In the mournful independent drama Mile Zero, Allison (Sabrina Grdevich) explains to her estranged husband Derek that he expresses love so deeply -- but always takes it too far. That's the crux of this fragile three-character feature, an impressive, touching debut from filmmaker Andrew Currie.

Derek (acclaimed Canadian actor Michael Riley) is so dedicated to the love he has for his family that he resorts to increasingly dangerous lengths to preserve it. After he and Allison separate -- she tells him it's temporary, but we soon know better -- the distraught dad lurks in places he shouldn't, watching his young son Will (Connor Widdows) leave school and spying on the house that once was his. The result -- and this is not a spoiler in any sense -- is Derek's abduction of his son.

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Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Review

By Rob Blackwelder

Bad

Last year's kiddie secret-agent comedy "Agent Cody Banks" was a stupid movie that got by on clever charm. It starred Frankie Muniz (from "Malcolm in the Middle") as a junior-high James Bond who had to get over his fear of talking to girls in order to complete his mission and save the world from some contrived evil.

The picture got a enough mileage out of Muniz's amusing believability as a secret agent on training wheels and out of its tongue-in-cheek twists (to keep his parents in the dark, the CIA did his homework and housework while he was on assignment) to balance out a lot of slapdash screenwriting -- so all in all, it squeaked by as good family fun.

But the rushed-into-production sequel "Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London" is twice as stupid and without even an infinitesimal hint of the cleverness that kept the original afloat.

Continue reading: Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Review