Keira Knightley

Amanda Foreman's robust, elegant biography, Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire, receives a cream rinse and a Princess Di job in The Duchess, a Minorpiece Theatre depiction of the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. Georgianna is a cultivated lass with an independent mind when she marries the fabulously wealthy and politically influential William Cavendish, the fifth duke of Devonshire. But she's also an intensely hopeful 17-year-old, so she's traumatized when she discovers that the duke is a cold cad who sees marriage as the process by which noble folk produce male heirs.

Hilariously, Touchstone Pictures has promoted King Arthur as a fresh tale, not a clone, and one or two smart publications have taken the bait. Still, it plays like a remake - not of Knights of the Round Table (1953) but of director Antoine Fuqua's previous Tears of the Sun (2003). To name the most pertinent similarities: A commando unit treks through war-torn territory on a perilous snatch-and-grab mission (in contemporary Nigeria there, antique northern Britain here). Its chief (Bruce Willis as a top Navy SEAL, Clive Owen as King Arthur)

STAFF CRITICS GIVE YOU THE LOWDOWN ON TEN TOP MOVIES, POPCORN NOT INCLUDED The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe What It's About: C.S. Lewis' classic tale of four British children going from the frying pan of London during the Blitz to the cold fire of a battle between good and evil in the fantastic parallel world of Narnia. Rated: PG The scoop: A wonderful escape into a landscape filled with marvels as well as cogent moral quandaries. Grade: A Capote What It's About: New Yorker writer Truman Capote researches the murder of a Kansas farm family and gets in over his head with one of the killers.

Dog Day Afternoon [Warner Home Video] $27 Based on a true story, 1975's Dog Day Afternoon tells the tragically comic tale of a hapless young man (a bravura Al Pacino) who attempts to rob a bank to pay for his male lover's (Chris Sarandon) sex change operation. The late John Cazale also turns in a memorable performance as Pacino's clueless partner in crime. The DVD includes a comprehensive retrospective documentary on the film - Pacino admits he originally turned down the part - a vintage featurette and entertaining commentary from 81-year-old director Sidney Lumet.

ACTRESSES GET ALL THE BREAKS. If they follow the winds of fashion when getting dressed in the morning, they're congratulated for being so on-trend. If they break away from the trendy and do something different, they're avant-garde. Nowhere was that more obvious than at last week's Academy Awards. Gown after gorgeous gown on the red carpet either exemplified a trend or went against the grain -- and, for the most part, it all looked fabulous. "I thought it was in very good taste, fashion-wise, this Oscar season," says Avril Graham, executive fashion and beauty editor for Harper's Bazaar.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I guess we shouldn't make any predictions, because as George Eliot wrote, "Prophecy is the most gratuitous form of error." And, speaking of the future, the best quotes come from Forbes magazine this month. "The future? Like unwritten books and unborn children, you don't talk about it," said Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, while Eugene Kennedy reminded us that "We not only romanticize the future; we have also made it into a growth industry, a parlor game and a disaster movie all at the same time."

Get ready! American Idol superstar Clay Aiken joins the Tony award-winning musical Monty Python's Spamalot, causing a line at the doors of the Shubert Theatre on West 44th Street beginning Friday. And he'll stick with this hilarious show through May 4. Director Mike Nichols: "Clay is amazing, beyond that glorious voice. Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character. People are going to be surprised by his wide-ranging talent, since the first impression is of great country charm and a singer to remember.

Atonement -- The crush of an upper-class teen on her housekeeper's son (James McAvoy) catalyzes a devastating accusation that ruins his life and that of the girl's older sister (Keira Knightley). This beautifully acted, remarkably visualized adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel sums up the need for charity and generosity in art and life. (M.S.) R 123 minutes A The Bucket List -- A pair of dying cancer patients (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) draw up a list of things to do before they kick the bucket.

Zathura and Keira Knightley's costume drama Pride and Prejudice are poised to give the animated Chicken Little a run for its money at the box office this weekend. Last weekend, the Disney family film saw $40,049,778 fall from the sky in its debut to top all movies. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. are: .....