Claudia Puig

A riveting crime thriller, it's also a multi-generational familial saga that approaches Greek tragedy.

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

A potent combination of rousing music, appealing performances and an uplifting story renders this film-festival favorite nearly impossible to resist.

Largely because of its engaging cast, Admission is an amiable, but only slightly-above-average, comic romp.

More than anything, the striking spectacle of primordial flora and one-of-a-kind fauna makes it easy for audiences to get pleasantly lost in the adventure.

This is for those who like their political thrillers far-fetched, far-reaching and filled with pretty people.

With director Harmony Korine's visual overload and somnolent voice-overs — the same sentences are repeated ad nauseum — it manages to be both mind-numbingly dull and off-putting.

The action starts with a bang, but deteriorates and grows more absurd as the story strays farther from the LAPD call center.

What might have been an entertaining, silly comedy opts for pseudo-earnestness over movie magic.

Some of the film's most illuminating scenes involve Aya's uncle, General Kajima (Toshiyuki Nishida), who schools Fellers on the sense of duty that is ingrained in Japanese culture.

It's a story that could only happen in an era of YouTube and American Idol. Well-chronicled and fascinating, Don't Stop Believin' is a cinematic journey well worth taking.

As a gritty thriller, Dead Man Down doesn't stand out among its bullet-riddled brethren.

The combination of tight close-ups and jarring camera work might require a dose of Dramamine. Better yet, give this movie a wide berth and check out a superb film set in a submarine, the 1981 classic "Das Boot."

Despite its collegiate setting, 21 and Over is pretty much for people with an IQ of 21 and under.

Vivid visuals are the key to this handsome and moderately entertaining adventure. And the tone is more fairy-tale appropriate than video-game friendly, though the effects-laden swashbuckling sometimes obscures efforts at light whimsy.

In its focus on an ordinary family facing a nightmarish scenario, Snitch is a terrifying but relatable story.

What might have made Bless Me, Ultima more powerful would have been additional scenes with its mystical title character.

For anyone fascinated by the political process and the powers of persuasive advertising, No is a resounding yes.

Lead actor Ehrenreich conveys a spirited charm, while Englert, the object of his affections, is more blandly self-contained.

The picture-postcard location of Southport, N.C., is the film's strong suit.

The best thing about A Good Day to Die Hard is its title.

This genre stew throws in so many ingredients - including sundry body parts that are cut off and go flying, and heads that explode - that the result is a tasteless mash-up that's hard to stomach.

Quartet is endearing, sometimes even irresistible.

It tries to be a moody thriller, but cliched dialogue and too many coincidences make for a predictable and hackneyed film.

In the last five minutes the film shifts gears and offers a tribute to law enforcement. But this tacked-on resolution is as sticky and fake as Sean Penn's make-up job.

The highlight of Not Fade Away, a meandering and bittersweet coming-of-age story, is its killer '60s pop-rock soundtrack.

Promised Land is an involving and timely tale that explores the changing nature and complex challenges of rural life.

This is a tale not only of epic disaster but also of resilience. The Impossible is a nimbly acted drama that is at once a stellar visual achievement and a life-affirming story of familial love and courage.

Les Misérables is sweeping, as would be expected given the scope of the hugely popular stage musical from which it is adapted. But it's also wonderfully intimate, thanks to Tom Hooper's deft direction.

Despite a terrific cast, Jack Reacher comes up empty-handed.

There's an epic spaghetti Western feel to Quentin Tarantino's latest action/comedy/romance hybrid that is by turns dazzling, daring, gruesome and astonishingly funny.

Give it plenty of points for brutal honesty. But This is 40 could have used more laughs.

While this decade-long look at the inner workings of the CIA is intriguing, the movie would have benefited by more character development and additional editing.

Audiences deserve a resounding "mea culpa" for the embarrassing dreck, masquerading as comedy, in The Guilt Trip.

While the production design is impeccable and the journey intermittently involving, The Hobbit is overlong and lacks the enchantment of the Lord of the Rings films.

The shenanigans of randy soccer moms and their obnoxious blowhard husbands are intended as comic relief. But the sappy plot of this formulaic romantic comedy is just as silly as its inane attempts at farce.

