MOVIES - Feb. 28, 2010

Capsule reviews are by Kenneth Turan (K.Tu.), Betsy Sharkey (B.S.) and other reviewers. Compiled by Anthony Miller.

Openings

FRIDAY

Alice in Wonderland Alice returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror. With Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas and Mia Wasikowska. Screenplay by Linda Wolverton, from the books by Lewis Carroll. Directed by Tim Burton. In Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D. (1:49) PG. Story on Page D4.

Brooklyn’s Finest In the course of one chaotic week, the lives of three conflicted New York City police officers are dramatically transformed by their involvement in a massive drug operation. With Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Will Patton, Lili Taylor and Ellen Barkin. Written by Michael C. Martin. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. (2:20) R.

Ran Chaos ensues when a warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons in an epic inspired by legends of the 16th century Japanese lord Mori Motonari and Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” Directed by Akira Kurosawa. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2:42) R.

Critics’ Choices

Ajami One of the five foreign-language Oscar finalists, this look at cultures in conflict in today’s Israel has a complex, elliptical structure and uses unconventional filming techniques to tell a bleak and fatalistic story that’s conveyed with an unnerving sense of verisimilitude. (K.Tu., Feb. 19) (2 hrs.) NR.

An Education Invariably funny and inexpressibly moving in the way it looks at a young girl’s journey from innocence to experience, this film does so many things so well, it’s difficult to know where to begin cataloging its virtues. What’s easy is knowing where you’ll end up, which is marveling like everyone else at the performance by Carey Mulligan that is the film’s irreplaceable centerpiece. (K.Tu., Oct. 16) (1:35) NR.

Avatar Think of “Avatar” as “The Jazz Singer” of 3-D filmmaking. Think of it as the most expensive and accomplished Saturday matinee movie ever made. Think of it as the ultimate James Cameron production. Whatever way you choose to look at it, “Avatar’s” shock and awe demand to be seen. You’ve never experienced anything like it, and neither has anyone else. (K.Tu., Dec. 17) Also in IMAX 3D. (2:30) PG-13.

Broken Embraces Something almost magical happens whenever actress Penélope Cruz and filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar work together, and so it is with “Broken Embraces,” a twisted tale of love, death and a badly edited film. The writer/director is up to his old tricks, creating an onion of an experience -- a movie within a movie within a movie. Cruz’s performance is just as complex. And the moral of this story? Whatever else you do, never mess with the director’s cut. (B.S., Dec. 11) In Spanish with English Subtitles. (2:09) R.

Crazy Heart There’s a powerful symmetry at work here, a parallel between protagonist Bad Blake, a country singer whose entire life has led him to a nadir of disintegration, and star Jeff Bridges, whose exceptional film choices have put him at the height of his powers just in time to make Mr. Blake the capstone role of his career. (K.Tu., Dec. 16) (1:52) R.

Fish Tank Mia is 15, all elbows and anger, going at her life in a rundown apartment complex in Essex as if it were one long skirmish in British filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s exceptionally well-crafted drama, “Fish Tank.” Featuring newcomer Katie Jarvis, the 17-year-old so completely captures the innocence, cynicism and rage of a child of poverty and divorce on the edge of adulthood that it feels as if you are spying on Mia, so achingly real, so tangible does her world seem here. (B.S., Jan. 29) (2:02) NR.

The Ghost Writer Made by a filmmaker suddenly returned to the height of his powers, this is a thriller wrapped around a roman à clef about contemporary politics wrapped around director Roman Polanski’s trademark cynicism. An effortless blending of personal preoccupations with audience preferences that recalls the classic work of Alfred Hitchcock. (K.Tu., Feb. 19) (1:35) PG-13.

The Hurt Locker The film has the killer impact of the explosive devices that are the heart of its plot: It simply blows you apart and doesn’t bother putting you back together again. Tense, overflowing with crackling verisimilitude, it’s both the film about the war in Iraq that we’ve been waiting for and the kind of unqualified triumph that’s been long expected from director Kathryn Bigelow. (K.Tu., June 26) (2:07) R.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Heath Ledger’s last project is a film as unusual and idiosyncratic as its one-of-a-kind title. You’d expect no less from Terry Gilliam, and admirers of this singular filmmaker will be happy to know that “Imaginarium” is his most original and accessible work in years. (K.Tu., Dec. 25) (2:02) PG-13.

