by MATTHEW HAYS

Movies about performers and performances can be satisfying experiences for the audience, but don't look to two of this week's releases for any such thing.

First up is Robert Altman's latest, The Company, based on the inspiration of Scream/Party of Five actor Neve Campbell. Campbell, a Canuck and former ballet dancer, had apparently long dreamt of bringing the dance performance experience to the big screen. She certainly got herself an A-list director for the job: Altman, arguably the greatest living American director (if not then definitely among the top five).

Too bad about the movie itself. The Company plays itself out as a series of vignettes, Altman's unique style taken to its logical extreme. Trouble is, there's nothing to hang this movie on. The smaller, intimate moments - those detailed nuances that Altman is famous for - feel less like revelations than mere posing on the part of the cast. And by the end of the movie, one gets the sense nothing has actually happened. Campbell is fine in the lead (no double was used, that's her doing all the moves), but James Franco is wasted as her love interest. And Malcolm McDowell shows up as the head teacher at the dance school, in a role, like many in McDowell's recent career, that feels deeply superficial. A true disappointment for those of us who count themselves as Altmanphiles.

Also based around a performance but set in 14th-century England, The Reckoning pits a group of nomadic actors against the death penalty. The actors (among them is Willem Dafoe) realize through their dramatic reenactment of an horrific murder that the woman being held on death row is entirely innocent. They then use their dramatic powers to exonerate her. It's a tall tale, one that is told at many moments quite beautifully. But something goes awry during intermission, with The Reckoning splintering under the weight of its own hefty aspirations. Certainly, not as clunky a dud as The Company, but not measuring up to Dafoe's greatness either.

The Reckoning and The Company open Friday, March 19

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