NEW MOVIES

NEW MOVIES
'FESTIVAL EXPRESS'
sss Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, the Band and a gaggle of rockers travel Canada by rail, stopping here and there to perform. This forgotten 1970 tour was a financial nightmare, but a dream for the performers: chugging whiskey and jamming as their train rattled along. Amazing footage, and pretty good performances, from some clearly blotto rock legends. (R) for profanity, drugs, drink; at Austintown Movies 3.
'GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY'
ss1/2Director George Butler has been friends with Kerry for 40 years, so as you'd imagine, he paints a loving portrait of a dedicated, natural leader during the Vietnam War and a dedicated, natural leader of veterans who protested the war after coming home. Butler's unlimited access yields a mind-blowing amount of archival photographs and film footage, but what's truly effective is the way he lets the images speak for themselves, rather than manipulating them in a maudlin fashion. (PG-13) for disturbing images of war, including language; at Cinema South.
'INTIMATE STRANGERS'
sss A woman unloads her grief and angst to a man she believes to be a psychiatrist in this sly and subdued love story from the accomplished French filmmaker Patrice Leconte. With Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini in the leads. (R) for adult themes, profanity; at Austintown Movies 3.
'LADDER 49'
ss Director Jay Russell and company have cobbled together narrative snippets -- some engaging, most inert -- to create a mushy, clich & eacute;d valentine to the men who live the firefighting life. Joaquin Phoenix plays a veteran firefighter whose career plays out in flashbacks while he's trapped in a burning building as mentor John Travolta directs a rescue effort. (PG-13) for intense fire and rescue situations and for language; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Hermitage, Tinseltown.
'SHARK TALE'
s1/2 You'll have a sinking feeling that you've seen this all-star animated extravaganza before. That's because you have -- and you've seen it done better -- in the form of "Finding Nemo" and "Shrek." Will Smith voices a small fish named Oscar who lies about being a shark slayer for a taste of the good life. (PG) for some mild language and crude humor; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Hermitage, Elm Road Drive-In, Tinseltown.
LAST WEEK'S TOP 10
'THE FORGOTTEN'
sss Brooklyn free-lance editor Telly (Julianne Moore) still pines inconsolably for her young son, Sam (Christopher Kovaleski), who died in a plane crash along with five other children 14 months before the film's story starts. Or so Telly believes. (PG-13) for intense thematic material, some violence and brief language; at Westgate, Elm Road Drive-In, Hermitage, Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Cinema South.
'SKY CAPTAIN ANDTHE WORLD OF TOMORROW'
ss1/2 This could have been a dazzling success or a dizzying failure. It's actually a bit of both -- an ambitious if highly derivative mix of live actors and digital technology, of futuristic sci-fi fantasy and old-school Hollywood adventure. (PG) for sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Cinema South, Hermitage and Westgate Cinemas.
'RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE'
s Milla Jovovich returns as Alice, the security specialist trapped in a bio-weapons experiment gone horribly wrong in "Resident Evil." She's been kept on ice by her multinational employer. She's revived because the residents of "The Hive" have escaped and devoured Raccoon City. (R) for nonstop violence, language and some nudity; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Hermitage, Elm Road Drive-In, Tinseltown, Westgate Cinemas.
'MR. 3000'
s1/2Bernie Mac plays Stan Ross, an egotistical slugger who left the Milwaukee Brewers after logging his 3,000th hit -- or so he thought. Nine years later, officials discover a counting error and find that he's three hits shy of the milestone. (PG-13) for sexual content and language; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Cinema South and Westgate.
'FIRST DAUGHTER'
s1/2 This movie is so sickly sweet that it's likely to induce diabetic comas in everyone except the 12-year-old girls to whom it seems specifically geared. Katie Holmes stars as Samantha Mackenzie, the daughter of a president who is running for re-election as she heads off to college. (PG) for language, sexual situations and alcohol-related material; at Westgate, Hermitage, Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Cinema South.
'CELLULAR'
ss1/2 kidnapped Kim Basinger randomly calling a surfer dude's mobile phone for help. (PG-13) for violence, terror situations, language and sexual references; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Cinema South, Hermitage, Westgate Cinemas.
'SHAUN OF THE DEAD'
sss This gorey British horror romp is a goofball medley of "Dawn of the Dead," "28 Days Later ..." and Monty Python-style severed-limbs/blood-spurting sicko comedy. Zombies overrun London, and our heroes go looking for a pub that's still serving pints. (R) for violence, gore, language; not playing here.
'WIMBLEDON'
ss1/2 Paul Bettany upstages the effervescent (and top-billed) Kirsten Dunst in this by-the-numbers romantic comedy set in the tennis world. The film was shot during Wimbledon last year, which gives it a sense of realism and immediacy. (PG-13) for language, sexuality and partial nudity; at Cinema South, Hermitage, Westgate Cinemas.
