RottenTomatoes.com

This week at the movies, we've got prehistoric passion (10,000 B.C., starring Steven Strait and Camilla Belle), travel travails (College Road Trip, starring Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symone), and hard-boiled heists (The Bank Job, starring Jason Statham). What do the critics have to say?

If you're looking for subtlety, Roland Emmerich is not your man. That's not to say he's a bad filmmaker; he's made some quality big-budget, high-concept yarns (Independence Day spring to mind) that deliver thrills aplenty. Unfortunately, critics say his latest, 10,000 B.C., is mired in the stone age. B.C. stars Steven Strait and Camilla Belle as a pair of hunting-and-gathering honeys; when Belle gets kidnapped, Strait and members of their tribe journey into the unknown to save her -- and run across saber-toothed tigers, wooly mammoths, and other civilizations. The pundits say 10,000 B.C. doesn't lack for compelling visuals, but it's weak on plot and characterization and filled with unintentional comedy. At 12 percent on the Tomatometer, 10,000 B.C. is a Mesolithic mess. It's also the worst-reviewed film of Emmerich's career.

With College Road Trip, Martin Lawrence joins Ice Cube and Robin Williams in the pantheon of once-edgy performers toplining poorly-reviewed family road trip comedies. Lawrence stars as the overbearing father of Melanie (Raven-Symone), whose plan for a just-the-girls trip to look at schools is undermined by her dad's insistence on going along for the ride; subsequently, laffs are had and lessons are learned, at least in theory. The pundits say Road Trip features over-the-top gags and a remarkable shortage of comic imagination. At zero percent on the Tomatometer, this is the worst-reviewed film of Lawrence's career, edging out the five percent Big Momma's House 2.

Maiden voyage of the Battleship Pigtemkin.

After touring the martial arts circuit in movies like The Transporter and War, Jason Statham returns to his grimy thriller roots with The Bank Job. Based on the real-life 1971 robbery of security deposit boxes, he stars as a petty thug in over his head as the job spirals out of control. It's a throwback to the heist movies of yore, and according to the critics (to quote The French Connection's tagline) the time is right for an out-and-out thriller like this. Director Roger Donaldson never lets the pace flag, forging a movie that's dramatic, funny, and plain entertaining. At 73 percent on the Tomatometer, The Bank Job is looking like a solid investment. (And check out our Total Recall feature on heist movies here.)

Also opening this week in limited release:

• My Name is Albert Ayler, a doc about the legendary avant garde jazz saxophonist, is at 92 percent.
• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a period comedy of manners starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, is at 74 percent.
• Snow Angels, a lovelorn drama from David Gordon Green starring Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell, is at 71 percent.
• Gus Van Sant's latest, Paranoid Park, the tale of a few dark days in the life of a teenage skater, is at 71 percent (check out our take from Cannes here).
• Last Stop for Paul, a film about a pair of globetrotters shot around the world using improvised scenes, is at 67 percent.
• Girls Rock!, a rockumentary about a camp where young girls put bands together, is at 67 percent.
• Married Life, a dark comedy about the seamy underside of the 1950s starring Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson, and Rachel McAdams, is at 55 percent.
• Stephen Chow's latest, CJ7, a combination of martial arts, sci-fi, and family film, is at 43 percent.

Recent Roland Emmerich Films:
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46% -- The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
62% -- The Patriot (2000)
25% -- Godzilla (1998)
62% -- Independence Day (1996)
43% -- Stargate (1994)