In 1998, Richard Price (Clockers) wrote a novel about a New Jersey mother who inflames a racial riot by claiming a black man stole her car with her four-year-old son in the back seat. The book was a long read (560 pages) that flew by on Price's ear for dialogue and knack for building tension. The movie, with a script by Price, sinks like a stone.

A very grace note is blunted by director Joe Roth, who displays no feel for the material. A skilled studio executive, Roth has directed two recent films (America's Sweethearts and Christmas With the Kranks) that indicate directing is not his vocation. Freedomland seals the deal. Roth takes three powerhouse actors — Julianne Moore as the mother, Samuel L. Jackson as the cop who interrogates her and Edie Falco as another woman who lost her son — and reduces their talents to rubble and their characters to screeching cliches.

Peter Travers' new book, "1,000 Best Movies on DVD" is available now.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."