Ray Pride

American Splendor

From the worst mood in Cleveland to the big screen: Paul Giamatti stars as gruffian Harvey Pekar in a superb adaptation of his "American Splendor" comics; co-writer/co-directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini depict his everyman grumbles in a compelling mix of drama, animation and documentary. With Hope Davis, James Urbaniak. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

American Wedding

Wedding bells and death knells for the fuck-anything-for-a laugh series. The good news-writer Adam Herz has been kept from his "Smokey and the Bandit" remake. The bad news-it's directed by son-of-Bob Jesse Dylan. With Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Seann William Scott.

And Now Ladies and Gentlemen

Claude Lelouch's epic treacle almost never gets a commercial release in the U.S., although he's an intermittent favorite of the Chicago International Film Festival. This time round, a yacht crash off the coast of Morocco leads jewel thief Valentin (Jeremy Irons) and nightclub thrush Patricia Kaas to find love.

Battle of Shaker Heights

The second round of the Miramax-HBO-Liveplanet enterprise "Project Greenlight" can't be as worthless as "Stolen Summer," can it? I'm not in line. Two teenagers share a rare passion as World War II re-enactors. The unknowns: writer Erica Beeney, and directors Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin.

Bukowski: Born Into This

Love, now, is a dead dog from hell. John Dullaghan's epic-length look at the poet's life, with generous amounts of contemporary footage as well as interviews with friends and admirers.

The Cuckoo

Two men, a Russian captain and a Finn sniper, must hide at a farm owned by a Lapp woman: none of them speak the same language. Directed by Alexander Rogozhkin (Music Box, August 22)

Dirty Pretty Things

The title doesn't just refer to star Audrey Tautou: Stephen Frears directs a story of under-the-table doings at a London hotel, which leads to revelations about body parts, among other pretty dirty things. With Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sergi Lopez, Sophie Okonedo

Exorcist: The Beginning

Reports are that Paul Schrader's big-budget prequel to 1973's "The Exorcist" may be delayed until fall. Whenever the crypt eventually opens, it tells the first African adventures of Father Lankester Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard). With Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, Billy Crawford. The script's by William Wisher ("Terminator 2") and Caleb Carr (the novel "The Alienist").

Freaky Friday

Yes, remakes of movies that starred Jodie Foster as a young 'un. Mother Jamie Lee Curtis and teenage daughter Lindsay Lohan switch bodies before Mom's remarriage. With Harold Gould, Chad Michael Murray. It's directed by Mark Waters, brother of the writer of "Heathers," who himself made "The House of Yes."

Freddy vs., Jason

High-concept low blow from Hong Kong director Ronny Yu

Gigli

Long in the making, long in the rumor mill, Martin Brest, director of the lugubrious "Meet Joe Black" and many-years-ago "Midnight Run" makes an alleged comedy about a gangster (Ben Affleck) who bungles a kidnapping. With Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Lainie Kazan.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Sergio Leone's 1966 spaghetti Western, in the restored English director's cut, reportedly nineteen minutes longer. During the Civil War, three loners scour the West in search of Confederate loot. With Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef. (Music Box, August 8)

Grind

Skateboard star on his summer tour is stalked by un-humble wannabes.

Highwaymen

The director 1986's "The Hitcher" answers the question: why hasn't he made another movie about a serial killer on the road and on the run? Jim Caviezel, Rhona Mitra and a 1972 El Dorado star.

Jeepers Creepers 2

Convicted child molester Victor Salva re-ups from his original; here a school bus full of basketball players and cheerleaders are a feast for an insatiable monster.

Ken Park

Based on a script written by Harmony Korine when he was but a teen, Ed Lachman and Larry Clark's explicit story of the sexual and emotional lives of troubled central California skate kids has a delirious tenderness amid the sorrowful goings-on. Less leering than Clark's solo work-"Far from Heaven" cinematographer Lachman brings something kinder out of the teen-fixated director-it has surprising moments of greatness.

Le Divorce

James Ivory directs and co-writes an adaptation of Diane Johnson's likable comic novel about American sisters seeking romance in the City of Light. With Naomi Watts, Kate Hudson, Jean-Marc Barr, Leslie Caron, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, Romain Duris.

Marci X

"In and Out" writer Paul Rudnick provides the gags for record exec's daughter Lisa Kudrow when she inherits a rap label. Directed by Richard Benjamin.

Masked and Anonymous

The Sundance 2003 premiere of an earlier version of this Bob Dylan-starring fable led to almost universal contempt, classing it as one of the worst, most incomprehensible farragoes ever to grace the slopes of Park City. Let's see about the new version... "Seinfeld" director Larry Charles works from a script by "Sergei Petrov and Rene Fontaine," pseudonyms for himself and Dylan. A benefit concert takes place in a futuristic, America-like military state; Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman and Jessica Lange co-star.

