Claudia Puig

While the film is not nearly as evocative as Egoyan's 1997 masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter" (also about children who died tragically), it is still an intrinsically fascinating story.

Resembles an enthusiastic but undisciplined child running amok through an exhibit.

It's a cut above most spooky-kid movies, with a twist that sets it apart.

Not only is it plodding and completely predictable, the carnage is rendered slowly and quasi-reverentially, making the whole brutal experience come off like torture porn.

This implausible action thriller also stars Julianne Moore as an FBI agent who sees Cage's two-bit Vegas act and decides he can single-handedly save the world.

As a raunchy romantic comedy or an homage to the 1980s, Take Me Home Tonight is hardly worth a one-night stand.

It's a sweet and mildly funny movie that will entertain young audiences, but one aspect is utterly mystifying: The two main characters, father and son bovine creatures, have large, distracting udders.

Arthur Newman is an old story and chronically, consistently uninvolving.

Despite its patina of stylishness, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is sorely lacking in thrills.

It has a few moments of fun and whimsy, but it lacks the joyous spirit and intelligent humor of the children's novel on which it's based.

If you're of a mind to believe a dreary and far-fetched thriller about numerology-crazed alien life forms, then you may find the movie mildly diverting.

It's a thoroughly family-friendly film, with a subtle message about the importance of father figures. Don't expect anything resembling believability, but enjoy the blend of strikingly colorful visuals and banter between odd couple Johnson and Caine, which combine for a mild escapist treat.

Alpo is served with a burrito chaser in Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Disney's fish-out-of-water comedy in which the fish is … well, read the title.

Hanks directs with assurance. Perhaps if he had teamed with a more agile writer, less given to cheesy yuck-fests, Larry Crowne would be the nuanced adult love story it aims to be.

The movie starts out cleverly enough but grows insipid as the girls' antics become more predictable.

Moviegoers will come up empty with Mad Money. This lifeless comedy and uninventive caper feels as if it were cobbled together at a studio's obligatory consciousness-raising diversity seminar.

What audiences should expect is a tone-deaf, superficial, charmless ensemble rom-com, focused on five attractive, but uninteresting, couples.

It takes more than an awkward title attempting to sound cool to overcome its mundane plot and silly dialogue.

Mostly, Battleship is a noisy, overlong and numbing military-vs.-aliens saga with laughably bad dialogue.

There's nothing wrong with fairy tales, but they don't have to be formulaic. A movie like this would have benefited from a blending of the fanciful and the inventive.

If you'd like to know about the famously eccentric psyche of surrealist artist Salvador Dali, whom Pattinson plays, you're better off consulting written biographies. Little Ashes does nothing to illuminate the iconic Spanish artist.

The dialogue is fast-paced and full of pop-culture references. It all makes for an entertaining blend of buddy-cop action and irreverent teen-comedy satire.

Makes its point ham-fistedly and then devolves into a blood-spattered slasher movie. It also unashamedly cribs from more disturbing films like "Straw Dogs," "Funny Games" and "A Clockwork Orange."

Unfortunately, Leo is the only well-developed character in a handsomely mounted but tedious drama with an impressive international cast.

This may be the most laugh-free comedy of the year.

It seems as if no professional actors were hired in the making of this motion picture.

As thrilling as the adventure sequences might be for kids, the better scenes take place on the high school campus.

It's a silly good time, and that's something these days.

A misguided attempt at comedy that needs to go last on anyone's list of movie options.

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

Kick-Ass is a prime example of a movie that never should have bothered with a sequel. Not only is its successor played-out, but it revels in carnage while lacking the visual style and gleeful humor of the original.

An L.A.-based story with more turns and curves than a Hollywood canyon.

As clunky and humorless as its title.

The result is a generic saga with a cast of forgettable one-dimensional characters

Glaringly lacking in the film are any original Stones songs. The group, who fired Jones just before his death, must not have thought much of the movie if they didn't allow their music to be used. Smart fellows.

The improvised dialogue has a no-holds-barred quality that can hit or miss. But when it hits, it can be hysterical.

