THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (PG-13) Were The Amazing Spider-Man the first Spider-Man movie, critics and fans would hail it as spectacular. Following Sam Raimi’s surprisingly poorly aged films, this fourth film is the unfortunate epitome of unnecessary. Where Christopher Nolan did us an outstanding service reinterpreting the world of the Dark Knight, (500) Days of Summer’s Marc Webb and his trio of scripters rely on lazy, convenient plotting to rehash Spidey’s origins with a few cosmetically mysterious changes. No longer a simple orphan, Peter Parker’s parents abandoned him as a result of papa Parker’s top secret genetic experiments, which produce the (no longer radioactive) spider that turns Pete into a superhero and Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) into the film’s villainous Lizard. Ten years ago, mass audiences accepted the idea of a teenaged crime fighter with the powers of an arachnid. Too bad these filmmakers didn’t just jump straight into the web-head’s world as their super-blockbuster excels once it gets the mythology revising out of the way and allows new Spidey Andrew Garfield, who nails the wall-crawler’s smart-alecky, costumed persona, to use those powers to patrol the streets of NYC as your friendly neighborhood web-slinger.

AMERICAN COMMANDO NINJA (NR) 1988. David, a ninja who is not American or commando, as far as can be determined, must rescue the stolen secret formula to a "bacteriological" weapon. He and another ninja, who happens to be a master of the ancient art of "Hocus Pocus" take on the KGB and hook up with two kung-fu sisters, one of whom actually wears a skirt with the Confederate flag on it. Part of Bad Movie Night.

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (PG-13) No better Avengers counterprogramming could exist than this British dramedy starring Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Oscar winner Maggie Smith and Oscar winner Tom Wilkinson and directed by Shakespeare in Love Oscar nominee John Madden. A bevy of Brits travel to the subcontinent to stay at the posh, newly renovated Marigold Hotel, but the adverts prove misleading. Still, the hotel does begin to charm its English patrons. Based on the novel by Deborah Moggach.

BRAVE (PG) A good, not great, Pixar film, Brave strays into traditional Disney territory after a tremendously magical first act. Headstrong Scottish Princess Merida (wonderfully voiced by the lovely Kelly Macdonald) wants to choose her own destiny. She does not want to marry the first-born of one of the clans allied with her father, the Bear King, Fergus (v. Billy Connolly), but her mother, Queen Elinor (v. Emma Thompson), will hear none of her complaints. In typical stubborn teenage fashion, Merida short-sightedly asks a wood-carving witch (v. Julie Walters) for a spell to change her mother. The aftermath of the spell leads to some heartwarming and charming derring-do, but the sitcom-ish mix-up is a bit stock for what we’ve come to expect from the studio that gave us Wall-E and Up, two animated features that transcended their cartoonish origins. Still, Brave is leaps and bounds more impressive than Cars 2 and would have fit nicely in the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s.

CITY LIGHTS (G) 1931. Ciné’s Summer Classic Movie Series, Comedy Classics Division, continues with Charlie Chaplin’s wonderful City Lights. The Tramp falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill). With the help of a wealthy acquaintance, the nameless hero tries to assist the girl and her destitute family. Chaplin gambled and won, releasing this silent comedy after the arrival of talkies. The film ranks highly on several of AFI’s movie lists; the organization named Chaplin’s masterpiece the number-one romantic comedy of all time.

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS (PG-13) Whit Stillman has not been heard from since 1998’s The Last Days of Disco, but his comeback pic supposedly shows the filmmaker picking up where he left off. Three coeds (Greta Gerwig, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Carrie MacLemore) attempt to help their peers at Seven Oaks College get out of their funk via good hygiene and musical numbers. Then some boys (including Adam Brody) get in the way. I enjoyed Stillman’s trio of '90s efforts (the Oscar-nominated Metropolitan, Barcelona and the aforementioned Last Days of Disco) and am rather looking forward to catching his latest.

• THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (PG-13) Fanboy expectations of all-time greatness aside, The Dark Knight Rises concludes filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy as satisfyingly as one can hope. Having taken the fall for the murder of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, Batman is no longer welcome in Gotham City, which is all right with shut-in Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the eccentric billionaire who continues to mourn the death of his love, Rachel. (Interestingly, The Joker is never mentioned.) But a new evil, the muscle-and-respirator-clad Bane (Tom Hardy, finally doing the great Bat-breaker justice), has risen, requiring Batman to return to action. Meanwhile, a pretty cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway, making audiences forget both Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry) has targeted Gotham’s elite. Nolan delivers the dense blockbuster we expect after TDK and Inception. He plays a masterful game of cinematic chess, knowing how to perfectly place every piece—script, actors, action set pieces—on the board. A brilliant blockbuster, TDKR cannot best its immediate predecessor; the three-quel lacks the Ledger zeitgeist and shockingly needs more Batman. Still, The Dark Knight Rises darkly comic-bookends the movie summer that blissfully began with Joss Whedon’s candy coated Avengers. I’m sad Nolan’s time in Gotham is over.

DARK SHADOWS (PG-13) Sadly, Johnny Depp and Tim Burton’s reconception of the gothic soap opera merely delivers 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’s 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. Depp produces another entertaining character, a la Jack Sparrow, but as the movie approaches the two hour mark, his Barnabas Collins grows as tedious as the blockbuster he is solely supporting.

HAYWIRE (R) The athletic, graceful action choreography skillfully executed by MMA fighter and former American Gladiator Gina Carano and captured on camera by the always surprising Steven Soderbergh knocks out all its current action competitors. Black ops agent Mallory Kane (Carano) is burned by the head of the private agency for which she works, a skeezy guy named Kenneth (Ewan McGregor). Mallory must clear her name, but who can she trust? Her dad (Bill Paxton)? One of several other government employees (Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas)? C-Tatez (Channing Tatum)? The action’s cool, the visuals even cooler (think the euro-class of The American but more muscle) and Carano’s hot (and surprisingly up to the dramatic task).

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT (PG) Manny (v. Ray Romano), Diego (v. Denis Leary) and Sid (v. John Leguizamo) return in a fourth adventure, which is good news for the millions not waiting for this fatigued franchise to go extinct. The trio get separated from the herd, which includes Manny’s wife, Ellie (v. Queen Latifah), and daughter, Peaches (v. Keke Palmer), and meet a pirate crew led by Captain Gutt (exceptionally voiced by “Games of Thrones” Emmy winner Peter Dinklage). Nothing unpredictable happens (Sid messes things up, but no one cares), and the suspense is even less harrowing than your typical television cartoon. The rest of the celebrity voices are a mixed bag as well. Wanda Sykes brings the funny as Sid’s toothless granny, but Drake and Nicki Minaj are non-starters. Aziz Ansari is wasted, and J-Lo is present. This kiddie flick is only for children that don’t want to watch Brave or Madagascar 3 again.

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE’S MOST WANTED (PG)

By now, franchise fans know what to expect from the adventures of Alex the lion (v. Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (v. Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (v. David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippo (v. Jada Pinkett Smith). These four former denizens of the New York Zoo team up again with those wacky penguins and some nutty Lemurs (voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer and Andy Richter) in an aborted attempt to return home. This time, the gang is waylaid in Europe by a circus featuring animals voiced by Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad” season five cannot get here fast enough), Jessica Chastain and the reliably funny yet equally annoying Martin Short. But a crazed French animal control officer, Captain Chantel Dubois (v. Frances McDormand), is hot on the animals’ trail. No one should be coming into Madagascar 3 blind. This third entry proffers more cute fun in a long first act chase than either of its predecessors, and that’s before any of the appealing new characters are introduced.

MADEA’S WITNESS PROTECTION (PG-13) Perhaps because Madea’s Witness Protection possesses the silliest plot of any previous entry in the franchise, Madea’s latest adventure is a bit less forcefully message-driven than previous movies. A New York family, headed by Eugene Levy and Denise Richards, move in with Madea (Tyler Perry) and her brother Joe (Perry again) to help Joe’s federal prosecutor son, Brian (Perry a third time). The fish out of water meets the South jokes are not as bad as one might imagine, and the movie focuses on what has always been the series strength: Madea. Oftentimes, the broader the gags, the bigger the laughs when the big-mouthed matriarch is involved. But she cannot be in every scene, and when she’s not onscreen, the movie drags. A subplot involving a desperate former thug (desperately played by the former Lil’ Romeo) trying not to disappoint his minister dad brings the movie to a screeching halt several times. The typically dependable Levy’s urban levity is about as unfunny as one might imagine, but this paycheck had to be better than another unreleased American Pie spinoff. The Perry faithful will laugh as much as usual; nonbelievers will continue to be flummoxed by Perry’s immense popularity. 

