The latest casualty in Hollywood's unsatisfying parade of war-on-terror dramas, a movie built on unlikelihoods that gradually advance to wild improbabilities. Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams and Michael Pena manage occasional moments of humor and pathos as three wounded Iraq War veterans on an impromptu road trip across America. But mostly, the screenplay by director Neil Burger and co-writer Dirk Wittenborn forges a false camaraderie by hurling the three lead players into one artificial situation after another. The disparate veterans bicker and broil, but they repeatedly have one another's backs through a bar scuffle, a strange church service, a stranger society shindig, clashes with civilians over the Iraq conflict and any number of interpersonal crises. Though our heroes don't always get what they want, the road manages to toss up precisely what they need. Unfortunately, there's little subtlety to the roadblocks, detours, U-turns and handy pit stops Burger and his team concoct.
'Miracle at St. Anna'
Rated R

The most technically ambitious film in Spike Lee's long and eclectic career. After acclaimed character dramas ("Malcolm X," "Do the Right Thing"), some ill-fated comedies ("Bamboozled," "She Hate Me") and even a documentary or two ("4 Little Girls"), Lee takes on a big, old-fashioned war picture. It's hard not to appreciate the fact that, after a quarter-century of making movies, he's chosen this time to leap so boldly away from his comfort zone. But he might not have been ready for the enormity of such a project. "Miracle at St. Anna" is wildly unfocused in terms of tone and, at two hours and 40 minutes, it's unjustifiably overlong. Lee didn't write the script — that's the work of James McBride, who based his screenplay on his novel of the same name — but he didn't rein in his writer, either, perhaps because he feels so strongly about the subject matter. "Miracle" tells of the men of the 92nd Infantry Division, black troops who served in Italy during World War II and were known as Buffalo Soldiers. Lee has long been critical of films about the war such as Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" for depicting only the white U.S. soldiers who fought. This is his response — voluminous and full of unmistakable anger. That's not the only emotion that comes out in loud bursts. In following four soldiers trapped behind enemy lines in Tuscany (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller), Lee jumps from visceral battle scenes to intimate drama to lighthearted comedy. Regardless of the situation, though, he smothers everything, as usual, in the distractingly horn-heavy score of his longtime collaborator, composer and jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
'Nights in Rodanthe'
Rated PG-13

The last time we saw Richard Gere and Diane Lane, in the 2002 guilty pleasure "Unfaithful," they were running off together after covering up Gere's murder of Lane's hot, young, Parisian lover. Ah, those were the good old days. Their latest pairing, "Nights in Rodanthe," finds them falling for each other under circumstances that are even more contrived. Gere plays a stoic surgeon on a mission to right a wrong; Lane plays an earthy mother of two who has separated from her cheating husband. Gere is the only guest at a remote coastal North Carolina inn; Lane just happens to be overseeing the place — as a favor to a friend — the weekend Gere is staying there. And wouldn't you know it? There's a hurricane on the way. Surely you see where this is going, and because "Nights in Rodanthe" is based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook," "A Walk to Remember"), you know it can't end happily. We wouldn't dream of giving anything away, but bring tissues if you're the sentimental type. You'd pretty much have to be sentimental to tolerate such schlock, or at least be willing to check your cynicism at the multiplex door. Gere and Lane make the first half of director George C. Wolfe's movie surprisingly tolerable, simply because they have such an obvious comfort with each other (they also co-starred in "The Cotton Club" back in 1984). Both have been around long enough to find some nuance within the potentially treacly script from Ann Peacock and John Romano. But then the storm comes — and it washes away all that good will.
'Appaloosa'
Rated R

Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are both on the right side of the law this time, but the chemistry they shared as adversaries in 2005's "A History of Violence" remains. Good thing, too. Aside from the some striking scenery, their comfortable dynamic is just about all that makes "Appaloosa" worth watching. Harris, as director, producer, co-writer and star, has come up with an old-school Western that feels, by turns, hokey and boringly episodic. And for a movie that takes place during a time when folks were heading West with bold dreams, "Appaloosa" never really goes anywhere. Based on the novel by Robert B. Parker, the film finds Harris' Virgil Cole taking over the lawless New Mexico town of Appaloosa as marshal in 1882. By his side, as always, is his trusted deputy, Everett Hitch (Mortensen), who travels with him from place to place, keeping the peace. Their routine consists of laying down the law, then kicking back on porches and in saloons, laconically trading one-liners. Their reverie is disrupted by a couple of forces: villainous rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons, doing a distracting impression of Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood") and flirty widow Allison French (Renee Zellweger, doing her usual squinty thing), who is new in town.
