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Backup plans are always nice, and now you have one for the holidays. Because no matter how bad your presents might have been yesterday, or how much you regret eating your aunt's "special casserole," you've still got a gift waiting for you.

It's down at the local multiplex, courtesy of Hollywood.

Of course, some of the eight movies opening here this weekend will underwhelm you. They certainly underwhelmed the critics (I am looking at you, "The Spirit"). On the other hand, there are a trio of smaller movies that are very, very good.

Because of the large number of movies opening this weekend, we've dispensed with the usual movie review format and gone with these mini-reviews.

Kevin Walker,
The Tampa Tribune

BEDTIME STORIES *1/2 (showtimes)

Adam Sandler returns to the familiar man-child of yore with "Bedtime Stories," a desperate family-friendly comedy about wild nighttime fantasies that magically come true in broad daylight.

Truly, Sandler seemed to have moved beyond this comfortable adolescent state, past the goofy persona he forged for himself with early movies such as "Billy Madison" and "Little Nicky." He's proven he can act, really act, with surprising vulnerability and nuance in "Punch-Drunk Love" and "Spanglish." He seemed to have turned, God forbid, into a grown-up.

Even though "Bedtime Stories" represents a first for Sandler — a comedy that's appropriate for all ages — it still feels like a giant leap backward for him. As Skeeter Bronson, the handyman at a boutique Los Angeles hotel, Sandler is doing that same silly, growly voice he uses in his "Hanukkah Song."

Forced to look after his young niece Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling) and nephew Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) for a week while his sister (Courteney Cox) is out of town lining up a new job, Skeeter finds the only way to connect with the kids, and get them to go to sleep, is by telling them bedtime stories.

Soon, Bobbi and Patrick are chiming in with their own ideas about what the tales should include — gum balls falling from the sky, violent midgets, gooey booger monsters — and in no time, those details start creeping into Skeeter's life. And those surreal occurrences inspire Skeeter as he racks his brain for a design concept for the new hotel his boss is launching.

It's a whimsical and not-too-shabby idea from writers Matt Lopez and longtime Sandler friend and collaborator Tim Herlihy. But under the direction of Adam Shankman ("Hairspray"), the result is too often flat, crass and disjointed.

95 minutes; PG for some mild rude humor and mild profanity

Christy Lemire,
The Associated Press

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON ***1/2 (showtimes)

It's the damnedest thing. You look into the elderly man's blue eyes behind a pair of old-fashioned spectacles, look at the sweet smile ringed by wrinkles, and you know that's Brad Pitt under there. But the special effects are so dazzling, and Pitt's performance is so gracefully convincing, that you can't help but be wowed over and over again by "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Director David Fincher has always proven himself a virtuoso visual stylist, to the point of seeming like a shameless showoff, with films like "Fight Club," "Panic Room" and "Zodiac." Here, he's truly outdone himself: He's made a grand, old-fashioned epic that takes mind-boggling advantage of the most modern moviemaking technology.

Fincher's film, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story about a man who ages in reverse, is rambling and gorgeous — perhaps a bit overlong and gooey in the midsection — but one that leaves you with a lingering wistfulness. It's just so achingly sad: Pitt, as the title character, is doomed from the start. He can never truly be with the woman he loves, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), whom he meets when she's just a little girl (played by Elle Fanning) and he's a boy trapped in an old man's body.

Eric Roth's script may seem naggingly similar to that of "Forrest Gump" — which he also wrote — but it seems more concerned with the transformational power of true love than the gimmickry of an unusual existence.

167 minutes; PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, profanity and smoking

Christy Lemire,
The Associated Press

DOUBT *** (showtimes)

If there's a valid criticism of "Doubt" — adapted and directed by John Patrick Shanley from his own stage play — it's that, as a visual experience, it seems too static and stage-y. That's the pitfall of every movie adapted from a stage play. But this is a slight concern; it's mentioned up front so it can be dispensed with and the gushing can begin.

Set at a Catholic School in 1964, "Doubt" focuses on three main characters. Sister James (Amy Adams, making a very wise career choice) is a young history teacher torn between two people: Sister Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the nun who runs the school, and the parish priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Sister Beauvier believes Flynn has an "inappropriate relationship" with a young boy, the only black student at the school. When Flynn denies the accusation, it sets off a set of brilliant scenes in which the three, in various combinations, air their views on morality, faith and choices. Lingering behind it all is doubt: the doubt Sister James feels about the other two, the doubt they all feel about themselves.

It's an extraordinary movie, but don't expect easy answers or a completely satisfying ending. Do expect a terrific performance by Streep, who we too often take for granted. She's mesmerizing as the complex Sister Beauvier, who has her own peculiar brand of ethics that she strictly follows. Adams is getting all the Oscar buzz for her supporting role, but this movie would be nowhere without Streep and Hoffman. They seem to relish each scene in which they face off, and so will you.

104 minutes; PG-13 for thematic material

Kevin Walker,
The Tampa Tribune

FROST/NIXON ***1/2 (showtimes)

Ron Howard, all is forgiven. Well, maybe not the "The Da Vinci Code." But still.

