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Film Clips
Reviews by Gene Armstrong, James DiGiovanna and Linsay Hernon.
BANGER SISTERS. Screenwriter Bob Dolman (Far and Away, Willow) directs his first feature in this tale of two middle-aged women--played with professional skill and endless heart by Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon--and their clumsy but earnest reunion after 20 years apart. The catch is that the two women are ex-groupies from the 1970s, and now they couldn't be more different from each other. Hawn's character is still a rocker who, after losing her bartending job in a L.A. hard-rock nightclub, drives her El Camino to Phoenix to discover that Sarandon's character has become a gated-community soccer mom whose husband and kids are oblivious to her past. Geoffrey Rush bums a ride as an obsessive-compulsive writer traveling to the Valley of the Sun to commit fratricide--really. After some uncomfortable, fish-out-of-water interludes for both women, touching sisterly bonding ensues. Dolman's got a decent outline for a promising movie here, but he neglected to flesh out his character sketches with credible pathos. --Armstrong
BARBERSHOP. Homespun values, respect for community and the sturdiness of habit are emphasized in this new comedy-drama in which rapper-actor Ice Cube plays Calvin, a South Chicago fellow who inherits the titular business from his dad, initially finds it lacking in the hipness department, sells it to a shady street character, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to get the place back. Comedian Cedric the Entertainer (The Original Kings of Comedy) co-stars as the senior tonsorial technician, expounding on every subject under the sun, including those he doesn't know a thing about; his 'do, by the way, is a delightful sailboat of hair. Sean Patrick Thomas (Save the Last Dance) and chart-topping rapper Eve also contribute respectable jobs in this warm-hearted tale of life in the old-school neighborhood. It's sweet and non-threatening; following his stoner comedies and action-film roles, it marks a pleasant change of pace for Cube. --Armstrong
BLUE CRUSH. Would it be too hokey to call this entertaining final-days-of-summer flick as refreshing as a face full of sea mist? Maybe, but so be it. Not unlike a Gidget Goes Girl Power, this charmingly modest film--directed by John Stockwell, on the heels of his Crazy/Beautiful--concerns three surfing pals who live for the waves and who just happen to be young, attractive women. Budding blonde star of the moment Kate Bosworth plays Anne Marie, who hangs 10 with roomies Michelle Rodriquez (Girlfight) and Sanoe Lake. Tucson actress Mika Boorem plays Anne Marie's little sister. The Maui-based wave-crashing action is exciting and photogenic, and, duh, so are the women. Amid this summer of high-tech chases, big-time explosions and record-breaking box office, the fact that the major plot conflict in this movie comes down to something as simple and dramatic as a surfing contest is, well, refreshing. --Armstrong
CITY BY THE SEA. It's the compelling cop drama of NYPD Blue without the bare butts and shaky camera work, and the dysfunctional family of Roseanne without the controversial comedienne and her gyrating voice in this intense and witty biopic of Vincent LaMarca based on a 1997 Esquire Magazine article by Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael McAlay. Robert DeNiro stars as, you guessed it, a New York homicide detective whose troubled past catches up with him when the prime suspect in a murder case turns out to be his drug-addicted, street-walking estranged son (James Franco). Director Michael Caton-Jones skillfully juxtaposes a decadent family with a deteriorated city, as one steadily is restored while the other continues on its downward spiral. City by the Sea is a movie you must sea. --Hernon
FEARDOTCOM. If you think blue tint, naked breasts, little white girls and atrocious dialogue are scary, then this film's for you! Ostensibly, it's a horror movie wherein those who look at a certain web site (which is not fear.com, but rather feardotcom.com, strangely enough) all die within 48 hours. Actually, it's more like a two-hour-long Nine Inch Nails video, except with much worse acting. Lead Stephen Dorff's pedestrian work looks like Olivier compared to Natascha McElhone, who does a deer-in-the-headlights impersonation that mysteriously combines "wooden" with "bathetic." The real winner, though, is Jeffrey Combs as detective Sykes. It's a performance too dreadful to be believed, a collection of quotes from all of the worst cop films of the last 80 years. I'd almost recommend seeing this movie just for the outstandingly bad script (it's literally about 50 percent artificial expository dialogue) the jaw-droppingly incompetent acting, and the really pretty decent visual effects. Seriously: the visual effects are good. --DiGiovanna
