Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

I’m not quite sure what Johnny Depp is doing in this pirate yarn, but it works. As Captain Jack Sparrow, a ramshackle scamp with dirty dreadlocks and enough eye makeup to incite jealousy in a sixth-grade girl, he speaks in an accent that’s slightly British but mostly slurred. Turns out his loose-cannon act is the

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Another manic, cartoonish martial-arts comedy from Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow, this time about a showdown between a vicious street gang and the relatively peaceful denizens of a dilapidated tenement in 1940s Shanghai. I found it all overwhelming and decidedly more graphic than Chow’s equally zany but more enjoyable Shaolin Soccer. The mixture of geniality

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Comedy Rated R

No-name actors even for an indie picture, John Lurie, Eszter Balint and Richard Edson convened to play an oddball trio – two male friends and the female cousin of one of them – who drift along from New York to Cleveland to Florida before finally drifting apart. The entire picture drifts, establishing early on Jim

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Drama Rated PG-13

"…wants to be a cautionary tale about the tantalizing shallowness of the fashion industry, but its heart is more into tantalizing than giving caution."

Angel Eyes (2001)

Drama Rated R

This somber romance moves with the speed of a curing wound, but the pacing’s appropriate since the movie is about emotional healing. Jennifer Lopez plays a Chicago cop with a fractured past who engages in a tentative relationship with a stranger, played by Jim Caviezel, whose own past is so tragic he won’t even discuss

Borat (2006)

Comedy Rated R

“…a radical high-wire act.”

Beyond the Sea (2004)

Drama Rated PG-13

Apparently nothing was going to deter director-star Kevin Spacey from making Beyond the Sea, not limited interest in the life of 1950s and ’60s crooner Bobby Darin, not a thin, cornball script, not even an alarming age difference between himself, as Darin, and the pixie-like Kate Bosworth as Darin’s wife, Sandra Dee. Beyond the Sea

Birthday Girl (2001)

Thriller Rated R

When a by-the-book British bank clerk (Ben Chaplin) arranges for a Russian mail-order bride (Nicole Kidman), her lack of English is just the start of his problems. The movie works as long as it remains steeped in sexual paranoia and guilt, but soon the Hitchcock-like shadings give way to conventional thriller chase scenes.

Bruce Almighty (2003)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Bruce Almighty takes good care of a great concept – a clod (Jim Carrey) becomes God – though it never quite offers inspired comedy. The religious humor is limited, while Jennifer Aniston, a comedian in her own right, is wasted as the love interest. Yet for Carrey fans who tire of his serious side –

Contender, The (2000)

Drama Rated R

This political drama raises a pertinent question – how much does the public deserve to know about a politician’s private life? – but delivers a poorly considered answer. When the vice president dies, a woman senator (Joan Allen) is selected as his successor. Fighting to stop the appointment is a rabid congressman (Gary Oldman) who