'Are We Done Yet?,' 'Firehouse Dog,' 'The Reaping' and 'The Hoax'

'ARE WE DONE YET?'

After bombing as an action star in “XXX: State of the Union,” rapper Ice Cube returns to the more box-office friendly world of family comedies with this sequel to 2005's surprise hit “Are We There Yet?” As you may or may not recall, the original film found Cube's Nick Persons escorting his girlfriend's obnoxious children on a cross-country road trip. This time around, he and said girlfriend are now husband and wife and, fed up with city living, they move their kids out to a fixer-upper in the country ..... which turns out to be desperately in need of fixing-up. How original.
1 hr. 32 mins.

'FIREHOUSE DOG'

First came Toto. Then Rin Tin Tin. Then Benji. And last, but certainly not least, Air Bud. Now the ranks of canine superstars have grown to include Rexxx, the pooch at the center of this family-friendly adventure. After a movie stunt gone wrong strands our hero in a small town in the middle of nowhere, he's taken in by a young boy and his firefighter dad. It isn't long before they start to suspect there's more to this talented mutt than meets the eye. Todd Holland, the man behind “Malcolm in the Middle” directs.
1 hr. 51 mins.

'THE REAPING'

Despite having two Oscars under her belt, Hilary Swank seems tone deaf when it comes to picking good projects. How else to explain her recent string of duds, which includes this new horror movie. It was supposed to open last fall but was repeatedly delayed. Swank stars as a one-time missionary who now makes her living debunking miracles. But when she's asked to look into strange phenomena occurring in a small Louisiana town, her faith in science is shaken to the core. Are we sure the screenplay wasn't ghostwritten by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell?
1 hr. 36 mins.

'THE HOAX'

In this dramatization of a famous '70s scandal, Richard Gere plays real-life huckster Clifford Irving, who penned a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes that he tried to pass off as the real deal. Alfred “Doc Ock” Molina plays his partner-in-crime and Hope Davis is the naive publisher that agrees to print his book. Lasse Hallstrom directs and for the sake of his career, one hopes that the film is closer to “What's Eating Gilbert Grape” than “Chocolat.” 1 hr. 55 mins.

Ethan Alter | Merge