Scott Bowles

Never works as a gum-snapper concert movie and does provide a glimpse into instant stardom in the Twitter generation.

Inspired and inspiring, this documentary about 7- and 8-year-olds competing for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship is too fawning to be consistently gifted, but it manages to be occasionally, perhaps accidentally, profound.

RZA's directorial debut is heavy on bloody kung fu action...and light on just about everything else.

Most Ender's fans, of course, won't care about comparisons and consider the film adaptation a long-awaited victory in itself. Those fresh to the tale — or at least expecting something fresh from it — may wonder what the fuss was about.

Even by today's horror standards, Destination has some ghastly scenes. After seeing them, parents may want to reconsider letting their daughters try gymnastics or laser eye surgery.

It's mostly smoke and mirrors. After Freeman's snooze became a YouTube fixture, the actor jokingly dismissed the nap, saying he was using "Google eyelids" to check his Facebook account. You may find yourself attempting the same feat, because Now has little up its sleeve.

Action fans -- particularly devotees of brainless '80s shoot-em-ups -- may find enough to like here, particularly the preposterous mayhem of the third act.

Part horror film, part space thriller and all gore-fest, the movie ends up being a lot like its protagonist: a mess of a monster that stretches itself too thin to scare much.

Brisk, brutal and unconcerned with collateral damage, The Mechanic doesn't pave much of anything new in the assassin-for-hire genre. But when it kills, it does so with style.

Has a near-impossible mission: its title.

Glee the TV show has become a cult phenom with three essential ingredients: whip-smart kids, adult-sized issues, all blended to sugary pop tunes. About a third of those components made it into Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

Alas, this all-star ensemble comedy that trumpets (too loudly) that it's a "Hangover" on hemorrhoid cream musters enough laughs to be passable, if not memorable. And that's thanks to Morgan Freeman's showmanship.

Stunningly shot and stupidly written.

A putrid film that comes dead-weighted with hammy one-liners and a plot so silly it borders on comedy?

Alas, shell casings, switchblades and severed limbs are all that's offered in this vile film, whose sole redeeming quality is that it ends. Eventually.

Visually stunning and narratively stunted, this IMAX documentary is the family version of 2006's "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary on global warming.

Red 2 is one of those sequels that's easier to follow if you've seen the original but more entertaining if you haven't.

It bristles with exuberant numbers that strain beneath the weight of cliché.

Vaughn and James are likable enough, and they would have real chemistry in, say, an all-out comedy.

What undercuts sharper than Poseidon's trident is a script that sees its characters as cardboard, not flesh and blood. For a film meant to be spectacle over substance, it's not a fatal blow. But it is a mortal wound.

It's breezy stuff, to be sure. And while English is far from becoming the Pink Panther for the Facebook generation, Atkinson has a breezy rapport with junior Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya) that's reminiscent of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau and his relationship with sidekick Kato.

Even by today's standards, some scenes are jaw-dropping in their bloodshed. To that end, Lurie accomplishes some of what Peckinpah evoked 40 years ago.

It is in many respects the best installment of the franchise as its stars go from sullen kids to sullen young adults, where their expressions look more natural.

The first half of Taken 2 is a serviceable action flick, but the second half descends into cliches.

Speaking of that middle-finger finale, there is one redeeming trait: At least it signals the end credits.

Hangover II marks one of the most derivative sequels of the year: The opening and closing scenes are taken almost shot-for-shot from the original. Just substitute Asians for Americans, gross-outs for guffaws.

Alas, Wolf tries too hard to shock to be effective.

Revolution tries a few plot moves, but, narratively, it has two left feet.