Invictus Blending entertainment, social message and history lesson, director Clint Eastwood’s latest film focuses on one particular moment in history, when South Africa’s newly elected leader Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, tried something so brazen, so risky, that his closest advisors were not only against it, they also thought it was political suicide. (K.Tu., Dec. 11) (2:12) PG-13.

North Face It is almost impossible not to be caught up in the spell of “North Face.” As riveting and exhilarating as it is heartbreaking, the film is loosely based on the 1936 attempt by two mountain-climbing teams to be the first to summit the Swiss massif dubbed “Eiger,” the ogre. But this far more than man versus mountain. German director Philipp Stölzl captures the growing Nazi menace that played a significant role in this drama as deftly as the singular obsession of two country boys determined to reach Eiger’s peak and, they hope, immortality. (B. S., Feb. 12) (2:06) NR.

Precious Nothing quite prepares you for the rough-cut diamond that is “Precious.” A rare blend of pure entertainment and dark social commentary, this shockingly raw, surprisingly irreverent and absolutely unforgettable story of an obese, illiterate, pregnant black Harlem teen named Precious is one that should not be missed. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe is impressive as the 16-year-old, but it is the boldness of Mo’Nique’s performance as her soul-destroying nightmare of a mother, that sweeps you away. (B.S., Nov. 6) (1:49) R.

The Princess and the Frog Go ahead and pucker up. Because long before “The Princess and the Frog” is over you’ll want to smooch the charming couple in this foot-stomping, smile-inducing, heart-warming animated twist on the old Brothers Grimm frog-prince fairy tale. Set in jazz age New Orleans, the film is a return to the lush, fluid beauty of hand-drawn animation. (B.S., Nov. 25) (1:35) G.

Shutter Island In “Shutter Island,” director Martin Scorsese has created a divinely dark and devious brain tease in the best noir tradition with its smarter-than-you’d-think cops, their-tougher-than-you’d-imagine cases to crack, and enough nods to the classic genre for an all-night parlor game. It’s 1954 when Leonardo DiCaprio’s U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, played by Mark Ruffalo, are dispatched to an asylum for the criminally insane to investigate a dicey disappearance. But there are deeper mysteries here and it turns out that Scorsese has a lot more on his mind than a crazy inmate on the loose. Meanwhile, Teddy has a few skeletons of his own. There are flaws, but none lethal and, in the end, Scorsese gives us a new noir classic with DiCaprio -- brilliant as Teddy -- racing to solve the case and hang onto his sanity at the same time. -- (B.S., Feb. 19) (2:18) R.

A Single Man We’re always looking for those performances that define an actor, where we can sit back and simply watch the talent soar. “A Single Man” is that film for Colin Firth, until now probably best known for his work in the “Bridget Jones” films. His portrayal of George, the single man in question, should change all that. Fashion designer Tom Ford has constructed an impressive directing debut out of Christopher Isherwood’s dark novel, with our tragedy beginning on the day George has determined will be his last. (B.S., Dec. 11) (1:39) NR.

A Town Called Panic To really understand the zany and surreal comic mash-up you’re going to have to see it for yourself. The first stop-motion animated feature to be an official Cannes selection, “Panic” is the offshoot of a French language Belgian tv series that has quite the following all across Europe. Made with an anarchic, anything goes spirit, this is truly a film, not to mention a town, where you never know what’s going to happen next. (K.Tu., Jan. 29) (1:15) NR.

Up in the Air Director/co-writer Jason Reitman makes it look easy. In this comic drama about a road warrior played by George Clooney, he blends entertainment and insight, comedy and poignancy, even drama and reality, things that are difficult by themselves but a whole lot harder in combination. This film does all that and never seems to break a sweat. (K.Tu., Dec. 4) (1:49) R.

The White Ribbon We don’t go to Michael Haneke films for comfort, but to gaze through a glass darkly. That vision -- tense, provocative and -- is on full display in “The White Ribbon,” which could be considered a culmination of this difficult director’s brilliant career. Set in an ordinary German village on the eve of World War I, the film looks at the children who would survive that war and grow into the generation that would bend to Hitler’s sway. History hovers over “White Ribbon” with the force of impending doom. (B.S., Dec. 30) (2:24) R.

