THE AVENGERS (PG-13) The various Avengers—Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, another new Hulk (this time Mark Ruffalo gets to unleash the beast) and the rest—have assembled, and together they are a blast. But before they can battle Thor’s mischievous brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who is intent on enslaving the world with his other-dimensional army, Earth’s mightiest heroes have to sort out a few things among themselves. Joss Whedon and Zak Penn capture the bickering essence of a super-group. Every single one of these heroes benefits from Whedon’s trademark snappy banter and his way with ensembles. These characters thrive by not having to carry the movie on their own (the Hulk especially benefits from sharing the spotlight). Whedon has always loved the lady leads, and he gets more out of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow than anyone else would have. Critical grumbling about The Avengers is minimal thanks to Whedon’s meticulously crafted screenplay and directorial vision (he heads his own verse for a reason) and the engaging ensemble. Once the paperwork is finalized so the team can go into action for the bang-up finale, The Avengers lives up to all the hype and expectation.

• BATTLESHIP (PG-13) For a giant, dumb summer movie that could only be called Bay-esque, Battleship doesn’t sink itself. Earth gets more than it bargained for after scientists send signals into space in an attempt to add some extraterrestrial Facebook friends. The ETs that answer are not friendly, answering with massive Transformer-y ships and personality-less shock troopers. Fortunately, Earth has Taylor Kitsch, Landry from “Friday Night Lights,” Rihanna and Brooklyn Decker to fight the giant peg-bomb launching invaders. FX-laden, wannabe blockbusters based on board games can certainly be worse than this flick directed by Peter Berg (with a soundtrack programmed by a classic rock DJ named Mad Dog). A whole lot of seen-it-before and just enough something new keep this hulking behemoth afloat. Props to the writing Hoebers who fit in a sequence where the characters actually play a life-or-death version of Battleship; I haven’t seen such a great deadly game night since Never Say Never Again. The best/worst salvo I can launch at this flick is that it made me really yearn to play Battleship for the first time in years. Two hundred million dollars bought Hasbro a hell of a commercial.

BULLY (PG-13) Filmmaker Lee Hirsch (Amandla!) forces viewers to confront the stark realities of bullying on five families, including two reeling from the suicides of their bullied sons, in this harrowing first-hand account of the daily victimization of millions of kids. Amazingly and horrifyingly, Hirsch captures footage of other children victimizing the film’s central figure, 12-year-old Alex, which begs the question: Have children become so desensitized to cameras that they will break rules and laws even when they know they are being watched? This moving film begs only a couple of critiques. All of the kids profiled are from either rural or Southern towns. Obviously, Hirsch does not mean to imply big city folk and northerners/west coasters are immune to bullying, but the movie could have used more geographical diversity. Also, a better understanding of these kids before bullying and the circumstances surrounding their bullying would have provided a greater insight into them, their reactions—one girl is in juvie awaiting trial; two other boys are dead—and what drove them to such extremes. A tough, probing look at a serious problem, Bully is a rewarding, if uneasy, watch that does not pose any easy answers.

CHERNOBYL DIARIES (R) In this new flick from Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli (visual effects vet Bradley Parker makes his directorial debut), six American tourists (including multiplatinum recording artist Jesse McCartney) hire an extreme tour guide to take them to Pripyat, the ghost city left by Chernobyl. The visitors soon discover they are not alone. Peli jettisons the found footage gimmick upon which his previous features have relied. The trailer looks appropriately creepy, but that title is terrible.

DARK SHADOWS (PG-13) Having tried but never quite sunk my teeth into both previous versions of Dan Curtis’ gothic soap opera, I had few preconceptions going into Tim Burton/Johnny Depp’s high-concept reimagining. Sadly, the duo merely delivered a pretty-looking, rather dull oddity. (Burton’s output has become increasingly miss-and-hit.) Tossing much of the soap’s suds and upping the camp, the big screen Dark Shadows still involves many of the series’ major players: vampire Barnabas Collins (Depp), Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer), Dr. Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), Angelique (Eva Green), Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley), Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) and Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Grace Moretz). That list of names will mean little to the scores of uninitiated young Burton/Depp fans looking for another Alice in Wonderland, which this horror comedy most certainly is not. That movie’s billion-dollar success has fortunately allowed Burton to indulge his quirkier side at Collinswood. Still, his latest movie becomes shockingly boring after the extremely amusing early scenes of 200-plus-year-old Barnabas adapting to the 1970s. Depp produces another entertaining character, a la Jack Sparrow, but as the movie approaches the two hour mark, he grows as tedious as the blockbuster he solely supports.

