Good Shepherd, The (2006)

Drama Rated R

Matt Damon’s minimalist performance – he hardly flexes a muscle – is the best thing about this ambitious, speculative account of the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. As Edward Wilson, a fictionalized amalgam of the secretive, paranoid men who started the agency, Damon is in cipher mode (The Talented Mr. Ripley, the Bourne pictures),

Night at the Museum (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated PG

A lot of stampedes take place in Night at the Museum, and the movie itself stampedes over a promising concept, which centers on a security guard (Ben Stiller, very funny at first) who must maintain control at a natural history museum where the exhibits come to life each night. The gags get louder and cruder

Good German, The (2006)

Drama Rated R

An impeccable evocation of an earlier era, but not a freestanding film. The Good German, Steven Soderbergh’s meticulous melding of Casablanca and postwar film noirs, is awash in delectable period detail, from the shadowy black-and-white cinematography (also handled by Soderbergh) to the swooshing font used for the title to Thomas Newman’s music, which recalls the

Matchstick Men (2003)

Drama Rated PG-13

A piffle graced by a cast it doesn’t really deserve. Starring Nicolas Cage as an obsessive-compulsive con man who tracks down his estranged teen daughter (Alison Lohman), the movie’s most endearing aspect is that it is one of those instances in which Cage leaves behind the action idiocy of Con Air and The Rock for

Rookie, The (2002)

Family Rated G

Based on the life of Jim Morris, a Texas high-school science teacher and father of three who took a second shot at making it into Major League Baseball as a 35-year-old, The Rookie is a sun-dappled celebration of second chances and small-town camaraderie. Things are kept from becoming too sugary by Dennis Quaid’s Mr. Mom

Skeleton Key, The (2005)

Horror Rated PG-13

Slow-burn horror films can be a refuge of sorts for talented actresses in search of a lead role. Just as Jennifer Connelly anchored the excellent Dark Water, Kate Hudson headlines The Skeleton Key, a clever little thriller under the spell of Louisiana voodoo. As Caroline, a hospice worker who goes to work for a stroke

Bedazzled (2000)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Director Harold Ramis’ Bedazzled relies on the same obvious humor that made his Analyze This feel like one of Jay Leno’s inane Tonight Show monologues. Here Brendan Fraser’s computer nerd trades his soul to the devil (Elizabeth Hurley) for seven wishes, each of which leads to gags that could be followed by a drummer’s rim

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated R

A Chinese bodice-ripper, this is the latest martial-arts epic from writer-director Zhang Yimou. Curse is an emptier visual feast than his other films, but you still won’t be able to take your eyes off it. As it details the plotting that take place among the royal family members of the later Tang Dynasty, Curse throbs

Children of Men (2006)

Drama Rated R

“Now this is a nativity story.”

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Drama Rated PG

Sylvester Stallone should have never made another movie after this. I don’t mean that as an indictment of the sixth installment in Stallone’s ongoing exercise in can-do Americana. Rather, I mean that Rocky Balboa encapsulates the entire Stallone phenomenon in one film. His dumbbell appeal, his considerable limitations – everything is here, as well as