Monsters University

"Monsters University" joins a long line of second films better than the firsts in their respective series: "Back to the Future Part II," "Die Hard 2: Die Harder," "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."

Parental Guidance

It's sad to see an actress as gifted as Marisa Tomei slumming it in the thankless, paycheck-cashing part of Billy Crystal's resentful daughter Alice, who goes to extremes to raise her children antithetically to his old-school ways, in the crassly manipulative would-be family holiday comedy "Parental Guidance." Crystal plays Artie Decker, who as the movie opens loses his decades-long job as announcer for the minor-league Fresno Grizzlies baseball team. Bette Midler plays his wife, Diane, who stays in shape by taking pole-dancing lessons. They're the "other grandparents," called in reluctantly by Tomei and hubby Tom Everett Scott when his prototype design for a computerized house is nominated for a consumer products award.