Angie Errigo

A gripping modern morality tale with a credible cast and a compelling premise. The film is heavy on self examination and will make you think: what would you do?

Very funny underdog comedy that’s genuinely heartwarming and full of charm.

All three leads are genuinely appealing here, with Ryder once again acting her bobby sox off and giving yet further reminder of just how sorely she was missed in Godfather III.

As with Platoon, Stone captures the horrific essence of an environment and transfers it to us without the need for prior knowledge. Dazzling filmmaking.

Holly Hunter goes toe-to-toe nicely with the superbly understated Al Pacino loner obsessed with a long-lost love — one of his most rewarding outings in a very long time.

It may be unfair to compare a film with its stage source, but the fact remains that the film, while retaining a great deal of both humour and pathos, is a less persuasive work and more obviously a vehicle for a starry ensemble.

It’s always a good story, this time told more creepily than usual. Good, but not as good as The Muppets’ Christmas Carol, Scrooged, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol or some great, classic live action classic versions.

Disappointing given the talent and situation, dull as ditchwater and historically suspect, another "The King's Speech" it definitely is not. Nice costumes, though.

This plays like a collection of translated, stylised scenes rather than a seamless narrative that arouses one's sympathy with Finn or forbearance for Estella. File under well-meaning failures.

Disappointingly dull given the explosive subject matter, this at least attempts to get a message into the mainstream. An extra star for effort rather than execution.

The sum of the parts is a cautiously optimistic view of love's power to re-shape lives, propounded with considerable appeal.

Devoted Trekkers will have to see it to keep abreast of the ships’ logs, but Saturday night at the flicks fun-seekers are apt to concur this one only fires on stun.

Reasonably gripping.

The word 'icon' is overused but as this charming Muhammad Ali portrait shows, occasionally it's utterly warranted.

A stand-out romantic fantasy and surefire hit of Ghost-ly proportions. But all you cynical and smart-arsed brethren, beware: this is definitely not for you.

Handsome, well-mounted but dull, dull, dull.

A beautiful, exotic and well-acted cultural hybrid, but it’s never as moving as it ought to be.

Pretty as a picture, but emptyheaded as hell.

A remarkable ensemble in an uneven patchwork of loss, longing and the urgent necessity of a societal rethink.

Adorable. Ad-or-able. It will melt even the coldest heart.

The three lead characters end the film as isolated as they began it. As with the plot, there isn't quite enough in the throwaway humour to hold them together.

Sadly Lewis lite and not without flaws but this is as Burtonesque as one could wish for, a real treat for fans of his twisted imagination and great British character actors.

Very amusing fun.

Conventional to an almost eye-watering degree, this could have used a little more effort to subvert the genre - and a little more Terence Stamp.

Fortunately, the fabulous songs, performed by scads of contemporary artists, provide some relief in an overlong, overdone portrait.

Cards on the table: rock operas pretty much suck except for "Tommy."

A typical 90's comedy featuring staples Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez who re-hash their 'cheeky cops' schtick from the first picture and are now joined by O'Donnell who tries to inject more humour allowing us to forgive the lack of an engaging story. Sadly this is where all three fail.

This slight, modestly sweet and mildly charming affair squarely aimed at the older cinemagoer is just the bill for those seniors’ matinées where the ticket comes with a cuppa and a biscuit.

My Dog Skip for people in mid-life crises, it?s too talky and trouble-laden for tykes but will doubtless prove as critic-proof to dog-lovers and the stars? fans as it did in the US.

A film that is entertaining but not seriously absorbing.

Okay, but it lacks conviction.

All along, of course, we are supposed to realise they're made for each other, except that that's a little hard to swallow when there's so little chemistry between them.

Familiar but enjoyable. Not being funny, the elephant (Rosie, played by nine-foot enchantress Tai) is the real star as the most moving and only joyful presence in sight.

This slight, lightly charming comic adventure is most obviously appealing for the "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" set — though Bryson himself was in his forties when he made his journey.

Made more than two years ago, this is nowhere near as well thought out as its predecessor ["Boyz N The Hood,"] and is far more strained in making its point.

Another "Hangover" was too much to hope for, especially as this was scripted by committee. It's a bit funny but also quite a bit nasty.

Much like Pakula's "Presumed Innocent", this is a solid and intelligent, if unspectacular adaptation, and just a tad tighter than The Firm to give it the edge that's needed.

Cute, clean, camp fun, full of sunshine and toe tappers. Guaranteed to put grins on tweenies who are in to High School Musical, grans with a pair of platforms still at the back of the wardrobe, and a lot of people in between tone.

