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Kam's Kapsules by Kam Williams

Around the Bend (R for profanity). Male-bonding drama about several generations of men in a clan with a big secret brought back together by the death of the family patriarch. With Michael Caine, Christopher Walken, Josh Lucas, and Glenne Headly.

Birth (R for sexuality). Otherworldly romance drama starring Nicole Kidman as a widow who thinks that the 10 year-old boy with a crush on her might be the reincarnation of her dead husband. With Lauren Bacall as her mother and Anne Heche as her best friend.

The Forgotten (PG-13 for violence, profanity, and intense themes). Sci-fi thriller with Julianne Moore as a bewildered single mom who hooks up with an equally frustrated father (Dominic West) to find the missing kids they suspect might have been abducted by aliens but who their psychiatrists say never even existed.

Friday Night Lights (PG-13 for mature themes, alcohol abuse, sex, expletives, and violence). Billy Bob Thornton and Derek Luke co-star in this high school football feature based on H.G. Bissinger's best-selling book which recounted the 1988 season exploits of the Permian Panthers from economically-ravaged Odessa Texas.

The Grudge (PG-13 for horror fare). Halloween horror film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as a nurse working in Tokyo where a supernatural, easily-spread virus has been unleashed which sends its victims into an uncontrollable, fatal rage

I Heart Huckabees (R for expletives and a sex scene). Introspective romantic comedy starring Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman as a married couple who help an assortment of neurotics handle existential crises. Ensemble cast includes Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg, Isabelle Huppert, Jason Schwartzman, Tippi Hedren, and Shania Twain.

Ladder 49 (PG-13 for profanity, and intense fire and rescue situations). Flashback drama about a firefighter (Joaquin Phoenix) trapped in a burning building whose life passes before his eyes while he patiently waits to see if his comrades can save him before he is consumed by the conflagration. With John Travolta and Morris Chestnut.

Maria, Full of Grace (R for drug use, graphic images, and profanity). Harrowing tale about a pregnant, 17 year-old, Colombian peasant who agrees to smuggle heroin into the U.S. for a vicious kingpin in return for a big payday. In Spanish with subtitles.

The Motorcycle Diaries (R for profanity). Biopic based on the journals of Che Guevera, written in 1951-52, when the future leader of the Cuban Revolution was a carefree, 23 year-old medical student.

Raise Your Voice (PG for mature themes and language). Coming-of-age melodrama with Hilary Duff as a sheltered, small town teen who decides to study performing arts in Los Angeles for the summer after her brother dies in a freak car accident.

Ray (PG-13 for sex and adult themes). Jamie Foxx disappears into the title role in this bio-pic based on the life of legendary blues singer Ray Charles. With Regina King, Terrence Howard, Kerry Washington, Larenz Tate, and Aunjanue Ellis.

Red Lights (Unrated). Taut Hitchcockian thriller about the harrowing ordeal which ensues for an alcoholic desperate to find his wife who abandoned him at a bar after an argument on the way to pick up their kids from camp in the south of France. In French with subtitles.

Shall We Dance (PG-13 for sexual references and brief profanity). Remake of the 1996 Japanese hit about a bored accountant whose marriage gets inadvertently revitalized when he secretly signs up for lessons with the attractive, young dance teacher he has admired from afar. Here, Richard Gere plays the jaded, middle-aged student opposite Jennifer Lopez. Cast also includes Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Nick Cannon.

Shark Tale (PG for crude humor and language). Undersea Mafia animated adventure about a bragging bottom feeder (Will Smith) who claims to be the shark-slayer who killed the son of a mob boss (Robert De Niro) only to learn that pretending can lead to trouble.

Stage Beauty (R for sex and expletives). Late 17th century costume drama starring Billy Crudup as England's most celebrated cross-dressing thespian whose career comes to a crashing halt after King Charles II decides it's time that females be permitted to play women's roles. With Clair Danes as his ex-assistant-turned-actress.

Surviving Christmas (PG-13 for sex, expletives and a drug reference) Pre-seasonal comedy with Ben Affleck as a just-dumped record exec who asks the family now living in his childhood home to let him move in for the holidays. With Christina Applegate, James Gandolfini, and Bill Macy.

Taxi (PG-13 for sex, expletives, and violence) This buddy comedy pairs a cabbie (Queen Latifah) with a rookie cop (Jimmy Fallon) for some outrageous hijinks as they set out to solve a string of recent burglaries.

Team America: World Police (R for graphic, crude and sexual humor, violent images, and profanity). Trey Parker and Matt Stone supply the bulk of the voicework in this puppet adventure about a band of superheroes out to save the world from terrorism and annoying celebrities.

We Don't Live Here Anymore (R for sex and expletives). Provocative drama adapted from the Andre Dubus novella, about the effect of an affair on the close friendship of two married couples. With Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, Mark Ruffalo and Peter Krause.

What the [Expletive] Do We Know ? (Unrated). Daring docudrama, mixing live-action and animation, stars Marlee Maitlin as a present-day Alice in Wonderland who finds herself in a paprallel universe where 14 intellectuals and clerics are debating whether religion or science has all the answers.