AGAINST THE ROPES (PG-13) "Make yourself invisible" are practically the first words we hear uttered to Meg Ryan's character when she's just a little girl, so it's a sure bet that the grown-up version will turn out to be anything but. Against the Ropes is the absurdly inept and by-the-numbers biopic of Jackie Kallen (Ryan), a gutsy female who became a boxing manager and rose to the top ranks of that poisonously sexist world. With Kallen's quasi-feminist posturing and outlandish outfits, the movie seems to want to be considered as some sort of ringside Erin Brockovich, but the shallow stereotypes, hackneyed dialogue and narrative cliches put it much closer to the unintentional camp of Showgirls. There's a clumsy, generic feel to just about every minute of this soulless project, culminating in the inevitable big championship bout between Ryan's independent fighter and a nasty company man. Guess who wins? Also stars Omar Epps and Tony Shalhoub. 
1/2
AGENT CODY BANKS 2: DESTINATION LONDON (PG) Frankie Muniz (Fox TV's Malcolm in the Middle) reprises his role as the plucky young spy saving the world from whatever. This time the action takes place in London, where Muniz's character is chasing down a rogue agent in possession of a stolen mind-control device. Also stars Hannah Spearritt and Anthony Anderson. (Not Reviewed)
ALONG CAME POLLY (PG-13) As its title more than suggests, what we have here is a romantic comedy that feels like a series of slapped-together outtakes from There's Something About Mary. The relationship at the center of the movie is a by-the-numbers case of opposites attracting (Ben Stiller's uptight insurance analyst falls for Jennifer Aniston's free-spirited eccentric), with semi-funny physical humor and Farrelly Brothers-ish toilet jokes abounding. There's even a blind ferret subbing for the little pooch in Mary. On the plus side, Aniston makes her underwritten character feel surprisingly real, and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alec Baldwin deliver a few solid chuckles on the sidelines. Stiller plays the same character he always plays, and is usually much better when reacting to situations than when he's trying to drum up some laughs on his own. Also stars Debra Messing and Hank Azaria.
THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS (R) Anyone with an affection for Denys Arcand's 1986 The Decline of the American Empire — a Big Chill-ish account of self-possessed baby boomers, Euro-style — will want to check out this film, which is essentially a companion piece to the director's earlier work. Arcand revisits Remy (Remy Girard), the sophisticated sensualist of Decline, now bald, bed-ridden with terminal cancer and watched over by his estranged, uptight son Sebastien (Stephanie Rousseau), who uses his considerable wealth to make his father's final days as comfortable and interesting as possible. Sebastien keeps his father happily stoned and brings together many of Remy's old friends and lovers (virtually the entire cast of Decline), as the movie offers up a stream of stylishly witty observations, eventually taking the form of a bittersweet reverie to lives well lived. The movie's not nearly as profound as it seems to think it is, but as far as elegant odes to love, sex, youth and its passing, God and art, you could do worse. Don't come expecting Proust's Remembrance of Things Past in 99 minutes (as the movie sometimes seems to consider itself), and be prepared for loads of cyclical conversations, and you'll do just fine. Also stars Marie-Josee Croze. Opens March 19 at Tampa Theatre, Channelside and Burns Court in Sarasota. 1/2
BARBERSHOP 2: BACK IN BUSINESS (PG-13) Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer star in this sequel to last year's popular comedy about a group of folks frequenting a small barbershop on Chicago's South Side. This time out, the movie's got gentrification on its mind, as the mom and pop stores in the barbershop's neighborhood begin losing ground to an invasion of Starbucks-esque establishments. Also stars Sean Patrick Thomas and Eve. (Not Reviewed)
BROKEN LIZARD'S CLUB DREAD (R) Like it or not, those button-pushing wackos that gave the world Super Troopers are back. This time, dead bodies start showing up on an island pleasure resort, and the bubble-heads in residence try to stop boozing long enough to discover the culprit. Stars Bill Paxton and Jay Chandrasekhar. (Not Reviewed)
BUS 174 (NR) Another extraordinary documentary in a year fairly bursting with them. Part edge-of-your-seat thriller, part social critique, Bus 174 offers a gripping, if somewhat over-long account of a Rio de Janeiro bus robbery that turned into a no-win hostage situation and a national scandal. The film mixes actual footage of the event with interviews with many of the participants (the police, the hostages, friends of the perpetrator, reporters), telling its tale from multiple perspectives, and achieving an impressive sense of realism and emotional depth. Simultaneously, Bus 174 probes the history of the young street person who committed the crime, ultimately presenting itself as a powerful but not particularly subtle condemnation of the racism and class injustices that create similarly lost souls. Directed by Jose Padilha. Opens March 19 at Madstone Theater. 1/2
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (R) Ashton Kutcher stars as a troubled young man who discovers he can travel back in time to "fix" the childhood traumas that screwed him up so badly. Only problem is that once Kutcher gets back to the present, he finds that things haven't necessarily changed for the better. The Butterfly Effect is a less-than-inspired What If project, in which the principal pleasure is supposed to lie in watching the various alternate versions of the main character's reality unfold. Unfortunately, neither the main character nor his realities are particularly interesting, the movie's way too clumsy and silly to handle delicately the themes it touches upon (such as child abuse), and Kutcher simply can't act his way out of a paper bag. Also stars Amy Smart.
