Opening Films

by Inlander Staff & r & Dreamer: Inspried by a True Story -- The title is too long and the film is too packed with cliches. Failed horse owner Kurt Russell acquires a badly injured filly and intends to nurse her back to health, coached along by his precocious daughter Dakota Fanning (who talks too fast and garbles her words). Well-intentioned and big-hearted, the film nevertheless has ridiculous plot switches -- the girl becomes majority owner of the horse -- and is utterly predictable every furlong of the way. (ES) Rated PG





Doom -- The Rock looks surprisingly like the dude from the original Doom videogame (not so much like the guy in Doom III). That's kinda cool, if you played it when you were a kid. There seem to be quite a few first-person camera angles with weapons sticking out -- just like the game. So, for you fan boys, this might be a good way to spend a couple hours. If you're not, you know, playing the game already. Rated R





American Zion -- The stirring narrative of the faith that led a persecuted people to Missouri and beyond is one of the most poignant untold tales of American history. It is the account of a valiant struggle to exercise the rights promised by a fledgling nation. Or something. Rated PG-13





Stay -- "Between the world of the living and the world of the dead, there's a place you're not supposed to stay." It looks a lot like New York, and that makes Ewan McGregor freak out. By the director of Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland, this might be a studied look at pressure and emotion ... or it might be another Sixth Sense ripoff. Rated R





North Country -- Charlize Theron is one of very few women working in a coal mine way up north. All the women she works with get ogled and groped and denigrated, but don't stand up for themselves because they desperately need the job. Classic paradox, but when Theron decides to speak out against the abuse, she finds herself between a rock and an apathetic place. The men hate her, and the women won't support her. Or will they? Rated R





Kids In America -- A group of high school students band together to peacefully stick it to their overbearing principal. That spells mild amounts of trouble. And hilarity? Rated PG-13





Down & amp; Derby -- You know that old sports movie clich & eacute; where the hard-ass father lived vicariously through his son, either being really hard on him when he fails or doing really zany, kooky things? Imagine that in a Pinewood Derby setting. Rated PG