The House of the Spirits is a generational tale of life among the ruling class in a South American country, as adapted from the Isabel Allende novel, but the political realities coexist very uneasily with the magical realism in this Bille August film. The star power alone (Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder, Antonio Banderas, Vanessa Redgrave, and Armin Mueller-Stahl) should have cranked it up a few notches, but that's not the case. Irons is appropriately cruel as the ambitious man who achieves wealth and makes everyone around him miserable and Streep is luminous, but it's slow and ponderous all the way. -Marshall Fine.

Scott Bairstow takes over for Ethan Hawke in this spirited (if clichéd) sequel involving a peaceful Haida Indian tribe and a con man in preacher's garb (Alfred Molina, just oozing evil) in 1906 Alaska. Bairstow discovers his inner wolf as he bonds with the tribe and falls in love with the chief's spirited daughter (Charmaine Craig), White Fang finds true love in a snow-white female wolf, and together they take on the dastardly villains who have stopped the caribou and imprisoned the hunters of the tribe. Less Jack London than a juvenile Dances with Wolves, this clunky but action-packed cliffhanger combines old-fashioned matinee Western clichés with Native American spiritualism and a celebration of nature. Though it's hardly subtle, the energetic action scenes and the beauty of the Alaskan summer make this an engaging adventure for the younger set. -Sean Axmaker.

Falling in love can be glorious, or poignant, or heartwarming. but for most of us, it's mostly just absurd. And The Tall Guy captures that hysterical, head-over-heels surrealism perfectly. Jeff Goldblum plays the neurotic, allergy-ridden Dexter King, a stage actor stuck in a dead-end job in an interminable run of London's tackiest comic review. He's the "tall guy," the eternal butt of slapstick gags delivered by the star performer, a brilliantly obnoxious Rowan Atkinson. Cupid's arrow strikes between sneezes when hay fever propels Dexter to the doctor's office-and he catches his first glance of Nurse Kate Lemmon (a pre-Shakespeare Emma Thompson). Battling his deep-seated fear of needles, Dexter invents excuses to get shots just to get close to her. After much pain (and much prodding from Dexter's oddly maternal nymphomaniac landlady), their courtship takes off. [+]

Amores Perros roughly translates to "Love's a bitch," and it's an apt summation of this remarkable film's exploration of passion, loss, and the fragility of our lives. In telling three stories connected by one traumatic incident, Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu uses an intricate screenplay by novelist Guillermo Arriaga to make three movies in close orbit, expressing the notion that we are defined by what we lose-from our loves to our family, our innocence, or even our lives. These interwoven tales-about a young man in love with his brother's pregnant wife, a perfume spokeswoman and her married lover, and a scruffy vagrant who sidelines as a paid killer-are united by a devastating car crash that provides the film's narrative nexus, and by the many dogs that the characters own or care for. There is graphic violence, prompting a disclaimer that controversial dog-fight scenes were harmless and carefully supervised, but what emerges from Amores Perros is a uniquely conceptual portrait of people whom we come to know through their relationship with dogs. The film is simultaneously bleak, cynical, insightful, and compassionate, with layers of meaning that are sure to reward multiple viewings. -Jeff Shannon.

King Solomon led a grand life, thus rating this epic movie told in two parts, averaging 86 minutes apiece. Director Roger Young chronicles the king's rise from the weakling mama's boy of Bathsheba to a ruler known for his wisdom, international alliances, construction of the Jewish temple, and oh yes, those thousand wives-concubines included. Part 1 spends the first hour tracing the rivalry of Solomon (Ben Cross) with half-brother Adonijah, before and after the death of their father King David (Max Von Sydow in a brief appearance). It then makes a 10-year leap to dramatize his famous method of divining the true mother of a contested infant. In Part 2, the filmmakers embrace the legend that Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Vivica A. Fox) had a romantic as well as political alliance, suggesting that they were the star-crossed loves of each other's life and introducing some soft-focus nudity. With the queen's departure, Solomon descends into materialism and idolatry. The performances are strong and the script, penned by Bradley Winter, artfully weaves in background information to give the viewer helpful historical context. -Kimberly Heinrichs.