when he is admitted into Atlanta's privileged Truth University. Just when he thought he had escaped a life of gangs, DJ finds himself in the middle of a "war" between two upper-crust fraternities where stepping (a popular dance form) is their weapon of choice. When DJ realizes the coed he falls for is the girlfriend of the school's champion stepper, he joins the rival fraternity to try to show her--and himself--that he's as good as anyone else there. Stomp the Yard is not an original film. Add some drums and you've got Drumline . Change some of the characters around and you've got Save the Last Dance . What sets the movie apart is the stepping. The precision involved at this level is impressively complicated and Short--a dancer and choreographer--is beautifully expressive both as an actor...  (less)

Marlon and Shawn, and director-cowriter Keenen Ivory) some slack and at least try to answer the obvious question, what were they thinking? For the sake of charity, let's ignore charges of reverse racism that plagued this would-be comedy about a pair of FBI agents (Marlon and Shawn) who go undercover as over-privileged white debutantes to thwart a kidnapping scheme, and let's allow that comedy--not social satire--is the Wayans' top priority. If you can get past the fart jokes, the freakishly unconvincing "white chick" makeup, seemingly endless gags about "white chicks" getting hit on by lusty black guys, and a plot that really doesn't matter at all, you just might find a laugh or two in the Wayans' attempt to understand women through a bit of frien...  (less)

to 10-year-old watcher. Does this make it a bad family film? Not in the slightest. The gee-whiz visual effects (created by original Star Wars wizard John Dykstra) and the film's ebullient wholesomeness make this a welcome addition to the home library. In E.B. White's world, it's hardly surprising that human parents would adopt "outside their species." The smooth-talking mouse Stuart (voiced by Michael J. Fox) seems the perfect new child for parents Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie, especially with an adorable wardrobe of very small sweaters and pants. Harder is fitting in with the Littles' family cat, Snowbell (voiced by Nathan Lane, who also deftly voiced Timon in director Rob Minkoff's last feature, The Lion King ). The simple story deals with Stua...  (less)

nothing tender about the Tenderloin District: "You've got people smoking crack while sitting in front of Starbucks." Chappelle's inspiration dips a bit after that, as the subject of sex with monkeys and smoking weed with Indians doesn't quite reach his usual standards. Then, suddenly, he's on top of his game again, his material like an echo of vintage Lenny Bruce as he discusses why whites drink grape juice and blacks drink "grape drink," why police harassment has led him to believe in impromptu alibis, and why the culture of celebrity should stay away from real-world issues: "Maybe Jah Rule doesn't have the answers we want in a disaster." --Tom Keogh Taken together, Richard Pryor's concert films, the essential Live in Conc...  (less)

actually a foul-mouthed, jewel-thieving midget. The rubbery face of Marlon Wayans ( White Chicks ) is digitally transposed onto the body of an actual midget so that Marlon can play Calvin, a bad-tempered thief who's trying to retrieve a humongous diamond from the purse of Vanessa (Kerry Washington, Ray ), the buppie wife of Darryl (Shawn Wayans, Scary Movie 2 ). Darryl doesn't care about his wife's new promotion, he just wants to have a child--and he gets one when Calvin arrives on his doorstep dressed in baby clothes. At which point, the kicks, head-butts, and blunt object trauma to the groin begin. It's beside the point to argue whether or not this is definitively funny; blows to the groin either make you laugh or they don't, and if they do, you know who you are and...  (less)

world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of "hide-and-seek" at the country estate of a mysterious professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, once peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs, and giants that has been turned into a world of eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Aided by the wise and magnificent lion Aslan, the children lead Narnia into a spectacular climactic battle to be free of the Witch's glacial powers forever! The Chronicles of Narnia, Narnia, and all other book titles, characters and locales original thereto are trademarks of C.S. Lewis Pte Ltd. and are used with permission. © Disney/Walden  (less)

