Young Adam (2003)

Drama Rated NC-17

Set amid the Scottish shipping canals of the 1950s, Young Adam stars Ewan McGregor as a drifter floating from one heartless affair to the next. All actors who thrive on their likability seem destined to try at least one thoroughly unlikable role, and McGregor has found a fascinating one here.

Real Women Have Curves (2002)

Drama Rated PG-13

America Ferrera, a young actress of abundant curves and even more abundant spunk, plays a bright, independent high school senior whose collegiate aspirations clash with the traditional values of her Mexican-American family. True, each American immigrant subculture seems to produce this movie sooner or later, but Ferrera’s invigorating freshness single-handedly keeps Real Women Have Curves

Legend of Zorro, The (2005)

Action/Adventure Rated PG

All you really need to know about this miscalculated mess is one early plot point: Zorro (Antonio Banderas) and the love he won in the first film (Catherine Zeta-Jones) get divorced. You might think this means that the sequel to 1998’s The Mask of Zorro – which breezily captured the happy-go-lucky tone of the legendary

Saw (2004)

Horror Rated R

Saw opens with a jarring jolt, as two men wake up to find themselves chained to pipes in a fetid bathroom. Yet rather than remain in this claustrophobic situation, the movie opens up into a standard and gleefully grisly serial-killer thriller. It doesn’t help that one of the trapped men is played by Cary Elwes,

Malibu’s Most Wanted (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

A far smarter send-up of cultural stereotypes than Bringing Down the House, Malibu’s Most Wanted stars Jamie Kennedy as Brad “B-Rad” Gluckman, a privileged California white kid who acts like he just stepped out of a rap video. The spoofing of hip-hop mannerisms is dead-on, while a plot twist in which two proper black actors

Spanglish (2004)

Drama Rated PG-13

The state of an affluent California family on the brink of disaster, as seen through the eyes of their newly hired Mexican housekeeper (Paz Vega). Writer-director James L. Brooks mines plenty of emotional truths, while Adam Sandler holds his own against the impressive female cast – particularly Tea Leoni as his cripplingly insecure wife and

National Lampoon’s Golddiggers (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

An improperly projected preview screening – in which the first 10 minutes of this lame comedy about money-grubbing buddies made the characters look like they were standing in front of a fun-house mirror – was the only amusing thing about the experience. That’s how bad the National Lampoon movie brand has become – it needs

Spaceballs (1987)

Comedy Rated PG

Mel Brooks takes direct aim at George Lucas’ space saga, but with a rifle filled with far too many blanks. There are a few good gags here – you’ve got to love the Millennium Falcon being replaced by a Winnebago with wings – but most of it is juvenile, corny or both. The random cast

Perfect Score, The (2004)

Drama Rated PG-13

This MTV Films production references The Breakfast Club about midway through, and the movie’s few good moments echo the spirit of existential, youthful rebellion captured by that 1985 minor classic. This time students from varying high school cliques come together to steal the answers to the upcoming SAT exam. If you can look past the

Chicago (2002)

Musical Rated PG-13

This Best Picture-winning adaptation of the Broadway hit is more of a traditional musical than, say, Moulin Rouge, but its stars make up for any lack of cinematic invention. As nightclub singers turned murderers in jazz-era Chicago, Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones attack their roles as if the movie were a last-chance audition. Zeta-Jones brings