Movie minis for the week of April 23

Watch TV on PC - 12,000 TV Channels and Movies Synopses and short reviews of current films:

C "17 Again"

Zac Efron of "High School Musical" fame plays a high school student who has traveled back in time from his older self (played by Matthew Perry), now attending high school with his own two children, and much wiser with 20 years life experience behind him. His older self, though, has a host of problems, so he tries to start over at 17, sort of, with mixed results. Comedy mixes with more emotionally painful scenes, and the mood of the film becomes muddled, though a few scenes are funny. PG-13. 98 min. (Dan Bennett)

C+ "Adventureland"

On the surface, director Greg Mottola's follow-up to "Superbad" looks like another good-time, raunchy romp. And it certainly has healthy amounts of partying and pranks to go along with its gross-out gags. But "Adventureland" has more than that on its mind ---- and its heart ---- as its college-age characters struggle to figure out who they are and what they want in a time of flux. Jesse Eisenberg stars as recent college graduate James Brennan, who ends up moving back home to Pittsburgh to live with his parents and working at the depressing Adventureland theme park. Eisenberg is doing the same awkward underdog routine we've seen in previous films like "The Squid and the Whale," but at least he's brainy and likable. R. 107 min. (Associated Press)

B "Crank: High Voltage"

Jason Statham returns to his role as hitman Chev Chelios, who was seemingly killed off at the end of "Crank." He has a new artificial heart, and is trying to find his old natural one. The film includes animation, in-your-face graphics, and, believe it or not, a nod to "King Kong vs. Godzilla" that is thrown in for laughs. If you like your entertainment off the wall, this is something to get stoked about. R. 95 min. (Linda Cook, Quad City Times)

F "Dragonball Evolution"

Those of you who do "worst movie of the year" lists might want to jot down the title of "Dragonball: Evolution" for your consideration. Adapted from a popular manga, or illustrated story, in Japan, this might have worked as anime (Japanese animation), but as a live-acton movie, this is just incredibly awful. PG. 90 min. (Linda Cook, Quad City Times)

C "Fast & Furious"

Latest in series has fast-driving con-on-the-run Dom (Vin Diesel) returning to Los Angeles, where he teams with special agent and sometime-adversary Brian (Paul Walker) to seek justice for a friend's death. The chase leads them into the Mexican desert, where some high-speed match-ups show off the latest in tricked-out rides. Loud, and bypassing much real storytelling in favor of adrenaline. PG-13. 100 min. (Dan Bennett)

C "Hannah Montana: The Movie"

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" drags us all back to the fictional Crowley Corners to bang us over the head with the message that big cities are bad and small towns are good. And there's plenty of down-home singin' and cuttin'-up to emphasize that point. The predictable (though beautifully photographed) film from director Peter Chelsom finds Miley's dad, Robby Ray (Cyrus' real-life father, Billy Ray), taking her home to reconnect with her roots. There she bonds with Grandma (Margo Martindale) and finds her first boyfriend (Lucas Till), a non-threatening farmhand she's known since childhood. But a British tabloid reporter (Peter Gunn) has followed her there, trying to dig up some dirt on Hannah. G. 106 min. (Associated Press)

C- "Haunting in Connecticut"

Creaking floorboards, slamming doors, flickering lights ---- you've seen it all before, and it's all here again. It's one of those frustrating horror movies in which people stay in the house way longer than they should ---- the average person would be out of there upon discovering the metal box full of severed eyelids. PG-13. 92 mins. (Associated Press)

D "Knowing"

An early contender for worst movie of the year, Nicolas Cage's latest begins with an intriguing premise: He plays an MIT prof whose son finds a 50-year-old time capsule, including a letter covered with jumbled numbers. Cage's character realizes the page predicts every major disaster since 1959 ---- including some still in the future. But the premise is abandoned for cheap scares and biblical mumbo-jumbo. PG-13. 121 min. (Associated Press)

F "The Last House on the Left"

Director Dennis Iliadis' take retains the same basic story as Wes Craven's 1972 original ---- a couple of teenage girls on the hunt for pot get abducted and savagely attacked by psychopaths ---- but there's nothing particularly special about it artistically. It's slick and quick and loud, filled with the typical amped-up thumps that accompany every body blow. The result is never scary, but instead feels deplorably gratuitous ---- especially a rape scene in the woods, which goes on forever and seems intended for titillation. R. 109 min. (Associated Press)

B "I Love You, Man"

This "bromance" comedy stars Paul Rudd and Jason Segel as two completely different guys who form an unlikely friendship. Rudd's Peter Klaven, a sensitive real estate agent who's about to get married, realizes he has no male pals when he's forced to ponder his choice for best man. Segel's Sydney Fife enters his life as a most charming force of nature. The formula is pretty predictable in this latest film from director John Hamburg ("Along Came Polly"), which he co-wrote with Larry Levin. But the beauty of it lies both in the details of their relationship and the larger chemistry Rudd and Segel share. R. 105 min. (Associated Press)

B "Monsters vs. Aliens"

3D animated comedy from DreamWorks tells of an alien invasion and the only creatures who can stop it: an array of otherwise-friendly monsters long kept secret by the military. The newest includes the ultra-giant Susan (Reese Witherspoon), who until recently was an everyday Modesto gal looking forward to her wedding. The battle is on, a mix of lightweight action merged with a parade of comic one-liners, in a film that struggles sometimes for magic even if its wit is intact throughout. PG. 97 min. (Dan Bennett)

C+ "Mysteries of Pittsburgh"

Mysteries are few, sadly, in this rather straightforward and eventless interpretation of MIchael Chabon's much-admired 1988 novel about a young man trying to escape his father's mob lifestyle and find his own place in the world. R. 95 min. (Dan Bennett)

C "Observe and Report"

Seth Rogen plays a mall cop intent on capturing a flasher who is terrorizing customers, but when local police intervene, the mall man becomes territorial in this dark comedy. A comic mean streak prevails as laughs mix with extreme uneasiness in equal amounts, all of it only semi-satisfying. R. 86 min. (Dan Bennett)

B- "Paris 36"

Mid-1930s France is the setting for the buoyant musical "Paris 36," a film long on pleasant nostalgia, if short on substance. The story covers the closing of a vaudeville-style theater of music and dance in the Faubourg neighborhood north of Paris, and a subsequent attempt to revive it. An ode to old-school entertainment and picturesque nostalgia concerning a long-lost Paris, it's all a little forced, if also friendly. PG-13. 120 min. (Dan Bennett)

B "Race to Witch Mountain"

Loose remake of the original 1975 Disney live-action favorite ups the speed quotient, with Dwayne Johnson (formerly The Rock) as a Las Vegas cabbie transporting two space aliens masquerading as American teens in a quest to save both their planet and ours. If more concerned with forced action and sizzle than the original, also an enjoyable diversion. G. 91 min. (Dan Bennett)

B- "Shall We Kiss?"

French film with a Woody Allen sort of feel, but not the tension, humor or occasional gravity of the best Allen films. A man and woman meet, wondering whether to start a relationship, and she tells him a story of another couple, and the perilous decisions they made when faced with the same decision. Both relationships play out for us, but there is more rhetoric than momentum, though the film has a harmless, vaguely elegant flavor. Playing at the La Jolla Village Cinemas. Not rated. 102 min. (Dan Bennett)

A- "Sin Nombre"

Tells story of a family from Honduras making the dangerous journey through Mexico to the United States, and the equally compelling story of a Mexican gang member trying to make an escape of his own and leave his old life behind. All meet atop a northbound train, and the desperate struggle begins. Straight-up, bold and resonant filmmaking. R. 96 min. (Dan Bennett)

B- "State of Play"

It looks like a political thriller, and superficially it's the murder of a young woman ---- a rising congressman's mistress ---- that drives the narrative. But "State of Play" turns out to be a fond homage to old-school journalism, and it plays like a eulogy for a sadly dying industry. Russell Crowe loses himself yet again in the role ---- a character actor in a leading man's body through and through ---- but he and Ben Affleck never feel like a good fit for each other. The nine-year age difference is too distracting and makes it difficult to believe they were college roommates, which is crucial to the plot. PG-13. 118 min. (Associated Press)

A- "Sugar"

Baseball merges with a story of immigration and isolation in the sturdy character drama "Sugar," wherein a field of dreams is elusive. The story follows the teenage Miguel Santos, an amateur pitcher in the Dominican Republic who trains in a U.S.-run baseball center populated by young men such as Santos, who dream of a career in the big leagues. As Miguel moves to the United States, we observe as his eventful journey unfolds. Strong storytelling. R. 120 min. (Dan Bennett)

A- "Sunshine Cleaning"

Misadventure and wit in a smart character drama with touches of dark comedy, from some of the people behind "Little Miss Sunshine." Amy Adams and Emily Blunt play two housecleaning sisters who stumble on lucrative work when they begin cleaning rooms after ghastly crime scenes. As they gain confidence, their lives change for the better, but with plenty of new obstacles to conquer. Consistently surprising and different. R. 102 min. (Dan Bennett)

B+ "Two Lovers"

Intense romantic drama stars Joaquin Phoenix as a depressed man who finds himself attracted to the even-more troubled girl-next-door, an emotional mess of a woman played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The unlikely couple form a fitful bond as they navigate family pressures and their own inner demons in modern-day Brooklyn. Intelligent drama with emotional resonance. R. 116 min. (Dan Bennett)

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