Brevitas

Antz

From the Manhattan skyline to Woody driveling anxiety to his shrink, the first moments of Antz suggest a film destined to become another prototypical Woody Allen movie. Until Woody (now an ant named "Z") gets off the psychoanalyst's couch and walks into "The Colony." The makers of Antz seem particularly interested in demonstrating their ability to depict water and human movement, disregarding the fact that the plot must make some rather forced detours in order to accommodate these animated showpieces. Though the character of Allen as well as those of the other actors (voiced by Dan Akroyd, Anne Bancroft, Sylvester Stalone and Jennifer Lopez among others) take some of the edge off the hackneyed plot, Antz fails to fully engage. Carla Blackmar

Apt Pupil

Apt Pupil would seem to be a thriller that hovers somewhere between tolerable and entertaining. Scenes in the style of Stephen King, normally complex and intriguing, are here sickening. The ethics of making Dussander (a former SS officer) the interesting character and his strident accusers the bland and vapid ones are, of course, also questionable. This said, Ian McKellan may be given credit for giving the masterful performance one expects of him. Todd Renfro's acting (as the boy who discovers Dussander) is generally bland and flat, more appropriate to a sitcom, or an after-school special, than the thriller that is being attempted here.   John T. Maier

Beloved

In Beloved, the highly-anticipated adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel, slavery is explored in a subtle, almost metaphorical fashion. It is an exercise in psychology, exploring the mind of Morrison's steel-willed protagonist Sethe (Oprah Winfrey), a former slave who now lives as a free woman in Ohio in the 1870s. Beloved is a handsome, classy production that is distinguished in every possible way, but it is also a cold film. The screenplay grapples admirably with Morrison's convoluted narrative but can never get to the heart of it. The saving grace of the movie is the renowned cast.   Bill Gienapp

Bride of Chucky

The joys of Chucky are pure and simple. There's this doll, see, and he's possessed by the soul of a serial killer and so he kills a lot of people in improbable ways. Twist? Chucky's ex-girlfriend is turned into an equally evil and equally plastic doll. The brilliance of this premise will not be appreciated during our lifetime. With just a sprinkling of self-consciousness and heaps of bad taste, director Yu has made a B-movie that can easily stand next to such giants as Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, and Plan 9 From Outer Space. I, for one, saw Chucky the way it was meant to be seen: in an empty theater on a Monday night, with some friends, and a bunch of drunk guys and four-year-olds yelling at the screen. It was the most fun I've had since I came to Massachusetts.   Benjamin L. McKean

Lolita

For all the hype that surrounded its 10-month saga to find an American distributor, Lolita is, in the end, surprisingly tame. Overwhelming us with a cascade of lovely images, Lolita succeeds in being tragically moving despite the unsavory plot. Indeed, the reason why Lyne's film works is that it focuses upon the potential of film to beautify even the grotesque. The effect is a little artificial, a spectacle designed to seduce the viewer into turning away from the moral problem of the film. In a time when films often try to say something about life, here is a film about the power of film.   Irene Hahn

Next Stop Wonderland

Next Stop Wonderland is charming not because it is a groundbreaking movie (it's not), but because it succeeds so refreshingly and so endearingly despite its unoriginal premise. Where other movies would be cranking up bathos-filled love songs, Next Stop Wonderland plays toe-tapping Brazilian music. When other actresses would be weeping over a picture of their ex, Erin contemplatively stares out at the ocean or reads her late father's poetry. Fate may bring the happy couple together under its wing, but we get the feeling that they would be okay even if they never met. As the Wonderland promo posters say, "Love is the destination." But the journey's pretty wonderful, too.   Sarah A. Rodriguez

One True Thing

In the days of "Size Does Matter" and "Bigger is Better," can a pure human drama still affect us? Leave it to Meryl Streep to quash all doubts about that. Her latest acting showcase, One True Thing, tells such an incredibly small story that it puts all the vast, sweeping movies of recent memory to shame. The film tells the story of a single family and manages to weave a stunningly intricate emotional epic. The main narrative unfolds in a flashback. Reporter Ellen Gulden is being questioned by a district attorney about assisting in her cancer-stricken mother's death. Using characters grounded in the simplicities of life, One True Thing gives us something almost unparalleled in recent cinematic memory--the triumph of the ordinary.   Soman Chainani

Practical Magic

Girls, break out your jammies and slam books--it's slumber party time! Practical Magic is one to see with the chicks, if you can bear it. Sisters Sally and Gillian Owens are born into a family of witches. Sally tries to fit into a small New England town, while Gillian looks for love in all the wrong places. The familial curse is that a man who loves one of the Owens' witches will meet an untimely death, as Gillian's abusive boyfriend does at the hands of Bullock. Right. Now, it never promises to be Citizen Kane, and it provides some good laughs and a feel-good finale. If you want a braincandy slumber party movie, rent Practical Magic, by all means. Just don't expect it to work any magic on you.   Meredith B. Osborn

Slam

If Slam were a book instead of a film, it would read like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. As the story of a gifted young black man's struggles on the streets and in the jails of Washington, D. C., the main piece of this puzzle is undoubtedly Raymond Joshua. The film poses some fabulous questions. Can a man be justified in selling drugs if he has to support his family in the projects? Who is to blame for the overpopulation of young black men in America's jails today? The point that this film tries to drive home is that solutions to these problems require action, and action requires personal responsibility. Slam is recommended to anyone who wants to see how a great film can be made about a subject as complex as the struggle of modern African-Americans in an oppressive urban environment.   J.T. Marino

There's Something About Mary

Though outrageous and crude, the jokes in the Farrelly Brothers' most recent sideshow attraction are also intensely predictable, which keeps the movie from lifting off. Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon all give their best shot to keeping the ball in the air, but for one thing, their presence is almost arbitrary in many scenes to the extent that Mary's humor is all visual and only rarely connected to dialogue; poor Cameron could be reciting Rilke beneath those "hair gel"-enhanced bangs and no one would know the difference. Then again, everyone else seems to have had a ball. Whatever there is about Mary, I didn't really get it.   Nicholas K. Davis

What Dreams May Come

Robin Williams, fresh from his Academy Award, again leaves his comedic training behind him in his role as Chris Nielsen, who dies in a car accident and must travel from heaven to hell to save his wife (Annabella Sciorra) after she commits suicide in her despair over his death. Although the plot is the standard quest situation, it demands that the film deal with the question of religion, God and the afterlife. Somehow they drop God from the plot. They're good. How's God just going to be absent from heaven? A better question is how Robin Williams can become sullen and morose in a place decorated in grand color-by-number style where a person's every wish is fulfilled? Cuba Gooding, Jr. breathes some life into the story. His energy actually recalls some of Williams' early comedic work, and serves as a constant reminder of what Williams lacks in What Dreams May Come.   Jeremy J. Ross