Superman Returns (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

X-Men director Bryan Singer’s attempt to jump-start the franchise is virtually identical to 1978’s Superman. Singer may have wanted to give his film a quaint, retro feel, but trotting out the same corny humor, simplistic characters and even John Williams theme music makes Superman Returns feel out of touch, especially in this era of angst-ridden,

XXX (2002)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

A spy thriller feverishly pitched to the extreme-sports generation, XXX is such a hack job the filmmakers might as well have given guns to those mountain-biking, sky-diving buddies from the Mountain Dew ads of the same era. Vin Diesel, a smart actor in a dumb star’s body, plays a newfangled Evel Knievel who’s recruited by

Waist Deep (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated R

Even as a contemporary blaxploitation picture, Waist Deep strikes an awkward balance between its pandering violence and its supposed social message. Tyrese Gibson stars as 02, an ex-con whose son is kidnapped, leading to a vengeful trip through the South Los Angeles underworld. Director Vondie Curtis-Hall seems oblivious to some ironies while unwisely playing up

Angela’s Ashes (1999)

Drama Rated R

Despite what some critics claimed, this adaptation of Frank McCourt’s memoir about growing up destitute in Ireland retains the sly humor that enabled the author to survive his childhood (you’ll find it staring right at you when you look into the frowning face of Joe Breen, who plays McCourt as a little boy). At once

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

This third installment in the Marvel mutant superhero series needs its new characters more than the previous films did because it fails to develop the ones it has inherited. New director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) hamhandedly trots the fresh faces out as if they were performing tricks at a dog show, but the better actors,

Beyond Borders (2003)

Drama Rated R

Beyond Borders runs on guilt. Occasionally about a tortured romance between a do-good socialite (Angelina Jolie) and a globetrotting human-rights activist (Clive Owen), the movie uses dishonesty, hypocrisy and Hollywood hokum to rub our faces in Third World suffering. Like a famine-relief infomercial with Jolie in the Sally Struthers role, the picture preaches when it

Click (2006)

Comedy Rated PG-13

Adam Sandler will never be confused with Jimmy Stewart, but he wouldn’t mind at all if you confused Click with It’s a Wonderful Life. That’s the model for this high-concept comedy, in which an overworked father of two receives an all-powerful remote control that allows him to pause and rewind his life. When he hits

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Drama Rated R

Eschewing the politics behind a 1993 clash between Somali militiamen and U.S. special forces, this battle epic from director Ridley Scott (Hannibal, Gladiator) concentrates on the logistical details of modern warfare. For nearly three hours, the immediate concerns of these grunts – such as how to keep driving an armored car after bits of windshield

Nacho Libre (2006)

Comedy Rated PG

With this comedy about a friar at a Mexican orphanage who dreams of success in that country’s wild world of lucha Libre wrestling, writer-director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and star Jack Black (School of Rock) create another enviable loser – you know, the kind of social reject so comfortable in his eccentricities that he’s not

Dukes of Hazzard, The (2005)

Comedy Rated PG-13

At what point does a piece of pop culture become worthless? After the initial television series, followed by TV movies, video games, a Jessica Simpson music video and now this timid feature, The Dukes of Hazzard has run its course. Trying to have fun watching this incarnation is like trying to resuscitate a corpse that