2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY (NR) 1968. Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece returns to the big screen. Humanity discovers a giant monolith and two astronauts (Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood) embark on a voyage of discovery. However, artificial intelligence HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain) has other plans. Kubrick cowrote the screenplay with science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke, but the legendary filmmaker’s epic visuals, scored to memorable classical works, are what stun. Kubrick won his only Academy Award—for Best Visual Effects no less—for this film.

2016: OBAMA’S AMERICA (PG) Call me critically conflicted about 2016: Obama’s America. The unabashed polemic from conservative author Dinesh D’Souza is an anti-Obama sermon preached perfectly to the Fox News congregation. Quality-wise, 2016 could survive (but still lose on technical points) a punching match with Michael Moore’s mighty left much better than any other conservative doc. D’Souza pleasantly dispenses with any birther conspiracy nonsense early in the film’s occasionally insightful Obama bio section. An anti-Obama screed based on an anti-colonialist reading of the president grates much less than the typical baseless cries of “Socialist!” The final act is where D’Souza goes a little bat shit crazy (that’s a technical term) when the college president posits the extreme changes a second term, lame duck Obama will accomplish. For such a politically astute guy who spends the entire first act of his film reminding us how much he believes in America, D’Souza does not seem to place much faith in the system of checks and balances instilled by the founding fathers (who he rightfully reveres) in our Constitution. Convincing a like-minded audience that Obama needs to go is easy; I want to see D’Souza try and convince anyone that Mitt Romney is a solution.

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 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 amongst 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 way with ensembles. These characters thrive by not having to carry the movie on their own (the Hulk especially benefits from sharing the spotlight).

BACHELORETTE (R) What hath Bridesmaids wrought; comedies like Leslye Headland’s writing-directing debut are what. Familiar faces star in this wed-com about a group of girlfriends (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher) asked to be the bridesmaids of a girl (Rebel Wilson) they made fun of in high school. Headland was a staff writer for FX’s shortlived series, “Terriers.” Bachelorette has been available via On Demand for weeks. With James Marsden and Adam Scott as the dudes.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (PG-13) Filmmaker Benh Zeitlan’s feature debut certainly lives up to its sky-high expectations. Six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) lives in the Bathtub, a tiny community beyond the levee with her daddy, Wink (Dwight Henry). As Wink grows weaker from illness, the only world Hushpuppy has ever known starts to crumble. First come the rains, then the people that live on the dry land and finally the mythical, recently thawed aurochs. Still, Hushpuppy fights and survives. This fantastical tale unfolds in a harsh world that feels so realistic the film could be mistaken for a documentary. Zeitlan, who also co-wrote the pulsing, string-heavy score, captures the ruthlessness of rural poverty without the assumed pandering. Newcomers Wallis and Henry dominate the non-professional cast; their absence from the field come awards season will be stunning and heartbreaking. The film deserves to be this year’s Oscar dark horse. I have seen nearly 100 films in theaters this year, and not a single one of them has offered an emotional, imaginative, narrative experience approaching Beasts of the Southern Wild. Such a singular cinematic moment is rare in this day of sequels, reboots and readymade blockbusters. Go see this film now.

THE BOURNE LEGACY (PG-13) Tony Gilroy has been scripting exceptional Bourne films for a decade now. His first time directing one plays exactly like his previous two directing efforts (Michael Clayton and Duplicity); well-crafted but unexciting. Matt Damon’s unseen Jason Bourne is on the run, but another enhanced secret agent, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner, who’s an adequate replacement for Damon), is in the crosshairs of some nasty government spooks, led sociopathically by Edward Norton. Cross and pretty scientist, Marta Shearing (Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz), travels across the globe to find the means to permanently enhance the superspy’s mental abilities. This admirable, modern action franchise has always lacked in the fun department (I’ve never wanted to rewatch a Bourne); now it misses Paul Greengrass’ kinetic, athletic, handheld style. Legacy is more desk jockeying than spy gaming. (Call the undergrads; Cross proves to be one hell of a fake ID crafter.) Its respectable action set pieces lack the ooh ahh moment. Still, I’m curious to see the franchise advance with a Bourne/Cross faceoff or team up, but I’d prefer if Gilroy returns to scripting and Greengrass to behind the camera.