The Young Victoria Starring Emily Blunt as the 18-year-old queen of England circa 1837, the film is a rich pastiche of first love, teen empowerment, fabulous fashion and fate. Together with Rupert Friend as Prince Albert, as we follow them through courtship, coronation and just beyond, they create a couple you’ll want to see again. But until then, “The Young Victoria” is a great place to start. (B.S., Dec. 18) (1:44) PG.

Also in Theaters

2012 This new disaster film insists the world will end with both a bang and a whimper, the bang of undeniably impressive special effects and the whimper of inept writing and characterization. You pays your money, you takes your choice chances. (K.Tu., Nov. 13) (2:38) PG-13.

3 Idiots To leery American moviegoers, the title might sound like something eminently dismissible, but in the month since its initial Asian release it’s become the highest-grossing Bollywood film ever. It’s easy to see why too, as director Rajkumar Hirani’s coming-of-age epic toggles entertainingly between a close-knit trio of engineering school students and their fortunes 10 years later. Sporting a culturally resonant message (about following one’s passion), it boasts a hard-to-resist genre multi-pack of college high jinks, familial drama, screwball romance, inspirational heart-tugging, tragedy, musical interludes and even an identity mystery. (Robert Abele, Jan. 29) (2:44) NR.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel Perhaps not since “The Godfather Part II” have we seen a sequel that matches the mastery of the film that came before it -- all the pathos, the brio, the epic sweep . . . . the cheese balls. (B.S., Dec. 23) (1:28) PG.

The Blind Side Watching “The Blind Side” is like watching your favorite football team; you’ll cheer when things go well, curse when they don’t, and be reminded that in football, as in life, it’s how you play the game that counts -- though winning doesn’t hurt either. (B.S., Oct. 20) (2:06) PG-13.

Blood Done Sign My Name Based on the story of racial upheaval and ensuing social change provoked by the acquittal of a white father and son accused of murdering a black man in cold blood and in full public view in the 1970s in Oxford, N.C. With Nate Parker, Rick Schroder, Afemo Omilami, Lela Rochon, Nick Searcy and Michael Rooker. Written and directed by Jeb Stuart. (2:08) PG-13.

The Book of Eli A lean, stark, surprisingly effective headliner in Hollywood’s ongoing apocalyp-alooza, “The Book of Eli” marks a return to form for co-directors Allen and Albert Hughes. A sly Old Testament “Mad Max”-y sort of Western, the film may traffic in familiar landscapes and archetypes, but it allows its cast the space and time to make the characters breathe. “The Book of Eli” works, even if the preservation of Christianity isn’t high on your personal post-apocalypse bucket list. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 15) (1:58) R.

Brothers Director Jim Sheridan sets the table early on for everything that will unfold in “Brothers.” It’s a last supper of sorts for the Cahill family, featuring Tobey Maguire as older brother Sam, a Marine captain returning to Afghanistan, and Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), younger by a few years, a roguish reprobate just out of jail. Unfortunately, the film goes about as badly as the dinner, overcooked or underdone, depending on the scene. (B.S., Dec. 4) (1:50) R.

Cop Out Two longtime NYPD partners on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card find themselves up against a merciless, memorabilia-obsessed gangster. With Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Adam Brody, Kevin Pollak, Guillermo D?az, Seann William Scott and Jason Lee. Written by Robb Cullen and Mark Cullen. Directed by Kevin Smith. (1:50) R.

The Crazies A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness after a mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers in this terrifying reinvention of the 1973 George Romero horror classic. With Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson and Danielle Panabaker. Directed by Breck Eisner. (1:41) R.

Céline: Through the Eyes of the World A breezy, briskly edited chronicle of Céline Dion’s 2008 worldwide Taking Chances tour, Stéphane Laporte’s mild hagiography crams a few timid peeks behind the scenes of her elaborately choreographed spectacle between concert snippets and gushing fan testimonials. Although there’s ample opportunity for Dion to show off her seamless multi-octave range, few songs are presented from start to finish, and those that are lack any hint of live ambience. Some concert movies make you feel like you have the best seat in the house; this one plants you squarely in front of the Jumbotron. (Sam Adams, Feb. 19) (1:57) NR.

