Film capsules are written by Lawrence Toppman. If there's no star rating, he hasn't seen the movie. Grades: 4 stars = excellent, 3 stars = good, 2 stars = fair, 1 star = poor.

The story of two talented basketball players: One (Wesley Jonathan) wants to use his UCLA basketball scholarship to go pre-med, while the other (Anthony Mackie) wants to get his GED and win an underground street ball game against his arrogant rival (Philip Champion). 95 minutes. : Sexual content and language.

Hit man Jason Statham learns a poison injected into his body will kill him if his heart rate drops below a certain point, so he exacts revenge at top speed. Not screened for critics. 87 minutes.

A lowborn magician in 19th-century Vienna (Edward Norton) dares to love a duchess (Jessica Biel), though she's betrothed to a mad ruler (Rufus Sewell). Norton's fine, and Paul Giamatti's in good form as a police inspector monitoring the case, but the film is all atmosphere: The long buildup yields too small a payoff, and an unbelievable one at that. 110 minutes.

A driven gymnast (Scott Mechlowicz) feels he can win Olympic gold if he overcomes his fears; he finds a mentor in a mystical gas station attendant named Socrates (Nick Nolte) who spouts platitudes such as "There is no stopping or starting, only doing." The film doesn't stay true to its message: Socrates teaches Dan to compete for love of the sport, but the movie makes it clear he's not a "winner" unless he dazzles Olympic judges. 127 minutes.

A girl pretending to be a deaf-mute (the dull Camilla Belle) is adopted by a family where her new "sister" (Elisha Cuthbert) hates her, the father (Martin Donovan) is sleeping with his daughter, and mom (Edia Falco) is a pillhead in denial. Unwatchably pretentious on every level, both literally and symbolically. 96 minutes.

Unless he's writer-director Bart Freundlich. This sour, half-formed version of a TV sitcom is full of dislikable, disconnected characters. Men think of nothing but sex, sports and bodily functions. Woman are bundles of insecurity who worry about their looks and want babies, or hot mamas who lure attached men away from their loved ones. Julianne Moore, David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Billy Crudup should think about getting other agents. 103 minutes.

A remake of the 1973 film about a British detective who goes to an island cut off from the modern world to investigate a disappearance among pagan worshippers. The policeman is now an American (Nicolas Cage), Ellen Burstyn is the head of the pagan clan and the studio has decided not to screen it for critics. 97 minutes.

A high school senior (Justin Long) rejected by college after college "invents" a university online to fool his parents, then discovers students from all over the country want to attend. With Blake Lively and Jonah Hill. 90 minutes.

This animated film takes its visual style from "Antz" and its premise from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"; the climax, by bad luck, resembles the finale of the more interesting "Over the Hedge." The film is competent, if simplistic, in its preachy message that bullies are bad, but there's nothing for adults. The title character, a boy who attacks the anthill in his yard, is shrunk by an ant magician and forced to work in the colony until he learns about cooperation and sacrifice. Voices include Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts, Paul Giamatti and Meryl Streep. 88 minutes.

An idea inspired by Gary Larson's "The Far Side" meets zany humor, wild musical numbers and a very traditional story about maturing and sharing. Otis the cow (Kevin James) learns to take care of the weaker animals and live up to the teachings of his dad (Sam Elliott), keeping coyotes at bay and falling in love with Daisy (Courteney Cox). 90 minutes.

The comedy troupe Broken Lizard ("Club Dread," "The Dukes of Hazzard") set this movie in Germany, where brothers (Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) realize grandpa stole a beer recipe and feel obligated to beat German beer-guzzlers at their own games. 110 minutes.

The latest IMAX movie at Discovery Place is an exploration of some of the planet's most unique, dangerous and colorful creatures, from the Wolf Eel to the Giant Pacific Octopus. Veteran underwater cinematographer Howard Hall ("Coral Reef Adventure") directed; Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet narrated; Danny Elfman wrote the score. The photography is sumptuous, especially when manta rays sweep up plankton by moonlight, though there's an awfully strong emphasis on the fish-eat-fish toughness of their world. 45 minutes.

