FREEZE FRAMES

A weekly update of film releases

* GRUMPY OLD MEN - Hot on the heels of ``Wrestling Ernest Hemingway'' comes yet another Warner Bros. excursion into the land of lovable codgers, this time populated by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, who fight over Ann-Margret as an attractive newcomer in their otherwise quiet neighborhood. It's not ``The Odd Couple,'' despite the nostalgic casting of the male leads, but it has a few laughs, and Matthau carries rubber-faced comedy into a new dimension. Donald Petrie directed from Mark Steven Johnson's verbally vulgar screenplay. (Rated PG-13)

* JAMON JAMON - Perturbed by her son's decision to marry a prostitute's daughter, a wealthy woman hires a gigolo to lead the prospective bride astray, and her sneaky maneuver leads to an extravagant number of complications. Spanish filmmaker Bigas Luna brings his patented mixture of surreal wit and visual outrageousness to this boisterous comedy, but the results don't have the sense of weirded-out logic that distinguished his ``Anguish'' a few years ago. Penelope Cruz, Stefania Sandrelli, and Anna Galiena lead the cast. The title translates into English as ``ham, ham,'' reflecting the film's bizarre preoccupation with that particular food. (Not rated)

* MAZEPPA - This peculiar French melodrama focuses on 19th-century painter Theodore Gericault, imagining what might have occurred if he had indulged his overheated passion for equestrian subjects by developing a close relationship with a renowned horse trainer. The story has possibilities, but they're sadly lost amid the self-conscious quirks and mannerisms of the movie, which was directed by Bartabas, a French horse authority and leader of the Thtre Equestre Zingaro. He also plays the trainer Franconi in the film, opposite Spanish actor Miguel Bose as Gericault. (Not rated)