In the initially daunting but ultimately rewarding and visually dazzling new Peter Greenaway movie, the ubiquitous Ewan McGregor plays a bisexual English translator in Hong Kong where he meets a young Japanese woman (Vivian Wu) and allows his naked body to be used as the paper for her calligraphy.
"The Crucible" (15)
Nicholas Hytner's sturdy and energetic screen treatment of the play by Arthur Miller, who adapted it for the screen, is a searing and sobering tragic drama set during the Salem witch trials of 1692. Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor heads the excellent cast which also features Winona Ryder, Joan Allen, Paul Scofield and Bruce Davison.
"Shine" (15) Scott Hicks's sensitive and involving Australian film charts the troubled life and career of the gifted pianist, David Helfgott, who is played at different ages and in fine performances by Geoffrey Rush (who won an Oscar for it), Noah Taylor and Alex Rafalowicz, with Armin Mueller-Stahl as his domineering father.
"Flirting With Disaster" (18)
This David O. Russell movie is a breezy, intricately plotted and hilariously funny comedy of snowballing confusions and mishaps. Fast and free-wheeling entertainment, it brings together a sparkling mix of rising young actors - Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni and Josh Brolin - with such seasoned performers as Mary Tyler Moore, Alan Alda, Lily Tomlin and George Segal.
"Box of Moonlight" (15)
Tom DiCillo, whose Living in Oblivion was actually set on a film set, moves into the great wide open for a characteristically quirky comedy in the engaging and unexpectedly mellow Box of Moonlight. John Turturro plays an uptight engineer who, when a project is cancelled, encounters an unpredictable, free-spirited young man (Sam Rockwell) who helps him to loosen up.
"Blood and Wine"
The new Bob Rafelson film, his most compelling for some time, is a well-acted thriller set in the Florida Keys where a wine dealer (Jack Nicholson) and a paroled convict (Michael Caine) plot to steal a very valuable necklace.