The setting is vivid but the film is lifeless, despite many innuendos dropped about FDR's alleged infidelity.

This gritty examination of physical and psychological wounds offers a superb performance by Marion Cotillard, who speaks volumes with her eyes, and a less convincing one by her lead co-star.

Takes a fascinating chapter in Danish history, little-known to general audiences, and presents it engagingly.

There's nothing touchy-feely about Killing Them Softly, a stylish thriller worth seeing -- despite its relentless violence -- for its sharp dialogue, mesmerizing photography and gritty performances.

Though the film is titled Hitchcock and ostensibly centers on the legendary director, we get a better sense of the women around him than the enigmatic filmmaker.

A spectacular high-seas epic that employs technology brilliantly and underscores the power of a vividly told story.

Only those with paranoid fantasies of an en masse invasion on American soil will find Red Dawn remotely powerful. The concept should have been updated to allow for more complex and surreptitious kinds of warfare.

With its fanciful razzle-dazzle, Rise of the Guardians is appealing, if slightly hectic, family fare.

Though energetic, daring and gorgeous to behold, this re-imagining of Tolstoy's classic tale lacks a viable sense of passion, holding the characters at arm's length and glossing over social issues.

There may never have been a movie whose quality mattered less than this final chapter of The Twilight Saga.

Silver Linings is consistently entertaining, with its scrappy, well-drawn characters, offbeat humor and indefatigable positive outlook.

Through this very specific look at a critical time in Lincoln's presidency, Kushner, Spielberg and Day-Lewis work together to present an honest look at America's most revered statesman. Kushner finds an artful way to weave in the texts of the Gettysburg Address and the 13th Amendment, as well as a creative way to present Lincoln's assassination.

With a powerful jolt, 007 feels relevant again, with serious questions about espionage vs. cyber hacking amid the fun.

With Halloween bags still brimming, it's an ideal time for the inventive candy-colored fun and wicked humor that is Wreck-It Ralph.

The film is not without flaws. It glosses over the story of the dissolution of Whitaker's marriage and does not delve deeply enough into the source of his problems with his son. A romance with recovering junkie Nicole (Kelly Reilly) rarely rings true.

Fun is hiding behind a bad movie costume in this humorless and idiotic Halloween teen comedy.

Ultimately the story of Jay Moriarity, who died tragically in a diving accident at 22, is a moving one, and he deserved a better tribute than this film.

The cinematography is gorgeous and the makeup amazing, but the story lines are too disconnected.

Nothing is easily resolved in this complex drama, which makes it all the more honestly moving. More than anything, this is a film about a woman on a journey of self-discovery, finding her way gingerly.

There's virtually nothing new in the dull Paranormal Activity 4 except for a modification in the method of documenting the spooky shenanigans.

A moving tale with wryly funny moments.

Perry must have felt it was high time for him to try his hand at playing a darker role. But starring in this badly directed, suspense-free film with its unintentionally laughable dialogue does Perry no favors.

Smashed is quietly affecting, though sometimes difficult to sit through. The saving grace is Winstead's smashing performance.

A superbly crafted and darkly funny real-life political thriller, with pitch-perfect performances.

Men in movies are often just overgrown boys, and Seven Psychopaths is out to prove it - in the most twisted, hilarious way possible.

The new Wuthering Heightsis all gloomy moors and muck, but not much convincing passion.

Gator-filled swamps, an ultra-grungy murderer, racial undertones and a sexually charged atmosphere make up the tense and lurid world of The Paperboy.

Frankenweenie is a love story between a boy and his dog. It is also a beautifully crafted homage to classic horror films, a study of grief and a commentary on the mysteries of science and those who narrow-mindedly fear its advances.

The spirited a cappella singing in Pitch Perfect makes a predictable, feather-light coming-of-age film irresistibly fun.

When so much of what Hollywood churns out is almost instantly forgettable, it says a lot about a film when viewers want to take time to argue, ponder and puzzle over it.

While it's an energetic romp, there is more slapstick humor than wit at work here, and a good deal of borrowing from the far more clever "Monsters, Inc."

