"Toy Story 3"

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
(Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffin, Don Rickles) This illuminating and insightful documentary follows a year in the life of comedienne Joan Rivers. The plastic surgery jokes and struggling career moments, we expect. What we don’t expect are moments of incredible honesty, Rivers’ tireless work ethic, and how raw, exposed and giving Rivers is as a person and an artist. Rated R. B+

Toy Story 3
(Voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles) With Andy about to go to college, Woody (Hanks), Buzz (Allen) and the rest of the toys find themselves in a day care center that’s more like a prison. Worse, the toddlers play a bit too rough. It may not have the humor of the first two films, but it does have charm and sweetness to spare. Just don’t pay extra money for a 3-D picture that adds little, especially when the standard 2-D is just fine. Rated G.  B

The A-Team
(Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) When an elite team of Army Rangers is framed for a crime it didn’t commit, the four soldiers go rogue to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. This is how you adapt a TV series for the big screen. Co-writer/director Joe Carnahan (“Smokin’ Aces”) very nicely captures the spirit of the classic ‘80s television show while updating the story with some splendid action sequences. Rated PG-13. B

The Karate Kid
(Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson) A cranky old building super (Chan) teaches a young kid (Smith) kung fu after he moves to China with his single mother (Henson). That’s right: kung fu. There’s no karate at all, actually. I tried to judge this movie on its own merits, really I did. But I couldn’t get the original film out of my head, probably because the two movies are so similar. So if you’ve never seen the original this may be enjoyable. If you have, don’t bother. Rated PG. C

Solitary Man (Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito) Down-on-his-luck car salesman Ben (Douglas) tries to put his life back together by sleeping around and talking his way back into business. It’s interesting to watch Ben freefall and Douglas plays him well, but you never feel sorry for Ben because he doesn’t do much to help himself. And the tone switches from dark comedy to serious too often, leaving an imbalance. Rated R. C+

Please Give (Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall) Antique furniture resellers Kate (Keener) and Alex (Platt) handle the guilt of ripping people off in decidedly different ways: She gives to the homeless and hates herself; he has an affair with the granddaughter (Amanda Peet) of an elderly neighbor. Writer/director Nicole Holofcener (“Lovely and Amazing”) doesn’t quite hit all her intended points, leaving us without much that’s very…likeable. Rated R. C

Get Him to the Greek (Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs) Young record executive Aaron Green (Hill) has 72 hours to bring combustible rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) from London to L.A. to perform a concert. It doesn’t all work – there’s no reason for Aldous to make Aaron’s life this miserable – but the laughs are pretty daring and consistent. Made by many of the same guys who did “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” but not a sequel. Rated R. B

Mother and Child (Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington) Three separate stories loosely connect in this drama about a woman (Bening) who gave up a child for adoption when she was a teenager, that child’s (Watts) life right now, and an African-American woman (Washington) desperate to adopt. The performances are strong, including Samuel L. Jackson in a role in which he doesn’t yell, and overall it’s a moving but imperfect drama that has some interesting things to say. Rated R. B

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley) A rogue prince in ancient Persia (Gyllenhaal) and a usurped princess (Arterton) from a neighboring land must team up to protect a sacred dagger that controls time. It’s based on a video game and the dialogue is terrible, yet somehow director Mike Newell’s (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) film has brains and heart. Combine that with state-of-the-art visual effects and you have the first solid action movie of the summer. Rated PG-13. B

Sex and the City 2: B
(Sarah Jessica Parker, John Corbett, Cynthia Nixon) Facing difficult times at home in New York City, the girls (Parker, Nixon, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall) travel to Abu Dhabi, where Carrie bumps into old flame Aidan (Corbett). It’s a bit tedious and some of the jokes are forced, but writer/director Michael Patrick King has taken the franchise from discussing dating to discussing marriage and motherhood, and he always has something interesting to say. Rated R.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money: B
(Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Ralph Reed) Director Alex Gibney’s searing documentary about disgraced former lobbyist Abramoff shows how someone behind the scenes can heavily influence Congress and all of Washington, D.C. Some sections are a bit tedious and we don’t need Abramoff’s extensive background, but overall this is an alarming look at what really make politics tick, i.e. money, and how easily it corrupts. Rated R.

Shrek Forever After: C+
(Voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy) Bored with his domesticated home life, Shrek (Myers) yearns to once again be feared and left alone. And thanks to con-man magician Rumpelstiltskin (voice of Walt Dohrn), Shrek gets to enjoy being an ogre again for a few hours. But soon Shrek learns he’s been tricked into an alternate reality in which he never rescued Fiona (Diaz) from the tower. This isn’t as flat as the third film in the franchise, but the 3-D adds little and it doesn’t come close to the brilliance of the first film. Still, it’s charming and amusing throughout. Rated PG.

Robin Hood: D+
(Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Oscar Isaac) A legend is born as archer Robin Longstride (Crowe) defends the widowed Marian (Blanchett) and her village of Nottingham from the tyrannical King John (Isaac). There are also storylines involving Robin’s childhood, betrayals, love, etc., but this tedious bore of a movie is more about 12th century politics than it is a hero fighting for the everyman. Rated PG-13.

Letters to Juliet: C
(Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal) After an aspiring writer (Seyfried) answers a 50 year-old letter about lost love while on vacation in Verona, Italy, she soon finds herself on a road trip trying to find the letter writer’s (Redgrave) one who got away. Nice performances from Seyfried and Redgrave keep the sappy, melodramatic story afloat until it sinks into predictability. Rated PG.

Iron Man 2: C+
(Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow) Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man (Downey Jr.), must fend off the U.S. Senate and a rival weapons manufacturer (Sam Rockwell) who’s hired a presumed-dead Russian physicist (Rourke) to create a suit that would destroy Stark Industries. The action is exhilarating, but the story is all over the place. Not as good as the 2008 original. Rated PG-13.

A Nightmare On Elm Street: C
(Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara) Horror icon Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) returns to Elm Street to murder teenagers in their sleep, which also kills them in real life. It’s an uninspired and lame attempt to restart the franchise, as the story lacks coherence and Haley takes the role way too seriously. Rated R.

The Back-Up Plan: C+
(Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin, Michaela Watkins) When an aging single woman (Lopez) meets Mr. Right (O’Loughlin) on the day she’s artificially inseminated, their relationship follows an unusual trajectory. The movie deserves credit for taking an original approach to a romantic comedy, but even a nice performance from Lopez doesn’t make the movie funny enough to fulfill its promise. Rated PG-13.

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