All the Little Animals (Unrated, 112 minutes).
Not a children's picture but a dark and fearsome fable about a disturbed 24-year-old (Christian Bale) who runs away from his sadistic stepfather and finds refuge in the forest cottage of a recluse (John Hurt) who devotes his life to burying dead animals. The story is told in oblique details that hint at subterranean Jungian themes; it's not a one-dimensional adventure, but evokes reflected obsessions. Daniel Benzali is splendid as the cold-hearted control freak. ***

American Pie (R, 110 minutes).
Raunchy, gross, shocking, scatological, depraved, and also sort of sweet. Another in the summer wave of teenage sex comedies, but at least this one feels some affection for its characters. Four senior boys vow to lose their virginity by prom night, with predictable results, many of them involving unorthodox use of precious bodily fluids. Not great, not inspired, but not mean-spirited, sometimes funny, and the actors are likable. ***

The Astronaut's Wife (R, 110 minutes).
Johnny Depp plays an astronaut who is trapped out of contact in space outside the shuttle for two minutes. What happened during that time? That's what his wife (Charlize Theron) wants to know. The movie builds suspense effectively, but the payoff is a disappointment; it's so well made we expect more. ** 1/2

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (PG-13, 95 minutes).
Austin does battle again with Dr. Evil, who journeys back in time to steal his mojo. Some big laughs (including a funny montage involving an orbiting phallic symbol) but the movie takes Austin for granted as its hero, instead of having fun with the fish-out-of-water inspiration of the first film, in which he was a sexist anachronism from the 1960s. Good work by Mike Meyers in multiple roles, and by Seth Green as Dr. Evil's son, Scott. But too much uncertainty and aimlessness in between the big laughs. **1/2

Autumn Tale (PG, 112 minutes).
Magali is a widow in her late 40s who happily owns and operates a vineyard in the Rhone district of France. But, yes, she's a little lonely, so her friend Isabelle places a personal ad and auditions the candidates to find the right man for her friend. Meanwhile, Magali's son's girlfriend is also on the case, leading to intersecting romantic possibilities. A big warm hug of a movie by the French master Eric Rohmer, who so subtly builds the tension that when there's a smile over a class of wine, we're so relieved we want to cheer. ****

The Blair Witch Project (R, 88 minutes).
Surprisingly effective horror film that uses mood, style and suggestion to build a creepy atmosphere. Claims to be the footage of three documentary filmmakers who disappeared while searching for a witch. As their confidence wanes, the chilly forest gradually seems to harbor dread secrets. At a time when digital techniques can show us anything, this is a reminder that what really scares us is the stuff we can't see. ****

Blue Streak (PG-13, 93 minutes).
One more cop-buddy comedy, but a good one, with Martin Lawrence as a jewel thief who hides a $17 million diamond in a building under construction. When he comes back after prison, the building is a police station, so he impersonates a cop to get at the loot. Lots of funny situations, as when he plea-bargains with an old criminal buddy about to blow his cover. All the usual plot elements, but assembled well and with style. ***

Bowfinger (PG-13, 97 minutes).
Steve Martin plays a bottom-feeding Hollywood producer who has a scheme to get a big action star (Eddie Murphy) into his new picture. He'll shoot the film guerrilla-style. Murphy won't know he's in the film, as a hidden camera captures Martin's actors approaching him on the street. This is an inspired idea, made funnier by Martin's writing, Frank Oz's direction, and Murphy's wonderful dual performances, as the action star and as a sweet, clueless man hired to be the star's double. Shell-shocked by gross and grosser comedies, we can turn to "Bowfinger" with merciful relief. ***1/2

Brokedown Palace (PG-13, 100 minutes).
Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale are American teenagers who tell their parents they're taking a graduate trip to Hawaii, and then secretly go instead to the more exotic Thailand. A friendly Australian cruelly tricks them, and they end up facing long prison sentences for drug smuggling. Bill Pullman is the greedy but honest local American lawyer who has to decide if he can help them--or trust them. Involving, convincingly acted. ***