The film clocks in at under two hours, but the last 20 minutes feel like 40.

It might be that Jarmusch (Broken Flowers) is experimenting with creating a pastiche of dreamlike sequences that audiences can interpret as they wish. Or it may be merely pretension and hubris that fuels such a stylized and insubstantial story.

G-Force is unlikely to keep anyone older than 10 on the edge of his seat, and the bathroom humor may annoy adults. But the message of unity, while unoriginal, is consistently sweet.

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

Chappie is meant to inspire questions about what it means to be human, and at times it does. However, director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp doesn't explore its intriguing premise deeply enough.

The movie's appeal is largely the result of the perfectly cast James Marsden as Fred, a lovable slacker who accidentally injures a floppy-eared rabbit who calls himself E.B. (perfectly voiced by Russell Brand).

While there is a pleasantness about this faithful Shakespearean reboot, there also is some woeful miscasting and a lukewarm feeling about the straightforward production.

Dog lovers will instantly warm to the handsome stray collie mix, but they may struggle to fully embrace the amiable but toothless adult story surrounding him.

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.

Turns out to be a tepid thriller that promises more than it delivers.

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

Employing Navy troops as stars is a clever idea for an action thriller. But the soldiers' awkward line readings are glaring enough to distract from the potency of the story.

This ill-conceived sequel to 2011's entertaining Horrible Bosses is base, moronic, insulting and vulgar. It's also cringingly unfunny.

If Mel Brooks were to team up with Tim Burton, the result might be something like the loony and colorfully tantalizing animated film Igor.

The comedian's braggadocio here is more wearying than that of the most self-absorbed rapper. And worse, it comes at the expense of humor.

The real shocker is how many grown men it took to conceive and write this lamebrained tale.

Scotsman Gerard Butler does a fine job as the charismatic, ghostly character.

Dance Flick occasionally hits its mark with nimble execution. But too often it stumbles clumsily into bad taste.

Though the film opens with an intriguing burnished look, it bogs down about halfway through with talkiness and uneven pacing.

Overall, it's a gently bittersweet and affecting portrait.

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."

There's nothing terribly fantastic about this ho-hum futuristic foray.

Insightful gems are unearthed throughout the flawed but engrossing Salinger,a much-anticipated documentary about the author of The Catcher in the Rye.

Portentous and dull, the film features one of the worst over-the-top performances by Dennis Hopper, who plays an abusive father.

Tries and winds up with a pleasant, if forgettable, romp of a film.

Grief and suicide seem unlikely subjects for a comedy. But Shrink tries gamely to mine edgy humor from the darkest places. Sometimes it works. Other times, its Hollywood-centric focus feels like a re-heated cinemash of "The Wackness," "Crash" and "The Player."

Insidious: Chapter 2 appears to be the sum of the unusable parts from James Wan's recent haunted house feature "The Conjuring."

The sci-fi film's reported $175 million budget must have gone largely into loopy production design, wild costumes, outlandish hairstyles and colorful make-up. It certainly didn't go into developing a coherent script or coaching believable performances.

More often the film succumbs to clichés, grows convoluted and outlandish, and winds up dead on arrival.

The story, an updated version of the 1951 classic about a portentous extraterrestrial visit, feels musty and derivative, and not only because it's a remake.

The story is corny and predictable, but Carlyle's subtle, nuanced performance saves the movie from drowning in sentimentality.

Maybe Affleck was drawn to this movie because it involves the loss of memory. Who wouldn't want to forget "Gigli," and now this?

It's dogged by awkward dialogue, a ridiculous plot and lackluster performances, especially by the leads.

Although it's a quintessential popcorn movie, Wolverine is not mindless. Hood and Jackman bring depth to a comic-book tale of anti-heroes with anger issues.

For a movie that touts the importance of humanity, Green Lantern is a strangely lifeless spectacle.

The Change-Up should have fired on all cylinders. What went wrong here?

Nathan Fillion is the movie's brightest spot as Hermes, re-envisioned as a UPS manager. He makes a quip about how the best TV series always get canceled, in a nod to Firefly, the iconic sci-fi show in which he starred.