'WITHOUT A PADDLE'
ss Directed by Steven Brill, "Without a Paddle" follows three pals who take a pratfall-riddled canoe trip looking for the loot of legendary skyjacker D.B. Cooper. (PG-13) for drug content, sexual material, language, crude humor and some violence; at Austintown Commons 10, Boulevard Centre, Tinseltown, Westgate Cinemas.
'HERO'
sss1/2 Director Zhang Yimou presents a grand saga of ancient China with this briskly paced, cleverly plotted martial arts epic that unfolds through a circuitous series of flashbacks. Jet Li stars. (PG-13) for stylized martial arts violence and a scene of sensuality; at Boulevard Centre, Tinseltown, Westgate Cinemas.
ALSO PLAYING
'ALIEN VS. PREDATOR'
s1/2 It's like a cinematic Wrestlemania. Two film heavies, the slimy Alien and the dreadlocked Predator, face off in Antarctica. (PG-13) for violence, gore, profanity, horror; at Cinemark.
'THE BOURNE SUPREMACY'
sss Seamlessly resuming the tale of the amnesiac assassin from "The Bourne Identity," Matt Damon's sequel overcomes a couple of distracting flaws to deliver another solid thrill ride. (PG-13) for violence and intense action and for brief language; at Cinema South.
'CATWOMAN'
s1/2Halle Berry stars in this harmlessly awful comic-book adaptation, purring and meowing her way through a computer-enhanced city in black leather, cat-fighting Sharon Stone and leaving amorous scratch marks on a hunky police detective played by Benjamin Bratt. (PG-13) for action, violence, general cattiness; at Cinemark.
'COLLATERAL'
ssss Skillfully directed by Michael Mann and featuring strong work by Jamie Foxx as a night shift cab driver and Tom Cruise as his all-night hit-man passenger. (R) for violence and language; at Boulevard Centre, Tinseltown, Westgate.
'DE-LOVELY'
s Cole Porter, played by the appealing if miscast Kevin Kline, was a barely closeted, vigorously sexual gay man who seemed to find some kind of happiness with his marriage. More importantly, Porter composed countless classics that wed popular music to lyrics ranging from naughty to nice. He deserves better. (PG-13) for sexual content; at Austintown Movies 3.
'FAHRENHEIT 9/11'
ss Michael Moore attempts to tell us why we're in Iraq, but his movie skims over subjects. That makes "Fahrenheit" more of a drive-by than a deep, direct hit. (R) for violent scenes; at Austintown Movies 3.
'GARDEN STATE'
sss Zach Braff, one of the stars of TV's "Scrubs," plays a young actor who revisits his N.J. hometown for his mother's funeral. There, he reunites with his buddies and meets an idiosyncratic young woman (Natalie Portman). Likable when it's not trying too hard to be quirky. (R) for profanity, drug use and sexual material; at Austintown Movies 3.
'I, ROBOT'
sss Loosely inspired by Isaac Asimov's collection of short stories, Alex Proyas' futuristic film stars Will Smith as a bio-chauvinist cop investigating a murder that may have been committed by a robot revolting against his master. (PG-13) for action violence, discreet nudity; at Cinemark.
'NAPOLEON DYNAMITE'
ss1/2 A slightly condescending but ultimately winning look at a geeky young man (Jon Heder) growing up weird in Idaho. Moments of real humor collide with moments in which director Jared Hess strains to be this year's winner in the geek-chic sweepstakes. (PG) for thematic elements and language; at Cinema South.
'THE NOTEBOOK'
ssss This love story deals in clich & eacute;s and hits you where you're most vulnerable. It may be the most effective weepie since the film version of "The Bridges of Madison County." (PG-13) for some sexuality; at Cinemark.
'PAPARAZZI'
s The first movie Mel Gibson put his name and his face on after "The Passion of the Christ" is a petulant, violent and sophomoric hissy fit about those nasty photographers who torment the rich and famous. (PG-13) for intense violent sequences, sexual content and language; at Cinemark.
'PRINCESS DIARIES 2:ROYAL ENGAGEMENT'
ss Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway) trades in her tiara for the Genovian crown but first must find a husband. (G); at Cinema South, Westgate.
'SHREK 2'
sss1/2During the course of its 93 galloping minutes, "Shrek 2" carries the standard for self-esteem while spoofing showbiz, fairy tales, self-help books and every other cultural phenom from animal-testing to the Oscars. (PG) for brief drug reference, crude humor, discreet sexual humor; at Cinemark, Elm Road Drive-In.
'WHITE CHICKS'
ss1/2Impersonating a pair of spoiled white socialites allows Marlon and Shawn Wayans to play fast and loose with race, gender and class distinctions in this crude but amusing farce. (PG-13) for crude and sexual humor, profanity, drug content; at Cinemark.
'WICKER PARK'
ss Josh Hartnett plays advertising executive Matthew, who's obsessing over the woman he loved and lost two years earlier. Beautiful, mysterious Lisa (Diane Kruger) had exited his life without explanation, but he now thinks he spies her near their favorite meeting place, Chicago's Wicker Park. (PG-13) for language and sex; at Cinemark.
Combined wire services