'The Duchess'
Rated PG-13

The cinched corsets, the mountains of upswept hair, the richly textured, intricately detailed costumes. Sure, "The Duchess" is a lavish exercise in style over substance, but it's a well-crafted, superbly acted one. Keira Knightley brings her usual bright energy and sly charm to the role of Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire, and she manages to find the subversive humor within the artistically straightforward direction from Saul Dibb. Unsurprisingly, the star of "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement" seems perfectly comfortable in yet another period piece; this one begins in 1774 England, when Georgiana was a 17-year-old bride. But the filmmakers — and the movie's marketing machine — obviously are trying hard to make the picture seem contemporary by pushing the idea that Georgiana was the first "It Girl," with her elaborate parties and influential fashion sense. It also doesn't hurt their argument that she was an ancestor of Princess Diana, who similarly was trapped in a loveless royal marriage and found herself the topic of endless gossip. Working from the biography by Amanda Foreman, Dibb and fellow screenwriters Jeffrey Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jensen play up Georgiana's glamour and the tragically soapy elements of her life, all of which makes for compelling viewing. But they don't delve deeply enough into the darker parts of her personality, such as her proclivities for drinking and gambling. You're sometimes left wondering what truly drives her, beyond a sense of propriety and a love for her children — all girls, for a while, to the dismay of her distant husband, who yearns for an heir. Ralph Fiennes is chilling as the exceedingly pragmatic Duke of Devonshire, but he's also a good enough actor to convey some much-needed glimmers of humanity within this seemingly bloodless figure.
'Igor'
Rated PG
2 stars
Dr. Frankenstein himself could not revive this animated comedy about a hunchbacked lab assistant playing at mad scientist. Frankenstein specialized in reanimating once-living matter, but he would be unable to find any spark of life to resuscitate here. A potentially original premise and an eager voice cast led by John Cusack and Molly Shannon are left to decay amid a clunky story vaguely reminiscent of "Monsters, Inc." and a clutter of cartoon images often resembling visuals rejected from "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride." Director Tony Leondis and screenwriter Chris McKenna take a jumble of Hollywood horror cliches and shove them through a meat-grinder to concoct an awkward, unfunny comic twist on the evil-genius genre. Cusack plays the title character, aiming to prove he's more than a hunchbacked gofer by creating an evil behemoth woman (Shannon), who turns out to be a pussycat. The voice cast includes Steve Buscemi, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Jay Leno and Jennifer Coolidge.
'Lakeview Terrace'
Rated PG-13
1 1/2 stars
You could argue that all Neil LaBute movies are horror movies. Whether it's "In the Company of Men," "Nurse Betty" or "The Shape of Things," someone always ends up being tormented and terrorized in some way. And in true horror-flick fashion, the victim is usually a woman. But here, the director takes his first real stab at the genre, if you will ("The Wicker Man" doesn't count because it was a remake, and because it was just so awful). And with this story of a psycho-cop who tries to run off his new next-door neighbors, you wish he'd have just given into the B-movie instincts of the material, and not tried to make "Lakeview Terrace" about Something Important. As an overzealous Los Angeles police officer, Samuel L. Jackson clearly seems ready to head down such a cliched, schlocky road. He is, after all, the one who triumphed over all those (expletive) snakes on that (expletive) plane. But LaBute, working from a script by David Loughery and Howard Korder, is trying to probe the dangers that lurk within a seemingly safe suburbia with making a statement about race relations. It's "Unlawful Entry" meets "Crash" — you can almost hear the pitch meeting going on in your head. Jackson's Abel Turner is a strict, single father of two who patrols his hillside cul de sac as thoroughly as he works his beat. When racially mixed newlyweds Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) move in next door, he turns even more prickly. Some of the initial tension is intriguing, but any early good will gets obliterated by the over-the-top ending.
