Movie Minis

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• Akeelah and the Bee (2006) (PG: Mildly questionable language). A young South Central girl catches the National Spelling Bee championships on ESPN and is hooked. She studies hard and sets her sights on winning the next year’s competition. Angela Bassett plays the girl’s mother and Laurence Fishburne is a helpful professor. Reviewed by Christian Toto.

• The Devil and Daniel Johnstone (2006) (PG-13) — A documentary feature about the struggle of a songwriter to function despite severe manic-depressive tendencies. Directed by Jeff Feuerzeig.

• Hard Candy (2006) (R) — A psychological suspense melodrama about a teenage girl, Ellen Page, who begins to suspect the worst of an attractive man, Patrick Wilson, who appears intent on seduction. Directed by David Slade from a screenplay by Brian Nelson.

• Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2006) (PG) — A sentimental comedy about the friendship that evolves between an elderly Scottish woman, Joan Plowright, and a young writer, Rupert Friend, who meet in London. Directed by Dan Ireland from a screenplay by Ruth Sacks.

• R.V. (2006) (PG) — A road comedyA starring Robin Williams as a dad who conceals troubles at work by promoting a vacation trip in a rented recreational vehicle. His itinerary puzzles wife Cheryl Hines and their two adolescent kids. While on the road they meet a seasoned RV family headed by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld from a screenplay by Geoff Rodkey, also responsible for “Daddy Day Care” and the recent remake of “The Shaggy Dog.”

• Stick It (2006) (PG-13) — The feature directing debut of Jessica Bendinger, a former model who broke through belatedly as a screenwriter with the exuberant “Bring It On.” This variant, also written by Miss Bendinger, revolves around Missy Peregrym as a high school rebel who suddenly emerges as a gymnastics prodigy. With Jeff Bridges as her coach, Jon Gries as her dad and Vanessa Lengies, Nikki Soohoo and Maddy Curley as teammates who have to deal with her attitude.

• Three Times (2005) (No MPAA rating: Adult subject matter). An acclaimed romantic triptych from the Taiwan filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, who casts Shu Qi and Chang Chen as characters attracted to each other in scattered time frames: 1966, 1911 and 2005. In Mandarin and a Taiwanese dialect with English subtitles. One week only, exclusively at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre.

• United 93 (2006) (R: Mature themes, adult language and bloody violence). The fateful flight that missed its target on September 11 is the subject of this harrowing thriller. A cast of unknowns play the passengers of United 93, who find themselves on the front lines of the war on terror when their plane is hijacked by terrorists. Writer-director Paul Greengrass based his vision on flight transcripts and interviews with the passengers of loved ones.

NOW SHOWING

• American Dreamz (2006) (PG-13: Disturbing themes, sexual situations and adult language) — **1/2. Hugh Grant is the Simon Cowell-esque host of the country’s most popular television show. President Staton (Dennis Quaid) hopes to boost his poll numbers by appearing on the program, while a terrorist group sees the singing show as a platform for its next murderous act. Writer-director Paul Weitz of “About a Boy” fame wrings some laughs out of touchy material but too much of the satire only skims the surface. Reviewed by Christian Toto.

• The Benchwarmers (2006) (PG-13) — A sports farce from Adam Sandler’s production company, which reunites with the director of “Happy Gilmore,” Dennis Dugan, and a pair of Sandler cronies, Rob Schneider and David Spade, who are cast as pivotal members of a short-handed amateur baseball team organized by a billionaire with a grievance, Jon Lovitz. He seeks to humble an assortment of cutthroat Little Leaguers who have bullied his own kid. Not reviewed.

• Brick (2006) (R) — *** — An homage to film noir that won a special jury prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Writer-director Rian Johnson attempts to interweave the conventions of vintage private eye movies with a suburban high school setting in Southern California. The film has the raw feel of a first effort but is suffused with love of both filmmaking and the incredible variety of American personality. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is cast as the teenage sleuth, who encounters various sinister types while searching for a missing girlfriend. Reviewed by Kelly Jane Torrance.

• Don’t Come Knocking (2006) (R) — ***. The latest in a series of small, understated movies about the late-life crises of disconnected men. Directed by Wim Wenders from a script by playwright Sam Shepard (who also stars), it’s an ornery sibling to most male-angst movies, in which supposedly successful men must come to grips with the disappointments of their lives. But where those films pondered life’s uncertainties and found little in the way of hope, “Don’t Come Knocking” offers a vision of home and family as truly satisfying alternatives to the empty fantasies of mainstream success. Reviewed by Peter Suderman.

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