysfunctional family and his growing involvement with a wealthy society girl (Jessica Biel). The movie is unremittingly hokey and filled with all manner of uplifting cliches, but it's up front about it all, which makes the film, at least in brief bursts, a weirdly appealing sort of experience. Some of the male bantering is actually fun (particularly any scenes involving Matthew Lillard) but when it's trying to be romantic or, worse, inspirational, Summer Catch is simply inane. The movie eventually settles into a Bull Durham lite meets She's All That groove, the main message being your basic Believe in your dreams and you'll succeed, while the secondary message seems to be Find a girl and/or have lots of hot sex and you'll play some great ball. Also stars Fred Ward and Jason Gedrick. Opens Aug. 24 at local theaters.
Under the Sand (NR) Charlotte Rampling delivers one of the most quietly astonishing performances you will ever see in this subtle, enigmatic but thoroughly devastating new film from French director Francois Ozon. Rampling plays Marie, an Englishwoman married to a Frenchman and living in France. While on vacation, Rampling's hubby goes out for a swim one day and simply never comes back. The rest of Ozon's film is a delicately nuanced but often powerfully emotional examination of how Rampling's character reacts to the disappearance and presumed death of her husband (the film sets us up so that it's never quite clear what actually happened, causing us to share Marie's confusion, distress and agitation). Under the Sand unfolds like a more deliberately paced, Euro-version of a Hitchcockian ghost story (say Rebecca or maybe Vertigo), in which we're not quite sure if the ghost is real or not, living or dead. At other times, Ozon's movie seems to play out like some weirdly lyrical update of Repulsion, with Rampling's character, alone in the confines of her apartment, seeming nothing short of deranged. Any way you look at, it's a great film, fueled by a career-topping performance from Rampling. Also stars Bruno Cremer and Jacques Nolot. Opens Aug. 24 at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm. 
