COMING SOON

Babymother. A reggae musical set in London, centering on aspiring dancehall diva Anjela Lauren Smith. (Independent Pictures)

The Beach. Leonardo DiCaprio discovers a modern-day Eden, but there’s trouble in paradise. Directed by Danny Boyle. (Fox)

Beautiful People. A multitude of characters and plot lines intersect in London in Bosnian writer-director Jasmin Dizdar’s look at ethnic-rooted conflict and human resolution. (Trimark)

The Big Tease. A Scottish stylist (Craig Ferguson) hits L.A. for a celebrity hairdressing competition. (Warner Bros.)

Boiler Room. That’s what they call the illegal stock brokerage operation at the center of this tale of Wall Street corruption. (New Line)

Bossa Nova. A Brazilian lawyer and the American woman who becomes his English teacher anchor a web of romantic intrigues. (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Closer You Get. The bachelors in a romantically bereft Irish village stir things up when they solicit some American brides. (Fox Searchlight)

The Cup. The allure of soccer’s 1998 World Cup for the boys of a Tibetan monastery is the subject of Bhutanese writer-director Khyentse Norbu’s fact-based film. (Fine Line)

Family Tree. Robert Forster and Naomi Judd head the cast of a family drama set in a dying small town. (Warner Bros./Curb)

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. Jim Jarmusch directs Forest Whitaker as the title character, a professional killer who operates by the samurai code. (Artisan Entertainment)

Grizzly Falls. Human boy and ursine mother share adventures in the Canadian Rockies. (Providence Entertainment)

Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop. The title describes some of the settings in an adventurous staging for monologuist Danny Hoch’s performance. (Stratosphere).

Judy Berlin. The surreal setting of a solar eclipse turns a Long Island town into an eccentric stage for the transformed residents. (The Shooting Gallery)

Knockout. Sophia-Adella Hernandez is a knockout in more ways than one--she’s determined to become a champion boxer. (Renegade Pictures)

Mysteries of Egypt. Omar Sharif guides viewers through the ancient land of the pharaohs, in the first Imax entry from National Geographic. (Imax)

Once in the Life. Laurence Fishburne debuts as a director, adapting his play “Riff Raff,” a drama about a confrontation between estranged half-brothers (Fishburne and Titus Welliver). (The Shooting Gallery)

Pitch Black. A spacecraft crash-lands on an eerie, lifeless planet--well, the survivors wish it were lifeless. (USA Films)

Rear Window. The team that restored “Vertigo” turns the trick on another Hitchcock classic. (USA Films)

Restaurant. Lauryn Hill makes her film acting debut in a study of contemporary sexual and racial relationships set in a New Jersey bar and grill. (Palisades Pictures)

The Reunion. Timothy Devlin fails to impress his classmates at a high school reunion, so he takes them hostage. (Good Medicine Films)

Skippy. Producer-writer Joe Convery stars as a hapless hero trying to win a date with a Hollywood starlet. (Taurus Entertainment)

The Terrorist. Psychological action drama about a teenage assassin (Ayesha Dharkar) who volunteers for a suicide mission. From Indian director Santosh Sivan. (Phaedra Cinema)

The Waiting Game. An ensemble comedy about some colorful characters who work together at a New York restaurant. (Seventh Art)

The Whole Nine Yards. A friendly mobster moves in next door to a conservative young dentist in a comedy featuring Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry and Rosanna Arquette. (Warner Bros.)

Wirey Spindell. Writer-director Eric Schaeffer stars as a man trying to move beyond his decidedly bizarre formative years. (WinStar Cinema).

SPRING

Art of War. International security expert Wesley Snipes versus terrorists targeting the United Nations. (Warner Bros.)

