By Steve Ramos

Bossa Nova

Maybe you've heard the news. Audiences stayed away from the multiplexes in record numbers during the month of September. Hollywood pundits are quick to blame the Olympics. Still, it's easy to understand how moviegoers are hard-pressed to get excited over lame-o releases like The Watcher and Urban Legends: Final Cut. Sounds like the perfect time to play catch-up with some Year 2000 releases that fell under the radar. Trust me. Watching Amy Irving's comic performance in Bossa Nova takes away the sting from an awful fall movie like Highlander: Endgame.

ART HOUSE

Bossa Nova

Rated R

2000, Sony

Amy Irving steps into the spotlight in director Bruno Barreto's (he's also Amy Irving's husband) beguiling romantic comedy. Irving plays Mary Ann Simpson, a former flight attendant and widow who has been working in Rio for two years as an English instructor. One of her students, Nadice (Drica Moraes), is insistent that love can be found on the Internet. But Mary Ann has more than her share of admirers, including her student Acácio (Alexandre Borges), one of Rio's most popular soccer stars. A portly lawyer named Pedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes) enrolls in an English class in order to get closer to Mary Ann. Before long, everyone will collide on Barreto's romantic merry-go-round.

The screwball antics of Bossa Nova suit Irving well. She positively glows as the film's lonely-heart heroine. Bossa Nova makes one thing clear: Irving should try this type of light comedy more often. -- SR (Grade: B )

IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD

U-571

Rated PG-13

2000, Universal

Matthew McConaughey's good looks aside, there's not much to recommend about director Jonathan Mostow's World War II submarine actioner. U-571 tweaks the history books with its tale about a U.S. submarine capturing a U-boat containing Germany's infamous encoding machine behind enemy lines. In real life, it was the British Navy who actually captured the machine. Still, irate British historians have little to worry when it comes to mediocre blockbusters. U-571 never manages to build much suspense from its array of streaking torpedoes and exploding depth charges. McConaughey came prepared ready to play the unshaven, rugged sea hero. Too bad U-571 gave him nothing truly heroic to do. ---SR (Grade: C)

IT CAME FROM HOLLYWOOD

Center Stage

Rated PG-13

2000, Sony

Ho-hum melodrama wastes the big-screen debuts of real-life ballet stars Ethan Stiefel, Amanda Schull and Sascha Radetsky. Director Nicholas Hytner's drama about a class of New York City dance students treads familiar territory. Fame wasn't all that long ago, was it? Still, fresh faces or otherwise, Center Stage's attractive dancers can't salvage a film built around a clichéd love triangle. A climactic dance between Stiefel and Schull, a funky combination of classic ballet and Jazz dance, shows that Hytner had his heart in the right place when making the movie. Unfortunately, the end result is a clunky ballet version of Dawson's Creek. -- SR (Grade: D)

KID VID

Blue's Big Musical Movie

Unrated

2000, Paramount

Plenty of interactive features on cartoon puppy Blue's feature film debut should keep parents and kiddies busy. A guessing game, as well as two DVD/ROM games give Blue a much appreciated hi-tech boost. Still, the key behind Blue's Big Musical Movie is the song-and-dance fun between Blue, his flesh-and-blood pal, Steve, and a cat named Periwinkle. Six new sing-along songs will test everyone's windpipes. Of course, everyone expects a Blue's Clues home video to create plenty of playful noise. -- SR (Grade: B)

E-mail Steve Ramos

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