Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Family Rated PG

A giggling, sugar-high Johnny Depp may not match Gene Wilder’s performance in the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s book – Depp projects lunacy, while Wilder embodied it – but he still turns candy maker Willy Wonka into both a faithful reading of Dahl’s creation and an offbeat invention of his own. The same goes

Mean Girls (2004)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Consider this to be 2004’s Heathers, the 1989 touchstone for all movies about high school cliques. It’s not a rip-off but a timely variation – so attuned to the nuances of the teenage world of its time, for girls in particular, that its emotional accuracy qualifies as brilliance. Lindsay Lohan stars as a homeschooled girl

Charlie’s Angels (2000)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

The critical lambasting Charlie’s Angels took is a classic case of reviewers not being able to appreciate mindless, harmless fun. Those who called it the worst movie adaptation of a television series must have been on vacation when The Mod Squad came out. This is a wild and witty celebration of all things sleek and

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Drama Rated NR

The sweeping romantic drama that 2001’s Pearl Harbor wanted to be, From Here to Eternity follows the tumultuous lives of three Army men stationed in Honolulu during the days leading up to Dec. 7, 1941. A coiled, volatile Montgomery Clift stars as Robert Prewitt, a young private who loves the Army but can’t quite adjust

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Comedy Rated R

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) and unlikely star Adam Sandler team up for the best film in either of their careers. As Barry Egan, a shy small-business owner given to fits of rage, Sandler dials down his manic persona a notch or two, bringing it a bit closer to real life. Meanwhile, Anderson’s

Ant Bully, The (2006)

Family Rated PG

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Underworld (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Romeo and Juliet had nothing on the brooding antiheroes of Underworld. She’s a vampire (Kate Beckinsale) and he’s a budding werewolf (Scott Speedman), and their respective species have been at war for centuries. It makes for a dark, Gothic romance, set among lots of Matrix-style action ably executed by first-time director Len Wiseman.

Nativity Story, The (2006)

Drama Rated PG

Didn’t The Passion of the Christ make this sort of sluggish, impersonal Biblical costume drama obsolete? The Nativity Story suffocates Scripture with the usual play-it-safe elements: pokey drama, tentative performances and a paint-by-verses script. The picture doesn’t blow the dust off those musty old costume dramas – it buries itself under just that sort of

Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)

Drama Rated R

“…a harrowing, visionary consideration of humankind’s depravity.”

TMNT (2007)

Action/Adventure Rated PG

This revisiting of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon of the 1980s is a burly, brawny redo, like a kiddie cartoon on CGI steroids. With its newly agile heroes, sparkling animation and Lord of the Rings-style battle prologue, TMNT will dazzle young eyes with ease. But shouldn’t a movie about four turtles in their teens