At the Movies: capsule reviews of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ and other films this week

Capsule reviews: ‘Wolverine’ and other films

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

“The Garden” — This documentary focuses on one of the most fundamental functions of human existence: the process of working the earth to grow healthy fruits and vegetables. But it also digs deeper to reveal more complicated truths about community, identity and self-worth, as well as greed, deception and racism. Director-producer Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s film, which was nominated for an Academy Award this year for best documentary feature (”Man on Wire” ended up winning), follows three years in the life of a 14-acre garden in South Central Los Angeles, the same neighborhood that was burned and eviscerated during the 1992 Rodney King riots. From that scorched earth sprang this urban community garden — the largest of its kind in the United States. It was created to help pacify and rejuvenate the area, but it did more than that. By providing a place for regular people to grow their own corn, papayas, bananas — you name it — the garden gave not just food but hope and life. And it’s the bond the farmers forged by working side by side that strengthens them once they learn they’re going to be shut down and evicted in early 2004. Kennedy is clearly on the side of the little guys here, allowing individual farmers to express themselves eloquently and passionately in English and Spanish while making city leaders and other community activists seem evasive and defensive by comparison. Not rated but contains language. 80 min. Three stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” — You will be shocked — shocked! — to learn that Matthew McConaughey plays an arrogant womanizer who coasts on his looks and charm but eventually realizes that love does matter after all. Call it laziness, call it finding your niche. You’ve seen McConaughey in this kind of role before, usually with Kate Hudson as his co-star. (Jennifer Garner stands in as the voice of reason this time.) You’ve also seen “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” before, in countless variations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” But you won’t see Dickens credited anywhere here, even though the plot finds McConaughey, as playboy photographer Connor Mead, reluctantly revisiting the myriad women he’s wronged with the ghosts of girlfriends past, present and future as his guides. Oh, no — this is a wholly creative enterprise. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who also were behind the overbearing “Four Christmases,” wrote the screenplay; Mark Waters, who’s enjoyed better material with the Tina Fey-scripted “Mean Girls” and the 2003 remake of “Freaky Friday,” directs. You can count the jokes that work on one hand; the rest is pratfalls and predictability. Connor is forced to attend the wedding of his younger brother Paul (Breckin Meyer). While there, the ghost of his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), an old-school player, warns him not to waste his life without love. As he endures a litany of exes — all of whom are depicted as malleable sluts — he eventually realizes he misses childhood friend Jenny (Garner), the one who got away. PG-13 for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference. 100 min. One star out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“The Limits of Control” — Paint drying. Photosynthesis. Rush-hour traffic on the 405 freeway. All these activities would be more entertaining to watch — and probably speedier — than this lethargic crime drama. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s latest contains so many of the themes and aesthetic choices that have permeated his previous movies, it almost plays like a parody: the meandering protagonist, the self-serious philosophizing, the cryptic dialogue, the excruciating pace. Individually, his films (like “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai,” ”Coffee and Cigarettes” and especially “Broken Flowers”) often have their moments. But taken together and presented as repetitively as Jarmusch does here, all these signature details make “The Limits of Control” seem insufferably pretentious. The “story,” for lack of a better word, follows a quietly intimidating criminal (Jarmusch favorite Isaach De Bankole) as he travels through Spain on an assignment. His daily routine consists of getting out of bed fully dressed after remaining wide awake all night, performing tai chi, drinking espresso delivered in two individual cups, then waiting until a contact approaches him. Each person begins the conversation by asking him, in Spanish, “You don’t speak Spanish, do you?” Each gives him the same kind of matchbox containing a small piece of paper, which contains a code, which he reads before stuffing it in his mouth and swallowing it down with the aforementioned espresso. Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, John Hurt and a perpetually naked Paz de la Huerta are among his partners in crime. R for graphic nudity and some language. 116 min. One and a half stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” — Hugh Jackman’s mutant Wolverine goes to war in a prologue for this “X-Men” prequel where the immortal mutant and his brother (Liev Schreiber) fight in all the big ones, from the Civil War to Vietnam. The battles set a predictable tone from which director Gavin Hood rarely deviates. Hood presents one duel after another, with a brief respite for sappy romance so Wolverine can get really mad and hellbent on vengeance over his dead girlfriend (Lynn Collins). Wolverine fights his brother, he fights other mutants, then he fights his brother some more on his way to becoming the amnesiac, metal-clawed freak of nature Jackman played in the “X-Men” trilogy. For all the action, there’s never much real sense of adventure or risk. Unlike the upcoming “Star Trek” prequel, which truly casts the starship Enterprise crew into an uncharted future, “Wolverine” is a setup for stories fans already have seen. We know Wolverine’s going to take his lumps but come out OK (though minus his memories) by the time the credits roll. PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity. 107 min. Two stars out of four.

— David Germain, AP Movie Writer