Prince of Perisa: The Sands of Time (2010)

One can’t even watch a silly video-game inspired CGI-infested summer flick without a dose of political commentary. “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” concerns a world superpower attacking a smaller Middle Eastern country because it harbors weapons of mass destruction. But there are no WMDs. The rich nation is after oil. Oops. I meant a mystical dagger that can reverse time. The Prince is a buff white guy played by Jake Gyllenhaal, the adopted son of the Persian king who is assassinated during a war celebration. Our wrongly accused prince must: 1) Prove that Ben Kingsley is not Gandhi, but a rat bastard up to no good, and 2) The feisty princess (Gemma Arterton) of the besieged nation is destined to be his baby mama. We get battles, action, romance, comedy and an awful plot that provides unintended giggles. It’d all be good dumb fun, except Gyllenhaal (“Brokeback Mountain”) is a dull hero. I mean nap time boring, and he’s no action-god Stallone. Alfred Molina as a Han Solo-meets-Jabba crook saves the day. If only he were the hero. C+

The Fountain (2006)

Darren Aronfsky does “Love Story”? The guy who made “Requiem for a Dream” and later “Black Swan”? Yes, please. “Fountain” was met with indifference upon release, after years of production woes. A pity. This is a cracked genius ode about obsessive, passionate love, in all its glory and pain. Hugh Jackman is a researcher seeking to cure brain tumors in apes. His artist wife (Rachel Weisz) is dying of just that, a brain tumor. Tom’s reasoning: If I can save them, I can save her. He only needs time. Time: It’s smashed and splintered, jumping from 1500s Spain to modern day America to a distant future in outer space. Jackman is Tom in all three, and Weisz is there as well. The question lingers: Are we seeing three Toms, and three women? No. It’s one man who defies time, space and God for his one love. Also defiant: Aronofsky. The film has faults, but it is an amazing testament to love. Passion. It jumps off the screen like a golden light blasting all logic, and goes straight for the heart. A

Alien (1979)

Even in 1979, the plot to “Alien” was been-there, done-that – a monster systematically kills a band of trapped humans until it’s one-on-one, last man (thing?) standing. But this sci-fi flick is a masterpiece, a touchstone in my cinematic life. The monster is an acid-for-blood alien on a massive spaceship, and the last man is a woman, Ripley, played by the amazing kick-ass persona of Sigourney Weaver. Director Ridley Scott’s film is epic, claustrophobic and paced out to the most extreme. It takes 50-some minutes for the shit to hit the fan, and when it does – on a mess hall table -- oh my God. Dark, nasty and bloody, “Alien” never lets up. I love the details. The ship is packed with junk and dials and machines, seemingly designed by engineers cramming in everything for space in outer space. And the cast: Phenomenal. Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt and the god-like acting class of Ian Holm as a single-minded science officer. But, wow, Weaver. This is her film. Her world. Every brilliant moment here belongs to her. Feminism rules!  A+

How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me (2010)

I avoided “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Despicable Me” in theaters for no other reason than I was bored with CGI animated films. My error. From Dreamworks, “Dragon” is not just a great animated film, it’s a rousing adventure yarn that made me feel 10 again, when I saw “The Never-Ending Story” and wanted a furry, white dragon all my own. Here, a boy (Jay Baruchel) befriends a sleek dragon in an ancient Viking town where every resident fears the beasts as accursed flying killers. “Dragon” soars with beautiful writing, a wildly fun music score, and wonderful characters. Mind-blowing fact: Cinematographer Roger Deakins consulted on the amazing visuals. “Despicable” is a flat-out satirical comedy in spirit with a classic Mel Brooks comedy for the first-grade set. Steve Carell is marvelous as an old European-accented evil mastermind who goes all soft over three orphans as he schemes to steal the moon. It’s deviously funny and smart, but not mean-spirited. The onscreen crimes are hilarious. Dragon: A Despicable: A-

Rabbit Hole (2010)

Pitched as the most depressing film of the year – a New York yuppie marriage crumbles after the death of the couple’s young boy – “Rabbit Hole” actually is darkly funny, and finally redeeming. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart are the couple, barely existing in a bleached life of grief and memory. She wants to wash away all evidence of the boy. He clings to every video and memento. Based on a play and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, “Rabbit” could have hit every cliché in the book – the hubby flirts with another woman (Sandra Oh), while the wife befriends the shattered teen (Miles Teller) who faultlessly ran the child down -- but it avoids pitfalls. The pain is real and grisly. But those dark laughs, and the trace of light at the end of the tunnel are huge. I wish we had more background on the couple, and ended sooner then its 90 minutes. As well, Kidman’s inexplicably technophobe wife’s Queens accent comes and goes. But, this is fine filmmaking. B+

127 Hours (2010)

A hiker named Aron Ralston goes out on his own to Utah’s famed Canyonlands National Park, and dicks around, young guy stuff, all bravado and all by himself. He’s bold and brash and ready to go-go-go … until one bad move sends a massive boulder smashing against his right arm and a crevice wall. “Oops.” His words. Not mine. You know the rest of "127 Hours," right? This is one amazing true story, nearly all of its 90-minute stuck in one place. With Aron. “Hours” vibes loud as life because director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) doesn’t just show us Aron’s FUBAR predicament, he puts us in Aron’s desperate situation. Aron is careless, but he’s no dummy. His engineering training saves his life, along with a cheap knife. Yes, that arm comes off. But it's not cheap horror-film gore. The blood and tissue are nasty, difficult to watch, but real. Visceral. James Franco gives a killer performance – reckless, geeky, scared, desperate, starving, delirious, comical and fully determined. Boyle’s film soars on Aron’s – Franco’s – spirit, and amazing editing and camera work. A-

The Green Hornet (2011)

“The Green Hornet” neither flies or stings. This new riff on the masked vigilante and his karate-kicking sidekick has all the buzz of an anvil. Our hero is Britt Reid, a rich brat who must grow up after his newspaper magnate father dies. (Reid is played by Seth Rogen, the blubbery comic god of stoned frat boys and their little brothers.) The first stab at Hornet heroics begins as a prank but ends in a real effort to save a life. Soon Reid and Kato (Jay Chou) are driving a bad-ass car and battling a hyper-sensitive mobster (Christoph Waltz). What could go wrong? Everything. Rogen co-wrote the movie and his contribution is to make Reid a drunken sexist a-hole, a “hero” impossible to root for, irredeemable and non-refundable. This effort at satire is a soul-killing misfire. Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) directs with listless energy, as if he has an open snickering contempt for his own audience. The grinding action is over-blown, while the squirm-inducing dull comedy gives only an occasional laugh, such as bad guys being flattened by heavy objects. The 3-D version must be an eyesore. D