21 Grams (2003) would be an even better drama without the jigsaw-puzzle editing, which disrupts the continuity of fine performances by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro. This is the second time Penn has been flayed by a heavy-handed director who thinks that abrupt jump cuts within scenes are avant-garde filmmaking. (The first time was in I Am Sam, 2001.) Despite the distraction of randomly rearranged scenes, 21 Grams is a compelling drama about three star-crossed people: Penn's character, a math teacher who discovers that a heart transplant doesn't give him a new life; Watts' character, a mother who is nearly destroyed by personal tragedy; and Del Toro's character, an ex-con who struggles against personal demons to go straight. Moral: life goes on.

25th Hour (2002) is Spike Lee and David Benioff's tale of a New York City drug dealer (expertly played by Edward Norton) who has one last day of freedom before starting a seven-year prison sentence. He struggles to tie up loose ends and endure the dread of his suddenly bleak future. He's not a sympathetic figure, because the only thing he truly regrets is getting caught. Just when the story appears to be reaching an explosive climax, there's a stupid fight scene, followed by an ambiguous did-he-or-didn't-he ending. Through it all, the post-9/11 references make you wonder if the film is a parable of impending doom. Overall, it's a good effort that never quite resolves itself.

28 Days Later (2003) is a cross between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Day of the Triffids (1962). Like Living Dead, it's wantonly gross and violent, and it flaunts its low-budget production. (It was shot on grainy digital video.) The parallels with Triffids are even more blatant. In both films, the main character wakes up in a London hospital bed, discovers that an apocalyptic event has transpired while he was unconscious, becomes the surrogate parent of a teenage girl, does battle with strange creatures, watches helplessly as a major English city burns, flees on a desperate road trip, and seeks refuge at a military base. The main difference is the source of the trouble: in Triffids it was weeds from outer space, and this time it's a voracious disease. Like most modern horror flicks, the scariest thing about 28 Days Later is the anticipation of another gross-out scene.

3:10 to Yuma (2007) is a modernist remake of a classic 1957 Western. Russell Crowe plays outlaw Ben Wade (portrayed by Glenn Ford in the original), oddly mixing humor with sociopathy. Crowe veers from amusement to manipulation to violence, often in the same scene. Some lines hint of modern psychobabble and verge on breaking character. Christian Bale, the surprising star of Rescue Dawn (2007), delivers another startling performance in this drama. He plays Dan Evans (portrayed by Dan Heflin in the original), a good-guy rancher who agrees to help escort the outlaw prisoner to a train bound for Yuma, Arizona. Ben Foster plays a chilling Charlie Prince -- a sadistic gunslinger who tries to free Ben Wade. At times, the dialogue is a little too breezy, and I found the conclusion unrealistic. But overall, this picture is a thrill.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) is a passable comedy if you can tolerate raunchy humor and an utterly predictable plot. Steve Carell plays an electronics-store employee who is unsuccessful with women. He's handsome, intelligent, and well built, so the movie explains his dilemma by portraying him as a unstylish super-nerd whose apartment is filled with collectable action figures, toys, and posters. Even more absurdly, he can't drive a car, even though he lives in L.A., so his primary transportation is a bicycle. It's obvious that the film is stacking the deck, and it doesn't stop there. When his buddies discover his sexual status, they try to get him laid, with occasionally humorous but always expected results. Before long he meets two attractive women who are hot for his bod, and the movie ends with a bizarre scene reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite (2004). If your expectations are low, you'll like it better.

About Schmidt (2002) is a devastating evaluation of middle-class American life. Jack Nicholson, with surprising subtlety, plays a newly retired insurance man. After some unexpected tragedy, he begins to doubt his life has accomplished anything of lasting value. The verdict comes slowly because he's not accustomed to self-examination. By swinging deftly between drama and comedy, this film explores the meaning of the American dream far better than American Beauty. And it isn't simply a Hollywood smirk at bourgeois America, as claimed by some critics, who have also overblown the nude scene with Kathy Bates. It's a story that will haunt you for a long time.

Across the Universe (2007) is a lively rock musical featuring new arrangements of classic Beatles songs. It tells the story of a young Liverpool man who travels to America and falls in love. But the backdrop is more sinister: the 1960s turmoil of the Vietnam War, violent protests, civil rights, assassinations, and alienation. Some scenes are day-glo psychedelic, a homage to the Beatles own films -- Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and Yellow Submarine (1968). Others contain subtle references to real historical figures and events. Although the updated music is generally quite good, the storyline tends to be jumpy and overpopulated with characters and subplots.

Adaptation (2002) must be the ultimate self-referential film script. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) teams again with director Spike Jonze (ditto) to make a film about his struggle to write a film adaptation of Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief, which itself was adapted from an article in the New Yorker. Nicolas Cage excels in a double starring role as Kaufman and his twin brother, Donald. Outstanding supporting actors are Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep. The story has more inner twists than a mobius strip and drags a little near the end, but viewers who like unusual movies will enjoy the ride.

The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) tries hard and has some funny moments, but it can't match the charm of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, another movie that mixes live action with cartoon animation.

About a Boy (2002) is really about a man. He's a man (stiffly played by Hugh Grant) who doesn't have to work because of an inherited income stream. But liberation from the daily grind has turned him into a directionless, moribund consumer. Then a young boy and a single mother come into his life and turn everything upside down. It sounds formulaic, and the last reel is a bit too sugar-coated, but the snappy dialogue and a few plot twists create a story that is frequently funny and warm.

Almost Famous (2000) based on the actual experiences of director Cameron Crowe, joins the time-worn loss-of-innocence theme with a story about a teenage journalist making his debut in Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s. It works surprisingly well, and this movie would make a rockin' double feature with High Fidelity.

Amadeus has been re-released as a director's cut (2002) that restores several scenes omitted from the original 1984 version. The new scenes give us closer views of Mozart's decline and the unsavory relationship between court composer Salieri and Mozart's wife, Constanze. Still one of the best films ever made--it won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture--Amadeus has lost none of its power, drama, and spectacle.

Amazing Grace (2006) is an outstanding historical drama about the successful effort to outlaw slavery in the British Empire. Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd plays William Wilberforce, a British member of Parliament who struggled for decades in the late 1700s and early 1800s to pass an antislavery bill. Gruffudd plays the role with verve and insight. All the performances in this film are excellent, with Albert Finney in an especially good supporting role as the former slave-ship captain who repented his sins and wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace." When the credits roll, be sure to stay for the great bagpipe rendition of the hymn in front of Westminster Abbey, where Wilberforce is interred.

Amelie was one of the best foreign films of 2001. It's a whimsical tale about a young French woman in Paris who decides to perform random acts of kindness--and sometimes revenge. She is inspired by the chance discovery of childhood relics from the distant past. Her eccentric interference in other people's lives is tempered by her innocent, almost angelic philosophy. Although this film is virtually a fairy tale, it never abandons plausibility and is always entertaining.

American Splendor (2003) is one of the best films of the year. Part documentary, part drama, part animation, it's the autobiographical story of Harvey Pekar, author of the autobiographical comic books "American Splendor." Yes, this movie is endlessly self-referential, but it never seems gimmicky. The real Pekar appears in some scenes and narrates the flashback episodes dramatized by actor Paul Giamatti. It's hard to believe that a chronically depressed file clerk at a VA hospital in Cleveland could become a cult figure in underground comics. But it really happened, and this artfully made film shows how, without losing its sense of humor.

American Teen (2008) is the best documentary about the pressure on young people to succeed since Hoop Dreams (1994). Filmmaker Nanette Burstein follows several high-school seniors in a conservative middle-class town in Indiana. She focuses on a socially wicked beauty queen, a nervous basketball star, a girl who wants to be an artist but is starting to feel trapped, a nerdy misfit who's clumsy with girls, and their circle of friends. As in Hoop Dreams, all these teens are beginning to realize that their futures depend on choices they make now -- and on circumstances they cannot control. Will the beauty queen fulfill her father's fantasy of entering Notre Dame? Will the basketball star win a college scholarship or settle for the army? Will the art girl escape her small town for an expensive education in San Francisco? Will the pimply nerd find love? The drama is emotional and all too real. It's terrifying when these kids begin to perceive -- or are told -- that their futures aren't limitless.

Anger Management (2003) pairs juvie-humor boy Adam Sandler with old pro Jack Nicholson, and Sandler looks like cardboard in comparison. He plays a timid, underachieving 35-year-old executive secretary who ends up in court-ordered anger-management therapy with shrink Nicholson after a trumped-up charge of assault against a flight attendant. Sandler never seems to come alive in this tepid flick, while Nicholson romps like a crazed buffalo. Let's hope master Jack passed on a few tips about real comedy to Sandler, whose adolescent routines are wearing thin.

The Anniversary Party (2001), shot in a few weeks in digital video, is spontaneous, energetic, satiric, and tragic--but never boring. It's the story of a recently reconciled Hollywood couple that throws a sixth-anniversary party with their friends and neighbors. Powerful emotions are always flowing beneath the surface and often bubble to the top as the party swings out of control. It reminds me of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff?, though less claustrophobic, and with the setting transferred from academia to the Hollywood entertainment elite. You don't need to be an insider to get the jokes.

Any Given Sunday (2000) is an old-school football movie that's jazzed up with choppy Oliver Stone editing; at times I half-expected to see a young Ronald Reagan reprising his role as the Gipper.

Apocalypto (2006) is a startling film directed by Mel Gibson and cowritten with Farhad Safinia, a heretofore unknown screenwriter. It faces the same challenge as science fiction: depict an alien world that is different enough to be fascinating, but familiar enough so the audience can identify with the characters. In this case, the alien world is from the past, not the future -- the Mayan empire on the cusp of its downfall to Spanish conquistadors. But white men make only a token appearance in this extraordinary picture. The main characters are primitive hunter-gatherers whom the Mayans ruthlessly conquer, enslave, and sacrifice to pagan gods. The story centers on one victim who tries desperately to escape so he can save his pregnant wife and young son. It's a compelling drama of epic proportions that always remains very personal. It's also frequently violent, sometimes gratuitously so. Will the Christians who embraced Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) forgive this film's extreme violence, even though it's not against Jesus?

Around the World in 80 Days (2004) is a mediocre Disney remake of the classic Jules Verne adventure story. A Victorian Englishman wagers that he can circle the globe in less than 80 days, but this version stars martial-arts acrobat Jackie Chan as the Englishman's servant, which spawns a Chinese subplot about a stolen Buddha. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a cameo role as a Middle Eastern prince on the prowl for additional wives. This movie is passable entertainment for children and tolerable for adults.

Atonement (2007) is a tear-jerker that's artfully done but doesn't quite live up to its hype. James McAvoy stars as a young groundskeeper on an English estate in the 1930s. He falls in love with the upper-class young lady of the house, played by Keira Knightley. Class division is usually the lovers' obstacle in dramas of this ilk, but Atonement veers in another direction by presenting a series of events that a child eyewitness misinterprets. As a result, the lovers are separated and spend the rest of the movie yearning to reunite. The ambiguity of observation is a common thread in this story, with things often turning out differently than they first appear to be. Ironically, the best performance is by Vanessa Redgrave in one of the film's smallest roles.

Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me (2000) is moderately funny, though too heavy on the juvenile toilet humor.

Auto Focus (2002) is a sordid film about the sordid personal life of Bob Crane, star of the 1960s TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes. On the surface, Crane was a happily married, religious family man. But when he was off the set and away from home, he reveled in a dark world of sex orgies, strip clubs, and one-night stands. His best friend was a sleazy video-camera salesman, expertly played by Willem Dafoe. For years, they avidly photographed and videotaped their female conquests. Unfortunately, lead actor Greg Kinnear never quite captures the wisecracking charm of the real Bob Crane, which undercuts the incongruity of Crane's double life. We're left with the sleaze, but not much else.

The Aviator (2004) is a fascinating biopic about millionaire Howard Hughes, though it ends in the late 1940s before he became the world's most famous recluse in Las Vegas. Instead, it focuses on Hughes' early life as a would-be film mogul, seducer of Hollywood actresses, and aviation pioneer. This phase of his life was later obscured by his bizarre eccentricities, which only makes the film more fresh and interesting. Although it foreshadows his mental illness, it also highlights his brilliance. A star-studded cast includes Cate Blanchett, whose portrayal of Katherine Hepburn is startling.

Babel (2006) is a disappointment. Too bad, because the directing, acting, cinematography, score, and sound editing are first-class. Even the writing glows. The problem is that screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga had three good stories and couldn't decide which one to emphasize, so he mashed them together into a loose chain of subplots. Then, to smooth over the rough joints, the stories unfold out of order. One story is about an American tourist in Morocco wounded in a shooting; another is about the Mexican nanny who cares for her children back home; and the third is about a deaf Japanese schoolgirl in search of sex. The sum of these parts is a mess -- all the more frustrating because this could have been a great picture. Indeed, it's so brimming with talent that it was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, despite its flaws.