THE GOOD GIRL. This is being hailed as Jennifer Aniston's breakout film, and thank God, because it's about time she became a star. Actually, the movie belongs to the minor characters, including Zooey Deschanel as a potty-mouthed department store clerk, and screenwriter Mike White as a wimpy, Christian security guard. When not making fun of shoppers and the religious, the film is a rehash of the old middle-aged-woman-unsatisfied-with-her-life story. Aniston plays Justine, whose stoner husband doesn't seem so cool now that she's not in high school. She falls for young Holden, a sensitive writer manqué who comes off as the exact opposite of her unwanted spouse. Shockingly, things don't work out swimmingly, and drama ensues. You'll probably have fun anticipating the next plot twist, as they're all telegraphed with the urgency of Titanic S.O.S. Still, as standard and safe as it is, the film is well made and passably funny, and I guess that's all we're looking for in this brief interim between bloody Asian conflicts. --DiGiovanna
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. You can be forgiven for wondering if we really need another version of Oscar Wilde's rambunctious Victorian-era play of manners captured on film. In this case, the answer is yes. Especially when directed with sparkly verve by Oliver Parker (who gave us An Ideal Husband). As he did for that 1999 gem, Parker rounds up a delightful, top-of-the-line cast (Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Judi Dench, Frances O'Connor, Tom Wilkinson) and coaxes amusing performances from all. Even the lone American, comic ingénue Reese Witherspoon, does a respectable job as the sheltered heiress Cecily Cardew. Everett and Firth make a dashing, rakish team of rogues who bring the party from London to the country house owned by Firth's Jack Worthing. Dench is a marvel in this, as in all her roles. Classic material, compelling performances--you can't go wrong here. --Armstrong
INSOMNIA. Insomnia is the latest from director Christopher Nolan, who brought us one of last year's finest films, Memento. Sadly, Insomnia lacks the cleverness of that movie, instead choosing to tell its seemingly standard story in a decidedly standard form. The first 20 minutes are gruelingly awful, with lots of painfully expository dialogue and the usual crap about how cops hate the internal affairs bureau. Things pick up markedly when Robin Williams enters the picture. I realize that last sentence seems about as sensible as "I always feel better after having my head beat against a stucco wall," but, shockingly, Williams is not only good as suspected killer Walter Finch, he also comes into the film just as it acquires a Hitchcockian twist that makes the rest of it more than watchable. While I can't wholeheartedly recommend Insomnia, it does tell an interesting story, even though it undercuts itself with stereotyped characters and weak dialogue. --DiGiovanna
K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER. You'll be forgiven if you occasionally can't tell K-19: The Widowmaker from other entries in the sub-movie genre. The bottom line is that it is, like, really dangerous sailing below the waves, locked inside a metal tube and propelled by potentially faulty nuclear power. But director Kathryn Bigelow (who has proven herself adept at coherent action with Near Dark, Point Break and Strange Days) and star Harrison Ford acquit themselves well in this flick, which is based on actual but long-suppressed Cold War events in 1961. The titular Soviet sub, captained by a Russian-accented Ford, breaks down only 400 kilometers off the Eastern coast of the United States, and the crew has to work feverishly to avoid two things: being killed in the meltdown and starting World War III. Liam Neeson and Peter Sarsgaard add some acting weight to the affair, which does not altogether sink --Armstrong
