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Capsule reviews by Thomas Delapa (TD) as indicated.

Akeelah and the Bee

Writer/director Doug Atchinson spells out his message, but it's one that's worth hearing. A whiz kid from inner-city L.A., 11-year-old Akeelah (Keke Palmer) battles the odds to go head-to-head against the nation's best student spellers in the national spelling bee. Charmingly expressive, Palmer buzzes away with acting honors in Atchinson's B- family movie, which smartly shows us the challenges that Akeelah faces as a "brainiac" in her family and school environments. Atchinson has a winning touch with his young cast, but he gets stung by some ethnic stereotyping and by the one-dimensional portrayals by his adult leads, especially Laurence Fishburne as Akeelah's Yoda-like mentor. With Angela Bassett. Rated PG. At Landmark Crossroads. — TD

American Dreamz

Writer/director Paul Weitz dreams up a nightmare world of cheesy TV, wanna-be pop stars, a clueless president and terrorist sleeper cells. In other words, his rousing satire is no dream: It's the mad, mad real world of America in the year 2006. "Bring me some freaks," demands Martin Tweed (Hugh Grant), the egomaniacal host of American Dreamz, the nation's top-rated TV show. Weitz comes armed to the teeth in this comic assault, and at times his punch lines explode with the force of a hand grenade. The prime-time performances score, especially Willem Dafoe as the prez's chief of staff, a Frankenstein-monster cross between Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Yet Weitz's direction is lightweight, lacking the drive that would turn this film into a crossover hit, perhaps even a comic classic. With Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore. Rated PG-13. — TD

Brick

American Idol gets tossed at the movies in an amateurish noir knock-off. At a suburban L.A. high school that knows how to keep its secrets, a quick-witted loner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) searches for the dark truth behind the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. Writer/director Rian Johnson's cast speaks in Chandleresque hard-boiled dialogue, but it all sounds soft and phony coming out of the mouths of these babes. A Walter Mitty fantasy with training wheels, Brick rode away with a Special Jury Prize at Sundance, which makes me wonder if the jury wasn't made up of (cinder) blockheads. Rated R. At Starz. — TD

Friends With Money

For the latest evidence that we're living in dark days, look no further than Jennifer Aniston, TV star, tabloid princess and now indie diva. Aniston's celebrity rides the tidal wave of insipid idolatry that's rising faster than the waters that deluged New Orleans. With the elevation of Katie Couric to CBS news anchor, I doubt Noah himself could deliver us from the depths of our own shallowness. Aniston's Olivia is the lone single among her three L.A. girlfriends, all plus-thirtysomethings with husbands, upscale houses and varying degrees of yuppie angst. Holofcener both coddles and critiques her characters, yet she's too quick to smooth over their ugly, beyond-skin-deep blemishes. With Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand. Rated R. At FlatIron, Chez Artiste, Landmark Crossroads. — TD

Hard Candy

For filmmaking, digital video has become both a blessing and a reel curse. Sure, it's opened up a new era in shoestring budgeting. But all too often, shot-on-video features look like they've been photographed through a shot glass darkly. You may get a little woozy while watching Hard Candy, a daring and controversial two-character drama that goes sour in its last half-hour. In this Misery with a teen twist, young Canadian actress Ellen Page delivers a mint performance far beyond her years. Page plays Hayley, a flirtatious 14-year-old who could teach Lolita a thing or two. Through the Internet, she hooks up with Jeff (Patrick Wilson), a 31-year-old photographer with a soft spot for pubescent girls. With Hayley, Jeff quickly discovers that he's bitten off way more than he can chew. Rated R. At Mayan. — TD

Hoot

Greedy developers, big bullies, clueless parents and eco-friendly kids are the recycled ingredients of this bland family film hatched by Walden Media, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen. The new kid in a Florida middle school, curious Roy (Logan Lerman) goes whole hog to save a family of owls from destruction. It's hard to give a hoot about Roy or any of his furtive feathered friends when they're surrounded by a nest of dreary cliches. With Luke Wilson. Rated G. — TD

