Capsule descriptions and starred mini-reviews by The Commercial Appeal movie writer John Beifuss.

OPENING TODAY

American Teen (PG-13, 95 min.) See review on Page 22.

Ridgeway Four.

Henry Poole is Here (PG, 100 min.) In this "modern-day fable," the home of a disillusioned man (Luke Wilson) attracts pilgrims when a stain that resembles Jesus appears on its stucco.

Cordova Cinema, Paradiso.

Mirrors (R, 112 min.) Talented director Alexandre Aja (the 2006 "The Hills Have Eyes") remakes a Korean thriller in which an ex-cop (Kiefer Sutherland) is threatened by sinister forces that travel through the looking glass.

Forest Hill 8, Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Raleigh Springs Cinema, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16, Summer Quartet Drive-In.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (PG, 98 min.) See review on Page 19

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Raleigh Springs Cinema, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (PG-13, 97 min.) See review on Page 23.

Ridgeway Four, Studio on the Square, Cordova Cinema.

OPENING WEDNESDAY

The Rocker (PG-13, 102 min.) A former 1980s "hair band" drummer (Rainn Wilson) tries to recapture past glory by joining his nephew's high school rock group.

Forest Hill 8, Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

SPECIAL MOVIES

Roving Mars: The in-depth IMAX adventure follows the "careers" of Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's robotic Exploration Rovers, from their development to their manufacture to their six-month flight through cold space to their landing on the surface of Mars, where they gathered information to help pave the way for future visits by man. Runs through Nov. 14. Tickets are $8, $7.25 senior citizens, $6.25 children 3-12; children under 3 are free. Call for show times.

Crew Training International IMAX Theater at Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 3050 Central. Call 763-IMAX for general information or 320-6362 for reservations.

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure: Narrated by Liev Schreiber, National Geographic's film takes audiences on a journey into the relatively unexplored world of the "other dinosaurs," those reptiles that lived beneath the water. The film plays through March 6, 2009. Tickets: $8, $7.25 senior citizens, $6.25 children ages 3-12; children under 3 are free. Call for show times.

Crew Training International IMAX Theater at Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 3050 Central. Call 763-IMAX for general information or 320-6362 for reservations.

The Wizard of Oz (G, 101 min.) Judy Garland is over the rainbow, Bert Lahr is the king of the forest, the Wicked Witch is dead and Elvira Gulch is every dog's nightmare in the 1939 MGM musical that may be the most beloved of American films.

7:15 p.m. today at the Orpheum, 203 S. Main. Admission: $5 per adult, $4 per child age 12 and younger. Call 525-3000.

NOW SHOWING

Baby Mama (PG-13, 99 min.) Tina Fey is a single career woman with a baby-thwarting "T-shaped" uterus; Amy Poehler is the white-trash surrogate mother who rents out her womb to house Fey's fertilized eggs. The results of this bargain are predictable (as is writer-director Michael McCullers' enabling of the premise's potential for mush), but the "Saturday Night Live" veterans make a great comedy team, and their movie is thoroughly entertaining.

Bartlett 10.

Brick Lane (PG-13, 102 min.) Set in a London neighborhood of working-class Bangladeshi Muslims in the days before and after 9/11, director Sarah Gavron's film -- adapted from Monica Ali's novel -- is familiar in theme but distinctive in detail as it chronicles the slow self-liberation of yet another unhappily married heroine. The slant is feminist, but the most interesting character is not the long-suffering Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee) but her husband, Chanu (Satish Kaushik), whose evolution from repulsive bully to misunderstood failure provides the movie with its most intriguing character arc.

Ridgeway Four.

Brideshead Revisited (PG-13, 135 min.) Fans of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel and the famous 659-minute 1981 British miniseries it inspired won't be pleased with the compromises of this feature-length condensation; Anglophiles, however, may be willing to accept director Julian Jarrold's adaptation for the Merchant-Ivory-style pleasures it offers, including period English decor; the precise diction of classically trained actors (Emma Thompson is tyrannical Lady Marchmain); the imposing presence of Yorkshire's 400-year-old Castle Howard as the title manor; and such sights as steam locomotives, cloche hats, a frock decorated with the stylized silhouettes of golden swallows and a tortoise with a jewel-encrusted shell.

