25TH HOUR (PG-13) Spike Lee's melancholy mess of a movie stars Edward Norton as a big-time Manhattan drug dealer brooding away his last day of freedom before going away for a seven-year prison stretch. There's no real story arc to the film (no real story, period, come to think of it), just Monty wandering around in a state of emotional near-paralysis, glaring at everyone and everything, including himself. David Benioff's lethargic screenplay simply places Norton's character in one farewell scene after another, a spiraling crescendo of regret and self-importance. Far too much of this smacks of Screenwriting 101, with each character entering from Stage Right for his or her big dramatic moment, then disappearing to make way for the next walk-on. What's clearly intended as epic and elegiac comes off as trivial and, often, downright lugubrious. Lee is way off target and out of his element here, more concerned with sweeping gestures of mood, grandiose symbolism and playing with film stocks than with creating a coherent, meaningful movie. Also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox. 
8 MILE (R) This much-anticipated portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-dawg stars white-boy rapper/pop sensation Eminem as a barely disguised version of himself in younger days. Directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys), the movie is set in Detroit's mid-'90s hip-hop scene, where aspiring rapper Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith (Eminem) lives in a trailer with his trashy mom (Kim Basinger), works a dead-end factory job by day, and hangs with his pals and performs by night. It's all extremely engaging, and the climactic battle between dueling rappers is half-Rocky, half-spaghetti western and an instant classic. Also stars Mekhi Phifer.
ABOUT SCHMIDT (R) Jack Nicholson is resplendently bland in this skewed character study of an ordinary, retired insurance salesman with penchant for crankiness and a bad comb-over (is there such a thing as a good comb-over?). After his wife suddenly dies, Nicholson's Schmidt hops in his 30-foot Winnebago and embarks on a mini-road trip revisiting his past — only to find he doesn't really seem to have a past, or a future. Schmidt's confusion and limbo status is played mostly for laughs, though, and communicated largely through the letters he writes to his Tanzanian foster child. Also stars Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates and Howard Hesseman. 1/2
ADAPTATION (PG) Like their earlier Being John Malkovich, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze's latest is a nearly indescribable meta-adventure that grabs real life by the short-and-curlies and uses it as a jumping-off point for some of the most fiercely imaginative filmmaking around. Kaufman makes himself the movie's central character and gets Nicolas Cage to play him, turning the bulk of the film into Cage/Kaufman obsessing about himself, about his constantly morphing new script (also called Adaptation), and about the creative process in general. For most of its running time, Jonze makes sure there's nothing remotely typical about Adaptation, the movie about the movie Kaufman's trying to write. In both the film and the film-within-the-film, real life and reel life are blended into a richly self-reflexive, iconoclastic stew, along with ideas and emotions, fact and fantasy, art and commerce, you name it. Jonze's film is admittedly a snake eating its own tail, but most of it is also thoroughly intoxicating and, in its own way, a lot of fun. Also stars Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper and Brian Cox.
ANTWONE FISHER (PG-13) Denzel Washington's directorial debut is a sort of African-American Equus, starring Washington himself as a navy psychiatrist doing his best to help a troubled young seaman. Washington's quietly confident film is a moving but fairly predictable tale about dysfunctional kids and their mentors, very much in the tradition of Good Will Hunting, Ordinary People and way too many others to mention. For a first effort, Washington's film is an effective, but not a particularly remarkable one, a little like one of those Oprah book club selections with lots of exhaustively rendered pain and tears, a series of revelations that aren't really revelatory, all culminating in an uplifting but unsurprising pay-off. Also stars Derek Luke and Joy Bryant.
AUSTRALIA: LAND BEYOND TIME (PG) The film takes us Down Under to the flattest, driest continent on earth, immerses us in parched, otherworldly landscapes and introduces us to tons of incredibly odd and supremely adaptable animals. 1/2
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (PG) Steven Spielberg's movie about the world's most successful con man is glossy Fun with a Capital F, a snappy old-school caper that never takes itself too seriously. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, a high school dropout who in the 1960s successfully impersonated a doctor, a lawyer and an airline pilot, and who passed some four million dollars worth of forged checks, all before his 21st birthday. Tom Hanks is the dedicated but humorless FBI agent who pursues Abagnale and eventually forms a strange bond with him. Also stars Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen and Nathalie Baye. 1/2
CHICAGO (PG-13) Rob Marshall pulls out all the stops in this lavish, big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical about a 1920s chorus girl who shoots her lover, goes to jail and becomes a big celebrity. Taking place simultaneously in gritty reality and in the projected fantasies of its characters, the movie cleverly folds its story into a series of show-stopping musical numbers. All of the stars do their own singing, as well as dancing, and some of them, like Renee Zellweger, are surprisingly good (only Richard Gere's warbling is a chore to sit through). Also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, John C. Reilly and Taye Diggs.
