The Accompanist *** (Aquarius) Set in occupied Paris, "The Accompanist" takes place in a world in which jeweled ladies feed their poodles at the table and Nazis smoke indolently in theater lobbies. A beautiful, worldly soprano hires the gawky young Sophie as her new accompanist, and the issue is engaged: How will this unformed young woman fare amid the affairs of the heart and collaborations that shade from the artistic to the political? Romane Bohringer works countless small wonders in her role as the accompanist. Adapted by director Claude Miller from a novel by Nina Berberova, the screenplay has partly lost something in the translation: the characters' rich inner worlds of doubt and ambivalence. Still, the music (Mozart, Berlioz, Massenet) is luscious and the camera is an impeccable observer. Subtitled in French. Rated PG. --M.V.
Ace Ventura, Pet Detective ** (Century 10, Century 12) Jim Carrey ("In Living Color") stars in this cornball comedy about a detective who hunts down missing pets. When the Miami Dolphins' mascot and quarterback (Dan Marino) are kidnapped, Ventura goes to work. Carrey is in top form as the kind of guy you can never take seriously--with his super-elastic face and the oddest outlook on life you've ever encountered. Supporting cast includes a serene Tone Loc, Courteney Cox and a pathetic Sean Young. Directed by Tom Shadyac, the film is hysterically funny in spots, but many of the pranks are just plain weird. A nice comic break, though, if you really need one. --S.I.
Blank Check * (UA 6) A lonely 11-year-old kid (Brian Bonsall) is handed a blank check by a bad guy (Miguel Ferrer) and cashes it in for a million bucks. He's rich, he's greedy and he wants all the cool stuff that money can buy in this latest Disney release that is so morally bankrupt one wonders who gave this project the green light. The comedy preaches a Golden Rule--he who has the gold makes the rules--better suited for a production company run by Michael Milken than a studio associated with wholesome values. And since the kid is wired to conduct business on-line, the movie serves as a crass, extended ad for Apple Computers and dozens of other name-brand products. Rated PG. --S.T.
Body Snatchers: The Invasion Continues * 1/2 (Varsity) The pod people are back in this update of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The original had alien "pods" taking over the bodies of Earthlings, turning everyone into bland, exaggerated versions of 1950s suburbanites. The 1978 remake cast the pod people as members of a soulless, self-absorbed Me-Generation. In this latest installment, the metaphorical meaning of the pod people is ambiguous and undefined. The plot concerns a rebellious teen-ager (Gabreille Anwar) and her hunky boyfriend as they fight their way out of an army base full of pod soldiers who spout "It's the race that's important, not the individual." All in all, the film is too eager to cash in on teens who view their parents as pod people to show any kind of sophistication or intelligence. Rated R. --N.M.
The Getaway ** (UA 6) This story of a couple on the run features stunning action sequences, suspense-filled robberies and shootouts that are at least the equal of those in Sam Peckinpah's original version of Jim Thompson's novel. Structurally, "The Getaway" hinges on the doubts that plague a professional criminal (Alec Baldwin) when he learns that his wife and partner-in-crime (Kim Basinger) has slept with the sleazy, double-crossing mastermind of the heist (James Woods). But for us to care about the characters, and for the story to have any resonance or suspense, the husband's doubts about his wife's loyalty must become our doubts. But in this telling, the audience is meant to know from the casting whose side Basinger is on. By stripping all ambiguity from the characters and complexity from their emotions, director Roger Donaldson has made a film filled with action but devoid of excitement. Rated R. --L.S.
Grumpy Old Men ** (Century 12) The best thing about "Grumpy Old Men" is that veteran actors Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Ann-Margaret know their way around a predictable, formulaic comedy. Lemmon and Matthau are two old neighbors who have been bickering ever since Lemmon "stole" a woman away from Matthau. When Ann-Margaret moves in next door, their rivalry is rekindled. Lemmon is surprisingly calm and self-possessed, Matthau is all frumpy charm and Margaret purrs like a kitten. Your enjoyment of this film depends on how much you like to watch old pros strut their stuff. Rated PG-13. --N.M.