'Ghost Town'
Rated PG-13
2 stars
A great idea that doesn't have very far to go: A guy dies for seven minutes while under anesthesia, then when he comes back to life, he sees dead people. And they see him, and talk to him, and follow him around Manhattan all day nagging him to help them with their unfinished business so they can go off to the great beyond in peace. Naturally, the man the ghosts flock to hates people, dead or alive, and so he dreads the company. This is a perfect fit for Ricky Gervais, whose brand of humor ("Extras," the British version of "The Office") mines laughs from the moments in life that make you cringe: the awkward pauses, the uncomfortable asides. His character, Bertram Pincus, became a dentist specifically because it would mean he'd never have to talk to people, but rather shove cotton and sharp tools in their mouths to shut them up. But you can only wander down this comic road for so long; once you've run through a few sight gags, you have to go somewhere else with this high-concept premise. Unfortunately, director and co-writer David Koepp heads toward sticky sentimentality — and that's not nearly as good a fit for Gervais. The way in which the ghosts find closure, and the visual effect that accompanies that moment, is too feel-good and looks especially cheesy. It's as if Koepp and co-writer John Kamps have created two separate movies and jammed them together. (Actually, "Ghost Town" almost feels like a romantic comedy do-over of Koepp's 1999 thriller "Stir of Echoes," starring Kevin Bacon as a man who sees a ghost after being hypnotized.) Greg Kinnear co-stars as a cad of a businessman who was having an affair when he died, with Tea Leoni as his widow who is about to remarry.
'Righteous Kill'
Rated R
1 1/2 stars
It's not that this crime thriller is spectacularly awful. It's just thoroughly mediocre — a standard police procedural, a long episode of "Law & Order," unremarkable but for the pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. But really, shouldn't we expect more from these two, considered among the greatest actors of our time? Well, we might have been justified in having high hopes about 15 years ago, before both stars had morphed into caricatures of themselves. They shared a few moments on screen in Michael Mann's "Heat" in 1995, and they had no scenes together in "The Godfather: Part II." In theory, seeing them play off each other for an entire film should have been a thrill, a clash of the scenery-chewing titans. In reality, it's hard to take them seriously, even though each actor has dialed down his all-too familiar persona: the repressed rage of De Niro, the voluminous volatility of Pacino. Under the pseudo-flashy direction of Jon Avnet (who also directed Pacino this year in the flop "88 Minutes"), they play geriatric New York police detectives on the tail of a serial killer: a vigilante who takes out bad guys who have it coming, then leaves a poem behind at the crime scene. As the bodies pile up, the evidence suggests that a cop is the one pulling the trigger — and the script from Russell Gewirtz drags us down one obvious avenue for most of the film, only to leave us with a gimmicky, obvious twist at the end. (His screenplay for Spike Lee's "Inside Man" was far more clever.) Carla Gugino feels wedged in as a crime scene analyst who is into rough sex (a gratuitous, borderline offensive detail) and rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is stiff as a supposedly charismatic drug dealer.
'Towelhead'
Rated R
2 1/2 stars
If director Todd Solondz were to bring a Judy Blume book to the screen, this would be the result. With equal parts dark comedy and even darker drama, this coming-of-age tale takes an unflinching look not just at the awkwardness of growing up but the potential pain and humiliation. It's sure to anger people, and not just for the title, which comes from the novel by Alicia Erian, the film's source material. Originally, the movie went by the name "Nothing Is Private." Calling it "Towelhead" seems like an intentional shock, but then again, so does much of the content. In directing his first film, Oscar-winning "American Beauty" screenwriter Alan Ball holds nothing back, which is admirable in its attempt at realism — and yet, some viewers will certainly perceive its exploration of teen sexuality as exploitative. The performances make the material more human and accessible, though, mainly from the film's brave young star, Summer Bishil. Considering how well she handles such complex scenes, it's hard to believe this is her first movie role. Bishil stars as Jasira, a 13-year-old who's sent by her American mother (Maria Bello) to live in Houston with her strict Lebanese father (Peter Macdissi of Ball's TV series "Six Feet Under"). While there, she must navigate not just the difficulty of being different culturally, but also the conflicting physical and emotional urges welling within her. The various men surrounding Jasira don't exactly have her best interest in mind in that regard, including a leering neighbor (Aaron Eckhart) whose son she baby-sits and a horny classmate (Eugene Jones) who's probably a good guy at heart.