COLD MOUNTAIN (NR) There's more than a whiff of dread hanging in the air in director Anthony Minghella's wildly tragic-romantic opus, and it won't be giving away much to mention that it all ends badly. Jude Law and Nicole Kidman (sporting not-too-embarrassing Southern accents) star as a pair of absurdly clear complected, Civil War-era lovebirds buffeted by the cruel winds of destiny. He's been to hell and back in the war, and spends most of the movie's two-and-a-half hours trudging through the ravaged countryside, encountering various colorful characters along the way, as Kidman's voice-over periodically implores "My love, my love, where are you?" The film practically begs for consideration as Minghella's Gone With the Wind, or maybe his Pilgrim's Progress, a panoramic study of a vanished America, bolstered by handsome cinematography and oodles of lively performances. Even at 150 minutes the movie feels rushed, though, visibly straining to cram in too many characters and events. For all the epic sprawl, there's a scattered, episodic quality to the film that makes even the better performances feel a bit like cameos. And even though everyone's faces are dutifully smudged and fingernails are appropriately dirty, Kidman and Law rarely fail to look like fashion models striking poses out in the wild. Also stars Renee Zellweger and Natalie Portman.
CONFESSIONS OF A TEEN DRAMA QUEEN (PG) Expect coming-of-age cuteness galore as big city gal Lindsay Lohan (Freaky Friday) is dragged kicking and screaming to suburban hell when her parents relocate to a small town in New Jersey. Also stars Adam Garcia, Alison Pill and Carol Kane. (Not Reviewed)
DAWN OF THE DEAD (R) One might ponder the reasons for remaking George Romero's nearly-perfect horror classic, but, hey — the bottom line is that you can never have too many zombie movies. Actually, the word "zombie" is never even uttered in the 2004 version, and the creatures themselves more closely resemble the shrieking sprinters of 28 Days than the lumbering icons from Romero's original. Also missing in action are the original's famous images of the living dead strolling about the shopping mall where our heroes are trapped, or any other swipes at our happily zombified consumer culture. What we get instead is a competent but much more conventional thrill machine, filled with a steady stream of decent scares and even more flying hunks of bloody flesh than you'll see in Mel's Passion. It's an adequate fright flick but not much more, with a final 20 minutes that degenerates into just another extended and overly chaotic chase scene. The whole thing is bolstered by a self-consciously ironic soundtrack of heavy metal and jazzy lounge tunes about "the sickness" that seems to think it might actually work as a stand-in for the original movie's wit. It's not. Stars Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer and Ty Burrell. Opens March 19 at local theaters.
DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS (PG-13) Not so much a sequel as a "re-imagining" of the 1987 hit, told from the perspective of an 18-year-old American girl in Cuba on the eve of the revolution. Diego Luna from Y Tu Mama Tambien plays the Yankee babe's sexy pool boy, who also just happens to be the island's best dirty dancer. Stars Romola Garai. (Not Reviewed)
THE DREAMERS (NC-17) Bernardo Bertolucci's new movie is a gushing love letter to the cinema, with virtually every frame of it oozing with movie-love. It's also a curiously claustrophobic little chamber piece about being young and being creative and not quite knowing what to do with your life, and having lots and lots of sex. The minimal narrative involves Matthew (Michael Pitt), a young American film buff who sequesters himself in a Parisian apartment with an enigmatic and unnaturally bonded brother and sister (Louis Garrel and Eva Green) for a series of increasingly intense sexual encounters. The film earns its NC-17 with a few close-ups of male and female genitalia, but we never really get a clear sense of the boundaries the characters are supposed to be smashing, or to what end. For that matter, the beautiful young actors seem chosen as much for how good they look without clothes as for their ability to emote. The sex is what people will be talking about and the main reason they'll come to see The Dreamers, but the erotic parlor games in Bertolucci's film don't quite get debauched or deep enough, and once they've run their course, the movie doesn't know what to do. On the other hand, The Dreamers is nothing less than thrilling in its ability to communicate a passion for the movies. Stars Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel. Held over at Madstone Theaters and Channelside. Call theaters to confirm. 1/2
THE FOG OF WAR (PG-13) Errol Morris' Oscar-winning documentary offers a rare and somewhat perplexing look at Robert S. McNamara, the controversial Secretary of Defense who presided over the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Philip Glass' richly dramatic score bubbles away just beneath the surface, amplifying the ironies, contradictions, nuances and horrors of history, McNamara-style. The former Secretary of Defense displays a blazing intelligence and what appears to be a deeply felt sense of morality, although Morris allows McNamara's own words to occasionally paint the speaker into a corner, even calling into question his status as a reliable narrator. That's ultimately part of the considerable pleasure in this aptly titled film, though: sifting through the wealth of information and insights to arrive at some sort of truth. 1/2
THE GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (PG-13) A beautiful but ultimately shallow account of the unspoken bond that develops between the 17th-century Dutch painter Vermeer (Colin Firth) and the 17-year-old housemaid who becomes his model. The film's look is ravishing — there's a lovely quality to the light and compositions that deliberately emulates Vermeer's own paintings — but the movie unfolds in a painfully slow, static way that goes against the grain of its sensual imagery. Girl with a Pearl Earring is all hushed tones and stolen glances, with performances so subdued as to be nearly unreadable. That's probably by design, but it all still feels too detached to make much of an impression. Also stars Tom Wilkinson. 1/2
HIDALGO (PG-13) In its dreams, Hidalgo is Two Lane Blacktop meets Lawrence of Arabia, with a little They Shoot Horses, Don't They? thrown in for good measure. Viggo Mortensen is Frank Hopkins, a moral man in the morality challenged America of the 19th century (not unlike Cruise's Last Samurai). Hopkins also loves his horse, Hidalgo, a scrappy mixed breed that all too clearly represents the melting pot ideal of all that's best in America. And so when pesky foreigners start bad-mouthing the horse and challenge its master to participate in a grueling 3,000-mile race across the Arabian desert, Hopkins jumps at the chance. The big race takes up most of Hidalgo's running time, and there's much talk about how impossibly difficult and awful it all is, but we almost never get a sense of that being true. There's a big digital effect of a sandstorm midway through the movie, and Arab bandits skulk about calling Hopkins an infidel, but most of the movie has all the suspense and dramatic gravity of an overly sanitized Disney cartoon. The eponymous horse shakes his head at all the right moments, rolls his eyes and does everything but talk, while Viggo is suitably heroic and has that "Aw shucks, ma'am" Gary Cooper thing down pat. He does look great in a hat, though. Also stars Omar Sharif, Zuleikha Robinson and Louise Lombard. 1/2
IN AMERICA (NR) Jim Sheridan's new film is about characters haunted by death, but it's also something of a fairytale, the sweetly old-fashioned kind that come complete with three wishes. The director wrote the film with his two grown daughters, drawing upon their early memories to fashion In America's more-or-less autobiographical account of a family of Irish immigrants struggling to get by in New York City. That magic dissipates during the film's later sections, however, when the movie cops out with a number of conventional flourishes, including a terminal illness for one of the characters and a complicated pregnancy for another. Even more problematic is the movie's awkward, eleventh-hour shift into darker territory, with an orgy of blood, death and drama-queen theatrics that would make a Palestinian suicide bomber blush. It's almost enough to make us forget that In America is also a movie that brims with life. Stars Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger and Emma Bolger.