Chill Factor (R, 105 minutes).
Sounds like a "Speed" parody--but, no, it's serious. Terrorists are after a deadly biological weapon, and it's up to Cuba Gooding. Jr. and Skeet Ulrich to outrun and outwit them--in a commandeered ice cream truck, since the poison will explode if its temperature rises about 50 degrees. One part hard-boiled thriller, two parts nonstop chase, three parts pure goofiness. **

Deep Blue Sea (R, 106 minutes).
Super-smart sharks track down their captors on a mid-ocean research station, after storms and explosions trap the characters below sea level. A skillful thriller by Renny Harlin ("Die Hard 2"), who provides one efficient action sequence after another, and several moments that come, shall we say, as complete surprises. With Saffron Burrows as a researcher who makes her sharks too smart, and Samuel L. Jackson, Thomas Jane and, stealing some scenes, LL Cool J. ***

Dudley Do-Right (PG, 75 minutes).
Fresh from his triumph in "George of the Jungle," Brendan Fraser plays another cartoon character--the dim-witted Canadian Mountie who defends Semi-Happy Valley against the villainous Snidley Whiplash (Alfred Molina). Sarah Jessica Parker is Nell (former U.S. Ambassador to Guam), and Alex Rocco is the head of an Indian tribe that stages a Vegas-style Corn Festival. Not as inspired as "George," but genial and fun, with a lot of innocent slapstick that younger viewers will enjoy. For those in the upper grades, a near miss. **1/2

Eyes Wide Shut (R, 159 minutes).
Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" is an erotic daydream, as a doctor played by Tom Cruise, inflamed with jealousy generated by his wife (Nicole Kidman), wanders the sexual underworld. Extraordinary attention is paid to supporting characters, so that every sequence has an arc of its own, as the doctor encounters lustful patients, friendly hookers, twisted retailers, hopeful hotel clerks, and attends an orgy sequence of mesmerizing power. Kubrick assembled the elements for a thriller, but leaves us in doubt about whether crimes occur; the film is like a nightmare in which anger and jealousy unleash demons. ***1/2

For Love of the Game (PG-13).
Soppy love story intercut with predictable baseball drama. Kevin Costner plays a 40-year-old pitcher facing retirement, whose five-year romance with Kelly Preston seems to be over. On the mound and trying to end his career by pitching a perfect game, he flashes back to stages in their relationship, which mostly seem to consist of her crying when they're together and he crying when they're apart. Good thing they argue; it's the most interesting thing about them. * 1/2

Get Bruce (R, 72 minutes).
Documentary about Bruce Vilanch, the "specialized writer" who is found backstage at the Oscars and most of the big charity events and galas in Hollywood. We see him collaborating with such celebrities as Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Bette Midler, and learn his rag-to-riches story as a Chicago Tribune writer who headed to L.A. for fame. Generating topical humor, sometimes improvising material during the show, he has set the tone for most of the award shows of the past decade. ***.

The Haunting (PG-13, 113 minutes).
Liam Neeson plays a professor who claims to be running an insomnia program but has actually lured three light sleepers to a haunted house for a study of fear. Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson are his subjects, in a movie that does a shaky job of developing the characters but a brilliant job of evoking the atmosphere. The story isn't compelling, but the movie's visuals are virtuoso, its mood is creepy, and the haunted house is worth seeing just on its own. Recommended for that reason. ***

An Ideal Husband (PG-13, 97 minutes).
An elegant, amusing adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play about a rising parliamentary star, Jeremy Northam, adored by his wife (Cate Blanchett), who thinks him a paragon of virtue. Then an old acquaintance (Julianne Moore) blackmails him with an incriminating letter. Rupert Everett plays his best friend, and Minnie Driver plays his sister. Will careers and marriages be destroyed? Perhaps, but everyone is witty and epigrammatic in the meantime. ***

Inspector Gadget (PG, 80 minutes).
Live-action retread of the 80s cartoon, with Matthew Broderick as a security guard who is turned into a bionic man equipped with a limitless supply of gadgets (his hat turns into a helicopter). Rupert Everett plays the evil Dr. Claw, and there are special effects up the wazoo, but not much fun. Maybe kids will like it. * 1/2