Matchstick Men

The life of an obsessive-compulsive con man takes a turn when his teenage daughter turns up. With Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman. Directed by Ridley Scott.

The Medallion

Jackie Chan gets superpowers from a golden medallion. Fooey. Can't he just kick some ass? With Claire Forlani, Julian Sands, Lee Evans. Directed by Gordon Chan.

My Boss' Daughter

Miramax's genre arm, Dimension Films, works to restore the career of "Naked Gun" co-director David Zucker with this sure-to-be-vulgar comedy about a young executive (Ashton Kutcher) house-sitting for his boss; complications ensue. With Ashton Kutcher, Tara Reid, Jeffrey Tambor, Andy Richter.

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands

Likable English auteur Shane Meadows tells the tale of an ex-boyfriend who turns up one day, hoping for seconds.

With Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Kathy Burke and the ineffable Shirley Henderson.

Robin Hood

In like Flynn: A restored version of the 1939 swashbuckler.

Shaolin Soccer

Shortened, dubbed and rewritten for North American audiences, Stephen Chow's comedy about soccer and martial arts has been a comic hit in Chinatowns around the world for a couple of years now. I've only seen the original, and it's one of Chow's funniest.

SWAT

What, another remake of another beloved television series! Mercenaries! Samuel L Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J and Olivier Martinez star in some such about drug lords and, um, mercenaries. Co-writer David Ayer scripted "Training Day"; it's from a story by George Huang ("Swimming with Sharks").

The Order

Originally scheduled for a February release as "The Sin Eater," Brian Helgeland's occult entry finds young priest Heath Ledger going to Rome to find out why his mentor died. With Shannyn Sossamon, Mark Addy and Peter Weller.

The Secret Lives of Dentists

Alan Rudolph keeps making films years after most moviegoers have stopped noticing. This one, based on Jane Smiley's "Age of Grief," is said to approach the emotional quality of "Afterglow." With Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, Denis Leary, Robin Tunney in a story about conflict in the emotional lives of two successful dentists.

Thirteen

Veteran production designer Catherine Hardwicke's ("Vanilla Sky") writing-directing debut is a horror story, a deeply felt, beautifully detailed horror film about contemporary Angeleno girlhood, so hyped-up it could be called "Requiem for a Teen." Evan Rachel Wood ("Simone") is startlingly fine as the girl gone wrong; Holly Hunter, as her indulgent, drink-prone mother, radiates hapless sorrow. Co-star Nikki Reed was 13 when she co-wrote the story; she looks far older than her years. With Jeremy Sisto.

Uptown Girls

Mercurial mite Brittany Murphy stars as a woman swindled out of a fortune who must take a job as a nanny to an 8-year-old. With Dakota Fanning, Marley Shelton, Donald Faison, Heather Locklear. From Boaz Yakin, who directed "Remember the Titans."

The Weather Underground

An impressively sturdy documentary by Chicagoan Bill Siegel and San Francisco-based Sam Green, about a difficult-to-master slice of American history is a sweet rebuke to the narcissism-as-entertainment wing of contemporary doc-making. Its politics exists primarily in the choice of subject: a group of young people who bombed the U.S. Capitol. It's thorny work, allowing the viewer to consider the ambitions and failures of the radical group.

(Music Box, August 1)

Wonderland

True-life story about murder allegations against the catastrophically unlucky porn performer John Holmes. With Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas, Frankie G, Tim Blake Nelson, Carrie Fisher, Eric Bogosian, Christina Applegate, Janeane Garofalo and Natasha Gregson Wagner. There's no sex involved, but the talented and quirky cast suggests the script must have been something else.

(2003-05-21)

Also by Ray Pride

Quibbles and bits
We are talking up the matrix and "The Matrix Unloaded" and how not to talk about it while talking about it.
(2003-05-14)

Tip of the Week
Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker take a look at life after Stax Records for several 1960s Memphis music stars.
(2003-05-07)

Short Runs
This week's limited screenings
(2003-05-07)

Members only
After Neil LaBute's detour into post-Tarantino comic brutality ("Nurse Betty") and then tony literary adaptation ("Possession"), he's back to plumbing his vein of deepest inspiration: theatrically derived misanthropy that masquerades as romping misogyny.
(2003-05-07)

Innocence unprotected
(2003-05-07)

Tip of the Week
(2003-04-30)

Short Runs
(2003-04-30)

X appeal
(2003-04-30)

Terror's isms
(2003-04-30)

Tip of the Week
(2003-04-22)

Short Runs
(2003-04-22)

For Peet's sake
(2003-04-22)

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