Capsule reviews of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ ‘Furry Vengeance,’ ‘Harry Brown’

Capsule reviews: ‘Nightmare on Elm Street,’ others

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

“Furry Vengeance” — Brendan Fraser has built a small, dorky industry by being an exceptionally smiley fellow. In “Furry Vengeance” (directed by Roger Kumble), he plays a father, Dan Sanders, who has moved his family to the Oregon woods, where he hopes to please his demanding boss (Ken Jeong) by overseeing a new suburban housing development. His wife (Brooke Shields) and his mopey teenage son (Matt Prokop) miss the city. As Dan supervises the “Rocky Springs” development, an uprising takes form and the forest’s animals (a mixture of real-life, trained animals and CGI) resort to guerrilla warfare. The irony is that Dan’s company purports to be “green”; Dan is due a lesson in what it takes to be eco-friendly. (The message is courtesy production company Participant Media, which made “The Cove” and “Food Inc.”) No animals may have been hurt in this hammy production, but Fraser was. PG for some rude humor, mild language and brief smoking. 91 minutes. One star out of four.

— Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer

“Harry Brown” — Harry Brown, a widower and ex-Marine played by Michael Caine, watches the hooligans who terrorize his working-class London neighborhood from the still of his tidy, lonely apartment. In no time, he will take justice into his own hands in the name of all that is good and right in this world. Because somebody’s gotta do it. He doesn’t have a lawn, but if he did, he’d tell those kids to get off it. The first feature from director Daniel Barber has unmistakable echoes of “Gran Torino,” and “The Brave One” and “Death Wish” before it, and even Caine’s own “Get Carter.” And so his vigilante hell-raising might have seemed more thrilling if only it weren’t so overly familiar and predictable. Still, Caine brings a quiet dignity to this regular Joe, as you can imagine. This is an easy fit for him and the soft rumble of his voice, the world-weariness of his demeanor. His performance comes close to saving what is a rather obvious tale, blankly told. R for strong violence and language throughout, drug use and sexual content. 102 minutes. Two stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” — One, two, Freddy’s coming for you … again? No seriously, Freddy’s back again? How is that possible? He’s a psycho killer and all, but still, he’s been through a lot since the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street” back in 1984. After all those sequels, you’d think arthritis would have set into those knived fingers of his. The sixth “Elm Street” movie allegedly was the “Final Nightmare,” and still more films followed. Now, we have a remake of the first movie with Jackie Earle Haley filling in for the venerable Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. Wes Craven’s core nugget of a concept remains intact: If you die in your dreams, you die in real life. It was truly inventive and disturbing then, and it allowed for an exploration of the frightening power of the subconscious. With his jaunty fedora and torn sweater, his hideous, scorched skin and his arsenal of one-liners, Freddy could be anywhere at any time. By now, though, the novelty has long since worn off, and cheap, generic scares are all that are left. The first feature from commercial and music-video director Samuel Bayer has a more artful look than you might expect from a horror remake; he also directed Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video, and his “Elm Street” has a similar steamy sheen. R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language. 92 minutes. Two stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic