By Matt Brunson

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER

DIRECTED BY Michael Apted

STARS Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes

By Matt Brunson

THE TOURIST

DIRECTED BY Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

STARS Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp

With The Tourist, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp aren't functioning as actors so much as they're trying their hands at being slum lords. Hollywood royalty blessed with a substantial measure of talent, these A-list actors are merely coasting here, slumming in style as they enjoy exotic locales and continental cuisine at studio expense. There's nothing wrong, of course, with watching even the most gifted of thespians let their hair down for an undemanding part, but it works so much better when the audience is allowed to participate in the festivities. That's not the case with The Tourist, which finds both stars sleepwalking through an exceedingly daft motion picture that insults moviegoer intelligence at an alarming rate.

By Matt Brunson

WILD TARGET

DIRECTED BY Jonathan Lynn

STARS Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt

Talk about landing the wrong man for the job. Director Jonathan Lynn has built his entire screen career out of helming comedies, yet based on the ham-fisted results, here's a person who's repeatedly displayed the comic instincts of a pillowcase. It's akin to imagining Mel Gibson spending the past two decades conducting sensitivity training seminars for a company's h.r. department.

By Matt Brunson

BURLESQUE

DIRECTED BY Steve Antin

STARS Cher, Christina Aguilera

Surely no one out there really believes that tired line about film critics wanting to hate whatever pictures they catch on the job? On the contrary, like everyone else, reviewers want to be entertained, enchanted and even educated for those two hours in the dark. Admittedly, though, there's that occasional rare flick that — whether through plot, casting, trailer, what-have-you — looks so awful that a deliriously bad time seems assured.

By Matt Brunson

127 HOURS

DIRECTED BY Danny Boyle

STARS James Franco, Amber Tamblyn

Let's be honest with one another. I'd be dead. You'd be dead. Almost everyone we've ever known would be dead. But not Aron Ralston. When this young man found himself trapped, as the saying goes (and as Ralston named his own memoir), between a rock and a hard place, he did the unthinkable. After five days of slowly withering away while his right arm remained lodged between a boulder and a rocky wall in a Utah canyon, he used a small, dull knife to cut off the arm so that he might continue to live.

By Matt Brunson

TANGLED

DIRECTED BY Nathan Greno & Byron Howard

STARS Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi

Pixar came into power circa the same time that Disney lost its hold on the toon crown, and while the former animation giant may never reclaim its title, its acquisition of John Lasseter's trendsetting outfit suggests that it at least might be able to ascend from its status as court jester to a more regal standing (Disney Princess?).

By Matt Brunson

FASTER

DIRECTED BY George Tillman Jr.

STARS Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton

Like most of our macho movie he-men, Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) makes up in low-simmering charm what he lacks in genuine acting chops. At his best gently mocking his own tough-guy image (Be Cool, Get Smart) and at his worst pandering to family audiences (The Game Plan, Tooth Fairy), Johnson has lately gotten away from the straight-ticket action flicks that kick-started his screen career after years in the wrestling arena. Faster marks his return to hardcore action fare, with one significant difference: It's smarter, deeper and all around better than the mediocre movies that were initially his bread and butter. If some rickety plot mechanics prevent it from fully making the grade, it still registers as a worthy try.

By Matt Brunson

LOVE & OTHER DRUGS

DIRECTED BY Edward Zwick

STARS Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway

For all the pleasure it reportedly provides, Viagra does flirt with potential side effects, including headache, upset stomach and blurred vision. Similarly, while Love & Other Drugs offers its own pleasures, this adaptation of Jamie Reidy's Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman results in such possible side effects as irritation, frustration and disgust.

By Matt Brunson

FAIR GAME

DIRECTED BY Doug Liman

STARS Naomi Watts, Sean Penn

By now, it's accepted by all but the most deluded Tea Party zealots that the insidious Bush administration took this country to war under false pretenses. There was a point when the vessel of justice could have been righted and a course for a better tomorrow could have been charted, but instead, lies were upheld, misinformation was spread like so much manure, and the moment was gone. Fair Game is a film about that moment.

Naomi Watts stars as Valerie Plame Wilson, the CIA operative whose undercover status was blown in retaliation for her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) writing a New York Times op-ed piece in which he revealed that the justification for going to war with Iraq — that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction — was a complete fabrication on the part of the war criminals in the White House. Fair Game tracks the lives of the Wilsons both professionally and personally, showing how the political fallout was placing a severe strain on their marriage.

The most fascinating element of this important picture is the philosophical difference that exists between the central characters. Joe is an idealist, honestly believing that he can take on the neocon thugs and win the battle. Valerie, meanwhile, is a realist, realizing the futility of any such efforts and initially preferring to keep her head down. It's an interesting dichotomy, because while our hearts side with Joe, our minds know — and, more regrettably, our current history proves — that Valerie was right.

By Matt Brunson

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1

DIRECTED BY David Yates

STARS Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint

We won't know until July 15, 2011, whether or not the final book in J.K. Rowling's franchise really needed to be divided into two motion pictures. But until the release of Part 2 on that forthcoming summer day, the evidence based on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 leads to an inconclusive verdict.

Like the previous six installments, this one clocks in around the 2-1/2 hour mark. But this is the first picture in the series that actually drags. It's not a disastrous debit since the majority of the film is so strong, but it does suggest that some judicious trimming might have given us the final chapter in one fell swoop. The coasting comes in the middle of the movie, which is fortunate since it leaves the production with a vibrant opening act and a powerhouse final hour. Newbies to this world of wizardry need not apply, but fans of the previous films will immediately be swept up in this latest chapter, which begins by killing off one of the good guys and sending Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) on a crusade to locate specific items that might help them vanquish the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

The movie spends an awful lot of time on the three teens as they set up camp in an isolated area, and the romantic yearning between them, usually a highlight of the series, here settles into soap opera mundaneness. Yet once the story leaps past this narrative hurdle, it again gets back to the intriguing dynamics that have long defined this series, culminating in a cliffhanger finale that promises great things in the next installment. Part 1 may not be the best film in the series, but it hints that Part 2 might have a shot at the title.