Adam Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian in Hawaii who is well-known for loving then leaving tourists, fearing any long-term commitment that could put a damper on his individuality.  One day, however, he sees comely Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) in a waffle house and is mesmerized by something about her, presumably her resemblance to that girl from E.T. After Roth flirts with her, they agree to meet for breakfast the next day. When he arrives however, she doesn’t remember him; soon, he discovers that she has complete short-term memory loss. Obviously, he must woo her anew every day, often with the help of his animal coterie or his wacky friends like gay Polynesian Ula (Rob Schneider) and Lucy’s oddly lisping muscleman brother Doug (Sean Astin).  The film comes equipped with the usual Sandlerian antics, but a special surprise ending partially redeems the general boorishness. (SAW)

CITY OF GOD

Brazilian Fernando Meirelles’ high-energy depiction of gang warfare in the titular Rio de Janeiro slum has been met with critical raves, four Oscar nominations, and comparisons to the mob pictures of Martin Scorsese. The protagonist, a young photographer named Rocket, succeeds in evading the gang lifestyle; his childhood friend fails to follow suit, instead succumbing to the temptations of crime and power. Dynamic, darkly funny and spitting electricity, City of God presents a strife-ridden world lurching towards destruction. (BJS)

THE DREAMERS

An NC-17 movie focusing on sexy teenagers in 1968 Paris who are obsessed with movies, sex and politics, in that order, from the director of Last Tango In Paris. The plot begins with Matthew (Leonardo DiCaprio look-alike Michael Pitt) encountering Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel) at the protest of the closing of the French cinemathéque, the classic movie theater where these three cinephiles have spent many an afternoon. Soon, Matthew is invited to stay at Isabelle and Theo’s house while their parents are away. Movie-inspired sexual games ensue. One of the more interesting devices Bertolucci uses is intercutting scenes of the three main characters with the movies that inspired the scene, references obviously geared to movie dorks. But what about the more obvious pleasure of copious nudity? Bertolucci sadly pares it down to its base elements, with the net effect of turning off the audience. Theo and Isabelle, who are revealed to be twins, bathe and sleep naked together. Although they seem to never explicitly engage in intercourse, their relationship seems quasi, if not fully, incestuous. The Dreamers is adventurous in a way that few modern films are allowed to be, but its content doesn’t measure up to its ambition and leaves us with disappointing thoughts of what the movie could have been. (SAW)

THE FOG OF WAR

Robert S. McNamara is widely regarded as one of the most reviled figures in the last century of American politics. His tenure as Secretary of Defense led him to make some of the crucial decisions in the major crises of the twentieth century. This documentary shows the making of war through his eyes, from the Cuban Missile Crisis through the Vietnam War. The documentary, directed by genre master Errol Morris (Fast, Cheap and Out of Control) utilizes frank White House tapes, startlingly surreal images, and an extraordinary Philip Glass score to engross an audience that may otherwise have little interest in the subject matter. Morris never compromises his vision of McNamara as a man whose regret has opened floodgates of wisdom (upon hearing one of the admonitions apparently directed at the current administration, an audience member actually began clapping), but who remains unable to justify a war that he prolonged. (JSG)

GOODBYE LENIN!

Pro-democracy riots and cheering mobs of happy Germans are the images most often associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Director Wolfgang Becker aims to capture a unique aspect of the event in his critically acclaimed film Goodbye, Lenin!, by depicting the effects of German reunification on everyday people. The most commercially successful German film in history, it centers on the experience of young East Berliner Alex Kerner, played by wide-eyed 24-year-old Daniel Brühl. After fainting during the Berlin riots, Alex’s mother (Katrin Sass) enters a deep coma for several months. Upon his mother’s release, the doctor cautions Alex that he must insulate her from any shocks, because a stressful event could kill her. Since his mother was fiercely loyal to the idealism of the DDR, Alex makes it his goal to keep her from finding out about the dramatic political changes through which she slept. This deception provides the comic meat of the film, with Alex employing a series of ever more ridiculous ruses to convince his mother that nothing’s changed. However, Brecker does not use his ample talent solely for humor’s sake. Goodbye, Lenin! is dotted with distilled illustrations of the many facets of the reunification, some of which shine much brighter than others. He does not fall into the trap of romanticizing the past at the expense of historical fact; his characters cherish their new conveniences and freedom of expression, and don’t miss the panoptic party structure of socialism. The movie does, however, shed light on the complex (and sudden) transformation of German life that resulted from the fall of the Wall. (WBP)

HIDALGO

There is little substance in Hidalgo. Ostensibly, the film is based on the true story of Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), a long-distance horse-racer who is invited to partake in “the Ocean of Fire,” a 3,000-mile horse race across the Arabian Peninsula. Hopkins’ horse, Hidalgo, is a mustang, a wild mixed-breed horse that was introduced to the Americas with the arrival of the Spaniards to the New World. In the world of horse racing these mixed-breeds are considered, according to the movie, unworthy to share the road with purebred horses, exemplified here by the sleek Arabians. The movie’s twist is that Hopkins was born to a white father and a Sioux mother—he is a half-breed himself. As expected, Hidalgo quickly devolves into yet another story about the power of the human will to overcome adversity and have pride in what you are and where you came from. Given that Disney produced the film, the outcome of the race, and the film, is a foregone conclusion. The bad guys have deep growly voices that prove their deceitfulness, the faithful sidekick/servant dies while saving important lives in the process, and there is just enough racial profiling to make their point while avoiding controversy. (DGM)

MONSTER

Director Patty Jenkins’s debut feature, Monster chronicles the sanguinous final chapter of infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornos and the personal trials that may have led to her murder of seven men. The film has garnered as much attention for star Charlize Theron’s monstrous makeover into the less-than-comely prostitute murderess as it did for the actual performance. Theron’s performance is breakthrough work, painstakingly recreating the intense discomfort of a woman desperate to find a reason not to shoot herself at any given moment. At the film’s core is Wuornos’ tumultuous relationship with flippant lover Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). Though Jenkins fails to offer a believable relationship between these two individuals and Ricci sits through an unnaturally amateurish performance, Monster is ultimately redeemed by Theron’s resonant performance. (MC)

MY ARCHITECT

If we viewed architects as celebrities, Louis I. Kahn’s life would have been made into an E! True Hollywood Story a long time ago. Kahn battled early obstacles–a fire that permanently disfigured his face, his family’s immigration from Estonia to America—to become a celebrated designer of famous buildings all over the world. Then he lost it all, falling deep into debt and finally dying of a heart attack in a train station restroom. Thirty years after his death, Kahn’s son has created a tribute to him on film, glorying in his architectural triumphs, but supplementing the laurels with an honest assessment of his personal failings. Farrah Fawcett wasn’t one-tenth as interesting as this guy. (BJS)