Advice on what’s best to see and what’s not worth seeing A flock of year-end films await moviegoers as studios pump out blockbusters

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As the 2003 holiday movie season draws to a close, a slew of films have hit theaters in recent weeks. But what to see when there’s so much to see?

One film generating buzz is Anthony Minghella’s “Cold Mountain,” the Civil War drama Minghella based on Charles Frazier’s best-selling novel. It falls short of expectations and doesn’t rise to the level of the novel, but the movie, which Minghella also wrote, is nevertheless peppered with enough memorable moments to make it a worthwhile diversion.

In it, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law are Ada and Inman, Civil War sweethearts who connect romantically yet fleetingly before they’re separated for years when Inman goes off to war. The movie chronicles Inman’s long journey back to Ada, who’s busy trying to find herself while toiling high atop Cold Mountain, where her dead father’s estate is falling into ruin. Renee Zellweger is the tough, bubbly caricature who bounces in to help her shovel manure. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman and Giovanni Ribisi do their best to liven things up, which they do.

Kidman might be too beautiful for the role. Unlike Vivien Leigh in “Gone with the Wind,” who was just as beautiful as Kidman, but fittingly roughed up by the war, Kidman looks consistently and curiously fresh. What she needs is a little dirt on her face, a few mats in her hair, but Minghella can’t bring himself to muddy her up. That proves an unnecessary distraction, particularly considering the grimy times at hand. (A full review will appear in Monday’s column.)

Also opening yesterday was P.J. Hogan’s “Peter Pan,” a fun, lively retelling of J.M. Barrie’s classic 1904 play. It features a rather racy version of Neverland, certainly one slightly more sexual than anything Disney created, which is what Barrie intended.

In it, Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is heading straight toward womanhood and all of its pitfalls. As such, she’s about to be pulled by her parents and stuffy Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) from the bedroom she shares with her two brothers, Michael (Freddie Popplewell) and John (Harry Newell). The idea is that only away from any hint of childhood can Wendy start the long, uninspired slog toward adulthood, with its promise of wealthy suitors, marriage, responsibilities and children of her own.

Enter the forever boyish Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter), who steals Wendy and her brothers away for several rollicking adventures in Neverland, where the Lost Boys, Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs) and one huge, vicious crocodile have their way with them.

The film’s visual effects are excellent, as is the young cast, with Sumpter flying high as Peter and Ludivine Sagnier’s meddling Tinkerbell laying waste to Julia Roberts’ waxy version in “Hook,” the 1991 film that didn’t make anyone believe in fairies. Hogan understands the loneliness that’s at Peter’s core and he digs into it, exposes it, and finds something memorable beyond Pan’s boyish pluck.

Speaking of Julia Roberts, she also has a new movie out, “Mona Lisa Smile,” her first major, high-profile role since 2001’s “America’s Sweethearts.”

Set in 1953, the film features Roberts as Katherine Watson, an art history teacher who shakes up Wellesley College with an armful of bold ideas (most of them cliches) and a can-do attitude that ignites the lives of several young women, all of whom were destined for lives that were far less great than what Watson believes they could be. The young women are: Kirsten Dunst as Betty Warren, Julie Stiles as Joan Brandwyn, Maggie Gyllenhall as Giselle Levy and Ginnifer Goodwin as Constance Baker. The movie is a predictable safe fantasy, but the likable cast has armed itself against it and do wonders with the thin script.

The soundtrack also is strong, filled with terrific versions of old standards as sung by Barbra Streisand (“Smile”), Seal (“Mona Lisa Smile”), Tori Amos (“You Belong to Me,” “Murder, He Says”), Chris Isaak (“Besame Mucho”), and a host of others.

Also lingering in theaters are a number of Golden Globe nominees, including the funny comedy, “Something’s Gotta Give,” with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton; the thrilling final installment in “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, “The Return Of The King;” Russell Crowe and Brian Bettany in Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander;” and a performance by Tom Cruise in “The Last Samurai” that finds the actor delivering, shall I say, his most strenuously earnest performance to date.

Those who haven’t seen “Elf” and “Brother Bear” should seek them out as they’re well worth a look. Those tired of the holiday season will likely find their inner-Grinch stroked and restored after seeing Billy Bob Thornton’s ferocious, Golden Globe-nominated performance in “Bad Santa,” which is the hilariously dark, politically incorrect movie the Farrelly Brothers should have made in place of their despairingly sweet, “Stuck on You.”

Definitely to be missed are “The Cat in the Hat” and “The Haunted Mansion.” Why see them when the season has offered so much more?

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those capped in print are new to video stores this week.

ALEX & EMMA ? D+

A Mighty Wind ? B+

Anger Management ? C-

ANYTHING ELSE ? B+

Bad Boys II ? C-

Bend it Like Beckham ? A-

Bringing Down the House ? B

Bruce Almighty ? B+

Down with Love ? C+

Dreamcatcher ? C-

Dumb and Dumberer ? D-

Finding Nemo ? B+

Freaky Friday ? A-

Gigli ? D+

Holes ? B+

Hollywood Homicide ? D-

How to Deal ? C-

The In-Laws ? C

The Italian Job ? A-

Lara Croft Tombraider: The Cradle of Life ? B

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ? C-

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde ? C+

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ? A-

Man on the Train ? A-

The Matrix Reloaded ? A-

Nowhere in Africa ? A

Pirates of the Caribbean ? A-

Real Women Have Curves ? A-

Santa Clause 2 ? C-

Seabiscuit ? C

Shanghai Knights ? B

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ? B-

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ? B

2 Fast 2 Furious ? C-

28 Days Later?B+

View from the Top ? C+

Winged Migration ? A