CAST: Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, Alex Borstein.
SYNOPSIS: Catwoman (Berry) deals with an evil cosmetics mogul (Stone).
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Philip Booth gave the film a C+, which was kinder than many reviewers. Booth wrote, "Much of the budget was spent on getting Catwoman into skimpy leather outfits and onto roofs and walls, where she scampers around like Spidey without his webs. . . . Instead of a heroine as seductive as Eartha Kitt or Julie Newmar in the old Batman television series, we get Halle Berry, merely foxy and too self-possessed for this cartoony role."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; violence, sexual innuendo
RUNNING TIME: 108 min.
Cellular
DIRECTOR: David R. Ellis
CAST: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy, Jason Statham, Jessica Biel
SYNOPSIS: A kidnapped woman (Basinger) dials up the cell phone of a stranger (Evans) for help. Macy co-stars as the detective who won't believe his story.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave the film a D. "Everything that happens in David R. Ellis' film is a declaration of what will happen next, and if it doesn't seem plausible, it's just Cellular calling attention to itself as a plot gone wild. . . . Nothing about Cellular is extraordinary except its blatant disregard for logic. This is a movie that could end at any time, if only one person did what would be expected under their circumstances. "
CAST: Queen Latifah, Quran Pender, Ja Rule, Eve, Jonathan Silverman, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan Good, Tim Meadows, Farrah Fawcett, Danny Glover
SYNOPSIS: A basketball phenom (Pender) signs an NBA contract, celebrating with a block party in his ritzy new neighborhood.
WHAT WE SAID:The Times did not review this film.
MPAA RATING: PG-13; drug content, sexual references and language
RUNNING TIME: 95 min.
The Forgotten
DIRECTOR: Joseph Ruben
CAST: Julianne Moore, Gary Sinise, Dominic West, Alfre Woodard, Anthony Edwards, Linus Roache
SYNOPSIS: A woman (Moore) searching for her missing child is told by a psychologist (Gary Sinise) that she only imagined being a mother.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B. "The Forgotten is a genuinely creepy movie so convincing in its first half-hour that the next 50 minutes, when things get preposterous, work very well, indeed," he wrote. "This is the kind of popcorn flick that doesn't usually garner awards attention, but Moore's performance should be an exception. Sometimes the mark of acting greatness is overcoming material that could easily be hooted off the screen. That's what Moore does."
CAST: Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Jay Hernandez, Tim McGraw, Connie Britton
SYNOPSIS: A high school football coach (Thornton) copes with the pressures of winning in a desperate Texas town. Based on the book by Buzz Bissinger.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave it a B. "Director Peter Berg is so preoccupied with staging superb football sequences that he almost forgets to craft a movie from Buzz Bissinger's book Friday Night Lights. The kind of drama expected from a feature film emerges in fits and starts, usually very effectively but not sustained or linked together in a fashion to present genuine drama," he wrote. "Friday Night Lights will be embraced by football fans for its game sequences, and that will be enough to convince some that this is one of the best sports films ever made. Comparing the overall structure to more complete films such as Hoosiers and Seabiscuit raises doubts about that claim. Berg's film is like the kid who isn't a great athlete but who does enough things right to be considered as a starter."
MPAA RATING: PG-13; sports violence, profanity, brief teen drinking and sexuality