LIKE MIKE. Instant basketball star, just add used sneakers. A pint-sized orphan with octopus-like braided hair becomes lead point guard for the L.A. Knights all because of a pair of beaten up basketball shoes. 15-year-old rapper, Lil' Bow Wow, makes his acting debut as the relentless dreamer standing 4 feet 8 inches tall who can sink three-pointers, do high-flying slam-dunks, and dribble around his opponents with his tongue hanging out like the #23 Wizards player once he dons the magical footwear. Of course in every far-fetched rudimentary kids flick there must be a villain. Enter Crispin Glover, the greedy and goofy modern-day Miss Hannigan who will stop at nothing for a few extra bucks. Also, there must an unsuspenseful shot at the buzzer, a montage of potential adopting parents, a slam-dunk contest and a fair amount of sentimental cheese, which is Morris Chestnut's cue to play the mentoring father-figure and teammate. But despite the endless cliches and ludicrous premise, this juvenile film by John Shultz is surprisingly charming mainly due to the performance by Lil' Bow Wow who might not need to quit his day job after all. --Hernon
LOVELY AND AMAZING. Following her minor indie hit Walking & Talking, writer-director Nicole Holofcener offers a serious family comedy that deals in realistic ways with unique situations. Thirtysomething sisters Michelle and Elizabeth (Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer) deal with unpredictable careers and even less stable men. Their middle-aged mother (Brenda Blethyn) struggles to raise adopted 8-year-old daughter Annie (Raven Goodwin), who happens to be African-American. Some of the men complicating their lives include Jake Gyllenhaal, James Le Gros, Clark Gregg and Dermot Mulroney. Lovely & Amazing, in its own messy and implausible manner, finds authentic humor and drama in narcissism, low self-image, infidelity, statutory rape, hair-straightening and the dangers of liposuction. You'll not be able to predict what's coming next in this completely charming and offbeat movie. --Armstrong
MARTIN LAWRENCE RUNTELDAT. Besides the vulgar language, the graphic sex talk, the harsh stereotypes, the blatant prejudices and the crude racial innuendos, this self-indulgent therapeutic stand-up comedy riff by actor/comedian Martin Lawrence is a humorous 100-minute romp for those too cheap to see an actual comedy bit at an auditorium, too Cable TV deprived to watch one on HBO, or too lazy to hunt down the 1994 straight-to-video shtick, You So Crazy, by the human clone of Mr. Potato Head. Now with this MTV production, hear the Bad Boy set the record straight on his criminal past, his previous medical problems and his personal sex fetishes and child-beating encouragements. Better yet, appreciate the underlying historical racial significance of an African American performing at the Constitution Hall in our nation's capital where Marian Anderson once was denied such a privilege. --Hernon
MEN IN BLACK II. Variety reports that at 88 minutes and with a budget of $140 million, this is the most expensive (if you're talking dollars per minute) live-action film yet. The near-constant product placement and corporate tie-ins should probably help defray the costs, though. Anyway, agents Jay and Kay--I never could figure out who's who, but that probably proves I'm not a devoted MIB aficionado--return with their really big guns to save the universe from aliens. That doesn't stop them from palling around with a few, such as those suave tuber-looking creatures. The evil alien here is a slinky-looking Lara Flynn Boyle, who has a penchant for dominatrix-style lingerie; her two-headed sidekick is creepily played by MTV's Johnny Knoxville. Even if this effects-laden sequel seems like a bald retread, the natural chemistry between bantering heroes Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones is enough to carry the film. Oh yeah, Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson make cameo appearances--as if either of them needed more attention. --Armstrong
MINORITY REPORT. A diverting blockbuster with pretty-boy Tom Cruise at his prettiest playing a cop who is wrongly accused of a crime and must evade capture long enough to clear his name. Yeah, it's that old story, but this time it's set in the future! While a largely empty movie, Minority Report is expertly directed by Steven Spielberg, who keeps the action fast-paced and the ideas easily digestible. Plus, as an added bonus, in the future Tom Cruise always wears a skin-tight tank top. Ahh, the blessings of the technological age! Indeed, this film is much like Cruise's sinewy arms: It's showy and technically flawless, but lacking in subtlety and vision. Still, who needs subtlety and vision when Tommy C is stripped down to his skivvies, eh? --DiGiovanna
