Elizabeth Weitzman

Watch closely and you might even spy a better film inside, straining to break free.

Perhaps every generation gets the movie stars it deserves. “Olympus” has quite a bit to say about the current state of our country. Intentions aside, not all of it is entirely flattering.

Brad Leong’s “quirky” romantic comedy retreads ground that is already so well worn, everyone just slides right through.

Enthusiasm carries the day in this paint-by-numbers period tale, which is just charming enough to coast on its own clichés.

It’s not easy to play twins (in another language, no less), without relying on showy mannerisms to define them. But Mortensen pulls it off. Your move, Franco.

None of the seven shorts here is worth a single, well-made feature. But there are a few amusing moments to be found.

No one’s winning any awards for The Call. But at least the award winners know how to make it worth our while.

There is enough here — including the gifted Arena’s barely believable backstory — to keep your head spinning.

Philip Roth turns 80 next week, and what better way to celebrate than to serve as the hero of his own story? It’s too bad, though, that this dully conventional biography doesn’t do justice to its subject.

Like a creaky Vegas act desperate to please, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is so eager you can’t help wanting to like it. But you also can’t help wondering if something better is playing in the theater next-door.

Its compelling conceit is immediately weighed down by leaden execution.

Most of the performances are as unpolished as they are heartfelt, which is both endearing and distracting.

This material could so easily have tipped over into false sentimentality, but everyone works with a steady hand. Rebecca Thomas makes an assured debut as both writer and director, the gifted Culkin is excellent as always, and Garner finds lovely shades of nuance in Rachel’s innocent faith.

Don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors. There is nothing here that is great, or powerful. Worst of all, there’s nothing here that even feels like Oz.

How ironic (depressing? predictable?) that the week after we celebrate the best in movies, we are force-fed its very worst. 21 & Over is filmmaking by formula, and evidence of Hollywood’s assumption that appealing to viewers’ basest instincts will always pay off.

There is plenty of evidence that Webber has something significant to say, and the gifts with which to express himself. Once he’s ready to commit fully to his own vision, there’s no end to what he might accomplish.

The movie works best as a calling card for young Haney-Jardine, whom we can surely expect to see more of on the festival circuit.

While the filmmakers never quite make the case that their chosen melody deserves its own full-length film, they do ensure that you’ll leave the theater happily humming it.

A director as talented as Singer (“The Usual Suspects,” “X-Men”) should be working to raise popcorn movies to a higher level. Instead, this uninspired effort feels like a colossal letdown.

The pacing is so tedious and the action so unexciting that it's a real thrill when J.K. Simmons shows up as a wry alien expert — and a huge disappointment when he disappears a few minutes later.

Wang Xiaoshuai’s gently engrossing coming-of-age tale isn’t strikingly unique, but it does possess the heartfelt confidence that comes from autobiographical influence — and natural talent.

The story feels fairly perfunctory — not to mention unnecessarily knotty — but the well-connected leads do their best to ground it. And while this one falls far short of the “Bourne” films that serve as an influence, the intense action scenes consistently deliver some solid genre jolts.

Newcomers may be disappointed by such a slender effort, but fans of revered Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami will find plenty to appreciate in his observant followup to 2010’s acclaimed “Certified Copy.”

The movie wants to say something significant about the excitement and alienation of life in a strange — which is to say, new — place. The film never gets there, but its aims are honorable, and the lovingly shot Shanghai scenery does enhance the trip.

Who could have predicted that one day we would long for the relative subtlety of “Twilight”? Richard LaGravenese’s Beautiful Creatures is so outrageously florid, Bella and Edward’s baroque courtship looks understated by comparison.

The ensuing road trip should be hilariously chaotic, a classic misadventure between two ill-matched travelers. Instead of “Midnight Run,” though, we get another gloss on the recent “Guilt Trip,” in which the concept is all that counts.

This is really the kind of movie that was made to be watched in a haze after midnight, at which point it would all, no doubt, make perfect sense.

Grohl has a longstanding reputation as one of the nicest guys in rock. So it should come as no surprise that this may be the most positive music documentary you'll ever see.