Kirk Honeycutt

By keeping things simple and understated, director Chris Weitz and screenwriter Eric Eason have crafted a little gem where humanity is observed with compassion, not condescension.

This is a slick studio production with a huge movie star and top professionals occupying every production role so that the polish of this well-made film makes even homelessness look neat and tidy.

Bookending the film is the relationship between Jessica and the grandmother who raised her. This role is delightfully played by Suzanne Flon, who recently died at age 87. The film is dedicated to the veteran actress.

This implausible plot full of holes does pave the way for a series of Cedric the Entertainer skits and physical gags. None of these is very funny. A few are painfully unfunny. In either case, the movie comes to a standstill. It's a pity no one thought to screen old Bob Hope movies to see how to integrate comedy into genre filmmaking.

A simple story yet told with such conviction, delicacy and instinct for truth that it carries keen emotional power. This is the first film from actress Joey Lauren Adams, so one can only hope she has more stories inside her for she has genuine storytelling talent.

There is no room for subtlety. Aiming a rude, foul-mouthed political satire everywhere -- left, right and center -- Trey Parker and Matt Stone blow up a good deal of the world, not to mention the egos of many Hollywood personalities

The movie is too parochial for a wide audience. The French judicial system is totally alien to Americans, for instance, plus the film is a talkathon.

Emily Blunt, one of the best and most glamorous actresses to come out of England in recent years, makes an unusual but highly successful choice for the young Victoria.

A cheerful and frequently amusing bit of nonsense, which certainly will provoke children into giggles. The film does not measure up to "March of the Penguins" or "Happy Feet," both Oscar-winning efforts. Nor is it trying to.

Provocative and perceptive.

A tough, compelling, must-see movie.

The thing that shines through most clearly, though, is Lennon himself. His widow allowed unprecedented access to the family archives, which along with ample newsreel footage bring us his presence once again.

There is nothing we haven't seen here before in terms of chases, intrigue and betrayals, so for all its A-list cast and production values, the film comes off as routine.

A fine dramatic comedy with fresh characters, witty dialogue and a keen interest in how relationships must have developed among frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers, no-nonsense lawmen and -- oh, yes -- the complicated women on that frontier.

The two key roles are wonderfully cast with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn and the gross-but-not-too-gross humor will score with young moviegoers. But Wedding Crashers is still a letdown. The film never quite lives up to the promise of its premise.

A thoughtful and reflective love story about the impact of time on true love.

The film is both too short and too long at two hours-plus. Not enough time is spent with the teens and far too much with their teacher.

An underwhelming vampire romance long on camp but short on emotional insight

Gwyneth Paltrow is triumphant in this somewhat derivative and overly stage-bound film.

Hoffman emerges as a confident film director with visual flair and, no surprise, a remarkable ability to maximize his fellow actors' work.

The film suffers from uneven acting, an over-reliance on production values and an uncertainty over how dangerous the children's adventures should be.

If sheer cleverness were everything, Robots would be the best computer-animated cartoon yet…Yet, unlike the very best CG animation, Robots doesn't quite connect with the emotions and humor for which one yearns in cartoons.

The film lacks the depth and discipline of Mitchell's first film venture, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," which makes Shortbus a real disappointment.

Following up on Morgan Spurlock's wildly successful indie film "Super Size Me," critics of fast food were hoping that a one-two punch would further raise consciousness among consumers and purveyors alike. Alas, Fast Food Nation is punchless.

The film is fresh and funny, but it is also meandering, at times vague and defiantly uncommercial.

Cross "Body Heat" with "No Way Out" and you wind up with Out of Time, a slick crime melodrama with more style than substance.

It's still a gimmicky, tricked-out tale that is all too self-aware. But the film does keep you guessing and probably guessing wrong.

The film is only "superior" though, not great. The themes feel shopworn and devotee of crime fiction can point to the any number of antecedents for these characters.

Fulfills the requirements of grand-scale moviemaking while serving as a timely reminder that in the conflict between Christianity and Islam it was the Christians who picked the first fight.

A crackling good suspense thriller.

Actors blossom under Frears' direction. There is no false moment or off-key note in this movie.