The Iron Giant (PG, 81 minutes).
With echoes of "E.T.," an animated film telling the story of a boy who makes friends with a towering robot from outer space. Charming in its details, funny, thrilling, with in-jokes for older viewers and an anti-gun message. Enchanting family entertainment, for once not based on violent action. Based on the children's best-seller by the late British poet laureate Ted Hughes. ***1/2

Mickey Blue Eyes (PG-13, 103 minutes).
Hugh Grant is miscast as an art auctioneer who marries into the Mafia; although the movie has promising elements it doesn't hold together. Jeanne Tripplehorn is the daughter of a man (James Caan) who runs a mob-connected restaurant, Burt Young is good as a mob boss, and Joe Viterelli (the big bodyguard in "Analyze This") adds atmosphere. But Grant never acts like he feels threatened, and his accent is utterly implausible in the scenes where he tries to learn how to talk like a mobster. **

The Muse (PG-13, 97 minutes).
Albert Brooks stars in his own film about the writer of "over 17" movies who is fired by his studio and discovers that his successful friend (Jeff Bridges) gets inspiration from a muse (Sharon Stone). He gets in line for her services and lodges her in an expensive hotel suite; his wife (Andie MacDowell) suspects an affair until the muse inspires her to create a sensational cookie recipe. Funny cameos by James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Rob Reiner and chef Wolfgang Puck--all satisfied muse customers. ***

My Life so Far (PG-13, 92 minutes).
What used to be called a country house comedy: A nostalgic memory of a childhood in the 1920s in a great country estate in Scotland, where young Fraser (Robert Forman) is surrounded by a dreamy inventor father (Colin Firth), a sweet mother (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), an eccentric grandmother (Rosemary Harris), a grasping uncle (Malcolm McDowell), and the uncle's fetching French wife (Irene Jacob), who causes no end of trouble when she comes to visit. Sort of a real-life version of one of P. G. Wodehouse's fantasies about Blandings Castle, with more sex and not as many pigs. Inspired by a childhood memoir by Sir Denis Forman, head of the Royal Opera House. ***

Notting Hill (PG-13, 125 minutes).
A romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts as a movie star who wanders into a London bookshop and immediately falls for the owner. ***

Outside Providence (R, 102 minutes).
Earnest, ham-handed coming of age movie, about a Pawtucket, R.I., teenager (Shawn Hatosy) who gets in trouble and is sentenced to leave his blue-collar neighborhood and buddies and attend an exclusive Connecticut prep school. Alec Baldwin is the kid's father, sweating over every syllable of his Rhode Island accent. The movie is based on a novel by Peter Farrelly; he and his brother Bobby co-wrote the screenplay with director Michael Corrente. No doubt the Farrellys' success with "There's Something About Mary" gave them the clout to float this underwritten, ungainly project.*1/2

The Red Violin (Unrated, 126 minutes).
A sweeping, ambitious, endlessly inventive film that follows a famous violin from 17th-century Italy to an auction house in modern Montreal. Moving from one set of characters to another, it shows us those who played the violin, from an orphan prodigy to a gypsy to a British aristocrat to a Chinese musician threatened by the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, there is modern intrigue; Samuel L. Jackson plays an evaluator who proves the pedigree of the violin, and has passions more expensive than he can afford. Something for everyone: Music and culture, politics and passion, crime and intrigue, history and even the backstage intrigue of the auction business. ***1/2

Run Lola Run (R, 81 minutes).
High-energy, nonstop action in a zany German hit about a girl who has exactly 20 minutes to raise a lot of cash, before her boyfriend is either killed, or gets himself arrested. Three different storylines, with minor but crucial changes, lead to wildly different outcomes. Limitless kinetic energy, and a heroine (Franka Potente) who tirelessly hurtles down the middles of streets, her red hair flying, trying to beat that artificial but entertaining movie deadline. ***

Runaway Bride (PG, 116 minutes).
Richard Gere is a newspaper columnist who writes a hasty column about a woman who has allegedly stranded seven or eight guys at the altar. Julia Roberts is the outraged woman, who says it was "only three." He visits her bucolic Maryland town, where of course they fall in love amidst a cheering section of loyal characters who all live in each other's pockets. Lacks the fire and intelligence of "Pretty Woman," the 1990 film with the same actors and director (Garry Marshall). **