DIE ANOTHER DAY (PG-13) It's a long way from Once Were Warriors for director Lee Tamahori, who helms this latest Bond blowout in which 007 tracks traitors and terrorists from North Korea to Cuba to Iceland. On the plus side is Halle Berry, who shows up to exchange innuendoes and bodily fluids with the Bondster, and two fairly cool villains — one of whom is an inverted version of 007 himself (i.e., a swaggering, pretty-boy adventurer). On the down side, the plot's pretty convoluted (as all the recent Bonds have been), some of the CGI effects are awfully cheesy, and the movie overstays its welcome by a good 20 minutes. Stars Pierce Brosnan, Rosamund Pike and Stephen Yune. 1/2
DRUMLINE (PG-13) Although Drumline can be cliched and manipulative, it has genuine excitement for its subject matter. The movie is set in fictitious Atlanta A&T. The college's newest scholarship hotshot Devon Miles (Nick Cannon) has unparalleled gifts as a snare drummer, which he knows all too well. With his arrogant attitude he frequently butts heads with high-minded music director Dr. Lee (Orlando Jones) and drum major Sean (Leonard Roberts). Scripters Tina Gordon Chism and Shawn Schepps quickly show that they're well versed in the dynamics of college marching bands. 1/2 —CURT HOLMAN
THE EMPEROR'S CLUB (PG-13) Not to be confused with The Dead Poets Society or any number of other similarly titled or similarly plotted productions, The Emperor's Club is another of those well-meaning movies about a teacher who tries to make a difference. Kevin Kline plays Mr. Hundert, who engages in a battle of wills with a rebellious new student who has a taste for Godard, Dylan and skin mags. The film's heart is in the right place but it is essentially, as Kline himself finally tells us, "a story without surprises." Also stars Emile Hirsch, Embeth Davidtz and Rob Morrow. 1/2
EMPIRE (R) Virtually every cliche in the book is trotted out in this phenomenally awful vanity project starring John Leguizamo (who also produced it) as a drug pusher trying to go legit in whitey's world. Also stars Isabella Rossellini, Denise Richards and Peter Sarsgaard. EQUILIBRIUM (R) Sci-fi futuristic thriller that's a splash of Gattaca, a hint of 1984 and dollop of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. To say the least, it stars really good-looking people: Taye Diggs, Emily Watson and Christian Bale. (Not Reviewed)
EXTREME OPS (PG-13) Extreme sports enthusiasts and terrorists mix it up in the Austrian alps. For those who like their explosions sprinkled with doses of snowboarding, skydiving, and jumping off motorcycles and helicopters. Stars Devon Sawa and Rufus Sewell. (Not Reviewed)
FAR FROM HEAVEN (PG-13) Todd Haynes' loving and exquisitely crafted homage to the 1950s melodramas of Douglas Sirk is set in white suburban American circa 1957, an easy target if ever there was one. The heroine of this remarkable neo-tearjerker is Cathy Whitaker (beautifully played by Julianne Moore), a model housewife whose world crumbles when her marriage to local businessman Frank (Dennis Quaid) turns out to be not nearly as perfect as she imagined. Style reigns supreme in this drop-dead gorgeous, designer's dream of a movie, which emulates the Technicolor look of '50s films so perfectly that its saturated hues take on an intensity bordering on the psychedelic. Also stars Dennis Haysbert. 1/2
FRIDAY AFTER NEXT (R) The third installment of the popular Friday series re-teams Ice Cube and Mike Epps as cousins Craig and Day-Day, who, after a brief fling in the suburbs, now find themselves back in their original urban L.A. "hood. This time out, the cousins take jobs to make some quick money for Christmas presents and rent when a criminally inclined Santa breaks in to their crib and steals them blind. Also stars John Witherspoon. (Not Reviewed)
GANGS OF NEW YORK (R) Martin Scorsese's enormously ambitious new film about mid-1800s blood feuds and power struggles is a huge, magnificently sprawling thing that manifests all the power and resonance of classical myth. The movie's focus is the love-hate relationship between the characters played by Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, but Scorsese constantly layers his cinematic mural with additional characters, historical nuances and stories-within-stories. Gangs of New York is certainly History Writ Large, but the bulk of it is as accessible as anything this director's ever done. The movie is big, bloody, ornate, passionate and full of over-the-top emotions, like a grand opera re-imagined as a really cool comic book. Also stars Cameron Diaz.
