Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The (2000)

Comedy Rated PG

Live actors and animated characters combine to bring Jay Ward’s cute and corny 1960s television series to the big screen. Natasha, Boris and Fearless Leader – played by Rene Russo, Jason Alexander and Robert De Niro – once again face off against ‘moose and squirrel’ (playing themselves). This has some charm and it’s certainly wittier

Gods and Generals (2003)

Drama Rated PG-13

A boon for history buffs but a bore for me, this 220-minute prequel to the equally gargantuan Gettysburg is like a grade-school book report on the Civil War blown up for the big screen. Peppered with random facts and countless characters, the movie follows a rote pattern – speech, speech, speech, speech, battle, speech, speech,

Desperado (1995)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Robert Rodriguez’s big-studio sequel to his breakthrough 1992 debut, El Mariachi, this glaringly reveals the very weaknesses that the modest Mariachi allowed us to forgive. Here the emphasis on violent spectacle and effusive gore nearly snuffs out the comic flair of the first film. (Rodriguez seems to forget his mariachi’s own advice: “It is easier

Raising Victor Vargas (2002)

Drama Rated R

Smaller films have a better chance of capturing life’s smaller moments, and so the independent Raising Victor Vargas is a more touching evocation of puppy love than most Hollywood teen romances. Set in a low-income Latino community, Raising Victor Vargas gets amazingly naturalistic performances from its two leads: Victor Rasuk, as the would-be Casanova of

After the Sunset (2004)

Drama Rated PG-13

Woody Harrelson makes a welcome return here as a FBI agent who has been bumbling for years after notorious thieves Max and Lola (Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek). The three meet up in the Bahamas, where Max and Lola are supposed to be enjoying retirement but are enticed by a diamond on a nearby ocean

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

Romantic Comedy Rated PG-13

Another Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy that’s safe and satisfying but hardly exciting – sort of the cinematic equivalent of caffeine-free Coke. This time she’s a New York City fashion designer who gets engaged to the mayor’s son (Patrick Dempsey) – too bad she never divorced that Alabama good old boy (Josh Lucas) she married out

Against the Ropes (2004)

Drama Rated R

As Jackie Kallen, a real-life professional boxing manager, Meg Ryan sashays through Against the Ropes in outfits that appear to have been lifted from Erin Brockovich. Even her high heels are tight. If Brockovich is the role model, Against the Ropes falls far short. Both are about sexy, sassy women who make waves in a

War of the Worlds (2005)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Leave it to Steven Spielberg, inventor of the summer-movie season with 1975’s Jaws, to pull off the seemingly impossible: Create a contemporary blockbuster wowing enough to silence rude, modern movie audiences in their seats. This take on the 1898 H.G. Wells’ novel about merciless invading aliens – starring Tom Cruise as an inept dad forced

Agent Cody Banks (2003)

Family Rated PG

In essence a Spy Kids rip-off, Agent Cody Banks exhibits just enough creativity to be appreciated on its own terms. The movie is less about gadgets and spies than that awkward, hollow feeling a boy gets in his stomach the first time he calls a girl. And Frankie Muniz – in the throes of puberty

Zoolander (2001)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Ben Stiller is far better than this limp satire of the fashion industry, which he starred in, co-wrote and directed. If he had made Zoolander as his first film, we’d politely dismiss him as a comedian with promise. With occasional moments of amusement thanks to the likes of Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell and, bizarrely enough,