Fame offers slick entertainment with some exuberance, but it's devoid of soul or heart.

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

There's nothing worse than a boring behemoth.

Some of the car gadgetry, Kato's specialty, looks cool...The Green Hornet is otherwise colorless, numbing and sluggishly paced.

Feels like a bad sitcom.

Ostensibly meant to be light entertainment. If light is synonymous with preposterous, frenetic and noisy, it qualifies.

Predicating an escapist romantic comedy on a realistic tragedy requires a nimble touch at the helm. Perhaps if Life had been made by, say, James Brooks, it would have worked.

It's an unrelentingly brutal movie set in an unusually scenic locale — the coastal city of Valparaiso, Chile.

The movie is devoid of laughs, except for a mildly funny segment when one of the chipmunks inhales helium. And since this is aimed at the under-10 set, it includes the requisite flatulence joke and a spit take or two.

Like a politician who waters down his message to gain favor with the masses rather than truly serving his constituency, Man of the Year seems determined to play it safe on all counts.

The last name Blart may be the funniest thing in the movie, so that's a hint as to just how bad this shopping-center saga can be.

As forewarned, so avoid.

The only redeeming feature about The Gunman is its exotic locations.

You know something is wrong when a preschooler's unwitting ad-libs are funnier than anything seasoned comedy writers can come up with. Kids say the darnedest things. Too bad the grown-ups don't.

Where 1991's "Thelma & Louise" was funny and action-filled, Tammy's story is thin, cringe-inducing and, worst of all for a comedy, not funny. Jokes land with a thud and the pacing is leaden.

This misguided chick flick jumps through a lot of hoops just to state the obvious: "Life goes on, enjoy the time you have."

The story doesn't clarify why the dragons hibernated for hundreds of years, nor why they awakened. Clearly, however, the filmmakers might have benefited from more sleep before penning the script.

Essentially Cars in midair.

So the cliches are as thick as a vat of honey. And the love story proves just as syrupy. But for those who lap up this sappy vision of romance, it contains all the key ingredients.

The fantasy segments, played up in trailers, get bogged down amid the ho-hum tale of a loser making good.

The contrived insult comedy here feels old, borrowed and blue.

Has a riddick-ulous sci-fi plot, overblown and numbing video game-style special effects and a going-through-the-motions lead performance by Vin Diesel.

It's a pleasant enough fantastical adventure, but it does feel naggingly derivative.

Stereotypical, banally written bloodbath.

Offers up the absolute bare necessities of a sequel.

Balls of Fury makes "Dodgeball" look like high art. It'll be tough to crack a smile, let alone laugh, during this uninspired and sophomoric satire of sports movies.

Though probably well-intentioned, Radio comes off as manipulative of its audience and exploitative of the mentally challenged.

A deadly dull and overly familiar movie about summoning ghosts that draws upon nearly every horror movie cliché.

Not only is it an unfunny movie shrilly told, it probably is the most ill-timed and appallingly insulting movie in recent memory.

A predictable espionage thriller undercut further by loose ends left dangling, November Man is worth seeing only for Pierce Brosnan's dynamic lead performance.

Starts out with promise but staggers under the weight of trying to take on too much. The tone is murky: The story attempts to blend adolescent angst with fantasy adventure, and the result is rather clunky.

Silly, unfunny and formulaic.

Will not be for everyone, but it works if you surrender to its lilting and unabashedly sentimental tale of evocative music and visual poetry.

Free Birds is pleasant enough holiday fare. And kudos to the animators for transforming a rather unattractive — or at least unappreciated — species into a cast of endearing characters.

A failure from start to finish.

Has nothing remotely new or comical in its arsenal. In fact, this vacuous farce has nothing original to say about marriage, working parenthood, child-rearing or corporate America.

Last year's "TheWild Thornberrys Movie" and previous Rugrats films were more imaginative. And this one also suffers by coming on the heels of the exceptional "Finding Nemo."

Smoochy, like the cuddly character, tries to be loved and ends on an unrealistically upbeat note. But it's in better, wittier form just being vicious and biting.

