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,

Shrek (2001)

Family Rated PG

“…suggests you can still live happily ever after even if the frog doesn’t turn into a prince.”

Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

Family Rated PG

As Akeelah Anderson, the 11-year-old spelling prodigy at the center of Akeelah and the Bee, Keke Palmer has a studied air of concentration that keeps not just her character but the entire movie on track. Without Palmer’s no-nonsense demeanor, this would have been the sort of wholesome slice of family entertainment that’s hard to swallow.

21 Grams (2003)

Drama Rated R

The marketing campaign for 21 Grams – a series of posters asking variations on the question, ‘How much does life weigh?’ – is more artful than the movie, because the film itself is anindulgent exercise that could use some of the streamlining a poster demands. With flair and pretension, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu follows three

Shrek 2 (2004)

Family Rated PG

Everyone’s favorite ogre couple sets off to meet her parents, where an image-is-everything attitude will put their blind love to the test. The precious theme of the original is more explicit this time, yet the jokes come just as fast and furious. (This is the only kids’ movie I can think of that could get

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

Drama Rated R

Based on the highly suspect autobiography of Gong Show host Chuck Barris, George Clooney’s assured directorial debut explores the dark side of the American dream. Barris (a squirrelly Sam Rockwell) pioneered reality television, was consequently skewered by cultural critics and despised himself for all of it. Clooney’s lively, inventive style makes this feel more fun