The concept of Seth Rogen as a superhero in “The Green Hornet” isn’t so far fetched once you realize he wrote the script for himself.

Together with his “Superbad” writing partner Evan Goldberg, Rogen drafts “The Green Hornet” much like his previous star-vehicles — the lead character is a pop-culture nerd/drunken man-child who rambles on about every topic and situation. Most of the actual hero stuff is handled by sidekick extraordinaire Kato (Jay Chou).

Your tolerance of the Seth Rogen archetype will probably determine your overall feelings for “The Green Hornet,” a middle-of-the-road superhero movie with lots of good ideas but little execution. The movie has a unique visual appeal thanks to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” director Michel Gondry, but the script leaves its interesting array of characters dangling. (more…)

Big acting talent, unfortunately, doesn’t always transfer into quality entertainment. “Little Fockers,” the third installment in the popular comedy franchise, takes a once-fresh idea and smothers it to death.

After eight years, Robert De Niro still questions Ben Stiller’s position in the Byrnes Family Circle of Trust. He spends most of the film “watching” poor Gaylord Focker as he deals with a new house, a feisty work associate (Jessica Alba) and getting his kids into a posh private school.

The plot strands in “Little Fockers” are more frail than ever, with the titular kids only making token appearances. The remaining cast, including Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Barbara Streisand and an overreaching Owen Wilson, can’t do much with their reduced roles. Worst of all, Dustin Hoffman, the saving grace of “Meet the Fockers,” only appears in 10 minutes of this outing.

There are occasional funny bits, most in which Stiller and De Niro manage to break through the lazy plot contrivances. The rest, however, is a deflated rehash of franchise greatest hits.

Known for quirky comedies (“The Big Lebowski”), dark dramas (“No Country for Old Men”), and sometimes both combined (“Fargo”), the Coen Brothers have crafted “True Grit” as their most straightforward and mainstream film to date. It’s an entertaining yarn that executes all the classic Western elements and adds distinct Coen dialogue alongside a trio of great performances.

Based more on the Charles Portis novel than the 1969 film adaptation starring John Wayne, “True Grit” follows 14-year-old Mattie Ross as she hunts down the man who killed her father in cold blood. The tough-talking Mattie is played by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld in a firecracker of a performance. She’s the highlight in a movie populated by Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and a one-eyed Jeff Bridges.

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In an effort to reach my goal of seeing at least 100 movies released in 2010 before Dec. 31, I’ve had to clog my Netflix queue with some real stinkers. These films just aren’t worth full-fledged reviews, so here’s a brief overview of the bile you should most definitely avoid:

The Last Airbender

Once the most promising director of his generation, M. Night Shyamalan is fast becoming a modern-day Ed Wood. His recent movies, especially “The Happening,” are so laughably bad, you have to wonder where he’s getting the financing.

“The Last Airbender,” based on the popular cartoon series, isn’t quite as terrible as that Mark Wahlberg-talks-to-plants disaster. Nevertheless, it’s still pretty dull and clunky. The child actors should go back to grade school, and considering Shyamalan’s recent screenwriting techniques, maybe he should join them. Grade: C

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The only thing missing from “Unstoppable” is an Ozzy Osbourne-fueled credit sequence.

The crazy train in director Tony Scott’s thriller is a half-mile-long freight locomotive carrying explosive toxic chemicals. After a dimwitted employee leaves the train on auto-pilot, a slew of railroad executives, operators and local law enforcement try to stop the thing from derailing in a highly-populated area.

“Unstoppable” is kinda inspired by a true story, but in this case, the embellishments are the film’s strong points. Scott has crafted a trim, old-school entertainment that builds to an exciting confrontation between man and machine. Even through its silliest moments, “Unstoppable” establishes enough plausibility to make each turn of the track an edge-of-your-seat moment.

It helps to have two charismatic actors as the Everyman Heroes — Denzel Washington and “Star Trek” breakout Chris Pine play railroad employees in pursuit of the 70 mph beast. Washington’s Frank is on the verge of early retirement, while Pine’s Will is the confident newbie with marital woes on his mind. The characters may be stock, but Washington and Pine share enough natural chemistry to bring energy to the establishing scenes.