The Banger Sisters (2002) is a bawdy comedy starring Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon, and even a sugar-coated sappy ending can't spoil the fun. They play two old friends, separated for 20 years, who used to be rock groupies. Now Sarandon's character is a staid upper-class housewife in Phoenix and Hawn's character is...still a groupie. She arrives in Phoenix like a blast from the past, shaking up her friend's family life. Geoffrey Rush plays a repressed, eccentric writer who's along for the ride.

The Barbarian Invasions (2003) is a pretentiously named film about a middle-aged Canadian college professor who is dying from a terminal disease. The film tries to establish a "barbarian" connection with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but it's weak. This is really a story about the regrets of a dying intellectual, the shortcomings of the Canadian health-care system, the privileges of wealth, and how a pending death can reunite a shattered family and dispersed circle of friends. Although it has its moments of comedy and drama, overall it's hard to see why this movie won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film of 2003.

A Beautiful Mind (2001) has a forceful performance from Russell Crowe, who nevertheless seems out of place in this true-life drama about Nobel Prize mathematician John Nash. Crowe is way too muscular for a math nerd who makes frequent trips to mental hospitals, and his undisguised Australian accent sounds bizarre in a character who's from West Virginia. Still, the film bravely portrays schizophrenia from the patient's point of view and is an uplifting story of love and intellect overcoming adversity. Now if only Crowe could get voice lessons from Meryl Streep...

Being John Malkovitch (2000) is too bizarre to describe and too good to miss.

Being Julia (2004) is a sometimes slow-moving but ultimately enjoyable movie based on a novel by M. Somerset Maugham. Placed in the West End theater district of London in 1938, it's a romantic comedy about a famous stage actress, her affair with a much younger man, and the trouble that ensues. Annette Bening is superb as the middle-aged femme fatale, and it's a shame her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress couldn't overcome Hilary Swank's nomination for Million Dollar Baby. Jeremy Irons has a supporting role as her uninvolved husband, and Shaun Evans is perfect as her young lover. The intrigue slowly builds to a hilarious conclusion.

Bend It Like Beckham (2003) is "brilliant," as the Brits would say. It's a well-written ethnic comedy-drama in the vein of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, except the family is Indian-English, not Greek-American. The main character, fetchingly played by Parminder K. Nagra, is a teenage girl more interested in English football (soccer) than in learning the traditional ways of a house-bound Indian woman. When she secretly joins a semiprofessional girl's team, it turns her family upside-down. A great ensemble cast and a socially aware screenplay make this film enjoyable and genuinely touching.

Beowulf (2007) combines live action with computer graphics to retell the Old English epic poem from the first millennium A.D. The cast -- including Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, John Malkovich, and Angelina Jolie -- played their roles in motion-capture suits on a blue-screen stage. The overlaid graphics vary in quality. Action scenes resemble a good videogame but don't match the realism of live action. Static closeups resemble photorealistic paintings. Some special effects look more like pure computer animation. Although this technique artfully blends human action with dragons and other mythical creatures, it hides good acting behind a mask of pixels and distracts attention from the story. The movie hews roughly to the poem, in which a sword-slinging hero (Beowulf) fights a deformed monster (Grundel) and its seductive mother. It's not a bad film, but I prefer to see live actors in their skins.

Best in Show (2000) is a roaring-funny parody of dog shows and especially of dog owners. Christopher Guest assembles a cast of exaggerated stereotypes in his best work since Waiting for Guffman. It's much funnier than the adolescent toilet humor that passes for comedy these days.

Beyond the Sea (2004) is a jumbled musical about Bobby Darin, the nightclub crooner and rock 'n' roll teen idol whose career peaked in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Kevin Spacey cowrote the screenplay, directed, and plays the lead role. Spacey bears a strong resemblance to Darin, and he sang all the songs instead of using original recordings. His performance is remarkable, one of the most uncanny portrayals in any biopic. Unfortunately, Spacey's clumsy attempts to bridge time with flashbacks to Darin's childhood are often a distraction. Still, this flawed film is worth seeing, even if you're not a Bobby Darin fan.

Big Fish (2003) is an interesting disappointment. Director Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) tries hard to make a coherent movie out of a wandering screenplay by John August (Charlie's Angels) based on a fanciful novel by Daniel Wallace. It doesn't quite work, but it's often fun to watch. Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor team up to play an eccentric man at different ages who turns his life story into colorfully embellished tall tales. His straitlaced son (Billy Crudup) is frustrated that he never knows the truth about his father. The main problem with this film is that the tall tales are outlandishly tall. Borderline believability would have made the half-truths more intriguing and the final scenes more paradoxical. Also, McGregor's horrifically fake Southern accent--acceptable in Down With Love (2003), when he's supposed to be faking it--is a constant distraction.

Billy Elliot has stunning performances by the entire cast, making it one of the best films of 2000. Billy is an 11-year-old English working-class kid who prefers ballet to boxing, upsetting his father and drawing the ridicule of most of his friends. It's a classic rags-to-riches story, dramatic and funny. Even the bit players excel in this film.

The Black Dahlia (2006) is atrocious, but in such an intriguing way that one feels compelled to keep watching, as if it were a slow-motion train wreck. Loosely based on a famous Hollywood murder in 1947, The Black Dahlia strives to imitate film noir and later revivals like Chinatown (1974) and L.A. Confidential (1997). It misses so badly that it nearly spawns a new genre, film bizarre. The cast is superb: Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, and Fiona Shaw, among others. Yet inexplicably, they fall flat. Worse, the story is riddled with confusing subplots and minor characters. As the film builds to its gory climax, the plot not only thickens, it solidifies. Director Brian De Palma resorts to a rapid-fire sequence of flashbacks, voice-over narration, and startling revelations to make the conclusion vaguely comprehensible. Film students will debate this movie for years to come, much as shipwrights study the Titanic.

Black Hawk Down (2001) is an intense war movie based on the true story of an ill-fated mission by U.S. peacekeepers in Somalia in 1993. It shows how even the most elite troops (U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos) can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by the unexpected twists and turns of combat. Other than offering a brutal and bloody look at modern urban fighting, however, the film doesn't offer any insight into the politics or ethics of such missions. And it's definitely not for the squeamish.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2007) is the third theatrical release of this 1982 noir science-fiction thriller. And three's the charm. Director Ridley Scott cleans up the special effects (for example, erasing visible cables supporting the flying cars) and makes other small changes to sharpen his film. As in the second release -- known as the "Director's Cut" -- he deletes the original Harrison Ford voice-over narration. Although Scott's modifications are minor, they polish the film's reputation as a cult classic. Placed in Los Angeles in 2019, the story features Ford as a cop who specializes in killing genetically engineered humanoids known as replicants. Rutger Hauer excels as the leader of a renegade band of replicants. But the real impact of this film is its dramatic art direction and lifelike vision of a dystopian future.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) is overrated and overhyped, but it's still a fascinating film that's sure to be imitated by Hollywood filmmakers--and I think it's the opening shot in a rebellion against overproduced, special-effects extravaganzas like The Haunting and Star Wars, two other films released the same year.

Blood Simple (1984) was re-released as a director's cut in 2000, and it shows why the Coen brothers are masters of crime drama. Their bad guys are real-life bumblers, not the criminal masterminds typically seen in other films.

Bobby (2006) is a meandering drama about the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968. Moments after his victory in the California presidential primary, RFK was shot dead in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. His murder was a tumultuous event in a tumultuous decade, and this movie does a good job of resurrecting the period. Writer/director Emilio Estevez weaves archival footage together with re-created scenes filmed in the hotel before it was recently torn down. Unfortunately, Estevez tells the story in the form of several parallel subplots -- an often effective technique, except when most of the subplots have little or no bearing on the main event. This movie ignores RFK's assassin and his motivations, and it overlooks other people (such as RFK's bodyguard, football star Rosey Grier) whose stories would have been more interesting. It's not a bad film, but it could have been so much better.

Born Into Brothels (2004) deserved its Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature of 2004. It's a tragic but hopeful film about children in the red-light district of Calcutta, India, who are forced into prostitution by their poverty and even by their own parents. Filmmakers Dana Briski and Ross Kauffman are photographers who have lived in the district on and off for years, documenting the lives of the people there. They became so upset at the plight of the children that they started a photography class, equipped the kids with cameras, and encouraged them to expand their horizons by documenting their own lives. They have also found boarding schools willing to rescue some of the children. This well-made documentary is filled with unforgettable images of children and adults trying to cope with a cycle of despair.

Bowling For Columbine (2002) is an outrageously funny and thought-provoking documentary about gun violence in America by ambush-journalist Michael Moore. Like Moore's famous Roger & Me (1989), it pulls no punches and never lets dry facts or complex issues get in the way of good street theater. Moore's position is that guns aren't necessarily bad (he's a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association), but that some unique flaw in American culture makes Americans kill each other with guns at a much higher rate than anyone else in the world. To solve this mystery, he travels to such places as Columbine High School (site of a horrific mass murder by two students), a neighborhood of unlocked front doors in Canada, a target range with the Michigan Militia, and the home of Charleton Heston, president of the NRA. Ultimately, though, he delivers more satire and sarcasm than answers.

Boys Don't Cry (1999) is emotionally painful to watch, but it has better acting and a more compelling story than almost any film of the year. Hilary Swank deserved her Oscar for Best Actress. (Chloe Sevigny was also nominated.)

Bread & Tulips (2001) is a subtitled Italian film about a housewife who experiences a midlife crisis. Accidentally left behind at a highway rest stop during a family vacation, she decides to hitchhike to Venice only because she's never been there. Before long, her solo vacation starts turning into a whole new life. But how can she reconcile it with her existing life, which includes a husband and two teenage children? This is one of those gentle, funny, and romantic kind of movies that Hollywood rarely makes any more.

Bringing Out the Dead (1999), directed by Martin Scorcese, wastes good acting and filmmaking on a meandering plot. Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, and John Goodman are lost in a fuzzy tale about life and death in the modern health-care system. It didn't help that the San Francisco Chronicle's review gave away the ending, which was the main point of the movie.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) is outstanding, but its success is a surprise. A romance about two homosexual cowboys -- even one that isn't a gay subculture film -- would appear to have little chance of becoming a crossover hit. But it's happening. Although director Ang Lee's previous work (such as Hulk and Sense and Sensibility) seems incongruous with Brokeback Mountain, he builds strongly on a short story by E. Annie Proulx (who also wrote The Shipping News) and a methodical screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, veterans of Westerns. The unlikely lovers are played by Jake Gyllenhaal (Jarhead and Donnie Darko), who's weird enough to fit perfectly in a film like this, and Heath Ledger (Monster's Ball and The Patriot), who grunts and murmurs his way through a minimalist performance that's actually quite studied. Big-sky scenery makes the story loom larger than it is. Actually, it would work almost as well as a nonromantic buddy picture about two blue-collar cowboys struggling to make a life in a modern American West that offers them dwindling opportunities.

Broken Flowers (2005) is an examination of middle-age ennui by writer/director Jim Jarmusch (Stranger Than Paradise, Dead Man, Coffee and Cigarettes). Bill Murray plays a retired computer-industry millionaire and bachelor who one morning receives an anonymous letter from a former girlfriend claiming he fathered a son 20 years ago. Prodded by a nosy neighbor, he embarks on a journey to figure out which former girlfriend may have written the letter. The girlfriends -- expertly played by Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, and Tilda Swinton -- run the gamut from a sexpot NASCAR widow to a now-fossilized real-estate agent imprisoned in a desolate suburban marriage. Murray deftly deadpans his character, who pursues the search more out of boredom than from any desire for self-discovery. The mystery is superb, but the film is weighed down by the Hollywood cliché of the Don Juan bachelor. Jarmusch implies that the bachelor's free-love days led to his bleak life as a male spinster, but another conclusion is that marriage to any of these girlfriends would have been worse.

Bubba Ho-Tep (2003) is one of the oddest films you'll ever see, a sly concoction of campy horror and dark comedy. B-movie actor Bruce Campbell plays an Elvis impersonator (or is he really Elvis Presley?) wasting away in a shabby nursing home in Texas. Ossie Davis, the only other recognizable star, plays another patient--an elderly black man who thinks he's President John F. Kennedy. They join forces to battle an evil entity that seems to be a reincarnated Egyptian mummy. The script--penned by Libyan-born Don Coscarelli, screenwriter of the eerie Phantasm series--ranges from gross humor to creepy terror to philosophical ramblings on aging. The quality is equally variable, but Bubba Ho-Tep deserves credit for being different.

