Young, rich and so full of angst

Just four years out of college, a group of friends gets back together for a “Big Chill”-style reunion weekend when two among the ranks tie the knot. Directed by Matthew Cole Weiss from a script by Matthew Perniciaro and Timm Sharp, “Standing Still” wants to be an honest, earnest look at the difficulties of growing up and moving on, but it remains stuck in such a fantasy-laden milieu that the characters never feel particularly real, and their problems seem phony and arbitrary.

For a group of such relatively recent graduates, rather than finding themselves still in the getting-it-together phase, they’ve already all fully arrived in their lives and careers, as money isn’t a problem for anyone and none is an assistant or junior-level paper pusher.

The film does have a remarkable cast, with such talented young performers as Amy Adams, Aaron Stanford, Melissa Sagemiller and Jon Abrahams making the most of their ill-drawn characters alongside Colin Hanks, Mena Suvari, Lauren German and James Van Der Beek. For completists, note that Roger Avary, who directed Van Der Beek in “The Rules of Attraction,” puts in a dispiriting appearance as a wasted film director and makes an abbreviated riff on the “wingman” speech, referencing the notorious interpretation of “Top Gun” made infamous by Quentin Tarantino and for which Avary has long claimed credit. In a film as disengaged as “Standing Still,” it is imperative to look for any signs of life to keep things moving.

-- Mark Olsen

“Standing Still” (Rated R for sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use). Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. In selected theaters.

An ‘Abominable’ attempt at horror

Newsstands spill over with magazines such as Fangoria and Femme Fatales, while the Internet is chockablock with what film publicists diplomatically refer to as “genre sites,” all featuring movies that show healthy amounts of babes and blood. Many never see the inside of a theater, but somehow squeaking into release is “Abominable,” the feature debut of writer and director Ryan Schifrin, son of the great film composer Lalo Schifrin.

In a semi-secluded woodland, a man (Matt McCoy) copes with the death of his wife in a rock-climbing accident that also put him into a wheelchair, until a jeep-load of young women arrive to interrupt his brooding and a Bigfoot/Yeti-type creature begins to work its way through potential victims. Schifrin wisely holds off showing the monster -- because once the creature is revealed, the already shaky film takes a turn for the worse. The costume for the monster looks like a cross between a drugstore Halloween mask and leftover molds from the horror chestnut “Leprechaun.”

Schifrin gamely tries to make the film more a suspense piece than a gore-fest, except in the film’s best moment when the monster bites off a bystander’s face as if it’s gnawing on a Cadbury creme egg. It is shocking and silly, as the whole movie might have been, but by then there’s no salvaging this.

-- Mark Olsen

“Abominable” (Rated R for monster violence and gore, language and some nudity). Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes. In selected theaters.