Film capsules -- 1997-2001

East-West (PG-13) 118 min. Our rating: 8 Review · Clips
A stark drama about Russian emigres, lured back to Russia after World War II by promises of a new life, only to be plunged into the hell of Stalinism. Starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menchikov and Catherine Deneuve. Directed by Regis Wargnier. In French and Russian with English subtitles. Sony Pictures Classics. Rated PG-13, with profanity and violence.

East Is East (R) 96 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
A cross-cultural comedy about a conservative Pakistani father (Om Puri) who tries to keep ethnic traditions viable in his increasingly westernized English family. Linda Bassett co-stars for impressive first-time director Damien O'Donnell. Miramax. Rated R, with profanity and brief violence.

The Edge (R) 117 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
Two ruthless men and a woman who has come between them, rugged Canadian Rockies terrain, freezing weather and a very big, very aggressive Kodiak bear -- those are the basic ingredients in Lee Tamahori's elemental thriller starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. David Mamet wrote the screenplay. 20th Century Fox. Rated R, with strong profanity and powerful violence.

Edge of Seventeen (Unrated) 99 min. Unreviewed. Clips
A teenager struggles with coming out as he comes of age. Chris Stafford and Tina Holmes star for director David Moreton. Not rated; with sexual situations and some rough language.

EdTV (PG-13) 122 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
A dimwitted video store clerk agrees to be the target of a 24-hour TV show and then can't get out of the deal. Stars Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Jenna Elfman. Directed by Ron Howard. Universal Pictures. Rated PG-13, for profanity and sexual situations.

The Education of Little Tree (R) 117 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review
The Education of Little Tree is a rustic bit of Americana that reinforces an oft-heard philosophy espoused by Hillary Clinton: It takes a village to raise a child. Starring James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene. Rated PG, with mild violence, racism.

8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (R) 93 min. Garner's rating: 7 Review · Clips
A clever, demented comedy about a mob courier whose bag containing eight heads becomes mixed up with the luggage of a college kid en route to a Mexican vacation. Joe Pesci leads the entertaining ensemble for writer-director Tom Schulman. Orion. Rated R, with profanity and comic violence.

Eight Millimeter (R) 119 min. Garner's rating: 7 Review · Clips
A darkly disturbing thriller about a detective (Nicolas Cage) delving into the sadistic world of hard-core porno, in search of the story behind an alleged murder in a snuff movie. Joel Schumacher directs. Joaquin Phoenix and James Gandolfini co-star. Columbia. Rated R, with strong violence, sadism, sex and profanity.

Election (R) 104 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
A cleverly subversive satire about the efforts of a teacher (Matthew Broderick) to undermine the school election of an aggressively ambitious young student (Reese Witherspoon.) Alexander Payne directs this edgy, sometimes-shocking comedy. Paramount. Rated R, with profanity and strong sexual innuendo.

Elizabeth (R) 124 min. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
The latest in a long line of portraits of the 16th century's fabled Virgin Queen, Shekhar Kapur's film is a darkly intimate English drama, a fascinating saga of royal privilege, religious enmity and court intrigue. It's one of the best films of the year. Cate Blanchett, Josephn Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, and Christopher Eccleston head a fine cast. Gramercy Pictures. Rated R, with moments of strong violence.

The Emperor and the Assassin (Not rated) 165 min. Unreviewed.
Romantic tale set in ancient China: A power-hungry king develops a bloody plan to conquer the neighboring kingdoms so he can become China's first emperor. In Mandarin, with English subtitles.

The Emperor's New Groove (G) 79 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
The hippest, happiest and flat-out funniest feature cartoon from Disney, at least since Aladdin, detailing the misadventures of an arrogant adolescent prince who is turned into a llama and must depend on help from an amiable peasant. David Spade, John Goodman and Eartha Kitt lend the film their voices -- and their distinctive personalities. Mark Dindal directs and Sting contributes songs. Disney. Rated G.