What's cinematic experimentation without a few failures in the lab? Maybe that's why Howl is so appealing: The filmmakers don't get everything right but their passion for Ginsberg's genius and their excitement over trying to deconstruction a literary master work is contagious.

A loud, disjointed and not terribly funny comedy, which probably is what one expects with a title like that. The unfortunate thing is, it didn't need to be.

Does make you laugh even if you hate yourself for doing so. A creation of former "Saturday Night Live" colleagues, the comedy plays like an extended skit with bits of improvisation and several slightly extended sequences.

In Changeling Eastwood continues to probe uncomfortable subjects to depict the individual and even existential struggle to do what is right.

Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this documentary to art houses, not porn theaters.

The large cast, costumed and made up as filthy scalawags and sinister buccaneers, gives tremendous energy to every scene.

Christopher Rouse's rapid-fire editing nervously stitches the stunts, chases, fights and confrontations together. It's a remarkable film.

Sustains itself through terrific forward momentum and two glorious star turns by gifted actresses Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.

The naturalistic style of the film is completely at odds with the hokey melodrama.

Could develop a cult following. But it is hard to envision repeat viewings or any great number of people willing, even vicariously, to undergo the couple's ordeal.

An unstable mix of a tearjerker, junkie-recovery story and odd-couple pairing. The film marks the American debut of Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, whose European films show a strong affinity for stories of human frailties and of families unraveling.

Allen turns the character into a tour de force that unleashes an unexpected comedy about compassion and self-loathing.

Writer-director Preston A. Whitmore II throws enough soap opera for an entire TV season into a story that nearly -- but not quite -- sinks from the weight of all these implausible events. Animated acting and the sheer chaos of this squabbling family give the film a comic buoyancy.

Joel and Ethan Coen clearly are in a prankish mood, knocking out a minor piece of silliness with all the trappings of an A-list studio movie.

A neatly packaged Walt Disney Co. picture with bone-crunching football action; a nice sense of the blue-collar, male-dominated milieu that nourishes football fanaticism; and a few too many tugs at the heartstrings.

In The Weather Man, Nicolas Cage doesn't so much play a protagonist, warts and all, as he plays a protagonist who is all warts.

The problem confronting writer Richard Maltby Jr. and director Chris Noonan is that Potter lived a fairly uneventful life once you remove her success as an author.

A documentary about autism that's nearly perfect in doing what an advocacy documentary should do: show rather than tell, entertain rather than preach.

Several good ideas for a movie rumble around inside ATL, but they never coalesce.

Unconvincing melodrama.

Why Hugh Jackman was so excited by Mark Bomback's script to star and produce the film is as big a mystery as why such talents-on-a-roll as Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams joined the cast.

Somewhat original and amusing. But only somewhat.

Cage is brilliant.

The film does not lack for ambition both in terms of its themes and artistic design. Consequently, his (Jenkins) feature debut, while not flashy, shows promise. Clearly, here is a young filmmaker who wants to tell stories rather than deliver shocks and sensation.

Before it disappears into a fog of confusion and damaging contradictions within its characters, The Dying Gaul presents an ironic, provocative look at what its creator, Craig Lucas, calls a postmodern Hollywood noir.

(Perry) style is too crude and stagy for Shange's transformative evocation of black female life, and his moralizing strikes exactly the wrong notes to express the pain and longing that cries out from her heated poetry.

This time, in a clever script by Brian Koppelman & David Levien (who wrote the poker drama "Rounders"), the heist is for friendship.

Keira Knightley is a terrific choice to play the 18th century socialite.

While visually lush and inviting, this insular, self-absorbed film is more a violation than a celebration of the lives of two of literatures foremost sensualists, Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. Little of Miller’s boisterous, anarchic spirit makes its way into this film. Nor is its superficial handling of Nin’s theme of a woman’s self-realization likely to satisfy her admirers.

Four terrific performances make the transition to a U.S. setting go smoothly for British director Udayan Prasad.

Peter's lightning-fast script and Loncraine's steady direction steer this road picture to the sunny side of the street.

Macpherson keep things creepy and mystifying. But that damn videotape takes the edge off the mood both visually and dramatically.

The new "Freaky" plays the obvious gags in ways both surprising and imaginative.

Devolves into a repetitive comedy that squanders a hugely talented cast.

