The Yellow Handkerchief (Rated PG-13)

In this quiet movie set in the impoverished parishes of post-Katrina Louisiana, William Hurt gives a nuanced performance as Brett Hanson, an ex-con short of hair but long of paunch just sprung from the joint after serving six years for manslaughter. With nowhere to go, he falls into an easy camaraderie and apparently aimless road trip with a couple of poorly supervised teens: the odd, socially maladjusted Gordy (Eddie Redmayne) and the reckless, needy Martine (Kristen Stewart). Lacking a strong parental presence, they gravitate to the elder Brett as a stand-in father figure. And, they sense something valuable and true in him that he can’t recognize in himself. However, we wonder if their confidence is misplaced since what we see is his anger, anxiety and depression; expressions of regret for a life gone terribly wrong. Through flashbacks we learn his sad story, which involves a marvelous Maria Bello as the tough but vulnerable woman he fell for. At its core, this is a lovely meditation on love, loss and second chances, and the unique ways we’ll carve out family when our blood bonds fail us.

Iron Man 2 (Rated PG-13)

Robert Downey, Jr. is back as charming Tony Stark, the supremely confident, narcissistic, brilliant man of steel in this fabulously popular sequel to the first installment released in the summer of 2008. But, the wheels squeak in a creaky plot rife with blustery Senate hearings, shameless self-promotion, unethical arms dealing and rogue scientists. If the plot disappoints, the witty repartee delights (think Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night, or Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth) as Stark spars with sexy Pepper Potts (a splendid Gwyneth Paltrow), the faithful assistant he impulsively promotes to run his company. Even though their chemistry is palpable, Stark’s eyes still rove all over the curvy new legal assistant, Natalie (Scarlett Johansson), who also plays a more mysterious character revealed later in the film. Jon Favreau once again directs and has fun playing Stark’s driver; Sam Rockwell is effectively smarmy as the morally-challenged arms dealer; ever-reliable Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as one of Stark’s few male friends; and Mickey Rourke is very good as the villainous Ivan Vanko, a brilliant Russian physicist with a big grudge. But, the action scenes, despite being set in exotic places like Monaco, are predictable and boring. Bigger and louder isn’t always better.

The Joneses (Rated R)

Watching this film I kept wondering what it would be like to have a mother that looked like Demi Moore. Kind of shallow, huh? But that’s the point of the film. Moore (who does look smokin’) is Kate, the matriarch of a picture-perfect, upscale-suburban-American family. David Duchovny is Steve, the handsome husband, and the good-looking kids are played by Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth. All perfectly orchestrated, they move into a new neighborhood and ingratiate themselves to their unhappy neighbors (Gary Cole and Glenne Headly). But, it turns out that they’re not a family after all, but a pod of super-marketers promoting products by any means necessary. Moore is well cast as the chilly matriarch with a limited emotional palette. The heart of the film belongs to Steve, who demonstrates that while he can play the game, it’s ultimately an empty life. He longs for “real” personal relationships and doggedly pursues Kate. The film is an intriguing idea but flags as a full-length feature film. It tries hard with subplots involving the daughter as a vampish Lolita and the son finding his identity as a gay teen, but it all feels manipulated; we’re not invested in them enough to care.

Just Wright (Rated PG)

Queen Latifah is delightful in this predictable romantic dramedy also starring the rapper, Common. Latifah plays Leslie Wright, a physical therapist, lucky professionally but unlucky in love. At the end of too many first dates, guys say they just want to be friends and seal the deal with a back-patting hug rather than a kiss. Time after time, Leslie watches from the sidelines as her gorgeous but scheming godsister, Morgan (Paula Patton), gets the guy. And, it’s about to happen again with Scott McKnight, a star player for the New Jersey Nets. Leslie, a rabid New Jersey Nets fan, runs into McKnight at the gas station one day. He invites her to a party and she brings Morgan with her. Big mistake: he falls for Morgan; Leslie is crestfallen. But their relationship continues after Scott suffers a serious knee injury and Leslie moves into his house to rehabilitate him for the play-offs. Leslie and Scott have the comfortable camaraderie of good friends but what about the sparks of passion? We hope fixing Scott’s knee may help him see that while style is nice, it’s substance that really matters.  

City Island (Rated PG-13)

The Rizzos have deep roots in City Island, a sliver of land jutting into the extreme west end of the Long  Island Sound where the 4,500 residents are either lifelong residents, the “clam diggers,” or the lowly “mussel suckers,” outsiders who moved to the island. It may be just a stone’s throw from bustling Manhattan, but this tightly-knit community is more reminiscent of a New England fishing village. Andy Garcia slips on a Bronx accent and is very good as Vince, the patriarch of the uber-dysfunctional Rizzo family. Vince, a dedicated correctional officer, sneaks smokes (as does the whole family) and hides his aspirations to act (and his attendance at classes) from his frustrated wife, Joyce, played expertly by Julianna Margulies. She believes that he’s having an affair and lashes out at him with quick strikes of wounding words. Their adolescent son, wise-cracking Vinnie (Ezra Miller) has a thing for fat women, pornography and food, while their college-age daughter, Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido), secretly strips to earn enough money to return to college. Vince stokes this volatile mix by bringing home a young man (hunky Steven Strait) just released from jail with an “interesting” history, who just may be the outsider needed to knock some sense into this myopic family. The plot sounds more lurid than it is in execution. There’s goodness buried in this family waiting to re-emerge when the old resentments and secrets fall away. 

Agree? Disagree? Let Beth know what you think at beth@bethlambdin.com