Jan. 30 thru Feb. 6

8 Mile (R)
First Purple Rain, then (shudder) Glitter, now this. In case you haven't read the headlines (or listened to his lyrics), Eminem grew up on the streets of Detroit, yo. His mom was abusive and his dad was a no-show. And since he's spent a few years on top of the charts, Mr. Slim felt obligated to make this self-indulgent biopic.
Now Showing: Carmike 10

25th Hour (R)
The latest from Spike Lee, starring Edward Norton as a convicted drug-dealer trying to make the most of his last day as a free man. Norton attempts to patch things up with his girlfriend and fire-fighter dad, goes out drinking with the boys, and seeks a good home for his dog. The film is perhaps most notable for being one of the first to explicitly acknowledge the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West

About Schmidt (R)
Jack Nicholson gives up his crochety-but-cool persona, for once, to play a schmuck who's just plain crochety. Driving to his daughter's wedding, the 60-something, J. Alfred Prufrock-esque Warren Schmidt realizes he's wasted his life. With Kathy Bates; directed by Alexander Payne (Election, Citizen Ruth).
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West

Adaptation (R)
Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) takes on more wacky self-referential fare with the tale of Charlie Kaufman (Nicholas Cage), a screenwriter struggling to adapt Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep)'s book The Orchid Thief. Written by Kaufman (who doesn't look like Cage).
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West

After Hours (R)
What? Scorsese directed a comedy? With Cheech Marin and Bronson Pinchot? I don't know what to believe anymore.
NOW SHOWING: UT Film Committee

Analyze That (R)
More De Niro, more Crystal, more contrast between a tough-guy mobster and his neurotic shrink.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

Antwone Fisher (PG-13)
As autobiographical as a film can come, Fisher is based on the life story of its title character, who wrote the screenplay. Newcomer Derek Luke plays Antwone, a hot-headed sailor who comes to terms with himself and his family through the aid of a doctor (Denzel Washington, who also directs).
NOW SHOWING: West Town Mall, Foothills 12

Biker Boyz (PG-13)
Check out our Psychic Movie Prediction!
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10, Cinemark's Tinseltown, West Town Mall, Halls Cinema 7

Catch Me if You Can (PG-13)
Steven Spielberg demonstrates an uncharacteristically light touch in this playful autobiography of con artist Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio), who convinces the world he's by turns a doctor, lawyer, and airplane pilot, all the while dodging FBI agent Tom Hanks.
NOW SHOWING: Cinemark's Tinseltown, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center, Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, The Ritz

Chicago (PG-13)
The long-running musical hits the big screen in what some say is the best Broadway-to-film adaptation since Cabaret. Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to her toe-tapping roots as Velma, while Renee Zellweger and even Richard Gere transform themselves into song-and-dance machines.
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Foothills 12, Farragut Towne Square

A Clockwork Orange (R)
Ultra-violence, milk bars, and all that Beethoven. Frankly, I think novelist Anthony Burgess' original point got lost in the midst of all those luridly shot scenes of rape and other crimes against humanity, and apparently once enough copycat criminals cropped up, director Stanley Kubrick agreed—he had the film banned from U.K. theaters during his lifetime.
NOW SHOWING: UT Film Committee

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (R)
If you were starting to think you'd have to wait eons for the next Charlie Kaufman-penned festival of surrealism, think again. The writer of Adaptation read the autobio of somewhat loopy former game show host Chuck Barris (The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, The Gong Show), who claims to have interspersed his TV gigs with hits for the CIA. Then Kaufman took the kook at his word. Sam Rockwell plays Barris; Drew Barrymore, George Clooney and Julia Roberts also star. See our review, page 23.
NOW SHOWING: Cinemark's Tinseltown, Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center

Darkness Falls (PG-13)
In an exciting twist for the horror genre, some pissed-off dead lady comes back to seek revenge against the town that killed her. She assumes the form of a doll—no, wait, a clown—no, wait, the Tooth Fairy. Yeah, that's it. Starring a bunch of teenagers. Or at least, people who look like teenagers.
NOW SHOWING: Cinemark's Tinseltown, Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Farragut Towne Square, Halls Cinema 7, Knoxville Center

Die Another Day (Pg-13)
Yes, Bond is back (again... and again... and again) and this time Halle Berry's his groovy sidechick. Plot has something to do with criminal mastermind scheming to take over the world, I think.
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10