MOSTLY MARTHA. Writer-director Sandra Nettlelbeck helms this charming, German-language romantic comedy that should delight foodie fans of such foreign and independent fare as Big Night, Like Water for Chocolate and Babette's Feast. Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) is a meticulous, detail-oriented head chef in a chi-chi restaurant. For her, everything has its proper place. Martha's life becomes marginally more complicated when she takes charge of her orphaned, 8-year-old niece Lina (Maxime Foerste), who has come to live with her. Things really heat up in the kitchen, though, when the restaurant's new sous chef turns out to be a laid-back, eccentric and eventually hot-blooded Italian named Mario (Sergio Castellitto)--he is everything that the buttoned-down Martha is not. You'll be able to guess the results of this recipe long before the movie's end, but it goes down like a light, delicious crepe. --Armstrong
MR. DEEDS. Wondering which film star would fill the shoes of the legendary noble-commoner-as-heartthrob Gary Cooper? Apparently, it is -- Adam Sandler? The memories of Cooper and director Frank Capra (who made a career out of giving schmaltz a good name) are poorly served by this lame remake of the classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. As the pizza-delivering loser who inherits $40 million, Sandler further proves he hasn't actually acted since his days on Saturday Night Live. Through such annoying vehicles as Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy and this one, Sandler has gained questionable fame by basically playing the same character over and over: a sloppy everyman-savant meant to expose everyone else as stuffed-shirt hypocrites. This shtick isn't just getting old; it's way past retirement age. Woefully miscast are the otherwise talented John Turturro as a butler and Winona Ryder as a TV reporter, they should be scolded for enabling Sandler. --Armstrong
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING. Do you, preppy and traditional English teacher, take this former frumpy but always-quirky waitress to be your lawfully wedded wife? I do. And do you, newly transformed va-va-vavoom travel agent, take this still preppy and traditional English teacher to be your lawfully wedded husband? I do. Then by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. If only it were that simple. When the bride is from an enormously proud Greek family that lives in a mini replica of the Parthenon complete with Corinthian columns and adorning statues where the father believes Windex is the almighty cure-all, the senile grandmother believes that the Turks are after her, and the food-loving mother believes that a baptism in an inflatable kiddie pool will fix everything, a marriage is a little more complicated. Writer and star, Nia Vardalos, shows these eccentric dilemmas and peculiar problems in this charming comedy that will tickle your heart until death do you part. --Hernon
ONE HOUR PHOTO. A visual stunning movie about visual imagery, One Hour Photo tells the tell of Sy Parrish, who lives only to develop photographs. Sy becomes obsessed with the Yorkins, a young family whose snapshots indicate perfect happiness. When he finds that the reality behind their Kodak moments is not all it's cracked up to be, Sy himself cracks up a bit, and things spiral into super-creepville. Shockingly, Sy is extremely well played by the normally notoriously annoying Robin Williams. Even more shocking, this beautiful, understated film is directed by a guy whose only previous work was a bunch of Madonna and Nine Inch Nails videos. By placing many of the important thematic elements in the style and color of the visual compositions, director Mark Romanek makes the best possible use of cinema. Though there are a few false notes, and the story isn't terribly ambitious, this is an extremely compelling first film, and is, so far, one of the year's best. --DiGiovanna
POSSESSION. Gifted director Neil LaBute (In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty) gets all literary and costume drama on us by tackling this adaptation of A.S. Byatt's 1990 novel--LaBute co-wrote the screenplay with noted playwright David Henry Hwang--about a mystery in which two entirely too sexy academics (Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhart) discover a forbidden epistolary love between a pair of Victorians (Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Northam). The juxtaposition of a period romance and a modern one is sorta cool, but a novel about reading letters doesn't necessarily make a compelling motion picture. And it's telling that the two buttoned-up lovers from 100 years earlier create more heat than the modern pair. As movies about literary suspense go, it's much better than Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, a horrible cinematic version of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's The Club Dumas, but it's no great shakes either. --Armstrong