Bug (2007) is a disturbing film about paranoia, conspiracy theories, and mental illness. A barely recognizable Ashley Judd skillfully plays a white-trash barmaid living in a cheap desert motel. She meets a stranger (played with creepy reticence by Michael Shannon) who finds her run-down rooms infested with tiny bugs. When he offers to eradicate them, her precarious life starts spiraling out of control. Harry Connick Jr. and Brian F. O'Byrne have small but strong supporting roles. But there's no escaping that this movie wallows in sleaze -- some people abruptly left the theater during my viewing. The point that madness can be contagious has been made with more subtlety.

Burn After Reading (2008) is another outstanding movie from the Oscar-winning writer/director team of Ethan and Joel Coen. It's more in the spirit of their cult hit Fargo (1996) than their more recent No Country For Old Men, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2007 but was bleak and violent. Burn After Reading has a few moments of violence, but the overall tone is lighter and funnier. As usual, the Coen brothers' theme is the foolishness of small-time criminals. Brad Pitt is marvelous as a dingbat health-club trainer who stumbles on the first-draft memoir of a former CIA analyst (the delightfully menacing John Malkovich). His partner in a hare-brained blackmail scheme is a colleague who needs money for cosmetic surgery (Frances McDormand, a Coen brothers regular). George Clooney and Tilda Swinton contribute additional talent. The results are quirky but always entertaining.

The Business of Strangers (2001) is an outstanding showcase for veteran actress Stockard Channing and newcomer Julia Stiles. It's an emotional drama about two businesswomen who compete in very different ways against men. Channing is the cold, competitive executive who sacrifices her personal life to succeed in a man's world, yet never feels secure in her position. Stiles is the rebellious youngster with tattoos, an attitude, and a questionable past. When they collide on a business trip, sparks fly--and woe to the man who gets caught in the middle. The plot is a hybrid of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) and Extremities (1986).

The Butterfly Effect (2004) is an interesting drama about a college student who discovers he has the supernatural ability to relive critical moments in his life. He uses his powers to correct past wrongs and create a better future for himself and his friends--or at least, he tries. As the film's title suggests, he quickly runs afoul of chaos theory. His every attempt to fix the past only damages the future. As with most time-travel stories, there are holes and discrepancies, but overall it's a suspenseful and thought-provoking film.

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004) is a fascinating view of alternative history. Styled as a British TV documentary, it depicts a world in which the Confederacy won the Civil War and conquered the North, establishing a nation that never abolishes slavery. Abraham Lincoln, convicted of war crimes, eventually dies in exile in Canada. During an expansionist period, the CSA defeats Spain and conquers Mexico and South America. Sharing Adolf Hitler's philosophy of white supremacy, the CSA stays neutral in the European theater of World War II but counters Japanese imperialism in Asia by preemptively attacking the Japanese fleet in Tokyo Bay. The alternative history continues to our present time, when slaves are auctioned on TV shopping networks and on the Internet. Commercials advertise property insurance for slaves and prescription drugs to keep them docile. Although this film is brilliantly made and historically informed, at times even hilarious, it's also a sharp indictment of institutional racism that will likely not be welcomed by those who revere the Southern cause.

Capote (2005) is a remarkable biopic about writer Truman Capote. Instead of trying to compress his life story into a couple of hours, it wisely focuses on a pivotal six-year period from 1959 when Capote repeatedly visited rural Kansas to report on the mass murder of a farmer and his family. Capote was immediately drawn into the tragedy, which eventually became the subject of his most famous book, In Cold Blood. He called it a "nonfiction novel," and it's a landmark work of deep investigative reporting. It also changed Capote forever -- he never finished another book. Philip Seymour Hoffman is stunning as Capote, whose effeminate mannerisms and elegant apparel make him seem like a Martian to the small-town Kansans. Most remarkable is the way this film shows Capote using his quirky personality to ingratiate himself with the townspeople and the murderers, gradually winning their trust and mining them for information. He veers from genuinely sympathetic to disingenuously manipulative, sometimes in the same scene. Yet Hoffman -- definitely an Oscar contender -- never fails to make it seem authentic.

Casino Royale (2006) is a sharp departure from previous James Bonds films, especially those made in the post-Sean Connery era. Gone are almost all of the gimmicks and subcurrents of self-parody that turned recent Bonds movies into near farces. Daniel Craig plays a young, tough Bond newly promoted to double-oh status who doesn't give a damn if his martinis are shaken or stirred. Although he can passably mingle with the jet set, you get the impression he would be more at home in an organized-crime street gang. The only major flaw in this movie is a long, drawn-out ending that continues for 15 minutes after the story reaches a climax.

Cast Away (2000) delivers Robinson Crusoe to a desert island by FedX in this liberal adaptation starring Tom Hanks. After a tedious intro, the movie gets interesting when Hanks becomes the lone survivor of a FedX plane crash in the South Pacific. His executive skills aren't very useful for Stone Age living. He struggles to make fire and stay alive while pining for girlfriend Helen Hunt, who thinks he's dead. His only companion is Wilson, a soccer ball. Then the film slows down again, and the ending fails to wrap up an important loose end. It's not a bad film, but I think the wrong footage was left on the cutting-room floor.

The Cat's Meow (2002) re-creates an infamous weekend in 1924 aboard newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst's yacht. Was somebody really murdered? If so, whodunnit? This meticulously detailed and witty drama by Peter Bogdanovich doesn't pull any punches as it suggests a controversial hypothesis. Even if it's yellow journalism, it's fun to watch. Muddy sound that obscures some of the smart dialogue is the only flaw worth mentioning.

Catch Me If You Can (2002) is a finely crafted tale of a young con artist (played by Leonardo DeCaprio) who poses as an airline pilot, doctor, and lawyer while cashing millions of dollars' worth of fake checks. He is relentlessly pursued by a humorless G-man (Tom Hanks, striving with mixed results to imitate a Brooklyn accent). Steven Spielberg directed this comedy-drama, based on real events from the 1960s. It's always entertaining. Even the opening credits are better than most other whole movies.

Cats & Dogs (2001) is mainly for kids--a live-action film about intrepid dogs who foil a world-domination plot by cats. It's cute and clever, though sometimes overdone--but then, so are all the recent James Bonds films, which Cats & Dogs parodies.

Cecil B. DeMented (2000, directed by John Waters) is about a gang of underground filmmakers who kidnap a glamorous Hollywood star and force her to act in their bizarre indie film. The parallels with the Patty Hearst kidnapping of the 1970s are hard to miss--and in fact Hearst has a bit part. This movie starts with great verve, but runs out of clever ideas and ends in an incoherent orgy of sex and violence.

The Changeling (2008) is a powerful drama directed by Clint Eastwood, whose recent directorial efforts are beginning to eclipse his long and respected acting career. Angelina Jolie stars as a single mother in Los Angeles whose only son disappears in 1928. Months later, a lost boy turns up. The LAPD claims it's her son -- but she is certain the cops are wrong. Then the real agony begins. Although this movie is based on a true story, it's riddled with holes. Doesn't the missing boy have relatives who could confirm or deny the mother's doubts? Why does it take so long for other members of the community to step forward with their testimony? Also, the dates of events flashed on the screen don't seem to match the passage of time in the film. Despite these problems, the acting is uniformly excellent and the images of L.A. in the Roaring Twenties are remarkable.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) is wickedly funny and one of the weirdest films ever made. Imagine how strange The Wizard of Oz must have seemed in 1939 -- then update it with a sense of humor sharpened by modern life. Strictly speaking, this isn't a kiddie flick, and some kids might find a few scenes more frightening than the Wicked Witch of the West. This is a delirious film that wields cultural references and humor like a knife, slashing at greedy consumerism, violent videogames, and overcompetitive parenting. But its message is costumed in otherworldly special effects, subtle dialogue, and the oddest song-and-dance numbers you've ever seen. Johnny Depp plays Willie Wonka as a demented cross between Captain Kangaroo and Michael Jackson, guiding five lucky children on a tour through his secret chocolate factory. The factory is a bizarre world unto itself, like Oz in an antimatter dimension. Just when you think this movie can't possibly get any weirder, it does.

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) is a superbly acted drama with a light touch -- perhaps too light. Based on a true story, it stars Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson, a Texas congressman who almost single-handedly steered the CIA into supporting Afghan guerrilla fighters in their war against Soviet invaders in the 1980s. Wilson used his influence to dramatically increase funding to the mujahadeen and arm them with sophisticated Stinger antiaircraft missiles. Julia Roberts co-stars as a wealthy Texas socialite who backs Wilson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays a CIA covert-ops man. It's a great story. However, many critics attack this film for underplaying the consequences -- after the Russians leave Afghanistan, the mujahadeen morph into the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Actually, the film does end on a cleverly scripted cautionary note, but I agree it's too subtle for the many Americans who pay scant attention to world events.

Cherish (2002) is clever, tense, and ironic. It might be this year's Memento--a film that instantly attracts a cult following. Robin Tunney skillfully plays a woman under house arrest with an ankle bracelet that alerts police if she strays more than 57 feet from her telephone. Yet somehow she must prove herself innocent of a killing while being stalked by a creepy admirer. Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) co-stars as a civil servant who periodically checks her electronic leash. The soundtrack of love songs from the 1960s and '70s is more than just background music--in this context, the lyrics become menacing. The claustrophobia and desperation of her dilemma are reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Chicago (2002) is a lush, hyperactive musical in the modern tradition of Moulin Rouge and as frankly sexual as The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Based on the stage play, it's about two women accused of murder in 1920s Chicago--one a famous cabaret dancer, the other a frustrated wannabe. But don't expect historical accuracy or deep drama. This is an outrageously funny production with flashy, frenetic dance numbers and uncommonly witty lyrics. It's easily one of the top films of the year and a leading contender for Best Picture.

Chicken Run (2000) is a punny claymation sensation from England. It's a great parody of The Great Escape, Stalag 17, Flight of the Phoenix and Animal Farm. Imprisoned chickens on an English farm plan an elaborate escape to freedom--if they can only outwit the despotic farmer and his wife.

Children of Men (2006) is a bleak and vivid drama placed in the near future of 2027, when all the world's women are suffering from inexplicable infertility. No babies have been born for 18 years. The result is political turmoil, social breakdown, and universal despair. The story takes place in Great Britain, which has become a police state that ruthlessly imprisons illegal immigrants fleeing worse fates elsewhere. Clive Owen plays an apolitical government clerk who is reluctantly drawn into the plotting of an underground resistance group. Owen is perfect as an action hero who doesn't kill but only seeks to preserve life while violence swirls around him. The dystopian vision of this film is extremely powerful and disturbingly plausible. It's a brilliant variation of George Orwell's 1984 and is much better executed than another apocalyptic British film, 28 Days Later (2003).

Chocolat (2000) gathered a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Picture, although it lost to the epic Gladiator. This is a rich drama with a talented cast. It's about a fiercely independent woman who opens a sensual chocolate shop in a conservative French village, circa 1960. Her clashes with the villagers and the mayor range from funny to tragic. There are exceptional performances all around, with Johnny Depp making a good turn as a soulful river drifter.

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) is a fantasy tale based on the series of children's books by author C.S. Lewis (1898-1963). Two brothers and two sisters evacuated to a rural English estate during World War II discover a portal to a strange world of mythical creatures. They soon discover, however, that this new world is as embroiled in conflict as the one they left. The oppressed subjects of an evil witch greet the reluctant children as saviors. Although Chronicles of Narnia is a passable morality tale, several scenes are too violent for young children, and the Christian subtext of Lewis's original books is barely evident.

The Cider House Rules (1999) was one of the best movies of the year. It has first-class acting and a compassionate story without being trite or schmaltzy.

Cinderella Man (2005) is an early Oscar contender and one of Ron Howard's best films. Based on a true story, it dramatizes the comeback of heavyweight boxer Jim Braddock in the 1930s. After injuries and other mishaps, Braddock tumbled from fame in the Roaring Twenties to desperate poverty in the Great Depression. Living in a squalid tenement and reduced to manual labor on the docks, Braddock literally fought his way back to title contention against the famous Max Baer. Yes, Cinderella Man has all the tired fight-film clichés, plus the hoary heartstrings of downtrodden workers searching for hope in the depths of America's worst economic crisis. It's a mash-up of Million Dollar Baby and Seabiscuit. But the performances by Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti are so good that it seems fresh, and the art direction is superb.

City By the Sea (2002) stars Robert De Niro in a typically strong performance. Based on a true story, it's about a New York cop who's the son of an executed murderer--and who discovers that his junkie son has also killed a man. There would be Oscar rumors about any other actor who played this role as well. But De Niro seems able to portray tough, emotionally wounded characters in his sleep. In this well-balanced drama he gets top-notch support from Frances McDormand as his girlfriend and James Franco as his troubled son. Though placed in a fictional New York beach town, it was actually filmed in Asbury Park, New Jersey--Bruce Springsteen's stomping grounds.

