Lawrence.com

Amelie

The latest entry from French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Delicatessen," "City of Lost Children") is not so much a movie as it is a two-hour orgy of whimsy. Jeunet's already vivid imagination goes into overdrive on this one, but fortunately the characters are as delightful as the visual effects are stunning. The charming Audrey Tautou stars as the title character, a waitress whose hyperactive fantasy life leads her to do secret favors for those around her. Fortunately, Jeunet and Tautou portray Amelie more as someone who is observant of things most people ignore than as somebody who's delusional. The film's conclusion that life is better when we think of others is simple and even a bit hackneyed, but the abundant wit and invention that run through the film keep it vital. "Amelie" subdues its audience with a contagious optimism, and thanks to Jeunet's stylishness, that hope endures. (R) -- DL

*** 1/2 Liberty Hall Cinemas, 644 Mass.

A Beautiful Mind

Everyone questions reality at some point in their life, but with John Nash it's an everyday occurrence. The Nobel Prize-winning mathematician has struggled for years as a paranoid-schizophrenic, battling to keep his career, relationships and sanity from self-destructing. At the core of "A Beautiful Mind" is Russell Crowe, who is quite convincing as Nash, covering 50 years of his life. The scholar first begins to succumb to his condition while working at the Pentagon in 1953, after an agent for the Department of Defense (Ed Harris) recruits him to help find coded messages in newspapers that might be forecasting a Soviet nuclear attack. Or maybe the real threat is only in Nash's head. This portion of "A Beautiful Mind" (adapted from the book by Sylvia Nasar) is really the most interesting, as Nash's mounting paranoia begins to gnaw at the audience as much as it does his friends and wife (Jennifer Connelly). Crowe and director Ron Howard should be commended for this impressive collaboration. The director could have further retreated into the pop crap-factory that helped "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" squeeze nearly $300 million from the domestic coffers. Instead, he tries to make a real movie here, not getting too caught up in the potential "Rain Man"-esque gimmickry of the plot. Likewise, Crowe might have followed up "Gladiator" with another mechanical action-adventure. But the actor again proves himself clever at choosing material that displays how remarkably chameleonic he can be onscreen. Despite the subject matter, his performance is never acting by the numbers. (PG-13) -- JN

*** 1/2 Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.

Black Hawk Down

Director Ridley Scott ("Hannibal") presents the real-life tale "Black Hawk Down" from the perspective of the elite American forces who took part in the deadly, 1993 fire-fight with a Somalian civilian army. His effort is neither a jingoistic exercise in military muscle (� la "Top Gun") nor an existential parable about the futility of war (as in "The Thin Red Line"). Rather, it is simply a detailed documentation of a specific, flawed event. And it's as tense and compelling as a combat movie could hope to be. When approaching this volatile subject, Scott doesn't waste time dwelling on the politics that led to it. He immerses the viewer right into the chaotic action. In that respect, "Black Hawk Down" (based on the book by Mark Bowden) represents one of the few times when a lack of characterization is a cinematic advantage. The filmmakers succeed, with little exposition, by casting strong actors (in the more than 40 speaking roles) who are physically dissimilar enough that the audience can sort them apart. Beyond just the combat footage -- which is second only to "Saving Private Ryan" in terms of sheer expertise -- the movie displays a number of images that burn into the mind, most of which involve the juxtaposition of U.S. military hardware against the antiquated backdrop of an impoverished African city. Since involvement in the bloody Somalian conflict was brief and ineffectual, it stood the risk of being a forgotten chapter in America's history. Scott's film has brought attention to an elusive event that earns the right to be remembered. (R) -- JN

*** 1/2 Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.

Gosford Park

Robert Altman is still the ultimate actor's director. And while the Kansas City-born filmmaker again makes use of an oppressively large ensemble cast, he ventures away from his usual Americana subject matter with "Gosford Park," a period piece examining the upstairs/downstairs existence of a bygone British society. The movie superficially uses the setting of an English country manor to introduce a murder, with numerous aristocrats and servants in the house having motivation to commit it. However, the tale is hardly about crime; it remains more interested in examining the class relationships and hidden secrets of those who would welcome such a deed. The aspects that make the film so interesting are the same things that make it difficult. Altman employs no extras, so the dozens of cast members are given nearly equal screen time. The upside to this approach is that there are no throw-away performances, and no stars trying to overmatch those in "lesser" roles. The downside is that there are too many characters to follow. Altman introduces such a flood of information that by the time the show is over, it's virtually impossible to explain the importance of each player or their relationship within the hierarchy. With "Gosford Park," Altman invites an artistic conundrum: Should a movie be considered great if it only fits together after repeated viewings? Maybe that's just the filmmaker's inability to make things clear the first time around. (R) -- JN

*** Liberty Hall Cinemas, 644 Mass.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Just when it seemed there would never be a decent sword and sorcery film made for this generation, "The Fellowship of the Ring" shows up in time to redeem the genre from being linked to duds like last year's "Dungeons & Dragons." Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's venerated "Ring" trilogy, "Fellowship" is utterly successful at creating a world that never existed. It pulls the viewer into the heat of battle and makes him really believe that the fate of the earth rests on the small shoulders (and furry feet) of an ordinary person. After an exposition-heavy prologue and a long first act set in the Shire, "Fellowship" kicks into a frenetic pace, as Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his hobbit friends find themselves pursued by dark forces intent on reclaiming his magic Ruling Ring. Forging a fellowship that includes dwarf, elf, wizard and ranger, the collective embarks on an increasingly menacing mission to destroy the cursed item by casting it into the fiery Mount Doom. Writer-director Peter Jackson ("Heavenly Creatures") proves himself a legitimate visionary with the project. The New Zealand-born filmmaker juggles the Atlas-like burden of integrating oppressive visual effects, large-scale battle scenes, international cast, allegiance to the revered source material and, most importantly, the "emotion" of the tale into an entertaining package -- one that pleases "LOR" novices and fanatics alike. Jackson does so without feeling the need to turn the show into a stylistic vanity project � la Tim Burton. This movie is bigger than its director, and he knows enough not to get in its way. From the casting to the look to the need-to-see-the-sequel-right-now finale, "Fellowship" is truly deserving of being called an epic. At the very least, it's the best sword and sorcery film ever made. (PG-13) -- JN

**** Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.

Ocean's Eleven

Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") seems to hit upon all the ingredients that worked in the 1960 Rat Pack classic, about a group of misogynist martini buddies who knock off a collection of Vegas casinos. And his update of "Ocean's Eleven" is one that a viewer can wake up with in the morning and not feel a throbbing headache and the sting of guilt. George Clooney stars as the title character (the role that Frank Sinatra popularized), ably projecting the attitude of a polished con man whose charm doesn't necessarily keep him out of trouble. Clooney's compatriots in a scheme to rob The Bellagio, Mirage and MGM Grand, include Brad Pitt as a gambling playboy and Matt Damon as a talented pickpocket. As the owner of the casinos, Andy Garcia gives the self-assured air of a powerful "legitimate businessman" whose roots are probably much shadier. His initial meeting with Clooney offers the film's most crisp verbal jousting, as they try to one-up each other regarding a relationship with the same woman. (The Chairman of the Board would be proud). Others in the A-list cast don't fare quite as well. While still engaging, Julia Roberts is reduced to elegant window dressing. And as the crew's financier, Elliott Gould gives another performance in which every bit of dialogue sounds as if he were reading cue cards for a hearing-impaired dinner theater audience. It's clear Soderbergh knows that this is a movie about two things: star power and plot twists (admittedly, the latter of which are sometimes hard to swallow). The director keeps his flashy camerawork and scene-jumps to a minimum, allowing the audience to focus on the suspense-filled mechanics of the story and the multitude of characters that are drifting in and out of it. (PG-13) -- JN

*** 1/2 Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.

Orange County

For a movie about a fellow with literary aspirations, "Orange County" is strikingly shallow and only sporadically amusing. Colin Hanks (Tom's son) stars as Shaun Brumder, a high school overachiever in the title district who longs to go to Stanford so that he can become a writer. When an administrative blunder fails to get him admitted, he desperately tries to recruit his non-communicative family to help his quest by doing the impossible -- behaving themselves. Director Jake Kasdan, whose last film was the entertaining "Zero Effect," has assembled an impressive cast that includes Catharine O'Hara as the family's boozy matriarch and Lily Tomlin as the school bureaucrat who botches the lad's application. Unfortunately, most of the characters in Michael White's script are flat, leaving some performers floundering for motivation. The gags, including several involving Shaun's barely-there paraplegic stepfather, prove that tasteless and funny aren't synonyms. Jack Black has some moments as Shaun's chemical connoisseur of a brother, but there's more wit in a two-minute mp3 of Black's Tenacious D than in all of "Orange County." (PG-13) -- DL

* 1/2 Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.

The Royal Tenenbaums

Dysfunctional families are the raison d'�tre of most dramatic filmmakers, but making the subject work in a comedic setting is a lot harder. After all, how funny are parental abandonment and loveless marriages? As it turns out, in the hands of twisted thinkers like Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson ("Rushmore"), they're hilarious. Most of the humor here comes from the bizarre personalities that make up the Tenenbaum family: The clan's father, Royal (Gene Hackman), is a selfish con artist who left years before and now wants to trick his wife and children into taking him back. The mother, Etheline (Anjelica Huston), is an intellectual whose life has been spent turning her children into geniuses. The children, Chas (Ben Stiller), Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Richie (Luke Wilson) are precocious overachievers gone sour, each with an astounding tangle of neuroses. Anderson (who directs) and Wilson (who co-stars as a neighborhood friend) find a core of humanity in this sometimes-forced lunacy, especially when it comes to Royal, who may be the world's most charming jerk. That accomplishment is due in large part to Hackman's performance, as he earns the audience's affection while his character earns his family's love. By the time "The Royal Tenenbaums" is over, it reaches a level of emotional honesty most dramas could never hope to achieve. (R) -- LL

*** Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.

A Walk to Remember

The one pleasant outcome from seeing "A Walk to Remember" is discovering that moonlighting teen vocalist Mandy Moore is actually a capable thespian. In this adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel, she's actually believable as a nerdy, devout preacher's daughter who gradually falls for a popular lad (Shane West, "Once and Again") with wild tendencies. If Moore's performance is pleasantly surprising, little else in the movie is. Because the "opposites attract" motif is even older than cinema itself, viewers can practically set their watches to story developments in the sluggishly paced film. A couple of forgettable Moore tunes also help grind the sappy tale to a halt. There's little sense of place in "A Walk to Remember." The actors all have different accents even though the setting is supposed to be a small North Carolina town. The only performer who attempts a regional drawl is Peter Coyote (who plays Moore's dad), and it wanes like the credibility of the movie. (PG) -- DL

** Southwind Twelve, 3433 Iowa.