SELECT FLICKS

Cinemark at Hampshire Mall

(587-4233)

"8 Mile" is reviewed in this issue.

"Abandon" is the latest shark from Hollywood's teen thriller pool. This time around, "Dawson's Creek" darling Katie Holmes stars as Catherine Burke, a co-ed trying to wrap up a stressful year-completing her thesis, exams and interviews for grad school and jobs. As if this weren't enough to make a girl scream, a dreamy detective (Benjamin Bratt) starts snooping around, trying to dig up more dirt on the disappearance of her boyfriend, Embry. Though it happened two years ago, the event has haunted her ever since. Plot twists, romance and creepy boyfriends abound.

Although Eddie Murphy is as lively as always and Owen Wilson tries to suck some satisfactory wit out of "I Spy," neither actor succeeds in making director Betty Thomas' thriller live up to the classic excitement its namesake, the '60s TV series starring Roger Culp and Bill Cosby, achieved.

A remake of one of Japan's most successful films ever, "The Ring," starring the talented Naomi Watts ("Mullholland Drive"), is a frightening but not altogether sensical thriller based on the investigation of a disturbing videotape that mysteriously kills its viewers.

"The Truth About Charlie" is a gangster-romance thriller based in Paris about a woman who is about to leave her husband and finds that he's dead, their money's gone and he wasn't the person she thought he was. Actors Mark Wahlberg, the fabulous Thandie Newton and Tim Robbins paired with producer Ed Saxon ("Silence of the Lambs," "Philadelphia"), should have made for a great flick, but the truth is that it's disappointingly bland.

Just when you thought mainstream cinema couldn't sink any lower, MTV Productions leaves us to ponder "jackass: the movie." Based on the infamous television show, everyone's favorite jackasses engage in their typical hijinks, only we're left to suffer through a full-length product this time.

Pleasant Street Theater

(586-0935)

Director Paul Thomas Anderson reveals Adam Sandler's unforeseen mature acting style in his portrayal of Barry Egan, a socially awkward character who falls in love with businesswoman Lena Leonard (Emily Watson) in "Punch Drunk Love."

Greg Kinnear plays "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane in "Auto Focus," which describes Crane's tumultuous years after the TV series' cancellation that were spent clubbing and enthusiastically dabbling in amateur pornography until he was murdered by cameraman Johnnie Carpenter (Willem Dafoe). A well-crafted and intelligent film directed by Paul Schrader.

TALKS

Stanford University professor of English John Felstiner will discuss the challenges of translating literature in a lecture titled "Translation: The Art of Loss Neruda, Celan, Rilke." Felstiner's Pablo Neruda and Paul Celan translations have won top honors from the British Comparative Literature Association. (Wed., 4:15 p.m., 115 Fayerweather.)

Sharon Street '95, an ethics specialist and instructor of philosophy at New York University, will give the first lecture of the annual Forry Lecture Series titled "A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories About Reasons." (Thurs., 4:30 p.m., Cole Assembly Room, Converse Hall.)

Wellesley College's Catherine Collins will present "Images of Women." The talk includes a slide presentation of images of women from Botticelli's Venus to fashion models as well as responsive discussion. (Thurs, 8 p.m., 115 Fayerweather.)

Professor of English Marisa Parham will deliver a talk titled "Trauma is for the Living: Some Thoughts on Gender, Transgenerational Haunting and the Limits of Empathy," which explores how to achieve real-time experience of other people's pasts. (Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Five College Women's Studies Research Center, 83 College Street, Mount Holyoke.)

Professor Robin Jensen, of the Institute for Theology and the Arts at Andover Newton Theological School will present a lecture titled "Face to Face: Christian Portraits of God." (Wed., 4 p.m., McCaffrey Room, Keefe Campus Center.)

TUNES

Rock band Labb, whose style is compared to Jimmy Eat World and the Foo Fighters, will perform. (Thurs., 10 p.m., Frontroom, Keefe Campus Center.)

Widely acclaimed Ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago eighth blackbird, a contemporary music sextet, will play works of Rzewski, Perle and the Minimum Security Composers. (Sat., 8 p.m., Buckley Recital Hall.)

The "Little Three" Choral Festival will unite choirs from Amherst and Williams Colleges and Wesleyan University for their eighth annual concert. The combined choirs will feature Duruflé, Hindesmith, Hrusovsky, Milhaud and Shaw works. (Sun., 3 p.m., Buckley Recital Hall.)