While there are moments where this drama, about a pair of mothers hellbent on improving their children's education, is compelling and deeply moving, the film gets mired in heavy-handed cliches.

Its title notwithstanding, there's nothing that remotely approaches a narrative curve ball in this tired saga of an aging baseball scout.

Unlike many action thrillers where the viewer is fairly certain that no real harm can come to the protagonists, such is never the case here. In this gritty ride-along, we sense that anything can happen, which adds to the propulsive momentum of a riveting story.

While there are humorous and poignant moments, this angst-filled story of tender kisses, awkward dances, friends drifting apart, kindly English teachers, unrequited crushes and drug-addled partying has a nagging sense of deja vu.

An artful blend of tenderness and sharp, clear-eyed observations. Its characters talk like real people -- who also happen to be smart, appealing and thoughtful.

While it's too hastily and neatly resolved, Hello I Must Be Going is a funny, well-written, involving and emotionally honest tale.

Anderson has taken pains to re-create the '50s with superb production design and gorgeous cinematography. But he seems less concerned with whether the audience is along for the ride. The story can leave viewers at sea, floundering to give meaning to what they are watching.

Chicken With Plums is not a thoroughly delectable concoction, but its exotic flavor is worth sampling.

Ironically, the dialogue in The Words is its chief failing.

Talented actors are wasted in a film that induces more cringes than chuckles as women old enough to know better act like horny sailors on leave, absorb mass quantities of alcohol and drugs, and generally behave horribly.

A dream for fans of offbeat, well-written, subtly acted projects.

While the sound design and spooky minimalist music add suspense, and CGI effects are duly sinister, a climactic strobe effect is more annoying than frightening.

So stunningly photographed that the blood that spurts early and often in this grisly period piece is extra-vivid red. But that hardly makes the Prohibition-era story of a trio of bootlegging brothers feel authentic.

Despite far-fetched plot points - such as a flash mob of bike messengers ready to rumble and thwart evil - it's easy to get caught up in this life-or-death two-wheeled slalom.

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

This fun-loving genre-bender, inspired by "Smokey and the Bandit," opens languidly, then picks up the pace. Even in the midst of cars racing, it's funny and endearing.

Unlike most rom-coms, Celeste and Jesse Forever delves into the complicated heart of relationships, exposes some painful truths and allows melancholy to co-exist alongside breezy humor.

Shines brightest during its musical numbers.

The Expendables 2 is corny, barbaric and sometimes visually murky. But humor and self-deprecating macho charm make this male pattern badness crowd-pleasing fun.

This wryly funny take on the classic ghost story, with its tributes to horror thrillers from "Halloween" to "Friday the 13th" and rich cast of characters, has distinctive Tim Burton-esque visuals, and a welcome dearth of potty humor.

Robert Pattinson must be hellbent on escaping the world of sparkly-skinned undead to take on the starring role in the leaden, obtuse and ultra-pretentious Cosmopolis.

Drama/comedy fables such as "Big" and "13 Going on 30" effectively transported viewers to their whimsical alternate reality. But Timothy Green feels more predictable than other-worldly.

This latest Bourne doesn't send adrenaline surging the way "Ultimatum" did, but it's still a tense, well-acted thrill ride.

"It's a mess" is the campaign slogan of Marty Huggins, played by Galifianakis. He's referring to the state of government. But he might as well be describing the movie in which he co-stars.

It's about as uncomfortable as sitting through an interminable counseling session - involving two people you hardly know and don't much care about.

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

Instead of drawing the audience in, the action scenes merely blur together. And the intriguing, thoughtful concepts at the story's core are glossed over.

A musical detective story, this enthralling documentary focuses on a little-known American musician whose haunting voice and poetic lyrics were essentially unknown in his own country, but had a massive impact across the globe.

The film is one long Costco joke - but the punch line is never all that funny.

The fictional premise is used cleverly to illuminate the creative process and explore romantic minefields, and the appealing Ruby Sparks has a low-key, polished charm.

The point of the film is not to scorn or mock the Siegels, despite their excesses. They embody the quintessentially American urge to live beyond one's means. Their saga is simply the story of a nation's materialism writ large.