Quantum of Solace is no Casino Royale, but then it never could be that. What made Casino Royale not only the best James Bond film to date but also a great film in its own right was its emphasis on Bond the man, its retelling of how he became 007, and his tragic relationship with the treacherous Vesper Lynd. Those are all unique to that particular story and can never be duplicated. Instead, QoS is content with being an extended but action-packed epilogue to its more thoughtful and romantic predecessor.

In 1993, a joint special operations mission composed of Russian Spetsnaz and American Delta Force operators capture General Ivan Radek (Prochnow), the dictator of what is deemed to be a "terrorist regime" in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

As a man-eating Cyclops terrorizes the Roman countryside, Emperor Tiberus (played by Eric Roberts) sends out their mightiest soldier, Marcus (Kevin Stapleton). Marcus and his guards subdue the beast and bring him back to the Emperor. All is not well though, as Marcus is wrongfully disgraced and stripped of his position. Facing threat of execution, he agrees to enter the gladiator games to win his freedom. Only one thing stands in his way: The Cyclops!

Summit Entertainment has tried just a little too hard to broaden the appeal of its new computer-animated feature “Astro Boy,” liberally sprinkling the kiddie picture with references that only adults will understand. The effect is closer to Dreamworks than Pixar, however: “Astro Boy” trades subtlety and emotional development for easy gags.

A reboot of the classic Japanese anime series, “Astro Boy” does not stray too far from the original’s premise. Scientist Dr. Tenma (the voice of Nicolas Cage) is driven mad by the death of his precocious son Toby (Freddie Highmore). Determined to bring the boy back to life, he implants his son’s consciousness within a state-of-the-art robot powered by a mysterious blue ball of energy.

Don't get me wrong--I like watching a bunch of rich, sexually charged guys behaving badly in an all-male boarding school bursting with homoerotic imagery just as much as the rest of you. So I was more than happy to check out Teenage Angst, the oddly generic title (perhaps engineered by marketers for a North American DVD audience) of director Thomas Stuber's 61-minute German film.

If we've learned anything from the Post-Apocalyptic Adventure genre -- and if we haven't learned anything, then what's the point? -- it's that no matter how toxic the air after war/disease/robot uprising destroys society as we know it, no matter how precious water and canned lima beans become, and no matter how difficult it is to find attractive footwear, humankind will still have access to ample amounts of gasoline to fuel their armored SUV deathmobiles. Oh, and there'll always be plenty of ammo. Which is important, because after the apocalypse, there'll be lots of gun battles with poorly dressed, giggling cannibals.

In a summer full of proudly digitized sound and fury, it's understandable why moviegoers might welcome the bulging biceps and collective crows' feet of Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts and Steve Austin (not to mention fleeting appearances by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger). On paper, The Expendables sounds like a throwback to their kick-ass heyday, and on screen, it pretty much fits the bill -- maybe not directed with any particular verve or wit by Stallone himself, but still satisfactory of the lowest common denominators and the highest possible decibel levels.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present for your consideration the first candidate for Best Actor for next year's Academy Awards. Michael Sheen gives a blistering, fierce, and romantic performance as the enslaved hero of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which opens in wide release today. It ain't art, but it is hellaciously entertaining.

No one is more surprised than me. The first film in the series, Underworld (2003) brought a centuries-long blood feud between vampires and lycans (AKA werewolves) to a head in the modern day. The sequel, Underworld: Evolution (2006), explored what might happen if the two feuding clans could somehow be brought together through the presence of a hybrid wolf / bat / human. Both movies were directed by Len Wiseman, both movies were stylish to the point of being mannered, both featured CGI werewolves * transformations, and both were defined by the heroics of the murderous Kate Beckinsale, memorably packed into a skintight, black leather bodysuit atop monstrous black boots.

The lackluster sales of Grim Fandango prove that, at least for the time being, the standard point and click adventure game is pretty much dead. While this probably doesn't matter to most of you (or you would have gone out and bought the damn game) there are quite a few PC gamers who have been pretty concerned about the future of the adventure game. After spending a couple of weeks with Infogrames' latest release, I think I can safely say that the time for worry is over. By combining movie quality art design, acting, plot and character development, and sound with a smooth action based engine, the company seems to have found a way to deliver all the impact of the best adventure games while keeping more casual gamers with sporadic bursts of frantic activity. Unfortunately, even though the game and its story development is nearly flawless, Outcast's actual graphics are so bad as to cause eye pain. Let's take a quick look at the good and bad behind this revolutionary release.