1 Matchstick Men (Warner Bros) Director: Ridley Scott. Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman. (PG-13) Take One: A twitchy, obsessive-compulsive con artist (Cage) suddenly finds himself with an adolescent daughter (Lohman) in a complex, carefully crafted story that vacillates between cynical, hard-boiled con movie and affecting character drama of redemption through emotional bonds.

Take Two: The con-movie thread comes with all the genre's usual objectionable language, moral issues and occasional sleaze, here more troubling because of the young girl's involvement.

Final Take: Approach with caution. While the film definitely does-n't condone larceny and has some redemptive elements, the problematic content will be too much for many, but some adult viewers will appreciate its artistry and characterizations.

2 Freaky Friday (Disney) Director: Mark S. Waters. Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan. (PG)

Take One: Disney has another go at the comic fable of a mother and teen-aged daughter who switch bodies, with enjoyable comic performances from Curtis and Lohan embodying one another's mannerisms.

Take Two: Aren't role-reversal movies meant to teach both sides a lesson? Not this one, which is all about boring old mom gaining new appreciation for poor misunderstood daughter's high-school travails as well as for her music and fashion sense. No lessons for the teen-ager about the realities of adult life. Some objectionable language and mild sexual references.

Final Take: Your call. Curtis as teen-ager and Lohan as middle-aged woman are fun to watch, but the notso-subtle suggestion that teen-agers have it really hard while adults make life hard on themselves may ring hollow for some.

3 Open Range (Buena Vista) Director: Kevin Costner. Robert Duvall, Costner, Annette Bening. (R)

Take One: Archetypal, finely acted Western throwback about free-ranging cowboys standing up to a bullying cattle rancher (Michael Gambon), with Bening as a refreshingly age-appropriate love interest for Costner.

Take Two: Strong cinematography competes with sometimes-wobbly dialogue. When it finally gets down to the shooting, the violence is strong but not glamorized. The line between rough frontier justice and revenge isn't entirely clear, and objectionable language includes some profanity and a crass expression of anger at God (partially redeemed by a later comment).

Final Take: Like the hero Costner plays, Open Range is competent, flawed, unglamorous, grim but not unhopeful and gets the job done. After 10 years since Hollywood's last stabs at the Western genre, it's nice to see even a decent one.

4 The Medallion (Screen Gems) Director: Gordon Chan. Jackie Chan, Lee Evans, Claire Forlani. (PG-13)

Take One: At nearly 50, comic action-hero Jackie Chan may be slowing down, and his famous real-stunt ethic may finally be succumbing to the necessities of special effects, wirework and even stunt doubles. Even so, a terrific chase scene proves he's still got what it takes.

Take Two: That chase scene is the only sequence of any distinction in Chan's weakest film in years. British comic Lee Evans easily surpasses Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Tuxedo) as Chan's most irritating movie buddy ever, and while there's relatively little objectionable language and humor, Eastern religious themes and pop-spirituality overtones add a problematic dimension of their own.

Final Take: Though a great physical performer, Chan has never made great movies; this one's so lame that it drags him down with it.

5 Northfork (Para-mount Classics) Directed by the Polish brothers. James Woods, Mark Polish, Nick Nolte. (PG-13) Take One: Surreal, dreamlike imagery, contemplative pacing and juxtaposition of transcendent and mundane make for challenging art-house fare in a poetic tableau about a Montana town slated to be flooded and a frail little boy who tries to convince a quartet of misfit angels that he's one of them.

Take Two: The sort of film that some find deeply evocative and meaningful while others find insufferably boring, weird and pretentious, Northfork looks more like the latter, due in part to a jokey subtext of sophomoric puns, pop-culture references and sight gags that strike a note of banality and undermine any sense of transcendence. A brief bedroom scene, some objectionable language, fantasy depiction of angels and implied polygamy.

Final Take: In a meaningful film, ambiguity and weirdness can be challenging and engaging; here, it's just off-putting. The film has stunning imagery but little else and lacks the moral seriousness that invites personal engagement.

Steven D. Greydanus, editor and chief critic of DecentFilms.com, writes from Bloomfield, New Jersey.