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By Inlander Staff


* Beyond Borders -- Pouty Angelina Jolie spends all of her money on food for unfortunates in Ethiopia after being dazzled by a do-gooder doctor (Clive Owen) who demands funding from the wealthy. He follows trouble -- with the intent of eradicating it -- to all sorts of bad parts of the world, and she starts following him. This is supposed to be a moving and romantic story of people saving people. But Jolie's empty acting and the storyline's absurdity make for one bad movie. If you really want to see it, you'd better do it quickly. (ES) Rated: R





Brother Bear -- Disney's latest stars Joaquin Phoenix as the voice of a young man whose older brother is killed by a bear. Hoping to avenge his brother's death, Kenai (Phoenix) sets out on a heroic mission, only to find himself suddenly developing a strong craving for honey and enjoying the company of an owl, a piglet, a donkey and a rabbit. Oh wait. Wrong bear. No, Kenai turns into the very thing he set out to destroy -- a great big sharp-clawed, fur-covered, meat-eating grizzly bear. Rated: G





Coral Reef Adventure -- Think of it as a way to explore all 1,300 miles of the Great Barrier Reef without the danger of shark attacks. Not rated





** Good Boy! -- Talking dogs are as unlovely a curse as rainstorms of toads. Cuter, yes, but in the all-out anthropomorphic riot that is the glossy Good Dog!, with CGI-animated canine yaps that seem to be gargling mush even as they issue cutie-pie wisecracks. First-time director John Hoffman does an agreeable-enough job telling the story of 12-year-old Owen (Liam Aiken), who adopts a mutt from outer space (with Matthew Broderick's voice). The relentless high jinks grow tiresome, though lessons are there for the learning. (RP) Rated: PG





*** In the Cut -- What's most harrowing in Jane Campion's moody Manhattan sex-and-murder thriller is how palpable Meg Ryan makes her character's disenchantment, capturing the mood of women in their late 30s or early 40s who stop believing in romance. Mark Ruffalo's the murder detective who rouses her from slumber. With Jennifer Jason Leigh. (RP) Rated: R





*** Intolerable Cruelty -- The Coen brothers go the screwball route in the story of a divorce lawyer (George Clooney) who wins a case against the wrong gold-digger (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Everything gets a skewering, from love and marriage, to private investigators and the French -- a hilarious courtroom scene with a Frenchman named Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy. Snappy dialogue, and a cast that shoots for the moon, and hits it. (ES) Rated PG-13





* Kill Bill, Volume I -- The plot, such as it is, goes thusly: Awaking from a four-year coma after the slaughter of her wedding party, Uma Thurman visits violent revenge on former colleagues, including Lucy Liu and Vivica A. Fox. Quentin Tarantino's KBVI zooms along with the conviction of the true believer, but also suggests the hermetic world view of the truly foolish. Rated: R (RP)





*** Lewis & amp; Clark -- The IMAX folks have packed a lot into this vivid account of the two adventurers' travels across the American wilderness. (ES) Unrated





**** Lost in Translation -- Bill Murray is a middle-aged actor in Tokyo to film a whiskey commercial for $2 million. Scarlett Johansson is a newly-married twenty-something in town with her celebrity photographer husband. Both of them, searching for themselves, find each other (and the intensity of Japan), in director Sofia Coppola's second film. It's hilarious and romantic, Murray and Johansson give two of the year's best performances. (Marty Demarest) Rated: R





** Luther -- A medieval Ralph Lauren ad for Christianity starring Joseph Fiennes as Martin Luther. Expect a spin-off -- Reformation -- weekly on the WB. (Marty Demarest) Rated: PG-13





**** Mystic River -- An excellent adaptation of the Dennis Lehane crime thriller and character study by screenwriter Brian Helgeland and director Clint Eastwood. Three urban boyhood pals grow apart and come together years later, each with inner demons. The thug, Jimmy (Sean Penn), is grieving over his daughter's murder; the investigative cop, Sean (Kevin Bacon) can't get over his wife leaving him; and possible suspect Dave (Tim Robbins) keeps reliving a horrible incident from his youth. Powerful stuff. (ES) Rated R