The Clearing (2004) is a somber drama about an executive kidnapping. It's definitely an actor's movie, with keen performances by Robert Redford as the snatched millionaire, Helen Mirren as his distraught wife, and Willem Dafoe as the inscrutable kidnapper. In strong supporting roles are Matt Craven as an FBI agent and Alessandro Nivola as the angry son. There are no superheroes, unbelievable exploits, or gratuitous car chases in this carefully crafted but somewhat depressing film. Instead, the story gradually builds up tension and remains realistic to the end.

The Closet (released in the U.S. in 2001) is one of the funniest movies of the year. It's a subtitled French film (Le Placard, 2000) starring Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu. An accountant at a condom factory accidentally learns he's about to be fired and hits upon a novel solution: by spreading a false rumor that he's gay, he spooks the company into fearing a discrimination lawsuit. His ploy works at first, but a series of unintended consequences soon turns his life upside-down. The film exploits many opportunities for comedic situations without the crudeness that's currently fashionable in American comedies.

Cold Mountain was easily one of the best films of 2003. Diehard Southerners may not like it, however, because it realistically depicts a rarely told dark side of the American Civil War--the internecine strife and brutality in the mountains of North Carolina. Jude Law plays a hard-fighting Confederate soldier who receives a letter from his girlfriend (Nicole Kidman). She desperately needs his help. With the war nearly over, he deserts the army to return home and save her. But the mountains are another battleground, as undisciplined Home Guard paramilitaries and Yankee raiders prey on the local populace. The violence is disturbing but historically accurate. Cold Mountain is the antidote to the ludicrous historical revisionism of Gods & Generals, the other major Civil War film of 2003. Kidman, Law, and their supporting cast deliver Oscar-quality performances, and the cinematography is stunning.

Collateral (2004) is an excellent film-noir thriller placed in present-day Los Angeles, the modern noir substitute for New York City or Chicago. Tom Cruise coldly plays a professional hit man who hires an innocent cab driver to ferry him from one target to the next, all night long. This film is really a slowly unfolding morality play, although it's a little light on the message and heavy on the action. The cabbie (Jamie Foxx) is an ordinary person trapped in an ordinary life who until now has devoted little thought to morality. Suddenly he's confronted by a sociopath who is not so much immoral as amoral. Their conflict eventually spurs him to respond in ways he never thought possible. Every aspect of this movie--including the writing, directing, cinematography, and acting--is first-rate.

The Constant Gardener (2005) is a John Le Carré thriller filmed in semidocumentary style, which too often means the camerawork is jerky and blurry in a bid for authenticity. Too bad, because the African footage (most of the story takes place in Kenya) is actually quite good. But the plot is thin, revolving around a conspiracy by transnational pharmaceutical companies to use Africans as human guinea pigs. To disguise the skimpy story, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles hacks the film into a mishmash of flashbacks. Fortunately, the acting surpasses the material, with Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, and Danny Huston giving first-class performances. A better thriller wouldn't make the bad guys so obvious or the conclusion such a downer.

The Contender (2000) is a taut political drama about a Washington sex scandal involving a vice-presidential candidate. The plot would have seemed ludricrous before the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. The ending still seems ludricrous--and too preachy, as well.

Control Room (2004) is a rough but thought-provoking documentary about al-Jazeera, the international TV news channel that has transfixed the Arab world. By showing a behind-the-scenes look at al-Jazeera's coverage of the U.S. war against Iraq in 2003, this film tries to debunk the popular American view that al-Jazeera is nothing but strident Arab propaganda. It doesn't entirely succeed, but it does a better job at showing something else: that tailoring the news for a target audience is a game played equally well by other news outlets and the U.S. government.

The Cooler (2003) is a modern film noir placed in Las Vegas. But it's not the family-friendly Las Vegas that plays to middle America with sidewalk attractions and Disneyesque casinos. In this Vegas, the Shangri-La casino is a throwback to smoky gambling dens owned by slick-suited thugs. William H. Macy breaks out of his usual character roles by playing the romantic lead, and his performance is a revelation. He plays a professional "cooler"--a meekly inconspicuous man who's so unlucky that the Shangri-La hires him to bring bad luck to gamblers on a winning streak. When he falls in love with a waitress, played by the sexy Mario Bello, his luck begins to change. Alex Baldwin is wonderfully creepy as the casino owner, and Paul Sorvino has a small but juicy part as a lounge singer. Occasionally violent, but truly suspenseful to the last minute.

The Corpse Bride (2005) resembles a computer-animated feature, but it's actually stop-motion photography painstakingly recorded with a digital still camera. Directors Tim Burton and Mike Johnson make the old technique seem new again. (Watch for their subtle homage to stop-motion artist Ray Harryhausen in the first piano scene.) The story is a Halloween-flavored tale about a shy young man (voiced by Johnny Depp) who accidentally marries a bride (Helena Bonham Carter) who was murdered by her greedy groom (Richard E. Grant). Other voice actors include Tracey Ullman, Albert Finney, and Christopher Lee. It's funny, eccentric, and imaginative, and filled with strange characters. One song-and-dance number stars a one-eyed skeleton who's a dead ringer for Sammy Davis Jr., and a maggot inhabiting the corpse bride's brain sounds an awful lot like Peter Lorre.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) is reminiscent of a classic Errol Flynn swashbuckler and is surprisingly good. Set in Napoleonic France, the story follows the Alexandre Dumas novel fairly closely: an innocent sailor betrayed by his friends seeks revenge after spending years in a brutal prison. James Caviezel (best known for his starring role in The Thin Red Line) plays the lead and is well supported by Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, and Luis Guzman, among others. Of course, it's unlikely that someone held captive for so many years under such harsh conditions could stage such a physical prison escape, but it's worth sacrificing some plausibility for good drama.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) is a mystical martial-arts movie with uncommonly good acting, music, and cinematography. Don't expect a campy Bruce Lee fight-em-up. It's more poetic, but not without some light touches. It won several Academy Awards, including Best Foreign-Language Film, Original Score, Cinematography, and Art Direction.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) is a hazy-yellow vision of New York in 1940--a caper comedy with Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, and the usual host of stars attracted to Allen's auteur style of filmmaking. This is not Allen's funniest movie, nor even his best caper tale; many lines of dialogue fall flat. But it's a pleasant diversion from the relentless car chases, explosions, gratuitous violence, and juvenile jokes that pass for entertainment these days. Still, I missed Mia Farrow in the Helen Hunt role.

The Da Vinci Code (2006) is probably more satisfying for people who have read Dan Brown's bestselling novel. Perhaps they will be able to decipher, or at least tolerate, all the religious and historical mumbo-jumbo that bleeds too much suspense out of this disappointing film. Things get off to a promising start. A mysterious murder in the Louvre brings an American symbologist (perfunctorily played by Tom Hanks) into the investigation. But almost immediately, the story bogs down in weird clues, puzzles, rituals, legends, plots, betrayals, and conspiracies. Every turn requires so much explanation and historical context that the movie threatens to become a PBS documentary. In fact, it would be more effective as a documentary, except then there wouldn't be an excuse for car chases and absurd plot twists.

Dancer in the Dark (2000) has an Oscar-caliber performance by Icelandic singer Bjork in a tragedy about a Czech immigrant to the U.S. who escapes from her life problems by fantasizing herself in Hollywood high-fashion musicals. The supporting cast is strong, too. The film is also a brutal examination of the death penalty in America.

Dark Blue World (2001), based on a true story, is about Czech fighter pilots who escape the Nazi takeover of their country in 1939 and join the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. After the war, they return home in triumph--only to be imprisoned without trial in forced-labor camps by the new Communist regime. Told as a series of flashbacks, with dialogue in Czech and English, this drama indulges in a few war-movie cliches but is still an engaging account of a little-told tale. A romantic subplot adds spice.

The Dark Knight (2008) is a blockbuster-hit Batman movie by writer/director Christopher Nolan, who reinvented the Caped Crusader in his previous film, Batman Begins (2005). Although popular and critically praised, these movies are the latest additions to a growing category of cinema that I call "noninteractive videogames." Their imagery is lifted wholesale from first-person shooters -- long scenes of breakneck action, violence, and destruction. Viewers don't get to control anything with a joystick, but they do get to endure brief interludes of dialogue consisting mostly of pop psychology. The only bright spot in The Dark Knight is the frightening performance of the late Heath Ledger as Batman's nemesis, the Joker. Too bad his serious effort is forever imprisoned in a movie that doesn't even take itself seriously.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004) is a typical summer blockbuster: extravagant special effects, aggressive film editing, fanciful plot. Writer/director Roland Emmerich (Stargate, Independence Day, Godzilla, The Patriot) has created a spectacular disaster film that shows the world entering an ice age at cataclysmic speed. It happens when global warming disrupts ocean currents, triggering an environmental backlash. Emmerich lampoons conservative politicians who dismiss the threat of climate change as junk science, but his movie is a showcase for junk science. (Hint: the troposphere is the lowest and warmest layer of the Earth's atmosphere, not the highest and coldest.) But who expects a science lesson? It's fun, and the scenes of New York City flooding and freezing are remarkable.

Death At a Funeral (2007) is a funny British farce about a family gathered for the requiem of its patriarch. Even before they arrive at the country manor where the services will be held, things get off on the wrong foot. A hopeful fiancé takes a dose of the wrong pills; his rival entertains foolish notions of reviving a dead romance; an elderly uncle in a wheelchair is a curmudgeon; a mystery guest bears bad tidings. Except for some coarse language and one overindulgence in potty humor (literally), this is a lightweight and enjoyable comedy.

The Deep End (2001) is an outstanding murder thriller about a harried housewife whose ill-considered decisions get her into deeper and deeper trouble. Unlike most movies in which the characters focus on nothing but the main events of the plot, this film is a more realistic view of a busy soccer mom who is frequently interrupted by her young children, a clueless father-in-law, car-pool obligations, and other distractions of everyday life. These exasperating diversions may seem oblique to the main story, but actually they help explain her manic reactions to unimagined problems. All of the acting is superb, and Tilda Swinton stands out as the bedeviled housewife.

The Departed (2006) is another urban gangster drama by Martin Scorsese, the master of this genre. It's as intense as Goodfellas (1990) and as rife with brutal characters as Gangs of New York, but the former film remains Scorsese's masterpiece. The Departed never quite delivers the same barrage of unforgettable scenes. The cast is awesome: Alec Baldwin, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, among others. Their acting is superb. But something subtle is missing, perhaps lost in translation from the original Hong Kong movie on which it's based, WuJianDao. And the conclusion is a bloodfest that makes the audience wonder why the movie invests so much time developing its characters.

Destino (2003) is a surrealistic animated film that began in 1946 as an improbable collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. It had never progressed beyond the storyboard stage until taken up again by Disney's nephew, Roy Disney, and it was executed with a combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and computer graphics by Disney's studio in Paris. Only seven minutes long, the film was released in 2003 and nominated for an Academy Award in the animated-short category. There is no dialogue, and the story is almost plotless, but the animation is beautiful and intriguing. Destino was distributed with The Triplets of Belleville, a feature-length animated film from France.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is a smartly written comedy about a young journalism graduate (played with aplomb by Anne Hathaway) who lands her first job as an editorial assistant to a fashion-magazine editor who's the boss from hell (expertly played, as always, by Meryl Streep). Plunged into the snobby, back-biting world of high fashion, the bright-eyed youngster soon finds her life upended. Her boss is impossible to please. Her colleagues cut her down at every opportunity. Her raggedy boyfriend offers little sympathy. Driven to tears, she redoubles her efforts and relents to a fashion makeover by the magazine's art director (Stanley Tucci at his flaming best). Then her turnaround causes new trouble in her personal life. Women bond with this movie, but it's not just a chick flick. Hasn't everyone had a job like this?

Die Another Day (2002) is a typical James Bond romp with eccentric villains, unbelievable spy toys, sexy women, fast cars, and jackhammer pacing. Halle Berry is the new "Bond woman," and Pierce Brosnan continues his successful rule as the latest incarnation of Agent 007. The storyline involves African conflict diamonds and North Korean bad guys, but that's not important. Ever since the Bond movies became self-parodies in the post-Sean Connery era, the plots have been secondary to the action. As an amusement-park ride, this one is as good as any.

Dinosaur (2000) is an odd beast--a Disney film that's too scary for small children and a bit too cartoonish for dinosaur-enthusiast adults.

