Capsules by film critics Michael Sragow and Chris Kaltenbach unless noted. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies.
Alpha Dog -- centers on a passel of drugged-out teen reprobates for whom every word is a four-letter one beginning with F, every action is a reaction to some perceived slight and every waking moment is an opportunity to be squandered. Writer-director Nick Cassavetes clearly sees his film as a cautionary tale. But the deck is too stacked. (C.K.) R 117 minutes B-
Arthur and the Invisibles -- tries way too hard. The Invisibles, who aren't invisible at all, just very, very small - are blandly animated, with expressionless faces and precious little warmth. And the story, of a boy who shrinks himself down to their size and ends up being a hero of both the world he came from and the world he's visiting, mistakes frenzy for wit. (C.K.) PG 102 minutes C
Babel, -- in which director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu suggests that the world's peoples do a lousy job of talking to one another, doesn't devolve into babble, but it comes perilously close. Inarritu employs multiple story threads that unfold with little regard to chronology, but the device seems arbitrary and unnecessary. The film comes across as more clever than profound. (C.K.) R 142 minutes B-
Blood and Chocolate, -- a flick about a Bucharest werewolf in love with a human, never frightens. It rarely lands a laugh. And while it isn't cheap looking, the primitive editing and optical-effects "transformation" of these shape-shifters and the no-name cast tell you they didn't have the money to do anything interesting with this exhausted genre of film horror. (Orlando Sentinel) PG-13 95 minutes F
Blood Diamond -- is an adventure film that spotlights the practice of using the trade in precious stones to fund violence in certain African countries. (C.K.) R 138 minutes B+
Catch and Release, -- stars Jennifer Garner as a gal whose fiance gets killed in a sporting accident on a bachelor-party getaway. He leaves his betrothed with a wilting wedding cake, multiple waffle irons and the revelation that he had a masseuse mistress in Los Angeles. Garner brings to professional performing the kind of adolescent posturing meant to stop unwanted admirers in their tracks. That's part of her charm. But director Susannah Grant hasn't given her enough of a character. The whole film demonstrates the downside of mellow. (M.S.) PG-13 115 minutes. C
