Connie Ogle

You don't have to love dogs to enjoy Darling Companion, but it couldn't hurt.

Gervais' wickedly sly concept lingers quite awhile after the final chuckle. And that's the truth.

Smart, entertaining update.

Talk to Me is a welcome reminder of a time when radio truly listened to the people instead of just shouted at them.

Downey gives a nervy, riveting performance in The Soloist.

Filmed around stunning County Sligo on Ireland’s west coast, Calvary is a thoughtful, atmospheric movie despite the awkward parade of suspects and the fact that everyone seems a little too conveniently hostile.

It's almost impossible not to respond emotionally to this fascinating, sobering and all-too-brief exploration of the politicized religious right and its hopes, dreams and power.

This engaging documentary is briskly funny.

It's all about making everybody happy. If that's not grounds for a good relationship, then I don't know what is.

Dogme films don't have to be bleak to be effective. They can be -- imagine! -- fun. Scherfig may have taken the discipline in an entirely new and welcome direction.

It's terrifically funny and, for a few brief moments, poignant.

Watchmen is a spectacularly violent movie.

Scafaria — who wrote and directed "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" and co-wrote "Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist" — elevates the material with a terrific eye for detail, an understanding of the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and a generous sense of humor.

Me Before You is a sugar-coated romantic bauble, not a gritty documentary. Giving into its pleasures is not for everyone, but its message — live boldly, as the movie’s hashtag encourages — is an admonition that’s awfully hard to argue.

Documentary gold, and you will have formed an opinion on the controversy by the time you leave the theater. You may not know art, but you'll know what you like.

There is magic here, enough to make Whale Rider worthy of the audience-choice awards it has earned at film festivals worldwide.

Fortunately, Bardem, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role in Julian Schnabel's "Before Night Falls," makes up for the script's shortcomings.

Its sumptuous, stately pace will wither the patience of countless moviegoers, but the impressively acted and gorgeously exotic The White Countess improves the longer you mull its complexities.

But Babys also resembles "Sunshine State" in another, more satisfying way: It leaves you longing to know what happens to these characters once the movie ends.

View it as a fat-free but tasty cinematic treat in the middle of the long, hot summer.

The To Do List is a funny movie, but only if you’re not easily offended.

The film is also less bloated than "Bridesmaids" - a comedy is always more nimble at 90 minutes than two hours - and it's less maudlin, too. It's the aberrant, foul-mouthed child of "Superbad" and "Young Adult."

Even the people who griped about Tom Cruise being cast as the towering Jack Reacher will have to admit Statham fits nicely in Parker's shoes.

Contagion may be the most expensive public-service ad ever filmed, but it's also a surprisingly light-on-its-feet action thriller.

Higher Ground is ultimately a proponent of the human spirit, of the individuality and honesty that must be claimed, even at a high price. That's a lot of substance to stuff into one little movie, but Farmiga makes it fit astonishingly well.

Get Smart turns out to be a much more entertaining movie than its tedious trailers suggest. It's not going to redefine comedy as we know it, but it's amusing and briskly paced, busy with an engaging mix of supporting actors.

Smith is an endearing, driving comedic force, one who makes the buoyant Hitch more enjoyable than it has any reason to be.

At its core, Susanne Bier's wrenching portrayal of the shifting dynamics within a Danish family is really about survival, about how we cope in the face of shattering grief and what we'll do -- anything, really -- to save ourselves.