A script that’s the pits wastes Hopkins’ talents in ‘Instinct’

INSTINCT

Clearly, Anthony Hopkins will appear in just about anything — even Jon Turteltaub’s gorilla film “Instinct.”

Here, Hopkins is Ethan Powell, an anthropologist who left civilization to live among apes (think of him as a Mr. Dian Fossey).

After murdering two rangers in Africa, he is shipped back to the United States and locked up in an insane asylum, where he teaches his psychiatrist (Cuba Gooding Jr.) a few things about life’s illusions.

Hopkins and Gooding do their best to hold the production together, but the script is the pits, wasting its cast in a slow-moving plot that doesn’t know what it wants to be: “Silence of the Apes” or “Bad Hair in the Mist.” Grade: C-

THE WINSLOW BOY

What makes David Mamet’s new film a must-see is how Mamet takes a conventional courtroom drama and twists it so almost all of the courtroom action happens off screen.

If that makes the film sound dull, it isn’t. Set in 1910, this richly atmospheric film follows Ronnie Winslow (Guy Edwards), a young naval cadet accused of stealing a 5-shilling postal order. Convinced he’s innocent, Ronnie’s father stakes the family fortune and fights for the boy in court.

Based on a true story, “The Winslow Boy” is a character study marked by its excellent performances, its terrific script and its British passion — which, surprisingly, doesn’t leave one cold. Grade: A-

Christopher Smith’s “Week in Rewind” appears Thursdays in the scene. Each Tuesday on WLBZ’s “News Center 5:30 Today” and “News Center Tonight,” he appears in Cinema Center.