Okay, other than Avatar, I’ve seen Alvin and the Chipmunks, Up in the Air, Sherlock Holmes, and Daybreakers over the last two weeks. My short takes are as follows:

A & the Cs: You get exactly what you expect. My six-year-old daughter loved it. My four-year-old niece was a little bored.

Up in the Air: I liked it better than a few friends and e-mailers, but it didn’t quite provide the charm it needed to. I think John Podhoretz had the basic point right in his review (behind firewall), Reitman couldn’t figure out how to get the right balance between envying Clooney and pitying him. But I like Reitman’s confidence in pacing and I thought the performances were very strong. Still, since the buzz is over, wait for cable.

Sherlock Holmes: After years of not liking him, I’ve come to really appreciate Robert Downey Jr. I think he may be the most talented actor working today. And he works a lot. I wanted to enjoy Sherlock Holmes, but the editing is slack and self-indulgent for an action movie. It’s easily a half-hour too long. I think Jude Law and Downey are great in it. Rachel McAdams is horribly miscast and all the film’s faults go to Ritchie. It’s not a bad movie, just much less enjoyable than it should have been.

Daybreakers: Boo! I saw this because I want to write a piece about vampire-mania and I couldn’t get a convenient showing of Twilight. Such a wasted opportunity. Way, way too much Gattaca-y allegorical piffle. It’s a really rich, cool idea, with a big F/X budget, and yet it’s all wasted on a really bad plot. It’s not a vampire movie, it’s a movie about someone’s issues with capitalism and family and who-the-hell-cares-what-else. More on vampires later, natch.