LAST WEEK'S RELEASES

• The Bourne Ultimatum (A-) Matt Damon remains a strong, stoic force as the amnesiac assassin seeking answers in a threequel that's full of all the stuff you've seen before - car chases, fistfights, international jet-setting and spy vs. spy intrigue - but exceeds all expectations. PG-13

• Hot Rod (B-) Just as its title character, a self-fashioned, unsuccessful stuntman, continually falls short in his many jumps, SNL vet Andy Samberg's first film doesn't hit all the right notes. PG-13

• El Cantante (C) Marc Anthony performs with a clear, stirring voice and great passion, but Jennifer Lopez attempts to turn this biopic of salsa legend Hector Lavoe into a vanity project. R

• Becoming Jane (B+) Jane Austen devotees will enjoy seeing how many Austen plotlines and archetypes they recognize in this dramatization of the writer's life, starring Anne Hathaway as an English rose with a few thorns. PG

• Bratz (C-) The four young women who play the living dolls are pretty and perky and have enough energy to light up a decent-sized suburb, but Bratz isn't a movie so much as an extended commercial for MTV and Skechers shoes and the L.A. outdoor shopping center The Grove. PG

• Underdog (D+) A motherless boy, a graceless dog and a witless script propel this live-action resurrection of the 1960s animated TV series about a canine superhero who speaks in rhyme while fighting crime. PG

RECENT RELEASES

• The Simpsons Movie (A-) Woo-hoo! The Simpsons have moved from TV to the movie screen and lost none of their satire and sweetness along the way. 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). R

• No Reservations (B) Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart bring glossy good looks to this remake of the 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. R

• Who's Your Caddy? (D) OutKast's Big Boi plays a hip-hop mogul who exacts revenge after he's rejected by the Carolina Pines country club. PG-13

• Hairspray (B-) Newcomer Nikki Blonsky is an absolute delight as the film's plus-size protagonist whose greatest dream is to make it as a dancer on The Corny Collins Show - 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

• 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

• 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 issues resurface: classmate rivalry, teacher trouble and a slow build to a showdown with Voldemort. PG-13

• Joshua (B) At once familiar but startlingly inventive and thrilling, Joshua is a tantalizing, tense thriller. Strange things happen when a newborn daughter is brought home, and the turmoil points to the couple's 9-year-old son, Joshua (the subtly creepy Jacob Kogan). R

• 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

• Transformers (B+) Autobots and Decepticons duke it out, with Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox caught in the middle. Silly story but the visuals are the real stars. PG-13

• 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

• Evening (C) Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson come together for a maudlin pile of goo. PG-13