Erin Brockovich uses all of Julia Roberts’ attributes – her casual glamour, genial humor and, yes, acting talent – to make this fact-based story about a single mom who leads a legal battle against a polluting corporation into a compassionate and riveting consideration of America’s class system. It’s a surprising delight that gives star vehicles

A culture mash of hip-hop rhythms, ancient Japanese traditions and modern gangland ethics, this latest treasure from revered indie director Jim Jarmusch follows a rap-loving assassin (Forest Whitaker) who has pledged his services to the low-level mafia thug who saved his life a few years back. Beneath the violence is a thoughtful consideration of what

You can feel it in the movie’s insinuating score and the oppressively happy opening section, which follows small-town diner owner Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) as he enjoys a blissful slice of Americana with his wife (Maria Bello) and two kids. Such contentment can’t last, especially with squirm-inducing director David Cronenberg (Dead Ringers) at the helm.

In this unobtrusive account of the final days of a strung-out rock star, based on the suicide of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, the camera passively watches as the central figure (Michael Pitt) trudges across the grounds of a rural mansion. Even the most mundane of scenes are given an ethereal sheen by director Gus Van Sant.

If Fahrenheit 9/11 made you feel queasy, take some Pepto-Bismol before seeing this remake of the 1962 thriller from director Jonathan Demme and star Denzel Washington. It may be a work of fiction, but its paranoid vision of events circa 2004 somehow felt even more real. Both the original and the remake revolve around a

Filmmaking workhorse Clint Eastwood takes a seemingly routine genre exercise – an adaptation of a mystery novel by Dennis Lehane – and makes it something all his own, in this case another of his meditations on the ripple effect of violence. Mystic River follows three childhood friends (Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, all excellent)

A welcome return to form for director-star Kevin Costner, at least if you appreciate his stubborn brand of cinematic nostalgia (Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves). A traditional, pastoral Western with wide vistas and consequential violence, Open Range stars Costner and a lively Robert Duvall as cattle-drivers up against a gluttonous rancher. This is a

A sequel of sorts to the 1973 intimate epic Scenes From a Marriage. That Ingmar Bergman picture detailed the breakdown of the seemingly perfect union between Johan and Marianne (Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann), and Saraband reunites them 30 years later. New drama is mined by exploring the relationships among Johan, his son Henrik (by

Despite familiar stars and seasoned writer-director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates), this 3-D Imax film still plays like a gimmick, a slight story slapped around neat-o special effects. Val Kilmer and Craig Sheffer play 1930s French pilots risking their lives to deliver mail over the Andes mountains. Sure, the rusty bolts of the rickety

An earnest but awkward drama set against the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, which aimed to heal emotional wounds in post-apartheid South Africa, In My Country can’t overcome the disjointed pairing of its leads: supple French actress Juliette Binoche and strident American star Samuel L. Jackson. She’s a soft natural presence, while he specializes in