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.

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.

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.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS (PG) The third and fourth books of Jeff Kinney’s six-book series are combined in this third movie of the surprisingly successful kiddie franchise. Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is ready for summer, but his plans go awry, as only something devised by Greg can. Wimpy Kid 2 director David Bowers returns, as do series regulars Robert Capron (Greg’s wonderful best friend Rowley), Devon Bostick (Greg’s terrible brother Rodrick), and Steve Zahn and Rachael Harris (Greg’s often clueless parents).

DR. STRANGELOVE (NR) 1964. Ciné’s Summer Comedy Classics Film Series continues with Stanley Kubrick’s iconic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Mere three-time Academy Award nominee Peter Sellers stars in three roles in this sublime comedy about a mad general (Sterling Hayden) starting the road to nuclear Armageddon, while a war room filled with political and military bigwigs (including George C. Scott) attempt to stop it. Nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay).

FOR GREATER GLORY (R) This historical drama dives into the Cristero War, a Mexican conflict in the later half of the 20s between the Roman Catholic citizens and the Mexican government, who were passing restrictive laws all the way to religious persecution. With Eva Longoria.

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.

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.

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 3D (PG-13) 2010. The third installment in this series of sorts plays while its recently-released fourth counterpart is showing in a theater across the hallway. Maybe they're hoping for some marathoners? It's your Saturday.

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.

TOTAL RECALL (PG-13) This remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger/Paul Verhoeven/Philip K. Dick sci-fi classic (yes, it is) comes from Underworld’s Len Wiseman and sadly carries a PG-13 rating, which sucks considering how violent the original film was. The plot involves factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell, in his second straight remake, following Fright Night), who believes he’s a spy after undergoing a memory altering procedure at Rekall. The trouble is he doesn’t know which side he is on. Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel are the two hotties catfighting over Quaid. With Bryan Cranston as Cohaagen and Bill Nighy as Kuato.

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.