Sequence

Johnnie To makes pulled-taffy versions of a Hong Kong action flick. A scene that would last two minutes in another director’s movie stretches to about 15 in one of his. At one point in ‘‘Exiled,’’ a winking shoot-’em-up that opens today at the Brattle, a can of Red Bull energy drink flies through the air during a showdown. The farcical amount of time it takes for it to land sums up To’s jokey attitude toward pacing. The movie’s first 20 minutes also take their time.

Do you happen to know anyone in Massachusetts who's over 100? Or perhaps you've hit the century mark yourself? If so, consider entering a contest to see whether you or your loved one's genome will be selected for future research. Researchers at the New England Centenarian Project at Boston University Medical Center are trying to locate 100 centenarians - there are approximately 1,520 in the state - to encourage them to donate a blood sample to science. They've partnered with the X Prize Foundation, which has offered a $10 million award to whomever can develop a technique to sequence 100...

PROVIDENCE -- The Trinity Repertory Company is presenting a great gift to theater lovers this season, the chance to see all three of the Shakespeare plays known as the "Henriad," in a beautifully conceived and powerfully realized sequence that illuminates both the connections and the disjunctions among these three masterful works. In brief: Get thee to Providence. Part of what makes Trinity's "Henriad" a remarkable theatrical experience is artistic director Oskar Eustis's decision to share the work of developing a directorial vision with two gifted colleagues, Kevin Moriarty and Amanda Dehnert.

NO STARS THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II: Full Sequence Written and directed by: Tom Six Starring: Laurence R. Harvey and Ashlynn Yennie Running time: 88 minutes Unrated (just imagine the least pleasurable things you can do to a body and then stay home) What would Tom Six like us to do with "The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence"? His aim can't be critical plaudits or box-office domination (last year its predecessor - "First Sequence" - made about $252,000 in North America)

You don't have to hand the folks behind "Dragon Wars" much (the acting, directing, costumes, editing, props, music, etc: They're all off). But when they decide to sic that giant snake and those prehistoric dino-birds on downtown Los Angeles, the movie turns shockingly watchable. Until that sequence, there was no evidence that anybody involved with this laughable fantasy knew what he or she was doing. The computer-generated birds breathe fire on people. The helicopters empty round after round on the relentless snake.

Holiday concerts, with their shopworn songbooks, can lead the best of singers into a trough of treacle. Andrea Bocelli, however, navigated his spellbinding talents through a program that celebrated the season without getting snowed in by it. Bocelli’s two-set concert at the TD Garden last night saved the Christmas songs for a well-paced sequence in the show’s latter half, and he filled the rest of the program with what he does best, namely...

‘The Book of Eli’’ is “The Road’’ with twice the plot, four times the ammunition, and half the brains; it’ll probably make 10 times the money. The movie, a post-apocalyptic action-drama, is serious in the style of a portentous comic book: lots of slow-motion attitude punctuated by sped-up mayhem. You can tell it means business because cinematographer Don Burgess has left his palette at home - as is the current fashion, colors have been bleached out of every shot, leaving behind a burnished sepia wasteland.

In April, The New York Times reported the unforeseen effects of an outdoor art exhibit in Los Angeles: “The police said the show has prompted a rash of graffiti in the area.” Do you see a grammar problem there? How about here (from a story last month): “Dr. Bauman said he has been prescribing a generic form of bimatoprost, the active ingredient in Latisse, to combat hair loss since 2007.” Maybe my editing muscles have atrophied, but I read both those sentences without a quiver or qualm.

. ½ TROLLHUNTER Written and directed by: André Ovredal Starring: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Morck, Hans Morten Hansen At: Kendall Square Running time: 103 minutes Rated: PG-13 (some sequences of creature terror) In Norwegian and troll, with subtitles Leave it to the Norwegians to invent deadpan troll docu-comedy. Written and directed by André Ovredal, “Trollhunter’’ is a deft little mockumentary in the vein of “The Blair Witch Project,’’ “Cloverfield,’’ and “Paranormal Activities,’’ purportedly real exercises...