Beautiful. Sally Field’s feature debut as a director is the story of determined beauty pageant contestant Minnie Driver. (Destination Films)

The Big Blue. Luc Besson’s director’s cut of his 1988 drama about a woman (Rosanna Arquette) who falls for a mysterious diver (Jean-Marc Barr). (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

The Big Kahuna. Kevin Spacey returns to his favorite occupation, playing a slick, insecure salesman in this dark comedy. (Lions Gate)

BILLIE LETTS’ WHERE THE HEART IS. Pregnant and abandoned, teenager Natalie Portman stakes out a corner in a Wal-Mart and finds some new friends. With Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing and Sally Field. (Fox)

Black & White. A group of privileged kids from the Upper East Side indulges its hip-hop fascination. The large cast includes rappers and athletes as well as Scott Caan, Jared Leto and Robert Downey Jr. (Screen Gems)

Bless the Child. Kim Basinger and supernatural investigator Jimmy Smits take on the forces of evil as they search for her abducted niece. (Paramount)

Buddy Boy. An introverted man begins a love affair with the object of his voyeuristic obsession. (Independent Pictures)

But I’m a Cheerleader. A teenager makes a surprising discovery when she’s sent to a homosexual rehabilitation camp. The cast includes RuPaul, out of drag and with a last name (Charles). (Fine Line)

The Carriers Are Waiting. A Belgian man tries to break out of his drab life by entering his son in an unusual competition. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Center Stage. Director Nicholas Hytner (“The Madness of King George”) and writer Carol Heikkinen examine a group of dance students. (Columbia)

The Colour of Paradise. A blind boy and his father return from Tehran to their village in northern Iran. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Condo Painting. John McNaughton (“Wild Things”) directs a documentary about New York artist George Condo. Includes footage with departed Beat gurus William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. (USA Films)

Crime and Punishment in Suburbia. Monica Keena and Vincent Kartheiser in a relocation of the Dostoevsky classic. (United Artists)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. A restored print of Luis Bunuel’s 1972 classic marks the centennial of the director’s birth. (Rialto Pictures)

Drowning Mona. Small-town police chief Danny DeVito sorts through a long list of suspects in the death of resident Bette Midler. With Jamie Lee Curtis, Neve Campbell. (Destination Films)

East Is East. A Pakistani’s traditional values collide with life in London as he tries to keep his children in line. (Miramax)

East-West. Oscar-winning director Regis Wargnier (“Indochine”) follows the saga of a repatriated Russian doctor and his French wife after World War II. (Sony Pictures Classics)

8 1/2 Women. Peter Greenaway mixes gambling, sex, death, earthquakes, Fellini, Italy and Japan in his typically provocative manner. (Lions Gate).

Erin Brockovich. Law clerk Julia Roberts rallies the citizenry against a polluting utility. Steven Soderbergh directs the fact-based story. (Universal)

The Filth and the Fury. Director Julien Temple returns to the story of the Sex Pistols, a band he first documented in 1980’s “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle.” (Fine Line)

Final Destination. A premonition saves a group of people from a fatal accident, but they’re not out of the woods yet. (New Line)

The Five Senses. Five overlapping stories of self-discovery are played out against the backdrop of a child’s disappearance. (Fine Line)

Frequency. “Primal Fear’s” Gregory Hoblit directs a thriller about a man who communicates with his dead father and tries to prevent his death and discover his mother’s killer. (New Line)

Gendernauts. Director Monika Treut goes to the Bay Area to document the lives of “cyborgs”--people who alter their sexuality with new technologies. (First Run Features)

Gossip. A rumor that’s planted as part of a college class project escalates out of control, leading to betrayal and revenge. (Warner Bros.)

Hamlet. Ethan Hawke is the prince of the Denmark Corp., as director Michael Almereyda sets the story in contemporary New York. (Miramax)

Head Over Heels. Monica Potter is falling for Freddie Prinze Jr., but she harbors one serious suspicion. (Universal)

Here on Earth. First love between a prep-school boy and a small-town girl has a tragic complication. (Fox)

High Fidelity. John Cusack struggles with business (his vinyl-specializing record store) and romance (Iben Hjejle) in this comedy. (Touchstone)

Highway 395. Director-star Fred Dryer’s modern western revisits some of the eastern Sierra locations used by John Ford and Howard Hawks. (Highway 395 Productions)

Hit and Runway. A screenwriter with a concept is forced to collaborate with a gay writer with talent. (Jour de Fete)

Hoofbeats. A horse faces long odds against survival in the desert of Namibia. (Columbia)

In Crowd. A beautiful young woman discovers that a country club and its charismatic leader are not what they seem. Directed by Mary Lambert. (Warner Bros)

Joe Gould’s Secret. Director Stanley Tucci stars with Ian Holm and Patricia Clarkson in the true story of a New Yorker writer and the eccentric bohemian he turns into a minor celebrity in the 1940s. (USA Films)