KHOURMA (NR) Echoes of Bunuel and Arabic folk tales drift through this slight but strangely satisfying comedy from Tunisia. Khourma puts an exotic spin on a familiar tale of the rise and fall of a simple-minded man-child who gains the world only to lose it. There's a fable-like symmetry to the film, and a sly, little perverse streak that places it a lot closer to Bunuel's Viridiana than to Forrest Gump. Plays March 31 at 5:30 p.m. as part of the Global Film Initiative at Burns Court in Sarasota. 1/2
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (PG-13) The grand finale of Peter Jackson's masterful adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's books is a 210-minute, total immersion experience that's apt to leave one feeling both exhilarated and emotionally exhausted. All in all, it's a deeply satisfying conclusion to a series that now seems all but assured of a place in cinema history as the War and Peace of fantasy-adventure movies. 1/2
LOST IN TRANSLATION (PG-13) Sofia Coppola's playful and elegantly deadpan film is a cinematic poem for people who don't think they like poetry. The movie's not-so-secret weapon is Bill Murray, who plays a burned-out movie star a decade or two past his prime and reduced to hawking whiskey for Japanese television. Murray's character hooks up with another American stranger in a strange land, (Ghost World's Scarlett Johansson), and the movie follows the two jet-lagged and utterly disoriented Yanks running wild through the sensory overload of downtown Tokyo and, in their down time, back at the hotel. Coppola's eccentric little wisp of a film is a pure beauty, achieving a seemingly effortless balance of understated wit, lyricism, and off-the-wall absurdity. Also stars Giovanni Ribisi. 1/2
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (PG-13) Director Peter Weir's latest film is every bit the rousing, testosterone-infused adventure you're probably expecting, but it's also an above-average character study, and a finely drawn portrait of seafaring days in the early 19th-century. Based on Patrick O'Brian's popular novels about Captain Jack Aubrey, Master and Commander follows Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and the crew of HMS Surprise as they travel the seven seas (well, two or three of them), playing cat-and-mouse with a bigger, faster, better-armed French vessel. For all its mainstream appeal, Master and Commander in many ways harks back to its director's earlier efforts — quiet, delicately textured films like Picnic at Hanging Rock — that relied as much on atmosphere as on plot. Weir's a good enough filmmaker to infuse this big-budget, big-name production with artistry, without alienating the affections of audiences primarily craving exhilarating action scenes. Also stars Paul Bettany and Billy Boyd. 1/2
MIRACLE (PG) There are no real surprises in Disney's latest inspirational, based-on-fact sports story, but the actors are refreshingly natural, and the production is considerably less glossy and saccharine than what you'd expect. The movie's real strength, however, is Kurt Russell (sporting a Fargo-esque Minnesota accent, the world's worst haircut and an even more atrocious wardrobe) as the tough but fair coach of the United States ice hockey team, circa 1980. Miracle is basically an account of Russell whipping his boys into shape as an apprehensive America — demoralized by long gas lines, hostages in Iran and a candy-ass President — roots for their underdog home-team against the seemingly invincible Soviet players. As if the title weren't enough of a tip-off, the movie's arc and ending are absolutely predictable, but it does have its charms. Also stars Patricia Clarkson and Noah Emmerich.