Effective horror with a simple set-up -- six women go caving in the Appalachian mountains -- a gradual buildup of suspense and a gorily effective payoff. Writer-director Neil Marshall satisfies us for a while with dead ends, near-falls into deep pits, paranoia and claustrophobia. Then he introduces the crawlers, who are white, hunched, hairless, bat-eared carnivores. No plot and not enough character development, but lots of thrills. 99 minutes.

A fifth-grader (Luke Benward) challenges a bully and ends up accepting the dare of the title to change the balance of power at school. Writer-director Bob Dolman adapted Thomas Rockwell's novel. 98 minutes.

In 1976, 30-year-old bartender Vince Papale walked out of the economic depression of South Philadelphia and onto the field at Veterans Stadium. His triumphant story is now a fine, conventional sports biography full of uplift, like "The Rookie" and "Miracle" (also from Disney). Director-cinematographer Ericson Core gives it grit by setting it against the depressed cityscape: Papale becomes a symbol of hope for unemployed pals. Mark Wahlberg is just right as the troubled Everyman. 105 minutes.

Six members of the dysfunctional Hoover family bond while driving from New Mexico to Redondo Beach, Calif., to take the daughter (adorable Abigail Breslin) to a beauty pageant. That description doesn't do justice to the dark comedy, bizarre situations and hard edge of this film, which satirizes unsavory preteen pageants and (unlike most Sundance favorites) doesn't get soft and gooey at the core. The ensemble cast includes Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and Greg Kinnear; the sure-handed first-time directors are Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. 100 minutes.

Wealthy sisters (Hilary and Haylie Duff) lose their inherited fortune and learn to survive like normal folks. Not screened for critics anywhere, thank goodness. 97 minutes.

Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), a depressed radio monologist in New York City, cheers up when his publisher gives him a memoir written by one of his fans, a 14-year-old Wisconsin boy dying of AIDS. Noone develops a tender phone relationship with the teen, until he begins to suspect the affair is a cruel hoax begun by a manipulative woman (Toni Collette). Armistead Maupin adapted his own novel with rewrites by Terry Anderson and director Patrick Stettner, and they undermine fine actors by making an implausible mess of almost every situation. 88 minutes.

Another remake of a Japanese horror film, this one about a hacker who channels a wireless signal; coeds must prevent an evil force from taking over the world. Kristen Bell, Christina Milian and Riki Lindhome star. 110 minutes.

An assassin tries to kill a witness in protective custody by emptying a crate full of poisonous snakes on a plane crossing the Pacific Ocean. Not screened for critics anywhere, and you know what THAT means. Samuel L. Jackson, Byron Lawson and Nathan Phillips star. 105 minutes.

A guy (Channing Tatum) trashes an arts school, is ordered to do community service by cleaning up his vandalism and falls for a ballet dancer there (Jenna Dewan). 98 minutes.

Another of Will Ferrell's sloppy, casually funny comedies about a man-boy who hits bottom before achieving his dreams, this one a NASCAR driver whose egotism alienates his trophy wife (Leslie Bibb) and longtime pal (John C. Reilly). Ferrell wrote the screenplay with director Adam McKay, who teamed with him on the equally careless "Anchorman." As before, they've interspersed laugh-out-loud segments with dry, repetitive material, but they don't seem to know the difference. 110 minutes.

This intimate, optimistic movie is an atypical project for director Oliver Stone. Nicolas Cage and Michael Peña play Port Authority policemen who went into the building after the Sept. 11 attacks and were trapped by collapsing concrete; the film follows their points of view as they wait for rescue and the moods of their families, which range from confusion to rage to thwarted hope. (Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal play wives at home.) The effort to pull McLoughlin and Jimeno from the rubble becomes a metaphor for the nation's attempt to pull itself out of mourning afterward. 125 minutes.

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