• THE DICTATOR (R) Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles may have left their guerrilla mockumentary tactics behind, but their offensive strategy still elicits massive bombs of laughter, even in this much more conventionally structured comedy. Cohen’s Admiral General Aladeen, the dictator of the fictional North African nation of Wadiya, is stripped of his beard and power on a trip to speak to the United Nations. With the help of a crunchy feminist (adequately supplied by an atypical Anna Faris) and a should-be-dead nuclear scientist (“The League” MVP Jason Mantzoukas aka El Cuñado), Aladeen must infiltrate a peace summit before his beloved oppressive regime becomes a democracy. The brilliant gags far outclass the low-brow misses; the soundtrack—filled by “Wadiyan”-language versions of “Everybody Hurts,” “9 to 5” and “The Next Episode”—is the film’s best running joke. Cohen continues to stake his claim to the chameleonic comic crown left by Peter Sellers, but what should he do with it once he gets it? Outside of the scathing climactic critique of American democracy (all true, of course), The Dictator lacks the witheringly pointed satire of Borat and Bruno. It surely is hilarious though. 

DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX (PG) Released on Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday, this pleasant animated adaptation of the beloved children’s author’s environmental fable fails to utterly charm like the filmmakers’ previous animated smash, Despicable Me. The Lorax may visually stun you, and Danny DeVito’s brief time as voice of the Lorax could stand as his greatest role, one that will go unrecognized by any professional awards outside of the Annies.

THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (R) As written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, the acting-writing-directing duo behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Five-Year Engagement almost sells its initial gag too well. Nearly the entire first act plays out like the airheaded romantic comedy in which the smart comedy writers plan to poke holes. Then the change comes and The Five-Year Engagement begins its lengthy, though not overlong, slide into relationship complications (more real than scripted) and comic gags (some sold with more skill and less obviousness than others). Tom and Violet (Segel and Emily Blunt) get engaged on their one-year anniversary and then struggle to pull the trigger, as life sends the soulmates obstacle after obstacle.

FOOTNOTE (PG) 2011. The rivalry between a father and son who both teach Talmudic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reaches a new competitive peak when the father, Eliezer (Shlomo Bar-Aba), is honored for his work. This Israeli feature by writer-director Joseph Cedar was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award and Cannes’s Palme d’Or; it also won nine Awards of the Israeli Film Academy, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

THE HUNGER GAMES (PG-13) While a successful adaptation of a difficult book that near everyone has read, The Hunger Games has little cinematic spark. It’s a visual book report that merely summarizes the plot. It’s a well-written book report, but it’s still a book report. Seabiscuit director Gary Ross was not the most obvious choice to direct this dystopian adventure in which 24 teenagers are randomly selected for a contest in which only one will survive.

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (PG) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’s biggest problem might be time. Many of the young people who enjoyed its 2008 forebear, Journey to the Center of the Earth, might have outgrown the Brendan Fraser/Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson brand of family adventure movie.

THE KID WITH A BIKE (PG-13) 2011. Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Rosetta and The Child) wrote and directed this feature about a young boy (Thomas Doret), abandoned by his father, who spends his weekends with a local hairdresser (Cecile de France). Unfortunately, he also gets mixed up with a local criminal. His mode of transportation: a bike. The Palme d’Or nominee picked up Cannes’s Grand Prize of the Jury and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes.

THE LUCKY ONE (PG-13) The Notebook it is not, but The Lucky One will not disappoint Nicholas Sparks’ fans looking for some sappy romance and a shirtless Zac Efron. A Marine named Logan (Efron) survives several incidents after finding a picture of a woman. When he returns to the states, he seeks out this woman, whom he learns is named Beth (Taylor Schilling, still recovering from Atlas Shrugged: Part I) to thank her for saving his life. But things get complicated when he falls for her and her young son, Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart), and runs afoul of her ex/Ben’s dad (Jay R. Ferguson, who excels at clueless d-bags), a deputy sheriff and son of big-time local judge/prospective mayor. The war scenes are thankfully short, making me wonder how much worse they could have been on the page, and director Scott Hicks (some fine films like Shine and Snow Falling on Cedars) illustrates this romance with some gorgeous, magazine spread cinematography (word to Alar Kivilo, whose work to date has never betrayed this artistic an eye). Will love conquer all or is this another one of Sparks’ tearjerkers? Only 141 minutes of your life stand between you and the answer.

MARGARET (R) After a loooooong time on the shelf (Margaret was filmed in 2005), two-time Oscar nominee Kenneth Lonergan's follow-up to the fabulous You Can Count on Me is finally seeing the dark of a theater. Before she was sexing it up on HBO's “True Blood,” Academy Award winner Anna Paquin was tackling Lonergan's anti-commercial character study of a young girl trying to make amends for the fatal accident for which she feels responsible. With Jean Reno, Alison Janney, Matthew Broderick, Mark Ruffalo and Matt Damon.

MEN IN BLACK III (PG-13) Confession time: I never saw Men in Black II. I’m OK with that oversight. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprise their roles as Agent J and Agent K. Apparently, Smith’s J time travels back to 1969 to stop an alien from assassinating his partner, whose younger version is played by John Brolin. Director Barry Sonnenfeld returns and could really use a hit. With Alice Eve, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson and Bill Hader as Andy Warhol.

