Sweet and Lowdown

A pseudo-biopic about 1930's jazz guitarist Emmet Ray (Sean Penn). This is a personal tribute by the director (Woody Allen) to a period of musical history that has inspired and influenced him greatly. Penn immerses himself into the role of the boozing, womanizing Ray with his usual intensity (this time, with a comic slant). It is the rich cinematography, as well as the solid musical sequences, that provide the film with its depth. Samantha Morton steals the show as Ray's silently suffering wife in a breakout role that should elevate her to the forefront of Hollywood actresses.

Cradle Will Rock

While the rich are funding Mussolini’s war efforts by purchasing ill-gotten masterpieces from fascist Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon), the poor, like Olive Stanton (Emily Watson), are singing on the street for a nickel. In an unlikely partnership, Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) commissions anti-capitalist artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a mural. Meanwhile, Mark Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) is inspired to write a pro-union musical that is closed before it opens when Congress begins to investigate the Federal Theater Project. Based on actual events in the 1930s, writer-director Tim Robbins boldly tackles politics, the arts and a cultural revolution.

The Way of the Gun

Two professional criminals, Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro), think they've devised the plan of a lifetime: Kidnap Robin (Juliette Lewis), a pregnant surrogate mother, then collect on the ransom money from the parents-to-be. However, when Parker begins to take a shine to the kidnapping victim, the plan begins to crumble. But it is not until a heavily armed group of mob hit-men arrive with the ransom money, that Parker and Longbaugh realize they've cooked up a spicey stew of chaos, violence and confusion. The unborn baby tops it off, making Christopher McQuarrie's "The Way of the Gun" a terrifically tense nail-biter.