News-Record.com

MOVIETitle: "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" PG-13 (sequences of sci-fi action and violence)

Grade: D+

Basic story: Our favorite gun-packing, pun-cracking red hero is back to get medieval on creatures from Hell intent on making Earth their summer home.

What you'll love: The movie looks great, but it's overkill. There isn't enough time to take it all in. Blink and you'll miss any number of imaginative creations.

What you won't: This is yet another example of The Bloated Sequel. Too many effects. Too little humanity. And nothing that resembles what made the original work.

Title: "Journey to the Center of the Earth" PG (intense adventure action)

Grade: C-

Basic story: The classic Jules Verne adventure, which stars Brendan Fraser, gets an awesome 3-D makeover.

What you'll love: There are neon birds that fly off the screen and Fraser spitting toothpaste at the drain, seen from below. The visuals are always worth a jump or a gasp.

What you won't: Being in 3-D is the only thing that makes this worth watching. Without that gimmick, this would be as forgettable as "Speed Racer."

Title: "Meet Dave" PG (bawdy and suggestive humor, action and some language)

Grade: -

Basic story: When a fireball hits Earth, a man (Eddie Murphy) emerges, unscathed. Only this isn't a man - it's a spaceship run by an inch-high crew of human-looking E.T.s.

What you'll love: This is being screened for critics today.

What you won't: -

GAMETitle: "Hellboy: The Science of Evil" PlayStation, Xbox Teen

Grade: F

Basic story: Crack jokes and smoke lots of cigars as you beat down hordes of Nazis intent on world domination (or something bad like that).

What you'll love: -

What you won't: Reading "Walden" is more exciting. All you do is fight, which puts you to sleep. Fast. Listening to the voices of stars Ron Perlman and Selma Blair doesn't help.

COMICTitle: "The Last Defenders #5" $2.99

Grade: B-

Basic story: Incoming S.H.I.E.L.D. directive ... to Anthony Stark, director ... your eyes only. Kyle Richmond (codename: Nighthawk) is operating unchecked. You need to act.

What you'll love: Dr. Strange. The Sub-Mariner. The Hulk. Together again as Defenders for the first time in decades. And a last page that Marvel promises will "shock" you.

What you won't: -

DVDTitle: "The X-Files: Revelations" $22.97

Grade: C-

Basic story: The truth is in here. So says creator Chris Carter, who picks eight episodes (like "The Host") and offers insights into how each relates to the new film. Uh-huh.

What you'll love: You get an $8.50 ticket to see the upcoming film, due out July 25.

What you won't: For you X-Philes out there, don't bother. Some solid shows, but nothing you can't TiVo from TNT. Let's get real: This is just a sad attempt to cash in on the new film.

CDTitle: John Mellencamp "Life Death Love And Freedom" $18.98

Grade: B+

Basic story: Mellencamp, 56, is feeling his age and then some in this release, an album presented like a deathbed testament: bleak, solitary, bluesy and unbowed.

What you'll love: His voice is weary. The old swagger is gone. And where he used to shrug off any odds against him, now he tries only to persevere. It's a brave album.

What you won't: -