Movies

Motion Picture Association of America ratings:

G – General audiences, all ages.

PG – Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 – Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children under 13.

R – Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or guardian.

NC-17 – No one under 17 admitted.

NR – Not rated.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

(B-) It doesn’t always come together, but visionary "Frieda" director Julie Taymor’s magical musical mystery tour through the ’60s boasts so many visual splendors (to say nothing of imaginative renderings of more than 30 Beatles tunes) you’re tempted to overlook the stale, trite romance between a working-class Brit named Jude (Jim Sturgess) and a starry-eyed, all-American idealist named Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) somewhere in New York City. (131 min.) PG-13; sexual situations, drug use, nudity, profanity, brief violence, mature themes. (C.C.)

AMERICAN GANGSTER

(C+) The greatest gangster story ever told? Not by a long shot. But it’s not for lack of trying. If anything, this saga — about a Harlem heroin kingpin (Denzel Washington) and the scrappy Jersey cop (Russell Crowe) out to bring him to justice — tries too hard to prove its credentials as a classic. Alas, it’s got two great stars, but only one great star part (Washington’s), throwing the movie off-balance. It’s still worth seeing, especially for the terrific performances, but it’s hardly the knockout it wants to be. (158 min.) R; violence, pervasive drug content and profanity, nudity, sexual situations. (C.C.)

AUGUST RUSH

(C-) Sugar rush would be more like it. Given up to a boys’ home at birth, an 11-year-old musical prodigy (Freddie Highmore) survives on the streets of New York and composes the siren call that will lure his musical parents (Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers) back together. If there’s anything more deflating than a captivating child actor as he transitions into gawky adolescence, it’ watching it happen in a lousy movie — which is exactly what happens to Highmore here. But it’s not all his fault; this is the kind of saccharine fairy tale that makes "Cinderella" look like kitchen-sink realism. (114 min.) PG; mild violence and profanity, mature themes.

BEE MOVIE

(B — what else?) Just out of college, bee student Barry B. Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld, who also co-writes) rebels against a career in honey and ventures outside the hive, where he encounters a sympathetic florist (voiced by Renée Zellweger) — and decides to sue the human race for stealing honey. Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Alan Arkin, Oprah Winfrey and Kathy Bates also buzz in and out of this fast-flying cartoon, while Seinfeld bats a zinger for every stinger. (90 min.) PG; mild suggestive humor.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD

(A-) A new career summit for venerable director Sidney Lumet ("Serpico," "Network," "Dog Day Afternoon"), still going strong at 83, who scores again with this feverishly taut drama of two bankrupt brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke) conspiring to rob a jewelry store — owned by their parents (Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris). Lumet never met a family feud he didn’t like; the result is a thriller of enormous holding power, one that craftily reconfigures the elements of family melodrama into the stuff of high tragedy. (116 min.) R; strong graphic sexuality, nudity, violence, drug use, profanity.

BELLA

(B-) In this People’s Choice award-winner from last year’s Toronto film festival, an ex-soccer star (Mexican pop and telenovela star Eduardo Verastegui), now a chef at his brother’s New York restaurant, plays hooky with a waitress (the wonderful Tammy Blanchard) who’s just discovered she might have a bun in the oven. A whisper of mystery and sprinkling of magic loft this parable of broken souls somewhere above the New York streets where it so comfortably tells its tale. (91 min.) PG-13; brief disturbing images, mature themes.

BEOWULF

(C) Director Robert Zemeckis uses 21st-century motion-capture technology to revive this Old English epic — and reshape its leading players — as the stalwart title warrior (voiced by Ray Winstone) battles a fearsome monster (Crispin Glover), the monster’s shape-shifting siren of a mother (Angelina Jolie) — and a persistent dragon. Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn and Brendan Gleeson co-star (sort of), providing the only human element in a movie where the special effects are the real stars of, and the only reason for, the show. It’s a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing much — which means you should see this in 3-D, where those effects really make an impact. (114 min.) PG-13; intense sequences of violence, sexual situations, nudity. (C.C.)

THE BRAVE ONE

(C) Jodie’s got a gun: A New York public radio host (Jodie Foster) becomes a pistol-packin’ urban avenger after slimy thugs beat her fiancé to death and leave her for dead in Central Park. Despite Foster’s full-bore intensity (and co-star Terrence Howard’s steady presence as the cop on her case), "The Brave One" proves that artists the caliber of Foster and director Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game") are just as capable of making a soulless revenge thriller as any Hollywood hack. (122 min.) R; strong violence, profanity, sexuality. (C.C.)

