Mini Movie Reviews

OLYMPIAN STAFF, NEWS SERVICES

Originally published Friday, January 18, 2002

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

* * * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Russell Crowe delivers a virtuoso performance as the tormented, brilliant mathematician John Forbes Nash. Directed by Ron Howard. Universal Pictures, 129 minutes.

ALI

* * * (R)

- Stars: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Ron Silver, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mario Van Peebles and Jon Voight.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Michael Mann's impressionistic portrait of the great boxing champion, with a knockout performance by Will Smith. The film starts with a flurry, but weakens a bit in the final segment. Still, it's a winner by unanimous decision. Directed by Michael Mann. Columbia Pictures, 154 minutes.

BLACK HAWK DOWN

* * (R)

- Stars: Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard, Josh Hartnett and Eric Bana.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas, Shelton Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A gritty, tough re-enactment of a U.S. mission in Somalia in 1993 that went drastically wrong -- and the heroism of the men involved. But its racial politics are muddled and unsettling. Directed by Ridley Scott. Columbia Pictures, 143 minutes.

DONNIE DARKO

* * * (R)

- Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle and Mary McDonnell.

- Playing: Jan. 20-24 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: A teen-ager in his last year of high school does the bidding of a 6-foot-high rabbit wearing an insect mask. Directed by Richard Kelly.

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE

* * * * (PG)

- Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A magical, first-rate adaptation of the oh-so-popular novel about an abused English orphan who discovers he's a famous wizard. Newcomer Daniel Radcliffe heads a cast of esteemed English pros, working for director Chris Columbus. Warner Bros., 153 minutes.

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

* * * 1/2 (R)

- Stars: John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt and Miriam Shor.

- Playing: 9 p.m. and midnight Jan. 18 at the Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: In this story based on the Broadway show, a German boy undergoes a sex-change operation in order to be with an American GI with whom she/he has fallen in love. Finding herself abandoned in the U.S., she turns to rock 'n' roll as her crusade. Directed by John Cameron Mitchell.

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS

* * * (G)

- Stars: Animated, featuring the voices of Debi Derryberry, Patrick Stewart and Martin Short.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: An inventive young boy leads the children in this animated romp on a space adventure to save their parents who have been kidnapped by human-eating aliens. Directed and co-written by John A. Davis. Paramount Pictures. 84 minutes.

KATE & LEOPOLD

* * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Shelton Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Meg Ryan is typically fetching and Hugh Jackman is perfect in this sweet, romantic comedy about a 21st-century career woman who falls in love with a 19th-century aristocrat. When a crack in time brings them together, there's never any doubt they'll fall in love, but the charming performances allow us to look beyond plot cliches. Directed by James Mangold. Miramax, 120 minutes.

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

* * * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas, Shelton Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Peter Jackson's vivid and imaginative retelling of the first part of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy trilogy about a young Hobbit who tries to save Middle Earth by destroying an all-powerful ring of evil. New Line, 178 minutes.

THE MAJESTIC

* * * * (PG)

- Stars: Jim Carrey and Martin Landau.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas, Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A blacklisted screenwriter loses his memory in a car accident and wakes up in a town where kind strangers mistake him for the long lost son of a theater owner. Directed by Frank Darabont. Warner Bros., 145 minutes.

MONSTERS, INC.

* * * * (G)

- Stars: Animated, featuring the voices of Billy Crystal, John Goodman, James Coburn and Steve Buscemi.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Not just for kids, this may be the funniest film of the fall -- and also the most imaginative, telling a story of monsters in an alternate universe trying to get a little girl back to her own world. Directed by Pete Docter. Walt Disney Pictures, 85 minutes.

OCEAN'S ELEVEN

* * * (PG-13)

- Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Less a remake than a reimagining, this caper film -- in which a team of experts tries to rob Las Vegas casinos -- is funny, clever and entertaining enough to keep you from thinking about its larger improbabilities. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Warner Bros. 120 minutes.

ORANGE COUNTY

* * (PG-13)

- Stars: Colin Hanks, Schuyler Fisk and Jack Black.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Typical teen comedy featuring an atypical cast. Tom Hanks' son, Colin, and Sissy Spacek's daughter, Schuyler Fisk, star alongside Hollywood giants like Kevin Kline. Director Lawrence Kasdan's son, Jake, directs. Hanks plays a high school student trying desperately to get into Stanford University despite receiving a rejection letter. Paramount, 100 minutes.

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

* * * * (R)

- Stars: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller and Anjelica Huston.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Director Wes Anderson scores with this quirky, funny tale of a dysfunctional family of geniuses who learn not to overthink everything in their lives. Rated R for profanity, sexuality and violence. Touchstone Pictures, 103 minutes.

SNOW DOGS

* * 1/2 (PG)

- Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr. and James Coburn.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Predictable children's film about a Miami dentist (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who inherits a dogsled team and heads to Alaska. While there, he butts heads with a gruff local (James Coburn). Should be fun for the kids, but not parents. Directed by Brian Levant. Disney, 99 minutes.

TOGETHER

* * * (R)

- Stars: Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist and Emma Samuelsson.

- Playing: Jan. 20-24 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: The no-rules rule of a Swedish commune is challenged when a single mom and her two kids move in. Directed by Lukas Moodysson. In Swedish with English subtitles.

VANILLA SKY

* * * (R)

- Stars: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A darkly oddball psychological romantic thriller, with Tom Cruise as a wealthy Manhattan playboy who discovers his dreams of a life turning into a nightmare. Cameron Crowe writes and directs. Paramount, 133 minutes.

Star guide

Superior * * * *

Good * * *

Fair * *

Poor *

Movie ratings

G - General audiences.

PG - Parental guidance suggested.

PG-13 - Parental guidance sug-gested for children under 13.

R - Under 17 requires adult guardian.

NC-17 - No one under 17 admitted.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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