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 CAMPAIGN (R) One expects big laughs from a Will Ferrell-Zack Galifianakis political comedy, but one merely hopes for a sharp enough satirical framework to build upon. Austin Powers director Jay Roach has honed his political teeth on HBO’s “Recount” and “Game Change” and provides the proper support for Ferrell/Galifianakis’s silly showdown as North Carolina congressional candidates. Ferrell’s helmet-haired Democratic incumbent Cam Brady, loosely based on John Edwards, peddles to the “America, Jesus and freedom” crowd as he takes on Galifianakis’s oddball Republican challenger, Marty Huggins (His pants! His sweaters! His run!). Both comics are at their recent best; Ferrell had time to hone his Southern shtick on “Eastbound & Down,” and Galifianakis was born in NC. But the real meat of this comedy is how serious it is about campaign finance reform. As the Motch Brothers, Dan Ackroyd and John Lithgow are a not even thinly veiled shot at the Koch Bros. Dylan McDermott enjoys his rare comedic turn as the Motch’s hired gun. The rather rancorously funny movie ends with a surprisingly optimistic view of American politics that might not be tonally consistent with the previous acts, but is certainly pleasingly patriotic.

CELESTE & JESSE FOREVER (R) A young professional couple (Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg) decide to divorce while remaining best friends and roommates, confusing their friends and straining their resolve.

THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY (PG-13) During a vacation in Spain, Will Shaw's (soon-to-be-Superman Henry Cavill) family is kidnapped and he discovers a conspiracy while hunting for them. This flick sounds like it should star Liam Neeson and be released in late January. Director Mabrouk El Mechri impressed with the surprising faux-cumentary JCVD; too bad cowriter Scott Wiper wrote the Stone Cold stunner, The Condemned (The Cold Light of Day is fellow writer John Petro’s first writing credit). It’s (almost) always nice to see Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver though.

COSMOPOLIS (R) David Cronenberg brings Don DeLillo’s novel to the screen with Twilight star Robert Pattinson. Pattinson’s Eric Packer is a billionaire asset manager, whose day turns strange while riding around in his limo on the way to get a haircut. Cronenberg surrounds Pattinson, who proved more than Edward Cullen in Water for Elephants, with an odd cast including Oscar winner Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Amalric (Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Jay Baruchel, Kevin Durand, K’Naan, Samantha Morton and Paul Giamatti.

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 component—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.

THE EXPENDABLES 2 (R) This sequel sharpens its blunt bludgeon of a predecessor by promoting Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis (who, let’s be honest, knows he does not belong in these movies) to slightly more than glorified cameos and adding Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. The title is honest; the main team of Expendables—save Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham—is expendable, slowing the brisk flick whenever tasked with doing more than blowing the heads off a nameless opposing army. The nominal plot involves a mission of vengeance after JCVD’s Eurotrash villain, Vilain (yep, that’s how it’s spelled), kills the youngest, prettiest, newest Expendable. For no narrative reason, fellow mercs Trench (Ah-nuld, who still has that unfathomable screen appeal) and Booker (Norris) show up along the way to assist the Expendables when they’re in trouble and wind up brightening the movie with more personality and wit, despite their witless dialogue, than regulars Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews or Randy Couture. With a climactic mano-a-mano showdown between Sly and JCVD that is the absolute apotheosis of mindless action, this sequel is the superior guilty pleasure in every way except one. No Eric Roberts.

FATBOY SLIM LIVE: FROM THE BIG BEACH BOOTIQUE (NR) A one-night-only (Aug. 31) showing of the footage from a Fatboy Slim concert in 2002 in Brighton Beach, deemed one of the biggest dance parties in history.

