Kirk Honeycutt

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.