Audiences could use a wise and probing movie about the meaning of our increasingly digital, techno-juiced lives.Men, Women & Children is about half that movie.

There is undoubtedly a good movie in the varied experiences of American newcomers. But it would need to involve sagas more urgent and more original.

A terrorist thriller that isn't so much suspenseful as overbearing. Though it aspires to be an intriguing political cautionary tale, the movie is mostly about the feverish and jarringly choreographed chase scenes.

That a group of creative people chose to direct their energies on this repulsive spectacle simply provokes disgust.

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

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

Made of Honor has some funny moments, and it keeps your attention, but it's certainly not worth rushing out to the multiplex and paying top dollar for. Catch it on TV on a lazy afternoon with little else to do.

Amelia goes airborne but never fully soars.

Winnie Mandela is a simplistic look at a complex figure.

Though the lead actress, newcomer Jordana Beatty, gives a spunky performance as third-grader Judy, her character's borderline bratty charm wears thin fast. Mostly it's undercut by the movie's irritatingly antic slapstick style.

It's undoubtedly a daunting role, and Morgado captures the gentle benevolence associated with the messianic figure. He doesn't, however, project the authority, gravitas or depth of a spiritual leader.

It may be the only movie ever to feature a bad performance by Johnny Depp, one of the best actors working in films.

Somewhere amid the mind-numbing barrage of action sequences there's a story based on Greek mythology. But its essence is buried amid the clatter.

It's a 2 1/2-hour slog, with tonal inconsistencies and monotonous, drawn-out action sequences. Scenes alternate between frenetic and tedious.

It's an almighty, humorless bore.

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.

The movie for anyone who has dreamed of watching young dinos in love.

Annabelle invites unflattering comparisons with scary movies that came before, but its disparate parts never coalesce into a genuinely fearsome thriller.

Aspires to be epic, but mostly it's just unfocused, sprawling and badly in need of editing.

A movie that gives marriage, homosexuality, friendship, firefighters, children and nearly everything else a bad name.

The two main characters in Are You Here spend much of their time stoned or weeping. Those who watch this dreadful film may seek to escape or sink into despair as well.

You can't help but have high expectations from Zaillian and this stellar cast. But the result this time is a thuddingly tedious soap opera.

Screwball, vaguely futuristic political satires are a rare hybrid, and War, Inc. is an intriguing, if flawed, example.

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

Yearns to be fresh but ends up tasteless. It's as drawn-out, forced and annoying as a holiday meal with a dozen carping relatives.

It comes off like a coughed-up furball: a wan rehash with too many elements of the hard-to-swallow 2004 original.

Will leave audiences yawning rather than gasping from fear.

The movie's premise is as dopey as they come: A serial killer with a conscience is killing other serial killers.

God may forgive you for seeing this needlessly brutal film. But you won't forgive yourself.

It's too bad more energy wasn't devoted to fleshing out the one-dimensional characters and crafting a decent script. The only reason to catch this harmless diversion is for the group dance sessions.

Yes, it's a candy-colored Day-Glo world, but there's a liveliness missing from this lead-footed Speed Racer.

While it doesn't break any new ground or provide any revelations, Seven Pounds is unabashedly emotional and cautiously hopeful. It's the feel-good movie for these feel-bad times.

Hunter is far too talented to waste her time with such mediocre material, as is co-star Kathy Bates, who plays Kippie Kann, an overbearing talk-show host.

The players fall into recognizable stereotypes: the big and clumsy kid, the real talent who's also a showoff, the buffoon, the gross-out guy. But no one is more formulaic than the coach. He starts out smug with the kids and ends up smitten.

Tooth Fairy will make your teeth ache and your skin crawl.

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

Though it's only 90 minutes, the film drags, making these not-so-easy riders pretty tough to watch.

The thrills, chills, frights, starts and occasional screams that a good horror film elicits from an audience are not there. Jeepers, the Creeper has little to recommend it.

You're bound to have more fun working overtime than watching Employee of the Month.

The Canyons is billed as an erotic thriller, but the sexcapades of these empty-headed twentysomethings are far more likely to elicit yawns than titillation.