A GUY THING (PG-13) Jason Lee, Julia Stiles and Selma Blair star in this romantic comedy about a man who wakes up the morning after his bachelor party with a strange woman, presuming he cheated on his fiancee. He stages a cover-up, loaded with the requisite high jinx. (Not Reviewed)
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (PG) While it's still a hugely entertaining affair, the new Harry Potter movie almost inevitably lacks some of the, well, magic of the first film. The two movies are very similar in both structure and feel, but most of the big money shots in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are essentially reprises of elements from H.P. and the Sorcerer's Stone, and lack that thrill of initial discovery. Also stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith and Richard Harris. 1/2
THE HOT CHICK (PG-13) Popular, snobby teen Jessica (Rachel McAdams) shoplifts a cursed pair of earrings that result in her waking up the next morning to realize her (and our) worst fear: waking up in the body of Rob Schneider. Wackiness ensues. (Not Reviewed)
THE HOURS (PG-13) After the broad comedy, populist politics and unmanly pirouettes of Billy Elliot, director Stephen Daldry performs another sort of flying leap, right into this ambitious, overly theatrical project about three women on the verge. "I want to write about everything in the world," says the dying author played by Ed Harris, "everything all mixed up." That's The Hours in a nutshell. The film interweaves moments from the lives of three women living in three separate times and places, straining to establish unifying themes involving feminine strength (or lack thereof), motherhood, lesbianism and suicide. In the best segment, the writer Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) skulks about in 1923, chain-smoking and mulling over ideas for a new book. In the worst segment, a contemporary New York publisher (Meryl Streep), nicknamed for a character in Wolf's book, prepares a party for Harris' dying writer. In between, there's Julianne Moore as a 1950s housewife who reads Wolf's book, quietly cracks up, and checks into a hotel with a year's supply of sleeping pills. A near-constant air of "Importance" and unearned gravity runs through the film, exacerbated by the cosmic minimalism of the Philip Glass score. The best thing about the movie is Kidman, looking hawkishly intense and peering down her prosthetic beak at everyone who wanders within range of her gaze. Weirdly enough, the fake nose makes her look a little like a femme version of ex-hubby Tom Cruise. Also stars Toni Collette and Claire Danes. INTACTO (R) A world where special individuals have the power to literally rob others of their luck is the premise for this intriguing but somewhat convoluted allegory framed as an artsy sci-fi thriller. Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo invests his sleek, stylish film with an elaborately Gothic atmosphere that immediately sucks the viewer in, but the film is filled with a few too many artistic pretenses and glaring inconsistencies in logic for its own good. Stars Leonardo Sbaraglia, Eusebio Poncela, Antonio Perez Dechent and Max von Sydow. 1/2
JANE GOODALL'S WILD CHIMPANZEES (NR) The IMAX film depicts Goodall's 40-plus years' work among the chimps at Gombe Park on Lake Tanganyka in Africa and the Gombe chimp families. Playing at IMAX Dome Theater at MOSI. Call theater to confirm.(Not Reviewed)
JUST MARRIED (PG-13) This slapstick-filled, European-scenery-drenched romantic comedy stars the good- looking actor who plays Kelso on That '70s Show and the cute actress (Brittany Murphy) who's Luanne's mouthpiece on King of the Hill and Eminem's booty call in 8 Mile. The nauseatingly ubiquitous real-life couple play newlyweds caught in the crossfire of disapproving parents and friends. Of course, mayhem ensues. (Not Reviewed)
KANGAROO JACK (PG) Lookin' for something loopy? This film concerns two longtime friends who get entangled with the mob and are forced to deliver 100,000 to Australia. It all gets out of control when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo. (Not Reviewed)
THE LION KING (G) Disney cops all the right moves — contemporary quasi-new-age P.C. mysticism that mixes neatly with Uncle Walt's time-honored humanism — in this epic, vaguely Oedipal tale of a little lion cub who grows up to replace his regal daddy. Lots of lovably goofy and lovably lovable characters abound. Only the blandly MOR soundtrack puts a damper on the spell.