THE FIFTH ELEMENT (PG-13) 1997. A bleached Bruce Willis. Luc Besson. A cross dressing Chris Tucker (pre-Rush Hour). Gary Oldman. It’s not hard to understand how this late 90s comic/sci-fi/action flick has developed a cult following. Before becoming hubby Paul W.S. Anderson’s muse, Milla Jovovich was inspiring Gallic super-producer/writer/director Luc Besson as Leeloo. Spanning 1914 to the mid-23rd century, The Fifth Element seemed to have epic sci-fi aspirations, but settled for a satisfyingly oddball slice of genre blockbuster.

HELLO I MUST BE GOING (R) A youthful divorcée, Amy Minsky (familiar supporting player Melanie Lynskey, seen this past summer in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World), moves back in with her parents and embarks on a relationship with a younger guy, Jeremy (Christopher Abbott, Charlie from “Girls”). Actor Todd Louiso (High Fidelity’s Dick) didn’t have much luck with his directorial debut, The Marc Pease Experiment. His second film was an opening night selection at Sundance 2012, leading to a pickup by Oscilloscope Pictures. With Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom, Blythe Danner.

HIT & RUN (R) Funnyman Dax Shepard stretches his filmmaking abilities (he wrote, co-directed, co-edited and starred) and proves adequate, if not award worthy, behind the camera. Shepard’s Charlie Bronson is in Witness Protection after diming on his bank-robbing buddies (Bradley Cooper in a bad dreadlock wig and a suited-up Ryan Hansen). When his new identity is compromised, Charlie and his new girlfriend, Annie (Kristen Bell), go on the run. The laughs are predictable, but the stunt driving is pretty remarkable. Hit & Run wouldn’t go very far or very fast minus Shepard’s love of cars (he’s a real life racer) and his talented pals (fiancée Bell, best friend Cooper and “Parenthood”’s Joy Bryant, among others), who power down the movie’s clichéd comic action straight-aways. The movie’s driving force remains as shaggily likable as ever (check Shepard out on NBC’s exceptional “Parenthood”) and shows he’s more than just a funny face. His humorous hot rod plays a little small on the big screen but should reach its audience destination on DVD and pay cable.

HOPE SPRINGS (PG-13) If older people talking about and having sex makes you uncomfortable, skip Hope Springs. But if you want a mature, intimate romantic dramedy about an ailing, aging marriage, warmly and realistically portrayed by two consummate professionals, you will find no other film this season that comes close to Hope Springs. Kay (Meryl Streep) and her husband, Arnold (master griper Tommy Lee Jones), have what appears to be a loving marriage, yet the heat has been lost. They sleep in separate bedrooms; he barely looks at her, much less touches her. Kay wants a change and believes she’s found the means in Dr. Bernard Feld’s (a lightly used Steve Carell, who knows how to pick a project) intensive couples counseling. Naturally, Arnold wants nothing to do with Kay’s plan, but reluctantly agrees to keep her happy. The film progresses with few narrative surprises but many tonal ones. The trailer implies a broader, less deftly handled, older sex comedy. Streep and Jones will have none of that, providing the less dignified moments with some emotional heft and landing the lightweight dramatic punches with the grace everyone expects from these two greats.

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 well-written, but 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.

THE INTOUCHABLES (R) 2011. The extremely popular French film is based on the book "You Changed My Life" by Abdel Sellou. A wealthy, wheelchair-bound man hires a man from the slums to be his caretaker, eventually forming a lifelong bond between them as they share their cultures and viewpoints. It's the highest-grossing non-English language movie ever.

KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (NR) Filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) starts a complicated relationship with a closeted lawyer, Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth). Writer-director Ira Sachs (The Delta, Forty Shades of Blue and Married Life) draws on real life experiences for this drama, an official selection of the Sundance (where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize) and Tribeca Film Festivals. Winner of the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. With Julianne Nicholson of season two of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire.”

