Some reviews are respectful examinations of a movie's successes and failures. Others are simply death panels. Guess which kind this is?

Brothers Colin and Greg Strause ("Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem"), a pair of crackerjack effects wizards, really want "Skyline" to be the foundation on which a popular franchise can be constructed ... and they come close. All that's missing are believable acting, a coherent script, a budget, imagination and an audience willing to fork over the cost of admission to sequels.

On second thought, forget it.

Eric Balfour (TV's "Haven") and Scottie Thompson (TV's "Trauma") are a couple from New York who are visiting an old pal (Donald Faison, TV's "Scrubs") who's made it big in some business or other on the left coast when the City of Angels is attacked by space aliens that look like the offspring of the creatures from "Independence Day" and something out of H.P. Lovecraft.

Who, if anyone, will find the courage to fight the good fight? Who, if anyone, will get out alive? Who, if anyone, gives a flying doughnut?

Yes, it's every bit as bad as you've heard, with an ending that is no ending at all, but just the setup for an anticipated sequel. If you thought "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was lousy, this one will have your movie club forming a suicide pact. It's a Drano cocktail for the eyes.

This, my children, is as bad as mainstream genre cinema gets. "”Doug Bentin