CAST: LL Cool J, Gabrielle Union, Essence Atkins, Mel Jackson
SYNOPSIS: A shrewish meddler (Union) prompts the husbands and boyfriends of her sisters to hire a playboy (LL Cool J) to distract her with romance.
WHAT WE SAID: "Rapper/actor LL Cool J, yet again, is an appealing leading man in an otherwise disappointing movie," Times correspondent Philip Booth said in his February review, giving the film a C. "This battle of the sexes, unfortunately, is an equal opportunity offender, with mildly offensive portrayals of both genders: The women are shrews or doormats, and the men are generally boorish and manipulative. That, apparently, is comedy."
MPAA RATING: R (sensuality, sex-related language)
RUNNING TIME: 105 min.
DVD FEATURES: Widescreen
Heaven
DIRECTOR: Tom Tykwer
CAST: Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, James Lloyd, Remo Girone, Max Giusti, Vincenzo Ricotta, Stefano Santospago, Alessandro Sperduti
SYNOPSIS: An English teacher in Italy (Cate Blanchett) accidentally kills innocents with a bomb intended for a drug lord, then is interrogated.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.
MPAA RATING: R (a scene of sexuality)
RUNNING TIME: 96 min.
Just Married
DIRECTOR: Shawn Levy
CAST: Ashton Kutcher, Brittany Murphy, Christian Kane, Taran Killam, Monet Mazur, David Moscow, David Rasche, Valeria SYNOPSIS: A young couple (Kutcher and Murphy) get married against her parents' wishes and take a European honeymoon, during which her ex-lover tries to break them up.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.
MPAA RATING: PG-13 (sexual content, some crude humor and a brief drug reference)
RUNNING TIME: 95 min.
DVD FEATURES: Commentary by Kutcher, Murphy and Levy, theatrical trailers, deleted scenes with optional director's commentary, Comedy Central's Reel Comedy: Just Married, making-of featurette and widescreen.
Narc
DIRECTOR: Joe Carnahan
CAST: Jason Patric, Ray Liotta, Busta Rhymes and Chi McBride
SYNOPSIS: A rogue detective (Liotta) and an undercover agent (Patric) chase a cop killer.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film. Elvis Mitchell, film critic for the New York Times, said of Narc: "There are a few disappointments. Cleveland or Toronto or Queens or whatever stands in for the Motor City that Carnahan depicts isn't entirely convincing as Detroit, though obviously a few exteriors were caught there. But Narc is convincing, an entertaining, grimy view of the traps of machismo tucked inside a cop thriller."
MPAA RATING: R (brutal violence, drug content and pervasive language)
RUNNING TIME: 107 min.
DVD FEATURES: Theatrical trailers, commentary by Carnahan and editor John Gilroy, Narc: Making the Deal, Narc: Shooting Up, Narc: The Visual Trip, widescreen
Tully
DIRECTOR: Hilary Birmingham
CAST: Anson Mount, Bob Burrus, Glenn Fitzgerald, Julianne Nicholson, Catherine Kellner, Natalie Canerday, John Diehl
SYNOPSIS: A farming family in Nebraska deals with foreclosure and household secrets in a quietly moving debut by director and co-writer Birmingham. Nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards, including best feature film.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall, who gave Tully an A, said in February, "Each year a movie gem slips through the cracks of the awards season, never receiving the audience and adoration it deserves. This year's sure-to-be lost treasure is Hilary Birmingham's farmland family drama Tully, a movie I'm embarrassed to admit lay unwatched in a stack of screener videos until after I composed a top 10 list for 2002. Tully would have made the list."
MPAA RATING: R (for language and some sexual content
