film

Film listings are edited by Cheryl Eddy. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Meryl Cohen, David Fear, Dina Gachman, Susan Gerhard, Dennis Harvey, Johnny Ray Huston, Patrick Macias, and Chuck Stephens. Film intern is Adam Wadenius. See Rep Clock and Movie Clock for theater information.

Opening

*Green Dragon See Movie Clock. (1:53) Galaxy.

Like Mike After a TV-movie gig as the suffering husband of Mary Tyler Moore's Sante Kimes, the ever-ready Robert Forster shifts to a co-star with better hair: Bow Wow (now sans the Lil'). Forster is just one member of an adult roster that makes Like Mike semi-bearable for adults – others include Anne Meara as a nun and Crispin Glover, who needs some sun. Bow Wow plays a wuvvable orphan named Calvin whose magical touched-by-the-toes-of-Jordan sneakers allow him to move so fast across the floor that he's capable of the wackiest basketball high jinks since Flubber. He isn't capable of rescuing scenes that involve Jonathan Lipnicki, however. Morris Chestnut plays Bow Wow's father figure, and NBA star Allen Iverson makes a cameo. (1:40) Jack London. (Huston)

Men in Black II Will Smith steps forth once again to save the world. (1:28) California, Century Plaza, Century 20, Empire, Jack London.

*Notorious C.H.O. "Do you know how hard I have to work to put pussy on the table?" Margaret Cho asks at one point during her new concert film. The hard work has paid off: Notorious C.H.O. reaches its comic peak when Cho reveals her own very specific turn-ons and turnoffs, free-associating herself in and out of absurd bedroom scenarios, some imaginary, some hilariously real. Cho doesn't meet doctrinaire definitions of a gay man (though she's one in sensibility) or a lesbian (while attracted to dykes who resemble John Goodman, she admits pussy isn't her first choice). Despite an opening interview that contains words such as "inclusion" and "validated," Cho's new movie trims down the empowerment mantras of her first, I'm the One That I Want. The emphasis is on raunch. Cho is equipped with one-liners, expert turns of phrase, and an arsenal of silly voices, but her secret weapon is physical comedy, a talent ideally suited to sexual stand-up. Lorene Machado's mostly artless direction intuitively hooks up with Cho's pantomimes only once: a crotch-level view as she imitates an ex-boyfriend bellowing, "Why can't you cuuuuum when I fuck you?" (1:35) Lumiere, Piedmont, Shattuck. (Huston)

The Powerpuff Girls Movie While The Powerpuff Girls Movie has plenty of the biff, bang, pow, fight-like-a-girl action you'd expect in, creator Craig McCracken's attempt to move his adorable, animated, bug-eyed trio to the big screen falls flat. Sure, we get to see our beloved Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup sprout from the Professor's lab; wage their first battle with the evil Mojo Jojo and his army of ultra-powerful primates; and become the erstwhile guardians of Townsville. But not even McCracken's fervent retro animation, set seamlessly to a punchy techno score, can make up for the fact that short attention spans begin to wander after the first hour. Even the normally ass-kicking fight scenes seem to drag on. As the cartoon's hallmark zip-zing pacing wanes, the film feels less like a feature debut and more like a TV show that's just too darn long. While it's fine for a family outing or a Sunday matinee, die-hard fans seeking real Powerpuff action should probably just stay home and watch back-to-back episodes. (1:20) Grand Lake, Orinda, Shattuck. (Sabrina Crawford)

Pumpkin The world of blond-bobbed Carolyn Duffy (Christina Ricci) would be complete if her sorority won the best-house-on-campus award. The honor seems inevitable once her fellow Sigma royalty choose the "Challenged Games" as their pet charity. As Carolyn finds herself romantically drawn to the handicapped "Pumpkin" Romanoff (Hank Harris), however, she jeopardizes not only her relationship with her hunky boyfriend (Sam Ball) but also her entire social status. Even with such obvious targets as Greek systems and suburbia in its crosshairs, Pumpkin's flaccid satire is so preoccupied with the camp aspects of its '50s Sirk-us Maximus melodramatic mores that it can't decide how to properly craft a parody. Essayed by two directors (Adam Larson Broder and Anthony Abrams), the entire affair seems plagued by dualities: too warm 'n' fuzzy to be truly misanthropic, too mean-spirited and kitschy to be sincere, too much and yet far from enough. Marinating in Farrelly-style handicapped humor minus the brothers' sweet-and-sour touch, this schizophrenic affair ends up a pulpy, seedy mess. (1:47) Lumiere, Shattuck. (Fear)

