15 Minutes (R) Robert De Niro and Ed Burns play the pistol-packing good guys on the trail of a pair of mad-dog killers with a mania for videotaping their crimes. Tough, exciting and just off-kilter enough to keep us guessing, 15 Minutes is a thriller that transcends the buddy movie genre and even says a few interesting things along the way about America's mania for celebrity and sordid reality TV. Also stars Kelsey Grammer and Avery Brooks.
All Access (PG) IMAX Channelside's five-story tall screen and 14,000-watt sound system add immeasurably to the pleasures of this hourlong concert film, which features the likes of Sheryl Crow, Sting, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Trey Anastasio (of Phish), George Clinton, Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray and others.
Angel Eyes (R) Much more and much better than those misleading and terribly trite trailers would indicate. Jennifer Lopez is a convincing presence as the tough but vulnerable Chicago cop who finds herself falling in love with a mysterious stranger who saves her life (Jim Caviezel). J-Lo's enigmatic love interest spends the movie walking around in one of those dark overcoats favored by supernatural beings in movies like Wings of Desire and City of Angels, and a strong sense of mystery lingers throughout. Angel Eyes doesn't resolve things in a particularly interesting way, but the film is watchable chiefly on the merits of its heaps of atmosphere and Lo's and Caviezel's performances. Also stars Sonia Braga and Terrence Howard.
Along Came a Spider (R) Morgan Freeman returns to the role of Dr. Alex Cross in this follow-up to Kiss the Girls (1997). Cross is a renowned profiler, or psychological detective, chosen by a serial killer who wishes to gain crime-of-the-century status for his kidnapping of a senator's daughter by luring Cross into the case.
—Cooper Cruz
The Animal (PG-13) If Deuce Bigalow made your skin crawl, you may have some serious issues with Rob Schneider's latest, in which the comedian plays a guy who has the organs of animals transplanted into him. The really weird thing is that the trailers actually make the whole thing look sort of funny. Opens June 1 at local theaters
(Not Reviewed)
Blow (R) A rise and fall yarn about an ordinary guy who avoids poverty by selling pot in the '60s, graduates to dealing coke and then winds up falling as far as he can fall, while getting screwed by pretty much everyone on the planet. Johnny Depp delivers yet another outstanding performance as our contraband-dealing hero.
Bridget Jones's Diary (R) An English everywoman in the limbo between youth and middle age, Bridget Jones is single (although not by choice), slightly overweight, smokes and drinks too much, doesn't get on that well with her nagging mum, and finds herself constantly falling for the wrong sort of man (like her sexy scoundrel of a boss, impeccably played by Hugh Grant), while soundly rejecting the ones who might just turn out to be Mr. Right. There's an undeniable charm to this pleasantly droll comedy, but for all the humorous winks, nudges, quirks and buffoonery, there's an inescapable blandness to it all, something formulaic and compromised that makes it difficult to completely give ourselves over to Bridget Jones's Diary.
The Brothers (R) Four successful black men ponder life, love and friendship while on the brink of marriage. Sound familiar? It should. This is the third in a string of such films (including The Wood and The Best Man) and is by far the worst of them. Morris Chestnut (The Best Man, Boyz 'N the Hood) plays the compassionate one who thinks he's finally met the right woman — until he discovers that she used to date his father (Oops!). Also stars Bill Bellamy, Shemar Moore and D.L. Hughley.
—Dustin Dwyer
The Center of the World (NR) About as close to soft-core porn as an art film can come, Wayne Wang's latest project is part of a long tradition of movies about couples creating their own private worlds in which they engage in near-constant, strange and/or anonymous sex. It's a sometimes proud, sometimes flaky tradition that includes such triumphs as Last Tango in Paris and such pretentious fluff as 9 1/2 Weeks and Leaving Las Vegas. Unfortunately, The Center of the World is closer to the latter category. Peter Sarsgaard stars as a wealthy computer geek who pays an enigmatic woman (Molly Parker) to come to Las Vegas with him for three days. She accepts on the condition that they maintain strict, regular business hours, and with no kissing on the mouth — which leads to lots of kinky, ultra-steamy sex over the next 90 minutes of movie time, but little else. Wang shot the entire film on digital video, creating a sense of intimacy that borders on the claustrophobic. Also stars Carla Gugino. Playing at Tampa Theatre. Call theater to confirm.