• LAWLESS (R) Despite what works in John Hillcoat’s follow-up to The Road, the main characters of Lawless—a family of bootlegging brothers played by Tom Hardy, Shia LeBeouf and Jason Clarke—don’t quite welcome viewing visitors to Franklin County, VA, “the Wettest County in the World.” Facing off against a perfumed dandy of a sheriff, Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce, as if he’s auditioning to play a new Dick Tracy villain, No Brows), the legendary Bondurant Brothers survive sure death time and again, but the story never makes their continued existence the viewer's imperative outside of “If the bros die, the film ends.” West Central Georgia does a fine job of portraying early 20th-century Virginia; the below the line crew does a phenomenal job. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtrack gives the film a jauntier energy than either its writing or performances. The muscular, sturdy Hardy croaks his lines without changing his facial expression once, and still, the prospect of him leaving the film early, forcing viewers to spend even more time with LeBeouf’s yippy littlest Bondurant, Jack, chills. Gary Oldman barely peeks in as gangster Floyd Banner. Lawless has loads of potential but the resulting film fails to arrest.

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) Tyler Perry has needlessly overplotted his latest Madea pic. According to the jam-packed logline, an investment banker is relocated to Madea’s house. Just the idea of Eugene Levy interacting with Perry’s Madea is entertaining. Toss Denise Richards, Tom Arnold and Doris Roberts into the mix, and you have the most exotic-sounding Madea movie yet. It might not be good, but the curiosity quotient has been raised. As usual, TP writes, directs and stars as Madea, Joe and Brian.

MAGIC MIKE (R) 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 Adam's 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 just because of all the potential penises (or penis envy).

MEN IN BLACK III (PG-13) 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 Josh Brolin. Director Barry Sonnenfeld returns and could really use a hit. With Alice Eve, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson and Bill Hader as Andy Warhol.

MOONRISE KINGDOM (PG-13) Wes Anderson provides 2012 with 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. I don’t recall enjoying a live action Anderson fancy as much since 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums.

THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN (PG) From an odd, sweet place, Frank Zappa’s son Ahmet, comes The Odd Life of Timothy Green. The locale is familiar, though, to screenwriter-director Peter Hedges, who adapted his own novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? for director Lasse Hallstrom, who must have been busy as this project seems tailor-made for his sentimental modern fairy tales. Before finally accepting their barren existence, Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) put all their wishes for a child in a box and bury them in their fertile garden. After a freak storm, the Greens have a new arrival, 10-year-old, leaf-legged Timothy (CJ Adams). Desiring to right all the wrongs of their own childhoods, Cindy and Jim attempt to give Timothy the perfect adolescence. The Odd Life of Timothy Green might appeal more to kind-hearted, older kids, thanks to Adams’ cute but not cutesy Timothy, despite its being an above average parenting fable. As for these parents, Garner’s appeal chills the further “Alias” recedes, though Edgerton works hard to warm her. It’s a good thing they have David Morse, Dianne Wiest, Common, Ron Livingstone, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rosemarie DeWitt and the always excellent M. Emmet Walsh to rely upon.

THE OOGIELOVES AND THE BIG BALLOON ADVENTURE (G) An "interactive" children's movie starring multicolored puppets searching for a balloon in time for their friend's birthday party. Toni Braxton appears, and there is a character named J. Edgar.

PARANORMAN (PG) This marvelous, family horror flick is the writing-directing debut of Corpse Bride/Coraline storyboard artist Chris Butler, whose time apprenticing under Tim Burton and Henry Selick was well-spent. For my genre-tainted money, it bests Pixar’s Brave as the year’s best animated feature. I was smitten from its Grindhouse opening well through the closing credits scored to The White Stripes’ “Little Ghost.” This hip, stop-motion animated feature pulls no punches like '80s kiddie adventure and horror movies like Goonies and Something Wicked This Way Comes; the tale of a sweet, 11-year-old, oddball named Norman (v. Cody Smit-McPhee, The Road) is a perfect first scary movie for the son or daughter of a diehard horror fan. Norman’s battle to stop a 300-year-old witch from destroying his town (which climaxes in the bravest act I’ve witnessed in recent animation) is filled with real scares (of the PG variety), smart nods to slasher classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th, atypical character design (Norman’s features are more than a tad asymmetrical) and suffers from a trailer that unfortunately undersells that it’s an honest-to-god horror flick that should frighten and delight kids of all ages.

THE POSSESSION (PG-13) Sam Raimi is back in horror producing mode for Nightwatch (the 1994 Danish thriller and its 1997 Hollywood remake) filmmaker Ole Bornedal’s new genre flick. Based on allegedly true events, The Possession involves a little girl haunted by an evil ancient spirit that lives in the antique box she bought at a yard sale. The girl’s dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his ex-wife (Kyra Sedgwick) team up to save their little girl. Screenwriters Juliet Snowden and Stiles White gave us Boogeyman and Knowing, so be careful around this Possession.

PREMIUM RUSH (PG-13) Like the fixed gear, steel frame cycle pedaled by bike courier protagonist Wilee (another winning turn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Premium Rush has one speed—very fast—and no brakes. After being given a plain looking envelope, Wilee is chased and tormented by Detective Bobby Monday (Michael Shannon, giving his umpteenth, masterfully nutty performance), who is in deep with both the Chinese and the generically Eastern European underworlds. Don’t be turned off by Premium Rush’s biker subculture. It’s a simple, ultra fast-paced, superbly tense thriller and one of the year’s best at what it does. We’re talking one of the top-two bike messenger flicks of all time (right up there with Quicksilver, the only other bike messenger flick I can think of.) The first summit between JGL and Shannon, two of the best, undervalued American actors working today, lives up to expectations. Writer-director David Koepp might script the biggest of the big blockbusters, but his directorial efforts are all interesting, if not wholly successful, genre entries. Premium Rush, his fifth, is the best yet. You don’t even need to have a clue what a fixed gear bike is to dig it.

[REC]3 GENESIS (R) The unlikely foreign horror franchise continues without its usual found footage gimmick. A couple’s wedding turns bloody as guests start to exhibit symptoms of the series’ spreading sickness. Paco Plaza is on his own after codirecting the first two entries with Darkness’ Jaume Balaguero, and the buzz suggests the horror three-quel might be the best yet. With a third movie, the Spanish franchise has surpassed its American offspring, Quarantine, which has stalled at two (for now).

SPARKLE (PG-13) This good old-fashioned movie musical retells a very familiar tale (that’s honestly not too far removed from Dreamgirls) but does so with toe-tapping music and solid performances from “American Idol” champ Jordin Sparks and Derek Luke (among others). Three sisters—Sparkle (Sparks), Sister (Carmen Ejogo) and Dee (Tika Sumpter)—from Detroit find success as a musical act, but drugs and abusive relationships (does Mike Epps even know what nuance means?) tear them apart, pretty much like their holier than thou mother (Whitney Houston, in her final performance, which also marks her first time on screen since 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife), a failed singer, told them it would. The original, seemingly forgotten Sparkle starred Irene Cara (better known for Fame and the Oscar winning “Flashdance…What a Feeling”), was cowritten by Joel Schumacher (?!) and featured future En Vogue hits, “(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel” and “Hooked on Your Love.” Not as ambitious as Dreamgirls, the new Sparkle hits the right, albeit imitative (kind of like the “American Idol” competitor it stars), notes but will probably only be remembered as Whitney’s last appearance.

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.

THUNDERSTRUCK (PG) Sixteen-year-old basketball megafan Brian and his idol Kevin Durant accidentally switch basketball talent when they meet after Brian misses a half-court shot at an Oklahoma City Thunder game. New hot-shot Brian and disgraced Durant must find a way to switch back before the Thunder misses the playoffs.

THE WORDS (PG-13) Apparently, The Words looks really good to the audience with whom I saw Hope Springs. I’m less enamored with this Bradley Cooper plagiarism vehicle. Author Rory Jansen (Cooper) pays the price for reaching his literary summit via the work of another man. Cooper’s supporting cast—Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana, J.K. Simmons and more—give me hope, but the inspirational, award-begging preview Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal’s writing-directing debut takes it away.