Warm Water under a Red Bridge Shohei Imamura's scatalogical sense of humor gets full display in this fable of a mystical seaside baker (Misa Shimizu, from Dr. Akagi, etc.) who unleashes a literal geyser from her loins every time she gets hot. Her eventual paramour (Koji Yakusho, Shall We Dance? stud and Kiyoshi Kurosawa regular) is a man whose first interest in her is the "treasure" supposedly buried somewhere in her vicinity. Many other surprises await him, however. Bring an umbrella: whether you want to elevate her to metaphor and mermaid status or are happy to settle with spectacular female ejaculation, Imamura intends you to leave physically and mentally aroused. (1:59) Galaxy, Oaks. (Gerhard)

Yana's Friends This comedy-drama is about Russian immigrants living in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War. (1:30) Galaxy.

Ongoing

About a Boy Unrepentantly shallow lad Will (Hugh Grant) invents his own imaginary one-parent family to gain access to datable single mothers. Complications arise when Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a 12 year-old social misfit with a suicidal mom (Toni Collette), barges into his stratosphere, introducing the idea that maybe there's more to life than sex, haircuts, and objects. Few actors can play callow as charmingly as Grant, and his performance in this adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel almost makes it worth sifting through the more saccharine moments in the mix. Essaying a shallow, bitter version of his usual bumbling Romeo roles, he's almost daring you to question why you liked his persona in the first place. Directors Paul and Chris Weitz (American Pie) prove they can capture the self-deprecating strain of British humor, but Grant's edgy take eventually grates against the sentimentality and "Shake Ya Ass" sing-alongs included to insure mass palatability. (1:45) Four Star, Piedmont, Shattuck. (Fear)

*Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner It's not just the centuries-old source material that makes Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner feel so revelatory and revolutionary. It's the fact that, even as it uses modern forms of no-frills filmmaking, it has managed to boil down cinematic storytelling to its essence. Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk pays tribute to the prodigious way the Inuit have with a classic "hero on a journey" narrative, and also to the still-vibrant culture and environment that fosters that kind of storytelling. Long, nearly silent takes are devoted to capturing the Inuit lifestyle, as they work the frostbitten land in order to survive. Shot in a digital wide-screen format, the Arctic landscapes take on an otherworldly quality custom-built for mythopoetic status, even as the film's realist visual approach and slowed-down pacing ground its context within a patient, philosophical, and ritualistic culture. (2:52) Act I and II, Bridge. (Fear)

Bad Company "Bad" doesn't begin to describe this unoriginal, unfunny would-be thriller from director Joel Schumacher and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. As a buddy movie, it fails: Chris Rock (as a New Jersey ne'er-do-well whose twin brother, a CIA operative, is killed while working a top-secret case) and Anthony Hopkins (as a no-nonsense agent who trains Rock to complete his brother's assignment) display some of the worst chemistry ever committed to the screen. Worst of all, the movie's (inadvertently unfortunate) central plot point – American-hating terrorists armed with a nuke, loose in NYC – seems all the ickier when mixed with lame-ass "Shaq attack" jokes. (1:47) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Eddy)

*Bartleby Bartleby, an absurdist update of Herman Melville's novella Bartleby the Scrivener, is brimming with enough vintage CGI (Crispin Glover incantations) to make Glover fans rejoice. You'd swear he was born to play Melville's existentially conflicted hero, a clerk dedicated to his job filing records who suddenly decides that he'd "prefer not to" work, infuriating his coworkers and confounding his concerned boss (David Paymer). First-time director Jonathan Parker willfully changes story elements and substitutes deadpan apocalyptic chic for Melville's dreary tone, but he's smart enough to keep an undercurrent of dread humming throughout that keeps the film's literary source recognizably present. (1:22) Four Star. (Fear)

The Bourne Identity A man (Matt Damon) with no memory retraces his steps in search of his identity. Like most cinematic victims of amnesia, it turns out he's a trained assassin for a CIA spook organization and is targeted for termination. Once our hero reappears on the intelligence grid, he and his hapless MacGuffin-of-circumstance (Franke Potente) dodge agency cleanup men and international-espionage chess games while reconstructing his past. Based on pulp-spy literati Robert Ludlum's page-turner, Bourne's plot mechanisms are basic paranoia 101 spiced with Hitchcockian hoo-ha, but director Doug Liman (Go) has a way with chase scenes and fight choreography, blending '70s grit and '90s delirium with surprising deliciousness. Damon's grace-under-pressure performance establishes that he can embody an action hero minus much meaty posturing, even if the third act's clenched jaws and pat denouements skitter away earlier, savvier moments. Still, for a big-budget thriller, Bourne's erotic underpinnings and eschewing of cookie-cutter turns makes for a class-act, minor-chord thrill ride. (1:53) Century Plaza, Century 20, Grand Lake, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Fear)