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (PG-13) Peter Jackson's second installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's saga is an even more richly detailed tale than the first. The new movie communicates even more vividly the essence of the astonishing world it imagines — a place where the kingdoms of men coexist with all manner of strange creatures and where magic supercedes science in a way that Harry Potter can only dream about. On the down side, The Two Towers cuts right to the chase, so confident in its miraculous, self-contained universe that it races through some introductions or skips them altogether, and may wind up confusing viewers unfamiliar with the first film or the books. Stars Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee. 1/2
MAID IN MANHATTAN (PG-13) A senatorial candidate falls for a hotel maid, mistaking her for a socialite after seeing her in an elegant dress that actually belongs to one of the hotel's wealthy patrons. Stars Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci. (Not Reviewed)
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (PG) Nia Vardalos stars in this sweet-natured, sporadically amusing adaptation of her one-woman show about a plain Greek-American woman who transforms herself into a babe and hooks up with her Prince Charming — who, much to the chagrin of her loud and proud Greek family, turns out to be as WASP-y as they come. In all, Greek Wedding probably worked better on stage than on the big screen. Also stars John Corbett, Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan and Andrea Martin. 1/2
NARC (R) Not a bad movie, but nothing too far removed from the usual cops "n' robbers fare that passes through the multiplexes on a regular basis. Narc's primary strength is the intense performance by Ray Liotta; he's cast as a detective whose best friend, a fellow cop, was murdered while investigating drug running on the streets of Detroit. Also stars Jason Patric. 1/2 —Matt Brunson
NATIONAL SECURITY (PG-13) Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn star in this wacky comedy about odd-couple security guards thrown together to bust a smuggling ring. (Not Reviewed)
NICOLAS NICKLEBY (PG) Emma director Douglas McGrath takes on Charles Dickens' massive, much-loved novel and turns it into a star-studded and relatively brisk (two hours, give or take) experience with a clear, uplifting message of triumph against all odds. McGrath's movie is colorful and beautifully produced, but much of Dickens' more elaborate plotting and subtle nuances are jettisoned in favor of crowd-pleasing moments of outsized drama and and comedy (twin poles that the movie does not always navigate effectively). The ensemble cast is quite good (standouts include Alan Cumming, Timothy Spall and Jim Broadbent), but the film is ultimately a little too light and airy to really stick to the ribs. Also stars Charlie Hunnam and Anne Hathaway. 1/2
PERSONAL VELOCITY (R) Three short stories become three short films about women, in a movie, that despite surface appearances, couldn't be more different from The Hours if it tried. Working from a trio of her own short stories, the writer, Rebecca Miller (a.k.a. Arthur Miller's daughter and Daniel Day Lewis' wife) picks up a camera and delivers a very personal and potent film composed of a series of portraits of women at turning points in their lives. Kyra Sedgwick plays an abused wife who reclaims her identity through the power of sex, Parker Posey is a Manhattan editor who finds success a little too seductive, and Fairuza Balk is a young punk who gets maternal with a teen runaway. All of the performances are excellent, and the film's attention to detail is accomplished, but the cumulative effect is somewhat dampened by massive slabs of voice-over that call undue attention to the movie's literary roots. Also stars Ron Leibman. 1/2
THE PIANIST (R) After a lifetime of avoiding what must be one of the defining events of his existence, Roman Polanski finally gets around to tackling the Holocaust. The Pianist is based on the memoirs of Polish-Jewish classical pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, someone with considerable meaning for Polanski, a Jew who grew up in Poland during and just after the Second World War. Szpilman was an artist who continued to be devoted to his art, even as he watched his world crumble and suffered an endless series of horrors and humiliations designed to rob him and others like him of dignity, humanity and, ultimately, life. Polanski begins his film in 1939, just after the Nazi invasion of Poland, and watches with a strange, almost clinical detachment as German barbarism escalates through the years and the country's Jewish population is terrorized, then decimated. The film's cool, reserved and utterly unsentimental style might sound at odds with the extremity of the subject matter, but it's all the more haunting for it. Stars Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Ed Stoppard and Frank Finlay.
