If you never bought into Sacha Baron Cohen's style of humor before, "The Dictator" isn't a great place to start. Like Cohen's "Bruno," "The Dictator" takes a very funny starting point and is nearly drowned by Cohen's love of shock value and poop jokes, though there are still the occasional flashes of brilliance that make Cohen one of our best on-screen comedians.

It was only a matter of time before Johnny Depp played a vampire, and he plays a pretty good one in director Tim Burton's latest movie about the undead, "Dark Shadows." As Barnabas Collins, Depp gives another fun, outlandish performance as a vampire in the wrong century, though the movie itself doesn't really have anywhere to go and ends up wasting an interesting character that deserved a better movie.

Like most good action movies, "The Avengers" is at its best in the quiet moments in between the chaos. Filled with self-mocking humor that will speak to both fan boys and casual moviegoers alike, director Joss Whedon's much-hyped smash-up is everything you could hope from a movie about a group of superheroes fighting extraterrestrials. Even with an ending that doesn't quite live up to the ride, "The Avengers" is popcorn cinema just about at its finest.

Even while sticking to the rigid romantic comedy formula, "The Five-Year Engagement" finds enough small laughs to make it work, though you probably shouldn't expect to see anyone rolling in the aisles. The plot may be half-baked and there are some long stretches without a gag that hits, but fun performances from Emily Blunt and Chris Pratt bail "The Five-Year Engagement" out, giving us just enough to see it all the way to the finish line.

If nothing else, "American Reunion" comes firing right out the gates and never looks back. If you can leave your rationale and logic at the door, every drop of it, there are a few funny peaks to go with the expected valleys when trying to cram in too many characters from the good old days.