From the Movie Snob's Shelf o' DVD's.

The Peacemaker. This weekend I decided to explore more of the Kidman oeuvre by checking out this 1998 release starring NK and George Clooney. It's a thriller about stolen Russian nuclear warheads and the terrorists who want them. Nicole plays a "nuclear specialist" in the U.S. government who is in charge of finding out what happened to them and preventing them from falling into the wrong hands. Clooney is a smooth-talking Army colonel (special forces) who provides the street smarts, the arms-trade connections, the combat know-how, and, well, almost everything else Nicole needs to complete her mission. Roger Ebert's review is quite funny and nails this movie for throwing in almost every thriller-movie cliché in the book. (He mentions several of them but overlooks the one -- used twice in this movie -- in which the heroes flee an explosive situation and leap to safety just in front of a massive fireball.) Nicole looks okay, but her drab wardrobe and short, dark hairdo really don't show her to her best advantage. The DVD includes a very short feature consisting of interviews and outtakes, and Nic looks much finer in her interview. Movie grade: C. Nicole grade: B.