Jazz is often described as the only truly indigenous American art form, but what of the Hollywood western? With a moral code so unambiguous that its heroes and villains come in color-coded hats, the cowboy movie is the embodiment of our national myth: headstrong, violent and (like jazz) racially segregated.

If the cowboy movies of John Wayne and John Ford were about the opening of the American West, ``Brokeback Mountain'' is the somber slam of its closing. Based... continue

Rocks

Welcome to the back of the bus, white boy.
- Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke), Glory Road

You know the drill. Enthusiastic, hard-driving coach arrives at a backwater school and inspires his underdog team to athletic and moral victories, and oh yes, coach's wife provides heartfelt reaction shots from stands. This version is yet again based on a true story, wherein brilliant young basketball players must... continue

No Substitutions

She's our queen. This young lady is so multitalented. She's still the girl next door. She still comes home to Newark.
- Mayor Sharpe James, New York Times, 12 January 2006

"Keep Christ in Christmas," reads a poster at the church where Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) sings in the choir. The camera's brief pan of the group reveals they are earnest and hardworking, preparing their performance for a visit from... continue

Writer-director Eli Roth proves his accomplished 2003 gore flick Cabin Fever was no fluke with this grueling yet intense horror item. The opening credits, in which an unseen person happily whistles while hosing away splattered blood and dental remains in what looks like a dungeon abattoir, alerts viewers early about the mayhem to come.

Yet Roth plunges into the initial reels with a frat-house glee, as he charts the Eurotrip misadventures of college buddies Paxton (Jay Hernandez from... continue

*** (out of ****)

Somewhere between Hogwarts and Middle Earth lies Narnia, a magical, mystical kingdom populated by fauns, satyrs, dwarves, dryads, hags, nymphs, centaurs, trolls, and a particular nasty white witch. It's a world made possible through the technical artistry of the magicians at ILM, WETA, KNB, SPI, HATCH, Digital Dream, Rhythm & Hues, and SOHO VFX, not to mention director Andrew Adamson.

Adamson, who helmed the irreverent animated fables "Shrek" and "Shrek... continue

Jim Carrey plays Dick Harper, a guy with a great life, a great wife, a great family and a great job. He really couldn't ask for more but seems to get it when the company he works for, Globodyne, offers Dick a lucrative promotion. He accepts and his wife quits her job, but it turns out that, under the leadership of Jack McCallister (Alec Baldwin), Globodyne has gone belly-up and Dick is... continue

2005 hasn't been a banner year for animated releases, with all of them falling into two categories-the slight and amiable ("Robots," "Chicken Little," "Valiant") and the purely disposable ("Madagascar,"... continue

The best parts of Memoirs of a Geisha are those in which director Rob Marshall concentrates on the body discipline of these alluring women - how they move their hands, tilt their heads, lower their eyes, walk and smile.

Other aspects of the movie, unfortunately, lack this cinematic poetry and play like an overwrought MGM women's melodrama from the 1930s.

The movie version of Arthur Golden's best-seller is fundamentally a Cinderella story, complete with a wicked stepsister and a Prince Charming.
... continue

** (out of ****)

The disturbing subject matter of "Munich," the aftermath of the kidnapping and subsequent massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games by Palestinian terrorists, demands nothing less than deference. And that, to its credit, is how Steven Spielberg's latest film begins, paving the way for important and difficult questions in coupling reenactments with live broadcast... continue

*** (out of ****)

It's that old, well-roasted chestnut: what do you give to the man who has everything? In Peter "The Lord of the Rings" Jackson's case the answer was a doozy. The go-ahead.

Jackson's Christmas present, one he kindly passes along to us this holiday season, was the green light to remake that mother of all monster movies, "King Kong." After all, when you've just made three of the most popular motion... continue