MONSTER (R) First-time director Patty Jenkin's movie is harrowing stuff, topped by Charlize Theron's astonishing turn as real-life female serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Monster is one long howl of pain, focusing on the relatively brief period when hate-wracked Aileen Wuornos made the leap from bargain basement hooker to insatiable serial killer. The movie manages to paint Wuornos as a victimizer and as a victim, eliciting both our horror and empathy (sometimes in the same breath), and the frame of mind we're put in is anything but a simple one. As for Theron's spine-tingling performance, it will make it difficult to ever look at this actress in the same way again. It's the sort of performance that starts in a very physical place and then extends outward in all directions, devastating everything in its path with its sheer intensity. Also stars Christina Ricci. 1/2
MY ARCHITECT: A SON'S JOURNEY (NR) Nathaniel Kahn's provocative and deeply poetic exhumation of his famous and impossibly complicated father, the great architect Louis I. Kahn, yields both more and less than what was bargained for. The filmmaker revisits the old haunts and architectural glories of his father, tracking down virtually everybody who ever knew Louis and conjuring up a world of memory and theory. The talking heads don't always offer much, but plenty is revealed through the architect's art. (We're presented with image after gorgeously photographed image of such breathtaking Kahn achievements as the Salk Institute in La Jolla, the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth, and the American Wind Symphony Barge, a whimsically Fellini-esque boat that transforms into a concert stage.) What eventually emerges in My Architect is a portrait of a visionary artist and an infuriatingly enigmatic human being, and a film with all the passion, mystery, tears and joy of first-rate, fully fleshed fiction. The movie succeeds handily at making the case that our best hope of understanding a deeply flawed human artist like Kahn is by taking a hard look at his art. Held over at Madstone Theaters. Call theater to confirm.
MYSTIC RIVER (R) Clint Eastwood's latest directorial offering dives into somewhat unfamiliar waters, with mostly successful results. Mystic River is an epic tragedy about how two devastating events, a quarter-century apart, change a handful of lives in a Boston working class neighborhood. Eastwood's film is uncharacteristically filled with charged symbols and nakedly emotional Big Speeches, but the top-notch ensemble cast is good enough to pull it off and leave us wanting more. Tim Robbins is particularly effective as the damaged man-child who never quite recovered from being molested as a child, and Sean Penn burns up the screen as a man with a dead daughter and one too many secrets. Also stars Kevin Bacon, Laura Linney, Laurence Fishburne and Marcia Gay Harden. 1/2
NASCAR 3-D: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (PG) There are moments of thunderous sound and fury here (primarily the beginning and end), but the bulk of Nascar 3-D is a surprisingly sober, well-rounded and informative look at the history, science and even (gasp) philosophy behind high-speed racing. Likewise, the 3-D effects are less about in-your-face money shots and more, well, subtle and well-integrated throughout, pushing this documentary's all-important visuals to an even more pleasing level of vividness than many similar 3-D projects. Before you start thinking that this might be too sedate for your tastes, be aware that it all culminates in a super-intense race-day sequence that is all about speed and volume, and nothing but. Watch out for the tires flying off the wrecked cars and straight into your face. Narrated by Keifer Sutherland. 1/2
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (R) Mel Gibson's controversial account of Jesus' last 12 hours is a visceral and deliberately punishing experience that goes to great lengths fetishizing its copious pain, suffering, gore and instruments of torture. Gibson seems to be striving for an epiphany of excess, hammering us with lurid, loving close-ups of wood and metal piercing flesh, chunks of human gore flying into people's faces, and buckets of blood gushing from each and every open wound. For all of its classy production values, in fact, The Passion often feels uncomfortably close to a basic, whips "n' chains exploitation flick, albeit one produced with God on its side. It's all quite beautiful, though, in a grim and grisly sort of way, and detractors of the film might even think of it as the most ravishing snuff film ever made. There's also the little matter of the movie's thinly veiled anti-Semitism, whereby the Romans are the ones doing the heavy lifting but the Jews are seen as the ones pulling the strings in this cosmic tragedy. The real problem here, however, is that all that endless, bloody excess eventually becomes redundant, then numbing, and finally just boring. Stars Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Maia Morgenstern, Mattia Sbragia and Hristo Shopov.