'Burn After Reading'
Rated R
3 stars
It's a total goof, of course. A lark, a one-off. The latest offering in the eclectic filmography of Joel and Ethan Coen is not to be taken seriously — one look at Brad Pitt's blond-streaked pouf of hair tells you that — and it's certainly not to be compared to their starkly violent Academy Award-winner from last year, "No Country for Old Men." Having said that, this is by no means a letdown as a follow-up. With its rat-a-tat dialogue and delusional characters, "Burn After Reading" falls more like the brothers' cult-favorite comedies like "Raising Arizona" and "The Big Lebowski." We are no longer in "No Country" but we are assuredly in Coen country. This time, they take their eye for regional detail to Washington for what looks like an espionage thriller, except that the spying uncovers no significant information, everyone is clueless and no one's ever truly in danger. But rather than treating their characters with condescension, the writing-directing brothers seem to have genuine affection for the idiots they've concocted — and the A-list actors are clearly having a blast playing them. John Malkovich, as a fired CIA analyst whose memoirs fall into the wrong hands, is a hilarious marvel of precise, percolating rage. The Coens' old pal, George Clooney, is almost as much of a buffoon here as he was in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Naturally, Frances McDormand is uniquely tuned into the Coens' rhythms, being one of their frequent stars (not to mention, Joel's wife). But Pitt steals every scene he's in — and nearly walks away with the whole movie — as an overgrown child of a gym trainer whose bungled schemes get him in way over his head.
'The Women'
Rated PG-13
1 1/2 stars
Somehow, Diane English has managed to make the "Sex and the City" movie look like a documentary. With her remake of the 1939 George Cukor cat fight, based on the play by Clare Booth Luce, English has applied all the lighthearted instincts of her sitcom background and seemingly none of the insights of the source material. "The Women" was intended as a satire of society mavens and their frivolous lives; in directing for the first time and writing the script, the "Murphy Brown" creator has turned it into a celebration. Meg Ryan stars in the Norma Shearer role as Mary Haines, a wealthy Connecticut wife and mother who learns that her husband is having an affair. The other woman? Still the perfume girl at the Saks Fifth Avenue cosmetics counter, the role that helped catapult Joan Crawford to fame, played here with cartoony va-va-voominess by Eva Mendes. Mary's friends, including magazine editor Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening), rally around her in her time of need, offering snappy one-liners and broad facial expressions. Debra Messing's character gets little more to do than pop out babies, which sets up the kind of lazy ending you'd find in the most hackneyed chick flick. Meanwhile, Jada Pinkett Smith as a predatory lesbian novelist feels like even more of an afterthought — and an insulting one, at that. English's "Murphy Brown" star Candice Bergen and Cloris Leachman briefly liven and class things up as Mary's mother and housekeeper, respectively. But the few moments that contain any semblance of truth or realism come from Mary's preteen daughter, who's suffering from body issues thanks to the oversaturation of impossible female images she sees. But then, how does her mother achieve her own sense of liberation and identity? By stitching together a fashion collection and runway show, complete with emaciated models.
'Bangkok Dangerous'
Rated R
1 1/2 stars
Nicolas Cage is back to his dreary former self — you know, the guy who starred in such downers as "8MM" and "Bringing Out the Dead" — with this tediously monotonous action flick. Actually, describing it as having "action" is charitable. There are indeed shootouts and chases. After all, Cage plays an assassin — that's all part of his gig. But twin Hong Kong directors Danny and Oxide Pang don't bring a whole lot of life to this story of killing. In remaking their own 1999 movie, the Pang brothers have smothered everything in a layer of greenish-gray grit, making even the rare daytime shots look like they're taking place in the wet, gloopy dead of night. Cage's hangdog demeanor and constant expression of constipation don't do much to engage us. He stars as a hit man named Joe — get it? Like he's your average Joe, like you could be an assassin, too, if you were to explore your darker impulses. The script from Jason Richman ("Swing Vote") finds Joe performing that hackneyed one last job when a Bangkok crime boss hires him to take out four enemies. Only, the bad guy turns out not to be as trustworthy as Joe initially thought. Thankfully, Joe is a creative sort (the drowning in a hotel pool is clever, both in its execution and in the way the scene is shot and edited). But Joe also finds time to mentor a young pickpocket (Shahkrit Yamnarm) he's hired as his assistant. And he squeezes in some awkward romance with a pretty, perky deaf pharmacist (Charlie Young).
