Prime

Women dating younger men: It's one of those topics that only getting discussed because celebrities are doing it. Now somebody has made a movie about it, and like the discussions on Entertainment Tonight, it could have been more insightful. "Prime" is advertised as a comedy in which Uma Thurman's character Rafi is dating her therapist's (Meryl Steep) son. While that's a subplot in the movie, the story that takes up most of the focus is the age difference between Rafi and David, played by the young and solid Bryan Greenberg. The love story takes us through the struggles of a relationship with a 14-year age difference, Raffi is 37 and David is 23. Not only do they have the large gap to deal with, but the couple must also deal with mom's disapproval. Mom is not too happy that her son is dating an older gentile and that she must sit through therapy sessions hearing intimate details about their sex life and her son's anatomy. These therapy sessions provide most of the humor in the movie, but are not enough to save an otherwise slow and forgettable movie. "Prime" may have been better if Streep actually played a larger role in it, but she was held to a role that played on the stereotypes of a Jewish mother. While "Prime" does have some touching moments where Streep's character tries to accept her son's new girlfriend and little David learns that relationships require work, overall it fails to develop the characters or bring anything memorable to the screen. But the movie's best moments are brought to us by the genetically blessed Thurman, whose maturity is not only a problem in the relationship but a problem for a movie that doesn't have enough substance for a mature actress. PG-13 - Parra

Saw II

"Oh yes, there will be blood," is the come-on for "Saw II." To be gruesomely accurate, it should be, "Oh yes, there will be blood, brain matter, smashed heads and the anguish of a former New Kid on the Block." Like "Saw," the sequel is an intense, disturbing affair that tortures us in much the same way its vicious killer torments his victims - it's an S&M movie, and we are the M. The second "Saw" isn't as accomplished or precise as the first, but it's well worth watching because, in an era when most movies are forgotten before the popcorn is digested, it makes you feel something. Feel what? Take your pick: revulsion, horror, guilt. Even more than the first movie, "Saw II" plays on the idea that it's never OK to do bad things in order to do good. Its main character is a morally compromised cop (former New Kid Donnie Wahlberg) trying to figure out the location of a bunch of people locked in a house that a madman is filling with deadly nerve gas. The twist is that the madman knows something about the people in the house and claims that, like the junkie whose near-death made her appreciate life in "Saw," they need to taste death in order to figure out what's important. R - AP

North Country

Based on the 1988 case of Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., this is the story of a woman who brings the first successful sexual harassment class action suit against a mining company that fails to protect female workers from the appalling ignorance of its men. Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) is the single mother of two who just wants the same opportunities as any man in town. For her efforts she becomes a pariah, cast as a troublemaker, home wrecker and liar. Director Niki Caro propels "North Country" so seamlessly that the character's entire story seems to occupy mere months. The elegant Theron has become so adept at mimicking ragged indomitability that her Josey blends flawlessly with the drab mining tundra background. Her "North Country" is not just about Josey Aimes, but a region, a culture, social values and the dirty open secret of injustice that is never very far in the recent past. R - Goldberg

G

As directed by Christopher Scott Cherot ("Hav Plenty"), "G" has enough style to belie its low-budget roots. Still, the approach is superficial and soap opera-ish (typified by names like Chip and Sky and Summer G, and the reduction of a famous three-word title to a floating letter in alphabet soup). R - GNS

Dreamer

"Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story" is a heartwarming tale about an injured race horse who is nursed back to health by a girl (Dakota Fanning) and her father (Kurt Russell.) Breathtaking panoramic views of the Kentucky countryside frame this sweet story about second chances, and how bleak situations can turn around when people come together with faith and determination. In an obvious parallel, the horse must recover from a broken leg, and the father must resurrect his dead-end career as a horse trainer. Meanwhile, a youngster lives out her fantasy about having a horse in the backyard. Yep, this is every kid's dream come to life. It's also every man's dream about making a small investment and quadrupling your money. PG - Nicky VanValkenburgh

Doom

An ethnically diverse group of muscle-bound guys (including The Rock) hunt alien creatures through the tunnels and airshafts of a large space station in "Doom," which you could think of as what might happen if the alien from "Alien" had his way with the strippers in the Thunder From Down Under. There's not a lot in the way of plot, but "Doom" is beautifully paced, particularly in an intense sequence that pays homage to the video game by making us feel like we're one of the muscle-bound guys, pointing our guns (there's never just one here) at the vicious slime creatures. R - AP