Encounter in the Third Dimension (Unrated) 45 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
A fun-filled romp through campy, B-movie 3-D, combined with stunning computer effects for the giant IMAX screen. Stuart Pankin and Elvira co-star for director Ben Stassen. IMAX. Unrated, but of mild PG quality, with a few moments of potential fright for impressionable pre-schoolers.

End of Days (R) 120 min. Garner's rating: 4 Review · Clips
An apocalyptic action film with Arnold Schwarzenegger as a world-weary security officer who takes on Satan at the approach of the millennium. Gabriel Byrne co-stars as a seductive, destructive Satan. Peter Hyams directs this combination of slam-bang action, silly movie logic and quasi-religious posturing. Universal. Rated R, with strong violence and profanity.

The End of the Affair (R) min. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
Neil Jordan's masterful adaptation of Graham Greene's novel about an illicit romance that ends on the potent power of a prayer. Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea co-star in a mature work that blends dark romance, passionate eroticism and surprising spirituality. Columbia. Rated R, with nudity and sex.

The End of Violence (R) 122 min. Garner's rating: 4 Review · Clips
Wim Wenders' complex dissertation on the nature of violence in society, evidenced in the lives of two men in modern L.A. (played by Bill Pullman and Gabriel Byrne). Though well-intentioned, it lacks clarity and often is pretentious. Andie MacDowell co-stars. MGM. 122 mins. Rated R, with profanity and violence.

The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antartic Expedition Not rated. 93 minutes. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
A riveting feature-length documentary about one of the most astonishing survival and rescue adventures of all time, created from rare archival footage, diary entries and new photography. Liam Neeson narrates for filmmaker George Butler. Not rated.

Enemy at the Gates (R) 129 min. Garner's rating: 6 Review · Clips
Jude Law and Ed Harris star as opposing wartime snipers in a deadly competition in this flawed but impassioned World War II drama about the siege of Stalingrad. Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz and Bob Hoskins co-star for co-writer and director Jean-Jacques Annaud. Rated R, with strong battlefield violence.

Enemy of the State (R) 127 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
Tony Scott's riveting, thought-provoking thriller about an innocent guy (Will Smith) caught up in modern-day intrigue and exposed to widespread abuses of surveillance technology. Gene Hackman, Jon Voight and Regina King co-star. Touchstone. Rated R, with violence and profanity.

Entrapment (PG-13) 120 min. Our rating: 5 Review · Clip
A mechanical heist picture about an insurance investigator trying to catch a famous jewel thief. Unworthy of its stars. Starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Directed by Jon Amiel. 20th Century-Fox. Rated PG-13, with profanity, violence and partial nudity.

Erin Brockovich (R) 131 min. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
Julia Roberts' memorable portrayal of a real-life working-class hero, a law firm filing clerk who becomes the impetus behind a giant class-action law suit. Also fine is Albert Finney as her lawyer boss. Steven Soderbergh directs admirably. Universal. Rated R, with moderate profanity and brief sexual references.

Event Horizon (R) 97 min. Garner's rating: 4 Review · Clips
A well-made but highly derivative Alien clone about a haunted vessel in deep space. Though the premise starts with promise, the film eventually settles for gore and gobble-dy-gook. Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill and Kathleen Quinlan head the quality cast for director Paul Anderson. Paramount. Rated R, with nudity, lots of gore and nightmare imagery.

Ever After (PG-13) 121 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
A charming, more mature and lavishly filmed new version of the age-old fairy tale, offering a smart, free-thinking Cinderella who doesn't need a prince to rescue her. Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston and Dougray Scott co-star for director and co-writer Andy Tennant. Fox. Rated PG-13, with moderate violence.