'Frozen River'
Rated R
3 1/2 stars
When the two women first cross the river together — in the dead of winter, in a rickety Dodge Spirit — Melissa Leo's character, Ray, says what the audience is thinking: "This is so ... stupid." Well yes, it is, considering that each time she and Misty Upham's Lila drive across the rugged, icy expanse that separates Quebec and the Mohawk Indian Reservation of upstate New York, they have illegal immigrants stowed in the trunk — men and women from China and Pakistan willing to take this risk for the possibility of a better life. It's a miracle Ray and Lila make it from one side to the other once, much less several times without getting caught or, worse, falling through the precarious surface to their deaths. But then, "Frozen River" is a bit of a miracle itself: a small movie with hugely moving performances, one with a vivid sense of place that's never pretentious in its indie aesthetic. "Frozen River" is so quiet and precise and self-assured, you'd never know it's the feature debut of writer-director Courtney Hunt. She's come up with that rare thing: a film that feels completely original. Much of its allure comes from the natural, understated work of its actors, namely Leo, long known for her excellent character and supporting roles on TV's "Homicide: Life on the Streets" and in such films as "21 Grams." In her hands, the raven-haired Ray is never a caricature of a desperate mom, struggling to support her two kids alone once her no-good husband takes off just before Christmas. She makes us feel like we're watching a real person, her acting seems so effortless.
'Traitor'
Rated PG-13
2 stars
This is the kind of movie so many of us yearn to see: It's intense and intelligent, has something to say without being pedantic and presents complicated issues without condescending. It even boasts a solid cast, led by Don Cheadle (who's also a producer) and including Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels. So why does "Traitor" feel more than a bit off? Writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff takes this tale of terrorism and espionage — based on idea from Steve Martin — and runs with it all over the world, from Sudan and Yemen to Chicago and Washington to London and Marseilles. And yet by the end, with its much-ballyhooed twist, the whole endeavor leaves you feeling more drained than enlightened. Perhaps because "Traitor" aims to be equal parts explosive action and serious-minded character drama, it never completely hits the mark in either regard. As pure entertainment, it's too dry; as a heady dissection of world affairs, it's too shallow. But through Cheadle's Samir Horn, "Traitor" does take the admirable step of trying to understand and explain the philosophy of Islamic extremism. Samir is a former U.S. special operations officer whose Muslim faith has led him into terrorist activity. Pearce co-stars as the FBI agent trying to track him down, even as bombings around the world continue to create chaos and carnage. Daniels has a few strong scenes as a CIA agent who knows more than he lets on to his government cronies. And Cheadle is, of course, as smart and subtle as ever.
'Hamlet 2'
Rated R
2 stars
The play's the thing in "Hamlet" and it is here, as well. It's just about the only thing that makes this intentionally cringe-inducing theatrical parody worth watching. Sure, Steve Coogan has his hilarious moments as a delusional drama coach struggling to save the arts program at a Tucson, Ariz., high school, but that's all there is in the movie: moments. By now we know the British comic is capable of grabbing hold of a character and never letting go (see: Alan Partridge), so his commitment to playing the arrogant-but-pathetic former actor Dana Marschz is without question. But the material director Andrew Fleming ("Dick") and co-writer Pam Brady ("Team America: World Police") give him is hit-and-miss, at best. A lot of it was probably funnier in the conceptual stage than in the actual execution. In between the individually funny parts, though, is a great morass of redundant, one-note slog, which we must endure while we wait for Dana's wild, wonderfully campy production, "Hamlet 2." It's a musical he hopes will revive not just the school's drama program but his life, both professionally and personally. To call him a has-been would be charitable; he's more like a never-was. This would, in theory, engender some sympathy for him, but Dana tends to be too obnoxiously self-possessed to deserve it — unlike Christopher Guest's sweetly vulnerable Corky St. Clair in the great "Waiting for Guffman," who shares similar aspirations of greatness. Catherine Keener co-stars as his disdainful wife, with Amy Poehler playing the ACLU lawyer who fights to keep the totally inappropriate production — and its jaunty, 1950s-style ditty, "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" — from being shut down.
