The setup is familiar, with one twist: God has lost faith in humanity and begun the Apocalypse -- but this time he's doing it by unleashing angels to exterminate everyone on the planet. The top of the list is the unborn child of Charlie (Adrianne Palicki), a poor waitress at a dusty diner on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert. Her baby is destined to lead humanity out of the God-imposed darkness of the end of the world.

The diner is populated by the standard collection of characters: lovelorn Jeep (Lucas Black), who's totally devoted to Charlie even though he's not the father of her baby; his father Bob (Dennis Quaid), a crusty divorced fella who's as run-down as his diner; Percy (Charles S. Dutton), a veteran who's seen it all and now flips burgers for Bob; and so on. Add a few city folk stranded for various reasons, and you have a nice little collection of people to face Armageddon together. The actors all do solid jobs, especially Black, who has the thankless task of making his slightly slow, not particularly brave character into a sympathetic hero.

Of course, if you've seen the trailers you know that the star of the show is the Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany), who falls to Earth, chops off his own wings, and brings a battalion-worth of weapons to the diner to make a last stand against the armies of God. Bettany is a natural for the part, his height and British good looks tying in naturally with his acting ability to create a very believable angelic soldier. Michael is a general refusing an order he believes to be wrong, and Bettany makes him thoroughly believable.

One of the things “Legion” excels at is taking things that are usually comforting and turning them into objects of dread. Here, sweet little old ladies turn out to have shark teeth -- the better to tear out your throat, my dear. A little girl with a balloon is just another of the zombie-like possessed humans sent after Charlie to be mowed down by Michael's machine guns. By the time that the mace-wielding Archangel Gabriel (Kevin Durand) shows up to finish the job the possessed couldn't quite accomplish, we've seen enough carnage for a low-budget zombie flick.

Unfortunately, each killer action sequence is separated out by talky scenes between characters it's kind of obvious are going to die. It's not so bad if you like character development, but the uneven pacing detracts from what is otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable ride.

If you don't mind the occasional meanderings away from religious horror and into quiet character set-pieces, “Legion” is a B-movie not to be missed. If, on the other hand, you're looking for relentless action or just quiet character development, look elsewhere.

Jane (Streep) is the owner of a huge, rambling house in the hills and a bustling, successful bakery. Ten years ago, she divorced Jake (Alec Baldwin), a suave, charming, unfaithful lawyer. He's since remarried -- to the woman he cheated on Jane with. Jane, on the other hand, has devoted herself to raising their three kids, putting together her perfect house, and learning to be by herself.

As in “Something's Gotta Give,” the sets here are magnificent. Who cares that it's totally unrealistic for someone in Jane's position to own a rambling mansion in the hills? It's almost worth the price of admission just to stare at the kitchen she complains is too small. I've seen apartments smaller than her kitchen.

When Jane and Jake wind up staying at the same hotel for their middle child's graduation, there's a spark. A few bottles of wine later, and they're having an affair. Jane finds herself, as she tells her circle of girlfriends in half horror, half glee, the other woman. Their consensus is that in this case, it's just karma catching up to to Jake's universally-loathed mistress-turned-wife.

Things are complicated by the arrival of the architect helping Jane plan an addition to her house: Adam (Steve Martin). He's a sweet guy still getting over his divorce of a few years ago and Jake's polar opposite in just about every way. Where Jake is charming and passionate and unreliable, Adam is sweet and a little bumbling and always on time.

Streep has effortless chemistry with both Baldwin and Martin, and she makes an engaging and believable heroine. Her horrified reaction to the discussion she has with a plastic surgeon who suggests she get a facelift is refreshing in the era of over-lifted actresses. Streep is gorgeous and aging with aplomb. The same can't quite be said of Martin, who looks like he's had one too many botox treatments. But his performance is sweet and funny, so if you can overlook his slightly-odd features, he's very engaging. Baldwin is perfectly cast and looks like he's having a ball as the thoroughly charming and dangerously attractive (though going a bit soft in the middle) bad boy of the picture.