Of course everything that could go wrong with an out-of-control train goes wrong. Greedy railroad execs fail miserably with risky, cost-saving solutions, and the stalwart yard master (Rosario Dawson) scolds them appropriately. There are near misses involving children and horses, and both Washington and Pine have a couple close calls with really-fast moving pavement.

Scott, the guy who brought us “Man on Fire” and a few other Washington-led action vehicles, utilizes his typical hyper-kinetic camera style, cutting ferociously between every twist and turn. The antics work for “Unstoppable,” especially since most of the action is stunt-oriented and less reliant on computer-generated tricks.

And right on through the B-movie-inspired climax, Washington and Pine bring their A-game. You care about these guys enough to cringe whenever they attempt a death-defying leap, even when you know they’re going to survive it.

“Unstoppable” doesn’t try any high-brow subtext either. It’s just a good runaway train movie. Popcorn optional but encouraged.

Grade: B+

In his follow-up to the mega-hit (and slightly overrated) “The Hangover,” director Todd Phillips pairs that film’s breakout star, Zach Galifianakis, with Robert Downey Jr. in a “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” redux about two strangers forced to travel across the country together.

The comparisons to that previous road movie are inescapable. What matters here is Galifianakis and Downey’s solid comic timing, especially through the film’s more implausible moments. It’s more of the same weirdo antics from Galifianakis (a good or bad thing depending on the outlook), and Downey basically plays a meaner but still charismatic version of his “Iron Man” persona.

The movie gets predictably sappy in the final act, but not enough to completely dismiss the R-rated crass that comes before it. “Due Date” isn’t a great comedy, but it contains enough of what counts: Laughs.

Grade: B

Hiring A-list talent to voice cartoon characters is no new concept for Dreamworks Animation. Even in their best films, stars frequently headline the marquee (Jack Black is “Kung Fu Panda,” Mike Myers is “Shrek”).

“Megamind” follows the pattern, with comedian Will Ferrell voicing the title super-villain, Tina Fey as the love interest and Brad Pitt as Megamind’s heroic foil. The story riffs on the long-played superhero genre with energy to spare, but even with so much comedic talent, the laughs fall short.

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In the science-fiction chiller “Splice,” Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play the stupidest scientists on the planet. Sure, they have the brain power to create blobby creatures from the DNA of several animals, and they’re able to splice human genes with those of a pig, chicken, velociraptor, Swamp Thing, etc.

But man, these people need to be wiped from the gene pool. As an act of pure hubris, Clive and Elsa decide to mess with the universe and create a human-animal hybrid that ages rapidly and wields a venomous tail. Then, even after the raging infant nearly kills one of them, they decide to raise the thing like a child.

Dumbest. Decision. Ever.

Elsa has weird mommy issues, and Clive frequently jumps between loving the thing and trying to drown the bald monster in the sink.

For a while, “Splice” entertains despite the inconsistent logic of our so-called “genius” protagonists. Then things get weird, and Clive and Elsa do things that NO person could do, like EVER.

Let’s just say the audience is treated to two instances of Inter-Species Erotica. Ewwwwwww!!!!!!

There are multiple scenes in “Splice” where Clive and Elsa listen to music while working. Too bad TLC’s “Waterfalls” never comes on. The whole “sex with mutants” thing would’ve never happened.

So next time, scientists, remember these words:

“Don’t go chasin’ waterfalls,
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to.
I know that you’re gonna have it your way or nothing at all,
but I think you’re moving too fast.”

Grade: C

America’s education system is broken, and, as you might guess, a bunch of people are to blame.

While such a statement doesn’t incite much controversy, it also doesn’t stir people to action. The new documentary “Waiting for Superman” will do both. It puts a human face on a staggering national problem and takes a harsh look at the individuals and organizations responsible for making it better.

Director Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) understands how to craft an entertaining documentary, which is the ultimate key to bringing about change. The film cites engaging speakers, eye-opening statistics and even a relevant clip from “The Simpsons” courtesy of Ralph Wiggum, America’s poster child for public education.

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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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