REIGN OF FIRE. The last few humans on Earth battle fire-breathing dragons in England in the year 2020. Along with massive computer-animated dragons--with the attendant nitro-napalm expectoration--this flick also boasts a decrepit castle, tanks, a helicopter, automatic weapons, fist fights, heavy artillery, horse stunts, underground tunnels, motorcycles, computer-imaging tchochtkes, extreme sky-diving, crossbow arrows with explosive points and a bona fide medieval battle ax. Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey and Izabella Scorupco add a homo sapiens element to all the hardware, which is admirably wrangled by X-Files director Rob Bowman. Comic relief, in the form of not-unpleasant quips in the face of danger, is provided by a charming Gerard Butler. Can you guess whom the dragons toast first? Call it a guilty pleasure if you must. But at its heart, this is a way-cool example of escapist sci-fi and fantasy. --Armstrong
ROAD TO PERDITION. Based on a graphic-novel by crime writer Max Allan Collins, this is the second movie directed by Sam Mendes, whose first was the Academy Award-winning American Beauty. It marks an about-face from that post-modern dysfunctional-family epic. Set in the wintry Depression-era Midwest, Road to Perdition gives us instead a functional and happy family in which the stern-though-loving father, Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks, effortlessly discarding his stereotypical nice-guy image), just happens to be a hit man for the Irish-American Mafia. Some internecine complications and the dishonorable son of mob boss Paul Newman result in the murder of Sullivan's wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and youngest son. So he and his 12-year-old son (Tylor Hoechlin) embark on a picturesque road trip of revenge and, believe it or not, spiritual redemption. Jude Law contributes a decent job as a sleazy photojournalist-cum-assassin. Beautiful period settings, a well-paced plot and understated acting make this a film to savor. For once, the hype about Oscar expectations seems warranted. --Armstrong
SCOOBY-DOO. The Damsel in Distress Daphne dons her fully accessorized designer clothing; the egocentric Fred fosters his all-female fan club; the four-eyed Velma spouts her brainiac theories; and the food-obsessed duo Shaggy and Scooby-Doo dodge gruesome ghouls in search of anything edible as they all rev up the Mystery Machine and head to Spooky Island Amusement Park to solve The Ludicrous Case of the Brainwashing Green-eyed, Overgrown Gremlin, Protoplasm Snatchers in this outrageous insult to Scooby-Doo fans everywhere. Zoinks! First of all, you would have hoped that the special effects crew would have gotten a clue from George Lucas, or even George Clooney for that matter, on how to blend CGI and live-action with any sense of credibility. And, the real jaw-dropping stab in the back is the outlandish conclusion to the already insipid plot of entranced Generation X-ers and bald and tattooed Temple of Doom voodoo lords. Director Raja Gosnell and the handful of writers should have eaten a lot more Scooby Snacks before making this film. --Hernon
SERVING SARA. There's the great and compelling movie you'd rush to theaters to see immediately. Then there is the mediocre one that sparks a hint of interest, but you'd rather wait to see it when it's released on video. And then there is the rather pathetic movie that you'd only watch if you were completely bored, had nothing better to do, and it just happened to be airing on cable TV. Well, this cat and mouse hodgepodge by director Reginald Hudlin is one of those cable TV losers. Matthew Perry stars as the Chandler Bing of James Bondian process servers whose wannabe suave and intensity is as real and convincing as Pamela Anderson's breasts. However, the Friend's performance is at least more forgiving than the exceedingly bouncy and bubbly trophy wife of an adulterous cattle rancher, played by Elizabeth Hurley, who needs her own set of pompoms to make her overzealous cheerleader-esque personality complete. Together the two misfits team up and become entangled in juvenile competitions, monster truck rallies and impotent bulls as they play Who Can Deliver the Divorce Papers First. Writing duo Jay Scherick and David Ronn collaborate on the screenplay for I Spy, due out later this year, which does not bode well for that TV series adaptation after the likes of this big screen disaster. --Hernon
