(EDITORS: Monday is Memorial Day, when we honor the dead from America's wars. To mark the anniversary, Orange County Register Travel Editor Gary A. Warner, the newspaper's one-time military reporter, offers his updated list of the best World War II movies.)

Derivative as all get out and plainly concocted by a committee, "Epic" is a children's animated film that is more entertaining and emotional than it has any right to be.

Kang-do (Lee Jung-jin), the blank-faced protagonist of "Pieta," is a collector for a loan shark who charges outrageous interest: Borrow $3,000, say, and you'll have to pay back $30,000 in three months. Since most of the clients, who live in an industrial slum in Cheonggyecheon, South Korea, can rarely afford to settle their debts, Kang-do uses heavy machinery to cripple them in some way - taking a foot or a hand or an arm, just enough for their work insurance policies to cover the injury, so they can pay what they owe.

ADMISSION 2 1/2 stars. Tina Fey stars as a Princeton admissions officer, Paul Rudd is a hippie-dippie progressive school head lobbying for one of his students, in this odd mix of romantic comedy, improbable soap and Ivy League satire. 1 hr. 57 PG-13 (sex, profanity, adult themes) - Steven Rea

Slow, sentimental and somewhat sedated, the third "Hangover" movie isn't so much exhausted of outrageous "Oh no, they DIDN'T!" ideas as it is spent of energy. And they knew it, too. The only raunchy moment is stuffed into the closing credits, a "we forgot to do that" afterthought.

Noah Baumbach's playful, effervescent comedy "Frances Ha" is the story of a young woman's quest to find an apartment in New York. That's an arduous task for most ordinary, gainfully employed people. But Frances (Greta Gerwig) is neither ordinary nor employed. She's a relentless optimist who always believes success is just around the corner, even though she's an apprentice for a dance company that refuses to hire her full time and her longtime roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner, daughter of musician Sting) announces she's moving out of their Brooklyn apartment to live with her boyfriend.

There is a certain amount of raunchiness, absurdity and juvenile humor expected from the "Hangover" films. The title itself makes it clear this isn't a Mensa tea party.

The summer movie season has already brought moviegoers "Iron Man 3" and "Star Trek Into Darkness," the 12th film in that series. Still to come are second installments of "Grown Ups," "Despicable Me," "The Smurfs," "RED," "Kick-Ass," "300" and "Percy Jackson." There's also "Wolverine," a continuation of the Hugh Jackman "X-Men" / "Wolverine" movies; the animated prequel "Monsters University" and the art-film threepeat "After Midnight." Then there are the reconsiderations of pop-culture icons in the latest "Great Gatsby," "Lone Ranger" and Superman film "Man of Steel,"

Bad movies are rarely as much fun as these "Fast and the Furious" pictures. And make no mistake about it - they're bad.

EPIC

ORLANDO, Fla. - All those years since "Ice Age" and "Robots," you'd figure Chris Wedge had retired on the "Scrat" bucks he and Blue Sky Animation pulled in from that saber-toothed squirrel.

There's a school of writing that holds that even the most ordinary lives, deeply and thoughtfully observed, can be rendered into art. Another theory suggests that some movies so defy convention as to be graded on the curve as far as things like dialogue and incident and actual drama are concerned.

American movies are faring well this year in Cannes, with the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" holding on to the No. 1 spot in the competition for the Palme d'Or, according to a poll of critics compiled by Screen International. Set in 1960s Greenwich Village, "Davis" focuses on a struggling folk singer who's a predecessor of Bob Dylan.

DETROIT - What did the stars of "The Hangover Part III" do with their free time on the set? Just your average sarcasm-driven male bonding, according to Zach Galifianakis.

The line between "cute" and "cutesy" is violated, repeatedly, in the sometimes funny, often cloying comedy "The English Teacher." We're treated to the rare talents of Julianne Moore in a gently predictable "dark" comedy sprinkled with the most adorably heavy handed flourishes.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Normally, you work your way into the off-the-wall questions with movie stars. But with Josh Hutcherson, the big one is just hanging there, demanding to be asked:

What is the statute of limitations on "Planet of the Apes?"

"Black Rock" pits three women, camping on a remote island off the coast of Maine, against a trio of U.S. Army veterans back from messed-up tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is where we find ourselves with the legacy of America's Iraq invasion: Apparently enough years have passed, coinciding with the proper quota of well-meaning screen portrayals of psychologically and / or physically damaged military personnel, so that a movie just out for a jolt or two can go the "crazed Vietnam vet" route with impunity. But with a more recent war.

MINNEAPOLIS - Michael Shannon has quietly become one of the most interesting and original actors of his era. Climbing a ladder of indie gems, he's established himself as the natural heir to Christopher Walken, but with a jolt of broad-shouldered menace. He can take your head off in roles as diverse as Ashley Judd's deranged lover in "Bug" or glam-rock enfant terrible Kim Fowley in "The Runaways."