Mini Movie Reviews

OLYMPIAN STAFF, NEWS SERVICES

Originally published Thursday, January 24, 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. 129 minutes.

ALI

* * * (R)

- Stars: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith.

- Playing: Closes today at 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.

AMELIE

* * * 1/2 (R)

- Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Dominique Pinon, Isabelle Nanty and Serge Merlin.

- Playing: Jan. 26-30 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: A young woman, encouraged to be a wallflower all her life, decides to take on the world after finding a box of possessions hidden in her apartment by a former occupant. In French with English subtitles.

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.

CABIN IN THE SKY

* * * (unrated)

- Stars: Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Lena Horne and Louis Armstrong.

- Playing: 6:30 and 9 p.m. Jan. 31 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: In this swinging musical, the soul of a wayward husband becomes the subject of a duel between God and the Devil -- and the power of love and faith changes lives.

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

* * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris.

- Playing: Opens Friday at Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Alexandre Dumas' swashbuckling tale of betrayal and revenge looks great in this new version, but suffers from a lack of depth once it gets past the production design.

DONNIE DARKO

* * * (R)

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

- Playing: Today 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.

FAT GIRL

* * * (unrated)

- Stars: Anais Reboux, Roxane Mesquida and Libero De Rienzo.

- Playing: Jan. 26-30 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: This movie depicts two sisters, one plain and one gorgeous, and explores their sexuality as they approach maturity. In French with English subtitles.

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, closes today at Yelm Cinemas, opens Friday at Shelton Cinemas.

- Synopsis: A magical, first-rate adaptation of the popular novel about an abused English orphan who discovers he's a famous wizard.

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS

* * * (G)

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

- Playing: Closes today at Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: An inventive young boy leads children on a space adventure to save their parents who have been kidnapped by human-eating aliens.

KATE & LEOPOLD

* * * (PG-13)

- Stars: Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman.

- Playing: Closes today at Capital Mall Cinemas and Shelton Cinemas, opens Friday at Lacey 8 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.

KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST

(PG-13)

- Star rating: Not reviewed.

- Stars: Steve Oedekerk.

- Playing: Opens Friday at Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Writer-director Steve Oedekerk digitally inserts himself into redubbed footage from a 1976 karate flick to create an off-the-wall parody of martial arts films.

LONG NIGHT'S JOURNEY INTO DAY

* * * * (not rated)

- Playing: 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at Capitol Theater with Olympia Film Society.

- Synopsis: This emotionally charged and Oscar-nominated documentary reveals some of the personal stories that were part of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's investigation of apartheid crimes. Contains violence and oppression which may not be suitable for children. In English, Xhosa and Afrikaans with English subtitles.

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.

THE MAJESTIC

* * * * (PG)

- Stars: Jim Carrey and Martin Landau.

- Playing: Closes today at Lacey 8 Cinemas and 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.

MONSTERS, INC.

* * * * (G)

- Stars: Animated, featuring the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman.

- Playing: Closes today at Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Monsters in an alternate universe try to get a girl back to her own world.

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

* * (PG-13)

- Stars: Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Alan Bates.

- Playing: Opens Friday at Lacey 8 Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Richard Gere dives into "X-Files" country for this story about a reporter trying to uncover mysterious paranormal activities in a West Virginia town.

OCEAN'S ELEVEN

* * * (PG-13)

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

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: 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.

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. Hanks plays a high school student trying desperately to get into Stanford University despite receiving a rejection letter.

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

* * * * (R)

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

- Playing: Lacey 8 Cinemas, closes today at 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.

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.

TOGETHER

* * * (R)

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

- Playing: Today 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. In Swedish with English subtitles.

VANILLA SKY

* * * (R)

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

- Playing: Closes today at 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.

A WALK TO REMEMBER

(PG)

- Star rating: Not reviewed.

- Stars: Mandy Moore and Shane West.

- Playing: Opens Friday at Lacey 8 Cinemas and Yelm Cinemas.

- Synopsis: Jaded high schooler Shane West falls for Mandy Moore in a coming-of-age story set in North Carolina. With Peter Coyote and Daryl Hannah.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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