PETER PAN (PG) A beautifully imagined retelling of J.M. Barrie's 1924 classic, faithful in essence and in particulars to its source while adding some creative touches of its own. Director P.J. Hogan (the "wedding guy" behind Muriel's Wedding and My Best Friend's Wedding) laces a slightly darker and more erotic tone throughout, with Wendy, Tink and Hook all smacking lips over Peter at one point or another. (Even weirder, Wendy also seems to find something, uh, strangely compelling about Hook — who is played, kinkily enough, by the same actor who plays her father.) The film looks gorgeous, with some nifty special effects and a strong cast that includes Jeremy Sumpter (the first actual boy to ever play Peter!), Ludivine Sagnier (Swimming Pool) as Tinkerbell, and Jason Isaacs as the best Hook since Dustin Hoffman's turn in Spielberg's underrated Hook. There are some overly sentimental moments here, to be sure, but some magical ones too. When all's said and done, the movie succeeds mightily on smarts, style and sheer fairy power — and we're not talkin' Queer Eye here. Also stars Olivia Williams and Rachel Hurd-Wood. 1/2
SECRET WINDOW (PG-13) As with so many recent Johnny Depp projects, it often seems like Depp is pretty much the whole show in Secret Window. The plot itself is nothing special — a distraught writer (Depp) is menaced by an ominous redneck (John Turturro) who accuses him of plagiarism — but the movie is filled with pleasantly eccentric touches that you wouldn't expect with routine thriller material like this. Chief among those pleasant eccentricities is Depp himself, who spends much of the movie in a ratty bathrobe and perennially mussed, fright-wig hair, ranting and mumbling to himself. Likewise, there's a lushly mysterious musical score by Philip Glass that makes us feel that there's more going on here than there really is. Unfortunately with Secret Window, what you see is what you get. The film is based on a very minor short story by Stephen King, and even Depp's performance can't save what boils down to a thinly derivative version of Cape Fear meets Psycho. Maybe Robert Mitchum in Turturro's role would have helped. Also stars Maria Bello and Timothy Hutton.
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (PG-13) Diane Keaton delivers a memorable performance, both touching and very funny, as a middle-aged woman who finds herself all shook up in love for the first time in ages. Jack Nicholson is also in fine form as the aging playboy playing romantic head games with our heroine, and Frances McDormand and Amanda Peet work wonders with small roles as Keaton's sister and daughter, respectively. Other than some very engaging performances, however, there's not all that much going on in Something's Gotta Give, a romantic comedy that breezes along on a handful of cute jokes and the sort of star power that transcends a so-so script. It's all appealing enough until a disastrously predictable last act appears, demonstrating nothing less than the fact that the movie has simply run out of ideas. Also stars Keanu Reeves.
SPARTAN (R) David Mamet is in full hard-boiled mode with his latest feature, a stripped-down political thriller about a seasoned special ops veteran (Val Kilmer) charged with rescuing the kidnapped daughter of a powerful politician. Spartan is a strange bird, filled with typically edgy, incisive moments, but also with implausible plot turns and flashes of uninspired business where Mamet appears to be eager to enter John Clancy territory but unsure about how to do it. As a result, the film occasionally winds up seeming phony and even a little bit trite, like a Hollywood action movie directed by someone who just flew in from Mars. As with most Mamet projects, the writer-director's attention to language and details is what allows the movie to breathe, but only in fits and starts. Spartan's themes and tone are compelling, but its narrative lacks the focus we expect from Mamet. The film lurches about, arriving at dead-ends, backtracking and then going for undesirable short-cuts, resulting in one of Mamet's least satisfying efforts in some time. Also stars Derek Luke, Kristen Bell, William H. Macy and Ed O'Neill. Opens March 19 at local theaters.
STARSKY AND HUTCH (PG-13) The jokes are hit-or-miss and the action is routine in this shizoid and scattershot adaptation of the late '70s television series about buddy cops. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson display more of that easygoing chemistry that made Zoolander so enjoyable, but that's about all Starsky and Hutch has going for it. The movie can't decide if it wants to be a spoof, an homage or some sort of quirky but more-or-less serious crime caper, and it's not particular adept at any of those. Even the whole '70s nostalgia thing feels disappointingly bland and joyless here. Also stars Vince Vaughn, Snoop Dogg, Fred Williamson and Jason Bateman.