After a few seconds of hissing static, John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever’’ blared from a cassette player at the Torigian Community Life Center in Peabody, and the women’s senior drill team marched on stage, cradling wooden rifles against their shoulders, the long thin barrels sticking up like antennas. Black Rockport sneakers, white tennis shoes, and one brave pair of navy blue pumps stepped more or less in time to the martial music. Drill team instructor Carol Spencer, 79, marched in place in front of the stage, surveying the opening...

. ½ TROLLHUNTER Written and directed by: André Ovredal Starring: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Morck, Hans Morten Hansen At: Kendall Square Running time: 103 minutes Rated: PG-13 (some sequences of creature terror) In Norwegian and troll, with subtitles Leave it to the Norwegians to invent deadpan troll docu-comedy. Written and directed by André Ovredal, “Trollhunter’’ is a deft little mockumentary in the vein of “The Blair Witch Project,’’ “Cloverfield,’’ and “Paranormal Activities,’’ purportedly real exercises in which...

After a few seconds of hissing static, John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever’’ blared from a cassette player at the Torigian Community Life Center in Peabody, and the women’s senior drill team marched on stage, cradling wooden rifles against their shoulders, the long thin barrels sticking up like antennas. Black Rockport sneakers, white tennis shoes, and one brave pair of navy blue pumps stepped more or less in time to the martial music. Drill team instructor Carol Spencer, 79, marched in place in front of the stage, surveying the opening...

In April, The New York Times reported the unforeseen effects of an outdoor art exhibit in Los Angeles: “The police said the show has prompted a rash of graffiti in the area.” Do you see a grammar problem there? How about here (from a story last month): “Dr. Bauman said he has been prescribing a generic form of bimatoprost, the active ingredient in Latisse, to combat hair loss since 2007.” Maybe my editing muscles have atrophied, but I read both those sentences without a quiver or qualm.

Holiday concerts, with their shopworn songbooks, can lead the best of singers into a trough of treacle. Andrea Bocelli, however, navigated his spellbinding talents through a program that celebrated the season without getting snowed in by it. Bocelli’s two-set concert at the TD Garden last night saved the Christmas songs for a well-paced sequence in the show’s latter half, and he filled the rest of the program with what he does best, namely...

There’s no magic to speak of in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.’’ I mean, there’s the stuff that happens when an effects crew works to provide the impression of magic. At least once, Nicolas Cage waves his arms and Alfred Molina goes flying across a bathroom (why do so many action sequences involve urinals?), and the Merrill Lynch bull statue stampedes around Wall Street. (Hey, who said “Jumanji’’?) But a movie in which spells are cast is not the same as a movie that casts a spell.

‘The Book of Eli’’ is “The Road’’ with twice the plot, four times the ammunition, and half the brains; it’ll probably make 10 times the money. The movie, a post-apocalyptic action-drama, is serious in the style of a portentous comic book: lots of slow-motion attitude punctuated by sped-up mayhem. You can tell it means business because cinematographer Don Burgess has left his palette at home - as is the current fashion, colors have been bleached out of every shot, leaving behind a burnished sepia wasteland.

SAPPORO, Japan -- Puerto Rico was scoring so easily against the United States, maybe the Americans should have considered playing six against five. Actually, they tried that, too. The US eventually overcame a slow start that included a strange sequence in which Carmelo Anthony inbounded the ball despite being out of the game, settling down to beat Puerto Rico, 111-100, yesterday in the opening game of Group D in the World Championships. Anthony led the US with 21 points.

The big show-stopping number in "Idlewild," OutKast's eagerly awaited musical escapade, is a brightly lit throwback to a sequence from an old Busby Berkeley picture. The film is set in 1935, and Andre "Andre 3000" Benjamin glides around a large shiny set full of jiggling female dancers. He sings and tap dances. The camerawork is steady, the editing patient, the choreography playful. It's a zippy and inspired piece of moviemaking. But there's one problem. It's playing under the closing credits.

BECKET - In Crystal Pite’s 2006 dance “Lost Action,’’ performed at Jacob’s Pillow this weekend by Pite’s Vancouver-based company Kidd Pivot, sequences are stopped, backed up, and repeated, sometimes several times. It’s as if the seven dancers (including Pite) are being manipulated by a remote control put on rewind mode. It’s a compelling fantasy: the ability to go back and change the past. The movie “Groundhog Day’’ exploited the concept in a sweetly comic way. In “Lost Action,’’ however, the repeat has the dark panic of a recurring nightmare.