Denzel

Hollywood's pretty woman Julia Roberts and Oscar-winning co-star Denzel Washington led the film box-office derby on the weekend before Christmas, as they opened in "The Pelican Brief" and scooped up an estimated $16.6 million nationwide. The weekend's box-office limelight was shared by the continuing popularity of the Robin Williams comedy, "Mrs. Doubtfire," which came in second with $8.

Even mean and crooked, Denzel Washington can pack a movie theater. "Training Day," the nice-guy actor's first time as a villain, premiered as the No. 1 weekend film, with $24.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. "Serendipity," a romantic comedy starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, opened in second place, with $14 million. The previous weekend's top movie, "Don't Say a Word," slipped to No. 3, with $10 million. "Zoolander," the second-place film a week ago, fell to No.

"Rambo" is preparing to return from retirement in Thailand early next year, and Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington will also come here next month to play a drug lord in "American Gangster," a Thai film official said Thursday. Sylvester Stallone will spend several weeks in Thailand early next year, shooting "Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye" in the country's lush, mountainous northern provinces, said Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office.

As a teenager visiting Harlem, Denzel Washington never came across drug lord Frank Lucas in person. But Washington certainly saw the human wreckage that Lucas helped create, especially along 116th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. "There were junkies everywhere," Washington says. "The neighborhood was destroyed by people like Frank Lucas." To lay waste to so many lives, Lucas had to have possessed incredible power.

"In the Bedroom," Todd Field's intimate drama about a family in crisis, was voted best picture of 2001 on Saturday by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. David Lynch's mystery thriller, "Mulholland Dr.," was the runner-up. "In the Bedroom" was the big winner Saturday with two awards. Sissy Spacek also won the best actress honor for her role as a happily married woman whose life is beset by a tragedy. This is Spacek's second critics' award for "In the Bedroom."

If "The Pelican Brief" (citywide) had any more going for it, it would be against the law. So it is a surprise to say that the biggest mystery this legal thriller presents is how a film based on a novel by John Grisham, starring the bankable duo of Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington and written and directed by veteran Alan J. Pakula can end up more of a fizzle than an explosion.

"The Siege" is a political thriller with more plausibility--and yes, more thrills--than most. It's a "what-if" movie on a stark subject, terrorist bombings in this country, that tries to serve the two masters of drama and reality and does it for longer than you might predict. Though "The Siege" loses its way in its final sections, the extent of the film's success is considerable, and largely due to the fine performances of stars Denzel Washington and Annette Bening.

DENZEL WASHINGTON has the slightly dazed look of a man in the home stretch. "It's all good," he says, flashing that $20-million grin in a postproduction suite on the Sony lot. "I'm not tired. Well, I'm tired, but I'm happy." The two-time Oscar winner is putting in long hours, scrambling to complete his second directorial effort, "The Great Debaters," just weeks from its Christmas release. "Working all night, all day . . .

Hollywood snapped out of its fall funk in high style as the star wattage of Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe and Jerry Seinfeld lured audiences to their local multiplexes over the weekend. Universal Pictures' critically acclaimed crime thriller "American Gangster," starring Washington as a maverick 1970s drug lord and Crowe as the New York cop hunting him down, pulled in an estimated $46.3 million in ticket sales, the studio said Sunday.

Thousands of worshipers marched the three blocks down Crenshaw Boulevard Sunday morning from their original church to the site of their new sanctuary to celebrate what their pastor called "Demolition Sunday." West Angeles Church, with a largely African American congregation, is in the heart of the Crenshaw district, and it is about to embark on a $42-million project to build a massive sanctuary to accommodate its rapidly growing membership. Bishop Charles E.