Anita Gates

Sheriff may have a point to make about the impact of family, roots and religion on the changing face of rural America, but the film, while admirably restrained and competently made, is too polite to clarify that.

Makes it case expertly and powerfully, but it does not propose a solution. The cumulative effect of the film's message is enormous sadness that hate is so strong and so resistant to reason.

Appealing if obvious little fable.

Dan Harnden's screenplay keeps things relatively interesting, despite the very thin plot.

Giorgio Perlasca, who has been compared to Oskar Schindler, deserves better than this Italian television film.

The film’s writer and director, Ivan Kavanagh, and his team pull off a few enjoyable, decently creepy scares, but over all, the action is too cryptic, and the pedestrian dialogue doesn’t help.

It’s a quietly compelling story.

The film’s storytelling is straightforward, almost standard-issue, but the story itself is compelling, as is the testimony of devotees.

Modest, disturbing documentary.

An enthralling documentary.

Both Ms. Angelou and Ms. Tyson deliver powerful, touching messages. Just as they're sinking in, the film turns into an unabashed chick flick with a painfully gaudy wedding that includes live angels hanging on wires from the ceiling.

For most moviegoers over 12, this, the fourth Three Ninjas movie, will be interminably boring. But it's possible that young children will enjoy the film, since it falls into both the action category and the children-are-smart-adults-can't-do-anything-right genre.

Wants to be both heartwarming and quirky but is sometimes just cutesy instead.

Mr. Coyote, who appears to be playing Steven Spielberg and steals every scene he is in.

Having a mild-mannered writer tell this story by sitting in a chair in front of some pretty art in a house museum and just talking seems lackadaisical, but Mr. Moss’s message is clear, shrewdly edited and peculiarly interesting.

Boss is billed as an action comedy, but it isn’t always clear what is part of the joke and what isn’t.

When Mr. Mitchell says it, it's hysterically funny. And he's immensely likable.

Thomas Carter, the director, whips us into a frenzy during the big winning-again-is-everything game, as all sports underdog movies must. But in the end, the only real impact is limited to a few scenes.

Watching the rest of Damon Dash's playful movie is like entering a room where a large, too noisy party is going on and never fully adjusting to the dark or the din.

There is something good-natured about Jaan-E-Mann that makes it possible to forgive its many faults -- even the film's opening, a "2001: A Space Odyssey" ripoff with a space station gliding through the cosmos to the tune of the "Blue Danube" Waltz.

The film benefits from nice performances and nice work by Mr. DiFolco (making his directorial debut), even if the ending is not as psychologically complex as earlier scenes lead us to hope.

The film means well but feels generic, strained and claustrophobic (despite several scenes at a deserted beach), with tight close-ups and sudden confrontations.

Things turn loud and desperate and stay that way.

The script, by Chris Haddock, leaves numerous questions unanswered. It also reflects the character depth and conversational complexity of a 14-year-old’s first effort at fiction.

Admirable but unfocused.

Inconsequential sequel for the undemanding moviegoer.

Not a shred of suspense enlivens the proceedings, and the movie's idea of humor is having a man slip and slide on a floor covered in blood.

A one-dimensional romantic comedy that feels like an old-fashioned vehicle picture, the kind the big movie studios used to make in the 1930's and 40's just to bring in the fans of a particular actor or actress.