CQ In the 1960s, horndoggery, cold war machismo, mod fashion, and the nouveau concept of camp all found their most fruitful mutual expression in the Bondian spy flick, a genre that sired as many bastard offspring as fictional James might've. One suspects Roman Coppola knows every Mylar nook and fun-fur cranny of such films firsthand, as his debut feature, CQ, is both endearing and frustrating as slavish homage to this epoch. Paris, 1969: an American editor (Jeremy Davies) is day-jobbing on Dragonfly, a softcore sci fi-spy flick à la Barbarella. When Dragonfly's director is sacked, insecure Paul finds himself expected to take over. The films CQ flatters and parodies are 100 percent style, so it's no backhanded compliment to say Coppola gets all the peripherals right. But CQ needs more than retro-design cred and psychotronic affection to hang on. As is, this sweet but very soft flashback impacts rather like a Bondian freeze-ray gun. The immediate effect is striking, but once it's over you can't remember anything happening at all. (1:40) Opera Plaza. (Harvey)*Cherish In Finn Taylor's San Francisco drama, Zoe (Robin Tunney) is an off-kilter animator who runs her life with clueless abandon: annoying her coworkers by listening to the greatest hits of yesteryear and meeting men and losing them at the speed of light. She quickly moves from being a prisoner of her own habits to just being a prisoner, after she's forced at gunpoint to mow down a bicycle cop. While she waits for a trial, she's put on the "bracelet" program, which allows her to remain outside a real prison as long as she wears an electronic ankle bracelet. When the bracelet-program coordinator (Tim Blake Nelson) comes by to adjust the shackles on his kooky indoor-roller skating, love song-obsessed charge, a whole new plotline ensues. Cherish's comedy goes down better than its thrills, mostly because of a cast that includes unheralded geniuses like Nelson, who carries off his nervous warden character with clammy charm. (1:52) Embarcadero. (Gerhard)

Cinema Paradiso: The New Version Giuseppe Tornatore's syrupy 1989 ode to cinema returns with 51 minutes of unseen footage, making a film that was already too long even longer. After learning about the death of an old friend, famous film director Salvatore (Jacques Perrin) returns to the village of his youth, where he is whisked back into the memories of his childhood, spent mostly at the local cinema house. It is in these early scenes that the film holds most of its charm, as young Salvatore (Salvatore Cascio) discovers the wonders of cinema, stealing strips of film from the projection booth and pestering Alfredo (Philippe Noiret), the elderly projectionist. Tornatore wisely leaves these scenes intact, and the bulk of the new footage expands on Salvatore's adult life and his missed opportunity with Elena (Agnese Nano). These scenes drag along as Tornatore reveals the answer to the fateful question of Elena's disappearance, tidying up all loose ends and at the same time robbing us of the thrill of imagination the original ending inspired. (2:53) California, Lumiere. (Wadenius)

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys Amid the scandals and accusations surrounding the Catholic church, the title of Peter Care's directorial debut will most certainly catch your attention. Beyond that, there is nothing particularly eyebrow-raising about this overambitious coming-of-age drama, which follows the mischievous adventures of a pair of fresh-faced Catholic high schoolers. Like most boys growing up, Francis (Emile Hirsch) and Tim (Kieran Culkin) read comic books, get into trouble, and thoroughly despise their demanding superiors. After a class trip to the zoo, the boys hatch a plan to scare their teacher, Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster), by kidnapping a cougar and setting it loose in her office. While the host of young actors give wonderful performances (most notably Jena Malone's turn as abused young girl whose confusion about her mistreatment turns to self-loathing), the film ultimately tries to tackle too much material in too little time, and gets bogged down by a number of animated daydream sequences that intrude upon its tone. (1:50) Four Star, Opera Plaza, Rafael, Shattuck. (Wadenius)

