ALEX RIDER: OPERATION STORMBREAKER
PG, 93 minutes

“Young James Bond” is an idea that practically pitches itself but there’s some strong evidence as to why studios should just stay away from this concept: “Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker.”

The first installment in what’s obviously intended to be a franchise, “Stormbreaker” is lavishly produced, based on a bestselling young adult novel, and crammed with great character actors (Mickey Rourke, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Robbie Coltrane, Sophie Okonedo, Stephen Fry, and Andy Serkis). But there’s no hiding the fact that this flick is less like “Harry Potter” and more like something you might find stuck to the bottom of your shoe after walking through the dog run.

Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) is a normal British kid who discovers that his recently deceased uncle (Mr. McGregor) was actually a spy. Suddenly, he’s recruited into the secret service for no discernible reason by Bill Nighy, who turns in the movie’s only fun performance, playing James Bond’s boss, M, like a proper British cadaver. Fortunately Rider’s adventures take him away from his housekeeper, Jack, who is played by Alicia Silverstone in a performance so bad it actually causes physical pain. Unfortunately, Rider’s adventures are so boring that you begin to crave the pain again.

Young Master Pettyfer plays Alex Rider with all the charm and grace of a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, and the character actors you’re promised in the opening credits are hardly onscreen. “Alex Rider: Stormbreaker” is a mish mash of contrivances and musty situations that inflicts real pain and suffering on the audience as it drags itself toward the finish line.

— Grady Hendrix

ALSO OPENING THIS WEEKEND

ZEROPHILIA
Unrated, 90 minutes

Luke (Taylor Handley), an inexperienced young college student, has a random first sexual encounter while camping. This triggers his rare genetic condition, Zerophilia, which will soon force him to confront his deepest insecurities. As Luke’s gender options increase by one, insecurities about his masculinity increase by one million.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL
Unrated, 101 minutes

Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O’Grady quickly won each congregation’s trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O’Grady was a dangerously active pedophile that Church hierarchy, aware of his predilection, had harbored for over 30 years, allowing him to abuse countless children. A documentary by Amy Berg.

THE GRUDGE 2
PG-13, 95 minutes

In this sequel to the 2004 thriller, a young woman in Tokyo is exposed to the same mysterious curse that afflicted her sister. The supernatural force, which fills a person with rage before spreading to its next victim, brings together a group of people who attempt to unlock its secret to save their lives.

THE MARINE
PG-13, 93 mintues

John Triton (pro wrester John Cena) is a heroic Marine who returns home after being discharged — against his will — from the Iraq War. Stateside, he finds himself back in action, when his wife is kidnapped by a murderous gang led by a merciless criminal named Rome.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

THE SUN RECOMMENDS

Wondering what else is in theaters this weekend? Here are five films recommended by The New York Sun’s critics that you can still catch around town.

THE DEPARTED
R, 149 mintues

Like its milieu, Irish-Catholic Boston, “The Departed” has plenty in common with the mean streets that Martin Scorsese has trod before, without the watershed setting or the whiff of Grand Guignol that complicated the mix in his last violent romp, the period piece “Gangs of New York.” It has plenty more, too. For both these reasons, it’s awfully fun to watch.

The same could be said for the two informers at the center of the story, which is borrowed from the 2002 Hong Kong policier “Infernal Affairs.” Ostensible gangster Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) and ostensible police sergeant Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) are both the opposite of what they appear to be. Billy, a strung-out undercover cop, puts his life on the line cozying up to Boston’s biggest crime lord, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Colin, the spitand-polish young star of the special investigations unit, coolly foils every sting.

— Darrell Hartman

49-UP
Unrated, 135 minutes

Imagine that your past had been shared in documentary form with millions of others. That is the fate of Michael Apted’s subjects in “49-Up.” Every seven years since 1964, he has come back to profile the same group of people his camera first encountered when they were 7 years old. Now they’re 49. Not many of them have welcomed his return.

But we should thank the subjects who, however reluctantly, are still allowing Mr. Apted to pry into their lives. For the 7-Up series looks with each installment more and more like one of the most remarkable cinematic projects there has ever been.

This is not only because of the intrinsic interest of the life stories it tells. Even more interesting are the reflections in those stories of slow-moving changes in our world that we might not otherwise notice.

— James Bowman

THE QUEEN
PG-13, 97 minutes

In all the decades of Queen Elizabeth II’s painstakingly (and sometimes painfully) dutiful, conscientious, and tenacious reign, there has only really been one brief, bizarre period, of just about a week, when there was the slightest danger that the Windsors might, like so many of their less fortunate relatives in so many less fortunate countries, be asked to pack their bags. It’s that interlude, the disturbing, slightly frightening days that followed the death of Princess Diana that is the focus of “The Queen.”

Watch Her Majesty carefully enough and it’s just possible to detect that the smile, the wave, the small talk, and all the rest of it are acts of will, the work of an actress, a pro, trapped in a role that will last a lifetime. Dame Helen Mirren catches this perfectly.

— Andrew Stuttaford

THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED
NC-17, 95 minutes

With humor and fearless gusto, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” the new documentary by Kirby Dick, takes square aim at the surprisingly secretive organization that minds our PG’s and R’s. The Motion Picture Association of America may be best known as moderator of the movie-going public’s intake of sex and violence, but Mr. Dick uncovers an organization rather less savory than its family image.

The film initially concerns itself more with the organization’s questionable practices as ratings arbiter than with its business role, but it ultimately shows how the two are inextricable. It also sets about identifying the mysterious faces of the members of the appeals board of the MPAA.

— Nicolas Rapold

A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS
R, 98 minutes

The director Dito Montiel uses what he knows, namely the streets of New York and its residents, to make a film that proves how painful even the most inevitable of changes can sometimes be.

Mr. Montiel grew up in Astoria, Queens, roaming the streets with his friends and observing the weird jumble of 1980s New York. They had free reign of the city at night, meeting its strange inhabitants, finding wayward locations to take over, girls to chase, and occasionally laws to break.

The film tells the story of an adult Mr. Montiel, played by Robert Downey Jr., making a long overdue visit back home after achieving literary success, as he recounts his not so glory days back in Astoria. Shia LeBoeuf, playing the young Dito, puts in a nuanced and moving performance.

— Meghan Keane