Tooth Fairy

SOMETIMES you wonder if the world has gone mad and you're the only sane person left, which can be an even more frightening thought.I say this because of an unsettling incident that occurred the other day when I picked up my 5-year-old from kindergarten.We were hustling to get out of there when one of his little classmates came up with her mom in tow and chirped: "My tooth came out last night!""Yeah, that's great, kid," I thought. "But I'm double-parked outside and there's cops all over the place."

Avatar . ( 3 STARS) $31.2 million $595.7 million 7 weeks Rated : PG-13 Running time : 2:40 What it's about : A paraplegic ex-Marine (Sam Worthington, above) controls the body of an "avatar," a body of a creature on another planet, and gets caught up in a struggle between the humans and the natives. Our take : James Cameron has delivered the most-anticipated blend of live-action and motion-capture animation to date, but the story's simplistic.

Del. Tyras S. Athey of Anne Arundel County, chairman of the House of Delegates' Ways and Means Committee, is right on the money -- unfortunately -- when he says, "If you think the Senate is going to pass [any House reform of the state's legislative scholarship program], you must believe in the tooth fairy."The scholarship program enables senators and delegates to dole out several million dollars annually to students in their districts. Lawmakers say the money goes to needy students, but the evidence suggests the small grants are used more to secure the futures of elected officials.

Up in the Air . . ( 4 STARS) The great surprise of this film starring George Clooney as a traveling corporate hatchet man, is that it manages to humanize both sides of those who sit at the terrible table where layoffs are doled out. It would have been easy for director Jason Reitman to let the newly unemployed drift into melodrama; he didn't. It would have been easier still to vilify, at least a little, Clooney's bad-news bear; he doesn't. Instead, Reitman gives us the perfect movie for our times, with a near-perfect Clooney the cherry on top. "Up in the Air" turns out to be the quintessential upper.

The smiles on the faces of Andre Mackey and Nijala Bullock of Baltimore tell a tale: Yes, some front teeth are missing, but they've lost them happily. Do they believe in the tooth fairy? You might as well ask if there's really a president, or a Congress, or a movie star named George Clooney. In the lives of 6-year-olds, those things are merely theoretical. They have the dollars to prove the tooth fairy's existence. "She wanted me to get some more teeth," Andre explains and points to the newcomers rising from his gums.

"The Tooth Fairy, NBA refs and Bill Belichick. ... It's not a good state of affairs ... when we now believe in politicians more than ... the NBA and the NFL." Cris Collinsworth On HBO's Inside the NFL

Bear marketJoin the Berenstain Bears as they offer a song and dance performance at the Westview Mall on Saturday. See the entire Berenstain family -- Mama, Papa, Sister and Brother -- in their "Rise 'N Shine Revue" as they awake from their winter hibernation and look to celebrate springtime. Children in the audience are invited to help wake up the bears from their long winter's nap with encouragement, singing and dancing.The Berenstain Bears will perform four 20-minute shows at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the Value City Court in the Westview Mall, 5748 Baltimore National Pike, Saturday.

Before you know it, school bells will be ringing again. But before the little ones scurry off to school, most parents will do a little scurrying themselves to beat the back-to-school rush and the sinking feeling that accompanies being unprepared for the first day of school.To beat the rush, parents should start preparing. Here are some of those steps:* Train your children to get up on time. Wake them up 15 minutes earlier every day until the desired hour is reached.* Get medical records updated.

Up in the Air . . ( 4 STARS) The great surprise of this film starring George Clooney as a traveling corporate hatchet man, is that it manages to humanize both sides of those who sit at the terrible table where layoffs are doled out. It would have been easy for director Jason Reitman to let the newly unemployed drift into melodrama; he didn't. It would have been easier still to vilify, at least a little, Clooney's bad-news bear; he doesn't. Instead, Reitman gives us the perfect movie for our times, with a near-perfect Clooney the cherry on top. "Up in the Air" turns out to be the quintessential upper.

"No Tooth, No Quarter! by Jon Buller and Susan Schade is about a boy named Walter. He is playing ball when he trips over a rock. He falls and his tooth comes out. He puts the tooth in his pocket, but his pocket has a hole. He writes a note to the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy says 'No tooth, no quarter.' Then she takes Walter to see the queen, who says it is OK for Walter to get a quarter." -- Asia Hull Our Lady of Pompei Elementary "There are a lot of funny stories in Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables by Jon Scieszka.

