MOVIE REVIEWS | In local theaters

“3:10 TO YUMA” (A): This remake of the 1957 Western, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale and directed by James Mangold, not only remains true to its roots but expands on them in ways that are thrilling and thoroughly entertaining. The acting is so powerful and the craftsmanship is so superb, it’s bound to draw Western fans both old and new. 117 minutes. Rated R for violence and some language.

“ACROSS THE UNIVERSE” (B-): Inspired entirely by Beatles songs, Julie Taymor’s film is visually imaginative and often quite bold. The actors, who do all their own singing, are certainly up to the challenge, including Evan Rachel Wood and especially charismatic newcomer Jim Sturgess. And while many of the arrangements are inventive, other performances are far too literal, and the conceit wears out its welcome after about an hour. By then it’s painfully clear that there is no strong driving narrative here, only a series of ’60s-era cliches, tied together by tunes. 134 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some drug content, nudity, sexuality and violence.

“THE BRAVE ONE” (C): Jodie Foster plays a woman who turns into a vigilante after an attack in Central Park leaves her seriously injured and her fiancé dead. She’s also the host of a radio show that requires her to walk the streets of New York, exploring its sights and sounds and seeking out stories you don’t normally hear about, so it’s certainly possible that she’d have enough knowledge of the city to prowl about in search of wrongs to right. She’s so intense, and yet so clearly shaken on the inside still, she makes you believe her. That is, until all plausibility gets tossed out the window in the third act. 108 minutes. Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality.

“DEATH AT A FUNERAL” (C): This door-and-coffin-lid-slamming farce is about what we know is coming. Funeral decorum takes it on the chin. Bodies are mixed up, and pile up. There are funny revelations about the dead man, inappropriate romantic advances among mourners, a foul-mouthed aged uncle who disrupts things, family infighting over money, a wayward bottle of pills that seems to get all the wrong people stoned at the worst moments. It’s all here in this very British comedy directed by American comedy vet Frank Oz. 1 hour, 29 minutes. Rated R for language and drug content.

“EASTERN PROMISES” (B): Director David Cronenberg’s film is both brutally violent and breathtakingly human, but it ends too quickly. In claustrophobic settings that are both bleak and g arishly opulent, the film holds you in an increasingly tight grip and then it just sort of ... ends, leaving you longing for more. Until the last possible second, though, Viggo Mortensen coolly dominates as a driver for a Russian mob family who would be getting his hands dirty carrying out extra duties for them if he weren’t already wearing black leather gloves. 100 minutes. Rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity.

“ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE” (D): Essentially a Paris couture fashion show with some historical names and details tossed in as a feeble attempt at significance. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the entire movie consists of Cate Blanchett trying on various ornate, richly hued dresses with increasingly intricate wigs and headdresses, until one day when the Spanish Armada shows up. 115 minutes. Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and nudity.

“THE FINAL SEASON” (C+): A corny and traditional tale of how baseball embodies the spirit of small-town America, yet it works. The true story of the consolidation of tiny Norway, Iowa, high school with a larger school has just enough “Field of Dreams” in it to make anyone long for a simpler time. 1 hour, 54 minutes. Rated PG for language, thematic elements and some teen smoking.Subhead

“THE GAME PLAN” (C): Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as an egomaniacal football quarterback whose run toward a championship hits complications when he becomes caretaker to the 8-year-old daughter (Madison Pettis) he never knew he had. Director Andy Fickman and screenwriters Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price deliver a prolonged series of klutzy, inept dad gags and scenarios, all leading to the inevitable warm fuzzies you knew were coming before you walked into the theater. 110 minutes. Rated PG for some mild thematic elements.

“GOOD LUCK CHUCK” (D): An urban legend builds that if Chuck (Dane Cook) has sex with a woman, the next person she dates will turn out to be Mr. Right. Soon buxom young women are lining up outside his door, and he does his best to give them what they want. Rated R for excessive nudity, sex, profanity, crude humor and drug references.

“THE HEARTBREAK KID” (D): Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s take on the 1972 Neil Simon-Elaine May original is not nearly as funny as you’d like for a movie that reunites them with “There’s Something About Mary” star Ben Stiller. Stiller plays a man who marries the wrong woman (Malin Akerman), then meets his true love (Michelle Monaghan) on his honeymoon. 115 minutes. Rated R for strong sexual content, crude humor, language, and a scene of drug use involving a minor.

“IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH” (A) Tommy Lee Jones is terrific as Hank, a former Marine whose version of morality and manhood is uncomplicated by doubt or ambiguity. But when he grimly investigates his AWOL son’s murder, he is shaken to his conservative core. 1 hour, 55 minutes. Rated R for violent and disturbing content, language and some sexuality/nudity.

“THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB” (C+): “Sex and the City” meets “Sense and Sensibility” in this breezy story about how six people reading the same book have six different interpretations. For each reader, the book is a hand mirror reflecting personal experience. 1 hour, 45 minutes. Rated PG-134 for discreet sexual content, brief drugs, brief profanity.

“THE KINGDOM” (B): Director Peter Berg raises some intriguing questions about vengeance and cultural misconceptions, then comes up with answers that feel a bit too pat. He’s assembled a strong cast in Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman, then has them solve a complicated terrorist attack in a matter of mere days in a country where they’re not exactly wanted. The four star as FBI agents who secretly travel to Saudi Arabia to determine who was behind a massive, deadly bombing at an American oil-company compound in Riyadh. 110 minutes. Rated R for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language.

“MICHAEL CLAYTON” (A): As a “fixer” at a prestigious New York law firm, George Clooney gets to show all the charisma of Danny Ocean as well as the vulnerability of his Oscar-winning role in “Syriana.” He just keeps getting better with age, and it’s breathtaking to watch this former People magazine “sexiest man alive” show absolutely zero vanity as he expands his range. 118 minutes. Rated R for language including some sexual dialogue.

“MR. WOODCOCK” (C): Mild pleasures are available in “Mr. Woodcock,” a comedy that stops well short of distinction but — primarily because of the comic animosity between a stoic Billy Bob Thornton and a semi-hysterical Seann William Scott — delivers some chuckles. A self-help author (Scott) is horrified to find out that his beloved mom (Susan Sarandon) back in Nebraska has taken up with the legendary Mr. Woodcock (Thornton), the gym teacher who humiliated him in high school, and so rushes home. 95 minutes. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, adult themes, mild profanity and a mild drug reference.

“THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING” (B+): This eye-popping, jaw-dropping first installment in a film fantasy series could turn out to be the new “Harry Potter.” Tautly scripted, smartly cast, beautifully shot in an England of snow and fog, it’s a dazzling slice of cinematic imagination. Based on Susan M. Cooper’s Seeker novels, “Dark is Rising” is about an American kid (Alexander Ludwig) who has just moved to Britain with his large, rambunctious family. Will is “the invisible one,” the youngest son, ignored, passed over, lost in the family shuffle. But in this new village where the Stantons have set up housekeeping, “the old ones” are eyeballing the boy. And when he turns 14, Will learns why. 100 minutes. Rated PG for fantasy action, scary images.

“SYDNEY WHITE” (D): This college campus remake of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs has Amanda Bynes (“Hairspray”) struggling through a very weak script. 1 hour, 46 minutes. Rated PG-13 for some language, sexual humor and partying.

“WE OWN THE NIGHT” (C): In this new thriller from writer-director James Gray, a club manager with shady associates is coaxed toward the right side of the law by his cop-brother. Broody to the point of anesthesia and operatic to the verge of bombast. 117 minutes. Rated R for strong violence, drug material, language, some sexual content and brief nudity.

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