A wonderfully strong performance from Agnes Bruchner is the biggest surprise while watching Blue Car, not so much that she shouldn't be good, but that she somehow succeeds in holding her own next to co-star David Strathairn at times.  Even if some of the set pieces are a bit of a stretch, the film has a commanding regard for the emotions of its characters, which helps become a Lolita-lite instead of a Thirteen-on-vicodin.

Starring:
David Strathairn
Agnes Bruckner
Margaret Colin
Frances Fisher
A.J. Buckley

Release: 25 Apr. 03
IMDb

Perhaps the least thriller thriller since the William Castle remakes that peaked a couple years ago, Cold Creek Manor offers the same familial history turning into rural terrorism that made the Texas Chainsaw Massacre just as forgettable and made most of the country sick of The Blair Witch Project by the time it opened.  What the hell is Mike Figgis doing directing this?

Starring:
Dennis Quaid
Sharon Stone
Stephen Dorff
Juliette Lewis
Kristin Stewart

Release: 19 Sep. 03
IMDb

Although critics enamored with the pretty pictures of Punch Drunk Love will forego their arty dispositions to pan the latest from Adam Sandler, 50 First Dates, I'll admit that it at least offers some charm that was missing in the overrated Paul Thomas Anderson film, as well as most Sandler efforts.  The film is still nothing short of rubbish, but at least it's rubbish that feels weightier than a nimble director exploiting an untalented comedian.

Director:
Peter Segal

Starring:
Adam Sandler
Drew Barrymore
Rob Schneider
Sean Astin
Blake Clark

Release: 13 Feb. 04
IMDb

Jamie Kennedy, who once played the best character in Wes Craven's Scream trilogy, has spent the last few years trying to obliterate any of the respect he'd curried in those earlier years.  With Malibu's Most Wanted, a slightly offensive, completely pointless mess, he's succeeded.  Thanks, Jamie -- Randy's now dead to me.

Starring:
Jamie Kennedy
Taye Diggs
Anthony Anderson
Regina Hall
Ryan O'Neal

Release: 18 Apr. 03
IMDb

Masked and Anonymous plays much like Bob Dylan most recent songs:  it's barely understandable, jumps in tones at a beat, and means something to him but few else.  I like Dylan, but this just feels like a vanity project from one of the few musicians who isn't vain.  Is he just enamored with Billy Joel succeeding wiht Movin' Out, and should we fear a Tori Amos romantic comedy next year?

Starring:
Bob Dylan
Jeff Bridges
John Goodman
Penélope Cruz
Luke Wilson

Release: 25 Jul. 03
IMDb

Coming in thick allegory, the Polish brothers offer another dicertation on human suffering that wants desperately to be 100 Years of Solitude even if it doesn't understand the carnivalé of characters that made the Marquez novel so rich.  The images in Northfork are wonderful, and it offers the occasional gem of a scene, but the story never really earns any of this.

Starring:
James Woods
Nick Nolte
Douglas Sebern
Claire Forlani
Duel Farnes

Release: 11 Jul. 03
IMDb

Dear Scarlet Johansson:  I know that the Oscar shut-out may be distressing in a year when you offered two strong performances, but please don't say that The Perfect Score, even if you made it before Lost in Translation, is your low-brow comedy future.  You're better than a film in which stoner humor is dealt heavily; you are above doing kitschy Matrix rip-offs.  You don't want to be the next Erika Christensen, do you?

Director:
Brian Robbins

Starring:
Chris Evans
Bryan Greenberg
Erika Christensen
Scarlett Johansson
Darius Miles

Release: 30 Jan. 04
IMDb

The clock is still ticking on the release of Hero, but in the interim, Shaolin Soccer couldn't be less threatening.  Not only does it have an ounce of depth compared to the upcoming Zhang Yimou film, it aims low with giddy disregard.  The whole film is stupid, but that's part of the fun, and, even if it goes a little too wild with the CGI, the soccer matches are some of the most enjoyable sports events of the year.

Starring:
Stephen Chow
Vicki Zhao
Man Tat Ng
Yin Tse
Sarondar Li

Release: 2 Apr. 04
IMDb

Diane Lane may still look too young for a midlife crisis, but that doesn't keep her from having one in the enjoyable but wholly empty Under the Tuscan Sun.  Her performance is charming, though, with a bit of unctuous Americanism built around a feminine maturity that the actress has brought to countless recent roles.  Like a star vehicle (even if she's not much of a celebrity), its built as a deserved shrine to Lane.

Starring:
Diane Lane
Sandra Oh
Lindsay Duncan
Raoul Bova
Vincent Riotta

Release: 26 Sep. 03
IMDb

Robotic Dakota Fanning and the ever-annoying Brittany Murphy pair for Y-chromosome odd couple, though Oscar's pesky cigar has been replaced by a pot-bellied pig and Tony Randell's perfect Felix has been replaced with an overrated child actor who attempts to act animated as if she's been wound up a little too tightly with that key in her back.  Oh, and Uptown Girls is bad enough to suit both of them.

Starring:
Brittany Murphy
Dakota Fanning
Marley Shelton
Donald Faison
Jesse Spencer

Release: 15 Aug. 03
IMDb

On paper, John Holmes life sounds like an interesting story, filled with sex, drugs, and murder.  None of that is apparent in Wonderland, a film castrated of anything vital and miserable in its meandering attempt to expand upon the Wonderland murders that Holmes was momentarily implicated in.  Like in The Doors, Kilmer proves again that he can bear a strong resemblance to his subject without ever capturing the essence of him.

Starring:
Val Kilmer
Kate Bosworth
Dylan McDermott
Josh Lucas
Tim Blake Nelson

Release: 3 Oct. 03
IMDb