The Last September. Theater and opera director Deborah Warner makes her film debut with the story of a woman coming of age during the demise of British rule in Ireland. (Trimark)

The Lifestyle: Group Sex in the Suburbs. Director David Schisgall lets it all hang out in a documentary on the swinger subculture. (Seventh Art)

Love and Basketball. Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan share athletic rivalry and romance from childhood to the game’s highest levels. (New Line)

Loving Jezebel. Hall Harper can’t seem to avoid liaisons with other men’s women, a situation that appears to have finally caught up with him. (The Shooting Gallery)

Me Myself I. “Shine” editor Pip Karmel wrote and directs a romantic comedy about a woman (Rachel Griffiths) who gets an unexpected chance to make up for a missed opportunity. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Mifune. A Danish businessman’s ideal life is threatened by a secret past that involves a retarded brother, old enemies and a beautiful housekeeper with her own dangerous secrets. (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Ninth Gate. Book dealer Johnny Depp gets in over his head in his pursuit of an occult text. Roman Polanski directs. (Artisan Entertainment)

Not Love, Just Frenzy. Madrid’s passionate night life is the setting for a comic intersection of romantic and criminal activity. (Jour de Fete)

Not One Less. Director Zhang Yimou employed nonactors who play their actual occupations in this film about a teenage substitute teacher at a rural Chinese school. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Orphans. Peter Mullan, the star of Ken Loach’s “My Name Is Joe,” directs this portrait of Glasgow pub denizens. (The Shooting Gallery)

Passion of Mind. Reality and illusion blur for Demi Moore, a widow who creates an alter ego. Stellan Skarsgard and William Fichtner are the men in her lives. (Paramount Classics)

A Pornographic Affair. Director Frederic Fonteyne uses a faux documentary style to illuminate a relationship that’s intended to be strictly sexual. Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez play the lovers. (Fine Line)

Praise. A modern romance between a chain-smoking asthmatic and a woman with her own addictions. (Strand)

Ready to Rumble. Two wrestling fans travel to Atlanta to meet their hero and end up reviving his career. With David Arquette, Oliver Platt, Scott Caan. (Warner Bros.)

Romeo Must Die. Hip-hop and kung fu collide in a story of revenge and romance involving rival crime families. (Warner Bros.)

Rules of Engagement. When war hero Samuel L. Jackson stands trial after a failed mission, he enlists Tommy Lee Jones to conduct his defense. William Friedkin directs Stephen Gaghan’s script. (Paramount)

Sex: The Annabel Chong Story. Gough Lewis’ documentary on a woman’s attempt to establish an unusual world record. (Strand)

Soft Toilet Seats. A hip bachelor (David Alex Rosen) who is bamboozled into buying a home in the ‘burbs soon finds himself immersed in a murder mystery and a new romance. (Phaedra Cinema)

Southpaw. Liam McGrath documents the struggle of Francis Barrett, a Gypsy who represented Ireland in the 1996 Olympic boxing competition. (The Shooting Gallery)

Steal This Movie. Vincent D’Onofrio portrays Abbie Hoffman in the winding saga of the counterculture hero. Hoffman’s Chicago Seven co-defendant Tom Hayden is played by Hayden’s son, Troy Garity. (Lions Gate)

Stella Does Tricks. “Trainspotting’s” Kelly Macdonald as a troubled prostitute in London, with original music by PJ Harvey. (Strand)

Such a Long Journey. A Bombay bank clerk’s life begins to unravel in a wry story set at the eve of the 1971 India-Pakistan war. (The Shooting Gallery)

Time Code 2000. Director Mike Figgis’ real-time, hand-held-camera, improvisational experiment follows a mystery set in Hollywood. (Screen Gems)

Trash. The 30th anniversary reissue of Paul Morrissey’s indie landmark, with Joe Dallesandro and Holly Woodlawn navigating life in the East Village. (Jour de Fete).

