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88 Minutes H1/2—Bad news: This Al Pacino serial-killer thriller loiters around for 19 minutes longer than the title suggests. Worse news: It feels like 188 minutes. Pacino plays a forensic psychiatrist whose testimony helped put a man (Neal McDonough) on death row for the torture slaying of a young woman. With the convict’s execution hours away, a string of copycat killings confounds investigators. As Gramm tries to figure out what’s happening, he’s presented with suspects like spice jars on a lazy Susan. Among them: His longtime assistant (Amy Brenneman), his crackerjack graduate assistant (Alicia Witt), an old flame (Deborah Kara Unger) who also happens to be the dean of Gramm’s school and a couple of brainy students (Leelee Sobieski and Benjamin McKenzie). R for disturbing violent content, brief nudity and language. 107 min.—David Germain



The Forbidden Kingdom HH1/2—Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li: This time, it’s personal! Actually, these two martial arts masters have never faced each other before, which in theory is the primary allure here. But while the first (and only) time they fight each other is swollen with anticipation and indeed thrilling, the rest of the movie is a solid, though forgettable, family-friendly action flick. Director Rob Minkoff tells a story inspired by the Chinese legend of the Monkey King. Scrawny Boston teenager Jason (Michael Angarano), who’s obsessed with kung fu movies yet frequently gets beaten up by bullies with wicked-awful New England accents, magically ends up in ancient China one day. A powerful staff, which Jason discovers in a Chinatown pawn shop run by the wisecracking Old Hop (Chan), sends him back in time. He must return it to its rightful owner, the mischievous Monkey King (Li), to free him from imprisonment by the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou). Jason gets help in his quest from two disparate teachers: the stumbling Lu Yan (Chan again, revisiting his Drunken Master persona) and the Silent Monk (Li again, all restrained charisma). PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence. 113 min.—Christy Lemire



Forgetting Sarah Marshall HHH—So perhaps the rumors of Judd Apatow’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Following the disappointing performance of “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” and the flop that was “Drillbit Taylor,” Apatow is back in classic form with his latest producing effort. This is yet another crowd-pleasing comedy that will make you laugh and squirm the whole way through—usually at the same time—with just the right balance of the salty and the sweet. Jason Segel settles comfortably into his first screenplay and first leading role as a big, likable puppy dog of a guy who gets dumped by his glamorous TV-star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). And then there’s Russell Brand, a British comic who will probably be new to American audiences, but not for long. He absolutely runs away with this movie—tough to do, since it’s populated with big personalities—as a preening rock star who’s less vapid and more verbal than he initially appears. After the break up, Segel’s Peter Bretter jets off to Hawaii to get over Sarah, but instead ends up at the same resort where she just happens to be vacationing with her new boyfriend, Brand’s lanky Lothario Aldous Snow. R for sexual content, language and some graphic nudity. 111 min.—Christy Lemire



Street Kings H1/2—The cliches and laughably hammy dialogue are scattered about just as liberally as the spent bullet casings in this ultraviolent but tired bad-cop yarn—which is surprising and disappointing given that it comes from a story by “L.A. Confidential” writer James Ellroy, who also co-wrote the script. Director David Ayer pretty much remakes “Training Day,” which he also wrote, complete with a rogue Los Angeles detective (Keanu Reeves), an idealistic sidekick (Chris Evans) and cameos from various rappers. Reeves stars as Tom Ludlow, who has long carried out dirty deeds for his dirty boss, Capt. Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker, eyes bulging and channeling Idi Amin once more). Ludlow slugs vodka nips to make his way through each day; it’s how he copes with his wife’s death (though Reeves is so typically low-key, you’d never know his character is supposed to be drunk). But when he’s implicated in the murder of his former partner (Terry Crews), a do-gooder who’d been snitching to internal affairs, he must do some investigating of his own to defend himself. The poorly managed supporting cast includes Hugh Laurie as the sneaky head of IA and Jay Mohr as a sergeant in a porn mustache. Cedric the Entertainer gets a couple of amusing moments, playing against type as a drug dealer. R for strong violence and pervasive language. 107 min.—Christy Lemire

—The Associated Press

RATINGS: 4 stars: Excellent; 3 stars: Good; 2 stars: Fair; 1 star: Poor