MOVIE REVIEWS | In local theaters

“30 DAYS OF NIGHT” (C): Vampires should have thought of this before: If you can’t come out during the day, go where it’s always night, namely, Barrow, Alaska, during winter’s prolonged darkness. While director David Slade’s adaptation of the graphic novel is a huge cut above most of the gore fests passing themselves off as scary movies today, the premise and its repetitive gimmicks gradually grow as monotonous as, well, 30 days of night. 113 minutes. Rated R for strong horror violence and language.

“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.

“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.

“GONE BABY GONE” (A): In his directing debut, Ben Affleck has found his calling, an avenue for using his obvious intelligence while getting out of the way of his own celebrity. “Gone Baby Gone” film is based on the child-abduction novel by Dennis Lehane, author of “Mystic River.” It is set on the rough streets south of Boston. Private investigators are asked by the missing girl’s family to help find her because they can get details the police can’t. 114 minutes. Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language.

“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.

“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.

“RENDITION” (C): This thriller focuses on the U.S. government’s policy of transporting captured terror suspects to foreign countries for detention, interrogation and perhaps torture — a topic that’s prime for debate and more than worthy for exploration in a film. But there’s not much room for debate in director Gavin Hood’s film. Everything is black and white here, a tremendous disservice considering the complexity of the issue. There’s also an oversimplification, an insulting dumbing-down, as if the audience were incapable of interpreting shades of gray. 122 minutes. Rated R for torture/violence and language.

“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.

“THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE” (B): Danish director Susanne Bier brings a stripped-down sensibility to what could have been an overwrought story of loss and redemption but in Bier’s hands has powerful revelations. Halle Berry stars as a wife and mother of two whose husband (David Duchovny) is shot to death one night during a violent confrontation. As she grieves, she seeks out her husband’s childhood best friend (Del Toro), a heroin addict with whom she’d been at odds for years, and asks him to move into the family’s home. She and the kids need someone around; he needs to get clean. Del Toro is convincingly damaged, and his awkwardness as he tries to establish a healthy new life is unexpectedly endearing. 113 minutes. Rated R for drug content and language.

“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.

Wire services