Scanner Darkly, A (2006)

Drama Rated R

Based on the Philip K. Dick novel, this is your average drug-abuse drama, albeit told in the intriguingly heightened visual style of rotoscoping (the same one writer-director Richard Linklater employed in his philosophical talk-fest Waking Life). Filmed in live action, the images are then painted over by computer for a fluid, dreamlike feel. It’s an

Cars (2006)

Family Rated G

This Pixar production depicts a human-free racing world where even the stands are filled with four-wheelers. The movie’s moral imperative is to teach a hotshot rookie (Owen Wilson) a lesson in humility via an unplanned detour in the tiny desert town of Radiator Springs, but the picture’s true value is visual. Limited in terms of

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)

Family Rated PG

An improvement upon 2004’s Garfield if for no other reason than the mistaken-identity plot means the annoying title feline (again inexplicably voiced by Bill Murray) has only half the screen time. Tim Curry gives Prince, Garfield’s British doppelganger, a nice, aristocratic burr, while Billy Connolly provides the movie’s only laughs as Dargis, a malicious lord-in-waiting

Over the Hedge (2006)

Family Rated PG

This animated feature scorns both McMansions and suburban sprawl, and mostly will be enjoyed by McMansion-residing suburban sprawlers. That irony is not lost on the filmmakers. As it details the adventures of a pack of woodland creatures (the likes of Garry Shandling, Steve Carell and Wanda Sykes provide pitch-perfect vocals for the rich character animation)

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Musical Rated PG-13

Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor stage a fictional version of Keillor’s public-radio staple, which has been delivering dry wit, folksy storytelling and eclectic music for more than 30 years. The multilayered, musical cast – including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan and Woody Harrelson – allow Altman to indulge in his trademark creative

Break-Up, The (2006)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

As its title implies, this Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn pairing deals in the sort of romance that’s infinitely more real than that usually offered up by the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey. Aniston stars as Brooke, a Chicago art dealer who has had it with the frat-boy ways of her tour-guide boyfriend (Vaughn). It

Da Vinci Code, The (2006)

Thriller Rated PG-13

“I’ve played games of Scrabble that were more gripping than this.

Omen, The (2006)

Horror Rated R

A remake of the 1976 thriller about a little boy who sidelines as the Antichrist, this features an alarming number of classy actors getting whacked in the most classless of ways. Among the victims of various impalings and beheadings are Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father), David Thewlis (Harry Potter and the Prisoner

Clerks II (2006)

Comedy Rated R

When Kevin Smith made his microbudget splash with 1994’s Clerks, his was a singular voice that spoke for an entire generation of twentysomething slackers. In Clerks II, Smith returns to the slackers of the first film (Jeff Anderson and Brian O’Halloran), and though there is some hilarious dialogue – particularly for movie geeks – the

And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (2003)

Drama Rated PG-13

Insufferably arty, this is the French version of a botched Hollywood blockbuster: It’s misguided, self-indulgent and nonsensical. Written and directed by Claude Lelouch (1966’s A Man and a Woman), the movie stars Jeremy Irons as an aging jewel thief with a tendency to black out. He leaves France in a luxury yacht, washes up in