BY LEAH ROZEN
SUSPENSE
Flash and trash. That is what's served up, at length, in this slack sequel to 1992's Basic Instinct, the movie that turned a pantyless Stone into a star. She flashes again—baring top, bottom and parts in between—reprising her role as Catherine Tramell, a crime novelist with a taste for kinky sex and, possibly, killing. This time Catherine is in London, where she is seemingly falsely accused of murder. She comes on to the psychiatrist (Morrissey) evaluating her and soon, as corpses pile up, he must decide whether to believe her as well as whether to bed her. All of which is a more coherent rendering of the plot than it gets in the film, which mostly consists of Stone prowling about like a lioness in heat. She confuses giving attitude with acting, while Morrissey just looks agonized, an understandable reaction to the steaming mess in which he and his character are mired. (R)
Voices by Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah
ANIMATED
There's something splendidly Sisyphian about the perpetually thwarted efforts of Scrat, a squirrel, to grab hold of an acorn in Ice Age: The Meltdown. Time after time, the furry fellow has a nut within his grasp, only to see it slip from his claws yet again. How better to introduce kids to the concept of life's ultimate futility?
Scrat's continuing battles with the acorn are the highlight of an uninspired sequel that otherwise is mostly marking time. A follow-up to the 2002 hit, Meltdown again follows the adventures of Manny (voiced by Romano), a kindly wooly mammoth; Diego (Leary), a cynical saber-toothed tiger; and Sid (Leguizamo), a loquacious sloth. This time, with the Ice Age ending, the trio, joined by a female mammoth (Latifah) and her two adopted, hyperactive possum brothers, embark on an arduous journey to escape the coming flood. Meltdown meanders along, with each critter getting time in the spotlight, but the whole thing has a pro forma feel. It would be perfectly okay if, with the exception of Scrat, these guys became extinct after this. (PG)
Fourteen long years passed between Basic Instinct's opening in 1992 and the sequel. Here's a look at some other much (and not so much) delayed sequels.
THE MATRIX RELOADED (MAY 2003) 6 MONTHS THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (NOVEMBER 2003)
TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991) 12 YEARS TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (2003)
THE GODFATHER PART II (1974) 16 YEARS THE GODFATHER PART III (1990)
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989) 18 YEARS INDIANA JONES 4 (2007—MAYBE?)
Lonesome Jim
Failing to make it in the big city, Jim (Casey Affleck) returns to his small midwestern town in an amiably bedraggled comedy-drama. His family is a mess, but a budding romance with a nurse (Liv Tyler, right, in a lovely performance) keeps him going. Steve Buscemi directed. (R)
Slither
If only all horror movies had this many decent one-liners. Slither entertains by cheerfully mixing black humor with grotesque scares as residents of a small town battle murderous, oversized slugs from outer space. It's all pretty silly, but since the film never takes itself very seriously, the silliness goes down easy. Elizabeth Banks (left), Nathan Fillion, Gregg Henry and Michael Rooker star. (R)
ATL
Growing up is hard to do for two orphaned teen siblings scraping by in a hardscrabble Atlanta neighborhood. Older brother Rashad (rapper Tip Harris, far right) and Ant (Evan Ross, near right) share good times and bad in a frustratingly uneven coming-of-age film that tries to tell too many stories at once. Best joke: a golf-playing buddy is dubbed "Tiger Hood." (PG-13)
Brokeback Mountain ($29.98) Boasting three Oscar wins (director, adapted screenplay and score), this heartwrenching drama about lovestruck cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) loses a bit of its scenic majesty on the small screen. Extras: Only okay, just four routine behind-the-scenes shorts but no audio commentary from director Ang Lee or the stars. Fun fact: The actors all did their own horseback riding, with Ledger the most at ease in the saddle. (R) Movie:
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