Ridgeway Four, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (PG, 144 min.) The second film adapted from C.S. Lewis' popular fantasy book series is darker than its predecessor ("The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe"), but returning director Andrew Adamson's emphasis on swordplay and political intrigue doesn't make up for the dull performance of the movie's pinup-ready title swashbuckler (Ben Barnes) and the relative charmlessness of the English schoolchildren who are the film's heroes (the Hogwarts Sorting Hat would have kicked these kids to the curb).

Bartlett 10.

College Road Trip (G, 83 min.) A talented pet pig and a showtune-belting Donny Osmond steal the spotlight from the ever-mugging Martin Lawrence in this running-on-empty road comedy (notable only for its G rating) about a cop who accompanies his college-bound daughter (Raven-Symoné) on a tour of university campuses. The intended show-stopper: a singalong of "Double Dutch Bus" with a busload of Japanese tourists.

Bartlett 10.

The Dark Knight (PG-13, 152 min.) A lavishly produced drama about hard moral choices, "The Dark Knight" is "The Godfather" of superhero movies -- or, at least, "The Departed." Director Christopher Nolan's ambitious, superior follow-up to "Batman Begins" makes a grim joke out of the idea that it was inspired by a series of so-called "comic" books. The only laughter in the film is the halting, psychopathic chuckle of the Joker, and our pleasurable reaction to his histrionic, terroristic glee is tempered by our awareness that we are watching the last complete screen performance of the late Heath Ledger, who spends at least one moment in the film in a body bag.

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Studio on the Square, Raleigh Springs Cinema, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16, Summer Quartet Drive-In.

The Forbidden Kingdom (PG-13, 113 min.) Jackie Chan and Jet Li team (and battle) onscreen for the first time in this kid-friendly story about a kung fu-obsessed South Boston teen (Michael Angarano) who's transported by a "divine staff of legend" to ancient China, where he becomes involved in (what else?) an ancient struggle between good and evil. Director Rob Minkoff (" Stuart Little") seems more influenced by "The NeverEnding Story," "The Karate Kid" and especially "The Wizard of Oz" than the Hong Kong heroic-fantasy epics that are the film's supposed inspirations, but he and fight choreographer Woo-Ping Yuen create plenty of fun action sequences.

Bartlett 10.

Get Smart (PG-13, 110 min.) Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway are perfectly cast as CONTROL agent Maxwell Smart and his love-interest colleague, Agent 99, but this update of the classic Mel Brooks-Buck Henry 1960s spy-spoof sitcom is a movie without a context -- as useless as a shoe phone in an iPhone era. The tired jokes emphasize the project's irrelevance in an age when the Cold War has been replaced by a "War on Terror"; worse, director Peter Segal eschews the snappy Pop design of the original series, delivering a murky, unattractive film that's as gray as the post-Soviet Russian setting of much of its action.

Collierville Towne 16.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (R, 118 min.) In the manner of such key Thompson works as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," this documentary links personal biography with cultural history, providing fascinating recaps of the Nixon era and the 1972 presidential campaign as it examines the life of the cult writer who became a celebrity as much for his legendary drug consumption, self-described "gun problem," eccentric appearance and anti-authoritarian lifestyle as for the power of the autobiographical, surreal "gonzo" journalism he invented. The talking heads include George McGovern, Tom Wolfe and Hell's Angel Sonny Barger; the director is Alex Gibney, who won an Oscar for 2007 documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side," about Bush-era torture practices.

Studio on the Square.

Hancock (PG-13, 93 min.) Will Smith is the reluctant title "superhero," a surly and seemingly homeless drunken amnesiac whose destructive heroics make him a pariah until an eager public relations professional (Jason Bateman) tries to rehab his image. Ambitious, clever and peculiar, the film is compromised by low comedy, a pandering soundtrack and the timidity of a studio unwilling to transform the most bankable star in movies into a morally bankrupt character. As food for thought, however, "Hancock" is a banquet: Is the movie a narcissistic celebrity makeover metaphor? A dissection of the humiliating mistrust with which majority America treats even those black men who have "earned" admiration for their athletic ability and other talents? Or a saga about America, alone and unloved despite its great power?

Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

The Happening (R, 91 min.) After the diminishing returns of "Signs" and "The Village" and the loony, self-indulgent misfire of "Lady in the Water," M. Night Shyamalan retrenches, to demonstrate he still can write and direct a relatively low-cost chiller in the manner of his breakout success, "The Sixth Sense" (1999). The result is a 1970s-style eco-thriller in the tradition of "Frogs" and "Day of the Animals" that undercuts its moments of suggestive horror (a menacing wind blows spookily through the tall grass) by revealing the source of its title disaster way too early, leaving audiences poised for a trademark Shyamalan twist that never arrives. Mark Wahlberg stars as a high-school science teacher; bug-eyed Zooey Deschanel is miscast as his wife.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (PG-13, 120 min.) Adapted from the comic books by Mike Mignola, the first "Hellboy" barely broke even at the box office in 2004. But thanks to that film's growing cult and the success of the acclaimed "Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo del Toro -- probably the most imaginative popular director in movies today -- is Satan-hot, and he was able to use his clout to revisit the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and create what may be the most entertaining movie of the summer. This time, the cigar-chomping heroic title demon (Ron Perlman) -- irreverent and as red as a King Cotton hot dog -- has to save humanity from a planned invasion of mythological beings. Hellboy's colleagues include inflammable love interest Liz (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Teutonic newcomer Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane), a being of gaseous ectoplasm contained within a deep-sea-diver's suit.

Majestic, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16, Summer Quartet Drive-In.

Horton Hears a Who! (G, 87 min.) This beautifully animated Blue Sky Studios ("Ice Age") CGI makeover of a 1954 children's book by Dr. Seuss respects, to some extent, the economy of line -- in both rhyme and drawing -- that was Theodor Geisel's trademark; at least it avoids the bloat and chaos that transformed such recent live-action Seussafilms as "The Grinch" into utter abominations. Jim Carrey provides the voice of the title elephant, who rocks the dogma of the jungle when he discovers that a speck of dust contains an entire civilized world; Carol Burnett is the self-righteous kangaroo (she "pouch-schools" her child) whose reactionary assertions (Horton is a "menace" because he causes people to "question authority") detract from the story's original message that "a person's a person, no matter how small."

Bartlett 10.

The Incredible Hulk (PG-13, 114 min.) A sort of CGI "War of the Gargantuas," this reboot of Ang Lee's thoughtful but underwhelming "Hulk" (2003) delivers enough monster mayhem and Marvel Universe insider info to satisfy the fanboys who rejected the earlier film. Edward Norton replaces Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, the gamma ray-infected scientist who morphs into an unjolly green giant when he becomes angry or excited. (In other words, no sex for Banner, as girlfriend Liv Tyler learns in one of the few scenes that realistically dramatizes the cost of Banner's curse.) Tim Roth is the evil mercenary whose transformation into "The Abomination" enables director Louis Leterrier ("Transporter 2") to stage a property-damaging clash-of-the-titans free-for-all of such intensity that in the precomputer effects era it could have been visualized only in a cartoon or a comic book. To sum up: Hulk smash good.

Bartlett 10.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13, 122 min.) If previous Indiana Jones movies were tributes to the serials, war films, colonial adventure epics ("Gunga Din") and even Hollywood musicals that were popular during the years in which the films take place, "Crystal Skull" takes much of its inspiration from the science-fiction cycle of the 1950s. Those movies exorcised Red Scare paranoia through metaphorical stories about body-snatching aliens and high-tech extraterrestrial invaders; "Skull" replaces the Nazis of the earlier Indy movies with Communists who really do want to conquer the U.S. with the aid of alien technology. This time, the bullwhip-wielding archeologist (an older and grumpier Harrison Ford) is searching for a lost city in the Amazon, aided by a "Wild One"-aping youth (Shia LaBeouf) and old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen); he is opposed by Cate Blanchett, a scene-stealing psychic "Communatrix" in jodhpurs and leather boots.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8.

