CAST: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Billy Crudup, Danny DeVito, Helena Bonham Carter, Matthew McGrory, Robert Guillaume, Steve Buscemi, Ada Tai, Arlene Tai
SYNOPSIS: Yarn about a lifelong liar (Finney), played in flashbacks to a mythic youth by McGregor.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave the film a B-, calling it "a bit too magical for its own good, which could seem an odd complaint since director Tim Burton isn't known as a down-to-earth filmmaker. . . . There are some of his trademark dark underpinnings to this yarn about an inveterate liar, yet they stick out like so many sore thumbs amid the candy-coated fantasy Burton unravels."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; brief violence and nudity, mild profanity
RUNNING TIME: 125 min.
The Cooler
DIRECTOR: Wayne Kramer
CAST: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy, Estella Warren, Ron Livingston, Paul Sorvino
SYNOPSIS: The unluckiest guy in Las Vegas (Macy) falls in love with a waitress (Bello), changing his karma and usefulness to an unscrupulous casino boss (Baldwin).
WHAT WE SAID: This film, which Persall awarded a B, earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Baldwin. "Las Vegas isn't the best place to go looking for fairy tales," Persall wrote. "First-time filmmaker Wayne Kramer works hard to manufacture one in The Cooler, but never quite decides whether he wants his movie to be Grimm or merely grim. . . .
MPAA RATING: R; harsh profanity, violence, sexual situations, nudity
RUNNING TIME: 101 min.
Ghosts of the Abyss
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
CAST: Bill Paxton, Tava Smiley
SYNOPSIS: Titanic director Cameron visits the underwater grave of the doomed ocean liner. Recreations of events aboard the ship add an eerie feel.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B-plus. It was made for 3-D IMAX viewing, but never showed in the Tampa Bay area in the 3-D IMAX form. The film continues at IMAX Dome Theater at the Museum of Science and Industry, but not in 3-D.
MPAA RATING: G; mild peril
RUNNING TIME: 59 min.
Love Actually
DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis
CAST: Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Rowan Atkinson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, Billy Bob Thornton
SYNOPSIS: Curtis, creator of Four Weddings and a Funeral, returns with an anthology of romantic comedies.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Janet Keeler gave the film a B. "Fools for love - and isn't that most of us? - will get sucked into Love Actually quicker than overpriced multiplex soda through a straw. . . . Love Actually is no Four Weddings and a Funeral, or even Notting Hill. Yes, it has the foppish Grant, but the quirky friends and family who inhabit Curtis' other movies have been tossed off the marquee by bigger names. Our loss. Regardless, grab a date and go. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be entertained."
MPAA RATING: R; nudity, profanity, mature themes
RUNNING TIME: 128 min.
Love Don't Cost a Thing
DIRECTOR: Troy Beyer
CAST: Nick Cannon, Christina Milian, Steve Harvey, Kenan Thompson, Kal Penn
SYNOPSIS: A high school nerd (Cannon) pays a cheerleader (Milian) to pose as his girlfriend in order to appear cool.
SYNOPSIS: A young girl in Afghanistan poses as a boy to escape harsh Taliban rule. Winner of the 2004 Golden Globe for best foreign film. Shown with English subtitles.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Rick Gershman gave the film an A- when it was in local theaters earlier this month. He called the film "a compelling and quietly devastating achievement from a talented first-time filmmaker."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; mature themes
RUNNING TIME: 82 min.
The Statement
DIRECTOR: Norman Jewison
CAST: Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, Alan Bates, Matt Craven, David de Keyser, Ciaran Hinds, William Hutt, Noam Jenkins, John Neville, Jeremy Northam, Charlotte Rampling
SYNOPSIS: An aging Nazi sympathizer (Caine) eludes two sets of hunters with the help of a Catholic sect.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a C, writing that "Jewison's penchant for social statements (In the Heat of the Night, The Hurricane) fails him here, and he never impressed me as someone who should make trench-coat thrillers. The Statement is a flat example of the genre, too reserved for the nasty business these films require."
MPAA RATING: R; for violence
RUNNING TIME: 120 min.
Stuck on You
DIRECTOR: Bobby and Peter Farrelly
CAST: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Eva Mendes, Seymour Cassel, Cher, Terence Bernie Hines, Jackie Flynn, Skyler Stone, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson
SYNOPSIS: The Farrelly brothers tone down their usual riotous rudeness as conjoined twins Bob (Damon) and Walt (Kinnear) Tenor live a quiet life running a diner until Hollywood beckons and their relationship is tested.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Philip Booth gave the film a B-. "There's something about Stuck on You that separates it from the other comedies written and directed by brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly. . . . The Farrellys, riotously rude in There's Something About Mary and hopelessly politically incorrect in Shallow Hal, seem to have all but abandoned the crude and crass for the warm and fuzzy. It's all so much nicer, yes, but not nearly as entertaining."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; sexual references, profanity
RUNNING TIME: 118 min.
Taking Sides
DIRECTOR: Istvan Szabo
CAST: Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgard, Moritz Bleibtreu, R. Lee Ermey, Birgit Minichmayr, Ulrich Tukur, Oleg Tabakov, Hanns Zischler
SYNOPSIS: Keitel stars as an American officer involved in the post-World War II hearings of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler (Skarsgard).
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film, which played locally only as part of the Sarasota Film Festival.
