Here are the Mini Reviews from Cineman Syndicate for four movies opening on November 26, 2008: 

AUSTRALIA. Anyone craving a wide-screen romantic epic is in luck. Though flawed, Baz Luhrman's sprawling fantasia is a throwback to a noble cinematic tradition. Kidman's British aristocrat travels Down Under to sell her husband's cattle station and is bewitched by the land, its indigenous people, and Hugh Jackman's cowboy. Together with a mixed-race kid (the excellent Brandon Walters), they break the monopoly of a local cattle baron as World War II looms. Overlong and ungainly in spots, the ambitious project -- a big-hearted homage to both Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz -- implores the audience to go with it, ultimately rewarding charity and forbearance. (PG-13) GOOD ROMANTIC ADVENTURE. Director - Baz Lurhmann; Lead - Nicole Kidman; Running Time - 165 minutes. 

FOUR CHRISTMASES. Star power still matters. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon can't bring this Yuletide comedy home, but without their chemistry and respective personalities it would be dire. They play a self-absorbed couple that forswears marriage and the whole notion of family. That is, until their holiday flight to Fiji is cancelled and they must visit their four divorced parents, choosing "mistletoe" as their safe word to indicate escape-time. The first fifteen minutes are promisingly hilarious. Then the movie stoops to blunt, physical humor and screeches to a halt when unconvincing mush is introduced. The magic of classic Christmas comedies evaporates long before anyone cries "mistletoe." (PG-13) FAIR COMEDY. Director - Seth Gordon; Lead -Vince Vaughn;  Running Time -89 minutes. 

MILK. Gus Van Sant's conventional biopic about an unconventional figure is a well-constructed, generally well-performed work of hagiography. Sean Penn limns Harvey Milk, the nation's first openly gay person elected to public office then murdered in 1978 by Dan "Twinky Defense" White (Josh Brolin), a fellow member of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors. Milk is depicted as brave, tenacious, shrewd and likeable -- totally deserving of beatification as a martyr for progressive politics. The movie shares his wonky quality, while also projecting his hopeful message of inclusion. Milk believed all politics was theater and Van Sant, who adroitly weaves in file footage, thoroughly grasps his own medium. (R) GOOD BIOPIC;  Director - Gus Van Sant; Lead - Sean Penn; Running Time - 128 minutes. (Limited opening on November 26; opens wide on December 5.) 

TRANSPORTER 3. Perhaps wanting to show that their leading man would have made a fine James Bond, the people behind this franchise built on stylized speed and frenetic fisticuffs make their hero don a black designer suit while driving a redheaded Ukrainian gamine from Marseilles to Odessa. They also give him an exploding bracelet (should he stray too far from the car) and the chance to grow emotionally, although Jason Statham doesn't register more than an irritated scowl. The mangled plot involves assembly-line corporate thugs seeking to dump toxic waste. Fans will not be deterred. They'll come for the mildly diverting chop-socky and ludicrously impossible stunts. (PG-13) FAIR ACTION. Director -Olivier Megaton;  Lead - Jason Statham;  Running Time - 103 minutes. 

COPYRIGHT 2008 CINEMAN SYNDICATE LLC.

(All four capsule reviews by John P. McCarthy.)