Iron Man (PG-13, 126 min.) Zillionaire playboy arms manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) -- dubbed "the merchant of death" by haters -- experiences an almost literal change of heart after he's wounded by one of his own bombs in Afghanistan. Giving up on munitions, he uses "repulsor technology" to create a stylish, high-tech "gold titanium alloy" suit, and the superhero Iron Man is born. Jon Favreau ("Swingers," "Elf") remains an indifferent director (the most dynamic sequences here are the ones that probably were story-boarded by the special-effects teams), but "Iron Man" ranks with the best "X-Men" films and just below the first two "Spider-Man" movies as the most successful translation of a Marvel comic book to the screen.

Bartlett 10.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (PG, 93 min.) As a traditional "flat" film, this Jules Verne-inspired spelunkfest is an implausible, amusing and somewhat old-fashioned Saturday matinee-style, kid-friendly adventure. But in 3D, even a sink drain's point-of-view shot of Brendan Fraser brushing his teeth is a knockout. Fraser plays a volcanologist who -- accompanied by his teen nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and a pretty mountain guide (Anita Briem) -- discovers that Verne's 1864 novel isn't science fiction but a fact-based guide to a subterranean world-within-a-world of carnivorous plants, prehistoric monsters, bioluminescent birds, giant mushrooms and other objects that look cool when they're made to appear three-dimensional onscreen. The movie is projected in 3-D at the Paradiso, the DeSoto Cinema 16 and the CinePlanet 16.

Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (G, 94 min.) Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine" herself) is part Shirley Temple, part Nancy Drew and part Eleanor Roosevelt in this earnest family film, inspired by the phenomenally successful line of "historical" American Girl dolls and their "lifestyle" accessories. A would-be reporter battling anti-hobo prejudice and economic hard times during the Great Depression, Kit is a resourceful and intelligent heroine who should appeal to girls while also reassuring a demographic that's equally hungry for positive female pop-culture role models: parents.

Collierville Towne 16.

Kung Fu Panda (PG, 88 min.) From its stylized opening dream sequence to its beautifully rendered if more familiar-looking CGI animal characters, this parable about a dream-chasing panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) is the most visually stunning cartoon yet from DreamWorks Animation (home of the "Shrek" franchise). It's also the studio's most consistently entertaining release, functioning as an affectionate homage to classic Hong Kong martial-arts cinema as well as a fuzzy-wuzzy comedy-with-uplift for small fry. The Zoo's Who supporting cast of warriors includes Tigress (Angelina Jolie); Mantis (Seth Rogen); Viper (Lucy Liu); and Monkey (Jackie Chan). Opposing these warriors is a snow leopard named Tai Lung (Ian McShane), who may be the scariest cartoon villain since the George Sanders-voiced Shere Khan in Disney's "The Jungle Book."

Stage Cinema, Majestic, Hollywood 20 Cinema.

The Love Guru (PG-13, 89 min.) Is this wince-inducing misfire a trial balloon for a new comedy franchise or for Mike Myers' post-movie stardom career as the new Dr. Phil? It may be more effective as the latter. As self-indulgent as such oddball vanity projects as M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" and Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain," this extremely personal film -- motivated, according to Myers, by a "spiritual quest" that led to the comic's friendship with New Age superstar Deepak Chopra -- is part extended crotch joke, part life-affirming "sutra," with Myers starring as Guru Pitka, a celebrity self-help sage locked inside a chastity belt. .

Bartlett 10.

