BREVITAS

Next Stop Wonderland

Next Stop Wonderland is charming not because it is a groundbreaking movie (it's not), but because it succeeds so refreshingly and so endearingly despite its unoriginal premise. Where other movies would be cranking up pathos-filled love songs, Next Stop Wonderland plays toe-tapping Brazilian music. When other actresses would be weeping over a picture of their ex, Erin (Hope Davis) contemplatively stares out at the ocean or reads her late father's poetry. Fate may bring the happy couple together under its wing, but we get the feeling that they would be okay even if they never met. As the Wonderland promo posters say, "Love is the destination." But the journey's pretty wonderful, too. Sarah A. Rodriguez

Rounders

Matt Damon, quite early in his career, is already being typecast--as a genius, no less. In Rounders, he just sits there, like a boring poker game that has its ending broadcast in the first hand. Rounders offers us convincing evidence that all the players involved should carefully adjust the directions of their careers. John Dahl, for instance, should return to the genre which made him famous--the sexually charged neo-noir thriller that he basically reinvented. Matt Damon should go for range and dive into a weird character--maybe even a villain. (Sacre bleu!) Gretchen Mol should have a heart-to-heart with Meryl Streep, and John Malkovich should just relax. In short, Rounders should be a transition piece for all these artists. Let us hope they move on to bigger and better things. Soman Chainani

Saving Private Ryan

Almost assuredly a major player in late-year awards tallies, Steven Spielberg's war drama was more coherent and less lazily rhetorical than 1997's Amistad. In fact, it seems churlish to take anything away from a film with such a unanimously powerful opening, with two pitch-perfect supporting turns from Jeremy Davies (the milk-livered translator) and Barry Pepper (the born-again sharpshooter), and an attention to history that is emotionally edifying and alive. Still, the connecting material by which Robert Rodat's script moves from the opening battle sequence to the last is less than wholly compelling, and the framing device of the ex-soldier in the cemetery is maudlin and cumbersome; Spielberg hasn't gotten an ending right in at least ten years. As I said, disputation seems insolent in the case of this film, but in this mediocre summer, even the best films bore compromises that were hard to ignore.   Nicholas K. Davis

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

Outrageous and crude though its humor often is, the jokes in the Farrelly Brothers' most recent sideshow attraction are also intensely predictable, which keeps the movie from really lifting off. Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon all give their best shot to keeping the ball in the air, but for one thing, their presence is almost arbitrary in many scenes to the extent that Mary's humor is all visual and only rarely connected to dialogue; poor Cameron could be reciting Rilke beneath those "hair gel"-enhanced bangs and no one would know the difference. Then again, everyone else seems to have had a ball. Whatever there is about Mary, I didn't really get it.   Nicholas K. Davis

Permanent Midnight

The aptly-titled Permanent Midnight is not a movie about things that happen so much as it is a movie about a movie. The scenes exist independently of one another, rarely referring to each other. Jerry Stall (played by the ubiquitous Ben Stiller) does not follow his own advice and belt out any gospel, but by all means he could do so without causing the film any disruption. The real life Jerry Stahl was shooting up and working as a highly paid writer for "Alf." The movie Jerry Stahl works as a writer for an "alien puppet show" called "Mr. Chompers," who is green instead of orange. We then watch Jerry's appetite for smack turn to one for cuddling.   Lauren Mechling

Rounders

Matt Damon, quite early in his career, is already being typecast--as a genius, no less. In Rounders, he just sits there, like a boring poker game that has its ending broadcast in the first hand. Rounders offers us convincing evidence that all the players involved should carefully adjust the directions of their careers. John Dahl, for instance, should return to the genre which made him famous--the sexually charged neo-noir thriller that he basically reinvented. Matt Damon should go for range and dive into a weird character--maybe even a villain. (Sacre bleu!) Gretchen Mol should have a heart-to-heart with Meryl Streep, and John Malkovich should just relax. In short, Rounders should be a transition piece for all these artists. Let us hope they move on to bigger and better things. Soman Chainani

Saving Private Ryan

Almost assuredly a major player in late-year awards tallies, Steven Spielberg's war drama was more coherent and less lazily rhetorical than 1997's Amistad. In fact, it seems churlish to take anything away from a film with such a unanimously powerful opening, with two pitch-perfect supporting turns from Jeremy Davies (the milk-livered translator) and Barry Pepper (the born-again sharpshooter), and an attention to history that is emotionally edifying and alive. Still, the connecting material by which Robert Rodat's script moves from the opening battle sequence to the last is less than wholly compelling, and the framing device of the ex-soldier in the cemetery is maudlin and cumbersome; Spielberg hasn't gotten an ending right in at least ten years. As I said, disputation seems insolent in the case of this film, but in this mediocre summer, even the best films bore compromises that were hard to ignore.   Nicholas K. Davis

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

Outrageous and crude though its humor often is, the jokes in the Farrelly Brothers' most recent sideshow attraction are also intensely predictable, which keeps the movie from really lifting off. Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon all give their best shot to keeping the ball in the air, but for one thing, their presence is almost arbitrary in many scenes to the extent that Mary's humor is all visual and only rarely connected to dialogue; poor Cameron could be reciting Rilke beneath those "hair gel"-enhanced bangs and no one would know the difference. Then again, everyone else seems to have had a ball. Whatever there is about Mary, I didn't really get it.   Nicholas K. Davis

Permanent Midnight

The aptly-titled Permanent Midnight is not a movie about things that happen so much as it is a movie about a movie. The scenes exist independently of one another, rarely referring to each other. Jerry Stall (played by the ubiquitous Ben Stiller) does not follow his own advice and belt out any gospel, but by all means he could do so without causing the film any disruption. The real life Jerry Stahl was shooting up and working as a highly paid writer for "Alf." The movie Jerry Stahl works as a writer for an "alien puppet show" called "Mr. Chompers," who is green instead of orange. We then watch Jerry's appetite for smack turn to one for cuddling.   Lauren Mechling