The men in black are back, looking smooth and fending off another attack by renegade aliens. The first “Men in Black” had to devote a good portion of the film to setting up the premise of a secret agency that monitors aliens on Earth - and then convincing Will Smith’s character to buy into it. “Men in Black II” has the advantage of being able to jump headfirst into the ‘imaginary’ agency’s workings. Along with those stylish guys in dark suits and dark glasses, the Worm Guys are back and so is that pugnacious pug, Frank, with an even more prominent role than in the 1997 film.

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Car theft in Long Beach went down 47% when Randall “Memphis” Raines walked away from the life. He gets dragged back into it by assuming the job his brother Kip screwed up for stolen-car broker Raymond Calitri: steal 50 exotic cars and have them on a container ship by 8 AM Friday morning, and he got this news on a Monday. With Calitri threatening to kill him and Kip, and the police GRAB unit breathing down his neck, Memphis reassembles his old crew and attempts to pull off the logistically impossible. Written by Jeff Cross {blackjac_1998@yahoo.com}

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Just hearing the word ‘sequel’ makes me cringe. Too many times the fond memories of a good movie have been ruined by a lame, cash-in-while-the-getting-is-good sequel. The bad sequel list goes on ad nauseam, populated with misguided, unnecessary and annoying attempts to recapture the spirit – and the box office dollars – of a successful movie. And no matter how you try to forget them, bad sequels leave a rotten taste in your mouth that taints the enjoyment of the original film. But the powers behind “Shrek” got it right. They pulled off the near impossible and created a sequel that’s better than the original. Even the computer generated animation, which was pretty darn good in the first film, has been vastly improved. This “Shrek” looks gorgeous, feels fresh, and touches your heart on a grander scale than the first movie.

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For the past four years, San Francisco cop Jack Cates has been after an unidentified drug kingpin who calls himself the “Ice Man”. At the Hunter’s Point Raceway, Jack confronts Tyrone Burroughs and Arthur Brock. Jack kills Brock in self defense, but Burroughs escapes, and Jack is in danger of going to prison because Brock’s gun can’t be found. Jack finds a picture that proves that the Ice Man has put a price on the head of Reggie Hammond, who is scheduled to be released from prison on the next day. Jack tries to convince Reggie to help him clear his name and find the Ice Man, but Reggie says he won’t help unless Jack gives Reggie the $500,000 that Jack has been holding on to for Reggie. Jack refuses to give Reggie the money unless Reggie helps him. After the bus that is transporting Reggie away from the prison is forced to crash by two bikers and Jack gets shot by the same two bikers, Jack forces Reggie to help him by having the hospital release Reggie into his custody. Reggie recognized one of the bikers as Richard “Cherry” Ganz, the brother of Albert Ganz, the escaped convict Jack killed years ago. Jack got shot because Cherry wants revenge for Albert’s death, and Cherry and his partner Willie Hickok are the hitmen who have been hired to kill Reggie. Burroughs, who works for the Ice Man, was trying to hire Brock as insurance, just in case Cherry and Hickok fail. Blake Wilson, the head of the Internal Affairs division, obviously doesn’t like Jack, because Wilson will stop at nothing to prosecute Jack for manslaughter in Brock’s death, and it turns out that the Ice Man put a price on Reggie’s head because Reggie knows who the Ice Man is someone Jack never expected it to be. Written by Todd Baldridge

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“Bringing Down the House” telegraphs every joke before the actor hits the punchline but that’s the least of the movie’s problems. The film has some funny moments, but there are too many jokes that are just plain uncomfortable. Because every ethnic stereotype is used as a source of amusement, the scenes that are supposed to make you laugh are the scenes that actually make you cringe. It’s got cracks about Latinos only being allowed in a rich neighborhood if they have a leaf-blower in their hands, Steve Martin’s character for some strange reason has a pink maid outfit on hand that fits Queen Latifah (where did that come from?), and every person of color speaks slang and it’s up to a white guy to teach them how to speak proper English.

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When somebody’s mother is an angel and his father is the devil, life can be really confusing. For a sweet boy like Little Nicky, it just got a whole lot worse. His two evil brothers Adrian and Cassius have just escaped from Hell and are wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting earth. His dad is disintegrating and it’s up to Nicky to save him and all of a humanity by midnight before one of his brothers becomes the new Satan. Written by Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}

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Douglas Quaid is haunted by a recurring dream about a journey to Mars. He hopes to find out more about this dream and buys a holiday at Rekall Inc. where they sell implanted memories. But something goes wrong with the memory implantation and he remembers being a secret agent fighting against the evil Mars administrator Cohaagen. Now the story really begins and it’s a rollercoaster ride until the massive end of the movie. Written by Harald Mayr {marvin@bike.augusta.de}

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‘Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect. Groundbreaking interaction between the live and animated characters, and lots of references to classic animation. Written by Jon Reeves {jreeves@imdb.com}

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A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who’s never touched drugs but can’t help being curious about them… Written by Michael Brooke {michael@everyman.demon.co.uk}

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Tyrants - Monsters - Heroes - Ear Wax.

This is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in years. It’s also one of the sweetest romances. Who would have thought that a huge, ugly, bug-eating, tube-eared, gassy green ogre could be so loveable? Mike Myers voice was the perfect match for this animated creature, though personally I believe Eddie Murphy stole the show with his Donkey doings.

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