Where The Heart Is (2000)

Drama Rated PG-13

A straightforward adaptation of Billie Letts’ popular novel that unfortunately retains all of the book’s emotional manipulation, forced quirkiness and out-of-place brutality. Natalie Portman stars as a pregnant 17-year-old who lives in an Oklahoma Wal-Mart; Ashley Judd is on hand as her long-suffering friend, whose abuse mostly comes at the hands of stereotypical men.

Space Station 3D (2002)

Documentary Rated NR

How does actual outer space, as seen in this 3-D Imax documentary about the construction of the International Space Station, hold up against the slick, special effects-driven outer space we’re used to seeing at the movies? Fairly well, thanks mostly to the crisp realism that only true images – rather than computer-generated ones – can

Bless the Child (2000)

Horror Rated R

Further evidence that Satanists are rarely anything but silly in the movies, this Kim Basinger vehicle is an exploitative rehash of the Bethlehem story with a 7-year-old girl (Holliston Coleman) in the Jesus part. Rufus Sewell plays the lead Satanist who wants to turn the girl to the dark side, and his knack for making

Two Weeks Notice (2002)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

Like two strangers who have been set up by friends on a blind date, Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant squirm their way through this exasperatingly inept romantic comedy. Studio executives may have thought the charming pair would be perfect for each other, but anyone who sees the movie – in which Bullock plays an idealistic

Identity (2003)

Horror Rated R

A handful of strangers (including John Cusack, Ray Liotta and Amanda Peet) are murdered one at a time in a motel on the darkest and stormiest of dark and stormy nights. If the filmmakers had stuck to this B-movie premise, things could have been fun, but Michael Cooney’s over-reaching script tries for Sixth Sense-like significance.

White Noise (2005)

Horror Rated PG-13

Michael Keaton is far more effective as a tormenting figure than a tormented one, which makes his role here as an architect who starts hearing voices of the dead in static an inherently ill fit. Having Beetlejuice and the best brooding Batman scared silly by spooky noises doesn’t quite fit. Keaton is maddeningly passive, possibly

Love Don’t Cost a Thing (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Operating under the apparent belief that every generation needs its own insipid teen comedy, Warner Bros. Pictures has remade 1987’s Can’t Buy Me Love, in which a dorky teen (Nick Cannon this time) pays the most popular girl in school to date him. Sure, the earlier Patrick Dempsey flick has its defenders – most likely

Black Knight (2001)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Another laughless affair from Martin Lawrence, who stars as a Renaissance theme-park employee who is transported to actual medieval times. Lawrence pulls out his usual bag of tired tricks – bugging his eyes out, screaming dated hip-hop slang until his voice is hoarse – with the usual, uninspired results.

Love Actually (2003)

Romantic Comedy Rated R

Screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) makes his directorial debut with another whimsical love story grounded in emotional authenticity. The film follows nearly a half-dozen intertwining stories – featuring Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and Laura Linney, among others – woven together with a shameless yet soothing pop soundtrack and a charming

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)

Drama Rated PG-13

Havana Nights adds tropical heat to what already was, in the 1987 original, an overheated story. Set in 1958 Cuba, the movie follows an American high-schooler (Romola Garai) who moves with her family to Havana and finds excitement with a busboy (Diego Luna). It’s often silly, but the music and dancing are infectious, and there’s