Daybreakers A decade after a vampire plague has swept the globe, the remaining human population is no more than rapidly dwindling food stock. Any higher intentions are brought crashing down by predictability, wooden characters, giggle-inducing attempts at scares and cinematography so gloomy it should be checked for serotonin deficiency. This isn’t the film to relieve our collective vampire fatigue. (Michael Ordona, Jan. 8) (1:38) R.

Dear John A young soldier home on leave falls in love with an idealistic college student during her spring vacation and over the next few years they meet only sporadically and correspond through love letters. With Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Henry Thomas, Scott Porter and Richard Jenkins. Screenplay by Jamie Linden, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Directed by Lasse Hallström. (1:48) PG-13.

Defendor The story of an everyday guy comes to believe he’s a superhero, told not only through his point of view but also that of his psychiatrist and a teenager he befriends. With Woody Harrelson, Sandra Oh, Kat Dennings and Elias Koteas. Written and directed by Peter Stebbings. (1:41) R.

Did You Hear About the Morgans? So here’s a question for the Feds whose witness protection program takes care of Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, the couple on the edge of divorce in “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” What about the rest of us? We could have used some protection here too from this cliche-riddled romantic comedy. (B.S., Dec. 18) (1:43) PG-13.

Easier With Practice An introverted writer becomes involved in a phone sex escapade. With Brian Geraghty, Kel O’Neill, Marguerite Moreau and Katie Aselton. Based on a story by Davy Rothbart. Written and directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez. (1:44) NR.

Edge of Darkness Moviegoers off to see the new Mel Gibson movie “Edge of Darkness” are likely to be doing so because their man Mel is back on the edge after nearly eight years off as a top-lined screen actor. Kill someone’s only child and what do you have? You have a righteous avenger role almost too well suited for Gibson’s persona. That famous face has become deeply creased, a little haunted and more interesting. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 29) (1:48) R.

Extraordinary Measures This film, starring Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford, is a desperate drama of a father racing against time to find a cure for a rare genetic disease that is killing two of his children. So you know going in that the challenge for director Tom Vaughan is how to handle the science and the sentiment. He opts for restrain, giving us a life and death story that feels oddly emotionless. (B.S., Jan. 22) (1:46) PG.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox With George Clooney and Meryl Streep as the most urbane couple in the vulpine world, this adaptation of the much-loved Roald Dahl novel animates not only forest animals but the career of director Wes Anderson. (K.Tu., Nov. 13) (1:28) PG.

Formosa Betrayed An FBI aent investigates the brutal murder of a Taiwanese-American professor on U.S. soil. With James Van Der Beek, Wendy Crewson, John Heard, Will Tiao and Leslie Hope. Written by Tiao. Directed by Adam Kane. (1:48) R.

From Paris With Love A low-level CIA operative finds himself the target of a crime ring he’s trying to bust on his first real assignment. With John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak and Richard Durden. Screenplay by Adi Hasak, based on a Story by Luc Besson. Directed by Pierre Morel. (1:35) R.

Frozen Three snowboarders are stranded on the chairlift before their last run, left dangling high off the ground with no way down. With Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore and Emma Bell. Written and directed by Adam Green. (1:34) R.

The Girl on the Train Suggested by a real-life incident of reported anti-Semitism, this film by French director André Téchiné is, as always, concerned with the human dynamics of a given situation, with the mysteries of interpersonal behavior and the paradoxes and contradictions of the way people act. (K.Tu., Feb. 19) In French and Hebrew with English subtitles. (1:45) NR.

The Good Guy If you’ve ever wondered whether it is even possible for a fast-track Wall Street player to have a heart, “The Good Guy” makes a run at answering that question, spending some quality time at the intersection of stock traders and romantic bonds. The film stars Alexis Bledel as Beth, the good girl stranded on that dangerous corner, with Scott Porter as her hot broker/hot boyfriend Tommy and Bryan Greenberg as the new guy who might be falling for her too. First time writer-director Julio DePietro delivers a more-clever-than-most window into modern urban yuppie mating rituals, tracking just how tough it is to keep a grip on love and the corporate ladder at the same time. (B.S., Feb. 19) (1:30) R.

