'Prince of Persia'

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is a satisfying big-budget contradiction -- a breath of retro fresh air -- from a Hollywood gone nuts over 3-D. That it's good, given that it's based on a video game, makes it all the more surprising. Jake Gyllenhaal puts his athleticism to work as Dastan, an orphan adopted into the duplicitous fold of a 6th-century Persian royal family. The movie's subtle approach will likely disappoint fans of loud and empty fare like "Transformers 2." (Rated PG-13).

• Randy Myers, Contra Costa Times

'Survival of the Dead'

Shuffle, shuffle, limp, limp. That's not the shambling gait of the zombie hordes in George Romero's "Survival of the Dead," but the draggy pace of the movie itself. Romero gave us a brilliant metaphor for social decay in 1968's "Night of the Living Dead." His contemporary nightmare put its besieged survivors under a double threat, from reanimated cannibals and the trigger-happy simpletons gunning them down. "Survival of the Dead" is a catalog of destructo-yuk kills bound together by lazy, illogical screenwriting. It's destined for a quick, painful box-office death. (Rated R.)

• Colin Covert