Next Friday Broken Embraces: (Sony Pictures Classics) A screenwriter analyzes the mysteries surrounding a car accident 14 years earlier that took his sight and killed the love of his life (Penelope Cruz).: Daybreakers : (Lionsgate) Humans have become an endangered species, hunted and forced into hiding after a mysterious plague transforms the majority of the world's population into vampires. With Ethan Hawke. Leap Year: (Universal Pictures) A woman follows her boyfriend to Ireland to ask him to marry her, but complications arise when she is stranded and must enlist the help of a surly Irishman.

Words seem to drift to the ground and carpet the stage of God's Ear like the ashes that are the fallout of a devastating fire. Taken individually, the banalities and cliches are gray, weightless, inconsequential. But gradually they accumulate into a mass that simultaneously obliterates all the objects in the surrounding landscape and reminds us of their existence. If audiences leave the Rep Stage production feeling drained, exhausted and numbed, it's because playwright Jenny Schwartz re-creates the grieving process with an almost cruel fidelity.

Pulling their strings Experience Mozart like you never have before when the Salzburg Marionettes perform The Magic Flute. The troupe of puppeteers is from the famous Salzburg Marionette Theatre in Austria, and they stand above the stage, controlling near-life-size puppets with a variety of strings as the puppets perform operas, ballets and other interpretive dance. The troupe will also perform a one-hour abbreviated version of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. The Salzburg Marionettes will perform 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday at Shriver Hall, 3400 Charles St. Admission is $19-$39.

"The Tooth Fairy, NBA refs and Bill Belichick. ... It's not a good state of affairs ... when we now believe in politicians more than ... the NBA and the NFL." Cris Collinsworth On HBO's Inside the NFL

SUN SCORE * A horror movie, set in a town called Darkness Falls, where the evil is the tooth fairy. This does not sound like a great setup. Guess what? It isn't. Played for laughs, maybe, but Darkness Falls is meant to be anything but a yuckfest. First-time director Jonathan Liebesman sees it as one of those movies that preys on childhood fears to produce a full-tilt panic attack in its audience. So we get lots of darkness, lots of corners things can jump out of, lots of plaintive sobbing, lots of macho posturing by guys who refuse to believe evil exists until it's way too late, and lots of non-featured actors who serve as nothing more than monster chow.

The smiles on the faces of Andre Mackey and Nijala Bullock of Baltimore tell a tale: Yes, some front teeth are missing, but they've lost them happily. Do they believe in the tooth fairy? You might as well ask if there's really a president, or a Congress, or a movie star named George Clooney. In the lives of 6-year-olds, those things are merely theoretical. They have the dollars to prove the tooth fairy's existence. "She wanted me to get some more teeth," Andre explains and points to the newcomers rising from his gums.

Pulling their strings Experience Mozart like you never have before when the Salzburg Marionettes perform The Magic Flute. The troupe of puppeteers is from the famous Salzburg Marionette Theatre in Austria, and they stand above the stage, controlling near-life-size puppets with a variety of strings as the puppets perform operas, ballets and other interpretive dance. The troupe will also perform a one-hour abbreviated version of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. The Salzburg Marionettes will perform 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday at Shriver Hall, 3400 Charles St. Admission is $19-$39.

DON'T LOOK now, but the holidays are on their way. With that in mind, here are a couple of ideas whose time has come -- or soon will.December brings its share of hassles; in families where one spouse is Christian and the other Jewish, these multiply. To help such couples through the holidays, Jewish Family Services is sponsoring a workshop, "December Dilemmas." It will focus on the meaning of Hanukkah and help couples cope with the tensions of Christmas and Hanukkah. The workshop is at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, 7401 Park Heights Ave. Participants must register by tomorrow; phone Karen Klein at 466-9200, Ext. 278. There is a $3 fee for individuals, $5 for couples.

"No Tooth, No Quarter! by Jon Buller and Susan Schade is about a boy named Walter. He is playing ball when he trips over a rock. He falls and his tooth comes out. He puts the tooth in his pocket, but his pocket has a hole. He writes a note to the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy says 'No tooth, no quarter.' Then she takes Walter to see the queen, who says it is OK for Walter to get a quarter." -- Asia Hull Our Lady of Pompei Elementary "There are a lot of funny stories in Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables by Jon Scieszka.