Web Edition

NEWS

FEATURES

ENTERTAINMENT

COLUMNS

CONTACT US

Love Actually

Kam's Kapsules by Kam Williams

Along Came Polly (PG-13 for crude humor, sex content, profanity, and drug references). Jennifer Aniston stars in the title role of this romantic comedy as a party girl who gets involved in a risky affair with a normally risk averse newlywed (Ben Stiller) who just found out his wife's cheating on him.

Barbershop 2: Back in Business (PG-13 for profanity, drug references, and sexuality). Cedric the Entertainer, Eve, Ice Cube, and a half-dozen others are back for another irreverent slice of life at the Chicago neighborhood shop, now threatened by a developer out to replace it with a franchise outlet for a chain of haircutteries. Star-studded cast additions include Queen Latifah and Kenan Thompson.

The Big Bounce (PG-13 for nudity, violence, sex content, and profanity). Remake of 1969 crime comedy originally adapted from an Elmore Leonard best-seller. Set in Hawaii, Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Sara Foster, Charlie Sheen, and Gary Sinise star in this multi-layered mystery involving some shady characters with designs on the fortune of a real estate tycoon.

Big Fish (PG-13 for nudity, a fight sequence, and sexual references). Tim Burton adaptation of the David Wallace novel about a young man (Billy Crudup) trying to sort fact from fiction about his dying father (Albert Finney). With Danny DeVito, Ewan McGregor, Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Guillame, Jessica Lange, Julianne Moore, Faye Dunaway, Steve Buscemi, and Alison Lohman.

The Butterfly Effect (R for violence, drug use, profanity, and sex content). Sci-fi flick with Ashton Kutcher as a man who figures out how to tele-commute backwards in time in order to undo childhood traumas which have been plaguing him in adulthood.

Calendar Girls (PG-13 for nudity, slight profanity, and drug use). British comedy based on the true story of the 11 middle-aged women who began baring their breasts in 1999 as pinups for an annual calendar to raise money for cancer research. Helen Mirren and Julie Walters top the cast.

Catch That Kid (PG for mild epithets, adult themes, and crude humor). An American remake of the 2002 Danish film, Klatretosen, about a 12 year-old girl (Kristen Stewart) who plans an elaborate bank heist to pay for an operation for her mountain climber father (Sam Robards) who was paralyzed in an accident on Everest. With Jennifer Beals as the hand-wringing wife and mother.

Cheaper by the Dozen (PG for mild epithets and mature themes). Remake of the 1950 classic about the trials and tribulations of a football coach (Steve Martin) and a writer (Bonnie Hunt) raising 12 kids in Chicago after relocating from the country.

Cold Mountain (R for violence and sexuality). Nicole Kidman stars opposite Jude Law in this Civil War saga set in the waning days of the Confederacy. Anthony Minghella directs this costume drama depicting the ordeals encountered by a wounded Confederate soldier while returning home to North Carolina to his pining sweetheart.

The Cooler (R for violence, profanity, drug use, and intense sexuality). William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin, paired for the third time in their careers, are in a Mafia comedy about a contagious loser in Las Vegas whose luck turns around after he falls in love with a cocktail waitress, which serves to irritate the crooked casino manager.

50 First Dates (PG-13 for crude sexual humor and drug references). Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, who worked so well together in The Wedding Singer, reunite for another offbeat romantic comedy, this about a veterinarian trying to woo an amnesiac with short-term memory loss who has to be courted afresh every day.

Girl with a Pearl Earring (PG-13 for sex content). Scarlett Johansson stars as the title character of this 17th century costume drama, based on the Tracy Chevalier novel of the same name, which speculates about the anonymous subject of the famous Vermeer painting of the same name.

In America (PG-13 for sex, expletives, drug use, and violence). Five-time Academy Award-nominee Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father) serves up more Oscar bait with this drama about an impoverished Irish family which moves to New York to pursue the American Dream.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (PG-13 for battle scenes and scary images). The J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy is completed with Frodo and friends returning for a final showdown for control of Middle Earth.

Miracle (PG for rough sports action and some salty language). Patriotic docudrama recounts the 1980 Olympic triumph of the American ice hockey team against all odds. With Kurt Russell as recently-deceased coach Herb Brooks.

Monster (R for graphic violence, sex content, and pervasive profanity). Charlize Theron put on 25 pounds to play a plump prostitute turned serial killer in this arresting biopic chronicling the real-life case of convicted murderer Eileen Wuornos.

Mystic River (R for profanity and violence). Clint Eastwood directed this labyrinthine whodunit starring Sean Penn as a man whose daughter has been murdered. Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne co-star as the detectives handling the investigation, while Tim Robbins surfaces as the prime suspect.

The Perfect Score (PG-13 for sex, expletives, and drug use). Absurd ensemble teensploit, filmed in Vancouver and Los Angeles, about seven high school seniors who decide to break into Princeton's Educational Testing Service in order to steal the answers to the SAT.

Something's Gotta Give (PG-13 for profane language and sexual content including brief nudity). Complicated comedy involving a love quadrangle with a young doctor (Keanu Reeves) who falls for the mother (Diane Keaton) of his heart patient's (Jack Nicholson) girlfriend (Amanda Peet).

Torque (PG-13 for sex, expletives, drugs, and violence). Biker gang revenge drama with rapper Ice Cube, as the leader of a feared crew called the Machine, out to avenge the murder of his brother by an outfit named the Hellions. With Monet Mazur, Jaime Pressley, and Christina Milian.

21 Grams (R for sex, expletives, violence, and drug use). A three part tale about an alcoholic ex-con (Benicio Del Toro), a terminally-ill professor (Sean Penn), and a recovered addict and mother (Naomi Watts) whose lives become intertwined after a fateful car accident.

Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! (PG-13 for slight sexuality, drug references, and a couple of curses). Love triangle about a small town girl (Kate Bosworth) too obsessed with her puppy love for a Hollywood heartthrob (Josh Duhamel) to notice the sweet "boy next door" (Topher Grace) who has been secretly worshipping her from afar.

You Got Served (PG-13 for adult themes and sexual references). Right on the heels of the similar film Honey, comes this inner-city flick about a couple of hip-hop hoofers whose dream of opening their own recording studio depends on their winning a breakdance competition.