Web Edition

NEWS

FEATURES

ENTERTAINMENT

COLUMNS

CONTACT US

Kam's Kapsules by Kam Williams

American Wedding (R for sex, profanity and crude humor). American Pie 3. Jim (Jason Biggs) and Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) are ready to marry, but not before a hedonistic bachelor party thrown by pal Stifler (Seann William Scott) and another awkward father-son moment with his sermonizing dad (Eugene Levy).

Bad Boys II (R for pervasive profanity, violence, sexuality and drug use). Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reunite for more yucks as Miami cops, including going undercover as Ku Klux Klansmen. Subplot creates tension between the two as Will shows an interest in Martin's sister, played by Gabrielle Union.

Bend It Like Beckham (PG-13 for expletives and sexuality). Cross-cultural comedy, set in London, about an 18 year-old Sikh girl who defies her family's orthodox, East Indian traditions by running away from home to pursue her dream of becoming a professional soccer player (in English, with some Hindi and Punjabi).

Freaky Friday (PG for adult themes and mild epithets). Disney remake of 1977 Jodie Foster film about a tomboy and her widowed mom who end up in each others' bodies after getting a couple of cursed fortune cookies from a meddling waitress at a Chinese restaurant. Decent double-duty by both Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, the latter having also handled dual roles as the twins at the center of Parent Trap.

Gigli (R for pervasive profanity and brief graphic violence). J-Lo and beau Ben-Lo's coming-out party is a crime drama where they play a couple of hit persons assigned by the mob to kidnap the retarded brother of a powerful district attorney.

I Capture the Castle (R for nudity). An adaptation of I Capture the Castle, the 1948 British novel by Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmations. This quirky romantic comedy, set in the 1930s, involves a British couple who try to marry off their teenage daughters to the American brothers who inherited the castle the family has been squatting in.

Johnny English (PG for comic nudity, crude humor and mild epithets). Rubber-faced Rowan "Mr. Bean" Atkinson takes a late turn at a James Bond spoof, even though Austin Powers has already franchised the concept.

Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality). Angelina Jolie reprises title role in another screen adaptation of the popular Sony Playstation game. Sequel sends the archaeologist/explorer Lara on a quest for the legendary Pandora's Box, accompanied by a noble Masai warrior played by Djimon Hounsou.

Northfork (PG-13 for brief sexuality). Third in the trilogy of offbeat films named after western towns by the Polish brothers. The first, Twin Falls, Idaho was well-received, but Jackpot bombed. This one's otherworldy storyline has Nick Nolte as a priest caring for a dying 9 year-old orphan as the city is invaded by a gang of eccentrics who might not be human.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (PG-13 for action/adventure violence). Disney kiddie fright flick based on its amusement park ride of the same name. Seventeenth Century adventure stars Johnny Depp as a dapper outlaw who teams up with the young daughter of a governor to thwart the plan by a band of zombie buccaneers to undo the curse that has left them lingering in the limbo of the undead.

Seabiscuit (PG-13 for sexual situations and sports-related violence). Jeff Bridges, Tobey Maguire and Chris Cooper star in an adaptation of the best seller of the same name by Laura Hillenbrand. True tale of the jockey, trainer and owner of the legendary thoroughbred that won Horse of the Year honors in 1938.

Spy Kids 3: Game Over (PG for perilous action sequences). 3-D glasses will enhance your enjoyment of this final installment in the tiny spy franchise. Here, our diminutive heroes find themselves pitted against Sly Stallone as the villain and trapped inside a virtual reality game they must play to escape.

S.W.A.T. (PG-13 for profanity, violence and sexual references). Samuel L. Jackson, in the wake of his success as Shaft, revives another 1970s cop, bringing the short-lived LAPD series to the big screen as an action-oriented crime thriller. Premise situates Sam as veteran police officer assigned to thwart any attempts to take up drug kingpin on his offer of $100 million to anyone who can spring him from prison.

Swimming Pool (R for nudity, profanity, violence, and heavy sex content). Erotic thriller with Charlotte Rampling as a British novelist with writer's block who escapes to her publisher's sumptuous summer home in France to find some inspiration for her next murder mystery. She finds more than she bargained for when his reckless daughter arrives.

Terminator 3 (R for sci-fi and action violence, profanity and nudity). Arnold is back, a decade later, and now up against T-X, a sexy sophisticated, state-of the-art cyborg played by Kristanna Loken. Schwarzenegger and veterinarian Claire Danes have only three hours to save the world in an epic battle with androids pitting human versus artificial intelligence.

Whale Rider (PG-13 for profanity and a drug reference). Maori fable, set in New Zealand, based on the Witi Ihimaera novel of the same name about a 12 year-old orphan who wants to be the first female chief of a patrilineal tribe. Spunky, women's libber proves her worth by harnessing a humpback for a heck of a Nantucket sleigh ride.

Winged Migration (G). Ornithology-oriented, Oscar-nominated documentary, made by five teams of filmmakers, traces the flight habits of birds in 40 countries over all seven continents for a period of three years. In French with subtitles.