Chris Kaltenbach

Predictable but utterly engaging, 27 Dresses will likely be remembered as the film that made Katherine Heigl an A-list star.

A welcome anomaly - a shallow hero you root for.

Better than his previous films, The Day After Tomorrow plays to Emmerich's strengths, making for a thrill ride that rarely disappoints when it matters.

The Clearing reminds us what a riveting presence he (Redford) can be.

The martial arts wizard shows a nice feel for the Butch and Sundance thing.

Anderson brings real gravitas to the unfortunate Lily Bart, in an Oscar-caliber performance that makes one wonder what Academy voters are looking for.

Delivers deliciously low blows at corporate America, office politics and the lengths people will go to avoid work.

Fortunately, this film doesn't have to depend on off-screen dalliances to prove its worth.

There's enough wit to keep audiences of whatever age happy.

As they've proven before and doubtless will prove again, Soderbergh and his cast are capable of better, weightier, more substantial stuff. But for now, slumming has rarely seemed more appealing.

A love letter to the time, and the period, and the legend that has grown around both. Maybe it's all too wonderful to be true, but that's OK. If Taking Woodstock is a fantasy, then it's a most benevolent one, and more power to it.

Pointed and satiric. Best of all, one must hasten to admit, it's pretty funny.

The story line meanders and too many scenes drone on; Knocked Up is in serious need of a good editor. But the laughs are plentiful, and it's the rare movie these days where one doesn't feel guilty about finding the whole thing funny.

Chilling doesn't begin to describe Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple...But the film never gets behind the chill.

The American writer and poet Charles Bukowski is certainly an acquired taste, and Factotum may be just the film for determining whether one wants to acquire it.

Sometimes sly and witty, sometimes dull and forced, Coffee and Cigarettes is Jim Jarmusch's testimony to the difficulties and delights of communication.

Like "Tango," Wang's film also seeks to uncover whether sex without emotion is really possible, or worth the effort.

In the end, this is a movie that doesn't respect its own power. Less of a stacked deck would have left Vera Drake to play a far more effective hand.

The best moments in Paper Clips - and there are plenty - come when it doesn't resort to mundane cliches or calculated emotions to make its point.

Earns few points for originality, but scads for good-hearted exuberance.

Hellboy is, to borrow a phrase, one helluva good time.

It was a time in history eminently worth celebrating on film.

A slice-of-life where being gay is a fact of daily existence, not an excuse for existential dilemmas or grand tragedies.

Your basic Lasse Hallstrom formula-film, featuring people in dire situations who are redeemed when their basic goodness comes to the fore, elevated a notch by a pair of actors displaying sides we don't often see.

Romanek does such a nice job of calibrating his film's squirm factor, it's possible to overlook some flaws that would sink a lesser film.

Those willing to overlook its emotional grandstanding will find much to admire and even more to think about in this Oscar-nominated Danish drama.

This may be the quietest addict ever to hit movie screens, as well the most disturbing.

An action-adventure flick that could turn into this generation's "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Serenity may be short on exposition, but it's smart and fun.

Offers a welcome riff on a well-worn horror standard.

A wonderfully understated work offering insights to a world where no emotion is simple.

Romantically nostalgic, a love letter to growing up in simpler times.

The determinedly cynical needn't bother, but just about everyone else should love Eight Below.

This is Forster's show, and he doesn't disappoint.

It's a blast!

Rocky and Bullwinkle have not only returned, but they've been placed in the hands of filmmakers who know what they're doing.

Takes a great idea -- what if the inhabitants of a museum came to life at night? -- and milks it for every drop of fun it's worth.

A twisted little comic gem.

Foxx is magnificent, taking a role that could be exorbitantly showy (actors playing the mentally disabled tend to forget the word "restraint") and turning in a performance that's controlled and mesmerizing.

In some ways, Thank You for Smoking does not bemoan smoking as much as it bemoans people's willingness to be duped by smooth-tongued orators.

Buy your ticket, sit yourself down, and let ol' John take you for a ride. You'll have a blast.

It offers top actors in Fiennes and Richardson, plus a rare joint appearance by the sisters Redgrave.

There's a power to Woman Thou Art Loosed that transcends its limitations, a determined, heartfelt belief in the possibility of redemption.

There's a moving, complicated love story at the center of Angel Eyes. It's too bad a peripheral plot line draws attention away from it.

The performances of Luna and, especially, Reilly, make the film more enthralling than it perhaps deserves to be.

A slick sci-fi thriller that comes complete with enough twists to keep audiences satisfied and enough moral quandaries to keep the thinkers happy.

The film's action doesn't disappoint; if anything, it ups the adrenaline ante considerably.

Barrymore gives a performance that's nuanced, assured and captivating.

Blues Brothers 2000 doesn't tell much of a story, but it makes for one smokin' concert. [06 Feb 1998]

Cinema has once again proven its ability to incorporate every other mass-media art form. Director Zack Snyder and his computer wizards have made the best example yet of the movie-as-comic-book.

Fits squarely into the "exciting" category; it's a white-knuckler of the first order.

It's all done with such good heart, and Stiles is so perfectly appealing as one of cinema's most grounded Cinderellas.

Yes, the characters in Clerks II hardly qualify as role models, but they can be blisteringly funny in an in-your-face, to-heck-with-taste way.

There's comfort in seeing actors we know doing what we've come to expect them to do. But more important, the film surrounds them with supporting characters who are less familiar to us, who act in ways we don't expect.

Not everyone is going to appreciate the politics of Barbershop, but you've got to admire it for having a political view at all.

Cheerful and unpretentious.

A bravura, resonant performance by Nicolas Cage, combined with some hard questions raised about American responsibility for the worldwide glut of firearms, make the film close to a must-see, if not a must-love.

All three actresses are appealing, but Fisher, proving her scene-stealing turn in Wedding Crashers was no fluke, shines brightest.

This is a movie that earns its suspense and validates its emotions, especially its examination of the bond between mother and child.

Playing a perpetual victim like Victor (Walken) might be easy, but making audiences want to watch him for 97 minutes isn't.

A good film that, with a little extra care, could have been great.

Nicholson is terrific here, in a role that demands he act, rather than just be Jack.

Its effects don't linger long enough to seriously detract from the raunchy good time had by all.

There's plenty to like about Adrenaline Drive, including the appealing, sympathetic performances of its two young stars and the tongue-in-cheek humor that pervades the film.

Steadily, stealthily, The Eye works its way into your psyche, playing with your mind and always keeping a surprise or two up its sleeve.