Everyone Says I Love You (R) 100 min. Garner's rating: 7 Review · Clips
Woody Allen's experimental musical comedy, a typical neurotic romance interlaced with old Tin Pan Alley songs sung mostly by his actors (who are unpolished musical performers). The film dips perilously close to parody, then pulls up; the experiment gets points more for audacity than for esthetic result. Still, it has more than a few entertaining moments and an effervescent performance by Goldie Hawn. Alan Alda, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, Edward Norton, and Tim Roth co-star with actor-director Allen. Miramax. 100 mins. Rated R, with strong language.

Eve's Bayou (R) 109 min. Garner's rating: 8 Review · Clips
Kasi Lemmons' thoughtful, atmospheric family drama set in a backwoods Louisiana community in the 1960s. Samuel L. Jackson stars as a physician, husband and father whose philandering pains his wife and daughters. Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Jurnee Smollett and Diahann Carroll co-star. Trimark Pictures. Rated R, with profanity, sex and violence.

Evita (PG) 134 min. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
Alan Parker's stunning, artful screen interpretation of the brilliant, audacious Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical. Madonna is the perfect choice to play the power-hungry, ultra-stylish Eva Peron. Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce are superb in support. This is a breathtaking and complex night at the movies. I wouldn't change a frame, a performance or a note. Hollywood Pictures. 134 mins. Rated PG, with modest profanity.

Evolution (PG-13) 102 min. Garner's rating: 7 Review · Clips
Filmmaker Ivan Reitman rekindles the spirit of "Ghostbusters" in this funny tale of invading aliens who quickly grow from microscopic one-cell microbes to monsters big enough to block out the sky. Star David Duchovny relishes the chance to go for laughs in an "X-Files" type story. Orlando Jones and Julianne Moore co-star. Rated PG-13, with crude humor, comic monster violence.

Excess Baggage (PG-13) 98 min. Garner's rating: 6 Review · Clips
A modestly appealing adolescent comedy with Alicia Silverstone as a disgruntled teen who fakes her own kidnapping, only to find herself inadvertently in a real-life crime caper. Benicio Del Toro and Christopher Walken co-star for director Marco Brambilla. Columbia. Rated PG-13, with profanity and comic violence.

Exit Wounds (R) 95 min. Not reviewed. Clips
Actor Steven Seagal combats corrupt inner-city cops. Co-starring DMX, Isaiah Washington and Tom Arnold. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Rated R.

The Exorcist (R) 132 min. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
A revised reissue of William Friedkin's still-potent tale of demonic possession, from an Oscar-winning script by William Peter Blatty, who adapted his hit novel. Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow and Linda Blair co-star. The new version includes 11 minutes of new footage, including a peaceful, brief, new epilogue. Warner Bros. Rated R, with strong profanity, rough sex talk and violence.

ExtremeUnrated, but of G quality. 45 min. Our rating: 10 Review · Clips
A visually exciting Imax documentary on athletes who go to the edge by riding the biggest waves, climbing the highest mountains or soaring through the strongest winds. Though voiceover narration offers a few too many pop-psychology platitudes and the techno-rhythms drone on endlessly, the Imax images are breathtaking.

eXistenZ (R) 97 min. Our rating: 6 Review · Clips
The third film this year that questions the nature of reality, this one is about a new biotech video game in which the players can't tell reality from virtual reality. Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law. Directed by David Cronenberg. Dimension Films. Rated R, with graphic violence and profanity.

Eye of the Beholder (R) 109 min. Garner's rating: 4 Review · Clips
A muddled, murky psychological thriller, with Ewan McGregor as a government agent, spying on a mysterious serial kill (Ashley Judd). Stephan Elliott directs. Destination Films. Rated R, with violence, nudity, sex.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (PG-13) 79 min. Our rating: 8 Review · Clips
A documentary about former TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. The film chronicles her tragedy and triumphs. RuPaul narrates. Rated PG-13.

Eyes Wide Shut (R) 155 min. Garner's rating: 10 Review · Clips
Stanley Kubrick's fascinating and disturbing final film, a darkly sensual exploration of jealousy, masked as a tale of sexual obsession. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman co-star. Warner Bros. Rated R, with much nudity, profanity and implied sex.