Untitled Cameron Crowe Project. The writer-director (“Jerry Maguire”) draws on his own experiences in the story of a young rock fan who gets an assignment from Rolling Stone. (DreamWorks)

The Virgin Suicides. Does it run in the family? Sofia Coppola’s debut as a writer-director is the story of five beautiful sisters and a tragedy that changes their lives. (Paramount Classics)

Waking the Dead. Congressional aspirant Billy Crudup is haunted by memories of his girlfriend, killed eight years earlier in a terrorist attack. (USA Films)

Whatever It Takes. High schoolers Shane West and James Franco team up to snare the girls of their dreams. (Columbia)

Where the Money Is. Bank robber Paul Newman fakes a stroke to get out of prison, but his caretaker Linda Fiorentino isn’t going to make things easy for him. (USA Films)

Whipped. A group of ladies’ men all fall for the same woman. With Amanda Peet, Brian Van Holt. (Destination Films)

The Wisdom of Crocodiles. Jude Law as a serial seducer who is stymied by mysterious beauty Elina Lowensohn. (Miramax)

Woman on Top. A romantic fable from Brazil about sultry chef Penelope Cruz, who packs an erotic wallop in her cuisine. (Fox Searchlight)

The Yards. Ex-con Mark Wahlberg takes a job in a Queens commuter-rail repair company, where his efforts to straighten up are threatened by corruption and stubborn loyalties. With Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan. (Miramax)

SUMMER

Adrenaline Drive. A meek man and a shy nurse are transformed by a violent encounter with yakuza. (The Shooting Gallery)

Alice and Martin. Juliette Binoche and Alexis Loret in writer-director Andre Techine’s study of a repressed violinist and a male model carrying a secret from his childhood. (USA Films)

Bait. Petty thief Jamie Foxx learns more than he should when he meets a master criminal in jail. (Warner Bros.)

Battlefield Earth. John Travolta leads a revolt of humans against their alien masters in the year 3000. (Warner Bros.)

Bedazzled. Director and co-writer Harold Ramis’ version of the 1967 Peter Cook-Dudley Moore-Raquel Welch Faustian comedy, about a man (Brendan Fraser) dealing with a drop-dead gorgeous devil. (Fox)

Blood Simple. The director’s cut of the Coen brothers’ memorable 1984 debut. (USA Films)

Bootmen. An Australian steelworker dreams of a tap-dancing career in a story based on the life of Dein Perry, creator of “Tap Dogs” and “Steel City.” Perry directs the film. (Fox Searchlight)

Butterfly’s Tongue. Spanish legend Fernando Fernan-Gomez stars in the story of a shy student and his teacher in the days before the Spanish Civil War. (Miramax)

Cecil B. Demented. Stephen Dorff, Melanie Griffith and Patty Hearst star, so it’s no surprise that John Waters is the director of this satire about some independent cinema terrorists. (Artisan Entertainment)

The Cell. Therapist Jennifer Lopez probes the mind of a comatose killer in an effort to save a child. Commercial and music video director Tarsem handles his first feature. (New Line)

Le Cercle Rouge. Alain Delon and Yves Montand star in Jean-Pierre Melville’s jewel-heist classic. Includes the 50 minutes that were chopped from the U.S. release. (Rialto)

Cherry Falls. Australian director Geoffrey Wright tells the story of a serial killer in a small town. (USA Films)

Chicken Run. The “Wallace and Gromit” team brings its clay animation to bear on the story of some poultry hatching an escape plot. (DreamWorks)

Committed. Heather Graham relentlessly tracks her AWOL husband Luke Wilson. Written and directed by Lisa Krueger (“Manny & Lo”). (Miramax)

Company Man. Academic nerd Doug McGrath inadvertently becomes a star spy in the ‘60s. With Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Denis Leary. (Paramount Classics)

Coyote Ugly. An aspiring songwriter finds another kind of notoriety through her job at an outrageous New York hot spot. (Touchstone)

The Crew. Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds lead a group of former wise guys who hatch a plot to save their Florida retirement home from becoming yuppified. (Touchstone)

Croupier. Mike Hodges directs a thriller about a writer who takes a job in a London casino. With Clive Owen, Kate Hardie. (The Shooting Gallery)

Dinosaur. Computer animation blends with digitally enhanced live backgrounds in the adventure of an Iguanadon in search of his own kind. (Walt Disney)

Gladiator. Exiled general Russell Crowe seeks vengeance against the Emperor (Joaquin Phoenix) in director Ridley Scott’s Roman epic. (DreamWorks)

Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire. Those are the descriptive names of two Native American brothers coping with young adulthood. (Stratosphere)