It's the little things that make “It's Complicated” work as a piece of escapist entertainment. The interaction between Jane and her circle of girlfriends; the way Jane and Jake fall into their old patterns with her taking care of him and him pushing boundaries at every opportunity; the silly shenanigans that result when middle-aged folks who haven't smoked pot since the 60s get hold of a joint.

“It's Complicated” isn't a great piece of art, it simply succeeds in what it sets out to do: be a charming, sweet romantic comedy about folks in their fifties. If you're looking for brilliance, go elsewhere. But if you're a bit tired of fresh young things being silly about love and want to see some older people be silly instead, don't pass it up.

The setup is straightforward: Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) is a hematologist working on a blood substitute for an enormous corporation which also farms blood from the small remaining human supply (there are numerous shots of the farming machinery reminiscent of “The Matrix”). He winds up falling in with a small group of free humans who are looking for a cure, much to the dismay of the corporation’s owner, Charles Bromley (Sam Neill). The humans are led by Audrey (Claudia Karvan) and Elvis (Willem Dafoe), who keep adding other free humans to their group. They’re uneasy working with Ed, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The premise is a good one, but the film relies on cheap scares and a script full of people being stupid for the purposes of furthering the plot. Our hero is too stupid to cover up his exposed skin when holes are punched through his car’s sunshield during a chase. The protagonists insist that a simple experiment requires a complex setup, so they have to run it while the bad guys are approaching rather than abandon their lab. Much of the suspense in the film comes out of easily avoidable situations and serves more to make the protagonists look like idiots than to actually engage the audience.

Most of the actors suffer from over-seriousness. Given that this is, if we are charitable, a b-movie vampire flick, you’d think there’d be an air of humor or enjoyment or some sort of liveliness here, but for the most part, “Daybreakers” is a wasteland of somber people in dark suits and pale makeup, backed by a score that belongs in a vast, operatic epic. One of the few exceptions is Dafoe’s Elvis, who slings a crossbow and cusses like a proper b-movie hero. Sadly, he is woefully underused and utterly unable to save the movie.

One of the few good parts of the movie is the little touches of worldbuilding. This is a place full of folks who have had ten years to adapt to the world being mostly populated by vampires. There’s a network of subterranean tunnels connecting city buildings. Mechanics outfit cars with “daylight driving” packages which involve video cameras and opaque window screens. Mirrors are simulated with tiny cameras and video screens. A homeless man holds a sign reading, “Starving. Will work for blood.” Lots of vampires smoke because, well, if lung cancer isn’t an issue, why not?

It’s all interesting and visually appealing, but it’s not enough. “Daybreakers” is only essential viewing for folks who see every vampire movie that comes out -- and they’ve probably seen it already. Those who want to kill time with some brainless entertainment may find that it serves, but be sure you like gore, because there’s lots of it here. But if you’re hoping for an interesting and innovative vampire movie, keep looking.

The film opens with Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.), Watson (Jude Law), and Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) foiling a Satanic ritual by the improbably-named Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). Blackwood goes to the gallows and then to the grave, but soon there is word of him rising from his shattered tomb and setting out to do all sorts of dastardly things. Naturally, the great detective is on the case.

Downey is, on the surface, a strange choice to play Holmes. He has entirely the wrong face and body type for the famously aquiline and thin detective. His spirit, however, is perfect. Holmes is eccentric, egotistical, obsessive, manipulative, brilliant, and an addict. After Downey's fantastic turn as Tony Stark in “Iron Man” it seems like risking typecasting to play Holmes, but moviegoers should be grateful. Downey is the ultimate action-movie Holmes.

Lord Blackwood is grand villain. Strong is a scene-stealer and Ritchie wisely doesn't over-use him, allowing him (like many of the great Holmes villains) to act behind the scenes for much of the story. Strong makes him a top-notch manipulator and showman, and it's hard to take your eyes off him in the scenes he does have as he goes about arranging a plan to take over the country through nefarious means.