SEXY BEAST. Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley give smashing performances as gangsters going through a second childhood. Winstone is the pudgy, cuddly, infant-like Gal, who just wants to go to sleep with his bottle. Kingsley is the threatening Don, a four-year-old in the body of an ex-middleweight champion who shows up at Gal's idyllic Spanish villa to try to persuade him to come out on one last crime caper. But it's not a movie about the retired gangster going for one more score; rather, it's a creepy, funny film about human relations. Spacious, sweaty cinematography by Ivan Bird and spot-on acting by the supporting players make this one of the most mature and engaging films of the summer. --DiGiovanna
SIGNS. M. Night Shyamalan delivers a gorgeously filmed family drama with a witty script and a tight, suspenseful plot. How did he do it? He took all the money that Hollywood was throwing at him, and he decided not to spend it on special effects. Instead, he makes the best and most careful use of camera possible, he trained his actors into a weird and mannered style that is both creepy and funny, and he spent some time writing a script that focuses on plot and dialogue instead of explosions and gadgets. It's not a deep film, nor will it challenge your conceptions of faith and self and love. What it is, more than anything, is a well-done version of a 1950s ultra-low-budget sci-fi/horror film. Still, well-done anything beats half-baked and over-priced hands down. --DiGiovanna
SPIDER-MAN. ... Or, as I like to call it Spider-Man 1. The plot for this one is familiar to every 35-year-old virgin: unlucky ectomorph Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bitten by a genetically modified spider and gains the ability to star in a major motion picture. Somehow, though, being super strong and wearing a pretty pair of tights is not enough to secure him the love Mary Jane Parker (Kirsten Dunst), the cutest girl in school and the only person in Parker's peer group who doesn't make extra loogies just to spit at him. The special effects in this one are very special indeed, with what is perhaps the best super-battle in the history of cinema. On the other hand, every now and again the script slows way, way down for some embarrassing expository dialogue, and Willem Dafoe is a bit bathetic as Spider-Man's arch-nemesis The Green Goblin. But then, you aren't going for the dialogue, are you? --DiGiovanna
SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS. The Cortez family is back in action as writer-director Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) stands to make a bundle from this second installment in his family-oriented espionage-action franchise. This time, Carmen and Juni (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) are off to the titular isle where they find mutated animals and a Dr. Moreau-type mad scientist (Steve Buscemi). Their goal? Save the world from an energy crisis, I think. The plot tends to take a back seat to the gadget-heavy action. In fact, Rodriguez seems to have made up for the slim story with lots of cool bells and whistles in the form of computer-generated effects. Carmen and Juni bicker and cooperate with the charm of real siblings, though. And you can't help but appreciate the Latino heroes whether pint-size or grown-up--it should be noted that the gorgeous Cortez parents (Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino) return with their star appeal, as well. --Armstrong
STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES. This movie is exactly ten times better than the last Star Wars, which is to say that it sucks. Mostly, it's just footnotes for the next Star Wars film, so if you're one of those hardcore geeks who likes to memorize every detail about some science-fiction universe, then you'll really dig the endless expository dialogue and convoluted plotting of this film. On the plus side, there's some cool fighting sequences featuring Yoda and Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu. Although the fact that Sam Jackson is the only black guy in the movie kind of makes me wonder what Lucas means by "the dark side of the force." Anyway, the cool action sequences come only after nearly two hours of "that sucks," so they're hardly worthwhile, but maybe you could sneak into the end of Star Wars after giving your money to some more worthwhile cinematic venture, like that Pauly Shore comeback movie, or that Worst of Steven Spielberg retrospective. --DiGiovanna
