THE TERMINAL (PG-13) Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks together again, in a curious little project about a man who becomes stuck in an airport when his country ceases to exist, plunging him into bureaucratic limbo. Spielberg turns the airport terminal into a microcosm, as Hank's character learns to survive within its confines, making friends (and an enemy or two), finding love (with an emotionally fragile stewardess played by Catherine Zeta-Jones), and eventually becoming a hero to the employees. The movie is a bit quirky and even minimalist in ways that we don't normally associate with Spielberg, at times almost like something Rod Serling might have cooked up as a Twilight Zone episode many decades ago. Rod would have got the job done in less than a half-hour, though, and Spielberg would have done better to trim The Terminal by at least 30 minutes. The film ultimately suffers from having too many sub-plots crammed into it, particularly the syrupy romantic interludes that are its least interesting elements. Still, it's easy to marvel at Spielberg's mastery of his craft, at his ability to glide from humor to pathos and back again without our even noticing how we're being manipulated. Also stars Stanley Tucci and Bernie Mac. 
TROY (R) At a running time of some 160 minutes, this unfocused and overlong historical epic is unlikely to get anyone too excited. Troy tells us that it was "inspired" by Homer's Iliad, but this version of the Trojan wars of 1200 B.C. is history as thoroughly scrambled as something served up by Oliver Stone, and significantly flatter than anything Stone's ever attached his name to. The film simply alternates a steady stream of big, chaotic battle scenes (think Saving Private Ryan in tunics, complete with a soundtrack of whizzing arrows) with endless scenes distinguished by soulful expressions, weighty pronouncements about fate and immortality, and the faux-spiritual vocal stylings of the Bulgarian Women's Choir. Brad Pitt is as buff and bronzed as a Greek god, but turns in his most wooden performance ever as the legendary warrior Achilles, while an array of lesser stars swirl around him. Orlando Bloom drifts through the ether like an Elf transported in from Lord of the Rings, Brian Cox hams it up as evil King Agamemnon, and a frail Peter O'Toole wanders about looking like old Bruce Dern's dazed doppelganger. Also stars Eric Bana and Diane Kruger. 1/2
TWO BROTHERS (PG) Jean-Jacques Annaud, a director who usually seems much more comfortable working with animals (The Bear) than with real-live human actors (Seven Years in Tibet), is back on familiar turf with this simply told but heartfelt and beautifully made wildlife adventure. The movie was shot in Thailand and Cambodia, yielding some great location footage in this tale of two tigers separated as cubs only to be re-united as adult rivals. The human actors and their stories are almost an afterthought to Two Brothers (although Guy Pearce emotes with the best of them), but the antics of the cuddly cubs — which is the main attraction here — will keep the kiddies and their animal-loving adult companions more than happy. Also stars Jean-Claude Dreyfus and Christian Clavier.
VAN HELSING (PG-13) Even hardcore horror fans aren't likely to find much worthwhile in this bombastic mess in which a pair of fashionably dressed monster slayers (Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale) spend a couple of hours running around like headless chickens, shooting bullets, arrows and stakes at anything that moves. The CGI effects are omnipresent and absolutely awful, with gigantic werewolves and Mr. Hyde coming off as unintentional cartoons with all the personality of Casper the Friendly Ghost. The flesh and blood creatures don't fare much better, with Shuler Hensley making for an utterly bland Frankenstein monster, and Richard Roxburgh's ear-ringed and ponytailed Dracula coming off as a second-rate, Flamenco-dancing reject from the Gypsy Kings. The look of Van Helsing is darkly luxurious and faithful in its way to the old Universal horror films on which it's based, but director Stephen Sommers mistakes attractive set design for mood, and his movie is so frenetic it kills any chance for a poetic moment. Also stars David Wenham and Kevin J. O'Connor.
