Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

Family Rated PG

The latest adaptation of the Jules Verne novel about an 1880s adventurer trying to circumnavigate the globe presented a possible new direction for Jackie Chan’s career: Drop him in remakes where the plot comes to an awkward standstill for him to stage one of his comedic fight scenes. This already being a frantic tale, the

Nurse Betty (2000)

Comedy Rated R

Don’t worry about the plot – Renee Zellweger’s waitress thinks she’s living within a soap opera, all while hit men Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock track her down – and instead enjoy the loopy amiability with which the movie skips along. Zellweger’s rarely been better, Rock and Freeman make a clever comic team and director

Bachelor, The (1999)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

Chris O’Donnell’s painful romantic comedy, in which he has less than 24 hours to wed his longtime girlfriend (Renee Zellweger) or anyone else he can find if he wants to receive a $100 million inheritance, would be merely insipid if it weren’t for the ugly attitude toward women that runs throughout the film. As O’Donnell

Patriot, The (2000)

Drama Rated R

Brutal and honest, The Patriot certainly is a rousing celebration of American independence, but the movie is more valuable as a rumination on vengeance and violence. When Mel Gibson’s pacifist farmer forms a militia against the British to avenge an attack on his family, far more than a Rambo revenge fantasy follows. Instead, The Patriot

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Romantic Comedy Rated R

This often plays like what Bridget Jones’s Diary, the 2001 adaptation of Helen Fielding’s novel, threatened to be: a cartoonish, dumbed-down version of a book that was ruthlessly honest. Yet it still charms thanks to the return of Renee Zellweger, who manages to exude both grace and gravity while baring a self-doubting woman’s body and

Queen of the Damned (2002)

Horror Rated R

Pop star Aaliyah reportedly completed all of her scenes before her death in a plane crash, but you wouldn’t know it from the finished film. As the title character, an ancient vampire bent on devouring everyone in sight, she has about 20 minutes of screen time. The rest of this goth-rock take on the vampire

Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Drama Rated R

Surpassing his own Taxi Driver in execution and theme, director Martin Scorsese revisits the mean streets of New York – this time behind the wheel with Nicolas Cage’s strung-out ambulance paramedic – to see just how bad things can get before a chance at redemption runs out. The result is a gorgeous nightmare about what

Troy (2004)

Action/Adventure Rated R

“A gargantuan depiction of the Trojan War…”

The Country Bears (2002)

Family Rated G

“Like a bedtime story on acid, or a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant that’s been commandeered by teen ravers…”

Unleashed (2005)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Hong Kong action star Jet Li (Hero) usually projects a serene, passionless aura, but here he showcases an appropriate sense of rage. Li plays a near-mute who wears a dog collar and attacks with animalistic ferocity when his “owner,” a sadistic loan shark (Bob Hoskins), takes it off. This is terrifying stuff, except for a