Elizabethtown

Fresh from a monumental failure as a shoe designer for a Nike-esque Oregon company, Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) learns that his father has died. Drew's family sends him to Elizabethtown, Ky., to tie up loose ends with family he hasn't seen in years and bring dad home. On the flight to Kentucky, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a free-spirited flight attendant who helps him re-evaluate ideas about life and success over the next few weeks. "Elizabethtown" deals with a lot of relationships and ideas, and most of them are presented in the clear, quirky, charming manner of most Crowe films. Life is revealed in bright, airy wide-angle shots of people dashing into a world of unlimited opportunities and alternately trembling before the same possibilities. "Elizabethtown" is not Crowe's best work, but like the irresponsible cousin that you only see a few times a decade, there are enough good qualities here to make it worth the trip. PG-13 - Goldberg

Domino

"Domino" is a movie so concerned with its own energy that character, plot and even coherence are left by the side of the road. Domino Harvey (Keira Knightley) was the daughter of British actor Laurence Harvey. Laurence died when Domino was a young girl, so Domino's mother (Jacqueline Bisset) shuffles her off to boarding school while she looks for a new husband. Domino hits the streets and hooks up with bounty hunters Ed (a strong, world-weary Mickey Rourke) and Choco (Edgar Martinez). Director Tony Scott's style can best be described as a hybrid of music video and "Sesame Street." Characters' names and bits of dialogue float across the screen for no apparent reason other than to remind the audience what they've just been told. R - Crowe

A History of Violence

Before stepping into the movie theater I already knew that "A History of Violence" would be violently and sexually graphic. Besides reading about it in reviews, the lady at the ticket counter also felt a need to warn me, as did the gentleman in line with me. In "A History of Violence" Cronenberg takes us to the small town of Millbrook and introduces us to the Stalls, who seem like the perfect family. After Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) shoots and kills two murderers who try to burglarize his diner, he becomes a local hero. But the shootings cause a shakeup in the Stalls' perfect lives when it brings up Tom's questionable past. With an exceptional cast, that includes unexpected work from Ed Harris and William Hurt, this movie moves along at a steady pace. But be warned: It's graphic. R - Parra

The Fog

I'm not sure if "The Fog" refers to weather or the hazy mental state the screenwriters seem to have been in when they wrote the movie. It's a seemingly random accumulation of half the items from the horror smorgasbord: creepy cemeteries, zombies, natural disasters, fire, haunted pirate ships, unnerving religious imagery, a cursed town, disease. And there's this new one: a garbage disposal of the damned. PG-13 - AP

Two for the Money

"Two for the Money" tries to tap into America's fascination with money and risk with this allegedly truth-based story of a former college football star-turned-odds-phenom (Matthew McConaughey) who hits it big as the protégé of a New York "sports advisor" (Al Pacino). Brandon Lang (McConaughey) goes from riding a bike and doing voice promos for the Jessica Simpson Hotline to driving a Mercedes and picking football winners for millionaires. Walter Abrams' (Pacino) operation exploits a loophole in gambling laws, and the result is a windfall of legal cash for everyone involved. Along the way there are the requisite easy women and mob ties, but other than that, not much really happens. So in some ways, "Two for the Money" is exactly like watching four overweight computer support techs from Missouri play cards at The Bellagio on ESPN. R -Goldberg

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wallace and Gromit finally find their way to the big screen after appearing in three shorts, and their first feature proves that clay can still out animate any computer-generated image. Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit run Anti-Pesto, a pest control company specializing in the humane disposal of rabbits. While the movie is a perfect alternative for young children overloaded with Disney, it also provides enough over-their-head humor to make it enjoyable for everyone. G - Parra

The Gospel

Rob Hardy's tale of a prodigal son who finds his way home is stronger on sincerity than storyline. Hardy's gift, and it is a real one, is in evoking the electricity of religious devotion. "Soul Food's" Boris Kodjoe plays David, son of a powerful Atlanta pastor (Clifton Powell) who has fallen ill. Though he once trained as a minister, David has gone on to a successful career as an R&B singer, and it is with some resentment that he returns home to organize a church fund-raiser. PG - AP

Waiting ...

Writer-director Rob McKittrick parlays his six-year career working as a waiter at such establishments throughout Florida into an uninspired ensemble sex comedy about the staff of the fictive ShenaniganZ. R - AP

Flightplan

"Flightplan" is the kind of movie that wouldn't lose much if you actually caught it while flying coach from GSP to Omaha. Jodie Foster plays Kyle Pratt, an airplane engineer whose husband just died in an accident outside their Berlin home. While she and her daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston) are flying his body home to America, Kyle falls asleep and the 6-year-old girl disappears. The timely theme and a few suspenseful bumps keep "Flightplan" in the air, but at best this is a bag of honey-roasted peanuts in Foster's career. PG-13 - Goldberg