'The Rocker'
Rated PG-13
2 stars
This might really have rocked if it didn't feel like a cover of a couple of superior comedies. The first and most obvious is "School of Rock." As a shlumpy, 40ish drummer who missed his shot at heavy metal stardom, Rainn Wilson is pretty much channeling Jack Black here: the volatile man-child outbursts, the intensely pure feelings about rock music, even some of the crazy eyeball stuff feels way too familiar. And Wilson's character, Robert "Fish" Fishman, similarly gets a chance at redemption when he hooks up with a high school band that unexpectedly finds itself on the rise. But there are also plenty of elements of "This Is Spinal Tap," one of the greatest musical comedies ever. Twenty years ago, Fish played drums for the up-and-coming Cleveland hair band Vesuvius, but the other members (led by Will Arnett in leopard-print tights, eyeliner and shaggy, blond hair) cast him aside to secure a record deal. Everything about the parody of this type of metal is very Tap-esque, from the gaudy clothes and cheesy songs to the on-stage explosions and offstage egos. Nevertheless, Wilson has an engaging, goofy energy about him, as does the movie itself — for the most part. Peter Cattaneo, who earned an Academy Award nomination for directing "The Full Monty," brings some of the same unabashed, let's-put-on-a-show vibe of that 1997 British-American film. Too bad the music is so tame, like something you'd hear on Radio Disney. Emma Stone, Teddy Geiger and the likable, nerdy Josh Gad play Fish's band mates, with Christina Applegate, Jane Lynch and Jeff Garlin among the seasoned supporting cast.
'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'
Rated PG-13
3 stars
You should hate these people, really — these smug American yuppies chatting gaily about golf, tennis and boating over red wine on a sun-splashed Spanish afternoon. You're also free to abhor the painters, poets and musicians who populate Barcelona and spend their bohemian days idly debating the merits of love and art — when they're not wrapped up in making them both, that is. Somehow, Woody Allen makes us not just tolerate these people but find ourselves engaged in their adventures in this, his strongest film in quite a while. It's a romantic comedy, yes, in his great tradition of absurdity and longing. And it's an easy European romp, though it's surely superior to Allen's recent trilogy of London-based movies. But it's also tinged with melancholy, letting us know Allen isn't just mocking his characters but feeling a certain amount of sympathy for them in their confusion, which inevitably evokes a similar response from his audience. What's fascinating is the juxtaposition he's created here: In obviously stilted, overly literary tones, his narrator describes his characters' every action and emotion, and yet they themselves consistently behave in impulsive, contradictory ways. Rebecca Hall and Allen's recent muse, Scarlett Johansson, co-star as the titular Vicky and Cristina, best friends spending the summer in Barcelona who couldn't be more different in terms of their deeds and dreams. Vicky is a practical and structured student; Cristina is a restless and passionate photographer. But they both respond in surprising ways to sexy artist Juan Antonio (an irresistible Javier Bardem), a stranger who invites them to spend the weekend with him. Penelope Cruz is a force of nature as Juan Antonio's tempestuous ex-wife: She's fiery, funny and impossible to stop watching.
'Fly Me to the Moon'
Rated G
2 stars
A well-intentioned exercise at blending education and family entertainment, this 3-D animated tale ends up being only mildly educational and not all that entertaining. The story of three flies that tag along with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on Apollo 11's moon shot is reminiscent of the moment in "Apollo 13" when the TV networks decide against airing a live feed from the astronauts. The reason? NASA had made space travel so routine, at least until that moment on the ill-fated flight, that it became boring. Likewise, despite its unusual story line, the movie is routine and on the cusp of boring for audiences accustomed to such meatier animated flicks as "WALL-E" and "Kung Fu Panda." Director Ben Stassen, whose company nWave has pioneered 3-D films for large-screen IMAX cinemas, has crafted a technically proficient cartoon whose decent visuals are held to Earth by cute but dull characters, bland action and uninspired dialogue. The voice cast includes Christopher Lloyd, Nicollette Sheridan, Tim Curry and Adrienne Barbeau.
