Reel advice: Highs and lows

In theaters

Oblivion (Universal): In 2077, far above what's left of the earth in a high tech home/operations station, drone maintenance expert Jack (Tom Cruise) is having trouble distinguishing between dreams and memories. This is especially problematic since Jack, had a "mandatory memory wipe."

Having won the war, but lost the planet, earth's survivors are being colonized on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Jack and his co-worker/companion Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) make an "effective team," something that pleases their talking-head supervisor Sally (Melissa Leo) to know end. Good order followers, Jack and Victoria repair damaged drones, monitor the Tet space station and the massive machinery processing water for use on other planets.

However, not everything is as it seems. Take the much maligned Scavs, for example. Originally considered to be aliens responsible for the destruction of the earth, they are underground dwelling human scavengers led by Beech (Morgan Freeman) who still get the blame for everything that goes wrong. More importantly, they aren't what Jack was led to believe they are.

An additional twist occurs when Jack goes to a crash site to look for survivors. He's in for the shock of his life when he meets Julia (Olga Kurylenko), an astronaut who bears a striking resemblance to the woman in his dreams. Jack's world is turned upside down as a series of truths are revealed to him. Once he realizes that he's working for the bad guys he does what he can to rectify the situation.

Oblivion's biggest crime is that it appears to be oblivious to how derivative it is. Generously helping itself to sizable slices of sci-fi predecessors including Duncan Jones' superb 2009 Moon (starring Sam Rockwell), 1993's Stallone flick Demolition Man, not to mention Star Wars and The Matrix.

Oblivion gets points for making good use of the IMAX setting (be warned, it's so loud your skin will vibrate) and showing restraint by avoiding 3D excess. The soundtrack, by M83, sounds like the best thing Tangerine Dream never got around to recording. Exhilarating, if lacking in originality, Oblivion is probably the most fun you will have at the movies this weekend.

At Home

Directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank), Wuthering Heights (Oscilloscope) takes a daringly po-mo approach to the Bronte tale of Heathcliff and Catherine, out there on the wiley, windy moors. With its minimal dialogue and artily framed shots, in and out of focus, the film has a Terence Malick feel to it.

Doing the Christian thing, Catherine's father Mr. Earnshaw (Paul Hilton), brings young, feral orphan Heathcliff (Solomon Glave) home and offers him a place to stay at Wuthering Heights. Unfortunately, his children Catherine (Shannon Beer) and Hindley (Lee Shaw) aren't as receptive.

It doesn't take Catherine long to warm up to Heathcliff and the young duo begins to spend time together. Catherine connects with Heathcliff's non-conformist spirit. A sexual attraction also develops between the two. Following the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley takes control of running the house and continues to treat Heathcliff without respect, reducing him to servant status and brutalizing him on a regular basis. In spite of Hindley's disapproval Catherine and Heathcliff's relationship continues to evolve.

Seasons change as Catherine grows into a young lady. Hindley takes more control of her life, steering her further away from Heathcliff and into the arms of landed gentry such as young Edgar (Jonathan Powell). When Catherine accepts Edgar's proposal of marriage it signals an end to any future with Heathcliff, leading him into exile.

Heathcliff (James Howson) returns, a self-made man, and pays a visit to Cathy (Kaya Scodelario), lady of the house to husband Edgar (James Northcote). The electricity between them is still palpable and Heathcliff vows to never leave her again. But as anyone with even a modest familiarity with the story knows, it's not meant to be. Focusing on the obsession, cruelty and brutality of the story, in equal measure, this version of Wuthering Heights is as far from Sir Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon as you can get. While Arnold's vision for this version is an admirable experiment, it is ultimately unsatisfying, bordering on pretentious. Arnold is better off sticking with the contemporary stories she tells so well.

In K-11 (Breaking Glass), too-stoned-to-stand record producer Raymond (Goran Visnjic, a long way from his nuanced performance as Oscar-winner Christopher Plummer's younger lover in Beginners) is arrested and charged with homicide, he's thrown into the K-11 wing of the LA County jail until he sobers up. Whatever horrors occurred prior to his arrest, nothing compares to what he's about to experience.

First he encounters pervy and salivating guard Johnson (D.B. Sweeney) who has his own plans for Raymond. Next, Raymond forms an unexpected bond with young, trans/HIV+ inmate Butterfly (Portia Doubleday). But nothing can prepare him for the return engagement of perpetual inmate and trans queen bee Mousey (Kate Del Castillo). Mousey, in makeshift platforms, dramatically drawn on eyebrows and slutty garb, rules the roost like a Komodo dragon. She fearlessly takes out her aggression on a variety of inmates and keeps the in-house drug production circuit profitable with her bitch Ben (Jason Mewes of Clerks fame).

While Raymond struggles to reach someone in the outside world via the jailhouse payphone, the ugliness around him mounts. There is a "pill call incident." Butterfly is repeatedly raped by Detroit (Tommy "Tiny" Lister). Johnson keeps breathing down his neck. When his face appears on the TV news regarding the charges against him, he achieves a kind of cellblock celebrity. But his moment in the sun occurs when he steps in to assist Mousey, following a change to Ben's prisoner classification. Their newfound partnership results in a hot and tasty serving of revenge.

Watching K-11, directed and co-written by Jules Stewart , mother of Kristen, it's clear to see where her daughter got her talent or lack thereof. If this is intended to be an update of the pulpy "women in prison" movies that were so popular in the mid-20th century, it actually sets the genre back a good 60 years. Stocked with caricatures instead of characters, K-11 has all the subtly of a sexual assault in a community shower.