The Movies

Erin Brockovich

$19 million 2 weeks in release $56.3 million to date

PLOT Title heroine fights evil utility company because it is poisoning the water supply.

MESSAGE Big corporations care about nothing but money and don't care if they hurt innocent people.

CAUTION Rated R for bad language.

$18.6 million 1 week in release $25.1 million to date

PLOT Martial-arts movie about a Chinese immigrant caught in the middle of an American gang war.

MESSAGE Gang members are evil, rotten thugs who should be beaten to a pulp.

CAUTION Rated R for violence, bad language, and nudity.

$7.1 million 2 weeks in release $20.3 million to date

PLOT Teenager has vision of a plane crash, so he tells his friend not to board a flight. They are saved from disaster, but get wiped out in typical horror- movie fashion.

MESSAGE Fatalism: Even if you miss one tragedy, the next one will get you.

CAUTION Rated R for violence, gore, and bad language.

$5.8 million 3 weeks in release $49.3 million to date

PLOT Astronauts try to find out why the first manned landing on Mars ended in disaster after an encounter with a mysterious face on the planet's surface.

MESSAGE We're not just descended from apes. We're descended from Martians.

CAUTION Rated PG for sci-fi action and bad language.

$4.6 million 1 week in release $4.6 million to date

PLOT Tearjerker teenage soap opera surrounding a young girl dying of cancer.

MESSAGE Life is an unfolding pattern of crises on top of crises.

CAUTION Rated PG-13 for sexual situations.

Your new girlfriend's heart was transplanted from your dead wife's body. Now there's something that doesn't happen everyday! This morbid situation faces David Duchovny's character in the romance Return to Me (MGM, rated PG for bad language), with Minnie Driver as the other half of this twist of fate. Every scene is telegraphed from miles away, but good acting holds this picture up. The wife (Joely Richardson) appears early on before being dispatched in an offscreen accident. To give her a patina of wonderfulness, she worked as a gorilla trainer devoted to the dubious task of teaching primates sign language. Her death gives life to the Driver character, who is now free to date for the first time after years of illness. In the background is her grandfather (Carroll O'Connor) and his three buddies who play poker and crack jokes as sort of a Greek chorus. If you can stomach the morose plot point, this plays in the When Harry Met Sally/Sleepless In Seattle/You've Got Mail tradition. Those looking for a romantic thrill will find this a cute diversion, but others may safely stay away. Sure, life goes on after someone dies, but this is a little much.