Disturbia (2007) is a surprisingly good riff on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954). Updated for the Internet age, with the starring roles played by teenagers, Disturbia shifts the story of amateur surveillance and suspicion from the big city to the suburbs. A troubled high-school boy under electronic house arrest spies on his neighbors for amusement and gradually comes to believe that the man next door is a serial killer. Is the boy right, or merely paranoid? This version isn't as classy as Hitchcock's classic and drops the interesting little subplots, but it's still a masterful thriller.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) is a real emotional roller-coaster, careening from outrageous humor to tearful drama--often in the same scene. Sandra Bullock is a young playwright who spills the story of her unsettling childhood to Time magazine, sparking a rift with her mother, played by Ellen Burstyn in the present and Ashley Judd as a depressed young woman. Her mother's lifelong friends try to rescue the relationship. There's some good writing and acting here, if you can overlook two annoying flaws: it overplays the joke of Southern ladies swearing like drunken sailors, and it suffers from a serious time warp. Bullock's character is a 12-year-old in the 1950s, yet is only 30ish almost 50 years later, while everyone else has aged at the normal rate. Still, women in particular seem to love this movie.

Dogma (1999) proves that not everything touched by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon turns to gold. This mess of a movie is ruined by a few vile scenes and cheap philosophy, wasting what could have been an intriguing story about two fallen angels trying to get back to heaven.

Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) is a brilliant documentary about the renaissance of skateboarding in the 1970s. The unorthodox, abrasive film editing and hard-rock soundtrack are perfect complements to the story: how a group of vagabond teenagers (the Zephyr Team) from a tough Santa Monica neighborhood (Dogtown) catapulted skateboarding from a pale imitation of surfing into a thrilling, extreme urban sport. Filmmaker Stacy Peralta combines archive film footage and photographs with amusing interviews of the skaters today.

Double Jeopardy (1999) doesn't suck, like remakes of good old movies usually do. Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd bring the 1955 original up to date.

Down With Love (2003) is the kind of smart and funny movie that Hollywood rarely makes these days. Set in Manhattan in 1962, it's a clever parody of the madcap romantic comedies of that era, starting with the supergraphic opening credits and carried through the dialogue, costumes, art direction, and music. Renee Zellweger plays the Doris Day-like lead role of a pixie-blonde librarian from Maine who writes a sex-and-love advice book for women. When it unexpectedly becomes a bestseller and she achieves celebrity status, a man-about-town bachelor who writes for a men's magazine (Ewan McGregor) tries to slyly seduce her. You don't have to be a film buff to dig the wit of this meticulously crafted satire.

Downfall (Der Untergang, in German with English subtitles, 2004) is a stunning and historically accurate drama about Adolf Hitler's last days in his Berlin bunker near the end of World War II. It's by far the best German film about Hitler since the seven-hour "Our Hitler" (Hitler: ein Film aus Deutschland, 1978), which was a highly experimental work best appreciated by film buffs. Downfall is a more conventional historical drama, though its acute attention to detail is refreshingly unconventional. Told mainly through the eyes of Hitler's personal secretary, Traudl Junge, it portrays both the personal side of Hitler and the better-known image of a ruthless dictator lost in his hate and delusion. The acting is universally superb, the drama taut, and the cinematography succeeds in capturing the claustrophobia of the Fuhrer bunker deep beneath embattled Berlin. That we know how the drama ends only strengthens the foreboding that Hitler and his entourage are living in their tomb.

Dreamgirls (2006) is an overlong adaptation of a hit Broadway musical. It's loosely based on the Supremes and other Motown singing groups from the 1960s that became crossover pop acts. As a motion picture, Dreamgirls would work better with more spoken-word dialogue and less sung dialogue, preserving the suspension of disbelief so necessary to a successful story told in film. The live performances and recording sessions depicted in the movie would provide plenty of opportunities to stage the exquisitely produced musical numbers. Eddie Murphy is a surprise standout in a supremely talented cast that includes Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Danny Glover, Jennifer Hudson, and Keith Robinson. Fans of Motown, R&B, and flashy dancing will love this rousing production.

Driving Lessons (2006) is a quirky British film about a teenage boy (played by Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter fame) who finds a part-time job as a household helper for an eccentric older lady (played by Julie Walters). She draws him into a series of misadventures that breaks him loose from his strict religious upbringing. Although both stars do their best -- Grint can do more acting with only his eyes than most actors can do with their whole bodies -- the screenplay can't match their efforts. One problem is that the film seems to preach that the only alternative to strict religion is irresponsibility. Another flaw is the waste of the talented Laura Linney, who is relegated to playing the cardboard character of an uptight religious mom who's really a hypocrite.

Eight-Legged Freaks (2002) is a campy film that harkens back to the monster movies of the 1950s, and it never stops poking fun at itself. Like all classic horror flicks, it builds slowly, postponing a close look at the monsters. Then it explodes like a firecracker. This time, a small desert town is invaded by spiders made giant by spilled toxic waste. While the bugs run amok, a gutsy woman sheriff (one of the few nods to modern times) and an intrepid mine owner fight to save the town. Thankfully, Eight-Legged Freaks avoids the gore of modern horror films and limits most of the graphic bleeding to the spiders.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) stars Cate Blanchett reprising her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen (1998). The Golden Age takes place in 1585, when the Queen is threatened by assassination plots and England is attacked by the Spanish armada. As usual, Blanchett is brilliant, alternating between moods of self-confidence and self-doubt, fear and courage, cold-hearted resolve and emotional vulnerability. She is wooed by Sir Walter Raleigh, played as a swashbuckler by Clive Owen. However, the movie goes overboard in portraying the Spanish as bad guys, dressing them in black Darth Vader costumes. Inexplicably, Spanish plotters seem to spend all their time dyeing red cloth. And the climactic battle with the armada is highly condensed. But overall, this is a good historical drama.

The Emperor's Club (2002) resembles Dead Poets Society (1989) with its story of a inspiring teacher leading teenage boys toward manhood at an exclusive boarding school. But the second half of the film leaps forward 25 years to show how the boys turned out. Although this drama strives to be a lofty morality tale, the climax is unsatisfying. Ultimately, the noble teacher shirks his civic responsibility and his own sermons of courage by remaining silent in the face of corruption.

Enemy At the Gates (2001) is about a duel between German and Russian snipers during the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II. It's worth seeing if only because it's a rare example of an American-made war movie told from the Russian point of view. Jude Law and Ed Harris excel as the Russian and German snipers with their own scores to settle. A love-story subplot meshes well with the main plot--another rarity in war movies. Still, I'd like to see an epic motion picture about Stalingrad, which this film looks like until the story focuses on the private battle of the snipers.

Enigma (2001) is based on the true story of British codebreakers who cracked the secrets of the German "Enigma" cipher machine in World War II. But the real enigma is how a story with so much real-life drama could be turned into such a preposterous and jumbled plot. Could an unstable mathematician and a lowly clerk really steal the only Enigma machine in Allied hands from the codebreaking headquarters at Blechley Park? Could they hide such a large machine in a small roadster so that even veteran cops and intelligence agents couldn't find it? Could they appear unannounced at a top-secret military listening post and walk away with valuable documents? What's even more unbelievable is that Enigma was written by Tom Stoppard, whose outstanding credits include Shakespeare In Love (1998), Empire of the Sun (1987), and Brazil (1985). Somebody must have run this script through an Enigma machine without decoding it.

Erin Brockovich (2000) is a well-made tale about a single mom who becomes a crack legal assistant on the warpath against a big utility company. Poor people are getting sick from pollution, and they need help. Julia Roberts dresses like a Pretty Woman and won an Academy Award for Best Actress; thank heavens they cast Albert Finney instead of Richard Gere as her lawyer-boss.

Evolution (2001) is afflicted with moronic Hollywood toilet humor as it tries but fails to imitate Ghostbusters. It has a few laughs, though, and the special-effects wizards show off their technology by creating a veritable zoo of rapidly evolving alien creatures who arrive on a flaming meteor. David Duchovny (The X Files) is the wry community-college instructor who leads the battle against the invaders. Years from now, the only thing more embarrassing to Duchovny than acting in this movie will be remembering that he didn't use a stunt double for his mooning scene.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000) is a documentary about former televangelist Tammy Faye Baker by two gay filmmakers--which might seem ridiculous. But it's surprisingly genuine, sympathetic, and funny without mocking its strange subject.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) is bizarre, twisted, and possibly brilliant if you're into Stanley Kubrick. It's also subject to multiple interpretations, so pay attention, especially during the orgy scene.

Factotum (2005) is the best movie about barflies since...well, since Barfly (1987). It's no coincidence, because both are based on the life and writings of Beat poet and novelist Charles Bukowski. In Factotum, Matt Dillon plays the Bukowski-like character, portrayed so brilliantly in Barfly by the king of down-and-out roles, Mickey Rourke. Dillon's interpretation is surprisingly good, even when compared with Rourke's in Barfly or Dillon's Oscar-nominated performance in Crash (2004). Dillon gets strong support from the talented Lili Taylor, who plays a lush reminiscent of Faye Dunaway's character in Barfly. Both films show an alcoholic writer wallowing in self-destruction, yet never losing his dark humor. Also rewarding are the numerous small roles played by character actors who make the most of their brief screen time.

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) is director Michael Moore's unabashed attack on President George W. Bush, his administration, and his war on Iraq. Almost all the information in this documentary is old news: the financial ties between the Bin Laden family and other Saudi Arabians with the Bush family; the Bush administration's secret movement of Bin Laden's relatives out of the U.S. in the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; the token military forces deployed against al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan; Iraqi civilians killed in U.S. air strikes; lies about weapons of mass destruction; abuse of Iraqi POWs; no-bid multibillion-dollar contracts awarded to VP Dick Cheney's former company; and on and on. But never has everything been assembled into one hard-hitting package for a mass audience, so lots of this information will come as a revelation to viewers. The tone swings from outrageously funny (Moore asking skeptical congressmen to enlist their sons and daughters in the army) to tragic (a Michigan mother reading the last letter from her dead son, an American soldier in Iraq who opposed the war). Fahrenheit 9/11 is undeniably powerful. But will it persuade anyone to change their mind about Bush? I think it will--the illusion that our invasion of Iraq was part of the war on terror is slowly cracking.

Far From Heaven (2002) is a film about the 1950s that wouldn't have been made in the 1950s. It peels back the glossy exterior of an upper-middle-class American family to tell a story about forbidden love--both interracial and homosexual. But it tries too hard to draw a sharp contrast between the Life Magazine image of the 1950s and actual reality. Even on the surface, the decade was never as formal or as rose-colored as this movie makes it appear. The overdrawn, cartoonish portrayal undercuts the emotional drama. Still, it's almost worth seeing just for the marvelous set design and classic cars.

Femme Fatale (2002) is a clever heist film in which director Brian De Palma once again returns to the creative well of Alfred Hitchcock. This time, De Palma combines elements of Rear Window, Vertigo, and Double Indemnity in a sharply cut drama about jewel thieves in Paris. The Hitchcockian references, multilayered plot, and surprise ending will thrill film buffs. The gratuitous sex and violence also make the movie trashy enough to entertain modern audiences. (Hint: watch the clock!)

Fight Club (1999) = Freedom Club. Tyler Durden = Ted Kaczynski. Operation Mayhem = the short path from personal rebellion against civilization to forcing everyone else to live without civilization. This surprisingly good but seriously misinterpreted film is what American Beauty wanted to be.

Finding Forrester (2000) stars a masterful Sean Connery in a fictional tale that's reminiscent of the 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams. Connery plays a reclusive novelist, and newcomer Robert Brown excels in his role as a black urban teenager who loves writing as much as basketball. He gets critical help from Connery. F. Murray Abraham plays the villain, a private-school instructor who doubts the kid's talent.

Finding Nemo (2003) is another success for Pixar Studios, which seems to have discovered a secret formula for making animated feature films (Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc.). Actually, it's no secret: the ingredients are clever writing, state-of-the-art computer graphics, instantly likable characters, and an adventurous sense of humor. This time the story takes place in the ocean, where a nervous clown fish embarks on a perilous journey to find his lost son, Nemo. Ellen DeGeneres almost steals the show as the voice of Dory, a forgetful fish whose imitation of "whale language" is one of the funniest scenes in any movie you'll see this year.

Finding Neverland (2004) is a biopic about Sir James Matthew Barrie, the British author of Peter Pan. Johnny Depp plays Barrie in an uncharacteristically subdued manner, practically sleepwalking through a role that cries out for more life. (His Oscar nomination for Best Actor was probably a redress for so many oversights of his superlative past performances.) Kate Winslet costars as a single mom whose children inspire Barrie to write his famous play, and Julie Christie has a cameo as the starchy grandmother. The conclusion is so well-crafted it almost makes you forget the well-worn clichés and the underdeveloped subplot of Barrie's unhappy marriage. Overall: flawed, but worth seeing.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) is another unfortunate example of a historical drama botched by Hollywood. In this case, director Clint Eastwood starts with a ready-made great story -- the famous flag raising at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 -- and turns it into a confused mess of flashbacks, flash-forwards, and flash-sideways. All continuity of storytelling is lost as the film jumps in a different direction with almost every successive scene. In addition, viewers unfamiliar with the details of World War II receive no explanation or historical context for one of the bloodiest battles in American history. To muddle things further, the film revolves around the controversy of the flag raising -- who was actually in the picture? -- without answering the question in an understandable way. Too bad, because good editing could have saved this film.

