FAIR GAME - B

Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Noah Emmerich
You don’t necessarily need to know the background on former CIA agent Valerie Plame to appreciate Fair Game, but it certainly helps. This is a thoughtful and measured account of Plame’s story, smartly directed by Doug Liman, but with a bit too little focus on Plame’s homelife.

STONE - C

Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich
Considering the one-two punch of De Niro and Norton, one expects fireworks in this drama about a parole officer and an inmate. But the explosions never come thanks to a tepid screenplay and disappointing performances. A dull De Niro seems lost in a cloud the whole time.

YOGI BEAR - C

Dan Akyroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh
If you’ve enjoyed Scooby-Doo, Alvin and the Chipmunks and other recent CG updates of classic cartoons, you’ll likely enjoy this tame and generally harmless update. Really, though, this no more than a standard kiddie affair with surprisingly poor animated effects.

SKYLINE - C-

Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Brittany Daniel
Considering its rumored $10 million budget, the effects in this sci-fi spectacle are surprisingly decent. A lot less successful is the film’s aimless and generally dull story, which follows a group of friends after an alien invasion and really seems to have no clue where it is going.

127 HOURS - B+

James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn
Yes, this is the true life story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his own arm in order to survive. But as vibrantly directed by Danny Boyle and passionately acted by James Franco, it is so much more than that one scene – it is a portrait of a man stripped raw by circumstance.

KNIGHT AND DAY - B-

Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard
Tom Cruise’s real-life activities may have overshadowed his work over the last few years, but he’s at his grinning, happy-go-lucky best in this lively if overlong action comedy. Cameron Diaz is a great comic partner, even if her character takes a couple of eye-rolling turns in the last act.

CONVICTION - B

Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver
Based on a true story about a woman who went to law school just to overturn her brother’s murder conviction, this is the kind of story that Hollywood loves to slap into a conventional framework. But the film commendably handles everything with restraint instead of histrionics.