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LISTINGS

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Through May 24

MARVEL’S: THE AVENGERS, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy in 3D, 6:30, 9:30 p.m.; Canton American in 2D, 6:30, 9:30 p.m.; Massena Movieplex in 3D, 6:30, 9:30 p.m.

BATTLESHIP, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy, 6:45, 9:30 p.m.; Canton American, 6:45, 9:30 p.m.; Massena Movieplex, 6:45, 9:30 p.m.

THE DICTATOR, R, Potsdam Roxy, 7, 9:15 p.m.; Canton American, 7, 9 p.m.; Massena Movieplex, 7, 9:15 p.m.

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy, 7, 9:15 p.m.; Canton American, 6:50, 9:15 p.m.; Massena Movieplex 7, 9:15 p.m.

DARK SHADOWS, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy, 7, 9:15 p.m.; Canton American, 6:50, 9:15 p.m.; Massena Movieplex, 6:50, 9, 9:15 p.m.

THE LUCKY ONE, PG-13, Massena Movieplex 7 p.m.

THINK LIKE A MAN, PG-13, Massena Movieplex, 6:50, 9:20 p.m.

Beginning May 25

MEN IN BLACK, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy in 3D, 7:05, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30, 3 p.m.; Canton American in 2D, 7, 9:20 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:45, 3 p.m.; Massena Movieplex in 3D, 6:30, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30, 3 p.m.

BATTLESHIP, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy, 6:45, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:20, 3 p.m.; Canton American, 6:50, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30, 3 p.m.; Massena Movieplex, 6:45, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon.12:20, 3 p.m.

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy in 2D, 6:40, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:20, 3 p.m.; Canton American in 2D, 6:40, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:20, 3 p.m.; Massena Movieplex in 3D, 6:40, 9:30 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:20, 3 p.m.

DARK SHADOWS, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy, 7 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 3 p.m.; Canton American, 9:10 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30 p.m.; Massena Movieplex, 6:50, 9, 9:15 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30, 3 p.m.

THE DICTATOR, R, Potsdam Roxy, 9:15 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:45 p.m.; Canton American, 6:50 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 3 p.m.; Massena Movieplex, 7, 9:15 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:45, 3 p.m.

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING, PG-13, Potsdam Roxy, 7, 9:15 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:45, 3 p.m.; Canton American, 6:50, 9:10 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30, 3 p.m.; Massena Movieplex 7, 9:15 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:45, 3 p.m.

CHERNOBYL DIARIES, R, Massena Movieplex, 7:15, 9:15 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:34, 3 p.m.

THINK LIKE A MAN, PG-13, Massena Movieplex, 6:50, 9:20 p.m., Sat., Sun. & Mon. 12:30, 3 p.m.

MEN IN BLACK (2D), PG-13, and 21 JUMPSTREET, R, 57 Auto Drive-in, Massena, Fri., Sat. & Sun. shows start at dusk, approx. 9:05 p.m.

Movie Reviews

Battleship

First a board game, then something to play on computers and video screens, "Battleship" has now been beefed-up into a surprisingly exciting movie, with decently developed characters and pretty thrillingly conceived action sequences. Those into war movies, action flicks and anything about space aliens will have fun at this. Attracted by a signal sent into space by scientists looking for intelligent life "out there," alien invaders slam into the Pacific during a huge international naval exercise off Hawaii. And they're not friendly. There's news of Hong Kong being attacked, and now the action is just off Oahu, with the aliens' strange looking ships setting up a force field that isolates several U.S. destroyers. The battle to save Earth engages our present-day fleet versus the aliens' scarily destructive and more advanced weapons. The old U.S.S. Missouri and some equally aged veterans also join the fray for the finale. At the center of this is Lt. Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), a screw-up who's on the verge of being tossed out of the Navy when the attack occurs. As the senior surviving officer on the U.S.S. John Paul Jones, it's up to Hopper to face down the invading force. He gets help from Petty Officer Cora Raikes (pop singer Rihanna), a smart-mouth weapons specialist. His girlfriend (Brooklyn Decker), a rehab therapist and admiral's (Liam Neeson) daughter, is on Oahu with Lt. Col. Mick Canales (real-life Army Col. Gregory D. Gadson, an Iraq War vet who lost both legs). They confront the aliens at a satellite communications station. The aliens will use it to call for reinforcements, unless Hopper can destroy it with missiles. PG-13

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

Several couples, wed and unwed, contemplate parenthood in this star-studded anthology film, a rather smug, sporadically funny comedy. It's a fictional tale inspired by the popular advice book of the same name by Heidi Murkoff. High-schoolers, prepped by reality TV, may find the travails of the five couples in the movie of passing interest, despite the sparse laughs and forced-seeming emotions. Jules (Cameron Diaz) is a TV weight-loss guru and celebrity dance champion. She's pregnant by her dance partner, Evan (Matthew Morrison), but thinks she can keep up her frenetic schedule and avoid romantic entanglements. Photographer Holly (Jennifer Lopez) and her partner Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) are about to adopt a child, but their finances are shaky. Wendy (Elizabeth Banks) is a sentimental breast-feeding advocate and kid lit author. She and her husband Gary (Ben Falcone) have inferiority complexes about his race-car champion dad (Dennis Quaid) and his dad's extremely young wife (Brooklyn Decker). Rosie (Anna Kendrick), a budding food truck chef, has a fling with rival chef Marco (Chace Crawford), and her surprise pregnancy throws them together. Then there's the "dudes' group," a weekend posse of dads led by Chris Rock who take their babies on power walks. Any mistakes they make, or babies they drop, the guys keep it in the group. PG-13

