Mega Movie Guide 2005

Sex/Nudity: 2 instances of innuendo.
Violence: 1 instance of slapping.
Profanity: 39 instances (1 strong).
Drugs/Alcohol: 2 scenes with drinking, 1 with smoking.

Director: John Dahl. With Benjamin Bratt, Connie Nielsen. (132 min.)

Bratt, doing a commendable Clark Gable, must lead a once-ragtag-now-crackerjack team of Army Rangers into the Philippines to rescue 500 American soldiers imprisoned on the Philippines during World War II. Overheated acting and bulked-up direction are a lot older than even John Wayne, whose spirit casts a none-too-gentle shadow over the film. Grade: B
- J.A.

Directors: Bill Paxton. With Shia LeBeouf, Stephen Dillane. (120 min.)

No one but Harry Vardon has ever won the British Open six times. But at the 1913 US Open in Brookline, Mass., Francis Ouimet, an amateur who had only caddied at the club and who idolized Vardon, beat him. This charming film is rich in humor and period detail, and amazingly suspenseful considering we already know the outcome. Grade: B
- M.K.T.

Sex/Nudity: None.
Violence: 1 scene.
Profanity: 3 mild.
Drugs/Alcohol: 10 scenes with alcohol, 11 scenes with smoking.

Director: Lexi Alexander. With Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam. (109 min.)

Shaking off the hairy foot of the hobbit for the jackboot of the football (don't call it "soccer") fan, Wood plays a student who goes to London only to be seduced by the violence of the football hooligan. The film has a convincing performance by Wood as a meek kid out of his element for whom the group provides something larger than himself. Grade: B
- J.A.

Director: Werner Herzog. With Timothy Treadwell, Werner Herzog. (103 min.)

Documentary about a highly peculiar nature enthusiast who lived in the woods with bears and recorded his close encounters on video, until one decided to eat him. As revealing about Herzog as about his subject, the movie is brilliant, poetic, and utterly unique. Grade: A
- D.S.

Director: Don Roos. With Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal. (128 min.)

A sleazy filmmaker, a woman who gave her child up for adoption years ago, a wealthy father, and his rock-singer mistress are among the many characters of this comedy-drama about intertwined lives, some heterosexual, others not. There are marvelous moments and dull ones. The best asset is first-rate acting; the worst liability is Roos's overuse of cinematic gimmicks. Grade: B
- D.S.

Sex/Nudity: 17 scenes.
Violence: 4 instances.
Profanity: 83 instances.
Drugs/Alcohol: 18 drinking, smoking, and drug use.

Director: Mike Newell. With Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Watson. (157 min.)

Now in his fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry is mysteriously made a participant in the dreaded Triwizard Tournament, a competition that involves tasks such as evading a ferocious dragon. Equally harrowing, in some respects, is the student's Yule Ball, where for the first time we are made thunderously aware that Harry and the carrot-topped Ron and Hermione are, well, adolescents. The film has the tension and velocity of a good thriller. Grade: A-
- P.R.

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