DAN IN REAL LIFE

(B-) It’s more like reel life than real life, but this romantic comedy provides genuine laughs, along with genuine heart, as a widowed advice columnist (gracefully goofy Steve Carell), on his way to his family’s annual reunion, meets a potential Ms. Right (sparkling Juliette Binoche), only to learn she’s the girlfriend of his playboy brother (Dane Cook). "Pieces of April" writer-director Peter Hedges proves he’s just as much at home in the mainstream as he was on the indie fringe. (99 min.) PG-13; sexual references. (C.C.)

DEEP SEA 3D

(B) Get up close and personal with ocean wildlife, unveiled in the reach-out-and-touch weirdness of Imax 3D at the Luxor. This giant-screen documentary introduces exotic denizens of the deep so extravagantly extraterrestrial, nothing created by Hollywood’s special effects labs could possibly compete. (40 min.) G; all ages.

DINOSAURS 3D: GIANTS OF PATAGONIA

(B+) Now at Luxor’s Imax theater, this excursion traces the evolution — and extinction — of giant prehistoric beasts that rip each other’s faces off in thrilling computer-generated segments showcasing species we didn’t see in "Jurassic Park." Paleontologist Rodolfo Coria proves a congenial tour guide, while Donald Sutherland’s droll narration emphasizes a quality all but extinct in large-format documentaries: humor. (40 min.) NR; very large, very loud dinosaurs.

ENCHANTED

(B) When an evil queen (a hammy Susan Sarandon) zaps storybook princess Giselle (the enchanting Amy Adams) to modern-day Manhattan to get her away from her princely stepson (James Marsden, delightfully dunderheaded), Giselle’s new surroundings — and a dreamy divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) — alter her happily-ever-after plans. This fractured, fun-for-the-whole-family fairytale succumbs to a spell of computer-generated effects overkill at the end, but until then this tuneful Disney charmer salutes and spoofs the studio’s hallowed traditions with equal flair. (107 min.) PG; scary images, mild innuendo. (C.C.)

FRED CLAUS

(C+) America’s Meathead, Vince Vaughn, plays the ne’er-do-well older brother of jolly old St. Nick (Paul Giamatti), who lets Fred work off some debts by coming to the North Pole to help out. Mistake! Comes on rowdy, but ends up as more of the same sticky holiday candy. Not even the starry supporting cast — which includes Miranda Richardson, Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Baker, Ludacris and Oscar-winners Rachel Weisz and Kevin Spacey — can save this cinematic fruitcake from Vaughn’s "Wedding Crashers" director, David Dobkin. (116 min.) PG; mild profanity, rude humor.

THE GAME PLAN

(C) Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson acquits himself nicely enough in this overcooked kitsch-fest, in which he plays a preening pro quarterback forced to get over himself when he meets the 8-year-old daughter (adorably bratty Madison Pettis) he never knew he had. Kyra Sedgwick, Morris Chestnut and Roselyn Sanchez co-star in a family-friendly Disney romp that’s as artificial as it is predictable. (110 min.) PG; mild thematic elements.

GONE BABY GONE

(B+) Ben Affleck directs his younger brother Casey to impressive effect in this gritty thriller about a private detective combing the mean streets of South Boston for a missing child. The set-up’s familiar, but the delivery’s anything but, thanks to terrific performances — including those from Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Amy Ryan and especially Ed Harris as a tormented cop. The moral conundrums their characters face may have you pondering their decisions for days. (114 min.) R; violence, profanity, drug use. (C.C.)

GOOD LUCK CHUCK

(D+) Bad luck for the audience: This boorish exercise in high-testosterone low comedy casts Dane Cook as a dentist (Dane Cook) whose former girlfriends always become engaged to other guys. Poor Jessica Alba turns up as a klutzy aquarium specialist who might be his Ms. Right, but even her cutie-pie appeal withers in the face of the sexed-up, dumbed-down humor. (96 min.) R; strong sexual content including crude dialogue, nudity, profanity, drug use.

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

(B-) Familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt, in the bleak fifth chapter of J.K. Rowling’s beloved tales, as an authoritarian bureaucrat (smilingly sinister Imelda Staunton) seizes power at Hogwarts magic academy — and casts a suspicious eye on Harry (quietly intense Daniel Radcliffe), who rebels when the powers-that-be doubt that villainous Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned. Not great or wildly imaginative, but good enough to get the job done. (138 min.) PG-13; fantasy violence, frightening images. (C.C.)

THE HEARTBREAK KID

(C-) Watching Ben Stiller squirm usually means major yuks. This time, the yuks turn to yuck as Stiller squirms in a strained, lame-brain comedy about a honeymooner who finds his Ms. Right — while he’s honeymooning with someone else. Unlike the scathingly satirical 1972 original, this remake settles for raunchy slapstick that’s remarkable only for its misogyny — and its lack of laughs. (116 min.) R; strong sexual situations, nudity, crude humor, profanity. (C.C.)