The Golden Bowl. Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala complete their Henry James trilogy, following “The Europeans” and “The Bostonians” with this story of scandal and betrayal. (Miramax)

Gone in Sixty Seconds. Retired car thief Nicolas Cage returns to action to get his kid brother out of a jam. (Touchstone)

The Hollow Man. Scientist Kevin Bacon tests an invisibility formula on himself . . . now where’d he go? Directed by Paul Verhoeven. (Columbia)

The Invisible Circus. Jordana Brewster as a teenager on a journey of discovery as she seeks to learn the truth about the death of her sister (Cameron Diaz). (Fine Line)

Jesus’ Son. Billy Crudup is the hero of this picaresque underground road saga, based on Denis Johnson’s cult novel. (Lions Gate).

Kikujiro. Gangster action specialist Takeshi Kitano changes gears for the story of a sullen boy and an unlikely companion on a colorful quest to find the youngster’s mother. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Mad About Mambo. A Belfast boy studying Latin dance to improve his soccer footwork falls for an upper-class girl (“Felicity’s” Keri Russell). (USA Films)

Me, Myself and Irene. A gentle cop and his aggressive alter ego (Jim Carrey and Jim Carrey) vie for the heart of Renee Zellweger in a new opus from the Farrelly brothers. (Fox)

Mission: Impossible 2. Tom Cruise returns as star and co-producer, Robert Towne writes, and John Woo directs the sequel to the 1996 blockbuster. (Paramount)

Nurse Betty. Renee Zellweger pursues her favorite soap opera star while her husband’s killers pursue her. Director Neil LaBute’s cast also features Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear, Aaron Eckhart and Crispin Glover. (USA Films)

The Patriot. Mel Gibson is drawn from his South Carolina homestead into battle against the British during the Revolutionary War. Directed by Roland Emmerich. (Columbia)

Pokemon 2. Scores of new critters are introduced in the sequel to last year’s animated adventure. (Warner Bros.)

Requiem for a Dream. Director Darren Aronofsky follows up his cult hit “Pi” with an adaptation of Hubert Selby Jr.’s dark novel. With Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Marlon Wayans, Jennifer Connelly. (Artisan Entertainment)

The Recess Movie. Kids uncover a plot to do away with summer vacation in this animated adventure. (Walt Disney)

Road Trip. A college student treks from New York to Texas to save his romance. Director Todd Phillips’ “Frat House” won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. (DreamWorks)

Save the Last Dance. Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas, bonded by their passion for dance, navigate an interracial romance in inner-city Chicago. (Paramount)

Sexy Beast. Ray Winstone’s blissful retirement in Spain is threatened by some characters from his gangster past. (Fox Searchlight)

Shaft. The original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, appears in this modern-day recasting of the black action landmark. John Singleton directs a cast that also includes Samuel L. Jackson and Vanessa Williams. (Paramount)

Shanghai Noon. Far East meets Old West as imperial guard Jackie Chan puts martial arts moves on his gunslinger adversaries. (Touchstone)

Shower. A modern young man returns to Beijing, where he’s confronted by the ramshackle old bathhouse run by his father. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Skipped Parts. Tim Sandlin adapts his own novel and Tamra Davis (“Billy Madison”) directs Jennifer Jason Leigh as a free-spirited mom and her precocious teenage son WHO?. (Trimark)

Soft Fruit. Four squabbling siblings descend on the family home to care for their ailing mother. Chaos and revelations ensue. (Fox Searchlight)

Solas. A mother and her daughter sort through life’s problems when they are reunited in a Spanish metropolis. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

State and Main. A film crew takes over a New England town in David Mamet’s satire, with Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker and Philip Seymour Hoffman among the invaders. (Fine Line)

Summer Catch. Michael Tollin directs a romance between a poor boy and a rich girl. (Warner Bros.)

