One-Liners

Three for the price of one:

SHADOW DANCER (B+) - The always reliable Clive Owen and the riveting Andrea Riseborough sizzle together in this taut tale of an IRA soldier (Riseborough) turned by an MI-5 agent (Owen) in the waning days of the Irish terror campaign in the early '90s.

I'll keep it short, because revealing too much of the plot will ruin what should be your discovery of an under-the-radar drama. A late twist and a shocking ending are perfectly rendered. Meantime, the soldiers plot away, and Riseborough's Collette barely keeps it together under the threat of being found out as a rat.

Tom Bradby turns his novel into a smart screenplay. (You might want to turn on the subtitles so that the thick accents don't obscure the sharp dialogue.) Director James Marsh (who brought us the harrowing documentaries "Man on Wire" and "Project Nim") brings a Paul Greengrass edginess that slowly ratchets the tension. This one's a little gem.

THE SAPPHIRES (B-minus) - The heartwarming true story of an Australian Aboriginal girl group of the '60s as they tour Vietnam is pure cornball cheese -- it not only feels like a Disney movie but like one made in the 1960s. At worst it's a guilty pleasure; at its best, it's a sassy mix of "Gidget" and "Gilmore Girls" filled with soulful, catchy tunes. Chris O'Dowd (yet again) stars as an alcoholic keyboardist gigging in Australia who discovers a talented foursome; he cleans up his own act and takes them on a frolic in Frankie Avalon's version of 'Nam.

Each girl neatly fits a stereotype, and each is just the right amount of boy crazy. A highly improbable love story emerges, our hero ends up in harm's way, but don't worry -- Charlie's bombs can't destroy true love!

The soundtrack is infectious -- many Motown standards that sound surprisingly fresh -- and the voices (whosever they are) are great. The first song out of the gate is a lovely songbird version of Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again." The proceedings go by quickly as you tap your feet and roll your eyes.

THE WE AND THE I (B) - This one slipped through the cracks. It's Michel Gondry's charming drama about high school kids in New York making an epic bus journey home on the last day of the school year.

You cheer for Gondry and for these kids to transcend the June-swoon cliches, and they mostly do. I liked the grittiness of the characters, who rough up each other, talk trash and bully other passengers. I laughed uncomfortably at their juvenile behavior, perhaps nostalgic for the types of things one can get away with at that age.

This eventually descends into melodrama, and Gondry blows past a more appropriate ending, dragging this out to a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. As much as "We" makes you feel alive, it has a twinge of high school drama-class to it, and Gondry falls short of the masterpiece he had within his grasp.