The Sixth Sense (PG-13, 106 minutes).
Bruce Willis plays a troubled psychiatrist with an even more troubled patient: A young boy (Haley Joel Osment) who solemnly tells him, "I see dead people. They want me to do things for them." Not a thriller but a traditional ghost story, with the psychiatrist uneasily approaching the supernatural ("What do you think the dead people are trying to tell you?") Willis plays it straight, which is effective, and Osment is very good in a difficult role. The ending is surprising, and effective. ***

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (R, 80 minutes).
The most slashing social and political commentary of the year, in an animated cartoon based on the Comedy Central series. The kids of South Park sneak into an R-rated movie and startle their classroom with the four-letter words they've learned. The film is Canadian and a mom starts Mothers Against Canada, war breaks out, and it spreads from earth to hell, where Saddam Hussein and Satan are new lovers. All of this unfolds against an unending stream of satirical abuse, ethnic stereotyping, sexual vulgarity and political commentary that alternates common sense with the truly and hurtfully offensive. Has to be seen to be believed. I'm recommending it not so much for its qualities as because it's a signpost indicating the way we live now, and the direction we're headed in. ***

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (PG, 133 minutes).
The fourth of the Star Wars movies comes first in the chronology, and shows us the early days of such familiar characters as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, and even the prototypes of R2D2 and C3PO. Using the full array of new digital effects techniques, George Lucas creates amazing visual sights: Cities floating in underwater membranes, a hollow sphere for a Senate chamber, aliens (including a character named Jar Jar Binks) who are made of special effects but fully integrated into the action. Some critics have bemoaned the lack of depth and insight in the human characters, but is that what we seek at "Star Wars" movies? This one is a feast for the eyes and the imagination. ***1/2

Tarzan (G, 88 minutes).
One of the best of the recent Disney animated epics, retelling the story of the most durable of all movie heroes in terms of his existence as an outsider. Exhilarating visuals, a great sense of freedom over space, excitement in action scenes where Tarzan swings through the trees like a character on a roller-coaster. Fun, and with serious undertones, as when Tarzan asks a suspicious ape, "Why are you threatened by anyone different than you?" With voices by Glenn Close, Minnie Driver, Brian Blessed, Nigel Hawthorne and, as the irrepressible Terk, Rosie O'Donnell. ****

Teaching Mrs. Tingle (PG-13, 94 minutes).
Grim slog through failed comedy. Three high school students end up with hateful history teacher tied to the bed, and have to figure out what to do next. As the teacher, Helen Mirren creates a sadistic and venomous character who is well played but utterly without comic notes. Katie Holmes is the good student in a desperate dilemma; writer-director Kevin Williamson would have known what to do with her in one of the "Scream" movies he writes, but here he's clueless. * 1/2

The 13th Warrior (R, 103 minutes).
Antonio Banderas plays a 10th century Arab poet who ventures north as ambassador to the Vikings, and is enlisted as the 13th member of an elite band needed to fight an ancient flesh-eating evil. Based on a novel by Michael Crichton, but the story gets lost in endless carnage. It's best to start with a story and add special effects; this film has it the wrong way around. * 1/2

The Thomas Crown Affair (R, 114 minutes).
Pierce Brosnan is a zillionaire who steals a $100 million painting for a lark, and Rene Russo is the insurance investigator who knows he did it but can't prove it, and then wonders if she really even wants to, after he tries to seduce her with his life style. Alas, they both seem more excited by the theft than one another, and lack the chemistry of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in the 1968 original. Dreamy, slick, languorous, kind of flat. **1/2

Twin Falls Idaho (Not rated).
A sad, claustrophobic story about conjoined twins and the hooker who wanders into their lives. One of the year's best films.

Wild Wild West (PG-13, 107 minutes).
A comedy dead zone, all concept and no content; the elaborate special effects are like watching money burn. Will Smith and Kevin Kline co-star, as federal agents, but have no chemistry. Imagine Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr as partners in a celebrity golf tournament. Kenneth Branagh is a mad inventor, whose giant iron spiders seem more practical for "Star Wars" than the old west. *