Flash of Genius (2008) falls decidedly in the middle of the bell curve, as movies go. It's more generic than genius. Greg Kinnear stars as Bob Kearns, a mechanical engineer in Detroit who perfected the intermittent windshield wiper in the 1960s. Initially, Ford executives seemed interested in using the invention. Then they dropped Kearns like an untouchable and introduced a strikingly similar wiper design. Thus began a long emotional and legal battle that pitted a little guy against a big corporation. Kinnear is believable in the lead role, but compressing years into minutes is always difficult, and the plot is always predictable. I admired the art direction, which reproduces the interiors of middle-class homes in the 1960s and 1970s with startling realism.

For Love of the Game (1999) masterfully juggles two sports: love and baseball. It's destined to become one of the great baseball movies, and it's another home run for Kevin Costner, who has now completed a trilogy that started with Bull Durham and Field of Dreams.

For Your Consideration (2006) is a light comedy from the ensemble of improvisational players who made A Mighty Wind (2003), Best in Show (2000), Waiting for Guttman (1996), and other intellectual satires. This time, they mock the cast of a low-budget Jewish-themed art film ("Home for Purim"). Seizing upon an obscure Internet rumor, the small-time members of this cast manage to convince themselves that Academy Award nominations are in the wing. Media hype reinforces their delusion. Soon they become jealous of each other, and everyone from the director to studio execs begins tinkering with the project. For Your Consideration isn't as hilarious as the ensemble's previous films, but it's passable, and best appreciated by fans of ethnic (Jewish) humor.

The Forgotten (2004) is a passable thriller about parents of missing children--or are they really missing? Family photos and videos suddenly seem altered, the children deleted. One mother, played with tenacity by Julianne Moore, learns from her husband and her psychologist that memories of her nine-year-old son are delusions caused by the trauma of miscarriage. Then she finds a man who appears to share the same delusion. This film plays heavily on the fear of unseen powers that is such a common thread in modern American cinema. The conclusion is typical, too, with its unsettling mix of partial victory and unresolved mystery.

Freaky Friday (2003) is a seemingly frivolous comedy about a middle-aged single mom (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter (Lindsay Lohan) who awake one morning to find themselves inhabiting each other's bodies. It is indeed a comedy, with plenty of laughs, but it also has a serious side. Mom learns that her daughter's complaints about school and wicked friends aren't just adolescent angst, and the girl learns that her mother's worklife and pending second marriage aren't as rock-solid as they seem. Inevitably there's a true meeting of the minds.

Frequency (2000) has a clever time-travel twist that elevates it above the average Hollywood cop thriller. It's about a New York cop who cracks a decades-old serial-killer case by getting advice from his dead father over a shortwave radio from the Twilight Zone.

Friends With Money (2006) is a rare character drama about middle-aged women -- and a rare opportunity for a cast of veteran actresses to shine. They do. Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, and Frances McDormand play successful, wealthy women in L.A. whose younger friend, played by Jennifer Aniston, is struggling to find her way in life. Aniston's character has dropped out of teaching and is barely scraping by as a cleaning maid, while her friends casually donate large sums to charity. Worst of all, she's still unmarried and hung up on a married man she dated only a few months. Some reviewers complain that nothing much happens in this film. But it's thrumming with the kind of drama that flows under everyday lives.

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) is another Hollywood distortion of history. What a shame. A faithful biopic of documentary photographer Diane Arbus would be fascinating. To its credit, at least, this bizarre film admits that it's almost pure fiction -- both in the title and in two disclaimers during the opening and closing credits. Knowledgeable fans of Arbus will find only a few tidbits of truth. Nicole Kidman is an improbable choice to play Arbus, but she does her best with an offbeat script. Robert Downey Jr. plays a former freak-show attraction who falls in love with Arbus and introduces her to the world of circus freaks. You won't see any genuine Arbus photos; apparently the filmmakers couldn't get permission from her estate. Diane's husband, Alan Arbus, suffers a great injustice -- unlike his portrayal here, he was extremely supportive of her work.

Galaxy Quest (1999) is a funny satire about actors on a TV science-fiction show who suddenly find themselves enmeshed in a real galactic adventure. Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver star. Although it's not a Star Trek movie, it's best appreciated by self-effacing Star Trek fans.

Gangs of New York (2002) is a masterful look at a scarcely remembered chapter in American history: the clash between Irish immigrants and anti-immigration "nativists" in the 1860s. Leonardo DeCaprio stars in his most mature performance to date. Daniel Day-Lewis co-stars in a truly brilliant portrayal of a brutal nativist gang boss. The violence is gory, but historical. Conservatives who were outraged by protests against the Vietnam War will be stunned by this film's faithful retelling of the much more violent antidraft riots during the Civil War. However, a few plot points don't ring true: DeCaprio's character probably wouldn't survive his knifing, and it's doubtful that Day-Lewis's one-eyed character could throw knives so accurately. Still, director Martin Scorsese deserves to win his first Oscar for this epic.

Garage Days (2003) rocks! This Australian comedy-drama is about a rock 'n' roll garage band that desperately wants a big break. They seem to get it when the bandleader accidentally meets Australia's hottest record producer. Then everything goes wrong: tensions among the band members explode into serious arguments, old romances break up, new romances form, mental illness cripples one musician, drugs take their toll, and the band's manic manager is demoted to roadie. It looks like curtains, but the bandleader struggles to keep things together. A great ensemble cast and raunchy Australian humor bring this flick alive. It's a great flip side to this year's other hilarious musical comedy, A Mighty Wind.

Ghost World (2000), a quirky tale of teenage angst, follows the adventures of best friends Enid and Tiffany during their first summer after high school. Although the girls couldn't wait to put school behind them, they begin to realize that their lives have irrevocably changed--not always for the better. Enid develops an odd friendship with a middle-aged collector of curios, while Tiffany struggles to establish her independence in the adult world. The theme and especially the ending are reminiscent of The Graduate, which did a better job of portraying generational conflict.

Girl, Interrupted (1999) drags teenage angst to new depths and is an above-average tale of mental illness and mental institutions, but it's a far cry from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest..

Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003) is a showcase for Scarlett Johansson--the young, moody actress whose quirky talents contributed so much to Lost in Translation (2003) and Ghost World (2000). This time she plays a Dutch maid in 1665 who inspires the artist Johannes Vermeer to paint his famous portrait from which the movie draws its name. A modernist actress like Johansson might seem out of place in a historical drama, especially one that frankly portrays the brutishness of 17th-century city life, but she rises to the occasion with an irresistible performance. Although the story is pure fiction, it's a plausible speculation about an inspiring artwork and the anonymous girl whom it immortalizes.

Gladiator (2000) is a must-see if you thought that film spectacles like Ben Hur had gone the way of 25-cent popcorn. Russell Crowe even improves on Charlton Heston in this Roman epic. The battle scenes are realistic but not gratuitously gory.

Gods and Generals (2003) is a ridiculously awful film about the early days of the Civil War, 1860-1863. Produced by Ted Turner, it's the prequel to Gettysburg, a much better work. It's told mostly from the Southern point of view, heavily sanitized. In this fantasy version of history, no unhappy slaves appear, a black cook eloquently prays for freedom with Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, army officers quote long passages from Roman memoirs before joining battle, the Confederates conveniently forget they turned a secession crisis into civil war by firing the first shot at Fort Sumter, and everyone speaks in stilted dialogue, even under the most dire circumstances. As a final insult, the four-hour film ends with credits that flash by so quickly they're impossible to read.

Gone In 60 Seconds (2000) is a tolerable Hollywood action film about professional car thieves who have to steal a bunch of cars before a deadline to keep a loved one from getting rubbed out by bad guys. There's a better-than-average car chase at the climax, but otherwise this movie rarely rises above average.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008) is an interesting but inconclusive documentary about the "gonzo journalist" who is best known for his stories in Rolling Stone and for his reportage in such books as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1968. This is an honest documentary that examines Thompson's personal foibles (heavy drinking, drug abuse, philandering, destructive tantrums) as well as his talents for deep reporting and entertaining writing. But it avoids judging the most vital aspect of Thompson's work -- credibility. Gonzo journalism blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction, between point of view and self indulgence. Ultimately, Thompson's writing undermined the effectiveness of his reporting, which perhaps explains why he has few imitators today.

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) is a brilliant commentary on the reunification of Germany, the lies of totalitarianism, the broken promises of communism, the greed of capitalism, and the joys and sorrows of freedom. But that description makes Good Bye, Lenin! sound like a pedantic documentary, which it most certainly is not. Instead, it's a witty drama about an East German mother and her teenage son. When she awakens from a long coma after a heart attack, she is unaware of recent events: the collapse of the Berlin Wall and East Germany. To protect her from a potentially life-threatening shock--she is a devoted communist--her son goes to extreme lengths to maintain the illusion that East Germany still exists. His deceptions soar to incredible heights, creating many comic situations and subtle comparisons to life under a totalitarian regime. By the end, he becomes poignantly ensnared in his own well-meaning deceits. (German with English subtitles.)

The Good Girl (2002) stars Jennifer Aniston in a sordid morality tale about middle-class angst. Aniston plays a bored 30-year-old discount-store clerk and wife of a pot-smoking oafish husband (John C. Reilly). A casual fling with a younger man (Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays an identical character in Lovely & Amazing) leads to predictable trouble. Would any sensible, attractive woman have an affair with a college dropout who obsessively reads Catcher In the Rye and even renames himself after Holden Caulfield? This film tries to make a statement about the restrictive boundaries of life in middle-class America, but it's hard not to notice that the characters are fencing themselves in.

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) reconstructs the historic confrontation between U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and CBS TV's seminal newsman, Edward R. Murrow. Placed in the 1950s, it shows a crusading journalist using a new medium to question the abuses of the anticommunist "witch hunts" during the Cold War. But the battle of principles between Murrow and McCarthy is really a sideshow. Director and co-writer George Clooney puts TV on trial in this highly charged film. The Murrow-McCarthy affair is overshadowed by the clashes between Murrow and his profit-minded corporate bosses at CBS. And the story is bracketed by Murrow's uncompromising speech to a crowd of broadcast-industry swells, in which he challenges them to make TV more than a wasteland of shallow entertainment and diversion. Filmed in lush black-and-white, this drama convincingly re-creates an era that's more relevant today than ever. David Strathairn deserves an Oscar nomination for nailing Murrow's on-screen persona with eerie realism.

Gosford Park (2001), a gorgeous Robert Altman film, is a social drama set in 1932 England among the upper-class gentry at a splendid country estate. It's a time of great homes staffed with well-trained servants who fulfill every whim--and who fill the relative emptiness of their own lives with endless gossip about the private lives of their employers. The film's examination of this society is almost documentary, though almost certainly oversexed. The plot seems to have no particular direction until a dramatic event reveals hidden relationships and passions. English accents make it difficult for American audiences to follow the dialogue, but the rewards are worth the effort.

The Green Mile (1999) is overlong, cliche-ridden, and wastes several good performances on an overwrought story about saintly convicts and evil prison guards.

Greendale (2004) is the eccentric film version of Neil Young's hard-rockin' concept album of the same name. It's not a music video, but a visualization of the stories told in the lyrics. Young's Crazy Horse band supplies the grungy soundtrack. Shot in gritty Super 8 film, with no dialogue save for the lyrics, Greendale weaves a drama of small-town moral tragedy, political machination, and environmental activism. Though it swings wildly back and forth from literalism to allegorical fantasy and isn't for everyone, it kept me riveted through the final credits.

Haiku Tunnel was one of the best comedies of 2001. It's an indie film co-written and co-directed by Josh Kornbluth, who also stars. Kornbluth shows potential as the new Woody Allen in his neurotic role as an office temp at a San Francisco law firm. After the firm unexpectedly hires him full-time, his carefree life as a rootless temp starts to rapidly go downhill--with hilarious results. Despite a few inside jokes about law firms and San Francisco, the movie still works as a topical satire of the modern office. Vote independent and see Haiku Tunnel.

Half Nelson (2006) is one of the best films about drug addiction ever made. It's not preachy, it avoids stereotypes, and it has great soul. Ryan Gosling delivers a stunning performance as an inner-city schoolteacher addicted to crack cocaine. He struggles to hide his drug habit and steady descent into dereliction. He gets help from an unexpected source: one of his 13-year-old pupils, a black girl played with insightful reserve by Shareeka Epps. Gosling's performance teeters on the edge of excess, but never loses balance. This is a serious film that doesn't pull punches. It's marred only by a series of abrupt history-lesson scenes that seem forced and out of place.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) is a lavish special-effects production that hews closely to the best-selling children's novel of the same name. But it's awfully long and intense for very young or impressionable children. And although it's a better-than-average story about magical people in a fantasy land, it lacks the same sense of wonder and delight that marks true classics like The Wizard of Oz. Better luck next time.

The Haunting (1999) is a haunted-house movie that relies too heavily on special-effects pizzazz. You're better off renting the truly spooky 1963 original starring Julie Harris.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) is a tragic transsexual love story, but the catchy tunes are the true heart of this harsh rock musical. Hedwig is a sexually abused German boy who finds a novel way to escape East Berlin during the Cold War: marry a U.S. Army sergeant. Now he/she is the lead singer in a rock band whose songs are stolen by a former lover. Hedwig's pursuit of justice--in matters of both law and of love--leads to a series of complicated personal relationships. Some scenes are uncomfortably raw, but the music is always redemptive, especially the allegorical "Origins of Love."

Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005) is a reasonably good update of the long-running movie series about "Herbie," an old Volkswagen Beetle with a spunky personality. The original Herbie from 1966 spawned six sequels through Herbie, the Love Bug in 1982. In the latest version, an equally spunky young woman (Lindsay Lohan) rescues Herbie from a junkyard and helps her mechanic friend (Justin Long) restore the car to NASCAR specs. But her father (Michael Keaton), a race-team leader, forbids her to compete. This sets up the usual madcap conflict that ends predictably, but it's still funny -- if you like the silliness of an old Beetle racing against modern NASCAR vehicles. Overall, this movie is no sillier or cornier than the originals.

Hero (2002-2004) is a gorgeous film about an ancient Chinese warrior, three super assassins, and the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, who first united China. The story is told in a series of repeating flashbacks, each with a different version of events, reminiscent of the Japanese classic Rashomon (1950). Mixing elements of history and fantasy, Hero explores the ambiguity experienced by people who are living through historical events, not studying them long afterward. The cinematography and art direction are spectacular, and the battle scenes glow with an artistry rarely seen in American film. Originally produced in 2002, this movie was released in the U.S. (with English subtitles) in 2004.

High Fidelity (2000) has John Cusak's best performance since The Grifters. He's the music-obsessed owner of a small record store catering to collectors, and anybody who hoards vinyl will identify with the cast of warped characters.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) tries hard to reproduce the cleverness and humor of Douglas Adams's classic science-fiction novel, and sometimes it succeeds. At times it seems choppy as it struggles to visualize the literary detours and casual asides sprinkled through the book, but any screen adaptation ignoring those devices would be a travesty. Even so, it's obvious that the film relies heavily on the nonfilm device of voice-over narration -- in the form of whole passages from the novel quoted verbatim -- to capture the absurdist spirit of Adams's story. The screenplay is generally faithful to the book, starting with the destruction of Earth for a galactic superhighway, followed by the misadventures of a tepid Englishman who finds himself caught up in a bewildering galaxy of eccentric space aliens. (Hint: Don't leave when the credits roll. At my screening, I was the only person in the theater to remain for the coda.)

Hollow Man (2000) is a cheap and sleazy remake of The Invisible Man, ruining the best special effects of the year with a raunchy script. Still, it has those great special effects.

Hotel Rwanda (2004) is a powerful and compassionate drama about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which thousands of people identifying themselves as Hutu massacred about 500,000 fellow citizens identified as Tutsi. (They are not African tribes; modern Hutus and Tutsis are descendants of native Africans divided into two groups by former Belgian colonists.) Don Cheadle richly deserves his Best Actor nomination for playing the Hutu manager of a luxury hotel who shelters hundreds of Tutsis from the slaughter. Based on true people and events, this superlative film reveals the horror and absurdity of the killing without drifting from its central thread--the story of one man's humanity amidst madness. It's the Schindler's List of the Rwandan holocaust.

The Hours (2002) wastes superlative acting on a muddled story. It takes place in 1923, 1941, 1951, and 2001 in England, Los Angeles, and New York. The tenuous link is Virginia Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway." Nicole Kidman--disguised in a fake nose that's sometimes visibly putty-colored--plays Woolf. Julianne Moore plays a quietly desperate 1950s housewife, her second such role this year (see Far From Heaven). Meryl Streep is a modern New Yorker who's nursing a male friend dying of AIDS. All are depressed, confused lesbians, and the story spasmodically lurches toward an emotional epiphany. Tears reign over coherence, but the performances are so good, most viewers don't care.

The House of Mirth (2000) is a 19th-century costume drama about an upper-class woman who falls on hard times. Too bad it's so incomprehensibly edited that even a strong performance by Gillian Anderson (The X Files) can't save it.

The Hurricane (1999) is worth seeing, as long as you don't take it too literally. With such dramatic real-life material to work with, why do Hollywood directors insist on fictionalizing a story like this?

I Am Legend (2007) is a big-budget remake of Omega Man (1971), which was a medium-budget remake of The Last Man On Earth (1964), which was a low-budget adaptation of a science-fiction novel by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, 1954). Recycling is good for the environment but often toxic for movies. In this case, computer-generated special effects overwhelm the story. And the story has changed from the lethargic, cultish zombie flick of 1964 into a killfest freak show resembling 28 Days Later (2002). A cancer cure goes bad, felling most of the world's population and transforming nearly all the survivors into homicidal zombies. Oddly, the genetic virus gives the zombies superhuman athleticism, except in daytime if they're not wearing SPF-1,000 sunscreen. Will Smith stars as the last normal human, a role originally played by Charleton Heston and Vincent Price in earlier versions. This adaptation would have done better to rely more on Smith and less on cheap-thrill pixels.

I Am Sam (2001) has Oscar-quality performances from Sean Penn and child actress Dakota Fanning, though only Penn was nominated. The dialogue, by screenwriters Kristine Johnson and Jessie Nelson, is powerful and honest. Unfortunately, Nelson didn't stick to writing--he also directed. Some of Penn's best scenes are massacred by Nelson's amateurish, herky-jerky film editing, which at times makes it difficult to even focus on Penn's face. Fortunately, the material is strong enough to prevail. Penn plays a retarded man trying to retain custody of his young daughter, who is rapidly overtaking her father's limited mental capacity. Michelle Pfeiffer plays his fast-living attorney. An excellent supporting cast helps to put this emotional movie over the top.

I Heart Huckabees (2004; also known as I Love Huckabees) is a strange, intriguing movie that aims high but sometimes descends into silliness. The cast is formidable: Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, and Isabelle Huppert, plus relative newcomer Jason Schwartzman in the leading role. Broadly speaking, the story is about a young environmentalist who engages an "existential detective agency" to investigate a coincidence: his three chance encounters with a tall, black African man. Schwartzman's character wants to understand the significance of these events. From this slim thread, the film launches into a philosophical exploration of personal connections, introspection, political activism, jealousy, love, and other weighty subjects. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The dumbest scene is a muddy sex romp involving Schwartzman and Huppert, a French actress 27 years his senior.

I, Robot (2004) is a sorry interpretation of Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction stories about robots and their interactions with humans. Although this movie claims Asimov's stories as parentage, the only significant vestiges are his famous Three Laws of Robotics, and even they get short shrift. Instead, we're subjected to an ordinary action movie with overproduced special effects and improbable action scenes. Will Smith plays a wisecracking Chicago police detective in 2035 who suspects that wayward robots killed a famous scientist. But apparently, technology has reached such a state of absolute perfection in his time (only 30 years distant from our own) that no one believes his suspicions are even remotely possible, much less plausible. From this absurd premise, everything goes downhill.

Ice Age (2002) is a lively animated feature about a woolly mammoth and a sloth who join forces during a winter migration in prehistoric times. When the unlikely pair unexpectedly rescues a human infant, they become a threesome that draws the interest of hungry saber-tooth tigers. The story is predictable, but the snappy dialogue and funny intervals with a hapless squirrel manage to keep it interesting for adults as well as children.

An Ideal Husband (1999) is a good choice if you're looking for a dose of Victorian drama with intelligent humor. Cate Blanchett and Minnie Driver star in this adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play.

Identity (2003) is an average thriller with a clever twist ending that skips by a little too quickly to tie up all the loose ends. John Cusack and Ray Liotta star as two "guests" stranded at a rundown Nevada motel during a storm. One by one, fellow guests start turning up violently dead. The surprise climax requires a stretch of imagination that seemed to confuse or disappoint the audience I saw it with. And it's not campy enough to be truly endearing.

The Illusionist (2006) is an artfully crafted film without the pretension of an art film. Set in Vienna during Victorian times, it stars Edward Norton in a role he was born to play -- a brooding, mysterious magician whose stagecraft seems supernatural. When his love affair with a duchess (played by Jessica Biel) turns into a murder mystery, he plays coyly with a principled but pressured police inspector (the always wonderful Paul Giamatti). The only significant flaw in this film is a rather hurried series of flashbacks that tie up loose ends at the conclusion. Follow the story carefully -- small details matter.

In America (2003) is a wonderful film about an emotionally damaged Irish family that emigrates to New York City and struggles to make a fresh start. Traumatized by the loss of their youngest child, the parents deal with their grief in different (mostly unhealthy) ways. Their two young daughters--insightfully played by real-life sisters--invest a touch of magic in the story. It's a truly touching drama about life, death, and rebirth.

In the Bedroom (2001) is a well-acted but overrated drama that stars Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei, and Tom Wilkinson. It's about a family tragedy in a small fishing town in Maine. Although the vignette-style editing is a little annoying, the film's main flaws are that it feels too much like a soap opera and has an unsatisfying conclusion. A much better recent film in this vein was The Deep End.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006) is an unusual documentary film that swings back and forth between science lecture and autobiography. Mostly, it's a filmed version of a presentation on global warming that former Vice President Al Gore has been delivering all over the world for several years. Those segments are packed with the results of 50 years' scientific research into climate change, enlivened by Gore's surprising humor and well-executed computer graphics. Interspersed with those segments are montages about Gore's childhood, personal life, and political career. Although the montages keep the film from overwhelming the audience with science, they also encourage the suspicion that Gore is preparing for another presidential bid. Nevertheless, this is an interesting and important film.

The Incredibles (2004) is incredibly inventive and entertaining -- as we've come to expect from Pixar, the creators of Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Finding Nemo. In this computer-animated feature, a secretive community of superheroes idled by lawsuits and ungrateful citizens returns to action and glory. The stars are Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and his flexible wife, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter). Their children include Violet, with her powers of invisibility and force fields, and Dash, a superfast runner. Their nemesis is Syndrome (Jason Lee), a commoner with dreams of superheroism. The story, animation, and dialogue are first-rate, although there's more action and less emotion than in previous Pixar films. Hint: Watch the cape!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) is a disappointing movie that flattens the characters into cardboard cutouts and buries the story under extravagant computer graphics. The special effects and wonderful sets are frequent distractions from the predictable plot and wasted actors. Harrison Ford seems to sleepwalk through his starring role as the adventuring archaeologist on the trail of an ancient crystal skull with mysterious powers. Cate Blanchett is woeful as a KGB femme fatale in leotards. Shia LaBeouf is annoying as the switchblade-slinging, hair-obsessed young sidekick. Steven Spielberg directed, but he's either out of practice or overenthralled with the latest technology. This series should have ended as a trilogy with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

The Insider (1999) gives you a chance to see Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes squirm for a change. It's a tense, sensational retelling of CBS's infamous retreat in the face of intimidation from Big Tobacco.

Insomnia (2002) is the first big-budget Hollywood film by Memento director Christopher Nolan. It's an above-average detective story that fails to match the offbeat attraction of his earlier work. Not that there's anything wrong with Insomnia. It stars Al Pacino as a sleepless LAPD detective who's out of water in a small Alaska town, Hilary Swank as an earnest local cop, and Robin Williams as a creepy villain. Insomnia is a well-crafted psychological thriller. But it lacks the innovation and energy of Memento--which only goes to show how difficult it is to make a truly exceptional film, regardless of the budget.

The Interpreter (2005) is a well-crafted thriller reminiscent of Charade (1963), whose main character was also a United Nations interpreter caught in a web of intrigue. But there are key differences. Charade used comic banter to forge a wary relationship between a government agent (Cary Grant) and the interpreter (Audrey Hepburn). In contrast, The Interpreter uses unhealed grief over lost loved ones to stitch an even more tentative relationship between the interpreter (Nicole Kidman) and the government agent (Sean Penn). Also, in The Interpreter, it is Kidman's character, not Penn's, who gradually becomes the focus of suspicion. After she overhears an apparent plot to assassinate the president of an African country, her involvement begins to seem less and less accidental.

