Kirk Honeycutt

It contains all the elements from the original film...But that's the problem: It's virtually the same movie with new locations. Oh, plus Helen Mirren. Not a bad addition, but the popcorn fun is gone.

In Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant enters the world of high school kids just as he did in "Elephant," achieving this time a much sharper, more focused portrait of how these rapidly maturing young people act, think, speak and behave.

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

A tweener but not necessarily a good one. It falls into the gap between good intentions and faulty storytelling.

The one-gag camp-athon has gone over big at gay film festivals, but in theatrical release this debut feature from theater/TV veteran Richard Day has limited appeal. Its best bet will be as a rental item.

This is the kind of film that will leave many audience members groaning with laughter -- and others simply groaning. It's skit/situation comedy that exploits stereotypes with a vengeance and knows no shame in borrowing from much better movies ranging from "Some Like It Hot" to "Tootsie."

It's a chick flick with a vengeance but even in its most sentimental moments, stars Hilary Duff and Heather Locklear make this feel-good-about-yourself movie feel ... well, good.

While the film bristles with cinematic verve, it also is as second-hand as an antique store.

The film feels contained — its design, visual effects and cinematography all in the right balance and proportion. Spider-Man is the hero, and not some element in the filmmaking process.

The film lets you get caught up in the excitement of this religion and the addictive nature of those stadium lights. Berg and cinematographer Tobias Schliessler get up close to the action, catching the hits and miscues in all their violent urgency.

A disappointing and manipulative look at one family's loss in the Iraq war.

Any movie starring Penelope Cruz or William H. Macy can't be all bad. And Sahara, which stars both Penelope Cruz and William H. Macy, proves the point: It isn't all bad.

The movie observes and dramatizes, yet seeks no overriding social moral.

Any resemblance between Jules Verne's marvelous science fiction novel or Mike Todd's enjoyable 1956 movie is pure happenstance. This is simply a Jackie Chan movie pitched to youngsters who enjoy slapstick fights and goofy caricatures.

The mishmash ends up as a thoroughly unfunny adult cartoon.

A more accomplished film than "Yards." Yet it will fail to satisfy police movie buffs, as procedures are de-emphasized, and the drama is too perfunctory and obvious.

It's an exuberant, fanciful fable set amid the scruffy outskirts of American society, where people's need for escapism coincides with their desire to participate in its creation.

Here's the deal: The worst sex cartoon in Playboy's long history can't compete with the sheer vacuousness of this inane comedy.

A sobering yet hysterically funny documentary.

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 family film is willing to tackle important issues such as burgeoning sexuality, alcoholism and a troubled home life but does so in a bland and unconvincing story.

For those wearied by cliches about poverty, rote characterizations of minorities and shocks for their own sake, best to avoid "Cracktown."

As the central character in this musical melodrama about step dancing in black fraternities, Short displays an uncanny dramatic sensibility to go with the eye-catching athleticism of his dance moves.

A relatively lame exercise that never achieves comic traction.

In the end, the gimmick is too risible and its effects on the characters too forced to sustain either suspense or horror.

Enough goodwill has been built up in the early sections that most viewers will not take offense when the movie abandons its plot and characters.

Jackson and his team tell a fundamentally different story. It's one that is not without its tension, humor and compelling details. But it's also a simpler, more button-pushing tale that misses the joy and heartbreak of the original.

Benji is back, which is good news for youngsters and pet-loving families. Film lovers perhaps should steer clear, however, as hokey melodrama and sloppy comedy fill the gaps between neat dog tricks.