SPIDER-MAN 3
The first film was pretty good, the second was great, this one ups the action and the angst (and the effects budget) and is the best of the series. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) have everything going for them, till a black blob of goo drops from the sky, just about the same time a bunch of different people turn into villainous monsters -- with Spidey in their sights. Multi-leveled storytelling zips along at a frantic pace, but director Sam Raimi, despite leaving questions about the power of the goo, maintains masterful control. Dark, but lots of fun. (ES) Rated PG-13
YEAR OF THE DOG
John C. Reilly as a pet-slaying sociopath? Laura Dern as stick-assed mom? Molly Shannon as a hopeless social cripple? Okay, that last one's not strange, but the first two kinda are. Mike White, who wrote Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl and (unfortunately) Nacho Libre, makes his writer/director debut in this story about losing a dog to find a man. (LB) Rated PG-13