Movie guide
KEY: Four stars means superior; three stars means good; two stars means average; one star means poor. D for drug use, L for language, N for nudity, S for sexual situations or references, V for violence. Ratings by Dann Gire, Daily Herald film critic, unless otherwise noted.
Picks
"Becoming Jane" -- How Jane (Anne Hathaway) became an Austen-tacious novelist. With James McAvoy. (PG) 113 minutes. 3 stars
"The Bourne Ultimatum" -- Matt Damon's slick action sequel delivers the goods. Reviewed by Matt Arado. (PG-13) V. 111 minutes. 3½ stars
"Death at a Funeral" -- Stiff Brits bury a stiff -- with comic results. (R) D, L. 90 minutes. 3 stars
"Delirious" -- Angry comedy about two souls searching for fulfillment. At the Music Box Theatre, Chicago. (NR) L, S. 102 minutes. 3½ stars
"The 11th Hour" -- Leonardo DiCaprio narrates a documentary about how to save our planet. Reviewed by Michael Wilmington. (PG) 91 minutes. 3 stars
"1408" -- A book writer (John Cusack) regrets staying in a haunted hotel room. (PG-13) V. 94 minutes. 3 stars
"Hairspray" -- Plump Baltimore girl (Nikki Blonsky) sings for tolerance of blacks and plus-sizes in this joyful musical with John Travolta in drag. (PG) 115 minutes. 3½ stars
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" -- Harry leads rebel wizards to stop You-Know-Who. The darkest and most confusing in the Potter series. Still entertaining. (PG-13) V. 139 minutes. 3 stars
"Live Free or Die Hard" -- A computer geek (Justin Long) and a cowboy cop (Bruce Willis) save America from computerized terrorism. (PG-13) L, V. 130 minutes. 3½ stars
"Mr. Bean's Holiday" -- Rowan Atkinson wins a trip to France! What fun! (G) 88 minutes. 3 stars
"No Reservations" -- Chefs Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart cook up a tasty and tasteful romance. (PG) 105 minutes. 3 stars
"Ocean's Thirteen" -- George, Brad and the gang target Al Pacino's casino. Lots of fun if you don't take it too seriously. (PG-13) S. 122 minutes. 3 stars
"Once" -- Two Dublin denizens make beautiful music together. (R) L. 85 minutes. 3½ stars
"Ratatouille" -- An animated rat cooks up a cinematic dessert in this delightful Pixar production. (G) 110 minutes. 4 stars
"The Simpsons Movie" -- D'oh! It's really good! Reviewed by Ted Cox. (PG-13) L, N. 86 minutes. 3½ stars
"Superbad" -- Supergood raunchy teen comedy. (R) D, L, S, V. 112 minutes. 3½ stars
"Waitress" -- A woman tries to escape her trapped, small-town life. (PG-13) L, S. 107 minutes. 4 stars
Passables
"Arctic Tale" -- A humanizing doc about polar bears and walruses struggling to survive. Reviewed by Pam DeFiglio. (G) 84 minutes. 2½ stars
"Dans Paris" -- A French family grapples with love while working on life. At the Century Centre Cinema, Chicago. (NR) L, N, S. 92 minutes. 2 stars
"Death Sentence" -- Dad Kevin Bacon turns vigilante with tragic consequences. (R) L, V. 99 minutes. 2½ stars
"El Cantante" -- A shameless vanity project with good music. Salsa musician Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony) gets his own movie. With Jennifer Lopez. Associated Press review. (R) D, L, S. 116 minutes. 2 stars
"Evan Almighty" -- God appoints a congressman as his new Noah. (PG) 90 minutes. 2½ stars
"Evening" -- A dying woman remembers an affair from her youth. (PG-13) L, S. 117 minutes. 2½ stars
"Halloween" -- Rob Zombie's remake of the John Carpenter classic horror tale. Reviewed by Jeff Pizek. (R) L, N, S, V. 109 minutes. 2 stars
"Illegal Tender" -- Over-the-top gangster drama. Associated Press review. (R) L, S, V. 108 minutes. 2½ stars
"The Nanny Diaries" -- Sexy Scarlett Johansson raises dysfunctional Laura Linney's son on the Upper East Side. (PG-13) L. 105 minutes. 2½ stars
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" -- Captain Jack is back! (PG-13) V. 168 minutes. 2½ stars
"Stardust" -- Screwy fantasy inhabited by cannibalistic witches, a cross-dressing pirate and a drab young hero. Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro ham it up. (PG-13) V. 125 minutes. 2 stars
"Transformers" -- The 1980s toys become action stars. Reviewed by Matt Arado. (PG-13) L, S, V. 144 minutes. 2 stars
Pits
"Balls of Fury" -- A dingy ping-pong martial-arts cliché parody. (PG-13) L, S. 90 minutes. 1½ stars
"Daddy Day Camp" -- Cuba Gooding Jr. runs a summer camp in this pandering kids comedy. (PG) 93 minutes. 1½ stars
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" -- Superheroes fight a platinum Oscar on a silver surfboard. (PG) 92 minutes. 1½ stars
"I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" -- Two Brooklyn firefighters (Kevin James and Adam Sandler) pretend to be gay to gain city benefits. Homophobic jokes with a hammered message of tolerance. (PG-13) D, L, N, S. 115 minutes. 1½ stars
"The Invasion" -- Alien virus turns humans into emotionless peaceniks. (PG-13) V. 95 minutes. 1½ stars
"License to Wed" -- Let's revoke Robin Williams' license to bore. Another rom-com bomb. (PG-13) L, S. 90 minutes. 1 star
"Resurrecting the Champ" -- Writer Josh Hartnett interviews boxer Samuel L. Jackson in a mangled ethics lesson. (R) L. 114 minutes. 1½ stars
"Rush Hour 3" -- Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker return as cops in this Tuckered-out action sequel. (PG-13) L, V. 91 minutes. 1½ stars
"Shrek the Third" -- The green ogre returns with his sense of humor frayed. (PG) 92 minutes. 1½ stars
"Underdog" -- The 1960s cartoon super mutt can't survive this lackluster, simple-minded CGI/live-action update. (PG) 84 minutes. 1 star
Unpreviewed
"Ladron Que Roba a Ladron" -- Two former thieves team up to rob a TV infomercial guru. (PG-13)
"La Vie En Rose -- Edith Piaf's story. (PG-13)
"September Dawn" -- Jon Voight leads renegade Mormons who wipe out a wagon train of American frontier settlers. (R) V. 110 minutes.
"War" -- A killer (Jet Li) and cop (Jason Statham) square off in a martial-arts epic. Not screened for critics, and we all know what that means. (R) L, N, S, V. 103 minutes.