Ty Burr

New releases 2012 Director Roland Emmerich imagines global apocalypse as a state-of-the-art multiplex circus whose special effects stagger the senses and play like a video game, and whose human drama aims for the cosmic and lands waist-deep in the Big Silly. With John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Amanda Peet. (157 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr) The Maid A taut, unnervingly ambiguous Chilean film about a housemaid who may or may not be having a psychotic breakdown.

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN ★★ (Comcast Movie Collections: Same Day as DVD) All Li Bing Bing and Gianna Jun do here is gaze out of apartment windows, through floorboards, and into each other's eyes. It's based on Lisa See's hit novel, about 19th-century female friendship. But you can ignore that since the movie more or less does. Directed by Wayne Wang. With about 15 minutes of Hugh Jackman. In English, and Mandarin with English subtitles. (PG-13; runs through May 30) Wesley Morris MIA AND THE MIGOO ★★ (Comcast Movie Collections: Same Day as DVD)

COWBOYS & ALIENS *** (Comcast Movies: All Movies) A hell-for-leather action film with a healthy serving of scares. Badman Daniel Craig (terrific) and cattle baron Harrison Ford (engagingly cranky) are two of the Old West types confronting nasty E.T.'s on the open plains. What the movie lacks in originality and authenticity it makes up for in pell-mell multiplex entertainment. With Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde. (PG-13; runs through May 28) - TY BURR THE DEBT *** (Comcast Movies: All Movies)

BOLT ★★★ (Comcast Movies: All Movies) What happens when a TV superdog discovers he's super only on the inside? A handsomely drawn adventure, whose animators have devoted as much care to capturing a dog's dolorous side as they have to getting the scratches in a hamster's plastic ball right. With the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. (PG; runs through March 5) WESLEY MORRIS THE AVIATOR ★★ ½ (Comcast Movies: All Movies) Leonardo DiCaprio makes a mercurial, dynamic Howard Hughes, but this long, often beautiful film loses its way in the second half, focusing on the tycoon's mental demons...

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN ★★ (Comcast Movie Collections: Same Day as DVD) All Li Bing Bing and Gianna Jun do here is gaze out of apartment windows, through floorboards, and into each other's eyes. It's based on Lisa See's hit novel, about 19th-century female friendship. But you can ignore that since the movie more or less does. Directed by Wayne Wang. With about 15 minutes of Hugh Jackman. In English, and Mandarin with English subtitles. (PG-13; runs through May 30) Wesley Morris MIA AND THE MIGOO ★★ (Comcast Movie Collections: Same Day as DVD)

The major mystery about this year's Academy Awards may be what Billy Crystal and company are planning for the show: The producers have been unusually mum (after the train wrecks of previous years, that may be the smartest approach). But while some races are tight, "The Artist" seems on an unstoppable journey to a best picture Oscar - unless Hollywood's social conscience (or voters' collective guilt about their maids) sends "The Help" to the top of the pile. Here is Globe movie critic Ty Burr's picks and odds.

New releases ★ ½ Journey 2: The Mysterious Island There isn't much here to like: an enormous electric eel that powers a sunken ship, Dwayne Johnson sitting on a log next to Michael Caine and breaking into song, closing credits. Even by the unambitious standards of some children's movies and many that star Michael Caine, this one has a difficult time making a case for itself as anything other than an adventure in baby-sitting. With Vanessa Hudgens, Josh Hutcherson, and an embarrassing Luis Guzmán.

Once a week, in a video segment called Take 2, Boston Globe critics Ty Burr and Wesley Morris sit down together to dish about the movies they review. For Top Places to Work, we asked them to do a segment for us on how Hollywood portrays working. Ty Burr We're talking about movies about what it's like to have a job and work with people. Wesley Morris Either according to the movies, or according to life as captured by the movies. So along the second line, there are the movies of Frederick Wiseman.

*½ Johnny English Reborn After a fast, funny start, Rowan "Mr. Bean" Atkinson's latest James Bond spoof again gets hemmed in by its inclination to follow espionage conventions, rather than go completely "Austin Powers"-loony. Gillian Anderson and Dominic West costar in a story about disgraced English being called back to help foil an assassination plot. (101 min., PG) (Tom Russo) **½ Margin Call First-time writer-director J.C. Chandor spins drama from invisible money and an assortment of actors attempting to mine theater from banker jargon.

Be part of a sneak preview audience for the Latest Release, hosted by the Globe's movie critic – Ty Burr. You and a guest will see the latest release before the rest of Boston gets a chance to see the new film. Afterwards join a discussion with movie critic Ty Burr to hear his views before your friends and neighbors read them in the next day's Globe.