Syriana *** 1/2|A political movie, intelligent and very much of-the-moment, that will scorch you with its polished cynicism. Americans from the CIA to the oil companies to Congress use Middle Eastern kingdoms as their pawns, and small players (George Clooney, Matt Damon) ponder where their loyalties lie. Steven Gaghan wrote “Traffic,” and the interweaving story lines have the same alluring, devastating effect. We’re taught a lot; the question is, did we learn anything? |R|112 minutes |Released today|Michael Booth
Eight Below ** 1/2|When readying your family for this Disney flick, be sure to tuck away some Kleenex. This PG tale of a sled-dog team left to face a winter alone in Antarctica can be rough going. Paul Walker stars as a guide who does everything he can to get back to the pack he was forced by a storm to leave. The real stars and more expressive performers, however, are the 16 dogs that play Maya, Max and their teammates. When the drama of the dogs gets too real, the movie cuts to Jerry’s melancholy quest. If you thought imperiled emperor penguins were heart-wrenching, beware of these dogs. |PG|120 minutes| Released today|Lisa Kennedy
The Hills Have Eyes ** 1/2|The Carter family meets misery when it runs into a clan of mutated miners and their spawn with a craving for flesh and revenge on their tormented minds. A-bomb tests and the sins of eminent domain figure heavily in Alexandre Aja’s remake of Wes Craven’s family showdown in the desert. After a season of horror flicks more interested in inflicting maximum mayhem on their characters, “The Hills Have Eyes” seems ambitious. Almost. You don’t have to buy into the “why do they hate us” agonies and the embittered answer to know co-writers Aja and Gregory Levasseur wanted to express something about victims, terror, payback and middle Americans.|R|107 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party ***|Michel Gondry’s documentary is as deceptively rough-hewn as the Comedy Central variety show Chappelle so famously walked away from. The engaging moments come when the comic heads to the Ohio town he calls home to invite his neighbors to a hip-hop shindig in New York’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. The concert features Kanye West, Mos Def, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and the Fugees. Paired with Chappelle’s recent Actors Studio appearance, “Block Party” offers a portrait of a man intent on entertaining but driven to stay connected.|R| 103 minutes|Released June 13|Lisa Kennedy