Not so admirably, the film feels at times like a giant commercial for Universal Studios.

Fun at times and tedious at others, it's an action-adventure fantasy aimed particularly at gadget-loving boys.

Should the desire to see a clever zombie movie strike, try the recent remake of "Dawn of the Dead" or last year's "28 Days."

While the jokes are obvious and the romance formulaic, a good-natured sensibility saves the film from being too hokey. The individual parts may not work, but the sum remains entertaining.

Been-there-seen-that wannabe laughfest.

Only a truly dreadful story could make 81 minutes seem like an eternity. And Space Chimps is just that leaden experience.

Though it doesn't fully resonate as a romance, it is effective as a character study.

Viewers seeking a fresh comedy, a seductive romp, or even just an escape from boredom for a couple hours will be left dismally unsatisfied by this stilted, nearly humorless, non-titillating slog.

By the time the movie reaches its protracted conclusion, it feels like a slog. Pacino has a few funny lines, as does Leguizamo, but not nearly enough to save the film from collapsing under the weight of its own self-righteous tedium.

A tribute to a giant leap for mankind feels like a clumsy shuffle backward for animation.

Nothing feels remotely fresh, let alone savage or zany in The Wild Life. It’s a dull, uninspired and frantically tedious animated re-telling of the Robinson Crusoe story, complete with a menagerie of ditzy, caterwauling beasts.

While it has the requisite amounts of comedy and romance, it's actually more of a buddy movie. Think "Sex in the City," bro-style.

This film is so superficial and shifts so jarringly in tone that nothing feels authentic -- not Bacon's hard-working husband and father, nor his maniacal vengeance seeker.

One of the film's biggest problems is that Richie is an unsympathetic and rather dim character. The badly drawn role does the likable Timberlake no favors.

It's mystifying how such a muddled and silly movie drew the talented cast it did.

Sharp satire or feel-good foolishness? Silly sap won out.

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

The tagline for College Road Trip is "You Can't Get There Fast Enough." But for those who sit through this humorless and massively predictable movie, a more apt phrase would be: "You Can't Get Out of There Fast Enough."

As if this drivel weren't bad enough, the ending blatantly threatens a sequel

If there was any doubt that most things in society have been dumbed down in the last couple of decades, Dumb and Dumber To could be exhibit A.

It's a story that feels familiar at best, hackneyed at worst, which is surprising and disappointing, as director Tom Vaughan also made last year's "Starter for 10," a charming British coming-of-age comedy.

Bonds are tested and feelings hurt, but who really cares? The story takes predictable turns, embraces clichés and dodges all humor.

A supernatural action thriller, is jangly, jarring and violent. But more disconcerting is watching the sweet-faced Dakota Fanning swear, get drunk and pack heat -- in both fists, no less.

Don't expect the seventh Star Wars film here. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is more like a long Saturday morning cartoon.

It doesn't help that the performances are bland (particularly those of Christensen and Bilson) and that what comes out of their mouths is uninspired. Short on imagination and anchored by a wan hero, Jumper is a flight of fancy that never fully takes off.

The story, though initially intriguing, is dicey. A seminal social satire has been spun off into a passionless romance and a wan comedy.

This sequel to the clever and funny first "Transformers" not only is disappointing, it will give most people a throbbing case of metal overload.

Women may appear a bit smarter here, but both sexes are portrayed as superficial and silly.

It's unclear why the writers bothered to update the cartoon, unless it was to expand the possibilities for quips and jokey ideas. If so, they failed in their mission, as the movie elicits few laughs.

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

Post Grad is a collection of unfunny, insipid and predictable vignettes in search of a movie.

The dashing Jackman plays his part well enough, but the script doesn't provide sufficient "Indiana Jones"-style bons mots to win us over.

An uplifting but occasionally treacly tale of transcendent grief, opted to venture where angels go fearlessly.

A moviegoer's nightmare. The story is incoherent, inane and interminable.

The Expendables 3 is as boneheaded and disposable as it sounds.

The thin premise here seems better suited to a sitcom episode than a full-length feature. That's not surprising given that director Mark Mylod's résumé includes British TV comedies and "Entourage" episodes.

