Capsule reviews of films opening this week:
"Hostage" - Bruce Willis, who hasn't had anything approaching a hit in five years, returns to tried-and-true "Die Hard" mode as an ex-hostage negotiator forced to bargain and maneuver for his wife and daughter's lives. But this is "Die Hard" with a bullhorn as French director Florent Siri, in his English-language debut, apparently assumes American audiences are hard of hearing and doubles the decibels. The explosions, gunshots, blows to the head and especially the uproarious score by Alexandre Desplat all are cranked to ridiculous volume to complement the overblown action. Kevin Pollak co-stars as a shady accountant whose family is taken hostage by three punks, prompting his shadier employers to abduct Willis' wife and daughter to force him to do their bidding. R for strong graphic violence, language and some drug use. 113 min. One and a half stars out of four.
- David Germain, AP Movie Writer
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"Millions" - Danny Boyle makes a surprisingly gentle turn into the family genre with this big-hearted fantasy about two young brothers momentarily distracted from grief over their mother's death when a suitcase packing nearly half a million dollars in British pounds lands in their laps. While some of the themes might be a bit heavy for young children, Boyle has crafted a generally tender tale with a buoyant sense of magical realism and a sneaky little moral lesson on greed vs. altruism and acceptance vs. denial. The film features delightful screen debuts by child actors Alex Etel and Lewis McGibbon, and the manic pacing mirrors that of Boyle's "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later" while utterly lacking in the sardonic meanspiritedness that sometimes underlies those films. PG for thematic elements, language, some peril and mild sensuality. 97 min. Three stars out of four.
- David Germain, AP Movie Writer
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"Robots" - Full of small, wonderful touches and big, heady ideas, this latest computer-animated extravaganza is both visually dazzling and needlessly heavy-handed. It's an indictment on the soulless homogeneity of our image-conscious culture. (If you want to take it really seriously, even though your kids won't, it's about robot genocide.) But it's also an opportunity for Robin Williams to be, well, Robin Williams, for the first time in an animated feature since "Aladdin" in 1992. Among the other voices that constitute the all-star cast: Ewan McGregor as an idealistic young inventor; Greg Kinnear as a Machiavellian corporate bigwig; Stanley Tucci and Dianne Wiest as the McGregor 'bot's parents; and Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Drew Carey, Jennifer Coolidge and Amanda Bynes as the new friends he makes in Robot City, a sort of shiny, rounded version of Manhattan. PG for some brief language and suggestive humor. 90 min. Two and a half stars out of four.
- Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"The Upside of Anger" - Is it too early to start thinking about top-10 lists and Academy Award nominations? That's how good this movie is, and that's how powerful the performance is from Joan Allen, its mesmerizing star. Already a three-time Oscar nominee, Allen turns in tour-de-force work here as Terry Wolfmeyer, the wealthy mother of four daughters coping with her husband's disappearance through drinking and dark humor. Writer, director and co-star Mike Binder (who created the HBO series "The Mind of the Married Man") never strikes a false note. It helps that he has amassed a talented, eclectic cast to fill his well-drawn roles (Alicia Witt, Keri Russell, Erika Christensen and Evan Rachel Wood play the radiant Wolfmeyer girls). That includes Kevin Costner, doing his best work in more than a decade as a former baseball star. R for language, sexual situations, brief comic violence and some drug use. 116 min. Three and a half stars out of four.
- Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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