MAGIC MIKE (R) Judging from Friday’s raucous matinee crowd at Beechwood, I cannot imagine the catcalls unleashed by a late show audience, lubricated by several cocktails at nearby Rusan’s. Acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh’s peek beneath the thong that barely covers the underworld of Florida’s male strippers is a thoroughly entertaining and humanistic slice of life flick; imagine a less polyester-clad Saturday Night Fever. Alabama native Channing Tatum stars as Magic Mike, a nice guy with a rocking bod and killer dance moves who longs to make custom furniture. After taking a new dancer, Adam (Alex Pettyfer), under his wing, Mike falls for his sister, Brooke (Cody Horn), who shows Mike what he looks like to the rank-and-file. Despite scripter Reid Carolin relying on the same cookie cutter plot that supported ancient Hollywood musicals, All About Eve and Showgirls, Magic Mike has some new moves thanks to Soderbergh’s electric direction and well-selected beefcake. Tatum’s haters are proven wrong by his extremely charismatic performance, but it’s Matthew McConaughey that delivers the unexpected award-worthy turn as aged stripper-turned-impresario, Dallas. I know the ladies are in; dudes, don’t miss out on Soderbergh’s best-received feature since Ocean’s 11 because of all the potential penises (or penis envy).  

MOONRISE KINGDOM (PG-13) Wes Anderson provides summer 2012 with its charmer, a twee coming of age tale about Sam and Suzy (wonderful newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward), two tweens that learn about love after running away from their tiny island home. Any moviegoers not already enchanted by Anderson’s previous whimsies will not be won over by his newest, extremely eccentric romance. Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand and Harvey Keitel are among the adults that inhabit Anderson’s isolated, stagy island. Murray is quixotic as ever and Norton is a perfect fit. Willis takes time to adjust to Anderson’s timezone, but the consummate pro rarely gets the credit he deserves (he’s leagues ahead of his former Planet Hollywood cronies). The straight-on tracking shots reinforce the film’s confining staginess (it might make a terrific source for a future high school drama), as does the sometimes unprofessional acting of the film’s many young performers. I don’t recall enjoying a live action Anderson fancy as much since 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums. 2012’s best movies, a list exclusively made up of Joss Whedon progeny, Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers, has now been expanded by one.

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.

ROCK OF AGES (PG-13) Adam Shankman directs a musical comedy film adapted from Cheis D'Arienzo's 2006 rock jukebox Broadway musical. In 1987, small town girl Sherrie Christian (Julianne Hough) travels to L.A. to pursue becoming a famous singer and meets city boy Drew Boley (Diego Boneta) while working as a waitress at the Bourbon Room on Sunset Strip. Their rock and roll romance is told through the its of Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Joan Jeff, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, Foreigner and more.

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (R) The producers of Little Miss Sunshine unleash another potential charmer. Three magazine employees (Jake M. Johnson of Fox’s twee “New Girl,” Aubrey Plaza of NBC’s sublime “Parks and Recreation” and Karan Soni) investigate a mysterious classified ad about time travel. The situation inevitably complicates when they meet Kenneth (Mark Duplass), the eccentric guy who placed the ad. Duplass, the writer-director who stars on FX’s dirty, funny “The League” is having a great year so far; he could become a household name were this film to hit it Little Miss Sunshine big.