THE STATEMENT (R) A dramatic misfire based on the true story of a war crime-committing French Vichy officer who escaped after World War II with the help of Catholic priests, was sheltered in monasteries, and eventually pardoned by former French President Pompideau. Michael Caine gives his all in a role that's absurdly underwritten, just as the rest of the excellent cast here finds themselves playing characters that go nowhere and fail to spark our interest. The script unfolds in a flat, uninteresting manner and, worst of all, seems more concerned with drumming up gratuitous sub-plots than with addressing any of the complex and gut-wrenching moral conflicts at the heart of this story. Also stars Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Northam and Charlotte Rampling. Opens March 19 at Channelside Cinemas.
TAKING LIVES (R) Sick and tired of Hollywood thrillers about brilliant, chameleon-like serial killers? Well, here's another one. Angelina Jolie stars as an FBI profiler on the trail of a clever killer who's assuming his victim's identities. Also stars Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland. Opens March 19 at local theaters. (Not Reviewed)
TICKET TO JERUSALEM (NR) The first 40 minutes or so of the shot-on-location Palestinian production Ticket to Jerusalem is effortlessly charming and life-affirming in much the same minimalist way as many of the Iranian films that have won over western critics in recent years. There's a delicate, fairy-tale quality to the early sections of this account of a poor projectionist who travels from village to village in the West Bank setting up shows where cartoons are screened for Palestinian children. Unfortunately, Ticket to Jerusalem's humanism eventually dissolves in an orgy of mean-spirited and self-righteous speechifying, its handful of Israeli characters reduced to faceless entities in uniforms, anonymous icons of brute power. I can't help but think of the great French filmmaker Jean Renoir, who loved people so much it's nearly impossible to find an actual villain in his films. Director Rashid Masharawi could take a few lessons from him. Plays March 21 at 5:30 p.m. as part of the Global Film Initiative at Burns Court in Sarasota.
THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (NR) French animator Sylvain Chomet's debut feature is unlike anything we've seen before, although its feel is timeless and its wildly imaginative story is barely a story at all. What we get here is a nonstop parade of odd, inexplicably amusing sights and sounds: a cat-and-mouse game involving a clubfooted grandma, a dangerously obese canine, and a pencil-necked Tour de France cyclist with absurdly overdeveloped calves. Triplets creates its own singular universe, a surreal, vaguely sinister but wholly delightful place not unlike the worlds created by Jeunet/Caro (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children) or Jacques Tati (Chomet's official "creative inspiration"). The movie's Tati-like dialogue mostly consists of grunts, mumbles and yelps, the plot is always secondary to a nonsensical anti-logic as mysterious as it is loony, and the hand-drawn animation does things that computers can only dream of. It all blends together beautifully, albeit in a strange, elliptical way that will probably sail right over the heads of toddlers weaned on the clean, emotionally satisfying cause-and-effect of Finding Nemo.
TWISTED (R) Ashley Judd is the only thing remotely worthwhile about this depressingly sub-generic thriller from once-reliable director Philip Kaufman (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Henry and June). Judd stars as a newly promoted homicide detective investigating a series of murders in which she's the prime suspect. (It seems the gal's given to self-destructive one-night stands, slurping mass quantities of wine, then passing out and waking up with her bed-partner dead.) Then again, this is one of those idiotic movies where everyone acts guilty and where everyone's a potential killer, but none of it matters because nothing makes sense and no characters are developed enough for us to remotely care about them. Samuel L. Jackson's here too, walking through this mess of a movie just long enough to collect a paycheck. Also stars Andy Garcia.
WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (PG-13) Slight, sitcom-ish fare with Gene Hackman as a former U.S. President corralled into running for mayor of the small town to which he's retired. Ray Romano is the local plumber he winds up running against, and wouldn't you just know that they're both also pursuing the same girl (Maura Tierney, who seems smarter and better than just about everyone and everything else in the movie). Welcome to Mooseport gets a bit of mileage contrasting Hackman's worldly, conniving politician with Romano's flannel-shirt-wearing everyman, but the best you can really say about this predictable, pedestrian comedy is that the performers are watchable and the movie itself is inoffensive. Also stars Marcia Gay Harden, Christine Baranski and Rip Torn.
Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2004.