PINOCCHIO Over-the-top Italian actor Roberto Benigni stars, directs and co-writes this version of the venerable fairy tale. (Not Reviewed)
RABBIT-PROOF FENCE (PG) Director Phillip Noyce's quietly moving tale exposes one of the Western world's dirtiest little secrets. Rabbit-Proof Fence focuses on the execrable racial laws in effect in Australia for much of the 20th century, when countless children of mixed aboriginal and white parentage were kidnapped by government employees and imprisoned in "re-education" centers. The film takes place in 1931 and is based on the true story of three young Aboriginal girls who escaped from one of these centers and trekked some 1,500 miles across the Outback to get back home.
THE RING (PG-13) A class-act creepfest. Naomi Watts confirms the star power she exhibited in Mulholland Drive, as a woman in the sway of a videotape that causes anyone who watches it to die within a week. The movie feels a little rushed and sloppy toward the end, but has the makings of a classic modern horror film, eerily dreamlike, suspenseful and possessed of a relentless forward momentum that can be absolutely terrifying. Also stars Martin Henderson.
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. Playing at IMAX Dome Theater at MOSI. Call theater to confirm.
SIEGFRIED AND ROY: THE MAGIC BOX (PG) As magnificently overblown a piece of Uber Kitsch as you could ever want to find, Siggy and Roy's 3-D movie is a big, gaudy, guilty pleasure for the whole family. Stars Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn. Playing at Channelside IMAX. 1/2
SPACE STATION (PG) New IMAX featurette documenting a pair of voyages to the international space station floating high above planet Earth. The multinational crews include a mix of American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. At IMAX Dome Theater. (Not Reviewed)
STAR TREK: NEMESIS (PG-13) This by-the-numbers entry in the Next Generation franchise pits the Enterprise crew against a bad-tempered Picard clone with an agenda that includes destroying the Federation. The movie meanders during its first hour, leaving us uncertain of what its actual plot is, then bombards us with routine action scenes during its second half. The whole production feels flat, tired and hopelessly pedestrian. SWEET HOME ALABAMA A lazy romantic comedy that apparently looked no further back than 1991's Doc Hollywood Reese Witherspoon plays Melanie Carmichael, a rising New York fashion designer who's just accepted a marriage proposal from the son (smarmy Patrick Dempsey) of the city's mayor (Candice Bergen). First, though, she has to go back to her Alabama hometown and get her first husband (Josh Lucas) to sign the divorce papers, something he's been reluctant to do. —MATT BRUNSON
THE TRANSPORTER (PG-13) Hong Kong-styled action pic produced by Luc Besson, revolving around an American mercenary and a kidnapping scheme. Stars Jason Starham and Tchecky Karyo. (Not Reviewed)
TREASURE PLANET (PG) Disney's umpteenth gazillionth project is a sci-fi reworking of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, and it's a darker, slightly more adult Disney animation than most (think Atlantis and even Hunchback of Notre Dame). The obligatory bones are thrown to the very young — there's a cute little shape-shifting alien sidekick, a wacky robot voiced by Martin Short, and a being called Flatula who communicates exclusively through farting noises — but many of the characters will probably be too strange or too intense for smaller viewers. The movie's appeal is further limited by weak songs, a slightly convoluted narrative, and the fact that it's simply too gender-specific for its own good. Featuring the voices of Brian Murray, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short and Patrick McGoohan.
TWO WEEKS NOTICE (PG-13) What you see is what you get in this pleasant but thoroughly unsurprising romantic comedy that stars Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock doing what each does best. Bullock plays a smart, slightly neurotic but thoroughly adorable lawyer who goes to work for Grant. They're complete opposites — he's a filthy rich Republican and she's a neo-hippie political activist – so, naturally, they fall in love. The script is short on originality or big laughs, but there are no real missteps either. Also stars Alicia Witt.
THE WILD THORNBERRYS MOVIE (PG) Well-made, feature-length version of the Nickelodeon animated series about a globe-trotting family of nature enthusiasts, one of whom has the power to talk to the animals. In the big screen version, 12-year old Eliza and her faithful chimp Darwin get sent off to boarding school and then return to Africa to wrangle with a nasty group of poachers. It's not exactly War and Peace, but you could do a lot worse when it comes to kiddie fare. The movie also boasts some new music by Paul Simon and voice talent that includes Lynn Redgrave, Marisa Tomei, Alfre Woodard and Rupert Everett.
—Reviewed entries by Lance Goldenberg unless otherwise noted.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2003.