Clive Owen

** KILLER ELITE Directed by: Gary McKendry Written by: Matt Sherring, adapted from the book by Ranulph Fiennes Starring: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Dominic Purcell, and Robert De Niro At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 100 minutes Rated: R (some nudity and sexuality, language, and assassin-related violence) "Killer Elite" is based on a true story and about a half-dozen Jason Statham movies. Conveniently, it stars Statham as a man-for-hire who drives mysterious cargo across Europe in the trunk of a sedan.

BLOOD DIAMOND★★ ½(Comcast Movie Collections: Movies Under $3) The advocacy-entertainment movie exposes the global trade in "conflict diamonds" by casting Djimon Hounsou as a Sierra Leone fisherman caught in the country's civil war, Leonardo DiCaprio as an ex-mercenary jewel smuggler, and Jennifer Connelly as an idealistic reporter. The movie wears its conscience and its Hollywood calculation on its sleeve - it wants to rouse you to action while narcotizing you with Connelly's bottomless green eyes.

COURAGEOUS ★★ (Comcast Movies: All Movies) Filmmaker Alex Kendrick preaches the importance of fathers in a release from Sony Pictures' religious-demographic division. Kendrick plays a sheriff's deputy whose circle is hit by tragedy, prompting them to resolve to be all that they can be, paternally speaking. The film needn't be so blunt, given the ability Kendrick has for sentimental drama. (PG-13; runs through April 18) TOM RUSSO KILLER ELITE ★★ (Comcast Movies: All Movies)

** KILLER ELITE Directed by: Gary McKendry Written by: Matt Sherring, adapted from the book by Ranulph Fiennes Starring: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Dominic Purcell, and Robert De Niro At: Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs Running time: 100 minutes Rated: R (some nudity and sexuality, language, and assassin-related violence) "Killer Elite" is based on a true story and about a half-dozen Jason Statham movies. Conveniently, it stars Statham as a man-for-hire who drives mysterious cargo across Europe in the trunk of a sedan.

"Derailed" is a tawdry, predictable hunk of movie headcheese, and I still had a pretty good time with it. As I walked out of the movie theater, though, I reminded myself that critics see these things for free and that if I'd paid $9 plus Goobers and Coke like everybody else, I'd doubtless feel rooked. The issue here is return on investment, and the ROI on this businesslike but not very bright little thriller starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston is minimal, if not in the red. If you stumble across it at Blockbuster, though, or, better yet, if you turn on pay cable and it's just starting,...

Head butts would seem to hurt, right? That's clearly the point of them, but it would seem to be just as painful to be the butter as the buttee. In "Killer Elite," this is probably the most primal method of attack on display, but even the noisy intensity and frequency of the skull bashings — and pistol whippings and gut punches — don't register as anything beyond generic action-picture violence. The fact that director and co-writer Gary McKendry has shot all these brawls with the usual shaky cam and cut them in quick, choppy fashion only adds to how forgettable the film...

In "Duplicity," Clive Owen looks like he just wandered in from the other thriller that has him trotting the globe in expensive-looking suits. "The International" is a business-like conspiracy thriller that opened last month and deserves a better audience than it's getting. "Duplicity" stands to get a fairer hearing, since, for one thing, it's more conventionally enjoyable and, for another, Owen's partner in entertainment is Julia Roberts, who has returned from wherever she's been to show the Jessicas (Alba, Biel, etc.)

"Adventureland" (2009) Not an obvious pick, but Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds have some strange and dirty chemistry in this one. Takes you back to making out in someone's parents' basement in 1987. "Closer" (2004) When I saw "Black Swan" I thought, this is sort of sexy, but I'd rather see Natalie Portman sleep with Jude Law and Clive Owen, wear a pink wig, and dance on a pole. "Stealing Beauty" (1996) Jeremy Irons. Liv Tyler. Italy. A soundtrack with Nina Simone, John Lee Hooker, Portishead, and Liz Phair.

Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen play writers Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway in a new HBO film, but they'd prefer to keep their own lives off-screen. At a news conference Friday promoting "Hemingway & Gellhorn," Kidman said she likes her privacy and protects it "quite diligently. " She and husband Keith Urban live in Nashville, Tenn., with their two daughters. Kidman's British co-star shares her viewpoint. Of a Clive Owen biopic, he said, "I wouldn't want to see it. " "Hemingway & Gellhorn" is set to air in May. It's about the passionate, short-lived...

Head butts would seem to hurt, right? That's clearly the point of them, but it would seem to be just as painful to be the butter as the buttee. In "Killer Elite," this is probably the most primal method of attack on display, but even the noisy intensity and frequency of the skull bashings — and pistol whippings and gut punches — don't register as anything beyond generic action-picture violence. The fact that director and co-writer Gary McKendry has shot all these brawls with the usual shaky cam and cut them in quick, choppy fashion only adds to how forgettable the film is. ...

In "Duplicity," Clive Owen looks like he just wandered in from the other thriller that has him trotting the globe in expensive-looking suits. "The International" is a business-like conspiracy thriller that opened last month and deserves a better audience than it's getting. "Duplicity" stands to get a fairer hearing, since, for one thing, it's more conventionally enjoyable and, for another, Owen's partner in entertainment is Julia Roberts, who has returned from wherever she's been to show the Jessicas (Alba, Biel, etc.)

"Derailed" is a tawdry, predictable hunk of movie headcheese, and I still had a pretty good time with it. As I walked out of the movie theater, though, I reminded myself that critics see these things for free and that if I'd paid $9 plus Goobers and Coke like everybody else, I'd doubtless feel rooked. The issue here is return on investment, and the ROI on this businesslike but not very bright little thriller starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston is minimal, if not in the red. If you stumble across it at Blockbuster, though, or, better yet, if you turn on pay cable...