Chris Kaltenbach

What it is not is funny.

This is a marvelous film, a look at the strange, exasperatingly labyrinthine process of adolescence and the diverse ways people find to deal with it.

Doesn't match the impact of its predecessor, which both revived and reimagined the zombie-film genre.

Nothing is as it seems in State of Play, a crackerjack political thriller in which no individual, profession or institution gets away clean.

It's a shame his (Foxx) performance isn't surrounded by a better film.

Abandon tags Katie Holmes as a talented actor with surprising range and vast, untapped potential - so much, in fact, that watching her, one can almost overlook the film's many flaws. Almost.

It's supposed to be funny watching these two characters and wondering who'll be the first to start acting her age, but it's really just pitiful, watching two talented actresses...given so little to work with.

In less accomplished hands, Black Book could have been a hopeless mishmash. But Verhoeven proves a sure-handed storyteller, which might come as a surprise, as well as a terrific visual stylist, which shouldn't.

Viewers impressed by the fairly standard martial-arts action of "Crouching Tiger" will really be wowed after seeing this film.

Isn't nearly the landmark comedy it thinks it is, but its quirkiness should appeal to the highbrow funny bone in all of us.

For a documentary about a music festival, Soul Power doesn't include nearly enough music.

The year's most unsettling movie experience - and in this case, that's a very good thing.

Sort of feel-good lesson kids will enjoy and parents should welcome.

With an all-star cast maintaining an amiable tone throughout, the result is a movie in which everyone should see themselves for at least a few minutes (and wish they were that young, that beautiful and that well-off).

The Beautiful Country is not a happy film by any means, but it does offer a fragile hope, that beauty exists at the end of every journey, if only one has the strength to finish the trip.

Best advice: Just sit back and watch Freeman anyway. The man's a cinematic treasure.

Anderson sees her subject as little more than a game-show contestant. One suspects the real Evelyn Ryan deserved far better.

The real hero here is Ghobadi, whose love and respect for the culture in which he was raised shines through every frame.

Formulaic 'Chuck & Larry' is a crass, unfulfilling effort.

Baadasssss is about feeling pain and frustration, about having a sense of purpose that overwhelms everything else, about great cost and great risk, the pain of isolation and the intoxicating effect of fighting against the odds.

But the fine performances of all three leads rise above the cliches, giving the film a sense of reality that both impresses and inspires.

While Bresson's insistence on juxtaposing brute force with sublime grace isn't subtle, it is effective.

Russian Dolls never resorts to sitcom moments as it explores the transformation of friendship into love. All the characters here are believably appealing and refreshingly three-dimensional, and the situations they find themselves in have the ring of truth. You leave this film wanting to know these people, wanting the best for them.

Offers a welcome perspective, reminding us that extremism in the name of a values system is nothing new -- not even on these shores.

So what do we have here? Lots of cars going very fast.

Anyone who isn't charmed by the idea of a Beetle crossing the finish line first is either chronically churlish or isn't trying.

Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow are so immensely appealing, and their chemistry together is so unforced, that their presence alone makes a movie worth seeing. Thankfully, Bounce has even more going for it.

Latifah's performance and the film's gentle heart should prove enough to win over even the most churlish.

Star Maps is the work of a talented group of young actors and filmmakers anxious to try as much as they can and see what works. Not all of it does.

It's turned Stone's Catherine Tramell from a warning sign for the dangers of wanton sex into the last thing you'd figure - a bore.

A celebration of movie-studio ohana that should warm the hearts of moviegoers everywhere.

Isn't perfect, but it's fun, and Tim Allen shines

Just plain bad.

Both a condemnation of torture as a political tool and a tribute to the bravery that exists within everyone.

If you do insist on seeing this film, don't arrive late: the clever, animated opening credits are a stitch, suggesting a sprightliness of touch and winsome wickedness of tone that's missing from the rest of the movie.

Chaos, in miring itself in the inequities (not to mention obscenities) of male-dominated culture, is after greater truths.

One gets the feeling Kaufman was so intent on putting fury and fanaticism on-screen, he forgot about having it serve any greater purpose. Which makes Quills the film equivalent of one of de Sade's novels: artifice, without art.

A mess.

Looming large over all this is Jackson, who glowers and growls and acts the hero better than any actor out there.

There's a persistent innocence to this movie that will work wonders on all but the most churlish.

One of the year's most unsettling -- and perhaps most illuminating -- films.

This is a movie about guns blazing, men punching, speedometers straining and explosions exploding. On all those levels, it succeeds just fine - which makes for a great amusement-park ride, but perhaps not much of a movie.

This is not a great film by any means, too filled with stock characters in stock situations for such praise. But if offers screen time for some fine young actresses, and addresses its story to an audience of teen girls who deserve something to identify with.

A film that immerses its audience in the Indian culture while telling a universally appealing story of grace under pressure.

Whenever its noble aims miss, Bruce Willis saves it.

A film that celebrates the intricacies of life in ways both splendid and mundane, revealing it all with unflinching honesty.

At least The Honeymooners is not one of those remakes that looks bad compared to the original. It's just bad, period.

Scores some serious points for its dance moves but does a lousy job of remembering there's a lot more to this big old world than moving your feet.

