At two hours and 16 minutes, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” — the fourth film in the ridiculously successful Disney franchise — is the shortest in the series. But it still feels overlong and overstuffed; needlessly convoluted yet, at the same time, phoned-in.

If the “Fast Five” filmmakers had thrown in giant, shape-shifting robots, talking apes and some vampires, the fifth installment in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise would hardly have been more outlandish.

On the heels of his breakout hits “300” (300壯士：斯巴達的逆襲) and “Watchmen,” (守護者) director Zack Snyder's “Sucker Punch” is not just a 17-year-old boy's fantasy.

The gladiatorial thumbs-up or thumbs-down is a key plot point in the ancient Roman adventure “The Eagle.”

With his thick build and narrow stare, Matt Damon has proven effective and often surprisingly affecting as killing machines (“The Bourne trilogy”), athletes (“Invictus”) and even blowhards (“The Informant!”, “True Grit”) — men who stand apart from everyone around them.

Great, another Chosen One. The action tale “I Am Number Four” is mostly familiar stuff, presenting the latest teen outsider coming into possession of his latent superpowers just in time to battle evil forces intent on world chaos.

Someday, hopefully someday soon, 3D will be exposed for the sham that it is.

A commercial kung fu film in every sense but one; “Shaolin” possesses a nationalist urgency that treads into historically murky waters.

So here's the gimmick in “Season of the Witch”: It takes place during the 14th century, but everyone speaks in contemporary language, which might have been acceptable if the dialogue were clever or intelligent or funny or, you know, good.

Hugely high-tech and forward-thinking in its day, “Tron” now looks cheesy and quaint in retrospect, with its blocky graphics and simplistic blips and bleeps.