Joe Neumaier

The man-versus-the-natural world story is in Weir's wheelhouse, and Harris and Farrell get into a scene-stealing duel. Worth the trek.

To sing the praises of the movie but not give away the revelations is difficult. Let’s just say this: The less you know about what happens in this funny, tasty twisteroo, the better.

Our time spent with Nenette feel as stifling and airless as hers.

The film is put together too choppily to appreciate the bounce-off-walls athleticism of parkour. That’s a shame, since “District 13” star Belle is known as a founder of the sport.

Kekilli sensitively portrays Umay's conflicted despair, and the relationship with her son is beautifully rendered.

If you're not in that demographic, don't dismiss it. You'll miss out on a genuinely sweet, perfectly acted, remarkably brave little movie that should make audiences swoon for something they thought was gone - a smart dramedy for grown-ups.

Texas Chainsaw 3D sees itself as over-the-top and knowing, but what we ultimately get is simply eyes without a face.

A singularly full-hearted and moving film.

Director Oliver Schmitz's rhythms take a while to ease into, and admittedly, there is never a bright moment.

As seen in Charlie Victor Romeo (code for “Cockpit Voice Recorder”), the events are almost unbearably gripping.

It’s hard to fault a movie like The Good Lie for its intentions. But it can be faulted for pandering, both to its subject and to audiences.

Mood is more important to Not Fade Away than anything, but writer-director David Chase, who turned mood into masterpiece with every season of "The Sopranos," allows nostalgic feeling to be the sole reason for this, his first feature film.

Sports biodramas generally take one of two tacks: gauzily sentimental or scrappy tale of struggle. The Express runs the thin line between the two and, to its benefit, more often than not hits the first mark.

Unfortunately, despite the sweaty, tense atmosphere, Viva Riva becomes derivative of the duller scenes in other gangster flicks.

While Lucky Them may not be a classic, the actors at least find a cool groove.

Keshavarz's vision is clear and heartfelt, and everyone has an urgency in their eyes.

If Deadfall had more life, it might have been about more than just its wannabe edge. Ruzowitzky, whose 2007 film "The Counterfeiters" won a Best Foreign Film Oscar, understands the movie's simple plan. But it nonetheless puts us into a big sleep.

"Parnassus," while not unwatchable, is also an elephantine mess.

Maguire’s portrayal of Fischer’s volatility, disconnect and inner demons is gripping. It’s his best performance since “Wonder Boys” (2000). Schreiber hardly says anything, yet he’s gloweringly good. He acts with his jowls and brow and swept-back hair, making the sort-of rock-’n’-roll Spassky a polar opposite, but strategic equal, to Fischer. Saarsgaard is also terrific, lending a quiet air of solemnity and thoughtfulness.

When Marilyn Monroe appears, things stop. She is, as portrayed by Michelle Williams, a strange and beautiful alien: Unpredictable, odd, magnetic.

Entertaining, inventive and old-fashioned in the best way.

Fast-moving, exciting and contains more twists than a tunnel under Checkpoint Charlie.

I Love You Phillip Morris not only blasts gay stereotypes back decades, it could actually make people wish for a third "Ace Ventura" movie. Both of those are an accomplishment, though neither is a compliment.

The slick but moving Saving Mr. Banks transcends its corporate pedigree to become a great Disney movie about making a Disney movie.

A slow, solid movie that, like Rita, sneaks up on you with its intelligence and pluck.

This insightful doc from director Andrew Rossi addresses topics that get more polarizing each year: the high cost of college, the factors that dictate who’s educated in this country and the culture that surrounds those decisions.

Likely to draw a range of responses. Many will be transported by its gorgeous construction and breathless emotion. Others will find it patently ridiculous.

While the film becomes slightly redundant, the anger and strife its characters cannot overcome is awful, poetic and, frankly, astonishing.

As shown in this disarming and intimate documentary named after their band, the oddness of actually being sought-after was something neither was prepared for.

Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman give such hard-as-nails, lived-in performances in this stark drama directed by Irish actor Paddy Considine ("In America," "Cinderella Man") that it's impossible not to be pulled in.

The success here is mostly due to nuanced performances and an appreciation for what these kinds of films require.

Laudable as its world-building is, the film drags not just in its interminable middle hour, but also during the redundant monster-on-mechawarrior smackdowns.

Owing a debt to Albert Brooks’ early comedies, Red Flag might be too much if it weren’t just right.

World is grounded, offering up a rare case of well-earned hopefulness.

This gruesome, allegorical drama is dark and unsettling, but not so original that it begs to be let in.

Affectionate but also winking (the "Star Wars"-riff title gives away its lack of objectivity), with a good history of how far fandom has come, "A Fan's Hope" is really for those who've turned to the far side, but is ready to turn on a tractor beam for everyone else.

Unfortunately, the movie doesn't have enough going on to keep us engaged, but writer-director Aaron Katz has a confident style and a way with small moments.

Nachmanoff fills the movie with a sense of gripping, '70s-style grittiness that helps undercut the web-of-evil tone.

We are left, after all the propulsive action, with great turns by Theron and Rapace, and a tightly wound turn by Fassbender, whose eerie, poetically impish mechanical man might have burst from Bradbury's conscience.

Farahani — seen in “Body of Lies” and “Chicken With Plums” — is equally vibrant in a performance, and a film, that dares us to listen.

Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart’s doc, exec-produced by Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci, is one more sad, serious eulogy for a way of life.

Parents should know that the ending makes the last moments of this family-friendly documentary as tough as "Bambi." But the lessons about friendship are gigantic, indeed.

The good-natured cast helps distract from a barely sketched plot and outrageously cheap production values.

Corey Stoll is the only reason to sit through this muddled Jersey-set drama.

While McNairy and Mendelsohn are solid but almost too showy, Liotta, Jenkins, Sam Shepard and a chewy supporting cast beautifully fill in the blanks. Killing Them Softly adds each of its characters to a punchy, prosaic tale that believes in America, one way or another.

May feel especially like a statue covered in drapery. Unfortunately, the movie's attempts to steam things up feel about as exciting as an after-dinner mint.

Saldana has a harder lift, as Maggie is striving for something better yet has to often be reactive. In scenes with the adorable Wolodarsky and Aufderheide, she listens and acts intently. But there are too many times when she’s forced to just look worried. Still, Saldana, like so many things in Forbes’ likable but tricky film, does her best in a tough situation.

Fury excels in showing the ground-level, guttural intensity and claustrophobia of battle.

Intense and, yes, depressing - and earns every minute that it rattles inside your head.

Full of unenlightening snippets and blithe but banal asides, what the movie is missing is edge.

Unfortunately, director Joe Maggio's film, despite showing real promise and an ear for threats delivered with a smile, runs out of gas.

Because of his easygoing comedy persona, Rudd is a perfect choice — and another example of Marvel’s savvy casting. He never takes anything too seriously, but he seems invested in the emotional side of the story.

There is a serious lack of action here, which might be overlooked if the script were as smart as in the previous films. What passes for parable here is merely overplotting.

A fairly gripping cautionary tale.

Murphy also reveals one more gem when she interviews the New York couple who gave their friend Nell Harper Lee a financial gift in the '50s that allowed her to quit her job and finish the book, an act of generosity that is also one more kindness surrounding this most humane of artworks.

A steady thrum of anger pervades this Romanian film even in its quietest moments, but the ending and captured-lost-boys setting ultimately fail to surprise.

Though it takes time to find its courage and heart, Gigante, like its oversized hero, merely has a slow, shy way of doing things.

The result is a paper-thin alliance between the old-school Cal and the new-media Della. Crowe, husky and whisky-voiced, is warm amidst all the plot mechanics, and McAdams, perky and efficient, is a smart foil for him.

It's amazing that in an era of oversharing and reality TV, a doc consisting mostly of cable TV clips and personal reminiscences can be so resonant.

