The Ring cycle comes full circle, so to speak, with The Ring Two (DreamWorks), which was directed by Hideo Nakata, the Japanese frightmaster responsible for the original Ringu and its sequels. Nakata delivers the requisite J-horror tropes, but if there's anyone who can make a deer attack look scary, it sure isn't him…
The super-slick British thriller Layer Cake (Sony) opens with the intriguing premise of a drug dealer (Daniel Craig) who tries to approach his trade like any other business, but his retirement plan is spoiled when the criminal underground fails to cooperate. Unfortunately, it fails to cooperate in the most convoluted ways imaginable…
The Barbershop series, which began with such fresh promise a mere three years ago, hits a creative dead end with Beauty Shop (MGM) a slapdash spin-off starring Queen Latifah as a sassy, big-hearted transplanted Chicagoan who opens a beauty shop in Atlanta to compete with sneering former boss Kevin Bacon. The lively camaraderie that made Barbershop such a relaxed pleasure has hardened into glib sitcom banter, so wait for the inevitable Beauty Shop TV spin-off…
The collective title "Timeless Tales" may seem like typical Disney puffery, but while the animation in the shorts comprising Disney's latest collections is deeply dated, the fairy-tale subject matter really is pretty timeless. Timeless Tales Volume One contains four Silly Symphonies from the '30s ("Three Little Pigs," "The Tortoise And The Hare," "The Pied Piper," and "The Grasshopper And The Ants") plus 1990's 25-minute Mickey Mouse version of Mark Twain's The Prince And The Pauper. Timeless Tales Volume Two is more of a grab-bag, with a Silly Symphony take on "The City Mouse And The Country Mouse," plus "Ugly Duckling," "Ferdinand The Bull," and "The Wind In The Willows." None of it's essential Disney viewing, but some of the songs are still wickedly catchy, and the nostalgia is palpable throughout…
It may sound unpromising, but A Lot Like Love (Buena Vista) ranks as by far the strongest of Ashton Kutcher's romantic comedies. The also-rans: Just Married, My Boss's Daughter, and Guess Who. Abandon all hope ye who enter here.