This could have been a good bad disaster movie, but despite its laughable dialogue, third-rate special effects and ludicrous premise, The Core fails to work as an apocalyptic hoot. Aaron Eckhart plays a geophysicist who leads a team of “terranauts” to the center of the planet in order to jump-start the earth’s stalled core. Once

Perhaps because it is the directorial debut of screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh, The Punisher has just the sort of narrative economy most comic-book movies lack. Thomas Jane plays a FBI agent bent on avenging the murders of his family. It’s a story born of brutality, and the graphic violence grows wearying. Yet the movie offers plenty

Tears of the Sun deals with messy subject matter – Africa, ethnic cleansing, American foreign policy – but it wades through such subjects wearing big rubber boots, and then spends its silly finale hosing them off. What begins as a provocative drama about a U.S. rescue mission in civil war-torn Nigeria turns into an ignorant

A sturdy, reliable entry in the Arnold Schwarzenegger series – a lot like the stomping cyborg the star plays. As overseen by genre craftsman Jonathan Mostow rather than original director James Cameron, Rise of the Machines is miles away from the slick spectacle of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, yet it respectably returns the series back

Director Luc Besson brings some modern visual flash to the oft-told story of the 15th-century French martyr, but otherwise this is a fairly routine rehash of the historical battles and church politics that have been documented in many movies before. Milla Jovovich holds her own in the title role until she’s sold out by the

Aside from the curious fascination that comes with watching John Travolta make a fool of himself (his evil alien cackles incessantly and wears a hairdo that makes him look like Marge Simpson in dreads), there isn’t anything enjoyable about this bloated adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard’s futuristic novel. From its first frame to its last

I went into Serenity as a novice – that is, unfamiliar with the short-lived “Firefly” television series on which this is based – but thankfully fan-boy membership isn’t necessary to enjoy the picture’s smart handling of Star Trek conventions. As written and directed by Joss Whedon – creator of the original series, as well as