Meanwhile, in another canon shoutout, Watson is preparing to move out of his shared rooms with Holmes and marry Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly). Holmes is displeased, and some of the film's best moments come out of his attempts to draw Watson back into sleuthing and away from his soon-to-be-fiancee. Law plays Watson much closer to the canonical character than some versions, which is thoroughly enjoyable. This Watson is clearly a veteran and able to lay the smack down with the best of them. Watson is often portrayed as bumbling and oafish, which is thoroughly unfair to him. Law gives him the bravery, practicality, and often-tried loyalty to his friend that resonates through the source material.

Holmes' and Watson's investigation is complicated by the arrival of Irene Adler (Rachal McAdams), the only person ever to outwit the great detective. She's both an antihero in the story and a love interest for Holmes, which is one of the biggest departures from canon given that the canonical Holmes showed no romantic interest in anyone (he was, as they say, married to his job). Still, McAdams does a reasonable job of being believable as a Victorian action heroine and an excellent job of being as devious as Holmes is.

Ultimately, “Sherlock Holmes” is an updating of the classic tales. They were Victorian pulp, meant to excite and entertain; this new adaptation is modern pulp -- a Hollywood action movie -- and was clearly made by people who know and love the original stories. There are plenty of things here for purists to complain about, but in an era of adaptations, this one is surprisingly true to the spirit of its source material. It's a rollicking good time and thoroughly enjoyable for those able to take the canon material as bonuses rather than count the deviations from canon as serious negatives. For folks who aren't familiar with the Holmes stories and who love action flicks, this could easily serve as an introduction to the wonderful world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.

Avatar
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Wes Studi, Giovanni Ribisi
Rated: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.

“Avatar” is yet another “all the noble savages need to save themselves is the leadership of a white man” film. Call it “Dances With Wolves in space.” The story is straightforward: a young marine (Sam Worthington), crippled in combat, takes an assignment on a planet where his primary duty is to interact with the natives and find a way to persuade them to move their village off a rich deposit of a valuable mineral. To do this, he inhabits a body grown from human and alien DNA, an avatar. He learns the aliens' ways, comes to sympathize with them, and leads them in battle to fight off the Earth forces.

The only truly innovative thing about “Avatar” is the visuals, which are astonishing. Cameron and his team developed new methods of motion capture, and the aliens and their world are beautiful and meticulously detailed. Admittedly, the evolutionary science of the planet where the film takes place is highly improbable, but we don't go to a film like this looking for realism.

What makes “Avatar” particularly impressive is Cameron's ability to manipulate his audience to perfection. Even if you know what he's doing, the entire film is so pitch-perfect that it's hard not to get swept up in it. Sure the writing is a bit wooden and predictable, and the acting is limited because of how much of the film is entirely CGI -- but Cameron knows when to pluck our heartstrings and just how hard he can do it without it getting silly. The end result is a stunningly gorgeous film which will sweep you up into its current even as you sit there identifying the sources of the various familiar tropes he uses.

“Up in the Air,” on the other hand, is utterly character-driven and the sort of film that eases you into its story, makes you care about its hero with some laughs and some sad things that make you nod in recognition, and then carefully and meticulously destroys that hero's life.

George Clooney is perfectly cast as Ryan Bingham, whose job entails flying around the country and standing in for execs too afraid to lay off their employees in person. He has the self-assured charm Clooney is known for, but that's just about all he has. In his off hours, he gives lectures about the benefits of a completely connection-, possession-, and attachment-free lifestyle. He lives almost entirely on the road, has no close relationships, and likes it that way.

Things change when he meets two women: fellow frequent flyer Alex (Vera Farmiga) and new coworker Natalie (Anna Kendrick). Alex is the perfect woman for Ryan, and their relationship consists mostly of meeting up in hotels when they have layovers in the same cities. Natalie is a fresh-faced college grad out to innovate the “termination facilitation” field and essentially put guys like Ryan out of a job. Ryan's boss orders him to take Natalie on the road and show her the ropes of their business, which shows them to the audience as well. Meanwhile, Ryan finds himself possibly wanting more than just a casual relationship with Alex.

