Janice Page

Miller is certainly faithful to the spirit of Rendell's psychologically probing, class-dissecting novels, even if his probing doesn't go nearly as deep and his storytelling isn't as compelling.

A poignant, all-too-common tale of casual abuse in a workplace that is candidly labeled "better than most."

A so-so documentary about another fascinating, underreported piece of Harlem history.

You can't blame John Cusack for jumping at the chance to play Igor.

A definitive, low-tech stomping of every sci-fi clone that has sprung up in the original's wake.

Highly unoriginal tale.

It takes a special first-time director to stick her neck out, personally as well as professionally. As much as anything else, The Cats of Mirikitani is a testament to good breeding.

Meier’s soft touch with the offbeat material is surprisingly mature, to the point of maybe being a bit too reserved.

The cast is up to the challenges of that arc, but the plot doesn't always keep them afloat.

Actually an above-average farce, at least as featherweight chick flicks go.

It winds up being predictably charmless and forgettable, even as a travelogue or iPod download.

Writer-director Im Sang Soo's coolly stylized political satire doesn't provide a lot of answers, unfortunately, but it does show how the future of a nation might turn on a few drunken insults thrown around at a high-level dinner party.

With more character development this might have been an eerie thriller; with better payoffs, it could have been a thinking man's monster movie.

Ultimately, this film is only scary if you're afraid of artfully self-conscious, grainy cinematography.

None of these characters provides more than a smattering of laughs, but Def is the one guy we might like to see more of, if only because his role is small and better executed than it deserves.

The real problem with The Astronaut Farmer is that it has no spark.

Keep your big-budget horror movie expectations locked away in a separate crawl space, because this grainy feature debut from writer-director Ti West demands that you buy into the silliness, and the cheese.

For a certain kind of moviegoer, Saints and Soldiers provides above-average nostalgia. Others, more hardened, might call it child's play.

May not be as dramatic as Roman Polanski's ''The Pianist,'' but its compassionate spirit soars every bit as high.

Tamblyn's surprisingly measured performance commands attention.

Would have benefited from putting a wider lens on the man and his detractors.

Redmon's film is a welcome reminder that everything comes from somewhere and responsible people should at least pause to examine the label. For one thing, that's how bigger and better documentaries get made.

Choppy, cheesy historical war epic really has only a couple of things going for it, and its biggest asset remains the heroic popular legend that inspired its making.

The film's unhurried pace is actually one of its strengths. Entirely appropriately, the tale unfolds like a lazy summer afternoon and concludes with the crisp clarity of a fall dawn. That's not just a farm movie, that's life.

As rich and literary a work as you might expect.

Lively and beautiful filmmaking. It may leave you scratching your head, but it shouldn't leave you cold.

Comes up short when things get serious, resorting to cliches and a whole lot of hooey about "moral fiber."

Even when its wires are showing, the movie's soul is always evident.