Trixie. Alan Rudolph’s latest sends eccentric private detective Emily Watson into a murder case involving some shady characters, led by state senator Nick Nolte. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Untitled Bruce Willis-Jon Turteltaub Comedy. Ten-year-old Spencer Breslin travels 30 years through time and meets his grown-up self: image consultant Bruce Willis. (Walt Disney)

The Way of the Gun. “Usual Suspects” writer Christopher McQuarrie debuts as a director with the story of the kidnapping of a pregnant surrogate mother. (Artisan Entertainment)

Wonderland. Michael Winterbottom essays an intimate family portrait over a four-day period in London. (USA Films)

X-Men. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Anna Paquin are among the cast in a live-action adaptation of the popular comic book. (Fox)

You Can Count on Me. A single mother’s life is disrupted when her wild brother returns to their small town. (The Shooting Gallery)

FALL/HOLIDAY

About Adam. Kate Hudson negotiates a romance with charming but mysterious Stuart Townsend in contemporary Dublin. (Miramax)

Antitrust. Tim Robbins heads a ruthless, cult-like computer company, and Ryan Phillippe is an increasingly suspicious new employee. (MGM)

The Blair Witch Project 2 A sequel to the surprise hit of ’99. (Artisan Entertainment)

Buying the Cow. The subject of marriage is the catalyst for conflict in a romantic comedy featuring Jerry O’Connell and Bridgette Wilson. (Destination Films)

Chain of Fools. Barber Steve Zahn comes into a treasure of ancient coins, along with a sinister circle of characters and beautiful detective Salma Hayek. (Warner Bros.)

Charlie’s Angels. Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu are the lissome threesome in an update of the TV series helmed by music video director McG. (Columbia)

Cheer Fever. The pressure mounts for cheerleader Kirsten Dunst as her San Diego squad prepares to face an inner-city outfit for the national championship. (Universal)

Cowboy Up. Reckless rodeo star Marcus Thomas butts heads with his brother Kiefer Sutherland, among others. With Daryl Hannah, Molly Ringwald, Pete Postlethwaite, Melinda Dillon. (Destination Films)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The intertwining fates of two female fighters during China’s Ching Dynasty. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Daddy and Them. Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed and stars with Laura Dern in a visit to an eccentric extended family in Little Rock. (Miramax)

The Dancer. Smitten with a beautiful, mute dancer, a scientist tries to invent a device that will translate her movements into speech. (Fox)

Dancing in the Dark. Coffee merchant Antonio Banderas finds that his new wife isn’t exactly what she claimed to be. Writer-director Michael Cristofer’s whodunit is set in late 1800s Cuba. (MGM)

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Jim Carrey is the Grinch, Ron Howard directs. (Universal)

An Everlasting Piece. Two barbers --one Protestant, one Catholic--team to corner the toupee market in Northern Ireland. Barry Levinson directs a screenplay by co-star Barry McEvoy. (DreamWorks)

The Faithless. Liv Ulmann directs a script by her mentor Ingmar Bergman. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Finding Forrester. Gus Van Sant directs Sean Connery as a reclusive novelist who takes on a young athlete as his protege. (Columbia)

Foolproof. The screenwriting team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (“The People vs. Larry Flynt,” “Man on the Moon”) make their directing debut with a comedy about a chauffeur (Norm Macdonald) who kidnaps his employer’s dog. (Universal)

From Hell. Talk about a menace to society --the Hughes brothers recount the exploits of Jack the Ripper. (Fox)

Get Carter. Sylvester Stallone and Miranda Richardson in a remake of the 1971 British action thriller. Original star Michael Caine makes an appearance. (Warner Bros.)

Human Traffic. First-time writer-director Justin Kerrigan follows five friends in Cardiff, Wales, who spend their weekends blowing off steam at raves. (Miramax)

Kingdom in the Sun. Songs by Sting and the voices of David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton in an animated adventure set in a mythical South America. (Walt Disney)

Ladies Man. The “Saturday Night Live” franchise issues this story of a smooth-talking radio host sorting through his list of conquests in search of his true (and wealthy) love. Tim Meadows stars for director Reginald Hudlin. (Paramount)

Meet the Parents. Groom-to-be Ben Stiller gets off on the wrong foot with prospective father-in-law Robert De Niro. Directed by Jay Roach (“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”). (Universal)

Metal God. Salesman Mark Wahlberg, who sings in a rock tribute band, is suddenly tapped to join the group he imitates. (Warner Bros.)

Miss Congeniality. FBI agent Sandra Bullock versus terrorists targeting a beauty pageant. (Warner Bros.)