It’s Complicated The problem with this romantic comedy about the menopausal crowd starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, is that it’s not nearly complicated enough. The film is the latest from writer/director Nancy Meyers, who has been working through her issues on screen for at least 20 years. She’s given us her thinnest slice of comic relationship angst yet, proving, I guess, that you actually can be too thin. (B.S., Dec. 25) (1:58) R.

Leap Year begins terribly, and I mean terribly, as its genial performers -- Amy Adams and Matthew Goode -- plug away and do what they can to humanize material that puts the “ick” in “formulaic.” They hate each other at first. Then they don’t. And there you have it: another rom-com without much rom or com. “Leap Year” simply proves what we guessed going in: that Adams can redeem almost anything. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 8) (1:40) PG.

Legion Movies this ludicrous pull back from all-out camp at their own peril. So, while Kevin Durand’s louche archangel Gabriel is a juicy howler, the mini-chamber dramas of faithlessness and bruised hope among the mortals, as concocted by director Scott Stewart and credited co-screenwriter Peter Schink, are snooze-worthy, cliché-ridden afterthoughts. (Robert Abele, Jan. 25) (1:40) R.

The Lovely Bones By turns warmly sentimental, serial-killer sinister and science-fiction fantastical, Alice Sebold’s novel was an unlikely book to achieve world-wide success. In Peter Jackson’s film version, those mismatched elements come back to haunt the story, so to speak, making the final product more hit and miss than unblemished triumph. (K.Tu., Dec. 11) (2:16) PG-13.

My Name Is Khan Karan Johar’s sweeping epic in the melodramatic Bollywood manner emerges as a potent, engaging and timely entertainment. Shahrukh Khan stars as Rizwan Khan, whose Asperger’s syndrome goes undiagnosed until the death of his loving mother sends him off to San Francisco to live with his younger brother. The film evolves from the story of a man with Asperger’s learning to live a successful, happy life to that of a man who embarks, in the wake of tragedy and violence, on an odyssey to declare to President Obama, “I am a Muslim and I am not a terrorist.” Khan and co-star Kajol, major Bollywood stars, are highly appealing and equal to the demand of their emotion-charged roles. (Kevin Thomas, Feb. 13) (2:25) NR.

Nine is one of those films that couldn’t look better on paper. An all-star cast headlined by Daniel Day-Lewis, Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, and Fergie. There are so many Oscar, Tony and Grammy winners involved that the production should have literally glittered with all that gold. But in the end, nothing adds up. Perhaps “Zero” would have been a better title. (B.S., Dec. 18) (1:50) PG-13.

October Country A documentary portrait of a working class American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war and facing the challenges of recurring teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse. Directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher. (1:20) NR.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief As directed by the risk-averse and reliably commercial Chris Columbus, “Percy Jackson” has standard Hollywood product so written all over it that the fact that it is unadventurous and uninteresting can be figured out from the film’s advertising and promotion material alone. There’s clearly a lot of classical mythology to be learned from “The Lightning Thief,” but that’s the best that can be said of it. “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” is what the poet Dante put on Hades’ gates, and unwary adults tempted by this film should take that line very much to heart. (K.Tu., Feb. 12) Directed by Chris Columbus. (2 hrs.) PG.

Planet 51The action in this kids flick takes place on an alternate-universe version of Earth where Shrek-green humanoids live out SoCal-accented happy days. When astronaut Chuck Baker (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) emerges from his lunar module, the little green people freak out. (Glenn Whipp, Nov. 20) (1:31) PG.

A Prophet The life of an illiterate young Arab is in danger when he is transferred to a penitentiary split between organized gangs. With Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup and Adel Bencherif. Written by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain. Directed by Audiard. In French, Arabic, and Corsican with English subtitles. (2:30) NR.

