Ratings based on four-star system.
‘Creation’
Rated PG-13
???
A pretty small film considering its huge themes — evolution vs. divinity, essentially, Darwin vs. God. Small actually benefits here in presenting what is, for many, a black-and-white debate about whether life on Earth developed through nature’s random opportunism or the guiding hand of a supreme maker. Director Jon Amiel casts the matter in personal terms as Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) wrangles with the book that would spread the theory, his own loss of faith over the death of a daughter (Martha West) the backdrop to his struggle. Darwin’s chief conflict is what his theory means for his departed daughter and the conviction of her deeply religious mother (Bettany’s real-life wife Jennifer Connelly) that the girl’s soul lives on eternally. Bettany and newcomer West beautifully capture the sweet joys of a father and a bright, favored child, along with the momentous deprivation when she’s no longer there.

‘Extraordinary Measures’
Rated PG
??
This medical drama has been marketed as another “Blind Side,” a true story about quiet heroism, doing the right thing and overcoming great odds. But imagine if “The Blind Side” had focused on the legal processes necessary for Michael Oher’s adoption instead of the football and spunky Sandra Bullock and you have an idea of the strange path “Extraordinary Measures” takes on its road to inspiration. The movie tells the fictionalized story of the Crowley family, whose two youngest children are afflicted with Pompe disease, a metabolic disorder that leads to muscle degeneration and short life expectancy. The dad (Brendan Fraser) decides to fight for a cure, partnering with an eccentric scientist (Harrison Ford) to beat the clock and save his kids’ lives. The filmmakers strangely focus on funding and paperwork instead of the human drama with a lot of time spent watching Ford and Fraser bicker and make investor presentations. The debut feature of CBS Films, who, next time, might want to deliver a film that veers a little farther from the kind of fare people can watch at home for free.
‘Tooth Fairy’
Rated PG
??
Following the big-screen exploits of elves and bedroom monsters, tooth fairies were inevitably ready for their close-up. “Tooth Fairy” steals liberally from “Monsters Inc.” and “Elf,” among many others. It’s very much what you’d expect: a tale of optimism overcoming disbelief; family fare with comical casting (Julie Andrews as a Fairy Godmother); The Rock in a tutu. But despite its predictability and pat Hollywood cliche, “Tooth Fairy” is mostly charming, thanks largely to the toothy grins of Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) and Stephen Merchant, the British comedian and Ricky Gervais sidekick. Johnson plays a minor league hockey player who’s summoned to Tooth Fairy duty to penalize his dream-dashing ways. Obvious puns (some from Billy Crystal in a cameo as a veteran fairy) and fully expected redemption follow. Johnson, a human Buzz Lightyear, and the spindly Merchant make the obvious material surprisingly winning.

‘The Book of Eli’
Rated R
2 stars
In the future, according to “The Book of Eli,” we’ll all dress like we’re in a Nine Inch Nails video. A meteorite and a subsequent war 30 years earlier has scorched the earth and the population, who outfit themselves in goggles and leather. Across this charred land strides our Christian cowboy, Eli (Denzel Washington), a mysterious, solitary man who carries the last remaining Bible in his backpack, along with a knife and a shotgun. Eli is a prophet carrying The Word, and “The Book of Eli” suggests mankind will be saved by it. The Christian theme notwithstanding, “The Book of Eli” is really only a sepia-colored, shoot-’em-up Western. The Hughes brothers (“Menace II Society”) let nary a bullet or arrow fly without sending their cameras behind to track it in slow-motion. Washington and Gary Oldman (as a frustrated dictator trying to steal the Bible) create sparks and help drive the film forward. With Mila Kunis in post-apocalyptic chic and Tom Waits as a paranoid shopkeeper.

‘Fish Tank’
Unrated
3 1/2 stars
Writer-director Andrea Arnold has created something so real and raw with this British teen drama, you may come away with a twinge of guilty voyeurism, a sense of peering too closely and impolitely into other people’s lives. Arnold made a remarkable find with her teen lead, Katie Jarvis, who had not acted before but proves a natural, at least for the sort of honest intensity needed to anchor the story. Jarvis plays Mia, a 15-year-old alienated from friends, her mom (Kierston Wareing) and everything else around her bleak home in a crumbling industrial town east of London. Her mother’s new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender) becomes both someone new to confront and an intriguing mix of father figure and dream suitor to Mia. Extreme things happen, yet it all feels genuine, even inevitable, thanks to the devoted, fearless cast and Arnold’s attention to detail, which helps the film unfold like actual lives playing out on screen.

‘44 Inch Chest’
Rated R
2 1/2 stars
Profane, irreverent bluster by five loud men might carry a choice scene, but it cannot carry an entire movie. The makers of this British drama needn’t have bothered trying without the supremely talented crew they rounded up. Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson and Stephen Dillane manage to make a passable time out of this densely packed but ultimately slight exercise in extreme manliness. Reuniting with “Sexy Beast” writers Louis Mellis and David Scinto, Winstone stars as a manly man reduced to heartsick puppy after his wife (Joanne Whalley) says she’s met someone else. McShane, Hurt, Wilkinson and Dillane play Winstone’s buddies, who step in with bad intent toward their pal’s rival. Throw these five guys in a room to cuss and bellow — and that’s mainly all first-time director Malcolm Venville does — and some sparks will fly. Despite the dark story, it’s fitfully fun to watch the actors trade turns as alpha male of the moment.

‘The Spy Next Door’
Rated PG
1 1/2 stars
Jackie Chan. Boring pen salesman. But really an ace CIA agent who’s retiring from the spy game to marry the single mom (Amber Valletta) next door. Only her kids (Madeline Carroll, Will Shadley and Alina Foley) can’t stand him because they think he’s a boring pen salesman. So she goes away and he volunteers to baby-sit to win over the little ones. Except these Russian spies come after him and the children … You buying any of this? Neither are we. Like many action stars, Chan is looking for a piece of the lucrative family market. He’ll need to keep looking after this latest from director Brian Levant, who specializes in awful family fare (“Jingle All the Way,” “Are We There Yet?”). This sad little movie is built entirely to set up Chan’s stunt and fight sequences, the action more tolerable than the movie’s lame jokes, but barely. With Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez.

‘Daybreakers’
Rated R
1-1/2 stars
There are more revisionist vampire stories out there than you can shake a stake at nowadays, and they’re getting tiresome. At least vampire tales such as TV’s “True Blood” or the movie thriller “Thirst” are playful and sexy, and stuff such as “Twilight” is fun to make fun of. But this one from sibling writer-directors Peter and Michael Spierig plays like a dirge, striking one long, monotonous note of gloom, a dramatic flatline that barely budges even during the movie’s uninspired action-and-gore sequences. Ethan Hawke stars as a reluctant vampire in the world of 2019, where most of humanity has become bloodsuckers and the supply of blood is running out. The race is on to find a substitute — or a cure to vampirism after a band of humans stumbles onto a way to change the undead back to friendly mortals. The story is humdrum, the dialogue insipid, the visual trappings derivative of countless better futuristic tales. With Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Claudia Karvan.
— Associated Press