Interview (2007) is a superb indie film adapted from a play by Dutch writer Theodor Holman. Steve Buscemi co-authored the adapted screenplay, directed the film, and stars as a magazine journalist assigned to profile a B-movie actress (perfectly played by Sienna Miller). Buscemi's character would rather be covering Washington politics than writing fluff pieces about celebrities, but he gets pulled into an intense drama at the actress's Manhattan loft. Buscemi and Miller alternately feed and bleed on each other like Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Highly recommended.

Into the Wild (2007) is a powerfully made film and perhaps the best movie of the year. It's based on Jon Krakauer's book about Christopher McCandless, a disillusioned young man who journeyed alone into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992 to live off the land. Although McCandless' intentions were good, his ignorance and arrogance led him to tragedy. Woefully unprepared for survival in the wild, he soon discovered why our hunter-gatherer ancestors invented agriculture. This beautifully filmed adaptation, expertly directed by Sean Penn, loudly celebrates McCandless' passion for nature while quietly dropping hints that he didn't understand or respect nature's power. The opening scene sets the stage, as McCandless stomps into the snowy wilderness without boots. Emile Hirsch delivers a stunning performance as McCandless, anchored by a uniformly strong supporting cast. This is top-notch cinema. And it delivers an easily overlooked message: just because you love nature doesn't mean nature will love you back.

The Invasion (2007) is a competent but mostly predictable remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978). Nicole Kidman stars as a psychiatrist who gradually becomes aware that a mysterious alien spore is infecting people, turning them into emotionless doppelgangers. Newbies who haven't seen the earlier films will probably like this remake, but it's not as campy as the 1956 original or as creepy as the 1978 version. One missing element is the alien pods -- in this film, victims are transformed, not duplicated. Although it's a minor departure, somehow it detracts from the horror. And although the new ending is more plausible, it's less satisfying.

Iris (2001) stars Judi Dench as an English author and philosopher afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, and she deserves her Best Actress nomination. Kate Winslet also shines in her role as Dench's character at a younger age. Although the movie is an accurate account of the mental and physical decline wrought by Alzheimer's, it can't avoid compressing a ten-year ordeal into an hour or so, which makes it harder to identify with the emotions and motivations of the patient's friends and family.

Iron Man (2008) is an above-average summer blockbuster based on the Marvel Comics character. Although it embraces the usual clichés -- the tortured-soul superhero, the admiring girlfriend, the turncoat villain -- its lively dialogue and self-deprecating humor keep it interesting. Props and special effects are outstanding, especially the robotic suit that turns Robert Downey Jr.'s billionaire-CEO character into a formidable fighting machine. Jeff Bridges leads a wonderfully crazed supporting cast. This movie is stiff competition for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Those who wait until the final credits end will get a surprise.

It Happened Here, lost since its making in 1966, is a realistic and frightening portrayal of what life in England might have been like under Nazi occupation in World War II. The most striking aspect of this little-known British film is how it explores the ambiguity of collaboration with the enemy.

Jarhead (2005) is based on Anthony Swofford's best-selling book about his experience in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Persian Gulf War. It's the kind of war movie that shows things rarely seen in traditional Hollywood war movies: the mind-bending boredom of waiting for something to happen, the irrationality of the combat that finally does happen, and the hint that wars are largely fought by immature young men emotionally unprepared for the consequences. In this case, it's also a war fought by young Americans raised on war movies, so Jarhead makes telling references to Apocalypse Now, The Deerhunter, Full Metal Jacket, and other pop-culture views of previous wars. One source of frustration for the Marines in this movie is that their war -- the Persian Gulf War -- ends too quickly to generate a similar aura.

Joyride (2001) has little to offer but cheap thrills. It's about two pranksters on a road trip who provoke the wrath of an anonymous truck driver. As the evil trucker seeks revenge with his seemingly godlike powers, the movie descends further into idiocy, stretching the audience's suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Recommended only for those who like urban legends.

Juno (2007) was one of the best pictures of the year. Ellen Page stars as Juno MacGuff, a sassy 16-year-old who unexpectedly finds herself expecting after one tryst with her shy boyfriend. She considers abortion, then decides to give the baby to an affluent but childless yuppie couple. Although the subject is weighty, Diablo Cody's sharply written screenplay (which won an Oscar) uses sarcastic humor and teen slang to keep things from getting too ponderous. The soundtrack provides additional comic relief and actually plays a role in the story. Occasionally, however, emotions get raw. One scene with an ultrasound technician turns mean. In another serious moment, Juno asks a timeless question: "Is it really possible for two people to be happy together, forever?" This movie would have stood a better chance of winning a Best Picture award if Oscar voters didn't have a predilection for films with epic sweep and dramatic violence.

Jurassic Park III (2001) has something even more amazing than its special effects--the absurd premise that people as stupid as the characters in this movie could actually survive on an island with vicious dinosaurs. You will go mad watching these idiots stumble into one deadly situation after another, never seeming to learn that discretion is the better part of valor. The only thing that can save this waning series is a Jurassic Park IV that pits the dinos in a full-scale battle for dominance against humans on the mainland--a sequel that Jurassic Park III seems to foreshadow.

K-PAX (2001) stars Kevin Spacey as a visiting space alien or a spaced-out mental patient, depending on your point of view. Confined in a Manhattan psychiatric hospital, he captivates his fellow patients and even his doctor (played by Jeff Bridges) with his plausible stories of life on K-PAX, his home planet. Is he the real thing, or merely delusional? The movie toys with both possibilities. Spacey's performance is smooth, but Bridges is downright wooden. Maybe he remembers that he played Spacey's role even better in Starman (1984).

King Arthur (2004) advances the controversial theory that Arthur wasn't a native Briton with a contingent of knights in shining armor, but instead a Eurasian horseman pressed into military service by the Romans in the sixth century A.D. At the end of his 15-year hitch in Britannia, Arthur and his fellow conscripts must carry out a final mission to earn their discharges and return home. In the process, they begin to rethink their loyalty and their destiny. This questionable retelling of Arthurian legend is hampered by a predictable plot and some historical inaccuracies, such as Saxons armed with crossbows, battle axes hacking through stone walls, and Romans using saber tactics with long swords. Somehow, though, the earthiness of this film seems more realistic than the flashier portrayals of King Arthur and his knights.

King Kong (2005) is an impressive remake of a classic picture, with state-of-the-art special effects and a closer relationship between the giant ape and the young woman offered to him as a human sacrifice. Kong is now a fully developed character displaying a range of emotions, including anger, amusement, frustration, and (ultimately) resignation. Naomi Watts, reprising the Fay Wray role, forges a bond with Kong that at times makes each one seem like a beloved pet of the other. But despite all the spectacle and character development, director Peter Jackson undermines his homage with some poor decisions. At three hours eight minutes, the film is overlong, with redundant dinosaur battles and distracting bit parts. The derring-do sometimes gets ridiculous, and Jack Black seems miscast as the schemer who captures Kong and brings him to New York City as a tourist attraction. Still, this is a must-see film for any King Kong fan.

Kinsey (2004) dramatizes the groundbreaking work of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, whose extensively researched books on human sexuality in the 1940s and 1950s provoked controversy and scandal. Liam Neeson stars in the title role, with Laura Linney as his wife and strongest supporter. The film is more educational than entertaining, although it definitely has its moments of comedy and drama. Kinsey is portrayed as a dedicated scientist who becomes overwhelmed by the ramifications of his work, eventually to the point of obsession. His objectivity suffers, and his research staff grows self-indulgent. In these ways, the film hints at the social, psychological, and moral effects of Kinsey's battle against sexual Puritanism. Kinsey's fans and critics can both walk away with reinforcement for their beliefs.

Kissing Jessica Stein (2002) begins with the usual Hollywood cliche that two beautiful, amusing, and intelligent women can't find Mr. Right. Then it blossoms into a wonderfully funny and brainy film. Out of desperation, the two women tentatively explore a same-sex relationship. Their clash of egos, morals, and libidos makes this movie a romance that anybody who isn't too conservative will enjoy. The two stars, Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt, also wrote the quick-witted screenplay.

The Ladykillers (2004) is an amusing remake of the 1955 comedy starring Alex Guinness and Peter Sellers. This version indulges in a more twisted brand of dark humor--which isn't surprising, because the film was written and directed by the infamous Coen brothers (Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, et al). This time, the story about a gang of misfit thieves is transplanted from England to Mississippi, and it stars Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, and Marlon Wayans. Hanks is the eccentric brains behind a plot to steal gambling money from a riverboat. They suffer one misadventure after another, and their worst foil is a clueless old black woman hilariously played by Hall. Although not as gloomy as Fargo or Blood Simple, the movie retains the Coen brothers' touch of the bizarre.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) is a moving film about a quietly disturbed young man and the tightly knit town that lives with his delusion. The talented Ryan Gosling plays Lars Lindstrom, who is barely noticed until he buys a lifelike sex doll on the Internet. But Lars is a pathological introvert, not a pervert. He believes the doll is a real person, to the point of imagining her half of their conversations. Gradually, the town goes along. Although this movie is promoted as a comedy and has many comic moments, it's a deeper examination of emotional trauma and community empathy. Gosling, who excelled in Half Nelson (2006), gives a standout performance as Lars. Patricia Clarkson invests the character of his doctor/psychologist with great subtlety and strength.

The Last Castle (2001) is yet another in a long line of cliche-ridden prison dramas. As usual, the prisoners are the mistreated good guys and the warden is the evil villain. This time the setting is a military prison, but that's the only original twist. The outraged prisoners stage a revolt, led by a convicted but still-revered three-star general played by Robert Redford, who already explored this territory in Brubaker (1980). The acting is competent, but the denouement is never in doubt.

The Last King of Scotland (2006) is a fictional drama about a young Scottish doctor who impetuously travels to Uganda in the 1970s and unexpectedly becomes the personal physician to dictator Idi Amin. The only reality is Amin's sudden rise to power and growing brutality, which eventually killed 300,000 Ugandans. But the fiction is compelling. The restless, inexperienced Scot (well played by James McAvoy) is rapidly seduced by Amin's generosity and the luxurious lifestyle his inner circle enjoys. Then things turn ugly. Forest Whitaker delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as a dictator whose mood swings keep his followers (and the movie audience) in a constant state of suspense.

The Last Samurai (2003) occasionally slips into melodrama--especially toward the end--but still ranks among the best movies of 2003. Tom Cruise stars as a disillusioned U.S. cavalry officer in 1876 who accepts a lucrative offer to become a military adviser to the Japanese army. Japan is struggling to modernize and Westernize, but a rebel band of samurai warriors is resisting. Cruise's character, haunted by U.S. atrocities against American Indians, soon questions why he is supporting a similar war in a strange land. The film foreshadows today's controversies over international arms sales, American interventionism, war profiteering, and the dark side of progress.

Laurel Canyon (2003) is a light drama as directionless as its characters. Frances McDormand plays a middle-aged record producer who's a relic from the 1960s, still partying every night, smoking pot, and having affairs. Her adult son and his fiance move into her sprawling house in L.A. to launch their careers--one is a resident psychiatrist, and the other is writing a dissertation on the reproductive functions of fruit flies. They're both wound pretty tight, and sure enough, they loosen up as the story progresses. The acting is competent, but the plot never reaches a satisfactory conclusion or offers much insight into their lives. Take it or leave it.

Leatherheads (2008) is a passable comedy about the early days of pro football. Overshadowed by college football and major-league baseball, pro football in 1925 was a backwater sport. Small-town teams located mainly in the Midwest frequently moved or folded, unable to find an audience. Leatherheads (named for the leather helmets then in vogue) is loosely based on Red Grange, a thrilling college star lured to the pros by a huge salary, bringing new attention to the struggling league. George Clooney stars as the aging player/manager who hires the young man. (Clooney also directs.) Renée Zellweger plays an aggressive reporter for a big-city paper who doubts the college star's reputation as a World War I hero. Although this movie isn't bad, it never quite rises to the zany heights to which it aspires.

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) is the companion picture to Flags of Our Fathers (2006), both directed by Clint Eastwood and partly filmed on location at the site of one of World War II's most vicious battles. Letters is by far the better work. It's a rare view through Japanese eyes--even the dialogue is in Japanese, with English subtitles. Unlike Flags, it's not a confusing mishmash of flashbacks. Letters stays focused on the plights of a low-ranking enlisted man and his commanding general, whose fates become intertwined as the great battle unfolds. Particularly by Hollywood standards, the movie is accurate. It shows the bitter interservice rivalries between the Japanese army and navy, as well as the declining morale but rigid fanaticism of Japanese troops as the war reached its climax. One flaw, however, is the lack of historical context, which may lead some viewers to wonder why the U.S. was so intent on taking Iwo Jima.

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (2000) is especially relevant in an election year with the first major-party Jewish vice-presidential candidate. This is a first-class documentary about Hank Greenberg, the great Jewish slugger for the Det