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).

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 would 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. (Ciné)

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.

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.

THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY (PG-13) A strong candidate for the year’s worst theatrical release (how did this flick attract Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver AND get released on over 1000 screens?), The Cold Light of Day lacks even a mote of self-awareness, ending as if it might be the beginning of some new action franchise. (I’ve only seen the trailer, but Jack Reacher this is not.) Soon-to-be Superman Henry Cavill runs and guns through this Taken wannabe about a young American businessman playing spy games with the CIA and Mossad in the mean streets of an eternally sunny Madrid. The lucky Willis only sticks around for the first act, unlike the very bored Weaver, who is becoming no stranger to crappy action (Abducted?) and is not proving to be a female Liam Neeson. This rote, blandly Hitchcockian thriller (MacGuffin would have been a more appropriate and colorful title) will be forgotten by time if Cavill hits it big with Man of Steel. Even the die hard Bruno fans should avoid this one.

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.

DREDD 3D (R) Judge Dredd heads back to the big screen for the first time since Sylvester Stallone’s failed 1995 franchise starter, and early judgments are shockingly positive. Karl Urban plays the futuristic law enforcement officer, charged with acting as judge, jury and executioner. Vantage Point’s Pete Travis seems an odd choice for director, but 28 Days Later… writer Alex Garland is a perfect fit for the dark, comic material. Dredd, at its best, could compete with 80s great dystopian satire Robocop. With Lena Headey (300) and Olivia Thirlby (Juno).

END OF WATCH (R) Director David Ayers really needs to branch out. The Training Day/Dark Blue writer and Street Kings director returns with another gritty cop-centered crime drama. Two young officers, Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala (Jake Gyllenhaal and the super underrated Michael Pena), find themselves in the crosshairs of a drug cartel after confiscating money and firearms during a traffic stop. Ayers’ previous movies have mostly been good, but they are starting to feel more than a little bit derivative. With Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera.

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.

FINDING NEMO (G) 2003. I came late to the Finding Nemo party and have not taken to it like other Pixar greats. Maybe the addition of a third dimension will help. Clownfish Marlin (v. Albert Brooks) goes searching for his son, Nemo (v. Alexander Gould), who is lost in the big, scary ocean. Fortunately, Marlin has pal Dory (v. Ellen Degeneres), a blue tang fish, to help him out. Director Andrew Stanton went on to make Wall-E. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

THE GRADUATE (NR) 1967. Dustin Hoffman's first-time role as directionless college grad Benjamin Braddock tapped into the 60s counterculture with its Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack and Benjamin's frightened apathy toward the seductive advances of the older Mrs. Robinson.

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.

HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET (PG-13) This generically plotted horror flick stars Elisabeth Shue and The Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence as a mother-daughter duo that move to a new town. Next door to their new home is the town’s murder house, where a young girl killed her parents. According to the surviving son, the case is not so open-and-shut. The story is credited by T3’s Jonathan Mostow; too bad he didn’t direct too (that task fell to the inexperienced Mark Tonderai). With Max Thieriot and Gil Bellows.

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, 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.

KILLER JOE (NC-17) Academy Award winner William Friedkin and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts must have enjoyed their collaboration on Bug because they’re back together for this black comic crime thriller. A young man decides to put a hit out on his evil mom so he can collect the money he needs to pay off a life-endangering debt. As if a new Friedkin film weren’t enticing enough, the cast includes Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Gina Gershon and Thomas Haden Church. (Ciné)

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (R) 1992. My entry point for Michael Mann, whose films I adore (save a couple), and Daniel Day-Lewis was a doozy. This rousing adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s great American novel deserves to be seen again in a theater. Day-Lewis stars as Hawkeye who must save the woman he loves, a British Colonel’s daughter (Madeleine Stowe), amidst the dangers of the French and Indian War. Russell Means and Wes Studi give unforgettable performances as the film’s Native American leads, Hawkeye’s “father” and the central villain, respectively. The score by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones remains one of my favorites to this day. (UGA Tate Theater)

• LAST OUNCE OF COURAGE (PG) A movie memorable for how terribly made and utterly out of touch with the reality of American governance it is, Last Ounce of Courage makes the faithful hits from Sherwood Baptist’s movie ministry look like Hollywood blockbusters. Years after losing his soldier son in combat, a small town mayor, Bob Revere (Marshall R. Teague), wages the culture war against the government, represented by a liberal Washingtonian, Warren “The Hammer” Hammerschmidt (Fred Williamson). Fortunately for all Americans, Bob is protecting our constantly endangered, yet never defined freedoms. Mostly, Bob is fired up about the highly publicized, non-existent War on Christmas (from "Talking Points" by Bill O’Reilly, courtesy of Fox News). The universe in which this movie takes place is so skewed. A small mountain town populated by folk of the same religio-political persuasion is not the place where this value battle would be fought. The movie insultingly conflates religion and patriotism, while relegating minorities to the roles of villain, kindly janitor and the needy. Bob even loses his job and is later arrested for “violation of church and state,” whatever that is. This amateurish, self-righteous and Chuck Norris-approved movie should never have seen a release outside of the local church fellowship hall. 

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 the 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.

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. (Ciné)

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.

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 PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER (PG-13) Stephen Chbosky (he wrote the screenplay for Chris Columbus’ big screen Rent) directs the adaptation of his own YA novel about a freshman (Logan Lerman, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) being mentored by two seniors (Emma Watson and Ezra Miller). Most of the movie’s prerelease buzz has focused on Watson’s first major post-Harry Potter role, but it’s Miller, so good in We Need to Talk About Kevin, that I want to see in action. With Nina Dobrev of “The Vampire Diaries.”

