REEL CRITICS:

There are two worthy movies in “The Great Debaters.” One is a well-executed but proven formula film about underdogs prevailing against all odds to win a championship. The other is a first-rate historical drama about the life and struggles of African Americans in the 1935 Jim Crow south.

The always-excellent Denzel Washington takes charge as both the director and major star of this effort. He joins forces with fellow Oscar winner Forest Whitaker as they play two real-life professors at all-black Wiley College in rural Texas during the Great Depression. They are both deeply involved in the school’s debate team. Under their guidance the team earns a shot at challenging nationally known universities.

In the process of telling this true story, screenwriter Robert Eisele creates some compelling dialogue and emotionally charged scenes. The events on screen can be both enlightening and painful at the same time. The outcome may be predictable. But the great talent on both sides of the camera makes the journey rewarding and the final results very satisfying.

Betrayals abound in culturally rich flicks

There are two very watchable films this week about childhood betrayals, in two very different countries.

Hang on to your popcorn! “The Orphanage” is gonna give you a bumpy night. Spanish first-time director Juan Antonio Bayona’s film is so disturbingly well-crafted, a simple game of tag can bring goosebumps to even the most jaded moviegoer.

This is a rarity — an art-house ghost story refreshingly lacking in monsters or excessive gore. Belen Rueda is quite believable as a former orphan who returns to her childhood home 30 years later, only to discover some very strange goings on. Then her son mysteriously disappears. Is it foul play, or are his imaginary friends to blame?

In “The Kite Runner,” two little boys in Afghanistan are inseparable in spite of ethnic and social differences.

Amir is from a privileged Kabul family, and Hassan is his most devoted friend as well as a member of the household staff. Their loyalties and character are fatefully tested all too soon in this epic tale based upon Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel.

Even if you’ve never read the book — or flown a kite — you, too, will be swept up in this powerful saga that unfolds against a harsh backdrop of a once-beautiful and now-ravaged country.

Better to be abducted than watch ‘Requiem’

Redux, redo, recapitulate. It’s time for more repetitive revulsion, courtesy of “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.” You’ve seen these critters before. Bad attitudes, bad breath, bad social skills, they drool like a kennel full of English bulldogs.

It’s a big honkin’ universe out there, and just conveniently, a space ship populated by aliens and predators is in the neighborhood of Earth. Just as conveniently, there’s a revolt on board by revolting refugees, and the ship spins outta control. Crashing to Earth at a zillion mph, it conveniently crashes in one piece while leaving a divot a duffer could admire.

So now the Earth is populated by a couple of bipedal, new extraterrestrial species who are conveniently unaffected by our planet’s air pressure, atmosphere, microorganisms and greenhouse gasses.

There are the requisite stereotypes: the idiot sheriff, the half-naked teenager, the pizza guy, the random bully, the twit, the child in peril and the tough broad.

They all utter such profundities as “People are dying.” “We need guns.” “I can’t believe you’re letting me do this.” And, at least a score of times, “Oh, my god!” One even dribbles out that classic Monty Python line, “I’m not dead.”

The tough broad does her best Sigourney Weaver impression. The rest of the “actors” do their best impressions of bad acting. Fighting their way to the town’s hospital, their goal is the ubiquitous helicopter.

Aided in their quest by ludicrous dialogue, never emptying assault weapons, with calibers greater than their collective IQs, we know the closer they get, the closer we are to the end.

Filmed primarily in the dark, the producers of this little prize must have saved mucho dinero on special effects, ’cause, 1) there weren’t many to begin with, and 2) you hide a lot of stuff with underexposed film.

Meanwhile A & P carouse around wreaking havoc, wasting celluloid while turning a one-minute idea into an 84-minute chore.

A & P finally wrap it up on the hospital roof. It’s a combo UFC, WWF, Jet Li and Jackie Chan snot-filled fight to the finish. A finish which is interrupted by fusion as the government decides to nuke the town, ending the residents’, and our, misery.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company. UNCLE DON occasionally reviews B-rated movies for the Daily Pilot. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].