Godsend is two-thirds of a good movie, with a final third that's just downright awful. So much wasted potential only makes the whole thing that much more painful.

Bening's performance makes up for a lot of deficiencies.

It's easier to accept a breakup when it's clear that the two parties are mismatched, but a better, braver film would reveal what caused the initial attraction.

As the film opens with, predictably, "Vertigo" and its "Hello, Hello" refrain, it's his steady presence and unforced charisma that anchors each performance, allowing Bono to emote for all he's worth.

In the end, viewers are left with a nagging feeling that this was a long way to go for the incongruous pleasure of watching 20th-century method acting on a 17th-century stage.

The best sections of Flushed Away, those featuring a nefarious French operative known as Le Frog (a hilarious Jean Reno), are also the most peculiarly British; no one lampoons the French with a better mixture of hard-earned loathing and grudging respect than the Brits.

A comic-book rock band starring in a film that actually makes a point? Now that's something worth singing about.

It's mindless, which is rarely true of French cinema, dull, which is rarely true of Hong Kong films, and portentous, which shouldn't be true of any film about a man-eating dog.

Unabashedly sentimental and just as unabashedly cliched.

Madagascar doesn't do much, except make you laugh. All hail such a minimalist approach.

Whenever Just Friends threatens to become a total drag, Faris bops onscreen for some serious comic business - either saving the film, or making things worse by pointing out what could have been.

Malibu's Most Wanted mines a well-worn comedic vein, but does so with a consistent good humor and surprisingly deft touch.

For anyone who has ever had to balance what the heart yearns for against what the head insists must be, this film should hit home.

Rebound is determinedly lightweight fare that shamelessly resorts to every crowd-pleasing cliche it can think of to wring sympathy and laughs from its audience. To say it succeeds is not meant as a compliment.

There's a funny movie struggling inside of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Too bad it never gets out.

It's unfortunate that none of the principal actors is able to convey the passion the characters are supposed to have for each other.

The true heartbreak of Maria Full of Grace is that it never comes.

True, the movie tends toward the treacly at times, and the children's mischievousness seems a bit forced. But Thompson's turn as a glammed-down Mary Poppins with an even more no-nonsense attitude is hard to resist.

While I have no problem with slackers making me laugh, when they start preaching, that's when my ears close and my eyes roll.

The out-of-control plot doesn't unfold gracefully or organically; it simply speeds along with no regard for anything other then getting to the next plot twist.

Formless, feckless, mindless, directionless and at times stunningly humorless.

There's a lot of talk about sex in Sidewalks of New York, but precious little of it. And that's part of the point.

As good as Willis is, he's no match for Mos Def.

The Cockettes is a grand place to visit, even for those who wouldn't want to live there.

This is Ferrell's movie, and one's tolerance for it will most likely be in direct proportion to one's tolerance for its star's vanity-free fearlessness.

The bad guys just seem like a bunch of X-Games rejects, and Blart's ingenuity proves way more effective than it has any right to be.

Spring, Summer values life, beauty and even human fallibility, ascribing to humanity a nobility we neglect at our own peril.

Replete with so many wisecracks, puns, double entendres and visual jokes that you almost need a flow chart to keep up with them all. But try; the effort is definitely worthwhile, and the results are hilarious.

Monsieur Ibrahim is about people interacting as people, not symbols (one reason, Sharif has said, he took the role was to help his grandchildren's generation understand that idea).

Despite stellar work from the cast, the movie seems as emotionally distant from its audience as its characters are from each other.

Craven's films aren't showy, but that should never be held against them. In their streamlined construction and rock-solid simplicity lay their brilliance.

There's little that's special about Underclassman, certainly nothing that Murphy and Eddie Griffin haven't done better in movies far funnier than this.

It's a frustrating film in that its characters resolutely defy convention, and its story offers no epiphany, no one moment when everything becomes clear.

A mess, but it means well.

There's nothing about The Wedding Date that isn't forced or labored; there's only a stubborn determination to embrace every cliche and make sure the stars photograph well.

Instead of heightening the intrigue in this psychological thriller, the labored twists and out-of-leftfield turns will leave audiences more weary than wary.

What we have here is a film where the first 20 minutes are repeated again and again until everything comes to an absolutely predictable end.

Garfield the comic strip stopped being funny about 10 years ago. Garfield the Movie makes it to about the 10-minute mark before tedium sets in.

Alpha Dog may well go down as the most dispiriting film of 2007.

Unfortunately, whenever Beautiful threatens to work as parody, it veers uncomfortably into pop psychology.

There's a subtlety to Crimson Gold that deserves applause.

What's not to love?

Jew or Gentile, a good story well told is a thing to be cherished.

Whenever the movie threatens to become just another visit to hillbilly-land, the music starts up and the film's gentle, irresistible wonder takes hold. Songcatcher is a film very much worth catching.

Best when DeVito plays off the supporting cast surrounding him.

An enjoyably complex sci-fi suspense thriller.

The movie contains few surprises but has plenty of heart.

If nothing else, it may make one appreciate the cartoon even more.

The movie has its moments, and some are undeniably affecting. But even those seem artificial, relying far too much on our familiarity with and fondness for the film's stars.

The film has a lot of right in it, including an ending that's suitably uncertain, but fraught with possibilities.