“Hannibal Rising”: An origins movie that follows the serial killer’s early years. As you might expect, those years didn’t involve much time in a sandbox, unless, of course, Hannibal’s spade was used as an instrument of death. The movie is concerned with explaining the reasons behind Hannibal’s madness, thus stripping the character of mystery while courting its share of sympathy. Everybody involved seems turned on about what turned Lecter into the deadly little charmer he became. What created such a beast? The absence of fava beans in his pabulum? Hardly. In this case, it was that old Hollywood standby, the Nazis. Its lack of logic aside, the movie does look good, it isn’t dull and moments are cheap fun. That said, there’s something depressing in the fact that this offspring of a modern-day classic, “Silence of the Lambs,” has become as cheap as Clarice’s shoes. If there is another film – and there likely will be, perhaps in another prequel, “Hannibal: L’Enfant Terrible” – here’s hoping the movie has the good sense to show some restraint and not to allow Hannibal to nurse. Rated R. Grade: C

“Lost in Translation” HD DVD: In frenetic, jittery Tokyo, where neon skyscrapers thrum and the air is alive with electric heat, Bob Harris (Bill Murray), a washed-up movie star, arrives dazed and drawn, looking nearly dead beneath the cartoon fluorescence. He’s in Tokyo to shoot a humiliating series of Suntory whiskey commercials, a gig that will make him millions, none of which, you can sense, will be enough to offset what little pride he has left. A lonely insomniac in a city too alive to sleep, Bob is lost, wavering just this side of giving up on everything – his marriage, his life, his career – when he meets young Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a lonely insomniac who’s stuck in Tokyo with her inattentive husband (Giovanni Ribisi). What spills from their relationship is the heart of director Sofia Coppola’s moody film, now out in high definition HD DVD. It’s about two lives intersecting just as they’re about to burst apart. With its Pachinko arcades, karaoke parlors, strip clubs and dance clubs, Tokyo is a major force in the movie, but what’s remarkable is how this vibrant city, with all its flash and chaos, fades beneath the power of performances by Murray and Johansson, which border on greatness. The last scene, less urgent but just as unforgettable as the final scene in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” is actually more powerful for what it leaves unsaid. Words and tears are exchanged between Bob and Charlotte just when all seems lost, but by not allowing us to hear what’s being said, Coppola pulls the movie out from under us, turning her study in romantic reawakening and disillusionment into one of romantic mystery. Rated R. Grade: A-

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” Blu-ray: Moves as swiftly as a pirate to the promise of new booty. Now out on high-definition Blu-ray disc, in which it looks and sounds terrific, the film is great fun. Beyond the fine special effects and surprisingly lively writing is a ripping good story, a solid cast that came to have a good time, and a performance by Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow that suggests a drunken gypsy drag queen fallen on hard times. Depp is wonderful and uninhibited, swaying on and off land as if the ocean is deliriously moving beneath his feet. It’s the sort of inspired performance that says to hell with convention and turns an already good movie into one that can’t be missed. With Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Jack Davenport and Geoffrey Rush. Rated PG-13. Grade: A-

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” Blu-ray: Also out on Blu-ray disc, this sequel does exactly what you expect it to do. It super-sizes what worked in the original to the point that it becomes less a movie and more a spectacle. Once again, the highlight is Johnny Depp’s rummy performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Even if his performance is a repeat, the movie would collapse without him in it. Depp is exactly what “Chest” needs to keep it light, particularly since the plot is so unnecessarily dense. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom return, with the new villain, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, whose slimy, tentacled head is among the film’s best special effects), fittingly lacking heart. Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

“The Skeleton Key” HD DVD: A movie about hoodoo, voodoo and cheap thrills set in a Louisiana backwater. The film is a ripe Southern Gothic, just this side of moldy, with the first half of the story played straight before director Ian Softley smokes some homegrown hoodoo himself to deliver a final half that embraces, shall we say, its share of absurdity. Kate Hudson is Caroline, a Big Easy hospice worker who agrees to take a job on the aforementioned backwater, in spite of urgings from her friend, Hallie (Fahnlohnee Harris), not to do it. “Girl, crazy things happen out there,” Hallie says. “I don’t know, sugar – you better think twice.” Or something like that. Anyhoodoo, Caroline agrees to work for sketchy Violet (Gena Rowlands), her lawyer, Luke (Peter Sarsgaard), and Violet’s dying husband, Ben (John Hurt), who apparently had a massive stroke. This isn’t a great movie by any stretch, but when a film’s actors obviously are having this much fun slumming – and that fun morphs into subversive entertainment for the rest of us – there isn’t a better remedy, Southern or otherwise. Particularly good is Rowlands, who has reached that zenith in her career when it’s perfectly sane to go a little nuts onscreen. The actress enjoys one scene that’s one for the record books. It involves compound fractures, a foul, bourbon-soaked mouth and lots of low crawling. Lovely. PG-13. Grade: B