GALAPAGOS
IMAX and the Smithsonian team up to give viewers a close-up view of the famous island chain. It's going to be a tragic day when IMAX runs out of natural wonders to photograph. Thankfully there are a still a few left. (LB) Not Rated
GET SMART
Steve Carell is about perfect as bumbling, over-enthusiastic spy Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), and all without copying Don Adams. Partnered with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), they must do battle against Siegfried (Terence Stamp), who's going for, you know, world domination, or at least blowing up L.A. The film has plenty of laughs, but an oddly high body count for a comedy. (ES) Rated PG-13
HANCOCK
Ah, one of those superhero-as-drunken lout stories. Will Smith plays John Hancock, a man of unknown origins who can fly, beat up villains and bounce bullets off his chest. But he shouldn't fly when he drinks because a sloppy path of destruction usually results. Here's a film that starts off funny, and is loaded with fantastic visuals, but ends up somehow becoming a rumination on family relations as well as public relations. An outrageous story, with unexpected plot turns and solid acting from Jason Bateman and a glowing Charlize Theron. (ES) Rated PG-13
THE HAPPENING
Strange and unknowable terrors are afoot, and a group of Philadelphians, including Mark Wahlberg's and John Leguizamo's schoolteachers, are trying to get out of the affected area. Along the way, they encounter stilted dialogue and other lifeless characters doing ridiculous things. (MAJ) Rated R
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
There's more action and less dialogue, which makes for a really good start at getting the story of the big angry green guy right this time. Art house darling Ang Lee has given way to Louis Leterrier. And OK actor Eric Bana has been replaced by solid Edward Norton. The story picks up some time after Bruce Banner hightailed it to South America to "cure" himself. He's back, with the army still after him, and another creature, the Abomination, who's ready to go at him. (ES) Rated PG-13
INDIANA JONES: KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
This time, Indy goes up against Cold War-era Russians and their power-mad scientist leader (Cate Blanchett). Everyone's searching for the mythic crystal skulls of Peru, with guns firing, swords slashing and vehicles hurtling through jungles. Harrison Ford is not too old for the part and Shia LaBeouf doesn't overact. (ES) Rated PG-13
IRON MAN
Robert Downey Jr. nails the role of his career, and the Marvel comic springs vibrantly to life with action and comedy in the story of a weapons maker who sees the light and wants to change his life, right around the same time he develops a "heart problem" and invents a metal suit that lets him blow away the bad guys. (ES) Rated PG-13
KIT KITTREDGE
If little girls can enjoy Harry Potter, little boys can enjoy the adventures of Kit Kittredge -- they might learn about perseverance, friendship, kindness and generosity. What starts out as a charming, semi-serious little adventure tale about spunky, nine-year-old Kit (Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine), morphs gradually into sweet, practically Little Rascals-style comedy as Kit investigates the mystery of the "hobo crime spree" gripping Cincinnati. (MAJ) Rated G
KUNG FU PANDA
The voices of Jack Black as an out-of-shape panda and Dustin Hoffman as his martial arts teacher anchor this dazzling tale about believing in yourself to make anything happen. Black's Po is (accidentally) chosen to become the powerful Dragon Warrior, just as the vicious leopard (Ian McShane) escapes from prison. (ES) Rated PG
THE LOVE GURU
It's not merely endlessly crude, it's also dishonest. Mike Myers' Guru Pitka is all nonstop sexual innuendo and not a whit of even phony spirituality: he's Austin Powers in disguise. But Powers' randiness in the hands of a guru is icky. It's not as if Pitka's obsession with the scatological were his path to transcendence ... which could be funny, too, if it were done right. It's that there's absolutely nothing transcendent about Pitka at all. (MAJ) Rated R
MONGOL
Great, bloody, sprawling, but occasionally a little slow, director Sergei Bodrov's story of the early life of Genghis Khan is a lot of talking and not a ton of action, which is exactly the point. The infrequent, though slaughter-filled, battles punctuate a film of quiet grandeur, hinting at perhaps the key difference that allowed Genghis to conquer the world when others could not. He wasn't a warrior who hacked and slashed his way to emperor. He was a born leader. (LB) Rated R
SEX AND THE CITY
Fans of the TV show rave about how it depicts "real" women, but I don't see a real woman in Carrie Bradshaw: I see a very narrow idea of what women are. Still, fans will love it; certainly, there are moments of intense drama that will make far more sense to those who have an investment in these characters. I would have preferred it if this Sex movie included something that spoke to those who were not already fans. (MAJ) Rated R
WALL-E
The newest Pixar release jumps some 700 years into the future, offering a look at our garbage-strewn planet, a condition so out-of-control, humankind has left. Worker robots were put in place to clean things up, but they, too, left -- except for clunky little Wall-E, who continues the job. But when he's visited by robot probe Eve, his lonely existence makes him go gaga over her. Great storytelling, with very little dialogue, exquisite visuals, a solid sense of humor, and a dash of Hello, Dolly! Ideal for every age imaginable. (ES) Rated G
WANTED
Wow! This is a thrill ride of a movie that is as smart and as surprising as it is visually stylish and viscerally electrifying. James McAvoy makes a dynamic transition from indie heartthrob to Hollywood action hero as a nebbishy cube dweller who discovers he's heir to a spot in an ancient order of mystical assassins -- they have super-fast reflexes, they can put English on a bullet, and they take orders from... well, you'll see: It's wonderfully audacious. (MAJ) Rated R
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN
Adam Sandler's Zohan, an Israeli counterterrorism commando, goes up against his nemesis, a Palestinian terrorist known as the Phantom (John Turturro). Zohan has found some unexpected laughs in sending up the outrageousness of action movies. I can't honestly say that I loved Zohan, but I kinda got a kick out of this silly movie. (MAJ) Rated PG-13