The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen's intermittently riotous new comedy (following "Bruno," R, 2009; and "Borat ." R, 2006) will surely attract filmgoers. This time, however, the heavily political content may not click with them unless they're savvy about international affairs. Cohen, with director Larry Charles, stirs up a farcical critique of Arab dictatorships in the Middle East and North Africa, laced with a deliberately offensive spoof of the culture. He plays Gen. Adm. Aladeen, dictator since childhood of the fictional North African nation of Wadiya. Aladeen's closest adviser, Uncle Tamir (Ben Kingsley), plots against him while seeming to protect him. With his country under sanctions, Aladeen goes to New York to address the U.N. claiming he'll turn Wadiya into a democracy. But Uncle Tamir intends to get rid of Aladeen and rule himself. He'll use Aladeen's new double, a country bumpkin (also Cohen) trained to take a bullet in any assassination attempt, as his puppet. The real Aladeen is shorn of his trademark beard and tossed onto the streets of New York. He meets vegan-feminist-activist shopkeeper Zoey (Anna Faris), who mistakes him for a good guy, and he encounters a scientist (Jason Mantzoukas) from Wadiya he thought he'd executed. R

Dark Shadows

Johnny Depp is very funny in his pal Tim Burton’s riff on the 1960s daytime horror soap opera, “Dark Shadows.” Alas, the movie around him never finds its tone, which fluctuates between outright spoofery and the TV show’s more somber style. When Depp is on camera as gentleman vampire Barnabas Collins, awakened in the year 1972 after 200 years in a coffin, the film is fun -- at least at first. When the focus leaves him, it becomes campy and tedious. After a while, Depp can’t even save it. He is droll, though, in his long nails and cutaway coat, shocked at all things modern and apologizing before drinking people’s blood and killing them. Barnabus returns to his family’s mansion near fictional Collinsport, Maine. He’s determined to help his descendants restore the family business, a fish cannery, and stop their arch rival, Angelique (Eva Green), who is in fact the sorceress who turned him into a vampire. The lady of the house (Michelle Pfeiffer), her friend the sozzled psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), her sullen daughter (Chloe Grace Moretz), and her quiet nephew (Gully McGrath) are invigorated by their gallant undead relative. PG-13

Marvel’s: The Avengers

Most viewers will enjoy this witty, raucous ride, which doesn't push PG-13 boundaries much at all. And they can thank their lucky (movie) stars that director (and co-screenwriter) Joss Whedon was the one to get this gig. His long (nearly two-and-a-half hours), eardrum-blowing, property-destroying mash-up based on the Marvel Comic series keeps humor and characterization simmering nicely, amid the 3-D, special effects and mayhem. The dialogue occasionally sounds robotic, but for the most part it sparkles. The intergalactic villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston) invades the secret Earth-protection agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and grabs a renewable energy Cosmic Cube called the Tesseract. He aims to use it to subjugate humankind. Soooooo, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., puts out the call to his superheroes, asking them to set aside their egos and use their brains, muscles and superpowers as a team to defeat Loki and the invading army of aliens he aims to unleash. There’s cynical Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.); patriotic Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans); brainy Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who’d rather keep his violent alter ego in check; interplanetary god of thunder Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who feels responsible for unleashing his brother, Loki; superspy/assassin Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson); and high-tech archer extraordinaire Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Needless to say, the good guys win in the end. PG-13

The Lucky One

Teen girls (and their moms) are the target audience for this romantic drama, based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, and they’re going to like it just fine. Scenes depicting violence in the Iraq War, threats by a jealous ex-husband, and strongly implied sexual situations make the film iffy for preteens. Not as icky-sentimental as you might expect, this movie benefits from Zac Efron’s strong performance as former Marine Logan Thibault, and from an equally vivid supporting cast, as well as rich atmospherics and a kennel full of great dogs. Logan, we learn in a prologue and in flashbacks, survived several brushes with death in Iraq and believes the photo of an unknown woman he found in a pile of rubble somehow saved him. He eventually traces the photo to Beth (Taylor Schilling), a divorcee who runs a kennel in Louisiana and lives with her adorable, gifted 7-going-on-8-year-old son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) and her salty grandmother (Bythe Danner). Recovering from PTSD, Logan leaves his sister’s home because he nearly reacts with violence when her young sons surprise him one morning. He walks hundreds of miles as therapy, and also to reach Beth and thank her for his survival. But he can’t bring himself to tell her why he’s there. Instead, he hires on to work in the kennel, befriends little Ben, charms Beth’s grandmother and falls for Beth (the photo belonged to her brother, who died in Iraq). But there is her jealous, thuggish ex, local cop Keith (Jay R. Ferguson, as the film’s biggest cliche) to deal with, and also the truth to reveal to Beth. Drama ensues. PG-13

21 Jump Street

Many viewers may not remember the 1987-91 television series that sent Johnny Depp on the road to stardom. However, they’ll probably be carried along by the go-for-broke high energy of this irreverent and hilarious update. The film is too foully profane for under-17s. The nerdy Schmidt and the handsome, brainless Jenko were opposites in high school. They become pals and partners at the police academy, making up for each other’s weaknesses, they hope. They’re reassigned to 21 Jump Street, a special unit run by a profane captain who sends them undercover into a high school to find the source of a new drug. Schmidt and Jenko get caught up in the school’s social whirl, but this time Schmidt’s the cool guy and Jenko’s the loser. R

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