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★ ★ ½ The Dictator The despot here is a tall, fit, flamboyantly bearded North African goofball (Sacha Baron Cohen) who winds up working in a Brooklyn, N.Y., food co-op. That's the best idea in the movie, which lacks the cultural tension in "Borat" and "Bruno," satires that Cohen and the director Larry Charles previously made together. This one is lazy, a satire that can't bring itself to properly satirize anything. (88 min., R) (Wesley Morris) ★ ★ ★ ½ Once Upon a Time in Anatolia A police procedural set in the Turkish hinterlands, featuring a...

★ ★ ½ The Dictator The despot here is a tall, fit, flamboyantly bearded North African goofball (Sacha Baron Cohen) who winds up working in a Brooklyn, N.Y., food co-op. That's the best idea in the movie, which lacks the cultural tension in "Borat" and "Bruno," satires that Cohen and the director Larry Charles previously made together. This one is lazy, a satire that can't bring itself to properly satirize anything. (88 min., R) (Wesley Morris) ★ ★ ★ ½ Once Upon a Time in Anatolia A police procedural set in the Turkish hinterlands, featuring a...

New releases ★★ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Proof that art-house movies can be as clichéd as multiplex fare. A comedy-drama about a group of British retirees at a ramshackle hotel in Jaipur, India, it's predictable fluff aimed at desperate or undemanding 50+ audiences. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson almost turn it into something. (124 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ★★★ Marvel's The Avengers If you like Joss Whedon's superhero extravaganza (really, there's almost nothing to dislike; it's as close as a movie can come to the fantastical reality of a good comic book)

New releases ★ ★ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Proof that art-house movies can be as clichéd as multiplex fare. A comedy-drama about a group of British retirees at a ramshackle hotel in Jaipur, India, it's predictable fluff aimed at desperate or undemanding 50+ audiences. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson almost turn it into something. (124 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ★ ★ ★ Marvel's The Avengers If you like Joss Whedon's superhero extravaganza (really, there's almost nothing to dislike; it's...

New releases Afghan Star Documentary follows an “American Idol’’-style TV show in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Director Havana Marking understands that voting for a singer may be a silly form of democracy, but it still counts. Take the teenagers. In English, Dari, and Pashtun, with subtitles. (87 min., unrated) (Ty Burr) Aliens in the Attic How many alien-invasion movies do you see where you root for the aliens to win? Except for one splendidly bizarre kickboxing sequence, this boilerplate action/sci-fi/comedy appears designed for families who never leave the mall.

New releases ★ ★ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Proof that art-house movies can be as clichéd as multiplex fare. A comedy-drama about a group of British retirees at a ramshackle hotel in Jaipur, India, it's predictable fluff aimed at desperate or undemanding 50+ audiences. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson almost turn it into something. (124 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ★ ★ ★ Marvel's The Avengers If you like Joss Whedon's superhero extravaganza (really, there's almost nothing to dislike; it's...

New releases ★★ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Proof that art-house movies can be as clichéd as multiplex fare. A comedy-drama about a group of British retirees at a ramshackle hotel in Jaipur, India, it's predictable fluff aimed at desperate or undemanding 50+ audiences. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson almost turn it into something. (124 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) ★★★ Marvel's The Avengers If you like Joss Whedon's superhero extravaganza (really, there's almost nothing to dislike; it's as close as a movie can come to the fantastical reality of a good comic book)

Every so often, a movie critic is reminded that he sees movies for free and other people don't, and that shelling out one's hard-earned cash does affect one's response to a given film. Commercial moviegoing is, more than we admit, a value proposition. Another way of putting it is that as tickled as I was by the slaphappy one-joke silliness of "Casa de mi Padre," I'd be a lot less amused if I'd paid $23 for a pair of tickets and another $20 for the "food. " The Internet's to blame, again.

Previously released Carlos Director Olivier Assayas turns the life of radical 1970s terrorist Carlos the Jackal into an epic saga (check that running time) about violence, vanity, and towering self-delusion. Édgar Ramírez gives a mesmerizing lead performance as a man who thinks he wants to be the next Che Guevara but really just wants his own T-shirt. In English and many other languages, with subtitles. (319 min., unrated) (Ty Burr) Conviction Whose idea was it to name the movie in which Hilary Swank puts herself through law school so she can get her brother...