THE POSSESSION (PG-13) After an opening attack that is neither intriguing or chilling, The Possession settles into a suitable, if soporific groove. This Exorcist-wannabe, which is naturally based on a true story, benefits from Jeffrey Dean Morgan (looking particularly Javier Bardem-ish) as the basketball coach father of a young girl (played by Natalie Calis with more depth than the usual horror movie moppet in danger) that starts exhibiting strange behavior after picking up an antique box at a yard sale of the lady from the movie's opening scene. The box, a Dibbuk (demon) box of Hebrew lore, leads to more Judaic horror a la The Unborn (Catholicism being so five minutes ago as the go-to faith for the horror genre). Director Ole Bornedal knows how to adequately craft a small horror flick (the original Nightwatch, not to be confused with the Russian Night Watch, deserves viewing; skip the American remake), but he can't get much terror out of Boogeyman writers Juliet Snowden and Stiles White's script. The Possession best take advantage of an anemic horror market, as aware genre fans know there are better flicks on the way (V/H/S, Sinister).

• RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION (R) Well, the lesser breed of Resident Evil—movie rather than video game—returns with a fifth entry that is the (relative) best yet. Writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson finally (sort of) embraces the series’ video game origins, even favoring franchise favorite characters over actors in the opening credits (we know from the get-go that the movie features Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine, Johann Urb as Leon S. Kennedy, Kevin Durand as Barry Burton, Bingbing Li as Ava Wong and Shawn Roberts as the series’ big bad, Albert Wesker) and tossing Las Plagas into the T-virus mix. Monotonous B-grade action dominates the C-grade, cosplay acting and writing for the next hour and a half. Fans will find it hard to believe the acting—mostly stiff, strange action poses filmed for minimal 3D effect—is worse than the original Resident Evil’s poor voice acting. Still, this fan of every canonical entry in Capcom’s flagship series would respect the movies much more were this relatively more faithful film the initial entry.

ROBOT & FRANK (PG-13) I’m sold by the title and the logline. Aging jewel thief Frank (Frank Langella) and the robot butler (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) given to him by his son plot a heist. This sci-fi dramedy won director Jake Schreier Sundance’s Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Award for his feature debut. Maybe the film will end up playing a bit silly or sappy, but I’m willing to give this unique pic a shot. With James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Susan Sarandon, Ana Gasteyer and Jeremy Sisto.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (PG-13) First-time feature director Rupert Sanders could have benefited from lightening up a bit. The filmmakers try so hard to ensure that SWATH, starring Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Chris “Thor” Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Charlize Theron as the evil queen, is a seriously dark fairy tale that they forget to have any fun. All save Theron, whose deliriously campy Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford performance does not belong in this humorless movie. Thankfully, the dwarves—led by Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Eddie Marsan, Nick Frost and Bob Hoskins courtesy of some excellent effects—provide the movie with its drollest moments. The FX, Colleen Atwood’s costumes and a couple of James Newton Howard’s musical themes are stunning. Too bad the far too solemn fantasy flick never adds up to more than a sum of some wonderful parts. (UGA Tate Theater)

STEP UP REVOLUTION (PG-13) Let’s go ahead and get the criticisms out of the way. The acting and story are crap. Emily (Kathryn McCormick from “So You Think You Can Dance”), a professional dancer comes to Miami and falls for Sean (Ryan Guzman, the series’ latest C-Tates knockoff), who leads a local dance crew. Too bad, Sean and his gang’s neighborhood are being threatened by a development planned by Emily’s father (the eyebrows of Peter Gallagher). Who cares, you say? Tell you about the dancing? The dancing is fantastic. Massive flash mobs utilize laser lights, smoke bombs, costumes and more to stage some of the dance-chise’s most jaw dropping routines (which are often and unfortunately chopped up by too many reaction shots). The choreography is so creative and the 3D so well integrated that this overall subpar movie would be an Academy Award winner, were the Academy to dole out awards for such a thing as choreography. This movie isn’t for everyone, but anyone who digs Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” (many of whose former dancers and choreographers, like the ingenious Christopher Scott of the League of Extraordinary Dancers, were involved in this production) won’t want to miss it.

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.

V.H.S.: LOCAL VIDEOGRAPHERS HELLA-BIG SHOW (NR) The Society of Greater Things presents a showcase for local aspiring and professional filmmakers once a month.

THE WORDS (PG-13) The kindest words I can offer The Words are that I expected much worse. (Don’t mistake that kindly cut for a recommendation.) Author Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid) reads his latest work (if the VO is any indication, Hammond is a terrible novelist), the story of young author Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), who becomes an overnight literary sensation by stealing the lost novel of an old man (Jeremy Irons). Also, a lit groupie played by Olivia Wilde wants to sleep with Hammond. I get how the Russian nesting egg script would appeal to such a high profile cast, including Zoe Saldana, Ben Barnes, J.K. Simmons, Michael McKean, and more; as a novel, this gooey tale would sail up the charts under the standard of Oprah herself. As a film, the soppy direction of first timers Brian Klugman (Jack’s nephew) and Lee Sternthal mixes with the misjudged casting decisions (Cooper is callow where artistic desperation is needed) for a mushy, three course cinematic meal, which is unfortunate, as each dish is gorgeously and distinctively shot by cinematographer Antonio Calvache. The Words will appeal to the Mitch Albom/Oprah Book crowd, as even badly written pieces of fiction can be compelling.