Connie Ogle

Provides a few of the best thrills so far this summer.

If you can look past all the flesh and the thongs and the thrusting - and I admit that is an almost impossible task and probably not one you'd want to undertake anyway - what's most distinctive about Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike is its sense of fun.

Wright's film is visually stimulating to be sure, but he never loses sight of the raw human emotions that make Anna Karenina a classic.

There is little trace of tragedy in this warm, refreshing Southern comedy, which is quirky without being idiotic, original despite some familiar developments.

The film builds to a three-pronged tumultuous climax, shot in slow motion that could have been overwrought but somehow isn’t.

Apted delivers a fine, righteous climax and packs his film with some of Britain's best character actors.

The film is far from perfect, but it's likely to inspire more than few quests for balance -- or at least a fabulous bowl of linguine.

Fierce, profane and hilarious comedy.

Marley & Me gets so many of the details right, particularly in its final act, when it turns into a five-hanky weeper.

Prime may have its unlikely moments, but overall its heart is winningly untraditional and in exactly the right place.

It's an extremely raunchy hybrid of "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Serendipity's finale is a perfect crowd-pleaser, sweet and unlikely and over the top.

John Carter manages to be a ridiculous amount of fun, even if you are immune to the charms of Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) running around in what amounts to a stylish loincloth.

Friends With Kids cheerfully earns its R rating on language alone, but always in service of a good laugh.

"Our self-esteem is wrapped up in it,'' admits actress Tracie Thoms (who sticks with a natural curly look). "A woman's hair is her glory,'' Angelou says.

"Twilight's" Robert Pattinson gets a chance to shed his sparkly vampire persona and play a romantic lead with a pulse. The change suits him.

Turns out to be amusing and astute, a smart observation on the ups and downs of female friendships.

The humor is mostly gentle in nature; The Guilt Trip is clearly targeted at older audiences less than receptive to the crude jokes that made Rogen famous in movies like "Knocked Up" and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

Hearing Wilde's pithy lines in her mouth -- ''London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years'' -- is worth the ticket price. In the end it's Dench who reminds us of the importance of enjoying Oscar Wilde.

McGrath has managed to turn Dickens into a cozy date movie. When was the last time anybody could make that claim?

The film isn't much of a character study; too many of its secondary characters are stereotypes, and it never fully engages our emotions the way "Schindler's List" or "The Pianist" did.

The aggressively over-the-top plot is sloppy and totally irrelevant. What counts are the jokes that fly so fast they're easy to miss.

Cusack, of course, is the perfect Anti-Schmaltz. His rapid-fire delivery makes everything he says sound like it's just pouring from his brain to his mouth, so that even the sappiest dialogue is rendered sincere.

Literature lasts, but sometimes, The Last Station suggests, the ties that bind last, too.

Despite what you might fear, the movie is not torture. And even if it doesn’t inspire lust, you will breathe a warm sigh of relief, thinking: This could have been so much worse.

Eagle vs. Shark feels like a low-budget, foreign cousin to Napolean Dynamite, less polished and sly. But it's definitely in the same family, lulling us into friendly acceptance with its persuasively silly rhythm and deceptively big heart.

I Want to Believe provides a welcome reminder of what made Carter's franchise a pop-culture gem.

Basically a one-joke movie, and they take their sweet time -- too much of it, actually -- getting to the good stuff. But what excellent laughs they provide in the end.