The latest exhibition in the Young Artists Series, dedicated to featuring art by children from diverse global communities, is entitled "Images from Israel," and will feature paintings, drawings and writings by two groups of students from Israel. (Beginning Tues., Augusta Savage Gallery at UMass.)

SELECT FLICKS

Academy of Music Theatre

(584-8435)

"Possession" is reviewed in this issue.

Cinemark at Hampshire Mall

(587-4233)

Though its trailers make it appear a typically brainless B-movie, "Crazy/Beautiful" director John Stockwell's "Blue Crush," about the cutthroat world of competitive women's surfing set in Hawaii, is consistently thrilling and surprisingly well made.

The sleeper comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" stars Nia Vardalos as Toula, an unmarried 30-year-old who falls in love with the decidedly non-Greek Ian (John Corbett), but must find a way to overcome her über-traditional Orthodox family's reservations before she can marry him.

"Signs" is the latest (and best) effort from Hollywood writer/director sensation M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Mel Gibson as a family-man with a tortured past whose life is turned upside down when crop circles and other strange happenings begin to disturb his tranquil farm. Soon, the annoyances turn out to be much more sinister than anyone expects as the world prepares for a full-scale extraterrestrial invasion.

"Serving Sara" is a surprisingly hilarious flick starring Matthew Perry (who knew that someone from the cast of "Friends," Jennifer Aniston aside, could pull off a good movie?) and Elizabeth Hurley. Perry is a jilted process server with pipe dreams of having his own winery in Napa Valley, Hurley is the "trophy wife" that he's trying to serve for divorce. After a sidesplitting chase through Manhattan and its surrounding areas, the two decide (read: Hurley's character pays him off) to join forces in an attempt to get back at her slimy ex-husband.

Unsurprisingly, "Stealing Harvard," Bruce McCoullough's comic story of a man named John Plummer who turns to crime in order to pay his niece's college tuition, falls pancake-flat. The jokes not only fail to amuse, but the considerable talents of Jason Lee (in the starring role) are laid to enormous waste. Also starring Tom Green.

"Swimfan" is reviewed in this issue.

Pleasant Street Theater

(586-0935)

"The Good Girl," starring Jennifer Aniston in a role so refreshingly different from her vapid "Friends" character it's astounding, is a darkly humorous and moving film about what happens when people stop being polite and start getting really depressed and strange.

TALKS

This year's annual Croxton Fund Lecture will be a talk given by political commentator Kevin Philips, who will speak to first-year students about "Your Generation and Politics." Phillips, a graduate of Colgate University, is the editor of The American Political Report, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal, and a commentator on National Public Radio, as well a the author of "Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich." (Tues., 4 p.m., Johnson Chapel)

Harvard University historian Drew Gilpin Faust will deliver a lecture entitled "Missing in Action: Naming the Dead in the American Civil War." Faust, a renowned historian of the South, the Civil War era and women's experiences, will be presenting the first talk of the annual Hawkins Lecture. (Tues., 4:30 p.m., Pruyne Lecture Hall.)

The department of fine arts' artist-in-residence, Ann Messner, will lecture on her various works. Messner has exhibited in New York and Germany, and is a veteran of numerous public performances and installations. (Sat., 8 p.m., Buckley Recital Hall.)

TUNES

Scottish guitarist Paul Gailbraith will open the 2002-03 "Music at Amherst Series," performing selections from the oeuvres of Bach, Berkeley, Granados, Ibert and Debussy. Gailbraith, rather than using a standard instrument, plays a self-designed eight-string guitar. (Sat., 8 p.m., Buckley Recital Hall. Free.)

STAGE

The department of theater and dance will present a faculty dance/theater concert, featuring choreography and performances by College dance/theater faculty as well as guest artists. The show will blend a multitude of rich and diverse themes and approaches to dance, including works by the Dance Generators, Karinne Keithly, Peter Lobdell, Marily Middleton, Fritha Pengelly, Felice Wolfzahn and Wendy Woodson. (Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m., Kirby Theater. Free.)