SAVAGES (R) When did Oliver Stone become such a boring filmmaker? His '80s and '90s works were transgressive—stylistically, violently, politically. All Savages, his new crime drama based on the novel by Don Winslow (which is sure to read better than Winslow’s film adaptation), transgresses is patience. The trailers for this tale of two pot dealers, Ben and Chon (Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch), and their shared girlfriend, O (Blake Lively, playing a 10 years younger Kate Hudson playing O), running afoul of the Mexican cartel run by a ruthless matriarch (Salma Hayek) and her sleazy muscle (Benicio Del Toro, resembling an evil circus clown Brad Pitt) promises so much more violence, blood and exploitation than the actual film delivers. And it’s not just the initial act establishing the characters’ occupation and odd personal relationship. The should-be action filled second and third acts do little to alleviate the boredom. John Travolta, bringing his A game in the B-team role of a dirty DEA agent, reminds how much he’s been missed. Despite a few stylish flourishes—the score alternately evokes opera and Spaghetti westerns—this pulpy bromance never gets exploitative enough to be interesting.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (PG-13) 2012’s second Snow White movie (she’s also a television star on ABC’s “Once Upon a Time”) tweaks the fairy tale with the pale beauty (Kristen Stewart, Twilight) and the huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, Thor), sent by Charlize Theron’s Evil Queen to kill her, instead teaming up to overthrow her majesty. Director Rupert Sanders is an unknown entity; thankfully, the cast includes the familiar faces of Toby Jones, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost and Bob Hoskins. Written by Drive’s Hossein Amini.

STEP UP REVOLUTION (PG-13) Who can tell these dance flicks apart any more? According to the franchise’s formula, the fourth Step Up will include the proper ratio of incredible dance moves to cardboard characterizations and soggy, retread plots to ensure a bad, ultimately entertaining movie experience. Fans of “So You Think You Can Dance” will definitely recognize some faces. Scott Speer directed several episodes of “The LXD: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers” and the feature, The LXD: Secrets of the Ra, so he’s no stranger to capturing unbelievable choreography on film.

TED (R) I’m not sure what it says about Ted, the funny feature debut of “Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane, that I, an admitted “Family Guy” detractor, laughed more than anyone else in the theater. Despite the overflowing gay jokes and some poor setups (the introduction to Giovanni Ribisi’s antagonist was awkwardly random), the fairy tale of 35-year-old John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (v. McFarlane), the teddy bear he was given on Christmas Day 1985 that came to life via wish, hits the mark more than it misses so long as the talking teddy is involved. Human leads Wahlberg and the increasingly awesome Mila Kunis are appreciated, as is Patrick “Puddy” Warburton; sadly, Joel McHale is wasted. Any movie in which a central gag revolves around the Queen-scored, cult fave Flash Gordon (star Sam Jones even makes a beefy cameo) is OK in my book, no matter how many tired pot jokes it tokes. Being familiar with, but not appreciative of, McFarlane’s oeuvre, I pleasantly left with more laughs than I expected to receive.

TO ROME WITH LOVE (R) Woody Allen’s latest love letter to a classic European city is not as magical or well-written as his Oscar winning billet-doux to Paris, but the 76-year-old auteur still knows how to craft a lightweight summer charmer. Several lives intersect in the titular Eternal City. An American couple (Woody Allen and Judy Davis) meet their daughter’s (Alison Pill) new Italian beau (Flavio Parenti) and his parents; a newly married, provincial Italian couple (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi) are tempted by the sexy wiles of the city (quite literally and lustily embodied by Penelope Cruz in a painted on little red dress); a famous American architect (Alec Baldwin, ready and coiffed for an HBO Christopher Hitchens biopic) gives unheeded dating advice to a younger proxy (Jesse Eisenberg), torn between two women (Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page, likeable but ill-fitted to a role perfect for Woody’s most recent muse, ScarJo); and a middle class Italian nobody (Roberto Benigni) becomes bewilderingly famous for nothing. Overlong by about 15 minutes, this Roman holiday is a lively tour of benignly annoying plots that are saved by Allen’s dual abilities to attract big talents and write zingy dialogue.

THE WATCH (R) Ben Stiller headlines a cast that includes Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayouade as a group of dads escaping their families via community service. But their man-plans go awry when they discover a plot to destroy the Earth. This sci-fi comedy is directed by Lonely Island resident Akiva Schaffer, who directed fellow Islander Andy Samberg’s Hot Rod. Superbad’s Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg provide the script. Expect cameos. The movie was shot in and around Georgia.

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.

THE WIZARD OF OZ (G) 1939. Ciné’s Summer Classic Movie Series, Family Classics Division, concludes with arguably Hollywood’s most magical, legendary film. Judy Garland shines as Dorothy, who treks to meet the Wizard with her dog, Toto, the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man (Jack Haley, stepping in for Buddy Ebsen, who reacted badly to the silver makeup) and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr). But Dorothy and friends must watch out for the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), who blames the young girl from Kansas for her sister’s demise. The Friday screening will be followed by a Canopy Trapeze performance.