Based on a true story -- that never happened. That might explain why the film circles and circles its subject but never strikes dramatic pay dirt.

Most entertaining comic drama with a great turn by Jamie Bell.

Unlike "The Matrix," all fights and stunts -- including a 14-minute freeway chase -- have a disturbing tendency to repeat intricately choreographed action. Thus, computer technology and overkill supplant the ingenuity of the original film's action.

The richness of the characters and themes in Nearing Grace inspire director Rick Rosenthal and his cast to create a film with terrific emotional energy and larkish humor.

A likable mix of laughs and wacky action sequences.

Another beguiling if draining fantasia from Jean-Pierre Jeuet that harkens back to silent movies.

Taylor does capture the Jim Crow era and its anxieties well, but his characters tend toward the facile and his white heroine is too idealized.

A drama that is more contemplative at times than dramatic yet one containing several powerful moments.

Longing makes you long for a good movie. Tedious and long-winded even at 90 minutes, this German film, written and directed by Valeska Grisebach, tells a mundane tale of adultery that lacks even the slightest insight.

Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter.

Takes place in the world of haute couture. And that pretty much sums up the movie. Otherwise, it would be just another Queen of Mean, boss from hell movie. But, oh, what delicious fun Meryl Streep and her conspirators have with that world.

Nothing really adds up, and the ending is downright absurd. You would like even the most austere, doctrinaire existential movie to earn its downbeat ending. This one fails utterly to do so.

The cinematography and editing are as superb as the film's feline stars are photogenic and heroic.

Stiller performs a good balancing act not only with his many jobs on this movie but also in keeping the big picture firmly in mind. It's not always easy to be both silly and smart, but Stiller for the most part pulls it off.

While a bit unwieldy at nearly three hours and at times slow going, the film is absolutely fascinating for anyone who shares De Niro's passions.

Like a juicy steak served to a man suffering on a diet of micro-greens and tofu, Runaway Jury will be devoured by fans of movie melodramas.

Provides a treasure trove of outrageous characters, rampant speculation, personal obsessions and a glimpse into the rarefied world of art collecting. Instead of spinning off in so many directions, the film actually pulls together into an engrossing meditation on the value of art in our lives.

While following a fairly predictable story line, the film has enough ambushes, treachery and irony to sustain audience involvement with a range of characters that stand for diverse points of view about that war.

Never less than gripping.

The most un-Disneylike cartoon yet from Disney animation. The thing is a hellzapoppin' of eccentric characters, zany situations and wacky gizmos, but little effort has gone into making any of this connect with an audience.

Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are two highly attractive, naturally funny actresses on the cusp of stardom so their pairing here as two lost souls is genius.

For hard-core David Mamet fans only...Edmond serves to remind you how artificial the dialogue and dramaturgy truly was in early Mamet.

Fails to find the genuine drama in its story of love and intrigue.

Beautifully acted and written so its themes are touched upon glancingly rather than with full force.

The film never quite pins the chef down about any of this but in his menu introduction to the staff or off-hand remarks to long-time colleagues you begin to understand the mindset. "The more bewilderment, the better," he declares. He is not joking.

The movie so successfully raises the emotional and psychological stakes in the first half that not all audiences may like the film's reversion to con-artist form in the second. The con itself is preposterous and full of holes when we think back after the movie.

A perky though not terribly imaginative feature aimed primarily at youngsters.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx are on fire in the lead roles: They're both charismatic as hell without sacrificing any of the emotional honesty necessary for you to believe that these movie stars are a scruffy reporter and a mentally ill musician.

Cartoons can get away with being serviceable and skillful without much creativity since they have an endlessly renewing audience. "Mad 2" surfs along on such waves, entertaining youngsters while mildly amusing adults.

A mildly diverting naughty comedy, lacking the pure comic nastiness of "Bad Santa" or the sheer audacity of "Up in Smoke."

This 3-D Imax film puts you at eye level with awesome creatures that look like alien beasts from deep space.

An engaging sports movie about the greatest racehorse ever and his female owner who literally bets the farm on his supremacy.

Veteran actor Richard E. Grant makes his writing and directing debut with Wah-Wah, a startling portrait of his own startling and unusual childhood, growing up in Swaziland in the waning days of the British Empire in Africa.