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. Stars Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John C. Reilly and Taye Diggs. 
CITY OF GOD (NR) We've seen this story before, more or less — the blood, psychopaths, the budding psychopaths, the all-too-young victims of urban decay — but never quite like this. City of God is a movie bursting with life in all its nuances, often entwining beauty and ugliness in complex ways that are going to make a lot of audience members somewhat less than comfortable. The movie covers several decades in the lives of various low-level gangsters who inhabit a seedy housing project on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and takes its shape from a series of tales as richly drawn as anything from Faulkner's Okefenokee County. The stories flip back and forth through the years, giving the film a fluid, elastic sense of time, recalling the postmodern playfulness of Pulp Fiction or Amores Perros, and the style is frequently dazzling. Director Fernando Meirelles' movie comes off as a compelling social history as eccentric and epic in scope as P.T. Anderson's Boogie Nights, but it also succeeds on a very personal level. This is a comic tragedy about people who appear to change and to speed along at the speed of sound while, in actuality, they're standing absolutely still. Stars Alexandre Rodriguez, Matheus Nachtergaele, Seu Jorge and Leandro Firmino da Hora. Held over at Burns Court Cinema in Sarasota. Call to confirm. 1/2
CORAL REEF ADVENTURE (G) Another quality IMAX production from the acclaimed team of MacGillivray Freeman (who seem to be able to do this IMAX thing in their sleep), Coral Reef Adventure is a fascinating and somewhat frightening look at an exotic and rapidly disappearing underwater world. Music by flag-waving hippie diehards Crosby, Stills and Nash brings home the environmental message concerning the destruction of the reefs (from a deadly combo of over-fishing and global warming), but the movie has its moments of fun as well. 1/2
THE CORE (PG-13) See Rome's Coliseum destroyed by freak lightening! See the Golden Gate Bridge melt and collapse! See the space shuttle skid to a landing in downtown L.A.! All that really does take place in The Core, but you'll have to wade through a lot of excruciatingly boring pseudoscience and predictable plot "twists" to get to the good old-fashioned disaster flick lurking within. The movie also owes considerably to Fantastic Voyage, although the journey taken by our heroes here is not into the human body, but into the earth itself. See, it seems the Earth's core has stopped spinning (don't ask), resulting in a disintegrating electromagnetic field, resulting in the impending end of the world. That means it's up to hunky genius-boy Aaron Eckhart, pixie-cute astronaut Hilary Swank and a team of disposable sidekicks to hop into what looks like a giant drill bit and get on down to the planet's center to make things right. The special effects and dialogue are often cheesy enough to generate a smile or two, but the movie is mostly just too long and tedious to really be much fun. Also stars Delroy Lindo and Stanley Tucci. 1/2
DAREDEVIL (PG-13) The latest Marvel superhero to hit the big screen is by far the most dour and exquisitely tormented of them all. "I'm not the bad guy," Daredevil tells us (and himself), but that's debatable, considering how much he obviously relishes inflicting pain upon the scummy lawbreakers scurrying through the city. A blind lawyer by day, a costumed, superpower vigilante by night, Daredevil has a thirst for justice that borders on the pathological, so that our vicious, crime-fighting hero often seems to have crossed the line from self-doubting neurotic (a la Spider-Man) to full-blown nutcase. Daredevil is a violent, relentlessly downbeat and dark movie on almost every level (amazingly, it wasn't rated "R"), often coming across like Death Wish crossed with vintage film noir, with just a bit of extreme sports thrown in the mix. Ben Affleck is surprisingly effective as the tortured title character, and he's surrounded by a well-cast ensemble including Jon Favreau, Michael Clarke Duncan and Colin Farrell. Only a handful of overly cartoon-y moments and a generic soundtrack mar the final effect. Also stars Jennifer Garner. 1/2
