title: The Legend of Bagger Vance (DTS) function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close();�<br> studio: DreamWorks Home Entertainment MPAA rating: PG-13 starring: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, J. Michael Moncrief, Joel Gretsch, Bruce McGill, Lane Smith, Trip Hamilton, Harve Presnell release year: 2000 film rating: Two-and-a-half stars sound/picture: Three-and-a-half stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Wealthy people like, oh, say, Robert Redford don't seem to understand a basic precept of sports-as-metaphor-for-life, at least in terms of movies. Any sport that requires a great deal of very expensive equipment to play, such as skiing, SCUBA diving or golf, is not going to be very convincing as such a metaphor, because the public, for the most part, rarely plays such sports. Rich people do. (Yes, I know there are exceptions.) A stand-in for life needs to be something anyone can relate to, and something to which they formed an attachment since childhood. Basketball requires (a) a basket and (b) a ball; baseball requires (a) a bat and (b) a ball; football requires (a) a ...

title: Almost Famous function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: DreamWorks Home Video MPAA rating: R (for language, drug content, brief nudity) starring: Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Lester Seymour Hoffman, Jason Lee, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin release year: 2000 film rating: Four-and-a-half stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein When Cameron Crowe was 16, he became a regular writer for Rolling Stone. Writing 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' eased him over into movies, where he's worked very well, ever since; his last movie was 'Jerry Maguire'. With 'Almost Famous,' he achieves his long-cherished goal of making a movie about his rock 'n' roll period, when as a teenage journalist, he was regarded by rock groups as somewhere between The Enemy and a mascot.

title: The Contender function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Dreamworks Home Entertainment MPAA rating: R starring: Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater, Sam Elliott, William L. Petersen, Saul Rubinek, Philip Baker Hall, Mariel Hemingway release year: 2000 film rating: Two stars sound/picture: Three stars reviewed by: Bill Warren NOTE: following the review is another part of the review in which -- please be cautioned -- the ending is revealed. The reason this is necessary is to underscore and demonstrate why 'The Contender' is a failure even on its own terms. If you don't want to know the ending, don't read that part of the review.

title: Cockfighter function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment MPAA rating: R starring: Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, Richard B. Shull, Laurie Bird, Robert Earl Jones, Millie Perkins, Troy Donahue, Charles Willeford, Ed Begley Jr., Steve Railsback release year: 1974 film rating: Four stars sound/picture: Three stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Roger Corman likes to do research that provides him ideas for making movies. When he read that cockfighting was one of the world's major sports, attracting thousands of spectators the world 'round, he bought the rights to Charles Willeford's novel Cockfighter and hired Monte Hellman to direct it. It turned out the people the world 'round might love cockfighting, but they definitely do not love movies about cockfighting. When the movie died at the boxoffice, he reissued it under several other titles and in slightly varying editions ('Born to Kill,' 'Gambling Man,' 'Wild Drifter'), all to no avail. The movie remained stubbornly unsalable.

title: The Five Senses function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: New Line Home Video starring: Pascale Bussieres, Marco Leonard, Nadia Litz, Daniel McIvor, Mary-Louise Parker, Molly Parker, Gabrielle Rose, Philippe Volter release year: 2000 film rating: Three-and-a-Half Stars reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein "The Five Senses" is unusual. Most low-budget character studies tend to be narratively simple and/or so artful as to be inaccessible. "Senses," however, is warm and accessible, with plot threads that are meticulously interwoven yet easy to follow. The film is set in contemporary Toronto, where all of the characters are dealing with some issue relating to one of the five physical senses. Eye doctor Richard (Philippe Volter), an opera fan who so loves sound that he plays tapes of the ocean – complete with gulls and buoys – in his office, dreads his impending loss of hearing. Masseuse Ruth (Gabrielle Rose) is a genius at literally handling her clients, but is out of touch with the needs and anxieties of ...