Red Riding Trilogy The powerfully disturbing “Red Riding” trilogy will haunt you night and day. It’s not the five-hours-plus length of this trio of devastatingly bleak modern British noir films that’s daunting. Strongly made by three different directors with three different crews but using scripts from the same writer and the same cast for its recurring characters, these films are put together with so much ability and skill that the time simply melts away. (K.Tu., Feb. 12) (1.1974, 1:45, 2.1980, 1:36, 3.1983, 1:44) NR.

The Road Despite numerous strong areas, including fine acting by Viggo Mortensen and young Kodi Smit-McPhee as father-and-son survivors of an unnamed apocalypse, what we’ve been given is no more than a reasonable facsimile, an honorable attempt at filming Cormac McCarthy’s unfilmable book. (K.Tu., Nov. 25) (1:50) R.

Sherlock Holmes Briskly directed by Guy Ritchie and starring an expert Robert Downey, Jr., this 21st-century look at the great Victorian detective has been tripped up by a series of misadventures that leave us wishing for the film that might have been. (K.Tu., Dec. 25) (2:09) PG-13.

The Spy Next Door On the ground or twirling in a stunt harness above it, Jackie Chan brings an air of determined good cheer to even the most metallic of clunkers “The Spy Next Door” operates on familial bonding by way of humiliating pranks, which in better circumstances might go by the name of slapstick. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 15) (1:32) PG.

Teen Patti Two mathematicians test out a new theory in the real world. With Amitabh Bachchan, Madhavan and Ben Kingsley. Directed by Leena Yadav. (2:20) NR.

Terribly Happy After a nervous breakdown, a Copenhagen police officer is transferred to a small provincial Jutland town to take on the mysteriously vacated marshal position and subsequently gets mixed up with a married femme fatale. Based on a novel by Erling Jepsen. (1:40) NR.

The Tooth Fairy The poster’s the funniest thing about the project: Dwayne Johnson, sporting a pair of fairy wings larger than his forearms, glaring at the camera. Billy Crystal is good for a chuckle or two as an elder fairy statesman. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 22) (1:42) PG.

Valentine’s Day To paraphrase that Southern philosopher Mama Gump, “Valentine’s Day” is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. Because the man handing out this particularly box is “Pretty Woman’s” Garry Marshall, the hearts-on-sleeves sentimentality won’t come as a surprise. (B.S., Feb. 12) (1:30) PG-13.

When in Rome Certain scenes in “When in Rome” signify nothing less than the death of screen slapstick, but I’m hoping it’s one of those fake-out movie deaths where slapstick’s not really dead. In Rome for her sister’s wedding, Beth (Kristen Bell) scoops out of a fountain a handful of coins tossed in by lovelorn tourists who become her enchanted stalkers. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 29) (1:31) PG-13.

The Wolfman Here’s the surprise of “The Wolfman,” starring Benicio Del Toro -- there isn’t one. No bite either, or humor, or camp. Also starring, and squandering, the talents of Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving, the film is built around the ancient myth of the cursed creature -- part man, part wolf, part of the time. When the beast is fully revealed, he’s fearsome. Too bad the story’s not. (B.S., Feb. 12) (2:05) R.

The Yellow Handkerchief Screenplay writer Erin Dignam and director Udayan Prasad have taken the plot outline of Yoji Yamada’s appealing 1977 film and created original characters in a rural post-Katrina Louisiana, captured in evocative images by master cinematographer Chris Menges. This “Yellow Handkerchief” is a gentle, low-key road movie, centering on the eternal need to love and to trust, suffused in the humanist spirit. Cohn has assembled a quartet of gifted actors who are captivating under Prasad’s perceptive direction. (Kevin Thomas, Dec. 17, 2008) (1:42) NR.

Youth in Revolt isn’t bad -- the cast is too good for it to be bad -- but archly comic coming-of-age fables are tricky. Without Michael Cera, “Youth in Revolt” wouldn’t be much of anything. (Michael Phillips, Jan. 8) (1:30) R.

All movies are in general release unless noted. Also included: the film’s running time and ratings. MPAA categories: (G) for general audiences; (PG) parental guidance urged because of material possibly unsuitable for children; (PG-13) parents are strongly cautioned to give guidance for attendance of children younger than 13; (R) restricted, younger than 17 admitted only with parent or adult guardian; (NC-17) no one 17 and younger admitted.