MONSIEUR LAZHAR (PG-13) 2011. An Algerian immigrant (Mohamed Fellag) must replace a popular Montreal public school teacher after her suicide. His own loss is revealed as he helps his students deal with their own grief. An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, the Canadian feature by Philippe Falardeau won six Genies—including Best Motion Picture, Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay—and Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

MOONRISE KINGDOM (PG-13) Wes Anderson’s newest film is a period romantic drama? A young couple (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) living on an island off the coast of New England run away, causing various search parties to form and find them. The eccentric cast includes Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray (seen wielding an ax, shirtless, in the trailer), Frances McDormand, Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman and Harvey Keitel. Expect the typical love-hate critiques of Anderson’s latest whimsy.

THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS (PG) You could do a lot worse than The Pirates! Band of Misfits when choosing animated flicks to see with your kids. Aardman Animations, the British folks that brought you Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run, hit the high seas with the Pirate Captain (v. Hugh Grant) and his oddball crew. While seeking the coveted Pirate of the Year Award, the Pirate Captain runs into Charles Darwin (v. David Tennant, the tenth, and my personal favorite, Doctor), who wants the scurvy rascal’s feathered mascot, a thought-to-be-extinct dodo. The jokes are funny and often smart, and the stop-motion clay animation refreshingly different. The voice cast could have traded up (Jeremy Piven? No Ian McShane? Mostly, Jeremy Piven?!). Still, The Pirates! is cute, humorous and well-animated. Kiddie flicks come with a lot less booty than this buccaneer.

SAFE HOUSE (R) For Safe House’s target fans of Denzel Washington, whizzing bullets and car chases, the action flick is critically bulletproof; for me, it was competently boring. Former CIA operative turned rogue asset, Tobin Frost (Washington), goes on the run with green agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds, in the thankless role anyone could have filled) hot on his heels. Washington remains the laziest talent in Hollywood. What draws him to waste his chops on these action-filled scripts with such obvious plot trajectories? You can tell which CIA bigwig (the suspects being Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson) Weston shouldn’t trust from the trailers, and try as they might to imply otherwise, one can easily presume Washington’s Frost hasn’t gone rogue for sheer psychopathic thrills or mere greed. The predictable action is delivered with the workmanlike craftsmanship (quick edits, handheld camerawork, etc.) one expects from a production that is clearly influenced by Washington’s work with Tony Scott, but lacks his more artful eye. Safe House should make enough money to keep Washington’s rep as a box office draw undiminished, but won’t make much of an impression in his increasingly inconsequential filmography.

THINK LIKE A MAN (PG-13) Anything I wanted to like about Think Like a Man is tainted by the casual homophobia, sexism and racism the movie attempts to pass off as comedy, and that’s a shame for the hilarious Kevin Hart, who is finally, smartly given a showcase role. Based on Steve Harvey’s romantic self-help tome, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, the movie, written by the scripters of Friends with Benefits, sometimes feels like a late night infomercial for Harvey’s patented way to win a man. We have six unbelievably mismatched buddies—Hart’s divorced dude, Romany Malco’s “playa,” Michael Ealy’s “dreamer,” Jerry “Turtle” Ferrara’s noncommittal white dude, Terrence J’s “mama’s boy” and some other white married guy—and the women (Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson, Meagan Good and Regina Hall) who want them to settle down. Begin the chapter scenarios. Woody Allen attempted something like this to funnier results when he adapted Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex; a more relevant and even less successful adaptation would be 2009’s He’s Just Not That Into You. If you really want to take romantic advice from Steve Harvey, filtered through Turtle, it’s your love life.

• WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING (PG-13) Expecting a cinematic extinction level event on par with Garry Marshall’s star-whoring Valentine’s Day/New Year’s Eve, What to Expect When You’re Expecting pleasantly met my vastly lowered expectations. What to Expect would have been a decent Apatow/Bridesmaids knockoff had it slimmed down to one main plot—an expectant couple played by Elizabeth Banks and Mr. Melissa McCarthy (Ben Falcone) compete with his race car legend father (Dennis Quaid) and his pregnant trophy wife (Brooklyn Decker)—and shed the extra plot poundage involving Jennifer Lopez adopting an Ethiopian baby, Anna Kendrick and Chace Crawford’s uh-oh moment and Cameron Diaz’s star pregnancy (with that wet blanket from “Glee,” Matthew Morrison). The almost interstitial scenes with the daddy club of Chris Rock, Rob Heubel, Thomas Lennon and Amir Talai amuse, as does Rebel Wilson as Banks’s mostly clueless employee. Like unfortunate clockwork, every time the movie started to get things comically right, the scene would shift to JLo’s woes or the young couple’s romantic predicament. Still, I expected little, and the romantic dramedy delivered a bundle of tiny, intermittent joy that, like some babies, cried more than it laughed.