I'll Do Anything ** (Century 12) A heavenly mess of a movie, "I'll Do Anything" has a keen eye, a keen ear, Nick Nolte, a crisp performances by a newcomer child actress (Whittni Wright), a hundred ideas, but no idea about what to do with it all. In a Hollywood of sun-baked egos and designer car phones, unemployed actor Matt Hobbs (Nolte) is serious about his work, serious about trying to do right by a failed marriage and serious about treating people decently. Amazingly, Nolte manages all this without an iota of self-righteousness, all the while being comically serious. Every edit, every pause, every scene is just slightly mistimed. It's so frustrating, because the film is a half beat away from magic. Rated PG-13. --M.V.
In the Name of the Father ** (Century 10, Century 12) Injustice is meant to be the theme here--the injustice of the British government in imprisoning a handful of Northern Irishmen for a bombing that the prosecutors were well aware the defendants had not committed. By omitting, except in passing, the motives of the British, director Jim Sheridan fails to illuminate the evils the film is meant to condemn. What Sheridan does care about are the passions of the Irish and the emotional turmoil in their families. In his hands, the false imprisonment at the center of the film plays less as an example of injustice than as a rationale for putting a loving, but good-for-nothing son and his devoted, but always disapproving father in the same cell for 15 years. The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the son, Pete Postlethwaite as the father and Emma Thompson as their characterless lawyer. Rated R. --L.S.
Mrs. Doubtfire **1/2 (Century 10, Century 12) The trouble with men-in-drag movies is that they all have the same message: A man becomes a better man when he acts like a woman. Such is the case with Robin Williams' latest, "Mrs. Doubtfire," in which Williams dresses up like a 65-year-old nanny in order to see his children. After discovering his feminine side, he becomes a better father. What's inherently funny about seeing men in drag is magnified by Williams' manic persona. He plays a San Francisco cartoon voice-over actor and really gets to strut his stuff--impersonations, crazy voices, quick one-liners. Director Chris Columbus ("Home Alone") leans on Williams for everything--jokes, plot development, his trademark schmaltz. Rated PG-13. --N.M.
My Father, the Hero ** (Century 10, Century 12) Gerard Depardieu has little to do in the first half of this silly, fatuous film except react in horror to his petulant pubescent daughter's skimpy outfits. Although his clunky gait and big stomach are somewhat endearing, he can't add much weight to what is already immaterial. Depardieu plays a doting father who takes his beautiful 14-year-old daughter (Katherine Heigl) on a Caribbean vacation, and goes to great lengths to play along with his daughter's elaborate lies she's concocted to make a boyfriend jealous. --N.M.
My Girl 2 * 1/2 (Century 10, UA 6) Macaulay Culkin got the first smooch when he starred opposite Anna Chlumsky in "My Girl," and now Austin O'Brien gets his shot in the tired sequel. "My Girl 2" shows a more mature Vada (Chlumsky), who at age 13, is beginning to learn about life's big lessons--while spewing forth some of her own pubescent "wisdom." Her interaction with mom and dad (Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd) is touching and genuine, but when she heads out to California to investigate her mother's life, the movie starts to putter along to a dull end. There is nothing to bring the film together, and director Howard Zieff seems to have gotten a little lazy, trying to bank solely on Chlumsky's sweet smile. Rated PG. --S.I.
Philadelphia ** 1/2 (Century 10, Century 12) In order to make Tom Hanks' AIDS-afflicted lawyer play in Peoria, director Jonathon Demme makes him as boring, red-blooded and all-American as anyone can be. He's gregarious, brilliant, hard-working and downright saintly. In one scene, Hanks sits with his sister's baby on his lap, while he and his large family mouth unbelievably cliched platitudes of love and support. His father: "We couldn't be more proud of you, son." His mother: "I didn't raise my children to sit at the back of the bus. You go in there and fight for your rights." Hanks' reply: "Gee, I love you guys." "Philadelphia" tries to tackle all of the pertinent issues: homophobia, discrimination and brotherly love/justice/liberty (the all-too obvious connotations of the title). But in trying to make too many "important" statements at once, the film becomes a muddled mess of abstractions, lacking any real emotional weight. Rated PG-13. --N.M.
