Grades for movies to be released this Tuesday on DVD

10,000 B.C. (2008) One doesn’t expect intelligent scripting or deep characterization from director Roland Emmerich, but this film’s lack of energy, poor special effects, and monotonous pacing lead to an inescapable conclusion: "10,000 B.C." isn’t only brain-dead, it’s COMPLETELY dead. It’s inert and without a heartbeat. Grade: D+

Bonneville (2008) Jessica Lange, Joan Allen, Kathy Bates, Tom Skerrit, Christine Baranski. A bland road movie running on empty. It’s depressing to see a deluxe cast wasted on such by-the-numbers material — from predictable plot to fabricated Hallmark sentiment to strenuous milking of warm-and-fuzzy laughs from the irrepressible spirit of three women whose youth is behind them. Grade: C-

Charlie Bartlett (2008) Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis. For the most part, it’s an uneven if amiable and occasionally inspired comedy about getting through adolescence that hits some false notes along the way. Grade: C+

Definitely, Maybe (2008) Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz. This is a film bound and determined to do whatever it takes to be your Valentine. If it had trusted itself more, it might even have succeeded. Grade: C+

Finishing the Game (2007) This film doesn’t get anywhere that "Hollywood Shuffle" didn’t go to first, even if it has its own set of specific complaints about how show business treats Asians. Grade: C-

Honeydripper (2007) Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen. Written and directed by John Sayles. At its best when the characters sit around, dither, and ruminate. Moviemaking seems to have become almost magically easy for this independent writer-director. He builds a detailed atmosphere, brings his good people and his bad together, and lets them jabber at one another; the virtuosity is rhetorical rather than visual. Grade: B

In Bruges (2008) Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes. Closer to films like "The Hit" and "Miller’s Crossing" than to McDonagh’s bristling, funny plays, this half-comic, half-serious account of two Irish hitmen who are sent to the titular Belgian burg to cool their heels after a job is moderately fair as a nutty character study, but overly far-fetched once the action kicks in. Grade: B

Persepolis (2007) If "Ratatouille" taught the world that rats have feelings too, "Persepolis" teaches the same thing about the people of Iran, who in the current political climate are probably in greater danger of being eradicated. Grade: A

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (2007) This Imax documentary is not your typical monster movie. It’s a computer-animated look back at a time when the world was covered by oceans that were ruled by giant creatures. Think "Jurassic Park" without the people. Grade: B+

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) Freddie Highmore, Mary Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn, Seth Rogen, Martin Short. It’s a good movie for its type, but it rarely stops to let us marvel at the world it creates. Grade: B-