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Those prehistoric pals are back for another Darwinian road trip in a reheated sequel to the 2002 kiddie hit from Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox. The first Ice Age was cool and refreshing, partially because its creative team blazed a trail away from all the pop-culture jokes that overpopulate much of the Disney and DreamWorks cartoons. In this migration, director Carlos Saldanha more or less follows the herd, from the uninspired casting of Queen Latifah to the impoverished spoofing of the "Food, Glorious Food" number from the musical Oliver! In history, as in movies, evolution is often the case of two steps forward and one back. It's hard to warm up to Ice Age 2 when most of it feels like a furry retread. Additional voices by Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary. Rated G. At FlatIron, Colony Square, UA Village 4. — TD

Kinky Boots

You've heard of save-the-farm films, so how about save-the-shoe-factory? At hidebound Smith & Sons in Northampton, timid new owner Charlie Smith (Joel Edgerton) has run out of wiggle room. On the brink of financial ruin, Charlie decides to tiptoe into a production of a line of kinky boots and shoes especially customized for transvestites. For design advice, in struts Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a SoHo drag queen who raises eyebrows and a few catcalls when she takes her act to Charlie's stomping grounds. No doubt the movies—and shoes—have come along way since Dorothy's ruby-red slippers. Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. Rated PG-13. At UA Village 4, Esquire. — TD

Mission: Impossible III

See Screen review. Rated PG-13. At FlatIron, Colony Square, UA Village 4.

The Notorious Bettie Page

Once a 1950s S & M pin-up queen, Bettie Page never met a pair of stiletto heels she didn't like. She's the subject of director Mary Harron's scantily clad period piece that feels less like an expose than a wide-angle exposure of actress Gretchen Mol, who would measure up as a calendar girl in any decade. If you can take your eyes off Mol, you'll also notice Harron's gorgeous black-and-white photography (by Mott Hupfel), which evokes the 1940s and 1950s with sensuous attention. Harron has a serious side to uncover, though it goes in and out of focus. At least half the movie consists of Mol reveling in her revealing photo sessions. In other words, don't be surprised if there's a guy sitting next to you who's wearing a rumpled raincoat. With Lili Taylor. Rated R. At Mayan. — TD

The Promise

The top-grossing Chinese film of 2005, Chen Kaige's florid historical fantasy can't decide whether it's Crouching Tiger or Kung Fu Hustle. Either way, it's a cartoonish bust. Chen's crowded procession includes a slave, a princess, a duke, a general and an assassin, but they're all just props compared to the stampede of computer effects, from a thundering herd of fake bulls to an army of crimson-clad warriors with troll-hair helmets. Chen may seriously think he's creating film art in his empty Promise, but he's best at slinging a lot of bull. With Hiroyuki Sanada and Cecilia Cheung. Rated PG-13. — TD

RV

Robin Williams gives this rickety vehicle comic vehicle the gas, even as the wheels fall off. Eyeing his chance to spend some quality time with his wife and sulky kids, Williams rents a titanic RV and sets sail for the Colorado mountains. En route, the Monroes are befriended by the Gornickes, a family of yodeling yahoos in a big red bus. Though Barry Sonnenfeld is credited as the director, no one seems behind the wheel of this comic wreck, which bypasses Williams' funny antics and takes the low road through a torrent— literally—of potty jokes. In the worn path of Chicago's Griswold family, the Monroes put the pedal to the metal for their own vacation from hell. With Jeff Daniels. Rated PG. At Colony Square, FlatIron. — TD

The Sentinel

If your idea of thrilling drama is watching Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland talk to their hands for 90 minutes, have I got a movie for you. As White House Secret Service Agent Pete Garrison, Douglas is one busy guy. Not only is carrying on an affair with the first lady (Kim Basinger), but he's also slept with the wife of fellow-agent Sutherland, who takes his frenetic save-the-president TV shtick to the big screen. Douglas' day goes from bad to worse when he's accused of plotting to assassinate the president. Audiences would be well advised to be on guard against The Sentinel, which is wrestled to the ground by one preposterous plot turn after another. Rated PG-13. At Landmark Crossroads. — TD

