New releases
"Alexandra" An old woman goes to visit her grandson in military barracks. But because this is an Alexander Sokurov film, ever keen to bridge matters of the heart with the practice of art, this isn't just any old lady dropping in for a visit. The actress is Galina Vishnevskaya, the 81-year-old Russian opera star, whose combination of frumpiness and regality dominates the proceedings. Sokurov lets us puzzle over what we're watching the way we would something installed in a museum. The movie is a pleasure to watch, but it's also one of those lovely, unclassifiable movies that flourish better with prolonged exposure. In Russian, with subtitles. (95 min., unrated) (Wesley Morris)
"Bra Boys" A rough-and-tumble Australian documentary about a misunderstood subculture - the surf tribes of Sydney's beachfront slums - and the Abberton brothers, who are both champions and possible criminals. Fascinating but, as directed by Sunny Abberton, absurdly one-sided. However much the film musters sympathy for these maligned boy-men, we always sense we're hearing half the story. Narrated by Russell Crowe. (88 min., R) (Ty Burr)
"Get Smart" Missed it by that much. The new version of the beloved 1960s spy-spoof series surrounds likable players and a handful of solid bellylaughs with $80 million worth of formulaic summer-movie mediocrity. Steve Carell is a sympathetically hangdog Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway makes an elegant Agent 99, and Alan Arkin is a crisp joy as the Chief. While many things explode, the movie never detonates. (110 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)
"The Love Guru" Some movies are polite enough to save their out takes for the closing credits. Others wait for the DVD release. This comedy doesn't have that kind of patience. It's a pitiful assortment of bad ideas and dud gags being passed off as a movie. Mike Myers plays a crass pseudo-Indian spiritualist, and this cruddy-looking trial is essentially a vehicle for Myers's indulgences as an entertainer and his iniquities as an egotist. This is the first time we've seen him in the flesh since he committed assault and battery on Dr. Seuss, and you'll wish the cat had stayed in the hat. (86 min., PG-13) (Wesley Morris)
"Mongol" This foreign-language Oscar nominee is Sergei Bodrov's impressively grand rendering of Genghis Khan before all the conquering and slaughter, when he was just a young warrior in love. Bodrov's restraint is the movie's most interesting virtue. It's as if he's surveyed Genghis's grisly resumé and distilled the tempestuousness to a contemplative calm. Violence is made to seem like a last, ugly resort. The Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano plays pre-khan Genghis - his name was Temujin. In Mongolian, with subtitles. (126 min., R) (Wesley Morris)
"Operation Filmmaker" A sad, funny, obsessively watchable documentary exposing some of our complacencies about foreign cultures and charitable deeds. Iraqi film student Muthana Mohmed is brought in by Hollywood producers to work on a shoot; instead of being properly thankful, he has the nerve to try to engineer his own fate using their connections. Filmmaker Nina Davenport gets a story, but not the one she expected. (92 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)
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