The Possession (2012)

A girl on the cusp on puberty is possessed by a demonic spirit and spills familial terror as her soul goes dark and her body gyrates in inhuman forms. Familiar? “The Possession” is another spawn of diminishing returns and scene-for-scene re-dos from “Exorcist,” the demon queen of spiritual horror. Here, the girl (Natasha Calis) happens upon an antique wooden box with Hebrew engravings at a yard sale. It calls to her, quite literally. Daddy (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) quickly obliges daughter’s purchase as he wants to soothe her woes as he and mom (Kyra Sedgwick) sign divorce papers. (If the real horror on screen is divorce then it is badly, badly handled.) Emily is taken hold by the box and starts to splinter, distant, silent, and prone to stabbing dad with a fork. All this leads to a finale involving exorcism and a man of God, here a rabbi rather than a priest. (Jewish reggae star Matisyahu plays the role, oddly tone deaf.) Every scene here was done better in 1973, save one: Morgan as the desperate father begs a room full of religious elders for help. One old crow coldly replies, “It is up to God.” That’s chilling. The rest… C+

The Losers (2010)

A team of Army commandos is framed for a crime they did not commit and lay waste to the corrupted CIA spook who did them wrong, going tit-for-tat in a ridiculous CGI-heavy pile-up at the Port of Los Angeles. This is the 2010 summer flick “The A-Team.” It is also the exact same plot of “The Losers,” a gonzo comic book movie that beat “Team” to theaters by a few weeks but still comes out as the weaker link. This lot is headed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Colonel, all grim humor and bad-ass charisma. Jason Patric is the villain -- a wildly cartoonish thug who is so eeeeevil, I wondered if Gary Busey was up for the part. Action is over-the-top and that’s fine, but I never got past the opening tragedy: Two dozen-plus children getting blown to bits. Yes, we get a flaming-torched teddy bear. Zoe Saldana of “Star Trek” co-stars. Journey is a punch line. That’s so new. C