New movies for Sept. 10

New movies this week

Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D

The gist: Somehow they keep making movies in this video-game franchise, although we use that term loosely, because these flicks bear only a passing resemblance to their inspiration. Of course, those games don't make a lick of sense either, so we'll have to call it even. R

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates and Shawn Roberts.

The buzz: No reviews are posted anywhere, but it's just as well. If no one goes to see this fourth installment, we may be blessed with an end to the madness (although poor Milla will be out of a job).

Cairo Time

The gist: A diplomat's wife falls for her husband's friend, who is escorting her through Cairo. Unrequited love is so exciting, isn't it? PG

Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig, Elena Anaya and Amina Annabi.

The buzz: This is the first of two movies from Clarkson this week, and the indie effort pays off. "Clarkson lights up Ruba Nadda's stately drama Cairo Time like the moon on a summer night, making every moment luminous with quiet, resigned longing," the Seattle Times raves.

Legendary

The gist: A more commercial — but not as successful — yarn, this one's about a small-town kid who thinks he can draw his ruined family back together by winning at high school wrestling. The only thing you win in wrestling, we all know, is the occasional lice infestation. PG-13

Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Danny Glover, John Cena and Devon Graye.

The buzz: This time Clarkson plays a mom to the 15-year-old in a dull underdog plot. "It's a feel-good Kleenex™ dispenser of a movie, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it's routine Hallmark Hall of Afterschool Special material," the Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert warns.

— Joshua Gillin jgillin@tampabay.com