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Alaska


A solid natural history documentary that explores the beauty and harsh realities of nature in an extreme environment, Alaska is deserving of its 1997 Oscar for best documentary short. At the IMAX. (Randy Matin)





Austin Powers in Goldmember


If you're ready to take a nice cool dip in some quality a/c while experiencing jokes about urine, feces, flatulence, breasts, man-breasts, bestiality, name brands and homosexual panic, jump right in. (RP) Rated: PG-13





Blood Work


Clint Eastwood plays an FBI profiler forced into early retirement by a massive heart attack. Two years later, a meeting with a stranger (Wanda de Jesus) causes him to look further into the circumstances surrounding his transplant and recovery. RATED: R





Blue Crush


Having moved to Hawaii to train and compete in the Rip Masters competition, Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) is up at dawn every day riding the waves. When she's not, she's hanging out in her cool beach house with her three similarly surf-enthused roommates. Sparks fly when she meets cute football quarterback Matthew Davis. RATED: PG-13





The Bourne Identity


A thriller about an amnesiac who discovers his dark past at the same time as the audience. Director Doug Liman brings the virtues of his intimate, indie filmmaking style to what could have been another dated Cold War retread. (RP) RATED: PG-13





Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood


Based on Rebecca Wells' enormously popular 1996 novel, Divine Secrets tells the story of four irrepressible and close-knit friends growing up in 1950s Louisiana. Rated: PG-13





K-19: The Widowmaker


Harrison Ford is the Russian submarine captain called in to replace captain Liam Neeson when too many things go wrong in their new Cold War-era super sub. But the problem isn't Captain Neeson, it's the defective machinery and green crew. (ES) RATED: PG-13





Lilo & amp; Stitch


Stitch is a dangerous creature from another world, being hunted by his own, who lands on Earth and manages to get adopted by orphaned sisters Nani and Lilo, who are having their own problems with each other. (ES) RATED: PG





Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat


The self-described "bad boy of comedy" turns his experiences into fodder for his latest standup tour. Rated: R





The Master of Disguise


As high as Mike Myers climbs in choice sections of Goldmember, that's how low his Wayne's World partner Dana Carvey embarrassingly falls in this awful, misguided little movie. He plays an idiot of an Italian waiter whose family has for generations practiced secrets of do-gooding disguisery. The rest is downhill. (ES) Rated: PG





Men in Black II


In the relentless 88 minutes of Men In Black II, Director Barry Sonnenfeld does justice to the now-familiar Laurel and Hardy-style teaming of secret agent/planetary guardians Jay (Will Smith) and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) without deepening the earlier installment. (RP) Rated: PG-13





Minority Report


Steven Spielberg's latest finds Tom Cruise the head of the D.C. "Department of Pre-Crime," which has prevented homicides for six years through the exploitation of the "Pre-Cogs," a mysterious trio of seers who can predict the future. RATED: PG-13 (RP)





My Big Fat Greek Wedding


This Chicago-set, Second City-developed comedy is the slobbo American version of Four Weddings and a Funeral, getting no marks for subtlety but laughs from those of us who can laugh at the idea of an obnoxious ethnic family getting into the marital spirit -- funny Greeks in this case. (RP) RATED: PG





Reign of Fire


TV vet and director of the X-Files movie, Rob Bowman does his best with this allegedly future-set story of ash-coveting hungry dragons who want to burn London's humans to the ground. (RP) RATED: PG-13





Road to Perdition


This 1930s, Chicago-set gangster piece is about father-son relationships and dishonor among murderers. Paul Newman plays the boss, Tom Hanks is his major hitman; newcomer Tyler Hoechlin is Hanks' son, who finds out what Dad does for a living, thereby setting into motion some disastrous situations. Terrifically acted and directed (by Sam Mendes). (ES) Rated: R





Serving Sara


In this film featuring Matthew Perry and Elizabeth Hurley, Hollywood finally sets its sights on the exotic world of... process servers? That's right, Perry can serve anybody, from mobsters to millionaires. But he's tripped up on his own heart strings when he is hired by cattle rancher Bruce Campbell, who wants to serve Hurley with the papers necessary to cut her off from his fortune. Rated PG-13





Signs


The newest outing from M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) focuses on what some call fact and what others hope is fiction in a story of what happens when crop signs -- the flattening of farm fields into huge, bizarre shapes -- start popping up all over the world. The focus is on a small, troubled family, headed by former reverend Mel Gibson, who experience some terror on their home turf. With Joaquin Phoenix. (ES) Rated: PG-13





SIMONE


Washed-up director Viktor Taransky (Al Pacino) gets his last chance, blows it, then gets a gift -- a computer code that allows him to replace a problematic real actor with Simone, a perfect woman and great thespian who doesn't really exist. But that doesn't keep the fans away. And Viktor spends most of the film hiding "her" from everyone. Most of this is very dark comedy (some is outright hilarious), and it works as one of the better contemporary skewerings of Hollywood and everything it stands for. (ES) Rated PG-13





Space Station


The newest IMAX experience shoots its giant screen cameras up to the International Space Station to watch its assembly and visit with different crews during their long stays. It also generates amazing special effects, magnificently showing astronauts and cosmonauts out in the middle of spacewalks. (ES) Rated: G3





Spider-Man


As superhero origin stories go, Sam Raimi does a decent job of bringing zing and neurosis to the screen, and the web-swinging along the real and imagined streets of New York City is a thrill. Tobey Maguire's very good; Kirsten Dunst is sweet. (RP) Rated: PG-13





Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams


The gadgets are every bit as entertaining as the casting in this sequel, which this time pits Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara) against a pair of archrival spy kids (Emily Osment and Matt O'Leary). Steve Buscemi plays the mad scientist keeping them all on his island of genetic experiments. RATED: PG





Stuart Little 2


Sweetly calculated, building on the good humor and good will of the first, the 78 minutes of Stuart Little 2 don't have to stress lessons: a three-inch-high critter accepted by his family against the crushing outer world says it all. Geena Davis, Jonathan Lipnicki, Nathan Lane's grumpy-puss Snowbell and Michael J. Fox's Stuart repeat; the storybook Manhattan is a glistening treat. Directed by Rob Minkoff. (RP) RATED: PG





Ultimate X


The note under the Rated PG symbol says it all: "Daredevil sports action and mild language." ESPN's wildly popular Summer X Games 2001 in Philadelphia come to life on the five-story IMAX screen, with breathtaking footage of street luge, moto X, biking, skateboarding and more. RATED: PG





Woodstock


This director's cut of Michael Wadleigh's documentary of the 1969 concert (it comes in at 224 minutes), suggests that sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were the answer to everything, even in massive rainstorms, acres of mud and multiple-screen mosaics of middle-class kids tripping their brains out. But yet the movie is invaluable for its footage of Jimi Hendrix, who surpasses his legend as a player and a presence. (RP) Playing Aug. 29-30 at the Met.





XXX


The testosterone level for this one is even higher than last year's car race actioner from director Rob Cohen and actor Vin Diesel. This time, the new hot-shot action team gives us a story of a trouble-making extreme sports athlete who's grabbed by our government to do some dirty work in Europe. (ES) RATED: PG-13





Capsule reviews are written by Ed Symkus (ES) and Ray Pride (RP), unless otherwise noted.