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Fans of Fried Green Tomatoes, Beaches, Steel Magnolias, Practical Magic, and Where the Heart Is – a.k.a., chicks – are clearly the intended audience for this sweet pic based on the bestseller by Rebecca Wells and directed by Thelma and Louise scripter Callie Khouri. Manhattan playwright Sidda (Sandra Bullock, back in "lovable" mode after her dour Murder by Numbers turn) is continually confounded by the antics of her unpredictable, cocktail-swilling Southern mama, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn, played as a young woman by Ashley Judd). When a giant row threatens to drive the two apart forever, Vivi's lifelong pals – the "Ya Yas" (Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, and Shirley Knight, who get all the film's best lines) – stage a flashback-heavy intervention that sheds light on Vivi's troubled past. The story has some holes (the causes of Vivi's violent breakdown could have been further explored), and the fact that Burstyn and Judd look nothing alike makes the film's time shifts somewhat disjointing. Still, fans of you-go-girl entertainment – and/or anyone with enough fortitude to take an unbridled overload of estrogen – will have a good time with this one. (1:56) Grand Lake, Jack London, Metreon, Oaks, 1000 Van Ness, Orinda. (Eddy)

*Elling This delightful little comedy traces the rehabilitation of a pair of socially timid middle-aged men living in society for the first time. Having spent his entire life sheltered away in his childhood home, Elling (Per Christian Ellefsen) is sent to live in a state house after the death of his overprotective mother. There he shares a room with Kjell Bjarne (Sven Nordin), a sex-obsessed lunkhead. The two become friends and, upon their release from the facility, are placed in a state-funded apartment, where a social worker (Jørgen Langhelle) tells them to act responsibly as normal members of the community. Director Petter Næss and his wonderful cast of characters carefully blend humorous aspects with more poignant scenes, producing a film that is heartwarming and enjoyable without stooping to "feel-good movie" tactics. (1:29) Clay, Rafael, Shattuck. (Wadenius)

The Emperor's New Clothes History tells us that after his defeat at Waterloo, a broken-spirited Napoleon Bonaparte was confined to the island of St. Helena, where he eventually perished. Alan Taylor's quirky comedy posits an alternate ending to the little big man's story, one in which Napoleon (Ian Holm) enlists a double (also Holm) to take his place while the general sails back to France to reclaim the throne. The doppelgänger's untimely passing leaves the real Bonaparte stranded in Paris posing as a vagabond, passing the time by leading melon farmers into aggressive agrarianism and falling in love with a widow (Iben Hjeile). Holm once again proves he's as much an alchemist as an actor, able to turn even the sketchiest of roles into pure gold. The film is too enamored of its own whimsy, however, and the oddly bombastic score hints at a desired grandeur even the movie's hero would find highly delusional. (1:47) Lumiere, Shattuck. (Fear)

*Enigma It's 1943, and English intelligence agents must break a new Nazi code days before an imminent attack at sea. The only man who can do it is ace brainiac Tom Jericho (Dougray Scott), a neurotic code-cracker who cracked himself into a breakdown over a fellow agent (Saffron Burrows) now gone missing. Her disappearance, however, may be the key to the puzzle, if only Tom and his objet d'amour's housemate (Kate Winslet) can solve the mystery in time. Scripted hyperintelligently by playwright Tom Stoppard, a writer fluent in the expert coding and deciphering of language, the emphasis on words occasionally clashes with The World Is Not Enough director Michael Apted's need for giving modern audiences kinetic "speed." Still, Enigma's ability to turn cerebral talk into action currency very nearly render the film's faults completely forgivable. (1:57) Opera Plaza, Rafael. (Fear)

Hey Arnold! The Movie (1:16) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.

The Importance of Being Earnest (1:40) Opera Plaza, Shattuck.

*Insomnia When a high school girl turns up dead in rustic Nightmute, Alaska, the local brass bring LAPD-detective-under-fire Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and his partner, Hap (Martin Donovan), up from the lower 48 to help with the case. Dormer digs into the search for the killer with the kind of smarts that have made him a legend to cops everywhere, including fresh-faced go-getter Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank). But even before Insomnia – a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name – starts feeling too Silence of the Lambs-ish, a twist makes Dormer and his top suspect, detective novelist Walter Finch (a very low-key Robin Williams), unlikely allies. Mind games ensue, and what's worse, it's summer in Nightmute, and 24 hours of daylight have dragged Dormer's biological clock to the point of no return. Director Christopher Nolan does fine work here – though Insomnia is nowhere near as stylistically inventive as his Memento, scenes like a guns-drawn chase through a foggy forest show he's no one-trick pony – but it's Pacino, as a beleaguered soul who reaches a point where he'd just as soon catch 40 winks as catch a killer, who makes Insomnia worth watching. (1:55) Empire, Kabuki, Metreon, Shattuck. (Eddy)