The Piano **1/2 (Guild) Ada (Holly Hunter) has sailed from Scotland with her young daughter and beloved musical instrument to enter into an arranged marriage with a shy colonial rancher (Sam Neill), who has a British neighbor who's "gone native" (Harvey Keitel). Struck dumb by childhood trauma, Ada finds her deepest self-expression in music. So far, so good, but then "The Piano" takes us through Ada's "healing process": marriage to an introverted tyrant, the theft of her precious possession, her reclamation of it by becoming a sexual hostage. After all this, Ada finds her voice! How? Through the "transforming" power of sex. Jane Campion ("An Angel at My Table") creates a stylish blend of the gothic, exotic and neurotic, but enjoyment of this film, voted best at Cannes this year, may depend on how much disbelief you can suspend. Rated R. --M.V.
Reality Bites * (Century 10, Century 12) Despite its whomping soundtrack, its zippy visuals and its hip dialogue, this movie is pretty familiar stuff: a love-sex triangle in which Winona Ryder, a valedictorian "overqualified" in a world of McJobs, is torn between a slacking rocker (Ethan Hawke) and a go-getting TV producer (Ben Stiller). The former represents "art"; the latter, "commerce"; and Ryder--at work on a camcorder documentary, possible PBS fare, about her generation's "search for identity"--is wedged between. There's something very phony about this youthful comedy. It knits its brow over the sour reality of AIDS testing, then ignores the issue as the heroine hops from bed to bed. It presents parents as stick figures, then tries to emotionally cash in on a dad's death from cancer. Rated PG-13. --M.V.
The Remains of the Day **** (Aquarius, UA 6) After three intelligent adaptations of works by E.M. Forster, Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala deliver Kazuo Ishiguro's prize-winning novel "The Remains of the Day." Like their previous works, the film is feast for the eyes, exquisite in every detail. It is also a feast for the mind. The film recalls 20-odd years in the life of Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), a butler who doesn't allow anything--not independence of thought, not love--to distract him from his duties. It is only when his personal lord is revealed to be a Nazi collaborator and traitor to England that Stevens realizes he has worshipped a false god. In his devotion to duty, Stevens loses Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), head housekeeper. It is a testament to Hopkins' and Thompson's skills that they can convey so much depth of feeling in so narrow a social box. Rated PG. --D.S.
Schindler's List **** (Century 10, Century 12) Because "Schindler's List" is a movie of such power, scope and intelligence, it will eventually take its place alongside masterpieces like "Battleship Potemkin," "Grand Illusion" and "The Great Dictator." Three hours and 15 minutes long and shot almost entirely in black and white, "Schindler's List" tells the true story of how one man, and not a particularly good or extraordinary man, pits himself against the Nazi war machine to rescue nearly 1,100 Polish Jews from certain death. Director Steven Spielberg spares nothing in his evocation of the era. The performances are universally outstanding. Liam Neeson is formidable as the handsome, urbane, philandering Oskar Schindler, whose shifting emotions and allegiances must be masked at every turn. Ben Kingsley plays Schindler's Jewish accountant with heartbreaking humanity and restraint. Rated R. --D.S.
Shadowlands *** (Palo Alto Square, Century 12) This tone poem about middle-age and late-blooming love might have been a thin affair if Anthony Hopkins were not so marvelous as the British writer C.S. Lewis, a pipe-smoking Oxford don who shares bachelor digs with his brother in 1952. The setting is all greensward and church spires, toasted teacakes and chit-chat about Aristotle. Into Lewis' biscuit-dry existence comes an American fan (Debra Winger), a divorcee in red lipstick with a 10-year-old son. Director Richard Attenborough's four-square style is as predictable as the daily post, and the script is a stage play that's been "opened up," just barely, but every time the film edges toward weepy, it retreats just enough; and the supporting cast, John Wood among them, is superb. Rated PG. --M.V.
Six Degrees of Separation **** (Palo Alto Square) About 10 years ago, a young black man insinuated himself into the homes and hearts of a number of sophisticated New Yorkers by claiming, falsely, to be Sidney Poitier's son. These events served as the basis for John Guare's witty, much-praised play about the folly of upscale liberal elites. In bringing Guare's ironic fable to the screen, director Fred Schepisi knowingly captures the Central Park East lives and lifestyles that Guare skewers. With economy and great style, Schepisi creates a world that is radiant with wit, sophistication and good taste, but oblivious to the superficiality of its values. Schepisi is aided to no small degree by the stunning performances of Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing. Rated R. --L.S.