Typically known for his methodical pacing and intimate scope, director Clint Eastwood begins his latest effort, “Hereafter,” with a terrifying action sequence. French journalist Marie (Cecile de France) is caught in a devastating tsunami. She dies, experiences something extraordinary, then is miraculously revived.

Don’t fret. Eastwood hasn’t totally abandoned his filmmaking style. The rest of “Hereafter” is an intimate character study of three people struggling to make sense of what happens after death.

Sadly, only one of these storylines carries any dramatic significance, and Eastwood, alongside writer Peter Morgan (“The Queen”) fumbles a climax that tries too hard to seam the three stories together.

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Old-timer CIA agents (Retired: Extremely Dangerous division) find themselves on the run from younger colleagues in “Red,” the action-comedy based on a lesser-known DC Comics series.

Bruce Willis leads the group of retirees, which include Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, and most memorably, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich.

That premise, however, is deceptive, as much of the first half focuses on a budding romance between Willis’ hard-boiled agent and a quirky customer-service rep played by Mary-Louise Parker. Their banter is cute for about 15 minutes, but Willis walks through the entire film likes he’s on Lunesta (It seems like even Bruce is getting tired of his aging action hero persona these days).

Mirren and Malkovich add humor to the second half, and Karl Urban and Richard Dreyfuss aren’t bad as the R.E.D. adversaries. The plot, though, is ho-hum, and Freeman is wasted in a supporting role. In short, “Red” needs an engaging story to go along with its fun premise. And somebody please wake Bruce from his decade-long nap.

Grade: C+

Computer programmer isn’t the typical occupation of Hollywood’s heroes and villains. All the more reason “The Social Network” goes out of its way to blur the truth about the creation of Facebook.

In what seems like an impossible feat for even the most talented filmmakers, director David Fincher (“Fight Club,” “Zodiac”) and “West Wing” writer extraordinaire Aaron Sorkin have crafted a thoroughly entertaining and meaningful film about something as mundane as making a web site.

For all its characters, multiple perspectives and flashbacks, “The Social Network” operates on a core premise: The man who created a web site about making friends isn’t very good at keeping them in real life.

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