By PHIL VILLARREAL, Arizona Daily Star

The latest Dan Brown adaptation is heavier on demons than angels.
"Angels & Demons," the follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code," is astounding in its ability to transform an exciting read into a convoluted bore.

Chris Ryall and Scott Tipton make geeky seem cool. They've done so since their Movie Poop Shoot days earlier this decade and continue to do so as comic-book writers and on their spin-off site, Comics101.

The apocalyptic "Battle for Terra" puts up a decent fight, but struggles to win you over with scorched-earth tactics.
The animated think piece is preachy and heavy-handed. It's screened in digital 3-D in some theaters with a higher ticket price.

Those who pirated "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" got a punishment that fit the crime.
The fizzling action flick amounts to a 107-minute tutorial on how to make a chain of endless fights, chases and screams seem as dull as bingo night.
The movie drags so much in the theater, it must be much slower without the blood-curdling surround sound and wall-sized explosions.

"The Soloist" is a duet, with two master performers collaborating for an absorbing medley.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx tackle challenging roles with effortless panache in a real-life tale about a complicated friendship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and homeless, mentally ill classical musician Nathaniel Ayers.

Turns out there's more to Zac Efron than the grinning, vacant marionette from the "High School Musical" series.
In "17 Again," Efron shows he can carry a film on his own, with minimal help from flashy dance numbers. He's got personality and screen presence, and enough range to half convince you his character is a slimmer, younger version of Matthew Perry.

Director Greg Mottola would like to thank every girl out there who dumped him, didn't return his phone calls and stood him up for dates.
He's also grateful to the studios that rejected his screenplays, the TV-network executives who canceled his shows and the film-festival panels that stiffed him on awards.

"Adventureland" is the thunder that follows the "Superbad" lightning.
The director of both insightful comedies, Greg Mottola, has wasted little time establishing himself as an expert on making you laugh with and at desperate, post-adolescent virgins in their strained quests for love.

Funny, subversive and jammed with action, "Monsters vs. Aliens" is the birth of what figures to be another animated blockbuster franchise. Many theaters will offer the film in stunning 3-D, and that's the way I recommend seeing it if at all possible. Animators use the effects subtly and steadily, drawing you into the screen for unexpected, eyeball-blowing thrills.

Funny, subversive and jammed with action, "Monsters vs. Aliens" is the birth of what figures to be another animated blockbuster franchise. Many theaters will offer the film in stunning 3-D, and that's the way I recommend seeing it if at all possible. Animators use the effects subtly and steadily, drawing you into the screen for unexpected, eyeball-blowing thrills.