*** Pirates of the Caribbean -- Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush vie for the scenery-chewing award in this rousing, adventurous, comical and slightly scary tale of the ghostly ship, the Black Pearl. (ES) Rated PG-13





Pulse -- A Stomp "odyssey," filmed in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America and the American Southwest. In addition to the usual sounds generated by brooms, trash cans, old metal sinks and PVC pipe, Pulse captures the ancient song and dance traditions of the world's peoples. Not Rated





Radio -- South Carolina high school football coach Ed Harris befriends developmentally disabled Cuba Gooding Jr. in this "yoohoo, Oscar, over here" drama. Radio is inspired by a Sports Illustrated article on the two principal characters and their enduring, real-life friendship. Rated: PG





*** Runaway Jury -- Things heat up quickly in this adaptation of the John Grisham courtroom thriller. Fans of the book may be heated over the fact that the plot's been changed from a tobacco trial to a gun trial, but the story works nicely anyway. Honest lawyer Dustin Hoffman goes after a gun manufacturer whose weapons lead to a murder. Unscrupulous "consultant" Gene Hackman intends to tamper with the jury for the other side. But a whole other plot is going on between juror John Cusack and his wily girlfriend Rachel Weisz. Twists and turns galore. (ES) Rated PG-13





The Rundown -- Decent, bantering Midnight Run-like bounty hunter comedy stars The Rock, Seann William Scott and one crazy Christopher Walken, hacking and griping their way through the Amazon. (RP) Rated: PG-13





Scary Movie 3 -- The Scary Movie franchise gets a little help this time out from deadpan actor Leslie Nielsen, writer Kevin Smith and Airplane! director David Zucker. Look for spoofs of The Ring, The Others, The Matrix, Signs and even 8 Mile. Rated: PG-13





*** School of Rock -- Floundering rocker Jack Black assumes his roommate's name and takes a job as a substitute teacher for private school fifth-graders, who are used to an unimaginative curriculum. He gets them to appreciate the only thing he knows -- rock music -- in an alternately sweet and raucous film. This film is much better than its trailers make it out to be. (ES) Rated PG-13





*** Seabiscuit -- Seabiscuit was a washed-up loser when he was discovered by trainer Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) in the mid-1930s. When "Team Seabiscuit" came together -- Smith, owner Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) and jockey Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) -- a national folk hero came into being. (ES) Rated: PG-13





** Secondhand Lions -- Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are the crusty, shotgun-wielding, probably wealthy uncles to whom mom (Kyra Sedgwick) delivers young Walter (Haley Joel Osment) for the summer so she can "go to school." (ES) Rated PG





Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- Not so much a remake as it is a retelling of the story of a group of kids who encounter a family of Texas cannibals, this rendition of the 1974 original is surprisingly stylish and somber, particularly at the beginning. Unfortunately, it turns bleak and nasty, and the payoff isn't very frightening -- it's just loud. Sexy stars though. (Marty Demarest) Rated: R





** Top Speed -- The new IMAX film focuses on a trio of athletes and one car designer who want to go faster -- and then go even faster. When these folks are zipping along the track or riding through wide-open spaces, the large-screen format is terrific. (ES) Unrated





** Under the Tuscan Sun -- The popular Frances Mayes book about life, food and home improvement in Italy becomes an overly sappy exercise in making plots up to make the non-story seem interesting. Diane Lane is quite good as the divorcee who's sent to Tuscany to jump-start her life and ends up in a series of deliriously happy circumstances. It gets to the point where everyone is so damn nice, you almost wish for something to go wrong. (ES) Rated: PG-13





** Underworld -- This vampire-werewolf-art-school hybrid has the cockiness to thrust viewers immediately into a semi-comprehensible world and hit the ground running, weaving and ducking from gales of gunfire. Its retro-futurist look may be the most festering-looking bigger-budget movie since Michael Radford's 1984. (RP) Rated: R





**** Don't Miss It *** Worth $8 ** Wait For The Video * Save Your Money








& lt;i & Capsule reviews are written by Ed Symkus (ES) and Ray Pride (RP), unless otherwise noted. & lt;/i &





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Publication date: 11/06/03