Reitman handles his subject matter with a deft touch. It takes a special ability to make a movie about someone who fires people for a living in the current economic climate, but it works here. That's no real surprise -- Reitman's breakout film was the pitch-perfect, pitch-black comedy “Thank You For Smoking.” “Up In The Air” has too much pathos to be a black comedy, but too many laughs to be a tragedy. It's a film about one man's perfectly-arranged life coming unraveled, and what we can learn from him.

I usually avoid the Academy Awards like the plague, but I'm morbidly curious to see how things turn out for “Avatar” and “Up In The Air.” Both are being lauded as Oscar-worthy, and they are -- but for utterly different reasons. “Avatar” is tasty grape juice; “Up In The Air” is great wine.

Ty Hackett (Columbus Short) has it rough. He came back from his second tour in Iraq and had to take over raising his brother after his parents died, leaving him mired in hospital bills and mortgage debts. He has a job as an armored truck guard, but there aren't enough shifts to go around and the bank is sending him nasty letters about the family house. When his godfather Mike (Matt Dillon) tells him that he and the other guards they work with are planning to fake a hijacking and steal over $40 million, Ty's initial response is to refuse, but he has his younger brother to think about, and Mike swears that nobody will get hurt. Ty says he's in.

Of course, with a hothead like Baines (Laurence Fishburne) on the crew, something is bound to go wrong, and it does: a drifter sees them unloading the cash and stowing it in an abandoned steel mill. Baines shoots him, and Ty tries to get the man to safety. The others aren't going to let themselves be turned in, and soon Ty is trapped in one of the armored trucks trying to find a way to escape without the other guards killing him.

The film is suffused with an air of despair and desperation -- when we see the guards off duty it's either early dawn or already dark and cold, and the steel mill is full of shadows and decay. Even Ty's house isn't much of a refuge, as young Jimmy has taken to practicing his tagging skills on the inside walls. But in that darkness the relationships among the characters shine. Mike is Ty's godfather and cares about him. The guards form a of brotherhood, laughing and joking around when they're not out on a run moving cash. Everyone looks at least a little scruffy or tired, but they're a family, and they look out for each other. At least, until the threat of death or jail time is hanging in the air.

The actors all turn in solid performances; Short makes Hackett believable as both a hero and an ordinary man. It's a pleasure to see Fishburne disappear into his role as thoroughly as he does. Matt Dillon seems to have made a career untrustworthy creeps since his heartthrob days passed, and he puts the experience to good use, making Mike someone who totally has your back as long as he thinks you're loyal to him.

Ultimately, “Armored” isn't a brilliant, ground-breaking movie. But it's not trying to be. It's trying to be a solid thriller, and it succeeds. It's not slick and polished. It involves a bank job, but it's no “Ocean's 11” and the central characters aren't fast-talking wise guys. This is a film about ordinary guys in extraordinary circumstances, and who is able to do the right thing and who isn't.

--30--

But then everything goes off the rails. There's a long section in the middle where we learn all about a girl ninja in training who was sweet and gentle and fell in love with Raizo and blah blah blah. Lots of talking about hearts and meaningful looks and no action! One of the friends I went with actually started yawning at this point. By the time the story gets around to including some fighting again, it's got a lot of revving up to do to get the audience's blood pumping once more.

It's a pity, really. The action sequences are pretty amazing in spots, though they are a bit heavy on up-close and hand-held cinematography. It's hard to appreciate the fight choreography when only the hero's head and chest fit in the shot. But when the camera pulls back and lets us see what's going on, the fights are engrossing (though they're graphic enough that the faint of heart should stay away). There are a wide variety of weapons, and lots of leaping and slashing and general awesomeness.

Another thing the movie has going for it is Mika. She starts off a bit weak, but once she's scared and on the run from the ninjas she gets more interesting. She also has the ability, so rare in movie noncombatants, to follow the instructions of the folks trying to save her life! She gets told to stay put, she stays. She gets told to run, she runs. It's rather refreshing. Harris doesn't have a lot to work with, but she does a good job. The other actors are in the same boat -- the film sounds like its dialog was generated by tossing a bunch of other ninja movies in a blender, pulling out slips of dialog, and fitting them in where they seemed to go. The ninja clan leader talks a lot about strength and weakness and putting the clan first, Raizo talks about how dangerous and mysterious the ninja are, and so on.