Family Weekend is the kind of dark-for-dark's sake, wannabe quirkfest that proves indie films can be just as clichéd and vapid as the most soulless Hollywood movies.

Lacks tension or mystery. Even the courtroom scenes feel artificial.

Yogi Bear is a big boo-boo.

This wrongheaded biopic that bears her name does nothing to burnish her legacy. In fact, the tedious movie lacks any insight into the characters involved, and surely would have the late Princess of Wales rolling in her grave. And it can't be easy on her sons to see their mother depicted in such a one-dimensional fashion.

The biggest mystery in this wannabe thriller is why such topnotch actors would sign on for such a dreary movie that amounts to a mediocre soap opera.

Bewitched does have a few laughs, thanks to Ferrell's antics. And some of the wittiest contemporary comedians are on board, notably "The Office's" Steve Carell and "The Daily Show's" Stephen Colbert, but they are underused.

When it comes to comedies about pregnancy, "Knocked Up" and "Baby Mama" delivered more. This sitcom style exercise in planned parenthood is blandly predictable. If it were a cheese, it would be Velveeta.

Ghosts can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a racy raunchfest or a sentimental celebration of soul mates. So it ends up being a sappy, sleazy hybrid.

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

Cloying and dated movie.

Shyamalan isn't drawing the caliber of performances from his actors as he used to. Who can forget Haley Joel Osment's haunting portrayal in The Sixth Sense or that of Toni Collette, who played his mother, or Bruce Willis in arguably his best role?

Get Hard is hard to sit through and hardly funny. So unless you're really hard up for entertainment, stay away from this tone-deaf raunchfest.

Deep within Law Abiding Citizen lurks a thought-provoking movie. But most of what we see on the screen is implausible, superficial and only marginally involving.

While it's billed as a "re-imagining" of the horror franchise, this Friday is more like a rehash, delivering just what you expect and nothing more.

The humor, largely centered around bodily functions and bathroom habits, is almost exclusively sophomoric.

When it aims for humor, it feels overwrought and clichéd.

This insipid, and sometimes awkward, blend of animation, computer generation and live action wastes a ton of talent and lacks a true sense of whimsy.

You don't have to believe in far-fetched tales of mysterious beams of light and alien abductions to get caught up in The Fourth Kind.

It would have worked better if the silly premise had been played for farcical satire, rather than following the cookie-cutter rules of the romantic comedy playbook.

Within a few minutes into the ponderous prehistoric pseudo-epic that is 10,000 B.C., you find yourself longing for George of the Jungle to crash into a tree or the Geico cavemen to amble up and put an end to the droning seriousness of this tedious tale.

The film feels as calculatedly sentimental as one of those bland pink candy hearts.

Such overkill might seem like an asset to teenage boys (and those who think like them). The rest of us are better off not wasting our Washingtons.

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

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

Those who sit through this mindlessness get the booby prize.

Her (Garner) grace and mystical abilities make for a lonely burden, and we are supposed to feel her pain. Instead, we feel our own for having to sit through this silly movie.

The movie is raunchier than expected, and above all clichéd, formulaic and thoroughly sexist. Worst, it's just not very funny.

The opening frame of Jonah Hex should say: "Caution: Made expressly for the male teen demographic. Not suitable for anyone of any age who prefers movies with coherence, an original plot or characters they give a hoot about."

What we get is simply another opportunity for Schwarzenegger -- who seems to be in perpetual Terminator mode -- to flex his muscles.

The martial-arts sequences take this prosaic thriller to a higher level.

A good-natured and engaging fantasy/romantic comedy in the tradition of "Heaven Can Wait" or even "Topper."

The movie tries to be both comical and touching, as befitting the coming-of-age genre. But it feels forced, derivative and sometimes sappily sentimental.

Yet another foray into unnecessary 3-D, is a rehashed mishmash of Jonathan Swift's 18th-century classic. Mostly, it's a vehicle for Jack Black's zany humor.

Love Happens is an oddly upbeat title for a movie that is surprisingly sad.

