At the Movies: capsule reviews of new films

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

"Are We There Yet?" - Planes, trains and automobiles apparently aren't enough anymore. In straining to wring every imaginable last laugh, this cruel road trip comedy also trots out a horse, a blinged-out sport utility vehicle and an armada of 18-wheelers driven by misinformed, overzealous truckers. None of this helps, though, when the passengers of said vehicles are the manipulative, high-maintenance brother-sister duo of Lindsey (Aleisha Allen) and Kevin (Philip Daniel Bolden), under the inept, reluctant watch of Nick (Ice Cube), who tolerates them in an effort to woo their exceedingly hot, divorced mother, Suzanne (Nia Long). It's numbingly one-note until it shifts abruptly into a second note that clangs even worse: It tries to be sentimental. PG for language and rude humor. 94 min. One star out of four.

- Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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"Assault on Precinct 13" - The phrase "cult classic" has been used to describe the original "Assault on Precinct 13," John Carpenter's 1976 urban Western about cops and criminals banding together inside a police station against a multicultural siege of gang members. This new "Assault on Precinct 13" is a classic, too - a classic example of remaking a movie by making it bigger, louder and more obvious. An all-star cast (Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Drea de Matteo, Gabriel Byrne) replaces the unknowns from the original, and the action has been moved from Los Angeles to Detroit in a blinding New Year's Eve snowstorm, perhaps an attempt by French director Jean-Francois Richet to obscure the muddled action sequences. R for strong violence and language throughout, and for some drug content. 110 min. One and a half stars out of four.

- Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic