Movie Guide

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Director: Xavier Beauvois. With Nathalie Baye, Jalil Lespert. (110 min.)

Nathalie Baye is remarkable in "Le Petit Lieutenant" where she plays Caroline Vaudieu, a Parisian police inspector who returns to her post after a bout with alcoholism following her child's death. It seems almost axiomatic that French actresses, as they age, acquire added depth. (Even Catherine Deneuve has demonstrated gravitas as of late.) She is well supported by a cast that includes Lespert as a rookie who is also using the precinct as a sort of haven from personal troubles. Grade: A–
– Peter Rainer

Director: Glenn Holsten. With narration by Ian McKellen. (90 min.)

One of the most searingly memorable photos from Sept. 11 was the shot of a team of rescue workers carrying a Franciscan priest's body from the rubble of the World Trade Center. The priest, Father Mychal Judge, chaplain for the FDNY, had raced to the scene shortly after the planes hit. "Saint of 9/11" is more of a testimonial than a documentary, but it weaves together a portrait of a remarkable Irish-American friar, who was gay and a recovering alcoholic, and the many lives he inspired. Grade: B
– P.R.

Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor. With Jason Statham. (87 min.)

Injected with a "Beijing cocktail," hit man Chev Chelios (Statham) has one hour to track down his murderers before his heart gives out. If he keeps the adrenaline flowing by fighting, having sex, inhaling nasal spray, and driving like a maniac through an indoor shopping mall, he may stretch his life expectancy a little. Cursing seems to help, too. With a plot borrowed from 1950's "D.O.A.," this movie seems to be running on fast forward and is vastly more violent and sexually explicit. Fans of Statham's "Transporter" movies won't be disappointed. Grade: B–
– M.K. Terrell

Sex/Nudity: 10 instances including sex and nudity. Violence: 26 instances of strong, gory action. Profanity: 177 harsh expressions. Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco: 2 scenes of drinking, 3 scenes with smoking, 3 scenes with drug taking.

Director: Neil LaBute. With Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker. (102 min.)

When highway patrol officer Ed Malus (Cage) receives a letter from his ex-fiancée, desperate to find her missing daughter, the investigation takes him to an island in Puget Sound inhabited by a matriarchal bee-keeping society whose few men work hard but never speak. After Malus meets the enclave's honey-voiced leader (Burstyn), he is convinced the girl is to be sacrificed. The plot is nonsensical but the cast and Edenic setting is worth a look. Grade: B–
– M.K.T.

Sex/Nudity: 3 instances of innuendo. Violence: 13 instances, occasionally gory. Profanity: 13 strong expressions. Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco: 2 scenes of drinking and 1 of smoking.