*Italian for Beginners An ensemble of lonely misfit adults – a pastor being badgered by his bitter predecessor, a beautician who seems to break down frequently during haircuts, a baker who can't help dropping the goods, and a few expected others – flicker around the flame of a night-school Italian class. When the teacher dies of a heart attack early on, one of the students, a brutish soccer fan-failed restaurateur happily takes over in this first Dogme movie by a woman, director Lone Scherfig. The waning movement could use the sweetness and light that this romantic comedy provides. Its cast of characters may be a little cute, but by the time they get together for a well-earned metaphorical big group hug in the form of an Italian-class field trip, you'll forget your fear of handheld camera. (1:39) Red Vic. (Gerhard)

Juwanna Mann So there's this ultra-macho gerbil rancher/hot-air balloonist/singing telegram who suffers disgrace/career meltdown/midlife crisis and disguises himself as a woman to get his groove back. He miraculously passes as female right away, only to find confusion as his femme persona gains a life of her own and his female love interest thinks of him/her as a "best friend." Finally he learns the true meaning of sportsmanship/Ramadan/aerodynamics. Yes, the drag comedy has become a formula. Juwanna Mann, the latest and worst cookie-cutter example, proves it. This time, he/she's a basketball player, but it almost doesn't matter. The movie feels generic, with scene after obligatory scene that goes through the motions to keep the plot moving. The movie is at its funniest when it stops trying so hard and just indulges in wacky slapstick, like when rapper caricature Puff Smokey Smoke macks on our hero/heroine. (1:31) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Charles Anders)

Late Marriage (1:40) Four Star, Oaks, Rafael.

*Lilo and Stitch Rascally alien Stitch descends on Hawaii armed with supersmarts and a hardwired desire to wreak havoc on everything in his path. When this anti-E.T. crosses paths with lonely little girl Lilo – who heads a "human" cast that's more realistic and modern than is seen in most Disney flicks – mayhem, and life lessons, ensues. Using an original story rather than tapping a well-worn classic allows directors Chris Sanders (also the voice of Stitch) and Dean DeBlois considerable creative freedom, and Lilo and Stitch combines elements as diverse as hula and fire dancing, spaceship chases, surfing, intergalactic bounty hunters, and plenty of Elvis hits. At the film's core is a simple message about the importance of family, and while Lilo and Stitch may lack the Broadway-style grandeur of other recent Disney efforts, it's nevertheless a charming tale that boasts winning, memorable characters. (1:25) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, Orinda, Shattuck. (Eddy)

*Minority Report It's hard to believe that Minority Report marks the first time Steven Spielberg has directed Tom Cruise – but it's not hard to believe that the pairing of two such überstars, both coming off so-so projects (A.I., Vanilla Sky), makes for such entertaining results. As troubled Chief John Anderton – head of D.C.'s elite "Pre-Crime" division, which uses a trio of clairvoyants to suss out murderers before they strike – Cruise is in his element; the role involves not only muscular ass-kicking, but a meaty back story that concerns Anderton's murdered son, plus a twisty mystery that sends the tightly-wound cop all over the city trying to clear his name when he's pegged as a future killer. Spielberg comes through with his most enjoyable film in years, mixing futuristic, but still strangely logical visuals (vertical highways, interactive advertisements, animated cereal boxes) with quick pacing and several tense, disturbing scenes. Though the king of sentimentality still can't resist a tidy, no-stone-left-unturned ending, by the time the wave of exposition hits you, Minority Report has already carried you, breathlessly, almost to the end. (2:25) Century Plaza, Century 20, Empire, Grand Lake, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, Presidio, 1000 Van Ness, Orinda. (Eddy)

*Monsoon Wedding Director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!) returns to contemporary India but shifts her focus to the tribulations of upper-middle-class Punjabis. At the center of Monsoon Wedding is a multiday, traditional Indian marriage ceremony that gathers family and friends for feasting, celebration, and rituals. The film's sprawling, multicharacter story adroitly weaves together numerous intersecting lives: the bride, who is really in love with an already married man; the father, who is terrified his son is gay; the cousin, who must confront the childhood trauma of sexual abuse by her uncle; and the wedding planner, who is falling in love with the family maid. By compressing so much drama and conflict into three days, Nair treads dangerously close to soap opera, but she's saved by some intense, honest performances and a style that captures the poetry and lyricism of real life. (1:54) Albany, Embarcadero, Piedmont. (Summers Henderson)