STEALING HARVARD. Remember Dog Park, Superstar, or even Dick? Didn't think so. Well, director Bruce McColloch was responsible for those easily forgettable catastrophes as well as for this latest cinematic shortcoming that earns the futile filmmaker yet another failing grade. But at least his track record is still intact, right? Jason Lee stars in a wasted effort as a pitiful worker bee at his father-in-law's medical supply factory and has finally saved enough money to buy his first home with his gift basket-making girlfriend. However, his free-spirited trailer-trash sister with Peg Bundy hair (Megan Mullally) reminds her absentminded sibling of his promise to pay his niece's college tuition, which just so happens to be the same amount as his hard-earned nest egg. Just when the film couldn't get any worse, it does when the unfunny funny-man, Tom Green, steps in as the pathetic landscape architect with an obnoxious sense of humor. He manages to attract lonely widowed judges with kinky sex fetishes and gun-wielding liquor store clerks while trying to swindle a cool 30 grand for his needy friend. With the erudition of Hollywood's fall term underway, it is a mystery as to why dumb summer flicks such as this have graduated to the next grade, and why Freddy Got Fingered's leading man hasn't flunked out yet. --Hernon
STUART LITTLE 2. He plays soccer. He drives classy convertibles. He flies model airplanes. And, he's just a 3-inch tall mouse dressed in designer clothing. That's right, Stuart Little (voiced by Michael J. Fox) is back as the cute and cuddly computer-animated critter, and he's brought along a few new friends to share his latest adventure in director Rob Minkoff's follow-up to his 1999 original. When evil Falcon (voiced by James Woods) uses an innocent pawn to steal Mrs. Little's (Geena Davis) wedding ring, our hero scales skyscrapers and journeys on garbage barges to retrieve the diamond ring and to rescue the damsel in distress (voiced by Melanie Griffith). Besides the obvious mystery as to what a bird will do with expensive jewelry and the overtly corny Father Knows Best family, the fun new editions to the cast, the charming entertainment of the original characters and the convincing special effects allows Minkoff to pull off a sequel that actually works. --Hernon
SWIMFAN. This silly little stalker drama for the teen set finds Erika Christensen (the Julia Stiles look-alike from Traffic) playing Madison, the new girl on a high-school campus who fixes her femme-fatale eyes on the school's top jock, Ben--a swimming champion of all things--played by Jesse Bradford (Clockstoppers, Bring It On). Under the guise of being assertive and independent and modern, Madison gets away with being a bad girl to the extreme. The character shares much in terms of overt sexuality and latent threat with Glenn Close's frizzy-haired witch in Fatal Attraction. But if you can imagine it, Swimfan is even more exploitative than that "classic." Nevertheless, it was the No. 1 movie its first weekend out, which says a lot for the slowness of the fall movie season and the lowest-common-denominator tastes of the audience. Next, please. --Armstrong
XXX. Admit it: Whenever you see or hear the title of this new flick--showcasing ultra-buff Vin Diesel as extreme-athlete-turned-secret-agent Xander Cage--you half hope it refers to the rating. No such luck. In this film by Rob Cohen (who directed Diesel in last year's hot-rod spectacular The Fast and the Furious), X Games collide with a James Bond for the '00s. Stunt fans will love this picture, in which Diesel does such things as ride a metal tray down a handrail, flee from snowmobiles on a snowboard and has a fire fight in a bona fide castle. The story has something to do with some rogue Russian soldiers starting a terrorist team in the Czech Republic. The exotic locations, including some nice views of Prague, are a plus. Super-bad Samuel L. Jackson and eye candy Asia Argento add to the movie's appeal. As for Diesel, he couldn't be more Diesel: all fueled up and with everywhere to go. Action-film fans could do worse than this. --Armstrong
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