“Snitch” had the makings of another junky action hero shoot-em up/punch-em up. Most critics, myself included, were pleasantly surprised, or at least a little impressed by Dwayne Johnson holding his own with a pretty good supporting cast in a very straightforward guy-in-over-his-head with drug dealers tale.

“Bless Me, Ultima” is earnest, meticulous, deadly slow and borderline pointless. I mean, a “witch” comes to help her family and mentor a nephew, is accused of being a witch by the father of other witches, is shunned, hassled, but uses her witchcraftery to make a difference in her nephew’s life?

But it’s based  on a landmark piece of Chicano literature, and is winning a lot of grade-on-the-curve praise. Roger Ebert gave it four stars. Must have taken a long bathroom break and assumed he missed the good parts.

“Dark Skies” isn’t awful. Not by a long shot. But this film which has “Insidious” producers behind it does a poor job of creating empathy for the children most under threat by alien visitations and probes.The earliest reviews are reflecting this.