Aliens can have this 'Battleship'

"Battleship"is not the first major motion picture to be based on a board game — who could forget 1985's benighted "Clue"? — but it is surely the most expensive.

Expect little from 'What to Expect'

"What to Expect When You're Expecting"is essentially the Hallmark card version of the sage, saucy and very specific how-to bestseller by Heidi Murkoff. The movie's sentimental squibs on pregnancy merely skim the surface scratched so thoroughly by the book.

'Indie Game' captures the struggle to create

In the smart, involving documentary "Indie Game: the Movie," when video game designer Phil Fish chillingly asserts that he'd kill himself if he didn't finish his long-gestating game "Fez," you get the feeling he isn't bluffing. That's the level of depth and candor filmmakers Lisanne Pajot and...

'Lovely Molly' is creepy, but not in a good way

In"Lovely Molly,"a young woman moves with her new husband back into her family's empty old house. She immediately begins behaving strangely, as if the house itself exerts some mysterious power — whether she is being overtaken by bad memories and old habits or something supernatural is...

'Natural Selection' survives with Rachael Harris

"Natural Selection," an intriguing and intelligent first effort from indie filmmaker Robbie Pickering, digs deep into the heart of Texas for its soulful tale of small town saints and sinners and a road trip to redemption.

Review: 'Going Down' a familiar Hollywood tale

The allure of stardom brings model-handsome wannabe Adam (Matthew Ludwinski) to Hollywood — and down some dubious moneymaking side roads into gay pornography and escorting — in writer-director Casper Andreas' cautionary showbiz tale "Going Down in La-La Land," which is based on a novel...

The glorious 'Grand Illusion'

Jean Renoir's 1937"Grand Illusion," one of the most admired — and one of the most feared — films ever made, returns to theatrical screens in a fine digital restoration taken from the original camera negative just in time to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

Review: 'Polisse' officers it's good to be surrounded by

Other cops look down at them, and their home lives are in a shambles. But the members of the Parisian Child Protection Unit in the gripping drama"Polisse"face their work each day with absolute urgency and love, not to mention gallows humor.

Review: 'Mansome' is as shallow as its subject

"Mansome,"Morgan Spurlock's documentary examining male vanity and self-image, feels exceedingly random and disorganized, even though it's divided into chapters and keeps a consistency of observers throughout. There's no real center to the film's potentially insightful topic, with Spurlock never...

Turns and twists leave 'Samaritan' hanging

Samuel L. Jacksonbrings a welcome world-weariness to his character in "The Samaritan," a man named Foley just released from prison after having served 25 years for killing his best friend in a con job gone wrong. But soon, Foley's found himself sucked back into a life on the grift, and Jackson...

'Virginia' is not for lovers of good movies

The misbegotten "Virginia" wants to be many things: small-town satire, coming-of-age story, teen romance, portrait of an eccentric and damaged soul, with dabs of crime caper and road trip for good measure. Nothing adds up, though, in this directorial effort from screenwriter Dustin Lance Black ("...

Review: The pride of 'The Yankles'? Good intentions

While it's not without its fleeting charms, the 2007-shot underdog sports comedy "The Yankles," directed by David R. Brooks from a script he co-wrote with his brother, Zev, takes its eye off the ball one too many times.

Review: 'Bill W.' cuts through the anonymity

There's an unflashy clarity to the documentary "Bill W." that suits its subject. William G. Wilson, the "stinking rotten drunk" who had an epiphany and co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, was a Vermont Yankee whose life's work was predicated on humility and service.

Review: 'A Bag of Hammers' has more misses than hits

It takes a while for first-time writer-director Brian Crano to show the caring storyteller behind the glib jokester in "A Bag of Hammers." At first his thin, neatly folded, paper-airplane of a movie threatens to nose dive into tweeville as it depicts the carefree lives of best-bud scam artists...