The ninja themselves are pretty cool, though they have a tendency to come out of the shadows to face their enemies in a rising tide of whispers. This might have been intended to be a part of the soundtrack, not something the ninja were actually doing, but it resulted in a lot of muttered "aren't ninja supposed to be quiet?" commentary in my audience.

So did Raizo's lack of ninja abilities. For a supposedly amazing and deadly ninja, he takes a long time to kill people (his first assignment fresh out of training is a middle-aged obese guy in a bathroom, and they both wind up covered in blood and howling like mad before the end of the fight), is incredibly noisy, and pretty much never hides his face. As my yawning friend put it, "worst. Ninja. Ever."

"Ninja Assassin" seems to want to be an update on the classic cheesy ninja movie, but it isn't nearly that good. It might be worth watching if you like cheesy martial arts flicks, but only if you can fast-forward through the boring bits.

The MacManus brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus), rampaged across Boston in the first film, executing Russian and Italian mobsters, then praying over them and putting pennies on their eyes. They earned the nickname “the Saints” as well as a devoted following on the streets -- and among law enforcement. Eight years later, they have left the scene of their vigilante crime spree far behind and are living in Ireland with their father (Billy Connolly), herding sheep.

When word reaches them that a priest has been murdered in their signature style, they come out of retirement to find and kill everyone responsible. On the way back to the States, they meet Romeo (Clifton Collins, Jr.), who winds up being their sidekick. He serves essentially the same purpose as Rocco (David Della Rocco) did in the first film, acting as a rather dim but very enthusiastic and occasionally useful assistant to the brothers.

Flamboyant FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) is, alas, nowhere to be found for most of the film, but he has passed the torch to Special Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz), a brilliant investigator more than capable of holding her own in the man's world that is law enforcement. She's called in to find out if the vigilante brothers are back, and is soon working with the three detectives who were on the case in the first film, Greenly (Bob Marley), Duffy (Brian Mahoney), and Dolly (David Ferry).

The gunfights are much the same as in the first film -- huge, slow-motion extravaganzas of what even the characters acknowledge as gratuitous violence. This is not a film for pacifists. Or for people easily offended. Duffy's characters are far from civilized in some of their dialog, and while he's perfectly capable of having intelligent and interesting minority characters, his dialog is full of offensive terminology.

This is not a film with much to say other than “let's do some gratuitous violence!” Sure, it's saturated with religious iconography, as was the first film, and the Saints are ostensibly on a mission from God to cleanse Boston of evil so that the innocent may flourish. But all of that is basically a story onwhich to hang lots of gunfights and snarky dialog.

In short: if you liked the first film, you will probably like the second, especially if you go in knowing it isn't going to be as good. If you hated the first film, don't see the new one. And if you somehow missed “The Boondock Saints,” go rent it before you see the sequel. It'll help you figure out if you want to spend the cash to actually go to a theater.

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, bravely attempting an American
accent) has nothing to lose. His wife has left him for his editor, so he
decides to prove himself by going to Iraq, where the first Gulf War is
beginning to rage. While in Kuwait awaiting permission to cross the
border, he meets Lyn “Skip” Cassady (George Clooney), who was described
by the local looney back home as one of the greatest psychic talents in
a now-defunct government program called the New Earth Army. Lyn is
heading into Iraq, so Bob asks to tag along and write up Lyn's story.
The man agrees, and the two head off into the desert.

The story Lyn tells as he drives the two of them toward the war is an
incredible one, but Clooney plays Lyn so straight it's hard not to
believe him. The government, he says, used to have a unit devoted to
creating “Jedi warriors” -- soldiers able to spy at a distance, defend
themselves without weapons, and walk through walls. The head of this
program was Bill Django (Jeff Bridges, essentially playing a smarter
version of The Dude from “The Big Lebowsky”), a Vietnam vet who, after a
vision on the battlefield, dove into new age materials and essentially
turned into a soldier hippie.

Bob's adventures in the desert with Lyn and the history of Bill's unit
are interwoven until both come to a head out in the middle of nowhere in
Iraq. Old friends are reunited, old enemies face off once again, and Bob
gets his story. Whether the New Earth Army soldiers actually have
superpowers is an argument the film doesn't seem to take sides on. Sure,
one of them once killed a goat by staring at it for three hours (or at
least, the goat dropped dead while being stared at), but most of their
apparent abilities can be explained away with coincidence.

But that's not the point. What matters isn't whether they could actually
do any of those things; what matters is that they thought they could if
they trained properly, and acted accordingly. The film simply presents
the events and allows us to see the hilarity of them.

“The Men Who Stare At Goats” is not a perfect film, but when it comes to
the comedy of the absurd, it has it down pat. How else can we react but
with laughter at the sight of a high-ranking Army officer sprinting
headlong into a wall and bouncing off it when his training under a
long-haired acid tripper fails him? This isn't an easy film to do
justice to with a short review. If you have a taste for the bizarre,
don't miss it -- but if you like your movies straightforward and your
comedy simple and shallow, go elsewhere.

"Astro Boy" takes place in the futuristic, robot-maintained Metro City, built on a mountain which floats above the polluted, junk-ridden Earth's surface. When genius scientist Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicholas Cage) loses his son Toby (voiced by Freddie Highmore) in a scientific demonstration that goes horribly wrong, the scientist goes a little mad, and creates a robot copy of Toby equipped with all the defensive technology he can possibly cram into it. But he learns the hard way that a duplicate of something isn't the real thing.

The little robot boy doesn't fit in anywhere, really. His father doesn't want him. Metro City is a hostile environment once the power-mad President Stone (voiced by Donald Sutherland) learns of Astro's existence. The surface of Earth seems like a sanctuary for a while -- Astro falls in with a collective of orphans and is able to pass for human. But once they find out who he is, he's not welcome there, either. Soon he's back in Metro City, up trying to save it from President Stone's enormous, rampaging Peacekeeper robot. Even though the city rejected him, he still does the right thing and struggles to save it.

Astro is a fantastic hero for a kids film: he's stronger, faster, smarter, and braver than the adults around him, and has a great destiny if he can only figure out what it is. Finding your place in the world is a vital component to growing up, and "Astro Boy" doesn't make it out to be easy. Adults will likely enjoy the references to other films tucked here and there amidst the shining computer animation, but kids are the real audience for this picture.

The art design is a mix of the old "Astro Boy" cartoons and modern computer imagery, and it works well. Likewise, most of the voice acting is either solid or rather good. Nicholas Cage and Donald Sutherland both sink into tepid line-reading at times, but Freddie Highmore shines as Toby/Astro and Nathan Lane's turn as a surface-dwelling robot mechanic is marvelous.

"Astro Boy" isn't a great or particularly original picture, but it is charming and a fun ride. The animation is well done and the plot moves smartly along from one point to the next without a lot of unnecessary detours. There are changes from the source material, but Astro's story has been told so many times that it's hardly surprising. This is a fun film for those looking for kid-friendly entertainment, but if you're looking for something off the standard, formulaic path, go elsewhere.

Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia) is a normal high school student. He gets good grades, hangs out with his best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson), and has a normal life planned out for him. All that changes when he and Steve go to a performance of the Cirque du Freak, the oldest continuously touring freakshow in the Western hemisphere. The freaks are unusually freaky: the bearded lady can grow her beard on command, a young woman can regrow her hands when they're lopped off, and there's a fellow with a spider whom Steve recognizes from one of his vampire books. Steve, you see, is obsessed with vampires, and desperately wants to be one.

Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) is an unusual vampire -- he lacks the aquiline good looks and flawless skin of the romantic vampire, and has wild hair, scars, and a short temper. Reilly owns the part and is probably the best thing about the entire film. Massoglia and Hutcherson are given a bit less to work with but do solid jobs. They're playing standard teenagers. Massoglia's job is to look startled and confused a lot, which he does, and Hutcherson's is to be angry a lot, which he also does.

Why is Steve so angry? Well, after a theft and an accident, he winds up in the hospital and Darren winds up cutting a deal with Crepsley: Darren will become Crepsley's half-vampire assistant, and in return the vampire will save Steve, whose life was endangered by Darren's stupidity. It's never entirely explained what the difference between a vampire and a half-vampire is (and as the film goes on, Darren sure seems to have all the same powers Crepsley does).

Darren and Steve wind up on opposite sides of a war brewing between the two types of bloodsucking undead: the basically decent vampires, who only take a little blood, and the wicked vampaneze, who kill their victims. Add in the mysterious Mr. Tiny (Michael Cerveris), who is manipulating both sides for his own ends, and a supporting cast of the freaks Darren and Crepsley live with while trying to figure out what to do about the war, and you have a nice little adventure.

The film is pretty solid for an adaptation of three young adult books, though as is common with adaptations, hardcore fans of the series will likely be none too pleased with the changes made to the story. If, like me, you aren't familiar with the source material but are fond of vampire stories, "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Apprentice" makes for a good couple hours of entertainment.

"Whip It" is the newest instance of the teenage rebellion flick, crossed with the underdog sports team movie. Both of these genres are pretty predictable, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. We know what to expect when we sit down to a meal of our favorite comfort food or buy cotton candy at a fair, and it's the same here: we know what to expect. This isn't a movie you go see to be challenged, it's a movie you go see for an escapist good time.

Our heroine, Bliss (Ellen Page), lives in a small town outside of Austin, Texas. She attends high school, is entered in beauty pageants by her determined mother, and works at a restaurant with her best friend, Pash (Alia Shawkat). Her parents are a mixture of horrifying and sympathetic, as are just about everybody's parents at that age. Her mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden), is an aging beauty queen who loves to see her eldest mixing smarts and beauty in a way that lets her relive her glory days. Her father, Earl (Daniel Stern), is a pretty simple guy, and knows how to pick his battles with Brooke, whom he adores but knows is "a fighter."

Bliss and Pash are both brainy, and on the misfit end of the spectrum in spite of Bliss's consistent string of victories on the pageant front. Both want out of their small town and are itching for adventure, so when Bliss learns about a Roller Derby match in Austin, they both go, telling their folks they're off to support their high school football team at an away game.

Pash is intrigued by the rough-house roller skating race that is Roller Derby, but Bliss is enchanted. She's encouraged to try out by one of the skaters, and (of course) winds up making it onto a team: the Hurl Scouts, who are the worst in the league. The skaters are all larger-than-life, especially the cheerfully violent Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore, who also directs). Bliss also meets a cute boy, Oliver (Landon Pigg), and begins a sweet and hesitant romance. Of course, there's a villain as well -- an older Derby skater who calls herself Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) and is thoroughly displeased that a newcomer like Bliss turns out to be a serious challenger to her team's reign as champions.

If you've seen more than one or two movies in the appropriate genres, the rest of the film is pretty much paint-by-numbers, but the characters are so engaging that it's hard to mind much. Many of the Derby skater characters are played by actual competitors, and one of the secondary characters is played by the engaging stuntwoman-turned-actress Zoe Bell, whom folks may remember from Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof."

What makes "Whip It" surprisingly good is that it slips little bits of realism and humanity into what could have been a bland, familiar rehashing of familiar tropes. Yeah, Bliss's parents drive her crazy, and her mom really doesn't understand her very well, but some of what she does is pretty selfish -- and one of her fellow skaters calls her out on it. Her movie-perfect romance turns out to not be everything she hopes. Even better, for once we are offered a heroine who is both pretty and excited to throw herself into a contact sport that includes bruises. Sure, Roller Derby is a contentious topic in feminist circles, given that pretty much everyone who isn't skating (coaches, announcers, etc) is male and that the skaters wear thoroughly revealing costumes, but it's a fierce sort of womanhood which Bliss finds far more appealing than the 50s housewife sort of person her mother wants her to be.

"Whip It" isn't for everyone, but if you have a soft spot in your heart for movies about teenagers trying to figure out who they are in spite of their parents, and for underdog sports tales, it's not to be missed.

