Red Cliff The very epicness of John Woo’s “Red Cliff’’ is an entertainment. It’s a siege picture set in ancient China, and it’s old-fashioned and newfangled at the same time. Most of the shots look either touched up or entirely artificial, and Woo wants us to laugh at the overripe flourishes. At some point, a zillion digitized arrows sail through the sky ... (Page G8, 571 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 25, 2009

Ninja Assassin The credits for “Ninja Assassin’’ list two screenwriters and one director. But it’s fair to say the movie has come straight out of a box. Cobbled together from the instructions of assorted Hong Kong gangster bloodbaths and whatever the French superproducer Luc Besson did last, this long, thanklessly repetitive slice-kick-and-shoot-’em-up has nothing to offer but the aggravating awareness that Jet ... (Page G14, 424 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 25, 2009

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans It starts with the Vicodin for his back, which he injured rescuing an inmate during Hurricane Katrina’s rising floodwaters. Then there’s the coke before entering a crime scene, and the crack while having sex with a woman in a parking lot. (Page G7, 746 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 25, 2009

Black Dynamite In the spoof that bears his name, Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) sports every outfit in the blaxploitation-look book. While investigating the murder of his junkie brother, he wears a cheap-looking suit with lapels that belong on a pterodactyl. He drops in on a warren of pimps in a leather trench coat, leather pants, and a turtleneck (all black). He ... (Page G12, 563 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 20, 2009

The Messenger I’ve worried before that it might be too soon for movies about our current wars. They’re too fresh to get a dramatic grip on either the conflicts or what provoked them. What many filmmakers have produced were tracts that cast a skeptical eye. But, as it turns out, the proximity wasn’t the problem. It was the point of view. Americans ... (Page G9, 737 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 20, 2009

The Blind Side It may be based on a true story, but “The Blind Side’’ delivers two heart-yanking hours of Hollywood physics. One kid’s bad existence gets better with the application of a great deal of upper-middle-class pressure. The movie recounts the story of how a tough-loving interior decorator named Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock ) invited Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), an enormous, ... (Page G10, 635 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 20, 2009

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire In “Precious,’’ Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) usually comes home from school and prepares dinner for her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), in their Harlem apartment. Mary could probably make dinner herself. But it’s easier for her to throw the dinner out or at Claireece if she’s not the cook. Mary curses at Claireece, who is dark-skinned, overweight, and, at 16, having ... (Page G6, 1132 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 20, 2009

Capturing a spirit of old Hollywood Kellan Lutz, who plays a vampire in the new “Twilight’’ movie, made an appearance at the Natick Collection last week. He signed posters for the 500 fans who persevered to earn that honor, and grinned heartily for the 75 fans anointed with the chance to be photographed at his side. Hundreds more - most of them girls, most of them ... (Page G6, 926 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 18, 2009

The New York art world does such a wonderful job of satirizing itself that further assistance hardly seems necessary. But with “(Untitled),’’ writer and director Jonathan Parker takes for granted the trumped-up stakes, the humorlessness, and the artists’ capacity for opportunism and willful absurdity. The players in this movie are cynical, but, amazingly, Parker is not. His movie works as ... (Page G8, 629 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 13, 2009

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe suggest a man whose political sympathies bordered on the promiscuous. (Page G13, 535 words)By: Wesley Morris|Date: Nov 13, 2009