With the feel of prestige telly, it's nicely done, sweet and moving.

Not quite Four Weddings-funny but always entertaining and endearing in equal measure.

As elegant as the man's clothes, this handsome biopic traces 20 incident-filled years in the life of the designer.

Lovely, engaging performances keep the film’s heart beating in a sweet if sometimes listless search for Eden.

Despite its hopeless predictability, this is one of those preposterous and sweet-natured family frolics that you find yourself enjoying in spite of yourself. Check your critical faculties in at the door and get stuck in.

A strangely drab adaptation of Diderot's much racier novel.

Meat and potatoes teen drama.

It’s sufficiently well done to qualify as cute, quite the thing for a girlie outing with grub after, but it’s utterly phoney baloney.

Far-out touches and liberal application of metaphor are compensated for by intensity and two mesmerising performances.

Ryan and Broderick, while individually first-rate, don't combine as sexily as they ought, making the inevitable outcome a little too pat in an otherwise genre-bucking affair.

What lifts this at key moments is the outstanding Phoenix's simpatico performance and we can add to the credit side happy casting that for once has assembled actresses and actors who really do resemble each other and present plausible siblings.

Sumptuous to look at, with some decent performances but Branagh's attempt at this gothic horror just doesn't hold together convincingly and fails to engage.

This comedy holds few surprises, bar the realisation that Hal is Zora's father. After that it's dysfunctional family comedy all the way. But this proves to be no bad thing. Goldberg and Danson handle the material with their usual panache, while a young Smith gives a steady post-Fresh Prince supporting role.

A very unfocused, sporadically funny film, lifted by its (predictable) visual splendour.

It's all totally farfetched and skates imperturbably over several questions of logic that will spring unbidden to the most accepting mind. But it's entertaining, inconsequential fun.

Sir Richard Attenborough's long-in-the-making account of the life of Sir Charles Chaplin is a film you desperately want to like, but it emerges as a big, shiny, old-fashioned biopic that ultimately fails either to illuminate the genius of its subject or to excite as a story.

Against the odds, perhaps, but part three injects a tiring franchise with new life and some surprisingly dark jokes. Some fun cameos and another winning Dan Stevens turn also add much needed unpredictability to the miniature goings-on.

Cute, cute, cute. No bouquets for originality, but it pushes all the buttons of this mini-genre, and Heigl and Marsden ring dem bells.

A curious mix of Britpop music cues and moppet-bait storytelling makes for a diverting, if derivative kids' animation.

It tootles along being cute and fluffy like a twentysomethings' version of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, but to further its notions of sisterhood and the power of women, it also takes a spin through Thelma And Louise territory, then revisits The Exorcist to up the supernatural content. It's enough to make your head spin.

Smart, intriguing, funny and sad, with some primo wisecracking dialogue.

Tedious Western, that's a disappointment given the talent involved.

By the time everyone's done their darnedest to undermine this romance and the tirelessly selfless St. Danny has begun to contemplate cutting the apron strings, they've all nearly worn out their welcome. It's simple, sweet and uninspired.

Lyne's efforts to be both passionate and artistic are generally successful, although a few sex scenes are disturbing and arguably close to salacious.

It's just too tempting to dismiss it as extremely long and incredibly disappointing. It's challenging, divisive and has moments of beauty but leaves you cold.

There's lo-fi charm in the musical numbers and heartfelt turns from the young cast but the story drifts along without offering much that we haven't seen before.

Apart from a couple of nice touches - like a faked orgasm scene that's almost as off the wall as the one in When Harry Met Sally - mark this firmly in 'Should Have Been Better'.

Trying so hard to recreate the stylish spy comedies of the 60's, Turner and Quaid pose unconvincingly as the couple in New Orleans when their maternity leave is cut short. Sadly they the required chemistry and their banter falls decidedly flat. The only redeeming feature is the support of Stanley Tucci.

Although there are some great moments (one for Nicholson recalling the toast scene of "Five Easy Pieces"), Penn's intentions lose their way.

What sounded like a bad idea before it started shooting, proves such an atrocity that it makes her last effort, The Beverly Hillbillies, look almost Oscar-worthy.

Bigger, better and more polished than the first, with a quite satisfactory ratio of action set-pieces and a lot of juvenile japery squarely aimed at its PG and fanboy audience.

A superb Kidman takes off the handbrake, and most everything else, in Daniels' southern-fried follow-up to "Precious." Watch it with "Killer Joe" for the ultimate sweaty, twisted double-bill.

Sadly, this will not go down as one of Brooks' classics.