HITMAN

(C) Genetically engineered assassin (Timothy Olyphant) meets babe (Olga Kurylenko), falls for same in a video game adaptation that tracks Agent 47 as he dashes across Eastern Europe, killing targets for cash — with Interpol and the Russian military in hot pursuit. Director Xavier Gens, who created the appallingly violent French slasher flick "Frontier(s)," goes a bit softer on the violence here, but it’s still a cartoon that’s essentially an episode of "24." That may be a step up from a video game, but it’s getting hard to tell. (100 min.) R; strong bloody violence, profanity, sexual situations, nudity.

I’M NOT THERE

(A) Writer-director Todd Haynes’ heroic, gloriously musical exploration of Bob Dylan, American mythology and the fine line between what is true and not, and when we stop caring. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw embody various stages in the life of the enigmatic Dylan in an inventive, challenging movie that feels like the most alive work to hit the screen in ages. If you are, as you say, so tired of the old, then here is the new. Embrace it, or please shut up. (135 min.) R; profanity, sexual situations, nudity.

INTO THE WILD

(A-) Some people march to a different drummer — including wannabe Thoreau Christopher McCandless (quietly powerful Emile Hirsch), who abandons law-school plans for an unsettling odyssey toward a fateful solitude in Alaska. Writer-director Sean Penn’s adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction best-seller makes for exhilarating, harrowing — and thoroughly compelling — moviegoing, with Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn and an Oscar-caliber Hal Holbrook as unforgettable characters McCandless meets on the road. (153 min.) R; profanity, nudity, brief violence. (C.C.)

LIONS FOR LAMBS

(C) Silver-screen icons Tom Cruise (as a rising-star Republican Senator), Meryl Streep (as a savvy Washington, D.C., reporter) and Robert Redford, who also directs (as a liberal political science professor) lead this parade of talking heads, a staged (and stagy) three-part critique of political action, and reaction, in the Age of Terror. There’s bound to be at least one character whose opinions you endorse. Whether there’s a character you care about is another matter entirely. (92 min.) R; combat violence, profanity. (C.C.)

LIONS 3D: ROAR OF THE KALAHARI

(B+) This award-winning National Geographic production, filmed in the wild by Tim Liversedge, goes 3D, focusing on a lion king’s battle with a young challenger for control of his throne — and a valuable water hole in Botswana’s Kalahari desert. It’s not a new movie, but this remastered giant-screen version, now at the Luxor’s Imax theater, has been magically transformed: you’re not merely there, you’re a lion, an honorary member of the pride. (40 min.) NR; animal violence.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA

(C-) Don’t judge the book by its movie, especially when it’s this sluggish adaptation of Gabriel García Marquez’s sensual epic, set in 19th-century Colombia, about a romantic clerk ("No Country for Old Men’s" Javier Bardem, struggling valiantly) who never stops yearning for his first love (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), even after she marries a prominent doctor (Benjamin Bratt). Overheated and overwrought, this handsome but almost lifeless pageant suffers from severe directorial miscasting, with Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Donnie Brasco") unable to capture the magical realism that helped make Marquez’s novel such a spellbinder. (138 min.) R; sexual situations, nudity, brief profanity. (C.C.)

LUST, CAUTION

(B+) Oscar-winning "Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee returns with another provocative tale, a sexy, suspenseful espionage thriller, set in Japanese-occupied 1940s Shanghai, about a young actress (the terrific Tang Wei) who loses herself in her real-life role when she’s assigned to spy on and seduce a Japanese collaborator (the smouldering Tony Leung). Paul Verhoeven’s "Black Book" covered similar territory, but this casts a spell all its own. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (158 min.) NC-17; explicit sexual situations, violence, nudity, adult content. (C.C.)

MICHAEL CLAYTON

(B+) One man’s corporate failure is another man’s moral triumph in this legal thriller about a world-weary fixer for an elite law film (a peak-form George Clooney) who’s had it with cleaning up behind-the-scenes messes. Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack anchor the ace supporting cast of a movie for those willing to pay attention as the manipulative characters plot their moves, score their points — and gauge the price they’ll eventually have to pay. (120 min.) R; profanity, including sexual dialogue. (C.C.)

THE MIST

(C) Giant, bloodthirsty creatures unleashed by a freak storm prey upon a Maine village, and people (played by, among others, Thomas Jane, Andre Braugher, Toby Jones and a holy-rolling Marcia Gay Harden) react in unconstructive ways. There is a mind behind "Shawshank Redemption" writer-director Frank Darabont’s windy adaptation of yet another Stephen King novella, with yet another Chicken Little admonition built upon the cynical belief that when the sky really falls, we’ll reveal our true inner beast — and prey on one another. Enough with that already. (127 min.) R; violence, terror and gore, profanity.

MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM

(B-) Dustin Hoffman plays the longtime owner (we’re talking centuries) of a magical toy shop who’s reaching the end of the line; Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman and Zach Mills are three disparate souls he taps as his heirs apparent. Screenwriter Zach Helm ("Stranger Than Fiction") makes his directorial debut with a family-friendly fantasy that lays on the color and whimsy with a trowel, but it’s a reasonably pleasant way to put kids into a frenzied shopping spirit for the coming holidays. (94 min.) G; all ages.

MYSTERY OF THE NILE

(B+) This Imax documentary, playing at the Luxor, chronicles the first descent of the Blue Nile from source to sea, a 3,250-mile, 114-day odyssey that brings explorers face-to-face with rapids, crocodiles, bandits, malaria, sandstorms and the fierce desert sun. (47 min.) NR; all ages.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

(A) The Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, get back to basics with this instant-classic adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the wild New West, circa 1980. The Coens’ best since 1996’s "Fargo," this finds unlikely but undeniable deadpan humor on the blood-soaked trail of a crime spree gone wrong, as a good ol’ boy (comeback kid Josh Brolin) finds a $2-million stash of cash at the site of a botched drug deal — and finds himself on the run from a spectral psycho killer (a stunning Javier Bardem). Tommy Lee Jones rounds out the superb starring trio as a old-school sheriff who feels mighty discombobulated living in a West where there’s no code anymore. (122 min.) R; strong graphic violence, profanity, nudity. (C.C.)

SAW IV

(D) Talk about taking an idea and torturing it to death: This horror sequel explores the origins of the demented Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), as FBI profilers help a veteran detective (Costas Mandylor) put the pieces of Jigsaw’s puzzle together. It’s somewhat better constructed than the second and third "Saw" sequels, though there’s nary a scare, except for a line of dialogue that should chill any horror fan to the bone: "The games have just begun." Say it ain’t so. (108 min.) R; grisly bloody violence and torture, profanity.

SEA MONSTERS: A PREHISTORIC ADVENTURE

(B+) Go under the sea — and back in time — with this Imax 3D documentary from National Geographic, now at the Luxor, about the 82-million-year-old creatures that swam the world’s oceans — from the Tylosaurus (the T. rex of the deep) to the most dangerous sea monster of all, the mosasaur. If you want to see something that just screams "Wow!", this combination of modern-day science and modern-day special effects is better than a lifelong angler’s best fish story. (40 min.) NR; all ages.

THIS CHRISTMAS

(B) When the Whitfield family convenes in Los Angeles for its first holiday reunion in four years, its members seem to bring more secrets with them than gifts. Writer-director Preston A. Whitmore II serves up an overstuffed but satisfying Yuletide comedy-drama with a fine cast that includes Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, Loretta Devine, Regina King, Sharon Leal, Laz Alonzo, Mekhi Phifer and Chris Brown. (117 min.) PG-13; comic sexual content, violence.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT

(C-) Bobbing for Adam’s apples: An Alaska town buried in uninterrupted darkness for a month becomes a cafeteria for the undead in a horror movie with a promisingly good, bloody premise. Alas, it becomes progressively anemic — at least for those hungering for a horror movie that’s something other than a runaway meat wagon driven by the Marquis de Sade. Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Danny Huston (who’s impressive as leader of the vampire legion) lead the cast. (113 min.) R; strong horror violence, profanity.

3:10 TO YUMA

(B) In post-Civil War Arizona, a downtrodden rancher (Christian Bale) joins a posse escorting a wily outlaw (Russell Crowe) to the prison-bound title train, setting up a psychological as well as a literal showdown. This rip-snortin’ remake of the 1957 original isn’t the second coming of the Western, dang it, but the dynamic Crowe-Bale duo demonstrates the satisfaction of watching two men — one good, one bad, with more in common than either imagined — facing off in a life-or-death test. (117 min.) R; violence, profanity, sexual references. (C.C.)

WE OWN THE NIGHT

(B-) In ’80s Brooklyn, a second-generation cop (Mark Wahlberg) clashes with his brother (Joaquin Phoenix), a coked-up nightclub owner linked to the Russian mob. Writer-director James Gray has traveled this road before (in "Little Odessa" and "The Yards," the latter with Wahlberg and Phoenix), which may explain why this seems solid and suspenseful, yet sometimes implausible and woefully familiar. (117 min.) R; strong violence, drug material, profanity, sexual content, brief nudity.

WHY DID I GET MARRIED?

(C) The best of Tyler Perry’s string of therapeutic dramas — which makes it mediocre rather than intolerable. Perry adapts his play, directs and stars (alongside Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba, Tasha Smith and Richard T. Jones) in a tale of married couples shocked by infidelity in their midst. You don’t have to be black to enjoy this, but you do need a strong desire to watch people work out their issues using pop-psychology and self-help techniques. (118 min.) PG-13; mature themes, sexual references, profanity.