When "Pineapple" goes from ganja to genre, it sours.

Murray is always a delight, but his films with kids (“Meatballs,” “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”) give his unencumbered playfulness even more room to roam.

The story and performances (save for Matthew McNulty’s angry Luis Buñuel) are paint-by-numbers, with social upheaval and sexual adventurism as dramatic as an after-dinner mint.

Haroun is achingly conscious of day-to-day decisions that seem small when they're made but can suddenly loom large.

Galifianakis, though, is the key here. Able to smash a scene to smithereens with the simplest of lines, the hirsute comic is as unpredictable as ever, yet takes director Todd Phillips’ bait to up the stakes.

Friends of Shep discuss his often unorthodox business sense, especially in the music biz, as well as his general decency. The guy’s tale is full of funny anecdotes and celeb privilege, but short on pretension.

Danish director Lars von Trier makes this tale of one woman’s banal sexual adventures into inadvertent comedy. The film makes an analogy between sex and fly-fishing — and fly-fishing comes off as more intriguing.

Oasis also takes aim at the bottled-water industry, entertainingly calling in psychologists to break down our fears of what is - or isn't - contaminating what we drink.

The gristle inside this movie is one of the things that save it from being simply a series of challenges.

Because it's so rooted in real life, the drama Good Kill is even more terrifying than “The Purge,” Ethan Hawke’s horror film from two years ago.

Johnson's feel for the rhythms of reconnection are steady, and she and her fine actors make Return one of only a handful of films to honestly address what to many is heartbreaking reality.

That truthfulness, along with the movie's emotional honesty and narrative polish, help tag this NY-grown indie as one to seek out.

A cool documentary that pivots adroitly between viewpoints and ambitions.

The result isn't deadly dull, but it does turn what should have been a most dangerous game into a basic scenery-chewing contest.

There's a reason potboiler paperbacks don't make good movies - there's too much outlandish plot, even for Hollywood.

The charmless but harmless A Cat in Paris hits theaters yet doesn't enchant.

This beautifully photographed drama is well-played throughout with great conscience without becoming heavy-handed.

Like “The Deer Hunter” — from which it swipes its Keystone State milieu, its haunted veterans, and its self-endangerment metaphor — Out of the Furnace gets under your skin.

The Last Exorcism trods on previously stomped ground and has almost no good jump-outta-your-seat moments.

This rather elegant movie, like a bold new 'do, is both not what you'd expect and exactly what you feared.

A movie with no clear narrative. It pushes boundaries and feels like one man's fever dream. But all those traits would certainly make Allen Ginsberg happy.

The idea of Willem Dafoe, one of our most watchable actors, playing a man stalking a thought-to-be-extinct animal in the wild is gripping in theory. In execution, however, The Hunter loses its way.

In Rob Corddry's hilariously manic turn, it has the most memorable showcase for a goofball co-star since Michael Keaton in 1981's "Night Shift."

Sort of “An American Psycho’s European Vacation,” this indie dramatic thriller mixes sex and violence and still winds up dull.

Interviews with survivors fill us in on the personalities of the lost, but the background of K2, with archival footage from 1954, is equally gripping.

The movie winds up being a real standup flick, if you know what I mean.

The cast is strong, and Damon is a dependable center for all this, a classic American good guy wanting to know what's rotten and why.

So often not in his element — his turn in “Oz the Great and Powerful” is evidence of that — Franco is in freako mode here, and walks a line between spaced-out caricature and just plain Out There.

The main reason this gorgeous-looking, sweet-hearted but so-so movie remains grounded is a herky-jerky, cobbled-together story that squawks when it should sing.

This domestic drama from the producers of "Once" could be about the pair from that gentle romance - a decade later.

It is no summer thriller. It’s an anemic actioner that fosters excitement like dead limbs as it lumbers toward a conclusion.

Maddeningly mundane, this Romanian drama aims for an antiseptic look at random violence and, unfortunately, achieves it.