Drumline (PG-13)
A hip-hop drummer from Harlem is in for a rude awakening when he joins the regimented marching band at a southern university. From the director of the "Wassaaaaaaap?!" Budweiser commercials, so you know it's gotta be good.
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10, Cinemark's Tinseltown

The Emperor's Club (PG-13)
There's this increasing trend of big-budget films premiering at Downtown West and no where else in town, as if to claim some sort of indie cachet. Well, I won't stand for it. Know this film comes to you from Universal Pictures, and stars Kevin Kline as an inspirational treacle... I mean teacher.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

Final Destination 2 (R)
Check out our Psychic Movie Prediction!
NOW SHOWING: Wynnsong 16, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Foothills 12, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center, Halls Cinema 7

Formula 51 (R)
Samuel L. Jackson plays a brilliant chemist who's also a total bad-ass. Righhhhht. He's conjured up some new recreational drug that'll blow your mind, man, so he's off to Liverpool to hawk his creation. Apparently convinced that Beatletown lies in Scotland, he sports a kilt through most the movie. With Robert Carlyle.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

Friday After Next (R)
If you've been following Ice Cube's career, you'll know this is the sequel to Next Friday (2000), itself a sequel to—guess what?—Friday (1995). This guy just can't let go of a character: Barbershop 2 is already in the works. Anyway, the plot's nominally about tracking down the guy who robbed him on Christmas, but it's really about getting booty and smoking doobie.
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10

Gangs of New York (R)
What detail can we tell you about this movie that Entertainment Weekly hasn't breathlessly pored over already? Simple facts: Scorsese made it. Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cameron Diaz star in it. Therefore, you are going to see this movie. Or so we've heard.
NOW SHOWING: Knoxville Center, Wynnsong 16

A Guy Thing (PG-13)
Jason Lee is engaged to Selma Blair, but one morning he wakes up next to Julia Stiles. Oops.
NOW SHOWING: Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Halls Cinema 7, Knoxville Center

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (PG)
Some kinda sequel to some kinda thing about a kid who goes to a weird school. Starring a whole bunch of Brits—including the irresistably named Rupert Grint.
NOW SHOWING: Knoxville Center, Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12

The Hot Chick (PG-13)
Ahh, the well of body-switching plots never does run dry, does it? Unfortunately, neither does Rob Schneider.
NOW SHOWING: Wynnsong 16

The Hours (PG-13)
Star-studded adaptation of Michael Cunningham's book, which won both the PEN/ Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The camera splits its time between Nicole Kidman, playing Virginia Woolf as she begins to write Mrs. Dalloway; Julianne Moore, playing a WWII-era mother; and Meryl Streep, playing a gay book editor throwing a party for her AIDS-stricken friend. Woolf's words touch all their lives.
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West

I Spy (PG-13)
An updating of the 1960s TV series, with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson replacing Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. The new duo must team up to rescue a space-age U.S. warplane from an evil arms dealer (Malcolm McDowell), who plans to sell the aircraft to—who else?—terrorists with nuclear weapons.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

Just Married (PG-13)
Brittany Murphy (8 Mile, Clueless) and Ashton Kutcher (Dude, Where's My Car?, TV's That '70s Show) go on the honeymoon from hell. Sample hilarious hijink: their American sex toy blows all the fuses in a posh European hotel. Har dee har har.
NOW SHOWING: Halls Cinema 7, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center, Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12

Kangaroo Jack (PG)
Jerry Bruckheimer plus Christopher Walken equals a story about some mobsters, car crashes... and a smart-aleck marsupial? The weirdest genre melding in recent memory, this one attempts to combine an action flick with a kids' cute-mammal-a-thon. Ostensibly starring Jerry O'Connell and Anthony Anderson, but the real star is of course the 'roo—who, despite what trailers might have you believe, doesn't actually talk.
NOW SHOWING: Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Halls Cinema 7, Farragut Towne Square, Knoxville Center

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PG-13)
Who says the 21st-century lifestyle has bred short attention spans? Not when we keep breeding drawn-out series of epics. Well, the wait is over for Book Two, which will present more of the same (hobbits, orcs, yada yada) and some new stuff (tree beings called ents, lots more screen time to a remarkably life-like CGI Gollum). It all clocks in at about three hours.
NOW SHOWING: West Town Mall, Farragut Towne Square, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Carmike 10, Foothills 12

Maid in Manhattan (PG-13)
New York hotel housekeeper Jennifer Lopez just happens to be trying on a wealthy guest's clothes when a handsome politician (Ralph Fiennes) walks in on her (no, he doesn't catch any skin). An elaborate ruse must then be produced to further the illusion, by which we mean Royal Shakespeare Company alum Fiennes must somehow pass for Richard Gere.
NOW SHOWING: Knoxville Center, Wynnsong 16, Foothills 12, Cinemark's Tinseltown

Max (R)
Check out our Psychic Movie Prediction!
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West

Modern Times (NR)
The oldie but goodie, with Sir Charles Chaplin. A comedic indictment of industrialization, for his time and ours.
NOW SHOWING: UT Art + Architecture Bldg.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (PG)
Yet another indie melting-pot film, about a 30-year-old Greek-American woman (Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the script) falling in love with a WASPy guy. Cultural complications ensue, but (as the title suggests) love carries the day.
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West, Knoxville Center, Movies 7

Narc (R)
Jason Patric's been tossed off the force after he accidentally shot a pregnant woman. Now, he's wanted back on the beat, to partner with hardened veteran Ray Liotta and figure out who killed a fellow undercover officer.
NOW SHOWING: Wynnsong 16

National Security (PG-13)
Not a hard-hitting assessment of our nation's capability to combat terrorism, but an action-comedy about rent-a-cop Martin Lawrence's capabilities to break up a smuggling ring, with a little help from Steve Zahn.
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10, Foothills 12, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Halls Cinema 7, West Town Mall, Farragut Towne Square

The Pianist (R)
Roman Polanski's Palme D'or-winning film about Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish pianist on the run during World War II. Incidentally, Polanski himself hid from the Nazis as a child.
NOW SHOWING: Downtown West

The Recruit (PG-13)
Check out our Psychic Movie Prediction!
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Foothills 12, West Town Mall, Farragut Towne Square, Halls Cinema 7

The Ring (PG-13)
The devilishly scary Japanese hit gets remade with Mulholland Drive's Naomi Watts in the lead. A familiar-sounding plot revolves around a video that brings death to all who view it. Directed by Gore Verbinski.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

The Santa Clause 2 (G)
Oy gevalt. Must I convey this plot to you? Isn't it sufficient to know that the whole dreary enterprise once again stars Tim Allen? I thought so.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

Star Trek: Nemesis (PG-13)
There seems to be a strange electromagnetic signature coming from Kolarus III, Captain Picard. Could it have anything to do with the dismantled pieces of android, or the impending peace with the Romulans, or your bio-engineered replica who's now promising not to use his weapons of mass destruction?
NOW SHOWING: Wynnsong 16

Sweet Home Alabama (PG-13)
Talented Reese Witherspoon continues a disappointing descent into fluffier and fluffier fare with a by-the-books romantic comedy. She stars as Melanie, a hotshot New York designer who heads home to 'Bama to seek a divorce from the "redneck husband" she married in high school. Since she's now engaged to the NYC mayor's son, it's all a bit urgent.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

Treasure Planet (PG)
From the folks who brought you The Little Mermaid—an animated updating of Stevenson's Treasure Island set in space.
NOW SHOWING: Carmike 10, Wynnsong 16

Two Weeks Notice (PG-13)
Like the abysmal You've Got Mail, this Hugh Grant/Sandra Bullock vehicle pits a cuddly do-gooder female against an evil corporate man. Here, environmental lawyer Bullock gets hired by real estate developer Grant. The burning question, according to the filmmakers: "Is it ever too late to say, 'I love you'?"
NOW SHOWING: West Town Mall, Farragut Towne Square, Halls Cinema 7, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Carmike 10, Foothills 12

Wes Craven Presents: They (PG-13)
A psychology student discovers that her night terrors extend far beyond her bedroom and into the minds of perfect strangers. Kinda like the nightmare I had about Dubya being elected president. Only less scary.
NOW SHOWING: Movies 7

The Wild Thornberrys Movie (PG)
Yet another kids' feature based on a Nickelodeon series. For those who live in minorless households: it's about a 12-year-old girl who travels the world communicating with animals. In the film, she also communicates with Rupert Everett, Brenda Blethyn and Marisa Tomei.
NOW SHOWING: Halls Cinema 7, Cinemark's Tinseltown, Carmike 10