Unfunny, sappy and massively predictable.

All the obvious elements combine to manipulate the audience into a weepy time at the movies -- again.

Quvenzhané Wallis is adorably plucky as the lead in Annie. She and Jamie Foxx as the newfangled Daddy Warbucks character have an appealing chemistry and their songs together are the best moments in the movie. But the rest of Annie is banal, shallow and markedly cynical.

In this Amityville, the performances are bad, the special effects ho-hum, and it's not even particularly scary.

This is not only unsuitable for children, it's a colossal waste of time at any age.

It may sound like a Peter Pan spinoff, and Dear Wendy does involve lost boys in a stagey setting, but the film is closer to "A Clockwork Orange" than a tale of lasting youth.

Though it's meant to be pulse-pounding, After Earth is a lethargic slog.

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

With its excessive sleaze and gross-out gags, Soul Plane overshoots effective spoofery. Mostly it's a foul, eye-rolling experience.

This junior chick flick merely reinforces superficial clichés one associates with female teens: petty fights, intense highs and lows, and self-absorption.

Slavishly follows the well-worn and soggy Sparks path.

Where it should be light and graceful, Leap Year trips and thuds.

There's nothing very wise about The Brothers Solomon. It's a moderately funny premise in search of some real laughs.

It's a pretty twisted concept, bordering on offensive. But mostly it's just not funny.

Aspires to be a cinematic "Sex and the City," but it's more like South Park Goes West.

This leaden teen comedy is meant to be lively, but it's curiously bland.

The biggest mystery about Repo! The Genetic Opera is why the grisly Goth-horror musical is opening the week after Halloween. The second-biggest mystery is why this unfunny, unscary, preposterous bloodbath about organ transplants is opening at all.

Stretching what was a cute concept to the breaking point.

Angelina Jolie slums her way through Beyond Borders, a film that telegraphs its plot and then drags ploddingly, its humane spirit obscured by an inane script and Jolie's implausible character.

It's hard to know just who the intended audience is: The movie is too surreal and bawdy for young kids and too silly for anyone older than 25.

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.

A wan version of the same old tired serial killer story, despite its updated milieu -- cyberspace.

We had hoped for just a funny movie, but instead we get some laughs and plenty of yawns.

Despite an unlikely setting and a moderately intriguing premise, Chernobyl Diaries proves to be a generic horror flick where young tourists are systematically victimized in unoriginal and not terribly scary ways.

Sitting through this movie is worse than being locked in a room with a continuous loop of "Nip/Tuck" playing on a jumbo screen.

Though not nearly as raucously funny as the leads in "Wedding Crashers," Nick and Shawn resemble junior versions of the one-track-minded womanizers played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

Max Payne couldn't be more appropriately named. Sitting through this stylish-looking but derivative, vacuous and bullet-riddled movie inflicts maximum pain.

It's an improvement on some of Perry's other films that strike a heavy-handed moralistic note. And it lacks the silly slapstick humor of his Madea movies.

With its homages to "Frankenstein," "The Exorcist" and "The Shining," director David Gelb's The Lazarus Effect is at least smarter and tenser than last year's crop of tame horror films.

Is there a word that means the opposite of Cowabunga? If so, that's the word for the charmless, dull and derivative new take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Superficial and lurid, Perfect Stranger is the cinematic equivalent of spam and should, like those trashy messages, be avoided.

Misguided raunchfest.

Silly action sequences grow tedious and rarely blend with the wannabe madcap comedy.

That's My Boy is puerile, mean-spirited and charmless.

An American Affair is sordid business blandly portrayed and not worth meddling with.

Envy is in the unenviable position of saddling two of Hollywood's most talented comic actors with a script that doesn't do them justice.

Doesn't make the movie worth watching -- even if you're monstrously bored.

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.

Deception is not the cool, noirish thriller it tries to be. Despite a cast that includes double-crossers Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams caught in the middle, the film is a yawn.

While the film is not as resonant as the novel, it is an honorable adaptation, capturing the essence of the bond between father and son.

You have to work hard to make an African vacation seem unpleasant. And Adam Sandler nearly pulls it off in Blended.

