FREEZE FRAMES

A weekly update of film releases

WHITE SANDS - A small-town cop gets swept up in a complicated scheme involving black-market arms, a suitcase full of money, and the kind of beautiful woman who always pops up in movies like this. Willem Dafoe gives a good performance, and director Roger Donaldson moves the action so rapidly that it's sometimes hard to figure out. The screenplay makes a stab at exposing government corruption, but its ironies have little lasting value. (Rated R) THE HOURS AND TIMES - In this re-creation of the early 1960s, John Lennon takes a holiday in Barcelona with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who obviously has an unrequited crush on him. Friendship rather than sexuality is the ultimate subject of this unassuming and utterly original vignette by independent American filmmaker Christopher Munch. (Not rated) WINDOW SHOPPING -

An indoor shopping mall is the setting for this modestly produced musical about love and longing amid the materialistic charms of a consumer society. The movie has suggestions of social criticism, questioning the superficial values of its characters. But this is so lightly etched that you'd never guess the movie was directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, one of Europe's most boldly experimental film artists. (Not rated)