Thank You For Smoking

If anyone tries to convince you that this is a scorching satire of Big Tobacco, just tell them that, well, they're blowing smoke. In truth, Jason Reitman's adaptation of the 1994 Christopher Buckley best-seller has more on its mind than just kicking a few butts. It lights into America's out-of-control habit of political and big-business spin control. The spin doctor on duty is Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), Big Tobacco's sleazy silver-tongued lobbyist. Yet for a contemporary satire to really have spin, the world it creates can't be too far from our own. Reitman and art director Steve Saklad are so addicted to parody and exaggeration that whatever bite Buckley's novel had is snuffed out faster than a cigarette at a cardiologists' convention. With Katie Holmes and Robert Duvall. Rated R. At Mayan, UA Village 4. — TD

Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in this messy but well-timed drama that digs up a made-to-order villain (the racist U.S. authorities) and a dead hero (an illegal Mexican immigrant). Looking as weathered as Death Valley in summer, Jones is Pete Perkins, a Texas rancher who goes on a mythic quest to bury his friend, Melquiades Estrada, in his native Mexico when he's shot dead by a loutish and masturbatory Border Patrol officer (Barry Pepper). From a script by Guillermo Arriaga, Jones doubles-back on the story repeatedly, running roughshod over his plot and characters to shovel in his political points. Rated R. At Starz Film Center. — TD

Tsotsi

Adopting his name from the Africaans word for "thug," Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is the face of the black Johannesburg underworld, once a runaway and now a remorseless killer. Yet even this criminal has a lingering human side, and it's brought out when he discovers an infant in the car he's just stolen. In Chweneyagae's cold- blooded stare, director Gavin Hood distills his story (adapted from a novel by Athol Fugard) down to a chilling iconic power. Hood's Oscar-winning film is achingly simple, perhaps simplistic, yet Tsotsi's hellish shantytown speaks volumes of the environment that would produce such a brute. The baby awakens in Tsotsi memories of his own lost childhood, conveyed by Chweneyagae with extraordinarily nuanced range. Rated R. With Terry Pheto. At Landmark Crossroads, Starz. — TD

United 93

On the day of infamy that was September 11, 2001, America wasn't any more prepared for a sneak attack than it was on December 7, 1941. If you need reminding of this and other appalling 9/11 facts, fasten your seat belts and spend 95 harrowing minutes aboard United 93. Director Paul Greengrass' exacting reenactment lands in theaters as one of the must-see films of the year. On the fateful morning that changed America, no one onboard United's Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco could have known that their final destination would be a field in Pennsylvania. The crew and passengers' "Let's roll" heroism is now the stuff of heart-wrenching legend. Greengrass and company tell their story with soaring moral authority. This is a film every American should see, if only to be reminded of how easily it was for a handful of hijackers to mount a devastating and demoralizing attack on the most powerful nation on Earth. Rated PG-13. At FlatIron, Colony Square. — TD

Water

See Screen review. At Chez Artiste.

The Wild

Otherwise known as Finding Nemo in Africa, Disney's digital kiddie cartoon is tame, if not lame, especially since it follows the same tracks as DreamWorks' Madagascar. In this bushy tale, a cowardly lion named Samson (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) escapes his New York City zoo to save his lost cub, who's been shipped back to Africa. Samson's obligatory bickering sidekicks include a koala bear, a giraffe and a lovesick squirrel, who all discover that, yes, it's a jungle out there. Once again, Disney returns to its familiar button-pushing theme of child abandonment. For the studio crowned by The Lion King, the roars have turned to yawns. Rated G. At FlatIron, Colony Square. — TD

WEEKLY VIDEO PICK

Munich (2005). In these horrifically retributive times, director Steven Spielberg has made a bold statement about the follies of blind, eye-for-an-eye reprisal. From a book by George Jonas, Spielberg takes us back to the terrible events of the 1972 Olympics, where Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 members of the Israeli team. Soon after, Israel dispatched a squad of assassins to Europe to hunt down the Palestinians responsible for planning the massacre. As we watch Avner (Eric Bana) and his team go about their grisly business, Spielberg dares to imply that such violence is anathema to religious and ethical beliefs. What this film lacks in narrative dynamics—and factual precisions—it deserves a medal for suggesting a higher law than laid down by the great god of nationalism. Rated R. — TD