News, sport and entertainment from the Bournemouth Echo and Dorset Echo.

What's on the Big Screen

From the Echo, first published Thursday 25th Jan 2001.

All the films on general release across Dorset this week, listed and rated...

102 Dalmatians (U)

Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu ***

Full-on fun for kids in this knockabout sequel that basically repeats the first story. An unpretentious, unrelenting romp.

UCI, ABC (Sat, Sun only)

Bedazzled (12)

Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley ***

Pleasing fantasy in which an office geek trades his soul with the devil in order to attract the girls.

Tivoli (Mon - Thurs)

Billy Elliot (15)

Jamie Bell, Gary Lewis, Julie Walters *****

Winning combination of tears and smiles in this story of a miner's son in the 1984 strike who want to be ballet dancer.

ABC

Bounce (12)

Ben Affleck, Jennifer Grey, Gwyneth Paltrow **

Lacklustre romantic drama in which a guy forms a relationship with the widow of a bloke he got to know at an airport a year before - only he doesn't tell her he knew her dead husband. Painfully average stuff.

UCI, ABC

Cast Away (12)

Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt **

He's bagged a Golden Globe and there will no doubt be talk of an Oscar for Hanks, but this sprawling story of a man washed up on a desert island and his eventual return to society is pretty tedious.

UCI, Odeon

Chopper (18)

Eric Bana, Vince Colosimo ***

Biopic about unstable, violent but charismatic Australian career criminal, Mark 'Chopper' Read.

Poole Arts Centre

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (12)

Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh *****

Ang Lee's superb epic fantasy about the theft of an ancient sword in mythical 19th century China. The culprit is a young aristocrat whose martial arts skills are unprecedented and lead the older warriors on a merry dance (quite literally). Don't be put off by the sub-titles. Remember, you can read!

Odeon, Poole Arts Centre

The Golden Bowl (PG)

Jeremy Northam, Uma Thurman, Nick Nolte ***

Merchant-Ivory adaptation of Henry James' novel about two couples who live out an almost incestuous friendship in Italy and England 100 years ago. A superb cast and measured direction make for rewarding viewing.

UCI, Odeon (both Wed only)

The Grinch (PG)

Jim Carrey, Anthony Hopkins (narrator) ***

Ron Howard directs this slightly sanitised adaptation of the much-loved Dr Seuss story How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

UCI, Odeon (Sat, Sun only)

Lost Souls (15)

Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin, John Hurt **

Originally conceived as a sequel to The Exorcist, this chiller follows a woman who believes a famous crime writer is about to become the Anti-Christ. Naturally everyone assumes she is barking, until ...

UCI

The Man Who Cried (12)

Sally Potter, Christina Ricci, Harry Dean Stanton ***

The directorial debut of British actress Cate Blanchett is this story, set in 20s and 30s, of a young Jewish girl who is uprooted from Russia and sent to England.

Wareham Tex (until Mon), Odeon (Wed only)

Meet the Parents (12)

Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo ****

Eagerly awaited knockabout comedy with Stiller going through every man's most dreaded social scenario, meeting his future in-laws. De Niro is superb and you can almost taste the agony in Ben Stiller's face as the prospective son-in-law. A delight.

UCI, Odeon, Tivoli (until Sun)

Memento (15)

Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss ****

Thoroughly engrossing dark thriller told in a series of overlapping flashback in which an amnesiac attempts to track down his wife's killer. Highly recommended.

Wareham Rex (from Tues)

Pay It Forward (12)

Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment ***

Even three excellent performances from the lead actors cannot prevent the sense of having been cheated by one of the naffest endings these eyes have seen in a long time. Osment plays a school kid who decides the world would be a better place if we repaid those who do us good turns by doing three acts of kindness for three strangers instead.

UCI, Odeon

Pokemon 2000 (PG)

(voices) Veronica Taylor, Rachel Lillis, Eric Stuart ***

Infinitely better than the first movie, the higher production values and better story make a huge difference. This time, our heroes are out to bring the new, elemental Pokemon back into harmony.

UCI, Odeon (both Sat, Sun only)

Traffic (18)

Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dennis Quaid *****

Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-tipped drama is both complex and compelling. It links three stories - one set in Mexico where an honest cop struggles to survive when corruption surrounds him; one in San Diego where a millionaire is arrested as a drugs trafficker; and the other in Ohio where a conservative judge faces ruin when his daughter is exposed as a drug addict. Great script, great cast, great storytelling.

UCI, ABC

Unbreakable (12)

Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson ****

M Night Shyamalan's follow up to The Sixth Sense is every bit as good as you'd expect with stunning performances, a superb script, and a clever sucker punch. Jackson sets out to convince train crash survivor Willis is a modern-day superhero.

UCI, Odeon

Vertical Limit (12)

Chris O'Donnell, Robin Tunney, Bill Paxton ***

Exciting mountain rescue drama in which a brother must save his sister who is trapped on K2.

UCI, ABC

Woman On Top (15)

Penelope Cruz, Murilo Benicio, Harold Perrineau Jr. **

In which the stunning Spanish beauty that is Penelope Cruz tries her damnedest to save a decidedly manky romantic fantasy in which a Brazilian cook escapes a bad marriage and ends up as a magical TV chef in California.

UCI, Odeon

Cut price children's shows, Sat and Sun only:

Dinosaur (U)

(voices) DB Sweeney, Joan Plowright, Ossie Davis ***

Cute Disney animated feature about a dinosaur who joins a trek in search of a safe haven.

Odeon

Disney's The Kid (PG)

Bruce Willis, Spencer Breslin, Lily Tomlin ***

Pleasing 'what if...?' drama in which a hard-nosed exec discovers the child inside when he is confronted by an incarnation of his eight-year-old self on his 40th birthday.

Odeon

The Flintstones 2: Viva Rock Vegas (PG)

Stephen Baldwin, Mark Addy **

Big, daft yabba-dabba-doo prequel in which we find out how Fred met Wilma.

Odeon

The Little Vampire (PG)

Jonathan Lipnicki, Richard E Grant **

Flying cows just about lift this limp kiddie screamer above the ordinary.

UCI

The Road to El Dorado (U)

(voices) Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh ***

Entertaining animated feature about two scallywags who go in search of the Lost City of Gold.

Odeon

Stuart Little (PG)

Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, Jonathan Lipnicki ***

Amiable story about a mouse adopted by a human family.

UCI

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