• The Simpsons (A-) Woo-hoo! The Simpsons have safely moved from the TV to a movie screen and lost none of their satire, slapstick and sweetness along the way. In fact, at 87 minutes, The Simpsons Movie is that rare cinematic event in an era of pompous bloat that leaves you wanting more. PG-13

• Talk to Me (A-) A funny, earnest, affectionate film about Petey Greene (Don Cheadle), an ex-con who rose to the top in Washington, D.C., radio in the mid-'60s with the help of Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a more buttoned-down manager. R

• No Reservations (B) Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart bring glossy good looks to this remake of the delightful 2001 German romantic comedy about a chef who must take care of her niece and adjust to the threat of a new sous-chef. PG

• Sunshine (C+) Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later) recounts the bleak saga of a spaceship on a mission to recharge the sun, whose imminent death has cast Earth into a terminal winter. This film has a riveting beginning and middle but a finale that feels shallow and tacked on. R

• I Know Who Killed Me (D) - Perpetual train wreck Lindsay Lohan stars as both Aubrey, an aspiring writer who goes missing, and Dakota, an exotic dancer who wakes up in the hospital with parts of her right arm and leg sawed off. Investigators and Aubrey's parents swear the girl is Aubrey. Place any other actress in the part and it's just another straight-to-DVD release. R for grisly violence, sexuality, nudity, language

• Who's Your Caddy? (D) - There's probably more wit and pointed social commentary in the average four-minute OutKast song than in the entirety of Who's Your Caddy?, a comedy starring OutKast's Big Boi. He plays a hip-hop mogul who exacts revenge after he's rejected from the Carolina Pines country club. PG-13 for strong language

RECENT RELEASES

• Hairspray (B-) Newcomer Nikki Blonsky is an absolute delight as the film's plus-size protagonist, Tracy Turnblad, whose greatest dream is to make it as a dancer on The Corny Collins Show - that is, until she discovers the racial discrimination that plagues the program. John Travolta plays it straight in the traditionally draggy role of Tracy's mother, Edna. PG for language, some suggestive content, momentary teen smoking

• I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (D) A one-joke movie in which Adam Sandler and Kevin James play Brooklyn firefighters who pretend to be a couple to receive domestic-partner benefits. PG-13 for crude sexual content, nudity, language

• Rescue Dawn (C+)The real-life traumatic account of a pilot's daring escape into the Vietnam jungle. With Christian Bale and Steve Zahn, it's a well-acted film, but it's rote and a strictly by-the- book "war movie." R for violent images, language, torture

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (C+) The fifth adventure for the teen wizard is another visual marvel, but we've seen it all before. The film sticks to the Potter formula: Show a bit of Harry's drab summer, branch off into a magical interlude and land him back at Hogwarts, where the same old issues resurface: classmate rivalry, teacher trouble and a slow build toward another showdown with Voldemort. PG-13

• Joshua (B) At once familiar and startlingly inventive and thrilling, Joshua is a tantalizing, tense thriller. Strange things begin happening when a newborn daughter is brought home, and the turmoil points to the couple's 9-year-old son, Joshua (played by the subtly creepy Jacob Kogan). R for language, disturbing behavior by a child

• Introducing the Dwights (C+) A funny-sad, icky-sweet comedy of family dysfunction from Australia. Brenda Blethyn plays a bawdy, once-semifamous nightclub comedian who disrupts the tentative, tender relationship between her son and his new girlfriend. R for sex, nudity, language

• License To Wed (C+) A one-joke movie with Robin Williams as the priest from hell who forces the engaged Ben (John Krasinski) and Sadie (Mandy Moore) to undergo a sadistic marriage-prep course. PG-13 for sexual humor, language

• Transformers (B+) Autobots and Decepticons duke it out, with Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox caught in the middle. Silly story, but the visuals - particularly the cool robot transformations - are the real stars. PG-13 for intense sci-fi action, violence, language

• Ratatouille (B+) A plucky Parisian rat leaves the colony to pursue his dream of becoming a chef. Brian Dennehy, Peter O'Toole and Janeane Garofalo are among the strong vocal cast. G

• Sicko (B+) A documentary, but a comedy, too - and a drama, a travelogue and, ultimately, a horror movie. Michael Moore aims for the greater good in exposing the ills of America's health-care system. PG-13 for language

• Evening (C) Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson come together for a maudlin pile of goo. Redgrave stars as Ann, a woman on her deathbed, recalling the one who got away 50 years earlier. PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual material, a brief accident scene, language

• Live Free or Die Hard (C+) Bruce Willis teams with a computer geek (Justin Long) to take on a mastermind (Timothy Olyphant) whose cyber attack cripples traffic, utilities and federal agencies. PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language, a brief sexual situation

• Evan Almighty (D) The jokes and sight gags are generic, obvious and watered down as Steve Carell plays a newly elected congressman told to build an ark by God (Morgan Freeman). PG for mild rude humor, some peril

• 1408 (B) John Cusack plays a hack who writes about hotel ghosts he doesn't believe in - until he checks into Room 1408 at a Manhattan hotel where grisly apparitions appear. PG-13 for sequences of violence and terror

• Ocean's Thirteen (C) The franchise wins back some charm it lost amid the sputtering Ocean's Twelve, but the latest caper with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and the gang feels like one trip too many to the craps table. PG-13 for brief sensuality

• Surf's Up (B+) Plays like a mockumentary, complete with deadpan humor, improvised dialogue and hand-held "camera work." Shia LaBeouf is the confident, laid-back voice of Cody Maverick, a young penguin surfer. PG for mild language, some rude humor

• Once (A-) In this transcendent Irish film, guy (Glen Hansard of The Frames) meets girl (Czech singer- songwriter Marketa Irglova), guy writes a few songs with girl, and guy and girl try to figure out what to do about their mutual attraction. R for language

• Paris, Je T'aime (B) Some of cinema's most acclaimed directors (Alexander Payne, Alfonso Cuaron, the Coen brothers) work with some of the most intriguing actors (Steve Buscemi, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maggie Gyllenhaal) for a series of shorts celebrating the spirit of Paris. R for language, drug use

• Waitress (B) Director Adrienne Shelly, murdered several months before her movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, made a winning comedy about Jenna (Keri Russell), a woman trying to escape a stultifying life as waitress and pie-maker at a small Southern cafe. PG-13 for sexual content, language, thematic elements

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