At the Movies: capsule reviews of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ and other films this week

Capsule reviews: ‘District 9,’ other films

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

“Cold Souls” — People are so preoccupied with the importance of the soul, it’s become its own cottage industry. Oprah Winfrey has devoted an entire series to the evolution of one’s soul. If yours is hungry, you can feed it chicken soup. But what if you just didn’t need yours? What if you decided one day you’d be better off without a soul and just … had it removed? That’s the inspired and absurd premise of the feature debut from writer-director Sophie Barthes. And who better to personify such existential hand-wringing than Paul Giamatti? His bug eyes, hunched carriage and exasperated delivery suggest that he constantly bears the weight of the world on his shoulders, even in a comedy or an action picture. Here, Giamatti plays himself — or a version of himself, not unlike John Malkovich in “Being John Malkovich,” which is fitting. “Cold Souls” explores some of the same questions about identity, memory and reality that frequently arise in Charlie Kaufman’s writing. Paul is preparing to star in a production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and rehearsals are vexing him. One day, his agent suggests he read an article in The New Yorker about a lab on New York’s Roosevelt Island where they extract the soul and store it until you decide you need it again — unless you’d like to try someone else’s, that is. The process is intended to alleviate worries and fears: Instead, you feel nothing at all. David Strathairn is coolly amusing as the deadpan doctor who runs the place, which looks like a day spa designed by Stanley Kubrick. PG-13 for nudity and brief strong language. 101 min. Three stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“District 9″ — The mysterious signs have been out there for weeks, months even: On billboards, benches and bus stops featuring crude cartoon alien drawings, they’ve warned us of non-humans, they’ve urged us to remain separate. They’re ads for the enormously buzzed-about “District 9,” and thankfully, given their ubiquity, all the hype is justified. This is one intense, intelligent, well-crafted action movie — one that dazzles the eye with seamless special effects but also makes you think without preaching. Like the excellent “Moon” from earlier this summer, “District 9″ has the aesthetic trappings of science fiction but it’s really more of a character drama, an examination of how a man responds when he’s forced to confront his identity. Aliens who arrived in their spaceship more than 20 years ago have now been quarantined in cramped and dangerous slums; the nerdy bureaucrat charged with moving them to new quarters (the tremendous Sharlto Copley) is transformed in the process. What’s amazing is that this visceral yet philosophically sophisticated film is the first feature from commercial and music-video director Neill Blomkamp, who co-wrote the script with Terri Tatchell. (Peter Jackson is the big name attached to this refreshingly star-free project — he’s one of the producers.) Blomkamp set “District 9″ in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was born and raised, so it’s easy to assume his themes of racial division are a metaphor for apartheid. You could interpret it that way, but its quick bursts of violence and urban warfare also feel like a statement on Iraq. R for bloody violence and pervasive language. 113 min. Three and a half stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard” — Enduring the soul-sucking process of buying a used car is bad enough. Watching a movie about soulless used-car salesmen is even worse — especially when it’s a comedy that strains desperately for raunchy, politically incorrect laughs. In theory, the pieces were there for something more inspired. “Chappelle’s Show” co-creator Neal Brennan directs for the first time (from a script by Andy Stock and Rick Stempson) and the large ensemble cast features Jeremy Piven, David Koechner, Ving Rhames, Ed Helms, Tony Hale and Ken Jeong. A lot of improv supposedly went on, as well, as you might expect in a movie from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions. After all, these are the people behind “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights.” But this time, except for a couple of amusing lines here and there, the results just feel flat and generally unpleasant. Every character is singularly unlikable, but beyond that, they’re drawn so one-dimensionally that they’re not even interesting. Piven, as hotshot used-car salesman Don “The Goods” Ready, is essentially doing a variation on his cocky, fast-talking Ari Gold character from “Entourage” — which is pretty much all we’ve seen him do for years now. Don is the leader of a brash crew of mercenaries (played by Koechner, Rhames and Kathryn Hahn) who are hired to travel from town to town, moving cars off flailing lots. Their latest stop is Temecula in Southern California, where they have to help sell 141 cars over the three-day July 4 weekend. R for sexual content, nudity, pervasive language and some drug material. 90 min. One star out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“Ponyo” — If you’re 5 years old, or under the influence of some hallucinogenic drug, this movie is probably awesome. Clearly, these are the ideal scenarios in which to watch the latest animated fantasy from Japanese writer-director Hayao Miyazaki. For everyone else, though, “Ponyo” will seem beautiful but surprisingly boring: a children’s film that’s at once overly simplistic and needlessly nonsensical. The hand-drawn images can be wondrous and inventive as they are in all of Miyazaki’s films, but this story of a goldfish who longs to be a little girl lacks the sophisticated depth and engaging weirdness of his most acclaimed and best-known work, such as the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” and the Oscar-nominated “Howl’s Moving Castle.” It feels safe — and that extends to the casting in this English-language version. Rather than playing in Japanese with subtitles, “Ponyo” comes to you with a team of all-stars voicing the characters, with Pixar Animation guru John Lasseter among the co-directors and Melissa Mathison (”E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”) writing the translated screenplay. It might have been easier to immerse ourselves in Miyazaki’s story, inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Little Mermaid,” if it featured unknown actors rather than Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett. Exceedingly capable as they are, they also remind you of their stardom with every word. Meanwhile, Ponyo is voiced with girlish enthusiasm by Noah Cyrus, Miley’s younger sister, with the Jonas Brothers’ younger sibling Frankie (otherwise known as the “Bonus Jonas”) playing Sosuke, the boy she befriends on land. G. 100 min. Two stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“The Time Traveler’s Wife” — So let’s try and get this straight, here. Eric Bana plays a guy named Henry who can travel through time, only he can’t control where or when he goes. He also can’t control how he gets back, except for when he tries certain tricks to place himself in a state of mind to time travel. Even then there’s no way to guarantee which version of Henry will show up: the same one who left or a younger or older version of himself. The only constant seems to be that when he shows up at his destination, he’s always naked. (Somehow, Henry has found time between all his travels to hit the gym.) Hunky as he is, he’d be a frustrating guy to fall in love with, or even date. But Rachel McAdams’ character, Clare, must be made of stronger stuff than the rest of us, because not only does she tolerate Henry’s pesky inconsistency, she believes he’s her destiny, and that he has been since the first time she saw him as a precocious 6-year-old girl. Director Robert Schwentke’s film, based on the Audrey Niffenegger best-seller, breezes over the fact that Clare and Henry’s meet-cute is more like a meet-creepy. He doesn’t freak her out at all, presumably because she knows, even at this tender age, that she is cosmically meant to be with this much-older man. Maybe it’s more plausible on the written page — or maybe you just have to be a hopeless romantic, and willing to shut off the part of your brain that craves logic, to enjoy this. But strangely, in the script from Bruce Joel Rubin (an Oscar-winner for “Ghost”), the time-travel gimmick supersedes any sort of substance, depth or character development. PG-13 for thematic elements, brief disturbing images, nudity and sexuality. 107 min. Two stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic