Universal Pictures

Review in a Hurry : A beautiful queen's reign is threatened by her entitled brat of a stepdaughter. This version of the classic fairy tale isn't that much of a reimagining. But when Charlize Theron asks that mirror who's the fairest of them all and the answer is Kristen Stewart , one can't help but think that the mirror needs glasses.

The costumes are wicked cool, the special effects impress, and the finale is sufficiently rousing, but the script takes no chances with characters that are all good or all bad.

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Review in A Hurry: Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli puts down the shaky cam and heads to the Ukraine. A group of young, attractive, and seriously naive "extreme tourists" pay a local to visit the abandoned streets of nuclear Chernobyl. The setting is genuinely creepy, but the last act emits low-level thrills.

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Focus Features

Review in a Hurry: Ah, young love. An "emotionally disturbed" orphan ditches his scouting troop to run away with the object of his adolescent obsession, a local "troubled" girl. This year's opener for the Cannes Film Festival, the delightful Moonrise Kingdom marks a career high for offbeat auteur Wes Anderson. Scout's honor. 

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Columbia Pictures

Review in a Hurry: When his partner K is erased from history, Agent J must time travel to 1960s New York to save him and prevent an alien invasion. The series returns with great eye candy, good 3-D and more sci-fi comedy hijinks. Will Smith is funny, but Josh Brolin as young Agent K is so exceptional at mimicking the tight-lipped Tommy Lee Jones that he steals the show. If only the story had unforgettable moments. Or have we been neuralized?

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Frank Masi/Universal Pictures

Review in a Hurry: With a roster of hotties— Taylor Kitsch , Alexander Skarsgård , and Rihanna —versus ginormous space crafts, Battleship is an alien invasion flick with too earnest dialogue and ear-splitting explosions. Yet, everything works: the special effects, the performances, the breakneck pace.

Score! A direct hit!

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Lionsgate/Melissa Moseley

Review in a Hurry: Inspired by Heidi Murkoff 's mega-selling manual, uneven What to Expect profiles five couples whose lives are upended by pregnancy. What to expect when you're watching: attractive actors playing unrealistic characters, sitcom-y storylines with predictable outcomes and a heavy-handed family-values message. In other words, warmed-over baby formula.

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Paramount Pictures

Review in a Hurry: After months of Sacha Baron Cohen showing up as the character he plays in The Dictator —even ash-bombing Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet —the actual movie is here. The comedian's mix of politics and gross-out humor is funny, but the story is predictable and lacks bite. Did we ever need to see a Baron Cohen flick with a romance, even one with the always adorable Anna Faris ?

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Warner Bros. Entertainment

Review in a Hurry: After 200 years in a casket, vampire Barnabas Collins awakens to the swinging 1970s. Unfortunately, the witch who cursed (and buried) him is also still around. Through Tim Burton and his go-to guy Johnny Depp , Dark Shadows is funny, atmospheric and filled with a terrific supporting cast, most notably Michelle Pfeiffer teaming up with Burton for the first time since she slipped into that skintight Catwoman suit .

While the script is a mess and the finale underwhelms, if you still dig the Depp/Burton combo does it really matter? What if you're a fan of the original ABC television show?

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Marvel/Disney Enterprises

Review in a Hurry:   The Avengers  surpasses huge expectations built up by the recent series of pretty great Marvel superhero movies. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and (best of all) The Hulk are recruited to save our tiny blue planet, and the ensuing action is, in a word, incredible.

With snappy writing and a full roster of fleshed-out characters, the whole thing is a smash, from start to finish.

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Relativity Media

Review in a Hurry:   Nevermore? Try never mind. The Raven does feature handsome production design and a promising premise—a 19th-century serial killer commits murders inspired by Edgar Allen Poe 's stories (it's like Se7en for the literati crowd). But without narrative guts, this not-so-thrilling thriller proves a bloody disappointment.  

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