Naomi Watts

SUN SCORE 2-stars Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu apparently thinks that fractured narratives about characters connected by car crashes are his metier, but 21 Grams, his first English-speaking feature, is a considerable comedown from Amores perros. That spectacular Mexican debut told three intertwining, time-bending stories that were provocative and touching in isolation, and convulsively moving when you saw how their characters fit into a dazzling overall mosaic. No such pattern emerges from 21 Grams.

There's a depth to I (heart) Huckabees that seems both daunting and exhilarating, until one thinks about it. And then, it becomes clear the movie is not deep at all, at least not in a sense that's worth plumbing. A humor-laced inquiry into the relationship of things to each other, whether events are interconnected or whether existence is just a series of random, disjointed events, Huckabees tries to suggest some greater truth while, at the same time, mocking the need for such a search at all. It's nice to see that writer-director David O. Russell (Three Kings)

Look for reviews of this week's new films in the Today section. Camp This film follows a handful of hopeful teen-age musical-comedy performers through a summer of heartbreak and triumph at Camp Ovation; the cast includes local talents Joanna Chilcoat and Tiffany Taylor. PG-13. Charles exclusive. Dirty Pretty Things Audrey Tautou is showcased as a Turkish chambermaid in a West London hotel that turns out to be the center of a horrifying crime. R. Rotunda exclusive. Freddy vs. Jason The virtuoso slashers of the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th horror franchises are pitted against each other.

Next Friday CHILDREN OF MEN -- (Universal Pictures) Alfonso Cuaron directs this sci-fi drama about the lone pregnant woman on an Earth gone sterile, circa 2027. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine star. CODE NAME: THE CLEANER -- (New Line Cinema) Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu and Nicollette Sheridan star in this action-comedy spoof of The Bourne Identity. FREEDOM WRITERS -- (Paramount Pictures) Hilary Swank stars as a teacher who helps her troubled charges confront the violence around them through the written word.

Sports Movies: If you watched the most exciting Super Bowl ever, follow it up with Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (****) (3 STARS), an engrossing documentary about the most exciting football game in Ivy League history. If that film carries too high a pedigree for your tastes, you can always take in The Wrestler (** 1/2 ), ( 2 1/2 STARS) a fictional film that applies documentary realism to the tawdry spectacle of professional wrestling. Oscar-nominated Mickey Rourke elevates every scene he's in. opening next friday Confessions of a Shopaholic : (Touchstone)

As if you didn't already know, the NFL playoffs (4:30-8 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) begin with this weekend's wild-card games. The Ravens take on the Tennessee Titans at M&T Bank Stadium this afternoon. Other games are tonight at 8 on ABC; tomorrow at 1 p.m. on Fox; and tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. on CBS. At a glance Heartbreakers (8 p.m.-11 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) - Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt star as mother-and-daughter partners in crime who use their powers of seduction to prey on rich men in this 2001 comedy that leans toward the dark side.

THE QUESTION The Pink Panther, When a Stranger Calls, The Hills Have Eyes, The Shaggy Dog ... all remakes due by the middle of March. And with The Fog - yeesh - still too fresh in our memory, we wonder, when was the last time you enjoyed a remake more than the original? WHAT YOU SAY There are three remakes I think are unquestionably better than the originals - Gone in 60 Seconds, Ocean's Eleven and The Italian Job. It's not that the originals aren't good and entertaining in their own way, but the remakes are far more imaginative and well done, and thus hold up better even after multiple viewings.

Must-sees Slumdog Millionaire : **** The film is about the unlikeliest epic hero ever: a ragamuffin (Dev Patel) in Mumbai who becomes a contender on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Coraline: *** 1/2 An 11-year-old girl (Dakota Fanning) follows a path through a tiny, square door into a house that looks mysteriously like her own, including almost-identical parents - except her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" have buttons for eyes. Wendy and Lucy: *** Wendy (Michelle Williams)