'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'
Rated PG
2 1/2 stars
While anything remotely "Star Wars" is potentially a welcome trek for hard-core fans, this will be a mixed thrill given that the saga returns to the big screen as a cartoon. George Lucas' prequel trilogy was so overloaded with computer-generated imagery that the digital animation of "Clone Wars" isn't that big of a leap. The somber tone of those three movies — chronicling the downfall of Anakin Skywalker from snotty teen to black-hearted Darth Vader — is gone, replaced with a variation of the campy humor and camaraderie that characterized the original trilogy. Still, a "Star Wars" movie should be an event. Whether because of its cartoony format or its relatively lightweight story, "Clone Wars" definitely is not an event. It's a fairly fun if forgettable little adventure that hurls Anakin and the rest of the gang into a kidnapping conspiracy and rescue amid a galactic civil war between clone soldiers and android troops. The movie is a glorified introduction to the "Clone Wars" animated series debuting this fall on TV — almost certainly a more appropriate home for a cartoon version of "Star Wars."
'Tropic Thunder'
Rated R
2 1/2 stars
Ben Stiller's Hollywood satire couldn't be any more "inside-baseball" if it contained references to the infield fly rule and Rule 5 draft picks. This movie-within-a-movie is certainly his most ambitious production as a director and it contains some of the biggest belly laughs of his career. But while it blends comedy and action sequences far more skillfully and seamlessly than this summer's "Pineapple Express," which shifted from one genre to the other, after a while the whole endeavor winds up feeling feels overwrought and repetitive. Stiller co-wrote the script with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen, produced and stars as Tugg Speedman, an increasingly irrelevant action hero who now leads the ensemble cast of the Vietnam War epic "Tropic Thunder." When Tugg and his equally pampered cast mates turn out to be too distracted to commit to the production, and costs start spiraling out of control, the first-time director (Steve Coogan) leads them into the jungle to bond and fend for themselves. But what they think is a carefully crafted exercise in make-believe turns out to be all too real. Jack Black is typically manic and a bit one-note as the drug-addicted comic star of the flatulent "Fatties" franchise. But it's Robert Downey Jr. who takes the humor to a daring, inspired level with his hilarious turn as an Australian method actor who undergoes skin-pigmentation surgery to play a black soldier. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise's supporting performance as a megalomaniacal studio chief has its wondrously freaky moments, but it's not nearly as career-altering as the hype would suggest.
'Pineapple Express'
Rated R
2 1/2 stars
The formula is pretty familiar by now in these Judd Apatow-produced comedies. A couple of buddies get into trouble, and as they try to bumble their way out of it, their friendship only grows stronger. There's even a word that's been coined for this pop-culture phenomenon: the "Bromance." "Pineapple Express" tries to breathe some fresh life into this comic genre by turning it into a serious action movie. But because it tries to be both, it doesn't completely work on either level. Seth Rogen and James Franco have great chemistry, though — not surprising, since they're both longtime Friends of Judd who co-starred on his TV series "Freaks and Geeks." Rogen also co-wrote the script with lifelong pal Evan Goldberg, with whom he wrote the script for "Superbad," which was inspired by their geeky adolescence. This time, Rogen plays a slightly more functional version of his "Knocked Up" slacker: His Dale Denton is a process server, but he's still dating a high-school girl and makes frequent trips to his pot dealer. That would be Franco's affable space cadet Saul Silver — a wildly different role for the actor, best known as the pretty-boy bad guy in the "Spider-Man" movies. Saul sells an inordinately strong strain of weed called Pineapple Express, which gets him and Dale into trouble when it tangles them up with a dirty cop (Rosie Perez) and a homicidal drug lord (Gary Cole). "Pineapple Express" is at its best when it's about these two guys getting to know each other by talking about absolutely nothing. But then it turns into a generic action picture, full of fist-fights and shootouts and explosions, in an obvious effort to be as broadly commercial as possible.
