Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Attack of the Clones is great, mostly for the way it makes the original three episodes of writer-director George Lucas’ ongoing space sage even greater. A prequel full of ominous foreshadowing and detailed background, Clones has the ingenious special effects and dazzling action to work brilliantly as a popcorn movie, while its resonance in relation

Night Listener, The (2006)

Thriller Rated R

Adapted from an Armistead Maupin novel – Maupin had a hand in the screenplay – The Night Listener is an oddly inert thriller, a movie of shocking revelations and sneaky twists that somehow still never jars you. Part of the problem is Robin Williams, who tends to become inert when giving one of his ‘serious’

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

George Lucas’ Star Wars series, whose six movies have been spread over nearly 30 years, is one of the rare motion-picture experiences epic enough – in the Homeric, not the Ridley Scottish, sense – to attain a literary resonance. This brooding finale serves as both the capper to the franchise and the bridge between the

Animal, The (2001)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Watching The Animal – in which Rob Schneider plays a would-be cop who survives a car accident by having animal parts put into his body – is like witnessing the slow, excruciating death of a single joke over the course of 83 minutes. For every gag that works – yes, I laughed when Schneider combs

Topsy-Turvy (1999)

Comedy Rated R

A merry melodrama about comic-opera geniuses Gilbert and Sullivan, this period piece should be a delight for anyone who’s ever been involved in musical theater (or has seen The Pirates of Penzance a dozen times). Director Mike Leigh takes material that’s seemingly suited for Masterpiece Theater and injects it with radiance, relevance and life.

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Drama Rated PG-13

Director Ron Howard’s exploration of genius – in this case that of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash – is more bracing than you would expect, thanks to a nifty twist midway through the film that recalls themind-bending trickery of Fight Club. Russell Crowe turns in a solid performance as Nash – the girth of Gladiator

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Family Rated G

The computer whizzes at Disney and Pixar Animation Studios don’t take many risks with this sequel, exploring the same themes and – for the most part – the same characters that enlivened the first film. Still, running in place never has seemed so witty, touching and visually engaging as it does in Toy Story 2.

Crash (2005)

Drama Rated R

Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis made a supremely confident directorial debut with this intricately plotted ensemble drama – and Best Picture winner at the 2006 Oscars – tackling no less a topic than race relations in contemporary Los Angeles. The lives of a jumpy Middle Eastern shop owner, two carjacking young black men, a

Wimbledon (2004)

Drama Rated PG-13

Charming scene-stealer Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind) stars with Kirsten Dunst in this romance set during the title tennis tournament, and something is severely amiss in the pairing. It’s probably rooted in their age difference – though Dunst manages a semblance of adulthood in the Spider-Man films, most often she comes across as a giggling,

Ghost Ship (2002)

Horror Rated R

A derivative shocker that’s as dreadfully dimwitted as its name, Ghost Ship follows a salvage crew and their discovery of a cruise liner that’s been lost at sea for 40 years. It may sound creepy, but the ship turns out to be little more than a floating display of horror-movie cliches. If there’s any creativity