The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

American Dreamz (Universal)
Fairly amusing satire of fame and politics as a would-be terrorist (Sam Golzari) enamored of American show tunes winds up on an "American Idol"-like talent show, where his Afghan superiors expect him to kill the U.S. president (Dennis Quaid) who is appearing as a celebrity judge to boost his image, while the show's host (Hugh Grant) falls for a "white trash" contestant from Ohio (Mandy Moore). The performances, including those of Marcia Gay Harden and Willem Dafoe, are good, and director-writer Paul Weitz carefully avoids most of the pitfalls of such a premise with a surprisingly sweet-natured story with no real villains, though the salvos about the today's vapid pop culture, the public's misplaced priorities, the need for understanding of our "enemies," and the obscenity of war could sometimes be more sharply focused. Scattered instances of four-letter words, profanity, and sexual and crass expressions, an implied premarital coupling and a suicide. (Ratings: A-III, PG-13)

The Sentinel (20th Century Fox)
Fast-paced political thriller about a veteran Secret Service agent (Michael Douglas) who, framed in a plot to assassinate the president, must clear his name while on the run, with his former protégé (Kiefer Sutherland) and a rookie agent (Eva Longoria) in pursuit. Despite holes in the script, director Clark Johnson's engaging conspiracy yarn strikes a nice balance between being a smart mystery and a conventional action film, anchored by solid performances by Douglas and Sutherland. Recurring action violence, including several shootings, an implied adulterous affair and scattered crude language and profanity. (A-III, PG-13)

Silent Hill (TriStar)
Bleak and surreal supernatural thriller about a mother (Radha Mitchell) whose desperate search for her missing daughter (Jodelle Ferland) leads her to a haunted ghost town --- ravaged by fire 30 years earlier --- where she faces demonic forces and the town's evil past to get her child back. Suffused with religious motifs, director Christophe Gans' journey through hell abounds with nightmarish visions worthy of Dante, but in exploring themes of faith, fanaticism and motherhood the film, which starts out eerily intriguing, eventually descends into confusion and the gore of its videogame roots, ending on a perplexing note that will leave you, like the haunted hamlet, in a fog. Intensely disturbing and bloody horror images, including a graphic scene of a woman burnt alive, some violence, including a savage off-screen beating, fleeting partial nudity, and recurring rough and crude language and profanity. (O, R)

---CNS