Here are snapshots of reviews of films opening this week:“Breaking and Entering” — Writer-director Anthony Minghella leaves viewers with their faces pressed to the glass, looking in on but not really involved with this dramatic study of a London couple and an immigrant mother and son whose lives cross over a series of burglaries. Rich performances from past Minghella collaborators Jude Law, Juliette Binoche and Ray Winstone, along with Robin Wright Penn, bring more depth and soul to the film than the somewhat superficial characters and overly contrived situations warrant. Law plays a landscape architect drawn together with a teenage Bosnian thief and his mother. An emotional frostiness in much of Minghella’s work, including “Cold Mountain” and best-picture Academy Award winner “The English Patient,” is distinctly present here, hindering the audience’s ability to connect with the people on screen. R for sexuality and language. 119 min. Two and a half stars out of four.

—>David Germain, AP Movie Writer“The Good German”$>— An unsatisfying gimmick by Steven Soderbergh, who tries to inject modern sensibilities into old-style black-and-white film noir. Soderbergh gets much of the mood and atmosphere down but fails to emulate the sense of wily playfulness that made old film-noir characters so rich and engaging even against the background of dark and sober stories. Most of the cast, including Soderbergh’s producing partner George Clooney, are so dour that the movie often drags along lifelessly. The exception is Cate Blanchett, marvelously transforming herself into a haunted creature traumatized by World War II, who could fit right into a Hollywood classic alongside Marlene Dietrich or Ingrid Bergman. Clooney plays a correspondent in Berlin just after the war, encountering an old flame (Blanchett) at the center of a murder mystery. Tobey Maguire co-stars as a black-marketeer, but with his boyish persona he lacks the weight to play a bad guy. The film was shot using vintage lenses and techniques of old Hollywood. R for language, violence and some sexual content. 105 min. Two stars out of four.

— David Germain, AP Movie Wri“Home of the Brave” <$>— Director Irwin Winkler presents a rather plain and predictable study of the problems facing American war veterans integrating themselves back into ordinary life after serving in Iraq. The well-intentioned movie follows four vets (Samuel L. Jackson, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jessica Biel and Brian Presley) struggling to cope with emotional and physical trauma after their National Guard unit returns to Spokane, Wash. Given its relevance and immediacy, the subject matter automatically carries emotional resonance, the movie sparking some fine moments of reflection about the difficulties in picking up where you left off after a terrible time at war. But rather than dealing authentically with postwar trauma, the filmmakers let several of their story lines veer abruptly into extremes that strain credibility. R for war violence and language. 105 min. Two stars out of four.

— David Germain, AP Movie Writer