* 1/2 STREET KINGS (Action drama, R, 108 m., 2008). Keanu Reeves is a racist, renegade cop. He does not play by the rules. He's sort of corrupt, but not completely corrupt, because there are other LAPD detectives who are worse. Reeves follows a twisted trail of corruption that leads all the way to the highest levels of the LAPD. An anemic attempt to evoke the big, shiny action pictures of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Out Tuesday.

** 1/2 SMART PEOPLE (Comedy, R, 95 m., 2008). Dennis Quaid plays a dour lit professor who's indifferent to his students and just about everything else, including his family. A widower, he lives with his Young Republican daughter (Ellen Page, toning down her Juno ever so slightly) and ne'er-do-well brother (Thomas Haden Church), who acts as his chauffeur. Sarah Jessica Parker plays a doctor and former student instrumental in bringing him out of his brittle shell.

*** NIM'S ISLAND (Adventure, PG, 96 m., 2008). Nim (Abigail Breslin of "Little Miss Sunshine") and her marine biologist father, Jack (Gerard Butler), are the only human residents of a remote but idyllic South Pacific island. Into the plot comes Alex Rover, who's really Alexandra, a famous author (Jodie Foster) terrified of life.

** 1/2 THE COUNTERFEITERS (Drama, R, 98 m., 2008). A true story of the Nazis' massive wartime counterfeiting operation, run out of a concentration camp. It's a noble effort, but nothing inspired. A rather dull prestige picture that is all too good at fitting the horrors of the Holocaust into a generic movie format.

**** THE BAND'S VISIT (Comedy, PG-13, 86 m., 2008). The Alexandria (Egypt) Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives on the wrong bus in the wrong small Israeli town, and is stranded overnight. The bandleader (Sasson Gabai) stiffly approaches Dina, the owner of the cafe (Ronit Elkabetz), and what begins is a long, tender night of shared loneliness.

** 1/2 NEVER BACK DOWN (Action drama, PG-13, 110 m., 2008). Essentially a remake of "The Karate Kid." Sean Faris is the new kid, humiliated by the local bully (Cam Gigandet) for having a crush on his girlfriend (Amber Heard). Djimon Hounsou is the stoic African MMA master who teaches the kid to fight.

* 1/2 21 (Crime drama, R, 123 m., 2008). A formula movie "inspired by" a true story about the M.I.T. students who developed a card-counting system that enabled them to win millions at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas.