The 33

Nope, not a sequel to The 3, the psychological thriller spec script penned by Charlie Kaufman's twin brother in Adaptation, but a clunky retelling of the 2010 Chilean mining accident that trapped 33 miners underground for over two months. This is the rare film that combines the narrative thrust and suspense of an Anderson Cooper 360 episode with the shameless schmaltz and racially dicey casting choices of an old-school Hollywood biopic. Antonio Banderas stars as Mario Sepúlveda, a gregarious family man who assumed the role of leader after a cave-in trapped his crew a half-mile under the earth, and Lou Diamond Phillips gets the Van Heflin role as a shifty-eyed foreman complicit in the mining company's corruption. Very little here rises above the level of the perfunctory and predictable; if anything, getting trapped in a mine is portrayed as an inspirational bonding experience and overall raucous good time. D.B.