The storyline is simple: the zombie apocalypse has come, and our protagonist (Jesse Eisenberg), a neurotic college student, is trying to make his way to Columbus, Ohio, to see if his family is still alive. He meets a proficient zombie-killer (Woody Harrelson), who's headed to Tallahassee, and the form an uneasy partnership. When they get carjacked by a pair of young sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin), they change course to go after the gals on a quest for revenge, zombie-killing, and a Twinkie.

Woody Harrelson was born to play Tallahassee, a somewhat crazed redneck with astonishing zombie-killing abilities. Harrelson's comic timing is perfect for the part, and he throws himself into it with so much gusto that it's all but impossible not to get caught up in the performance. Eisenberg has the disadvantage of being a dead ringer for Michael Cera (to the point that a number of people I've spoken to have been certain Cera was the star in this film), which can be a trifle distracting. However, he's excellent as the neurotic, surprisingly effective Columbus. He makes it believable that a nerdy, shut-in college student could survive the zombie apocalypse, which is a refreshing change from a lot of zombie movies. The sisters, who are dubbed Witchita and Little Rock by Tallahassee (who doesn't like sharing real names with people), are likewise effective. They were con artists before the apocalypse and although their methodology has changed since the zombies showed up, their effectiveness hasn't.

The zombies are essentially halfway between the classic, shambling undead and the sprinting terrors of more recent zombie flicks like "28 Days Later." If, like Columbus, your first rule of survival is "cardio" you'll probably be able to outrun them, but if not, you're down for the count. They have a rudimentary intelligence, but can't really scheme beyond spotting food and heading for it with single-minded intensity.

"Zombieland" does drag a wee bit in a couple of places, but within a minute or so of me muttering that it was time for some more zombie-killing, action was provided every time. There's a great deal of humor in the film, both in the way the humans interact and in the multitude of ridiculous ways they find to kill the zombies that get in their way. This is a rollicking good time of a movie, provided you enjoy zombie flicks. If you have a weak stomach, stay away. There's dark humor aplenty here, and while this is an optimistic zombie movie, it's still full of the blood-covered, flesh-eating undead.

The film is based on a true story: Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) was a vice president at Archer Daniels Midland and (under pressure from his wife) he went to the FBI with information on price-fixing, becoming the highest-level executive whistle-blower in US history. The FBI persuaded him to go undercover and wear a wire, which he did, for three years. As time went on, though, it became clear that he wasn't the most reliable source of information and was absolutely not cut out to be an undercover agent. He was telling the truth about the price-fixing, but not about plenty of other things.

Naive, enthusiastic, and alternately too clever for his own good and utterly boneheaded, Whitacre seems like an odd role for Damon, who's more often seen in serious, dramatic parts or sharp, quick-thinking ones. But Damon is perfect here, bringing all of Whitacre's contradictions together into one slightly-pudgy, deceptively average package. Whitacre is a basically good guy, but that leads him to do truly stupid things, like tell a nice coworker about an impending FBI raid so she won't be scared when it goes down.

The FBI agents working with Whitacre have the patience of saints. Agent Shephard (Scott Bakula) is an old-fashioned lawman, and seems unsure how to handle Whitacre. He certainly doesn't know how to tell him that the chances of him rising to be the head of ADM once all the price-fixing execs are in jail are practically nil. So he murmurs generalities about how hard it is to predict the way things will go once the case goes public and plows ahead with his investigation. It turns out he's right, but not in the way he thought.

This isn't a movie like Soderbergh's "Ocean's 11" franchise, full of sharp dialog and brilliant characters. This is a movie full of average folks. Whitacre, who has big dreams and who winds up in the center of an enormous scandal, is underneath it all, just another guy. The major players in the price-fixing scandal are just businessmen doing business -- they're not even smart enough to notice Whitacre's obviously weird behavior.

"The Informant!" is a sharp, funny film that assumes you're paying close attention. It's not another "Ocean's" film, so if you're looking for whip-smart dialog and genius plans, go elsewhere. But if you're curious about this strange, mostly-true story and have a fondness for the absurd, don't miss it.