Bridget Jones's Baby, Snowden, Operation Avalanche, Fatima, Silicon Cowboys

Bridget Jones's Baby

Snowden



Operation Avalanche

Fatima



Silicon Cowboys

Notes from another middling week of movies:

Prisoners

"Incendies" director Denis Villeneuve, whose sensibility is to try to make the audience turn away, moves to America for "Prisoners," about the torturous extremes to which a prepper dad (Hugh Jackman) takes his vigilantism when his daughter and, oh by the way, that of their black best friends (Terrence Howard and Viola Davis) go missing, apparently abducted by the mentally retarded young man a few doors down (Paul Dano). You know how I feel about Dano as an actor, but even I wouldn't wish the brutal beatings and scalding showers Jackman inflicts on him here.

Oblivion

There are those who won't go to any movie with Tom Cruise in it, and I have no problem with that. For those who'll see one if it's decent, check out "Oblivion," a well-constructed science fiction adventure with a script that's smart and satisfying.

Flight

You can tell we’re getting to the business end of the movie year. Only one of the last 13 films I’ve reviewed has rated below two stars (the surprise hit “Pitch Perfect”), and very strong films such as Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight” are starting to arrive more steadily. “Flight” is not, as its official site would suggest, a mystery thriller about a partially averted airplane crash. It’s the story of an alcoholic, enacted with restraint and vulnerability by Denzel Washington in an unusually meritorious performance showing both the mental strength and weakness of his character, the veteran commercial pilot Whip Whitaker.