in China ) arrives at an emperor's palace with three weapons, each belonging to a famous assassin who had sworn to kill the emperor. As the nameless man spins out his story--and the emperor presents his own interpretation of what might really have happened--each episode is drenched in red, blue, white or another dominant color. Hero combines sweeping cinematography and superb performances from the cream of the Hong Kong cinema (Maggie Cheung, Irma Vep , Comrades: Almost a Love Story ; Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, In the Mood for Love , Hard Boiled ; and Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ). The result is stunning, a dazzling action movie with an emotional richness that deepens with every step. --Bret Fetzer  (less)

plays the title character, a white-trash orphan in search of the parents who abandoned him at the Grand Canyon. The humor is supposed to come from Joe's misadventures, his redneck gullibility, and his encounters with such figures as a serial killer, a wacked-out janitor (Christopher Walken), and a lovable gal (Jamie Pressly) who may, unfortunately, turn out to be his sister. But the squishier requirements of the story, requiring the audience to feel deeply for the pain of Spade's caricature, are an irritant and force Spade to veer from the nastier stuff he does so well. With Kid Rock, Dennis Miller. --Tom Keogh  (less)

Christopher B. Stokes as a crassly commercial vehicle for B2K, the teen group that Stokes managed while making cheap-ass movies like this one. There's a tissue-thin romantic subplot, but mostly it's about the MTV-styled showdown between B2K (as Orange County white boys) and their black L.A. competitors, including members of the hip-hop group IMx. Their aggressive moves are undeniably impressive (in other words, don't try this at home unless you know a good chiropractor), but Stokes would've been better off making a straight documentary, thus avoiding all the nonsense that You Got Served delivers between its abundance of choppily edited dance scenes. --Jeff Shannon  (less)

and uncensored format in this three-disc set. As with McGruder's strip, the animated version of The Boondocks uses a fish-out-of-water format--10-year-old revolutionary-in-training Huey Freeman (voiced by Regina King), his 8-year-old brother Riley (also King), and their salty Granddad (John Witherspoon) relocate to an upscale suburban neighborhood--to take aim at all manner of cultural issues in both the black and white communities. Targets sighted in these episodes include singer R. Kelly's bedroom shenanigans ("The Trial of R. Kelly"); gangsta rap ("The Story of Gangstalicious," which includes a wicked spoof of the documentary Tupac: Resurrection ); Oprah Winfrey (who is almost kidnapped by Riley in "Let's Nab Opr...  (less)

but no one believed that his wildest creations -- a boy raised by watchful great white sharks and a girl with the force of a volcano -- were real! Now, these two pint-sized action masters will show Max that even an ordinary kid has what it takes to be extraordinary! Bursting with cool, eye-popping 3-D special effects -- even the smallest dreamers can become the biggest heroes in this entertaining motion picture!  (less)

Treasure Town, a scabrous metropolitan slum so gritty it makes the viewer want to clean under his fingernails. Orphans White and Black share an existence at the fringes of an already marginalized subculture. White seems naive, if not learning disabled: at 11, he can't tie his shoes or dress himself. But he has an uncanny sixth sense about what's happening in Treasure Town. Older, streetwise Black looks after White and receives the emotional support he needs in return: They're two halves of a damaged whole. The arrival of a murderous yakuza boss who wants to demolish Treasure Town and build an amusement park draws Black and White into an escalating spiral of physical and emotional violence. Although the ending of Tekkonkinkreet feels n...  (less)

skate punks in their Germs and Sex Pistols T-shirts. Then they left Epitaph for Columbia. Their catchy pop-punk-metal sound, in the vein of Social Distortion and Green Day, didn't really change, but by "Gone Away," Dexter Holland had traded in his cornrows for a spiky 'do and patent leather shirt. (No wonder some fans felt abandoned.) Fortunately, the band learned from their mistakes and toned down the new wave look by the next video, "The Meaning of Life," where they race across the desert in wheelchairs, Mad Max -meets- Murderball style. Other highlights include "She’s Got Issues" with Zooey Deschanel and "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" by McG, who created The O.C. . --Kathleen C. Fennessy  (less)

Gold Medalist Shaun White. Suitable for all ages .  (less)