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THE TIME MACHINE Although George Pal's exciting 1960 screen version of H.G. Wells' immortal tale still holds up nicely, it seemed only logical that someone would have been interested in crafting another Machine for a new generation. Alas, this latest adaptation is a mild disappointment, starting off well but getting bogged down in a third act that steadily seeps energy even as it's playing out. Memento's Guy Pearce plays the turn-of-the-last-century inventor who creates a contraption that allows him to whiz through time. After making brief stops in the 21st century, he catapults 800,000 years into the future, whereupon he sides with the peaceful Eloi tribe against the vicious Morlocks. Under the guidance of scripter John Logan and director Simon Wells (H.G.'s great-grandson), this version takes some early liberties that surprisingly work, but rather than ever fully capturing our imaginations, the picture then begins curtailing its own creativity, culminating in a yawner of a showdown between Pearce's scientist-cum-adventurer and the brainy Morlock leader (played by a campy Jeremy Irons, defeated by powder-white makeup and an outfit better suited for a Judas Priest concert). 
1/2
WE WERE SOLDIERS This adaptation of Joe Galloway and General Hal Moore's book We Were Soldiers Once... and Young focuses on a key skirmish of the Vietnam War: the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley, when 400 Americans found themselves surrounded by 2,000 enemy soldiers. Like Black Hawk Down, this also centers on the inspiring mettle demonstrated by US soldiers under fire, and it's the superior film, since it does a far better job of placing a human face on the spectacle of war. Rather than diluting the power of the piece, the expository scenes and domestic interludes provide it with an intimacy and emotional scope that easily allow it to overcome some rough narrative patches, while a no-nonsense cast (led by Mel Gibson) offers the necessary conviction. The combat scenes are extremely intense, and while some of the dialogue may clank, the sentiments don't: This is that rare Hollywood movie that isn't afraid to present its leading characters as devout Christians honestly seeking to reconcile their predicament with a spiritual soothing, and it's that even rarer movie that allows us to spend a little time with the enemy in an effort to show that the devastation of war hits on all fronts and in all facets. 1/2
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