Jonathan Foreman

The characters are tired stereotypes, the sentimentality nauseating and the situation comedy way below the standards of the very worst WB or UPN shows.

With uncommon ineptitude even by the standards of contemporary action flicks, Kyle's script submerges the inherently dramatic tale of the K-19 under a pile of clichés, while failing to tell you enough about the characters for their actions to make much sense.

Though it sometimes feels as if it's four hours long, Underworld has going for it an intriguing fantasy premise, an eventful plot and a look that is diverting, if finally a bit monotonous.

Laughably predictable in its plotting, crude in its symbolism, ploddingly paced and often rendered almost comical by the heavy-breathing overacting of Johansson's supporting cast.

Spectacular special effects and sets.

If you have the patience, its almost endless silences and extremely slow pacing eventually pay off.

Amateurish in the extreme, the film is a feast of bohemian cliché, bad writing and worse acting.

Could have been written by a computer programmed to cannibalize previous sci-fi films.

It's hoary and clunky even by the low standards of contemporary thrillers.

A lean, deftly shot, well-acted, weirdly retro thriller that recalls a raft of '60s and '70s European-set spy pictures. There are even moments when you hope it could turn into a modern "Charade."

Although Scary Movie 3 boasts the same relaxed attitude to racial and sexual humor, some of the same eye for movieland ridiculousness, along with the usual cameos (Pamela Anderson and Simon Cowell), it lacks a single explosive, roll-on-the-floor gag, and too often repeats and belabors jokes that are merely OK.

An embarrassing misfire...feels like a long, slow TV pilot about L.A. twentysomethings, only it lacks the polish and wit of your average sitcom.

Despite inadequate editing and overreliance on bad background music, The Girl Next Door doesn't disappoint.

There's no limit to Coyote Ugly's crass shamelessness.

A reminder of just how good Hollywood storytelling can be.

What follows is very gruesome indeed, though the footage of people being chased by hideous ghosts soon becomes rather dull.

Staggers between flaccid satire and what is supposed to be madcap farce.

Amateurishly written and directed, and so predictable that it hurts.

What makes 8 Mile transcend the formulaic nature of its plot is the way it makes these rap competitions compelling even for those unfamiliar with rap music, and its scrupulous, loving rendition of a grim, wintry Detroit circa 1995.

Powerful, provocative and often surprisingly funny, this may be the year's outstanding documentary.

Visually unimpressive and laden with awkward dialogue; its primary interest doesn't lie in its storytelling but in its sociology -- in the window it opens onto a Muslim Middle Eastern society in transition.

So patchy in its laughs, so calculated in its grossness and so lacking in genuine comic exuberance, it makes you look at "Road Trip" in an admiring new light.

Though never dull and often visually beautiful, this work of operatic sweep doesn't fulfill its own ambitions.

What dooms Never Die Alone even as amoral pulp entertainment is the screenplay by neophyte James Gibson, which combines clichéd characters and a contrived plot with stale dialogue.

A bad film with some oddly charming moments.

A beautifully filmed, scrupulously authentic but strangely evasive exercise in combat ultra-realism.

A charming, (mostly) briskly unsentimental love story, written, directed and acted with remarkable assurance.

The Rock deserves better than The Rundown, a brisk, good- hearted but predictable and uninspired - not to mention bone-crunchingly violent - action comedy.