City by the Sea (PG-13) Coincidences and emotional baggage are piled on to predictably numbing effect in City by the Sea, director Michael Caton-Jones workmanlike tale of crime, urban decay and familial dysfunction. Robert De Niro stars as a Manhattan cop who moved away from the now deteriorating community of Long Beach when his marriage went bad. Now, many years later, De Niro's character is investigating a murder in which it just so happens the primary suspect is none other than his estranged, junkie son (James Franco). Also stars Eliza Dushku.
The Country Bears (G) A bear cub raised by humans sets out to discover his roots and winds up hanging with an all-bear band in Nashville. Stars Haley Joel Osment, Christopher Walken and Charles S. Dutton.
(Not Reviewed)
feardot.com (R) A series of murder victims are linked by a Web site they've all visited. Stars Stephen Dorf, Udo Kier and Stephen Rea.
(Not Reviewed)
The Four Feathers (PG-13) AEW Mason's tale of courage under fire during Britain's Sudan Campaign of the late 19th Century has been brought to the big screen eight times and counting. This latest version is far from being the worst of the Feathers, but it's not the best of the batch either (the 1939 version still holds that honor). Heartthrob thespian Heath Ledger plays a young British soldier who refuses to join the battle against "Mohammedan fanatics," and then travels to the Sudan incognito to prove to his former friends that he's not a coward. As in director Shekhar Kapur's previous Hollywood outing, Elizabeth, the movie is beautifully appointed, but it all feels a bit unfocused, and the final third of the film seems to unravel into a series of loosely connected sequences. Also stars Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson and Djimon Hounsou.
The Good Girl (PG-13) Outside of some clever comic dialogue and a handful of amusing bit characters, this is a more or less lackluster film about lackluster lives. Lackluster existence numero uno belongs to the aptly named Justine Last (Jennifer Aniston, de-glammed and limp-haired), a frustrated young Texan leading a life of quiet desperation from behind the checkout counter of the Retail Rodeo. Just turned 30, unhappily married and childless, Justine strikes up a friendship with a 22-year-old loner (Jake Gyllenhaal). Friendship soon crosses the line into romance, or at least sex, and from there into obsession, paving the way for Justine to begin realizing there's no way she's ever going to be happy without first removing a few people permanently from her life. Also stars John C. Reilly and Tim Black Nelson.
Lilo and Stitch (PG) Another hit from the Disney team, although not quite out of the ballpark. Lilo and Stitch is basically a brightened-up, kid-friendly reinvention of the Frankenstein story, in which a manmade monster (or, in this case, alien-created critter) comes to grips with his own, um, uniqueness and, in the process, finds something not unlike a soul.
Like Mike (PG) Hip-hop mini-icon Lil' Bow Wow makes his, um, acting debut as a tiny teen who dons a pair of magical sneakers to become a great NBA star. Also stars old-timer Morris Chestnut and Jonathan Lipnicki.
(Not Reviewed)
Martin Lawrence Live After traipsing around as a medieval knight and in a fatsuit in some forgettable recent films, Lawrence returns to what he allegedly does best: standup. The material is raunchy and offensive and perhaps even shocking. What else would you expect? Reviews have been generally unkind.
(Not Reviewed)