Annlee Ellingson

Enemies Closer suffers from wincingly bad dialogue delivered as if by jocks in a high-school play and action choreographed as if for a gymnasium stage.

The Nut Job features decent CG animation, especially of animals, but the writing isn't particularly clever, relying on obvious puns and slapstick humor.

A focused, if at times melodramatic, take on the play's beating heart.

Freezer is a snappy action flick that makes good use of its close confines.

Writer-director Francesca Gregorini builds unbearable tension into scenes that otherwise risk tilting toward melodrama and brings the eye of a fashion photographer to the film's hallucinatory dream sequences.

The juxtaposition of such country-music icons with the story's cringe-worthy treacle has one siding with Michael's bah-humbug attitude.

The Selfish Giant is devastating social realism in the mode of Ken Loach's "Kes."

Writer-director Joe Eddy's debut is sincere but relies on obvious tropes.

Zea gives a natural performance amid a neighborhood of painful stereotypes (including a nosy Asian shopkeeper), but she doesn't adjust her cadence, let alone accent, for the historical flashbacks, bringing a modern sensibility that limits the effectiveness of these scenes.

The film is often laugh-out-loud funny while remaining relatively discreet.

Director David Frankel has crafted a sweet, funny, heartfelt film, and while we may know all along how it all turns out, Paul's signature performance still gives us chills.

[A] contemporary B-movie Western with designs on stylistic flair.

The information comes fast from talking heads who, let's face it, can get a bit dry. Lose focus, and you risk missing the significance of what's being conveyed.

All of this is ridiculously silly, of course, with low-rent special effects to boot. But you may laugh despite yourself.

At once short on details and incredibly forthcoming, Barbara Kopple's documentary doesn't dig into specifics about Mariel's personal struggles with mental illness nor the WillingWay lifestyle that she and her boyfriend Bobby Williams espouse.

A Case of You is perfectly enjoyable as far as indie rom coms go — just not particularly original.

The performances are genuine and the narrative beats land solidly for a perfectly enjoyable feel-good dramedy.

Director Derek Hockenbrough's vision is bigger than his budget, and it shows.

Haunter offers a freaky, visceral experience — without a hint of gore.

Scenes can drag; they at times pay homage to the filmmaker's memories rather than drive the narrative forward.

Inconsistencies cause more confusion than the magic Rose is presumably going for.

Suffers from the same ills as too many movies that preach to the choir: a laborious length, formulaic plot and dialogue and, disappointing for a film that stars a rapper, a stock score. Content aside, Molina's testimony isn't good cinema either.

Muddled by a setup with a religious bent that's never fully explored and an instance of euthanasia that's only tenuously related to the central plot.

Written with a poet's ear and directed with an artist's eye, Forgetting the Girl plumbs the psyche of an unassuming studio photographer.

Cleaver's Destiny" is an earnest but ultimately amateur production on all fronts that misses an opportunity to deal seriously with topics writer-director-star Karl Lentini obviously cares about.

Johnny Severin and Nicholas David Brandt's otherwise clever and original script takes an unexpected turn at nearly every intersection, resulting in a funny and big-hearted coming-of-age romance.

Baggage Claim promotes painfully outdated social mores.

This 3-D spectacle is less the dance movie that's going to make b-boying cool again than a shill for sponsors' gear.

There are glimmers of thoughtfulness here in the initial characterization of Katie and in her long, slow recovery before she can exact her revenge, but they're ultimately snuffed out by this mound of toxic trash.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't show its subject's creative process as much as that of her collaborators.

Greenbaum shoots the game play especially well, employing dynamic camera work and kinetic editing to convey the drama of what non-fans might consider a static sport.

Moving performances from Una Noche's charismatic non-pro cast, Mulloy's keen eye for visual detail and stunning cinematography by Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder of Cuba's turquoise water exploding against the sea wall offer a compelling portrait.

What Hawking does do well is open a window onto how his mind works and the passions that ignite his soul.

The hint at disagreement among the performers about who can and cannot call themselves Muslim is particularly provocative — a debate that would have been better off played out on-screen rather than summarized after the fact.

"Breathing" takes its humorous, contemplative tonal cues from Neil himself.

It's to Coiro's credit that no one emerges as a villain — and that, however painful, on the other side lies hope.

The real treasure in "TV Man" is Kosareff's impressive collection of old print and television ads, archival footage and big- and small-screen clips illustrating TV-set culture.

The script is short on details and insight, and when asked to comment on this condition — or the script's sketch of a culture on the cusp of the Internet revolution — the film, like its dirtbag protagonist, just shrugs.

This is no sappy portrait of a saint: Mino is tenacious, critical and defensive, and in one memorable scene, a colleague tries to get her to face reality about what the real world holds for their students after graduation.

There's a lot of movie here with unexpected developments, held together by the irresistible chemistry between Derbez and his adorable pint-sized co-star.

Documentarian Amy Nicholson puts a human face on the deterioration of the iconic New York amusement park by focusing on the fate of her favorite ride.