North Country (2005)

Drama Rated R

Charlize Theron may look to be mining for another Oscar here – she plays a defiant litigant in a fictionalization of one of the United States’ first sexual harassment lawsuits – but it is her movie that’s really after the gold. Theron delivers a tough, authentic performance, while director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) repeatedly trots

Collateral Damage (2004)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Though delayed from its initial release date due to 9/11, this Arnold Schwarzenegger extravaganza – about a firefighter hunting the Colombian terrorist whose bomb took the lives of his wife and son – still carried an inevitable sadness when it did come out. Now that that has faded, this just has the ususal action antics.

Recruit, The (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

The Recruit, about a computer whiz (Colin Farrell) who is tapped by a shadowy figure (Al Pacino) to enter an elite CIA training program, takes the spy movie maxim that no one can be trusted and blows it up to outrageous proportions. There’s hardly a single conversation between the characters that doesn’t involve some level

Eight Legged Freaks (2002)

Comedy Rated PG-13

This giant-spider flick just wants to be one big joke, which would be fine if it were funny. There are a few amusing bits, but the humor is mostly used as a form of self-defense: The filmmakers don’t want to make you laugh as much as they want to assure you that they’re not being

Rules of Attraction, The (2002)

Drama Rated R

A nihilistic drama full of hip misery and forced edginess, Rules depicts the college experience as a land of loneliness, betrayal, drug abuse and sexual humiliation. A young cast (including James Van Der Beek of television’s “Dawson’s Creek”) desperately strives for indie credibility, but they all come away soiled by the sensationalistic sadism on display.

Grind (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Forced gross-out gags and sports cliches are in ample supply in this skateboarding comedy, while occasional attempts at absurd humor fall flat. Some of the action scenes are exciting, but seeing this in the theater essentially cost moviegoers twice. They had to pay for their tickets, then pay again by sitting through the rest of

Saving Silverman (2001)

Comedy Rated PG-13

This limp comedy, about three friends whose fun gets disrupted when one of them falls for a demanding psychiatrist, lets a lame script dumb down a bright comedic cast. Steve Zahn and Jack Black play the goofballs while Jason Biggs and Amanda Peet portray the couple, but their occasional flashes of inspired humor cannot save

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

Kate Hudson plays a women’s magazine writer testing out the how-to article of the title, while Matthew McConaughey plays an advertising executive who has bet colleagues he can make any woman fall in love with him in little more than a week. Wry observations about the war of the sexes could be gleaned from such

Replacements, The (2000)

Comedy Rated PG-13

This would-be sports comedy, starring Keanu Reeves as the leader of a group of subpar athletes who get a shot at the big time during a players’ strike, is so predictably lame it repeatedly cuts to shots of cavorting cheerleaders just to keep your attention. By the time it’s over, you’ll feel as if you’ve

K-Pax (2001)

Drama Rated PG-13

After winning his Oscars, Kevin Spacey was offered the corniest roles in Hollywood, and unfortunately he accepted a lot of them. This time Spacey plays Prot, a patient at a psychiatric hospital who claims to be from outer space. Offering otherworldly words of wisdom and even curing his fellow patients, Prot is a shameless showcase