Alexis Bledel was a breath of fresh air when she boomeranged from TV’s “Gilmore Girls” to the big screen in “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” But like a lot of young actresses, things quickly went south.

Spooks, from both the metaphysical and espionage worlds, cast an ominous presence over Roman Polanski's “The Ghost Writer,” but it’s the underlying parallels to its author’s real life that prove most haunting.

For the duration of its grim two-hour ride, “Brooklyn’s Finest” is on to something in the vein of “Training Day,” “The Departed” and dash of “Crash.” It is a frenetic and tough police drama that puts the lives of three nearly burnt-out cops on a bloody collision course.

Tim Burton’s bold reinterpretation of “Alice in Wonderland” is the closest approximation to an acid trip you’ll encounter without indulging. Brimming with hallucinogenic imagery and characters you’d swear were sipping LSD-laced tea, Burton’s 3-D opus is sure to take “Fantasia’s” place as a favorite among hard-core stoners.

“Black Dynamite” was released in theaters last year, but if you didn’t know better, you’d swear it hit theaters back in 1972 — and not the most glamorous theaters, either.

Based on the books "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll, this film comes packed with '60s psychedelic images including a hookah-smoking caterpillar and a floating cat. Imagine "The Wizard of Oz" on hallucinogens and you have an idea of how trippy the film looks.

In Roman Polanski’s new politically charged thriller “The Ghost Writer,” Scotland’s Ewan McGregor has the unenviable task of playing a character with whom he has nothing in common: a ghost writer who’s asked to replace another ghost in writing the autobiography of a controversial former British prime minister. Even though the story is fictional, the shadows of Tony Blair and Halliburton loom over the film.

James Cameron’s “Avatar” may have dominated the box office, but will it rule Sunday at the Oscars? My first reaction was “yes,” but after taking some time (10 minutes maximum) to look at all the nominees, I’m not so convinced.

"Alice in Wonderland," Tim Burton’s re-imagining of the Lewis Carroll classic, combines live action and animation in a 3D format Burton promises will blow your mind.

Two movies open this weekend that couldn’t be on more opposite ends of the viewing spectrum.
Tim Burton brings (extra) weirdness, and his wife (or girlfriend or whatever), to a reimagining of “Alice in Wonderland.”

The star-studded romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” hits plenty of highs and lows as it tracks several romances – from budding to fully bloomed – over the Hallmark holiday.

It has been one of the most ubiquitous sound snippets of the past decade, a soaring little melody whose infectious allure only makes it more difficult to ignore. Love it or hate it – and after its relentless ad campaign, there are plenty of folks in both camps – the Foxwoods Casino theme, “Wonder of It All” sung by Johnny Pizzarelli, has become part of the culture.

If timing is everything, Tze Chun reaps a bonanza with his first feature, “Children of Invention,” an opportune tale of two Chinese-American tykes swept into the vortex of a perfect storm of foreclosures, joblessness and Ponzi schemes.

In the middle of a high-level murder investigation, a low-level FBI agent quips, “This looks to be the work of amateurs.” My only question is, is he talking about the crime or “Formosa Betrayed,” the stilted Reagan-bashing potboiler he’s ensnared in?

So here’s “Cop Out,” yet another offering that pairs two guys on a case and in a car who, you know, love each other, but usually can’t stand being together. The movie’s got an original plot, but little else to make it stand out. And that includes Bruce Willis, who often plays the renegade, but goes against type by sitting back and letting Tracy Morgan do all of the zany stuff.