Tom Cruise so desperately wants the action caper “Knight and Day” to be his ticket back to the A-list. Enlisting the bubbly Cameron Diaz for this flirty, globetrotting adventure helps his cause, but the film can’t overcome the nagging feeling that we’ve seen it all before.

Call it “Mission: Impossible” for the Rom-Com crowd.

Cruise plays a rogue spy named Roy Miller. He’s protecting a pocket-sized power source that a few of his corrupt government cohorts want to sell on the black market. At a Kansas airport, he bumps into June (Diaz), a plucky mechanic on her way back to Boston for her sister’s wedding. Both board a nearly empty plane, flirt, drink and pretend to ignore the greasy-looking thugs doubling as fellow passengers. (more…)

Second sequels aren’t supposed to be good. The very idea of a “Toy Story 3” should have been a major concern to the millions of adoring fans of the original “Toy Story” and its equally stellar sequel.

Of course, this is Pixar we’re talking about, and “Toy Story 3” is yet another gem in the studio’s unprecedented winning streak. Tightly plotted with suspense and big laughs, “Toy Story 3” is also the most emotionally wrenching of any Pixar film to date, and its heart-tugging final act is the perfect cap to one of the most creatively successful trilogies of all time.

Take that, “Star Wars.”

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Like most children of the 80s, I consider the original “Karate Kid” to be a classic. While not exactly “Citizen Kane,” it was one of those VHS tapes in the house that got more play than the entire Disney library.

So imagine the skepticism I had walking into the new “Karate Kid,” this one starring 12-year-old Jaden Smith as Dre, a Detroit kid uprooted to China after his mother (Taraji P. Henson) gets a new job. Dre goes shooting some b-ball outside of the school, when a couple of guys, who are up to no good, start making trouble in his neighborhood.

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Alongside the R-rated debauchery that is requisite in any Judd Apatow-produced comedy, “Get Him to the Greek” offers quite a few life lessons along the way.

Example: When the party gets out of control, just take a deep breath and pet the fuzzy wall.

British comedian Russell Brand stars as the horny, drug-riddled rock star Aldous Snow, who first appeared so memorably in the 2008 comedy, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” This time around the plot is almost obscenely simple: Record company upstart Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) has three days to get the drug-addict has-been from London to Los Angeles for a 10-year anniversary concert of his career-defining Greek Theater performance.

Aldous doesn’t go quietly. In one hilarious bit after another, Aaron tries to keep the rocker sober enough to travel, all while maintaining some semblance of dignity in the public eye.

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