Hot Pursuit is this week's "Paul Blart." Which is to say, it's ill-conceived, not funny, overbearing and not in any way worth watching.

Director Kevin Smith's tweets, jokes and sharp commentary after being denied a seat aboard a Southwest Airlines flight because of his girth were a lot more engaging than Cop Out, his new movie.

Soon, the audience feels its own sense of despair -- for a movie that might have worked but didn't.

Lurching back and forth through time, Winter's Tale tries to blend the supernatural and the sentimental, with a synchronous nod to elements of New York history. But this would-be magical romance flounders, hitting only dissonant chords.

Moore goes into operatic mode as Mother Malkin, a nasty witch who morphs into a menacing winged dragon. The worst performance, however, belongs to Jeff Bridges as a marble-mouthed, curmudgeonly knight named Master Gregory.

The screenplay is thin, the dialogue lacks nuance and the acting is often laughable.

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.

The dialogue is beyond clichéd, and performances feel cobbled together from other movies.

The Spirit is uneven, but its campy adventure provides some amusing, escapist fun.

Though the tale may fall short on imagination, the principal actors make Over Her Dead Body livelier than one would expect.

Nothing about this rote exercise feels remotely fresh. It's a re-tread of the 2009 original, sans the inspired lunacy.

Predictable and foolishly unsuspecting characters react in ways that make you want to shake them. But there's an undeniable sense of silly fun in this erotic thriller.

White Noise is the celluloid equivalent of a bad cell phone connection.

Though better than its 2001 predecessor -- and teeming with cute creatures and fast and furious action scenes -- the movie feels excessively formulaic.

One can excuse the movie's missteps and melodramatic moments in the greater interest of the strong statement it makes about our health care system.

A laughably bad horror flick.

Sitting through the teen skateboard comedy Grind is, well, a grind.

What is most troubling is how this film can serve to shape perceptions for impressionable kids. Young girls and boys will think that non-stop make-out sessions is all it takes to sustain "endless love."

Much as they would like it to, basketball can't save the youthful inner-city players here. Nor does the ultra-fast-paced street version of the sport save this movie from predictability and tedium.

In a summer filled with dumb comedies, this might prove to be the dumbest. Think "Road Trip" meets "City Slickers." Then dial the humor down a few notches, and you're left Without a Paddle.

Premonition is both dreary and absurd, suffering from a lack of intrinsic logic and terrible pacing, a one-two punch that kills off any chance of entertainment value.

Too bad first-time director Christopher Erskin, who cut his teeth on music videos and commercials, took so many predictable turns on this Vacation.

To say that New in Town is the worst movie of this fledgling year is to damn it with faint praise. It may be one of the worst movies of any year. Not content to be merely inane and predictable, it is downright insulting, humorlessly deriding those who choose to live in rural America, labor in factories or have a strong Christian faith.

You'll be checking your watch a lot during Timeline. Though most of the cast is strong and the movie has moments of suspense, ultimately the mystery in this action thriller is so far-fetched it's ludicrous.

Some of the gags are stupid-funny, others are just puerile, making for a hit-or-miss experience.

Drippy, derivative stalker flick.

All cinematic creativity seems to have focused on devising the most repellent ways to maim and murder.

The jewels in the buried treasure, once sighted, look fake. But the bigger problem is how artificial the whole story feels.

The best that can be said is that the production design is striking. Otherwise, it's a foolish story, marred by a strange blend of overacting and bland, offhand performances.

An awkward blend of fable, travelogue and relationship drama, it's the story's hybrid style, vapid message and predictable arc that disappoint.

An occasionally entertaining, always fluffy teen romantic comedy with some moderately funny physical comedy by gadabout star Lindsay Lohan.

The best actor in Snow Dogs is a glowering Siberian husky named Demon. In fact, all the dogs in the movie do a better job than their human counterparts.

What makes it slightly better than the others is an affable, low-key chemistry between James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan as star-crossed lovers.

A charmingly sweet experience.

As the girl fights and rivalry play out, flashes of wit are obscured by the plot's contrivances.