Mega Movie Guide 2004

Staff ** Not funny, forgettable, Stiller excels.

Sex/Nudity: 25 instance of innuendo. Violence: 7 scenes of violence. Profanity: 24 instances, often strong. Drugs: 7 scenes with drinking or smoking, 2 with cocaine.

Director: Frank Oz. With Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick. (95 min.)

Sterritt * A remake of the 1975 science-fantasy fable about menfolk of a Connecticut community who battle the threats of "women's lib" by transforming their spouses into stereotypes of picture-perfect housewives. The message of Ira Levin's 1972 novel is drowned in a flood of cheap gags.

Sex/Nudity: 7 instances of innuendo, 1 of implied sex. Violence: 4 scenes, none too graphic. Profanity: 14 mild expressions. Drugs: 5 instances of smoking and drinking.

Directors: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falomi. With Janchiv Ayurzana. (93 min.)

Sterritt **** Blurring all the lines between fiction and documentary, this amusing movie blends real, unrehearsed material with delightful storytelling focusing on a Mongolian family that faces a problem when a camel refuses to nurse a newborn calf. The Gobi Desert provideS a striking background for drama involving humans, animals, and nature itself. In Mongolian with subtitles.

Director: André Téchiné. With Emmanuelle Béart, Gaspard Ulliel. (95 min.)

Sterritt *** Béart plays a Parisian widow who rescues her children from the Nazi occupation and becomes unexpectedly close to a young stranger who helps them survive in the French wilderness. The story is dramatic and Béart gives one of her best performances. In French with subtitles.

Director: Morgan Spurlock. With Morgan Spurlock. (96 min.)

Sterritt ** Spurlock wanted to test the claim that eating fast food is making Americans too fat, so he went on a medically charted diet of McDonald's products and found that - surprise! - he got fatter. This documentary is far from persuasive since Spurlock didn't scarf his McDiet the way ordinary people do, but relentlessly stuffed himself like a force-fed goose. The results have more journalistic flab than scientific muscle.

Staff **** Unsettling, witty, not convincing.

Sex/Nudity: 2 instances of innuendo. Violence: None. Profanity: 1 harsh expression. Drugs: 1 scene with smoking, 3 references to drugs.

Director: Mike Mitchell. With Ben Affleck, Christina Applegate. (91 min.)

Sterritt ** Deciding not to spend Christmas alone, a spoiled yuppie pays a fortune to a family for pretending to be his own loving relatives during the yuletide season. There are a few amusing moments, but this is no "Bad Santa" despite its obvious ambition to play similar holiday tricks.

Director: D.J. Caruso. With Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Kiefer Sutherland. (101 min.)

Sterritt ** A female FBI agent (Jolie) hunts a serial killer (you have to guess) who takes over the identities of the victims, inhabiting them one after another like a human hermit crab. Not much is new is this umpteenth variation on a nasty theme.

Director: Ji-woon Kim. With Su-Jeong Lim, Geun-yeong Mun, Jung-ah Yum. (115 min.)

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46