The following are capsule reviews of movies recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Death Race (Universal/Relativity)
Brooding dystopian futuristic action tale in which, after being framed for the murder of his wife, a factory worker (Jason Statham) is offered freedom by his warden (Joan Allen) if, with the assistance of a female convict navigator (Natalie Martinez) and a skilled pit crew (Ian McShane, Fred Koehler and Jacob Vargas), he competes in the car-races-to-the-death she supervises for public entertainment. Writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson's updating of Paul Bartel's 1975 "Death Race 2000" is one long paean to brutality, as the speedway gladiators are decapitated, gored and napalmed. Pervasive graphic violence with blood, fleeting rear nudity, frequent rough and crude language, and a couple of profanities. (O, R)

The House Bunny (Columbia/Relativity)
After being exiled from the Playboy mansion, a ditzy but irrepressible model (Anna Faris) helps the awkward sisters (Emma Stone, Kat Dennings and Katharine McPhee, among others) of a failing sorority reinvent themselves as popular party girls while herself falling for a sensitive nursing home administrator (Colin Hanks). Although director Fred Wolf's comedy portrays the Playboy lifestyle as idyllic rather than exploitative --- with magazine founder Hugh Hefner appearing as himself --- it ultimately asserts the value of substance over appearance, and its central romantic relationships are quite traditional. Brief rear nudity, much sexual humor, one use of the f-word, some crude and crass language, and an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. (A-III, PG-13)

The Longshots (Dimension/MGM)
Fact-based sports drama in which an unemployed former high school football star (Ice Cube) living in a depressed factory town is hired by his hardworking sister-in-law (Tasha Smith) to mind his shy, bookish niece (Keke Palmer) and, discovering that the girl shares his gift for the game, becomes her trainer and gets her a tryout with a local, previously all-boys team. Director Fred Durst's upbeat, mostly unobjectionable film is a celebration of each individual's power to bring about both personal and civic renewal. Brief sexual humor, a couple of profanities, a few crass words and mild oaths. (A-II, PG)

Mirrors (Fox/Regency)
Clunky, contrived horror tale in which an ex-policeman turned security guard (Kiefer Sutherland) finds himself, his estranged wife (Paula Patton) and their children (Cameron Boyce and Erica Gluck) endangered by the demons who inhabit the many mirrors of the burned-out New York department store where he works. Except for one over-the-top scene, director Alexandre Aja keeps the violence relatively subdued, but his film grows tedious quickly. Some graphic violence, brief rear and partial nudity, some rough and crude language, and occasional use of profanity. (L, R)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (MGM/Weinstein)
Best friends vacationing in Spain --- one nonchalantly uninhibited (Scarlett Johansson), the other respectably pragmatic (Rebecca Hall) --- accept a charming artist's (Javier Bardem) invitation for a cozy weekend in a resort town, leading to triangular complications, eventually muddied further by the arrival of the artist's volatile ex-wife (Penelope Cruz), and the formation of a temporary "menage a trois." Though this diverting romantic comedy is almost fablelike in presentation (and therefore not to be taken literally), the cast and locale engaging, overt sexual elements minimal, and the characters' actions not entirely devoid of moral weight, the premise of the film may still prove problematic. An implied sexual threesome, a casual view of nonmarital sex and two brief nongraphic encounters, an implied extramarital dalliance, a nihilistic worldview, a few crude words and profanities, and brief gun violence. (L, PG-13)

Office for Film & Broadcasting classifications: A-I --- general patronage; A-II --- adults and adolescents; A-III --- adults; L --- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling; O --- morally offensive.