Spy Game (2001)

Thriller Rated R

As long as it stays ambiguous and messy – much like the international espionage it depicts – Spy Game is a smart, scintillating consideration of the prices that are paid for the sake of American national security. As a 30-year CIA veteran and his protege, Robert Redford and Brad Pitt make a fine screen team;

Sum of All Fears, The (2002)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

This geopolitical thriller based on the Tom Clancy novel is so insistent on having a strapping young hero that drama and common sense are sacrificed just to squeeze him in. In an odd casting stunt, Ben Affleck takes over the role of CIA analyst Jack Ryan when Harrison Ford, who played Ryan in Patriot Games

Veronica Guerin (2003)

Drama Rated R

A cloying martyr movie, Veronica Guerin is all the more shameful because it’s based on an actual person. In the 1990s, Dublin journalist Guerin published extensive exposes on the drug rings in the city, eventually paying with her life. Cate Blanchett has the right sort of fire to bring some dignity to the proceedings, but

We Were Soldiers (2002)

Action/Adventure Rated R

In this well-intentioned attempt to honor American soldiers who fought in Vietnam, writer-director Randall Wallace and star Mel Gibson have created a Saving Private Ryan wannabe, from the melodramatic air of reverence to the trendy dollops of gore. Do Vietnam veterans who fought bravely and honorably deserve our respect? Certainly. But lazily anointing them as

Whale Rider (2002)

Drama Rated PG-13

An enchanting ending redeems this otherwise familiar story of contemporary society clashing with traditional culture. Whale Rider takes place in a coastal tribal community of New Zealand, where a young girl (Oscar-nominated Keisha Castle-Hughes) challenges the gender biases that have governed her people for generations. Writer-director Niki Caro fares better capturing the cascading green hills

Amazing Grace (2007)

Drama Rated PG

“How do you make the slavery debates of 18th-century British parliament feel cinematic? By casting some of the best brogues around.

Blood Work (2002)

Drama Rated R

Another Clint Eastwood essay on the aging process disguised as a genre film. The gray hero he plays here is a top FBI agent who retires after a successful heart transplant, only to return to crime-solving when the sister of the murdered woman whose heart he received shows up demanding he track down the donor’s

Astronaut Farmer, The (2007)

Family Rated PG

“…exists in its own lovely little universe, and the best way to appreciate it is to not hold it up to the rules and expectations of ours.

Music and Lyrics (2007)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

There are two screen relationships that don’t work here, and both involve stars Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. He’s a washed-up pop star looking to make a comeback and she’s a wounded writer who reluctantly agrees to work with him as a lyricist. Sparks fail to fly between them – both professionally and romantically. Maybe

Slackers (2002)

Comedy Rated R

Not only is this yet another teen movie, but it’s the kind that give teen movies a bad name. Driven primarily by gross-out sex gags, this self-satisfied tale of three goofballs who cheat their way through college is made by the sort of guys who are pushing 30 and still brag about that awesome time