Mamma Mia! (PG-13, 109 min.) Director Phyllida Lloyd's frenetic adaptation of the ABBA-inspired stage musical was shot on location in Greece, but the way Meryl Streep tears through the scenery, you'd think she was in a giant reptile suit on the back lot at Toho Studios. Pulling wacky faces to match her oh-so-adorable overalls, Streep plays air guitar, bounces on a bed, jumps cannonball-style off a dock and otherwise acts like a person yet to recover from a juvenile head injury; at least she can sing, which is more than can be said for male co-stars Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgrd and Pierce Brosnan (whose croaked crooning might as well be emanating from the throat of Christian Bale's Batman). As Streep's ingenue daughter, Amanda Seyfried is easy on the eyes; Christine Baranski steals the show with the only number worthy of a pre-1970 musical ("Does Your Mother Know?"); the love/marriage/old-flames plot is slight but agreeable; and the ABBA songs remain insidiously catchy. But the cast apparently was instructed to maintain a pitch of hysterical frenzy whenever on camera; the squealing loss of control suggests the behavior of preteen girls who have encountered a spider during a slumber party.

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Studio on the Square, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

Meet Dave (PG, 91 min.) A crew of miniature aliens on Earth operate a spaceship shaped like Eddie Murphy. Really.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8, Majestic, Raleigh Springs Cinema.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (PG-13, 112 min.) Like its predecessors (1999's "The Mummy" and 2001's "The Mummy Returns"), this noisy Brendan Fraser fantasy adventure owes more to Indiana Jones than to Boris Karloff, while failing to be a credit to either inspiration. Rob Cohen ("Dragonheart," "The Fast and the Furious") replaces Stephen Sommers as director and Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz as Fraser's wife, but the crazy-quilt comic-book formula remains the same, as explorer Rick O'Connell (Fraser) -- now saddled with a grown son who appears to be as old as he is (in fact, actor Luke Ford is barely 12 years younger than Fraser) -- finds himself battling a 2,000-year-old shape-shifting emperor (Jet Li) and his army of living terracotta warriors. Kids should love it.

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Raleigh Springs Cinema, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16, Summer Quartet Drive-In.

Pineapple Express (R, 112 min.) Not since "Pulp Fiction" plunged a needle into the heart of an overdose victim has drug comedy met drug violence with the pop of this surprising stoner saga, which manages the neat trick of being simultaneously laidback and over the top. The script rejiggers the worst-day-ever/best-day-ever formula of "Superbad" (also written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg), but what elevates "Pineapple" above other recent Judd Apatow joints is the patient direction of David Gordon Green, a darling of regional independent cinema whose long takes and widescreen compositions give his wonderful ensemble cast plenty of breathing room, even when the actors are choking on smoke or coughing up blood. Rogen and James Franco portray potheads on the run from the mob; the action finale is efficiently staged, but the script betrays the affability of its own heroes by requiring them to participate with -- increasing macho enthusiasm -- in the bloodshed.

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Raleigh Springs Cinema, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16, Summer Quartet Drive-In.

Sex and the City (R, 145 min.) Fans get to see their old friends -- Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha -- back on the big screen, which makes it easier to ogle their outfits.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (PG-13, 120 min.) A nonthreatening date movie for mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters and BFF's who enjoy a group smile and cry, this sequel reunites the four young women of the 2005 magical-britches opus for what narrator Carmen (America Ferrara) describes as another round of "stories, secrets, laughter (and) broken hearts" -- plus, ethnically diverse hunks; the mandatory sound of Cyndi Lauper singing "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"; a trip to the Greek island of Santorini; and plugs for FedEx that begin less than one minute into the run time. (The movie is the latest from FedEx founder Fred Smith's Alcon Entertainment company.) Designed for women by women (the director is Sanaa Hamri, the screenwriter is Elizabeth Chandler), the movie celebrates friendship and responsible behavior -- it offers the cinematic equivalent of comfort food, for "Facts of Life" fans of all ages. Native Memphian Lucy Hale co-stars as "Effie," the beautiful younger sister of the Alexis Bledel character.

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema 12, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

Space Chimps (G, 81 min.) Monkeyshines and NASA heroics go hand-in-foot in this CG film from Vanguard Animation.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, Cordova Cinema, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema.

