“Cars”*** Pixar is like the most gifted student in a classroom full of talent. Even its weakest effort has a gleam. “Cars” idles at times. And more than any other of the animation studio’s treats, this toon could easily exist in a live-action, albeit lesser, version. Yet the G-rated ride about Lightning McQueen, a cocky race-car who takes a wrong turn into a dusty burg on Route 66 and gets an attitude tune-up, revs in its final laps. And the carbureted citizens of Radiator Springs are a carlot of fun, especially a battered tow truck with an aw-shucks demeanor named Mater (the voice of Larry the Cable Guy). Whatever you do, stay through the closing credits.|G|116 minutes|Released today |Lisa Kennedy
“Little Man”* This film is just about what you think you’d get in a movie in which a man masquerades as a baby. Every orifice is mentioned, and the product of every orifice is also mentioned. The gimmick features Marlon Wayans – actually his face – computer-painted on various aspects of two little people. Marlon is the jewel thief Calvin who, in the confusion of a major job, dumps his loot in a woman’s purse and must therefore penetrate her house to reacquire it. He pretends to be a baby in order to get into it. Meanwhile, the woman’s husband (Shawn Wayans) frets and dithers in the background, while Calvin tries to get the jewel – and outside the house, various thinly imagined criminal types try to also get the jewel.|PG-13|97 minutes|Released today |Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
“Shadowboxer”* This is a sad, warped tale that pairs a young man and his stepmother as lovers whose lives are forever entwined after she murders his father. Sadder and more warped still is the fact that Cuba Gooding Jr. and accomplished Shakespearean actress Helen Mirren agreed to appear in this mess.|R|92 minutes|Released today |Stephen Williams, Newsday
“Poster Boy”** 1/2 Fictional right-wing North Carolina Sen. Jack Kray is gearing up for his next campaign and insists that his own college student son Henry serve as his “poster boy” to attract younger voters. What the senator does not know is that his son is gay, and when Henry resists participating in the campaign, despite his father’s bullying, he is threatened with being outed by the senator’s sleazy aide. Jack Kray is a phony beneath a family-values veneer, a bully who believes in nothing but winning at whatever cost. His wife, Eunice, cast her lot with her husband long ago, and when she finally allows herself to express her dismay over his tactics, he airily dismisses her by telling her to take a drink or go shopping.|R|98 minutes|Released today |Kevin Thomas, Los Angles Times
TV ON DVD
Baywatch|David Hasselhoff and his bevy of babes in red swimsuits are back on the beach, running in slow motion, with the debut of two five-disc sets packing the first two syndicated seasons of the lifeguard action series. Each set has 20 episodes from the first two years of the show’s run in syndication, plus two episodes each from its short tenure on network television – plus trivia tracks and featurettes.|$34.99| Released Oct. 31|David Germain, Associated Press
SALES
1. Over The Hedge
2. The Break-Up
3. Click
4. The Little Mermaid
5. The Omen
RENTALS
1. Click
2. The Break-Up
3. The Omen
4. Over The Hedge
5.The Lake House
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Archangel
Battle of the Brave
Beverly Hills 90210: Season 1
Cinema Paradiso
The Fallen Idol
Flower Drum Song Special Edition
Gary Cooper: The Signature Collection
Homicide: Life on the Street:
The Complete Series
JAG: Season 2
James Bond Ultimate Editions
The Marlon Brando Collection
M*A*S*H: Season 11
Melrose Place: Season 1
Oh! What a Lovely War Special
Collector’s Edition
Police Squad: The Complete series
Sinatra: Vegas
The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1
Totally Awesome
The West Wing: Season 7
The West Wing: The Complete Series
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