102 Dalmatians. Glenn Close is back as Cruella De Vil, released from prison and on the prowl in Paris. (Walt Disney)

One Night at McCool’s. Matt Dillon, Paul Reiser and John Goodman provide three views on the body in the bar, and on the seductive Liv Tyler. (USA Films)

Pay It Forward. Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt in the story of a boy whose class project involves a plan to get everyone to do good deeds. (Warner Bros.)

Proof of Life. Taylor Hackford directs Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe in a romantic drama triggered by a kidnapping in South America. (Warner Bros.)

Quills. The confined Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush) and the asylum priest (Joaquin Phoenix) form a triangle with Kate Winslet, under the direction of Philip Kaufman. (Fox Searchlight)

The Road Home. Traditional ways contrast with modern views when a man returns to a village in northern China for his father’s funeral. (Sony Pictures Classics).

Say It Isn’t So. Chris Klein breaks up with Heather Graham when he discovers she’s his sister. Or is she? (Fox)

Shadow of the Vampire. Willem Dafoe is the ultimate Method actor, a real vampire starring for director John Malkovich in the silent classic “Nosferatu.” (Lions Gate)

The Sixth Day. Arnold Schwarzenegger is replaced by a clone and plunged into a world of mystery and danger. (Columbia)

Soul Survivors. Wes Bentley, Casey Affleck and Luke Wilson in a supernatural thriller about some nightmarish experiences that follow a car crash. (Artisan Entertainment)

Squelch. Two brothers taunt a trucker on their CB radio and soon regret it. Directed by John Dahl. (Fox)

Stalk. Matthew Settle can’t stay away from Gretchen Mol, though they broke up months ago. (Trimark)

Sunshine. Ralph Fiennes in a generations-spanning story setting personal drama against the events that defined Europe of the 20th century. (Paramount Classics)

The Tailor of Panama. Pierce Brosnan as a Cockney ex-con thrust into a plot to nullify the Panama Canal Treaty. Director John Boorman and John Le Carre collaborated with Andrew Davies on the adaptation of Le Carre’s novel. (Columbia)

Town & Country. Michael Laughlin and Buck Henry’s romantic comedy concerns a New York architect (Warren Beatty) at a crossroads in his life. Diane Keaton plays his wife, with Garry Shandling and Goldie Hawn as their friends. (New Line)

Unbreakable. Bruce Willis, miraculously unharmed in a train wreck, gets an explanation from Samuel L. Jackson in writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s follow-up to “The Sixth Sense.” (Touchstone)

Dancer in the Dark. Singer Bjork makes her feature-film debut for writer-director Lars von Trier, playing a Czech immigrant determined to save her son from the impending blindness that runs in her family. (Fine Line)

Deterrence. A political thriller with Kevin Pollak as a U.S. president facing a monumental decision as tensions peak in Korea. (Paramount Classics)

Ghetto Superstar. Rapper Ja Rule and the Fugees Pras Michel star in the story of a musician struggling to achieve his dreams. (New Line)

The Girl on the Bridge. A woman becomes a knife-thrower’s partner after he saves her from suicide. (Paramount Classics)

Happy Campers. Brad Renfro and Dominique Swain are camp counselors who put their unorthodox approach into practice when the camp director is sidelined. (New Line)

Knockaround Guys. Brooklyn mob scions face off against a corrupt Montana sheriff as they seek a bag of cash. (New Line)

A Leonard Cohen Afterworld. Two 20-year-old friends on a journey of self-discovery that terminates amid mourners for Kurt Cobain in Seattle. (New Line)

Lost Souls. Problem No. 1: Winona Ryder discovers a conspiracy to give Satan a human form. Problem No. 2: convincing New York crime reporter Ben Chaplin that he’s the target. (New Line)

Prison Song. Q-Tip, Mary J. Blige, Elvis Costello, Fat Joe and others in a musical co-written by Q-Tip and director Darnell Martin. (New Line)

Sugar and Spice. A group of cheerleaders springs into action --larcenous and otherwise --when one of them becomes pregnant. (New Line)

Unconditional Love. The producing-directing team behind “My Best Friend’s Wedding” returns with the story of a housewife and a valet who team up on an unusual mission of vengeance. (New Line)

Untitled Urban Legend Sequel. Student undertakes a thesis film examining urban legends, with some fatal results. (Columbia)

*

EDITOR: Kinsey Lowe

CAPSULES: Richard Cromelin

RESEARCH: Kathleen Craughwell