Mediocre Movies to Avoid This Weekend

1. Things We Lost in the Fire. There are a few things we liked about this (supposedly based here, though there is nothing to indicate that it actually takes place here) movie---mostly that the heroin junkie played by Benecio Del Toro lives in a flophouse in Renton and that Halle Berry plays a Seattle woman named Audrey, leading to a scene where Del Toro runs after her calling, "Audrey, Audrey, Audrey, Audrey, Audrey!" Call us vain, but we like the sound of our name.

Besides that, this is Danish director Susanne Bier's least accomplished work yet. (Not coincidentally, this is also her first Hollywood film.) If you want emotional complexity, check out After the Wedding, her movie from last year that was nominated for Best Foreign Film, or---even better---2004's Brothers, which won scads of awards for its edgy Dogme portrayal of family dynamics, political drama, and shifting ethics all in the context of the war in Afghanistan. Because what you're going to find in her current movie is some so-so acting (though Del Toro is convincing) and relationships that we didn't quite buy. After your husband dies, you're going to invite his addict friend into your home? With your children? Really? You should know better, Audrey.

2. Gone Baby Gone. About two-thirds into this film, we were thinking about how impressed we were with Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. The gritty crime drama was shot well, the script was noiry and funny and definitely Bahston-centric, and Affleck was getting great performances out of his little brother and especially out of scenery-chewing Ed Harris. (Michelle Monaghan, on the other hand, was so underutilized in this film that her part could have been played by the sex doll from Ryan Gosling's movie.) So there we were, pleasantly surprised, and the entire film went to shit. We can even pinpoint exactly when it happened: when Casey Affleck comes home and basically says "I know who did it!" and then begins to explain how via flashback and voiceover. That's just sloppy filmmaking, Pancake Head, and it really shows a lack of faith in the intelligence of your audience. We've been with you this far, and we've kept up just fine! But no, Affleck turned the last third of his movie into a Scooby Doo mystery, complete with bad guy wearing a plastic mask. Ruh roh! Ultimately, the film goes from taut thriller to awkward debate of good ol' fashioned Catholic right-and-wrong versus moral relativism. And ultimately, we were very disappointed, especially because the film started out so strongly.

3. Rendition. We're sure all the big guns in this movie (Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Meryl effing Streep) signed on because it smelled like Oscar bait. And maybe it could have been. After all, with a cast like that and a timely topic---the whisking-away of suspected terrorists to countries that don't mind getting their hands dirty if it means getting information---that usually means awards aplenty. But not when the writing is so heavy-handed (thanks for that "torture is bad, mmmkay?" speech, Jakey!) and when it's directed by South African hack Gavin Hood, best known for Oscar-winning foreign film Tsotsi, which we've always decried as unrealistic and emotionally manipulative. It's not nearly as objectionable as that movie, but this was still the worst of the three films we saw this week.