Mr. Deeds Meet Deeds (Adam Sandler): pizza shop owner, aspiring greeting-card writer, serial hugger, and Mandrake Falls, N.H.'s most beloved resident. He also happens to be the sole heir to his long-lost uncle's zillion-dollar media company, a fact that puts the mild-mannered (though he packs a mean punch when provoked) Deeds in the crosshairs of his uncle's greedy underbosses. After Little Nicky, Sandler could use a hit, and Mr. Deeds errs on the side of being too cuddly cute – imagine all the earnest scenes in The Wedding Singer and Big Daddy smushed into one movie, with none of the gut-busting, off-color humor of Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy. Still, Mr. Deeds has some fun moments, with an enthusiastic (if one-note) supporting turn by John Turturro as Deeds's foot-obsessed valet. As Deeds's love interest, Winona Ryder is far less memorable than the headlines she's currently making in the tabloids. (1:31) Century Plaza, Century 20, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Eddy)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2:01) Shattuck.

*Nine Queens Argentina's most successful homegrown feature in years is this clever and accomplished caper movie, which writer-director Fabián Bielinsky pulls off like a less cold-blooded David Mamet or Claude Chabrol. Always looking to milk others for whatever they've got, veteran con artist Marcos (Ricardo Darín of Son of the Bride, also currently in theaters) saves younger, petty swindler Juan (Gastón Pauls) from potential arrest, in return inviting the kid to participate in some larger-stakes schemes. The tentative partnership proves useful when a huge prize falls into their laps: the chance to sell a forged set of extremely rare stamps. As matters proceed, Juan turns out to be not quite as green as he looks, unscrupulous Marcos rather less Teflon-shelled, and the latter's straight-arrow sister Valeria (Leticia Brédice) a not-unwilling collaborator given the right circumstances. Shot in a sleek Buenos Aires of high-end hotels and corporate headquarters, this wryly tricksome tale of power reversals, betrayals, and dangerous bluffs comes complete with the requisite last-lap, 180-degree plot twist. (1:54) Four Star. (Harvey)

Ram Dass: Fierce Grace In 1997, at age 65, New Age icon and Be Here Now author Dass had a near-fatal stroke that left him partly paralyzed and afflicted by speech-impairing aphasia. His physical recovery was (and continues to be) slow, but what troubled him most was his surprising loss of faith in the secular humanist-cum-Eastern mystic spiritual beliefs he'd espoused for decades. Ultimately, however, these ordeals both humbled and strengthened him, as well as providing a new teaching focus on coping with the body's unpredictable aging processes. This new documentary by Mickey Lemle (Compassion in Exile: The Story of the 14th Dalai Lama) is more an appreciation of Dass's current against-the-odds status as elder statesman of nondenominational soul matters than it is a complete introduction to his life and ideas. That's too bad in certain respects, since some of the present-day material is plodding, while the brisk biographical back chapters – which chronicle the path of Dass (né Richard Alpert) from a prominent Boston Jewish family to a Harvard professorship, his controversial psychedelic research with Timothy Leary, his transforming '67 trip to India and subsequent U.S. makeover as a higher-consciousness guru – are fascinating. If you're looking for a critical perspective on Dass's popular but often derided career, look elsewhere. Nonetheless, within its limitations the film offers suitably engaging, gentle insight into a still-questing visionary mind-set. (1:33) Red Vic. (Harvey)

*Rivers and Tides Building elaborate installation pieces out of Mother Nature's flotsam and jetsam in its own "natural" habitat (open fields, seashores, riverbanks), artist Andy Goldsworthy spends hours altering the landscape or working his elemental materials into man-made paths and patterns of harmonious grace. A finished work can last for as long as a few days or as short as a minute before a light breeze or an eddying tide picks it apart like carrion; in Goldsworthy's art, deconstruction is as much a part of his vision as construction. German documentarian Thomas Riedelshiemer's affectionate, awestruck look at the man and his mission to tap into a frequency of symmetrical order in terra firma's chaos is as hypnotically dazzling as his subject's abstract expressionist products. Fluently gliding around Goldsworthy's struggle to complete a fragile twig leitmotiv before it collapses under its own weight or pulling far back to reveal a sidewinder pattern snaking around a forest glen, Riedelshiemer's camera becomes the subject's partner, capturing the artist's attempts to channel the ebb and flow of organic life for posterity in a gorgeous, wide-screen, 35mm time capsule. (1:30) Roxie. (Fear)

