CAST: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Laurence Fishburne
SYNOPSIS: Three friends who endured a tragedy together as children share an uneasy reunion as adults when one of the men's daughters is murdered. Based on a bestselling novel by Eckerd College graduate Dennis Lehane. Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as the grieving father seeking revenge.
WHAT WE SAID: "Powerful performances and Eastwood's moody, methodical way of laying out the twists are riveting," wrote St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall, who gave it an A-. "This is an actor's paradise, with emotional breakdowns and incendiary confrontations. The director's willingness to let scenes breathe is impressive, although some viewers might wish he'd just get on with it."
MPAA RATING: R; profanity, violence
RUNNING TIME: 137 min.
City of God
DIRECTOR: Fernando Meirelles
CAST: Alexandre Rodrigues, Douglas Silva, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen.
SYNOPSIS: Gritty drama that details the ascent of several of a Rio de Janiero neighborhood's lost boys from young thugs to powerful, notorious crime lords.
WHAT WE SAID: "Meirelles' film is packed with ugly images, including, most troubling, the forced murder of one boy by another, and (another character's) punishment of two wayward, very young children: He shoots them in the feet. Still, the cinematic storytelling - flashbacks, freeze frames, unusual camera points of view, multiple perspectives on the same sequences of events - is dazzling," wrote Times reviewer Philip Booth, who gave it a B-plus.
MPAA RATING: R; graphic violence
RUNNING TIME: 135 min.
Along Came Polly
DIRECTOR: John Hamburg
CAST: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Hank Azaria, Debra Messing.
SYNOPSIS: Compulsive worrier (Stiller) loses his wife (Messing) to a seductive scuba instructor on their honeymoon. Back home, he romances a free-spirited old school friend (Aniston) with whom he has nothing in common.
WHAT WE SAID: "Everything funny that happens in Along Came Polly is due to John Hamburg's detailed supporting characters, and resourceful acting," wrote Persall, giving it a B-minus. "That's enough to recommend Along Came Polly as a date flick or a video rental."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; Crude humor, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations.
RUNNING TIME: (90 min.)
TV ON DVD
Quantum Leap - The Complete First Season, M*A*S*H - Season 6, The A Team - Season 1, Just Shoot Me - Seasons 1 & 2