Showing a real maturity — and impeccable taste in choosing material — Howard has given us one of his best films and certainly one of the best films of the year. A lot of that has to do with Frank Langella, who surely must be in line for an Oscar nomination for his mesmerizing performance as Richard Nixon. Michael Sheen also shines as David Frost, the British talk show host who mortgaged his future — financially and journalistically — to finance a series of taped interviews with Nixon.

The movie begins with a quick history lesson on the Watergate break-in and Nixon's subsequent resignation from the presidency. He then goes into seclusion, until drawn out by an offer from Frost (an offer that includes $600,000) to be interviewed about Watergate, Vietnam and his legacy.

Thinking he can outfox Frost, who usually does puff pieces on celebrities, Nixon agrees. His crack team, lead by Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon), are confident they can use the interviews to rehabilitate Nixon's career. But Frost and his ragtag team of researchers (portrayed by a terrific trio of Michael Macfadyen, Oliver Platt and Sam Rockwell) have other ideas.

Peter Morgan wrote the screenplay, adapting his own play.

122 minutes; R for profanity

Kevin Walker,
The Tampa Tribune

MARLEY & ME **1/2 (showtimes)

Dog lovers will rally around this movie. And there is nothing that could be written here that would stop them. That's how strongly dog lovers, ah, love dogs.

For everyone else, "Marley & Me" might seem an over tedious exercise in how the love of one dog can change your life. The movie is set, primarily, in South Florida, where a marred couple (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston) find jobs as reporters. They decide to buy a Labrador, a decision they (sometimes) regret as he soon proves he is the "worst dog in the world," impervious to all commands or attempts at training.

What may surprise some moviegoers is how the film ends up taking a fairly serious look at the ups and downs of family life in the suburbs, with the bitterness that might arise over sacrifices made. There's also quite a bit in there about the difficulties of marriage. In another words, it's not necessarily for younger kids. This is ultimately a drama-tinged with comedy, which means, bring a hanky. You have been warned.

110 minutes; PG for thematic material, some suggestive content and profanity

Kevin Walker,
The Tampa Tribune

THE READER *** (showtimes)

As in director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare's last pairing, 2002's "The Hours," "The Reader" has the flawless production values and sheen of prestige that make it easy to admire, and yet an emotional detachment that makes it difficult to embrace fully. Thankfully, Kate Winslet bares not just her body but her soul with a performance that pierces the genteel polish of this high-minded awards-season drama.

As the central figure in this adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel, Winslet is in the nearly impossible position of trying to make us feel sympathy for a former Nazi concentration camp guard — but, being an actress of great range and depth, she very nearly pulls off that feat completely. What holds her and the film back from greatness is the oversimplification of imagery and symbolism that emerges as "The Reader" progresses, as it morphs from an invigorating love story to a rather conventional courtroom drama.

Hare has tweaked the book's linear narrative, jumping around in time through the recollections of love-struck Michael Berg (played beautifully as a teen by David Kross and more somberly as an adult by Ralph Fiennes). As a stoic, divorced lawyer in the 1990s, Michael reflects on the affair he had in post-World War II Germany with the austere Hanna Schmitz (Winslet), when he was just an innocent 15-year-old and she was a tram worker some 20 years his senior. Then, as a law student eight years later, Michael is stunned to learn the true nature of his first love's past when he conveniently stumbles upon her trial for Nazi war crimes.

123 minutes; R for some scenes of sexuality and nudity

Christy Lemire,
The Associated Press

THE SPIRIT (showtimes)

The director of this film, Frank Miller, is rightly praised as the man who revolutionized comics with graphic novels such as "The Dark Knight Returns," "Sin City" and "300." He's in his wheelhouse here, adapting the comic character created by the late, great Will Eisner. Unfortunately, the movie is a case of style over substance, what little substance there is.

103 minutes; PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity

Kevin Walker,
The Tampa Tribune

VALKYRIE ** (showtimes)

The one thing this movie proves is that it is possible to gaze upon Tom Cruise in a movie — and I mean the real Tom Cruise, not the one you couldn't even recognize in "Tropic Thunder" — and not be taken out of the movie because you start thinking about him jumping on Oprah's couch or saying some seriously weird things about Scientology. That's partly because "Valkyrie" moves fast. That's also because it has a great supporting cast, particularly Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson, who both play German officers who are part of a conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler during World War II.

Cruise portrays the leader of the pack, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. This is one of those films where, obviously, you know how things are going to end — badly, for the conspirators. But the film holds your attention fairly well with the intricate details of the plan, and the viewer's own guesses about when and where it is all going to go wrong. Unfortunately, the unraveling of the plot is not all that suspenseful, and more troubling is the lack of motivation for Stauffenberg to do what he is doing (simply repeating that Hitler must be killed doesn't really get it done), especially since he puts his wife and children in danger.

Still, as disjointed as it can be, the film is not the disaster many predicted it might be after its release was delayed. Will it rehabilitate Cruise's career? No, but it's a small step in the right direction.

120 minutes; PG-13 for violence and brief strong profanity

Kevin Walker,
The Tampa Tribune

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