In the spring, film critics' fancies turn to ... the onslaught of movies flooding theaters nationwide. Here are comments from Washington Post critics about the new cinema season.

STEPHEN HUNTER:

"Shooter." Gee, what's not to like? It's got all sorts of cool stuff — ex-Marine snipers, political manipulations, assassination plots, good, true women, fantastic shooting, shorty M-4 carbines with optics, ironic reversals.

But when I was watching the ad just before the Super Bowl, I was thinking: Hmmm, is this story familiar or what? Let's see, was it the fifth season of "24" in 2006? No, no, it must have been "Most Wanted," with Keenen Ivory Wayans in 1997. Or no, now I have it: It's based on "Point of Impact," from way back in 1992. Who wrote that one again? Oh, yeah: me.

What are the three scariest words in the English language?

"Some assembly required."

And what are the second-scariest three words in the English language? Again, it's not rocket science.

"Starring Adam Sandler."

And that's Adam Sandler when he's trying to be funny.

You want terror, you say? You want, fear, loathing, cold sweats, nightmares, long dark nights of the soul, the 4 a.m. heebie-jeebies, an excuse to crack open the special-edition Makers Mark someone gave you for a special occasion?

Adam Sandler trying to be serious.

But God has no mercy. He is busy elsewhere, and thus in April a movie comes to us called "Reign Over Me" starring Sandler as "a man who lost his family in the Sept. 11 attack on New York City." I am not making this up.

The movie — written and directed by Mike Binder, who owes the world one apology already for "The Upside of Anger" — appears to be about the lost and forlorn Sandler's encounter with old college roommate and current dentist played by Don Cheadle, a genuinely great actor. The dentist is being consumed by his busy life, and when he runs into his old bud shattered by grief, the two of them bond. And ... rescue each other.

DESSON THOMSON:

There are few things more nail-chewingly satisfying than an uber-cool space crew movie. You know the classics: Stanley Kubrick's 1968 "2001: A Space Odyssey," and 1979's "Alien." In these two films — and frankly, there are precious few others — you get a full picture of the humanity on board, the society they come from and, most important, a rocking good suspense drama.

Which is why I am turning gravity-free somersaults in anticipation of Danny Boyle's "Sunshine." An alternative approach to the genre! The maker of "Trainspotting" turning his talents to a space movie! Scottish-accented cursing in the outer galaxy! Well, maybe not. But there's a great premise — a crew of eight men and women (including Cillian Murphy and Michelle Yeoh) sent out to trigger a device to save the dying sun. Don't let me down, Dan-O.

The first "Pirates of the Caribbean" was fine. But the second, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was just horrible — a string of gags designed to satiate Johnny Depp groupies and filch their disposable Saturday-night income. And now — cue the harr-harr pirate laughter — we have the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" to look forward to. Or is that "At Wit's End"? And now our shameless sequel-meisters are going to vanilla-ize Rolling Stone Keith Richards (Depp's inspiration for his character), in a cameo and Chow Yun Fat, hip action star of all those 1980s John Woo gangster films, uh, before Woo turned Hollywood. Oh, don't get me started.