Claudia Puig

The film has its funny moments, but they are too few to make the holiday excursion worthwhile.

Though better than most of Perry's broad comedies, The Family That Preys still suffers from excessive predictability and mawkish sentiment, which detracts from the story's believability.

Despite his cockney-accented verbosity, Brand does not convey the effortless conviviality that Dudley Moore did in the part.

How Do You Know must have started with a good idea that got lost in the translation from concept to screen.

Although it's reasonably well-acted and offers a few certifiable jolts, feels awfully familiar.

The bone-crunchingly violent film has luridly entertaining moments. But by its resolution, this sleazy Southern Gothic nightmare has simply gone off the rails.

The story feels like a less complicated companion to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Obvious logical questions are ignored. For instance, if she remains 29, does that make her immortal?

When so many PG-13 movies are encroaching on R-rated turf, it's heartening to see a film that responsibly approaches its audience.

Nearly everyone in this film is unlikeable, their actions inexplicable. And the pace is so lugubrious that it's hard not to succumb to Justine's glum mood.

The handsome production design notwithstanding, The Awakening is not an elegant thriller. It's more like solemn drivel.

The movie tries to capture the crushing weight of loss, but between the insipid pop tunes and the repetitive shots cutting away to a lighthouse on a scenic outcropping, it feels more like a film version of a condolence card.

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson may be the worst interns since Monica Lewinsky.

Savage Grace is a thoroughly disturbing story, told in a detached style rendering the overall experience an unsettling blend of lurid and vacuous.

Each story has its moments, but "Air" lacks an overarching vision.

The film simply doesn't come together fluidly. Smaller parts aren't on par with the lead role, and special effects are overdone and cheesy. At times, the essence of Shakespeare's poetry is drowned out.

This frenzied fiesta of firepower is about cloning people for spare parts, but the movie is a clone itself. Possessing no new ideas, it reworks and borrows from such films as "Blade Runner," "The Matrix" and "Logan's Run."

Though occasionally visually inventive, Kung Fu Panda is a disappointment when it comes to matters of simple black and white: the script.

Glimmers of a fascinating and lively period film surface and fade in the first half-hour of The Immigrant. What predominates is a dully morose, overheated and implausible story.

A badly constructed, blood-spattered caper that comes unglued early on.

Though it has some mildly amusing moments (mostly in the visuals accompanying the novel's narration), Alex & Emma is disappointing, neither very romantic nor very comic.

Though the blending of archival footage into a faux documentary is occasionally clever, ultimately it's banal and unconvincing.

Leaden, non-involving and filled with mind-numbing computer-generated effects.

At its best, it's a gentle meditation on mortality. But at weaker moments it feels meandering and strangely empty.

The dialogue, delivered mostly in Southern accents, is intended to be funny and fresh, but much of this Western-influenced sci-fi adventure story feels reheated.

This follow-up seems so similar to the 1953 Disney classic that it makes one long for a geriatric Peter.

The whole journey feels like a rich girl gone slumming. And for those of us along for the ride, it's a bit of a slog.

It's not nearly as enjoyable as one of his rambling, meditative songs, though perhaps it is aspiring to be the cinematic equivalent. Give me "Tangled Up in Blue" any day over this incoherent, tangled trip.

Saoirse Ronan's talents are wasted on a foolish dual part in this dull sci-fi fantasy.