Scooby-Doo Like the billboards say, be afraid. Unless you're accompanying a pint-size fan who'll be entertained by bright colors, peppy music, and an extended farting contest (and isn't easily freaked by a few scary-for-kids moments) – or you're a Matthew Lillard-Freddie Prinze Jr. buddy movie completist – best to give this garish fumble a wide berth. Much like another recent Hanna-Barbera big-screen debacle, Josie and the Pussycats, Scooby-Doo is unable to transform a generally amusing half-hour cartoon into a full-length, live-action adventure; similarly, it's unclear who the film targets: the Spy Kids set or teens (who'll appreciate the pot jokes and Sarah Michelle Gellar's slinky costumes but not the predictable "mystery" about a spooky amusement park). Lillard makes for a dead-on Shaggy, but his valiant efforts to save the movie are tempered by the fact that he shares nearly every scene with a certain so-C.G.'d-it-hurts canine. (1:27) Century Plaza, Century 20, Empire, Jack London, Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Eddy)

Space Station 3D (:47) Metreon Imax.

Spider-Man The fact that Spider-Man is one of the least openly brain-rotting blockbusters, as well as one of the most faithful comic book adaptations, in recent memory is something to be genuinely thankful for. Sure, Spidey could have used a few more wisecracks, fussed more neurotically over his superhero-caliber "super-problems," and looked less like an escapee from a PlayStation game, but the final product is solid enough to dodge serious disaster even if it also lacks true greatness. After a fantastically engaging first half, wherein Tobey Maguire discovers he can do "whatever a spider can," things take a downturn as Willem Dafoe's less interesting Green Goblin takes center stage. You can feel the studio pressure on director Sam Raimi, who (while hitting all the right notes) sadly holds back on the kind of mad visual invention that made his previous superhero outing, Darkman, such a blast. (1:51) Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Macias)

*Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron This surprisingly subversive DreamWorks film counters the snappy, po-mo, self-reflexive tone of zany 3Ders Shrek, Monsters, Inc., and Toy Story(s) with an earnest, (mainly) traditionally animated tale that upends American frontier formulae. Spirit, the horse of the title, is the leader of a herd of wild mustangs who, for once, don't speak English but roam a majestic landscape that remains unnamed (which is good, since they appear to run from Yosemite to Bryce Canyon to the Grand Canyon in a matter of minutes). Captured by a group of scouts from the U.S. Cavalry, Spirit's brought back to their fort to be assimilated into the worker-horse life – until a Lakota Indian named Little Creek stages a daring escape. Culminating in an ending happy enough for a six-year-old and sad enough for those who understand what the words "manifest destiny" actually mean and marred only by Bryan Adams's soundtrack misfires, the film picks up street cred with American Indian Daniel Studi as Little Creek and PETA member James "Farmer Hogget" Cromwell as the Colonel. (1:22) Oaks. (Doug Young)

*Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Cons: some unfortunate dialogue made even worse by some unfortunately stiff acting; a detectable lack of that goofy magic that made episodes IV-VI sacred texts for the masses. Pros: some of the most spectacular action sequences ever committed to film; the death sticks-Jedi mind trick exchange; and minimal sightings of a certain Mr. Binks. Worth seeing at least once to mend any festering Phantom Menace wounds; worth seeing twice for the battle between Christopher "Dracula" Lee and the meanest, greenest fighting machine in the galaxy. (2:22) Century Plaza, Grand Lake, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Eddy)

The Sum of All Fears Tom Clancy's intellectual man of mystery, Jack Ryan – a character who's already changed hands once, from Alec Baldwin to Harrison Ford – gets another face-lift in Phil Alden Robinson's The Sum of All Fears, transforming from a married, fortysomething husband and father into a single, twentysomething young turk played by Ben Affleck. The suddenly youthful Central Intelligence Agency analyst must confront a grab bag of stock action-espionage villains (cold war-era Russians, hawkish American generals, terrorist organizations, neo-Nazis) and figure out who plans to wreak havoc with a rogue nuclear bomb. What's basically a run-of-the-mill nail-biter is helped by a good supporting cast, notably Liev Schreiber and Morgan Freeman, and a third-act set piece designed to drop jaws. (2:04) Century Plaza, Century 20, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Fear)

*Sunshine State Florida's past and present play a key role in the topography of John Sayles's latest opus. Marly (Edie Falco) runs the dilapidated motel and restaurant her now-senile dad built up, which sits on primo waterfront property in Delrona Beach. A young architect (Timothy Hutton) hired by developers sparks a feeling in Marly that a way out may lie in selling out. In nearby Lincoln Beach, elders Dr. Lloyd (Bill Cobbs) and Eunice Stokes (Mary Alice) attempt to bring together their fragmented town to keep Lincoln's proud African American past alive. Into the mix walks Eunice's daughter Desiree (Angela Bassett), who has returned to prove to everyone that she turned out OK. Juggling close to a dozen characters and weaving several narrative strands together, Sunshine State's saving grace lies squarely in its maker's affinity for capturing the rhythms of real life. Few directors write dialogue for actors or understand the pace of living as well as Sayles, and even when social agendas threaten to detrimentally breach his films' surfaces, the power of performance always redeems his rhetorical leanings. (2:21) Albany, Embarcadero. (Fear)

