King Kong (1976)

Action/Adventure Rated PG

Less a remake of the 1933 original than a rebuke. Ballooning to gigantic proportions what was already a bulky metaphor – the gorilla as tragic, unrequited lover – this King Kong is for those who always found the saga silly rather than mythic. Any movie with Jessica Lange’s aspiring starlet Dwan orgasmically enjoying the heat

Mean Streets (1973)

Drama Rated R

“The birth of Martin Scorsese…”

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Have you ever tried to recreate a party that was perfect the first time? You can invite the same people, play the same music, even mix the same drinks, but sometimes the mood just isn’t there. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle is the party sequel that shouldn’t have been planned. The same aura of feisty, Maxim-style

Pink Panther, The (2006)

Comedy Rated PG

To say that Steve Martin does justice to the Pink Panther film series here is not to say that you should drop everything and watch Martin’s update. Director Blake Edwards’ original films, with Peter Sellers defining the role of inept French police officer Inspector Clouseau, aimed for inspired silliness but were more often than not

Constant Gardener, The (2005)

Thriller Rated R

The personal and the global are at frustrating odds in this ambitious adaptation of a John Le Carre novel that tries to tie together one man’s love for his late wife with drug-company espionage in Africa. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz ably anchor the personal story, while talented Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles (City of God)

Seabiscuit (2003)

Drama Rated PG-13

As Rocky on four legs, Seabiscuit works just fine – it’s a stately, based-on-fact drama about the unlikely champion racehorse of the 1930s and the jockey (Tobey Maguire), trainer (Chris Cooper) and owner (Jeff Bridges) who made him. Writer-director Gary Ross stretches his underdog theme a bit too far by envisioning the horse as an

Die Another Day (2002)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

This is Bond by the numbers, but after a summer of tired spoofs (Austin Powers in Goldmember) and lame imitations (XXX), its familiarity ironically felt refreshing. Pierce Brosnan was still donning Bond’s tuxedo, and it still made for a nice fit. Adding to the fun is everything we’ve come to expect from the series: babes

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Comedy Rated R

“…a literal mind-bender.”

Weather Man, The (2005)

Drama Rated R

A tragicomic dissection of male, middle-aged angst, this centers on a Chicago meteorologist (Nicolas Cage) who is a well-meaning but consistently disappointing divorced father of two. As it chronicles his foibles, you realize few movies plant us so squarely inside a character’s head. Partly this is due to Cage’s sad-clown performance and part of it

Big Fish (2003)

Drama Rated PG-13

Big Fish, about the reconciliation between a tall-tale-telling father (Albert Finney) and his skeptical son (Billy Crudup), is an odd Tim Burton film, but not in the way that a Tim Burton film usually is odd. This time he forgoes his artful despondency for an unadorned, unabashed emotional warmth. Still, Burton purists needn’t worry: There