CAST: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Andy Sirkis, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Bernard Hill, David Wenham, Miranda Otto, John Noble, Cate Blanchett
SYNOPSIS: The final chapter of Peter Jackson's trilogy makes up for the occasionally sluggish wheel-spinning of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen lead the charge against evil, but sly Gollum (Andy Serkis) almost steals the show.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall raved about this film, giving it an A and saying it made sitting through the first two parts of the Tolkien trilogy entirely worthwhile. "The Return of the King is the equal of its predecessors in visual marvels, yet surpasses both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers in pure storytelling. . . . King rewards viewers with resolutions - without sacrificing grandeur and true emotions - rather than virtual video gamesmanship."
CAST: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Marcia Gay Harden, Maura Tierney, Christine Baranski, Fred Savage, Rip Torn, June Squibb, Wayne Robson
SYNOPSIS: A former president (Gene Hackman) runs for mayor of a small town against a hardware store owner (Ray Romano).
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Philip Booth gave Mooseport a C-plus, writing, "Petrie (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) and his screenwriters might have offered a pointed commentary on political corruption, how the lust for power taints even small-stakes races. Instead, they go for laughs, of which there are too few."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; brief nudity, profanity, sexual innuendo
RUNNING TIME: 115 min.
Bubba Ho-Tep
DIRECTOR: Don Coscarelli
CAST: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Reggie Bannister, Ella Joyce
SYNOPSIS: Writer-director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm) weaves a fantasy of Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) and a man believing he's John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) living in a nursing home and battling an evil mummy.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this movie.
MPAA RATING: Not rated; contains profanity, sexual content, brief violence
RUNNING TIME: 92 min.
Shade
DIRECTOR: Damian Nieman
CAST: Gabriel Byrne, Stuart Townsend, Thandie Newton, Sylvester Stallone, Jamie Foxx, Melanie Griffith.
SYNOPSIS: Despite its name cast, this tale of high-stakes poker wasn't widely distributed and got little attention. Stuart Townsend plays a cardsharp who catches up with his grifter pals (Gabriel Byrne and Thandie Newton) in an effort to overthrow the greatest player of them all (Sylvester Stallone) to win a $2-million pot. Melanie Griffith appears briefly as Stallone's girlfriend; Jamie Foxx provides comic relief from the suspense.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this movie.
MPAA RATING: R; language, violence sexuality and nudity
RUNNING TIME: 101 min.
Broken Lizard's Club Dread
DIRECTOR: Jay Chandrasekhar
CAST: Elena Lyons, Dan Montgomery Jr.
SYNOPSIS: The creators of Super Troopers return with a long-delayed spoof of slasher flicks set at a swingers resort.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this movie.
MPAA RATING: R; harsh profanity, sexual situations, gory violence, drug content