Step Brothers (R, 98 min.) Will Ferrell isn't yet as irrelevant as Mike "The Love Guru" Myers or Eddie "Meet Dave" Murphy, but it's telling that when Seth Rogen makes a brief cameo appearance here, the "Knocked Up" actor seems to be doing the much more famous Ferrell a favor. The premise is promising: Perennial man-child Ferrell and "serious" actor-turned-Pete Puma human stand-in John C. Reilly star as a pair of jobless, still-living-at-home 40-year-olds whose self-centered, arrested-adolescent existences are threatened when they're forced to move in together after Reilly's dad (Richard Jenkins) marries Ferrell's mom (Mary Steenburgen). Unfortunately, uninspired slapstick (destructive "sleepwalking" scenes) and exceedingly coarse language result in a mirthless, even ugly noncomedy.

Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Palace Cinema, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16, Summer Quartet Drive-In.

The Strangers (R, 85 min.) (zero stars) If your loving boyfriend asks you to marry him, you'd better say yes before the cosmos sends a trio of masked psychos to your house to punish you for being a threat to the social order. That's the lesson driven home with blunt-force trauma in this pointless and pretentious home-invasion horror thriller, apparently aimed at Crate & Barrel shoppers rather than the teen demographic that turned "Saw" and "Hostel"into hits. With its burnished photography, handsome production design and presentation of lead characters (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) who listen to tasteful recordings by Wilco and Joanna Newsom on vinyl, director Bryan Bertino's film is determined to be recognized as a more refined exercise in sadism: It seems to be the product of someone who grew up euthanizing butterflies rather than pulling the legs off ants with his coarser classmates.

Bartlett 10.

Swing Vote (PG-13, 120 min.) The idea that every vote counts inspired this political satire, in which Kevin Costner plays an apathetic loser with the power to cast the deciding final vote in a deadlocked presidential election.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

Tropic Thunder (R, 107 min.) Opened Wednesday. See review on Page 20.

Forest Hill 8, Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Studio on the Square, Raleigh Springs Cinema, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Hollywood 20 Cinema, CinePlanet 16.

WALL-E (G, 103 min.) WALL-E the robot may be battered and obsolete, but "WALL-E" the movie is a marvel of state-of-the-art technology -- perhaps the most brilliantly designed, beautifully executed and technically accomplished feature yet from Pixar Animation Studios. The company's boldness has advanced with its achievements in special effects: Director Andrew Stanton's film asks viewers to find enjoyment in a story that spends its first half hour on an all but dead and silent future Earth that apparently is inhabited only by a cockroach and the lonely 700-year-old title robot, who continues to perform programmed duties that are futile and pointless. The first act of "WALL-E" is as melancholy as a Ray Bradbury short story or an eco-disaster science-fiction film from the 1970s; although the robot's Chaplinesque pantomime continues, the noisier second half of the film is a more traditional Pixar action-comedy, as WALL-E returns with a "female" space probe robot, EVE, to a mothership of blobby, consumption-obsessed Earth refugees.

Stage Cinema, Majestic, Collierville Towne 16, DeSoto Cinema 16, Cordova Cinema, Paradiso, Hollywood 20 Cinema.

Wanted (R, 110 min.) Criticizing Russian director Timur Bekmambetov ("Night Watch") for overkill is like dismissing Alfred Hitchcock for being fat. In fact, overkill is an understatement when applied to this outrageously stylish and utterly implausible comic-book adaptation about a secret society of assassins whose members blithely refuse to recognize not just the legal niceties of Miranda and habeas corpus but the less arguable laws of gravity, motion and the conservation of energy. James McAvoy is the milquetoast account manager whose transformation from, essentially, Jerry Lewis to James Bond provides a morally specious wish-fulfillment fantasy that should have fanboys drooling; so should the presence of Angelina Jolie, cast as a killer named (what else?) Fox.

Wolfchase Galleria Cinema 8, Majestic, DeSoto Cinema 16, Hollywood 20 Cinema.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (PG-13, 105 min.) The paranormal's answer to Spin and Marty, Scully and Mulder return from TV limbo to probe another uncanny mystery.

Majestic.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (PG-13, 113 min.) Adam Sandler: commando hairdresser.

Bartlett 10.