*13 Conversations about One Thing Making a big leap from her OK but modest office-comedy debut, Clockwatchers, director Jill Sprecher has crafted an unusually depthed ensemble piece about disparate lives intersecting – or not – in contemporary NYC. Matthew McConaughey plays a smug prosecutor whose involvement in a hit-and-run accident destroys his assurance of purpose. Alan Arkin is a divorced insurance-company manager pained by the good fortune he sees inevitably going to other, less deserving people. John Turturro is a mathematics professor who leaves his wife (Amy Irving) for a tenuous new life involved with a married woman (Barbara Sukowa). Clea DuVall's timid young housecleaner finds her faith in life's ultimate just rewards badly shaken by cruel happenstance. Sprecher's script (cowritten with sibling Karen Sprecher) is platitudinous at times, and "chapter"-separating intertitles that repeat those platitudes don't help. (Nor does the rather pretentious title.) Still, this is a rare American feature with genuine ambition, credible real-world narrative detail, philosophical weight, and a complex structure that never seems overschematic. (1:42) Act I and II, Embarcadero. (Harvey)

*Y tu mamá también Alfonso Cuarón, the latest director to owe a stylistic debt to Godard, is less concerned with praising love per se than its physical manifestation, be it in onanistic, coupled, or ménage à trois variations. Handheld camera work shakes and snakes around corners à la Raoul Coutard. Sound drops out occasionally so a narrator can digress into characters' past, present, and future. People sprout manifestos full of dogmatic statements like "Truth is cool but unattainable" and "Pop beats poetry." Of course, one of those statements is "Whacking off rules!," which I can't remember ever hearing in any of Godard's films. Welcome to someone else's glorious masterpiece. Tenoch (Diego Luna) and his best friend, Julio (Amores perros's Gael García Bernal) have the bond of being raging hormone collections trapped in the form of teenage boys on the hunt. Spotting a beautiful Spanish woman named Luisa (Maribel Verdú) at a lavish wedding reception, the two would-be Lotharios invite her on a road trip to the beach. The trio hits the road in search of paradise. What they get instead is a series of sexual rocket blasts, some painful doses of maturity, and Mexico in all its permutations. (1:45) Embarcadero, Piedmont, Shattuck. (Fear)

Ultimate X (:39) Metreon Imax.

Undercover Brother Aspiring to be a black Austin Powers, spoofing both James Bond-style spy thrillers and 1970s-era blaxploitation films, this attempt lacks the cleverness of the Mike Myers franchise. A weak story about an organization of black heroes fighting a white, evil overlord links together a series of heavy-handed gags, and gives Eddie Griffin ample chance to prove he's no leading man. Most of those gags, like the "caucasiovision" device that brainwashes Undercover Brother with white culture, should be hilarious but aren't. Director Malcom D. Lee has no sense of comic timing, and his pedestrian visuals prove he's no Spike (that's his cousin). If the audience around you is laughing, it's perhaps because people respond hysterically to the uncomfortable issue of race (not because it's really funny). Or maybe they're reacting to the potential humor of pushing the already extreme blaxploitation style even further, though the filmmakers show little appreciation of the genre's true appeal. (1:26) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Henderson)

Windtalkers Supersize, camo-clad John Woo with military surplus at his disposal equals superlative movie carnage on the scale of Sam Peckinpah's WWII tale Cross of Iron -- and Woo makes it a blast to watch, probably in no small part because the downtime in Windtalkers is so unstimulating by comparison. There's a solid premise ("inspired by actual events"): a group of Navajo code talkers, including Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach), come under the protection of a bitter and emotionally ravaged Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) during the battle of Saipan. But instead of examining larger issues (like maybe the ambivalence Native Americans might have felt in defending a country and a government that hadn't treated them all that well), the film is quickly taken over by every tired war movie cliché in the book. It is only near the end that Windtalkers finally seems to come together. In the heat of combat, Woo-ness dictates that nothing matters except male bonding with bullets. War, as well as the talky bits in Windtalkers, may be hell, but the hot-blooded spirit of Hong Kong action film still makes for a thrilling theater of operations. (2:14) Kabuki, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Macias)

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