Kirk Honeycutt

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

It's all a bit bizarre. One soldier tellingly calls it "one big reality TV show," and the movie never makes clear whether such training does any good.

The average age of the band's members is 62. They don't even bother to disguise that fact. These men look like your grandfather, right up until the downbeat. Then the magnificence of their playing sweeps away all concepts of age. Rock on.

Less a political movie than a boxing film without the gloves.

Given how insultingly fanboys are portrayed, even the fan base could be put off.

A wheel-spinner. The more the film stresses and strains to be funny, the unfunnier it gets.

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.

It is so outrageous with its ethnic caricatures, hokey plot and twin-brother mix-ups that you know the whole thing is a lark.

Much of the bite and a good deal of the wit of the first two films are missing here. The rude send-up of beloved fairy tale conventions remains -- somewhat -- but these playful jabs no longer come as pleasing surprises. You expect them. And you expect better.

Starts off an aggressively derivative sci-fi thriller, then morphs into an above-average chase melodrama.

A tough, compelling, must-see movie.

As usual, Zombie has added an element of camp fun to the proceedings with his clever casting of B-movie icons in small roles, including Dee Wallace, Brad Dourif, Danny Trejo and Sid Haig.

The film hits another comic mother lode in the byplay between Black and Cusack.

Challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.

Part One, at least, is a French "Bonnie and Clyde."

While nothing truly new or shocking emerges, the film does bring clarity and compassion to its depiction of an act that baffles, angers and sickens people the world over.

Standard-issue superhero movie -- except that writer-director Guillermo del Toro, taking his cue from "Hellboy" comic book creator Mike Mignola, brings a wicked sense of humor to this particular monster mash.

Where the film falters is Jonze and novelist Dave Eggers' adaptation, which fails to invest this world with strong emotions.

Think of Please Give as a finely tuned short story with every glance and gesture full of suggestive meaning. Drama is not high on the agenda here. There is a bit of comedy and, briefly, sexual mischief even though it doesn't look like much fun.

The movie makes an excellent primer about the world of stock car racing for fans and nonfans alike. In 48 fast minutes, the Simon Wincer-directed film gives you a genuine sense of this particular sport, its rigorous demands and the fan base that supports it with such wildly enthusiastic devotion.

The heist itself is almost dull, and the characters aren't half as colorful or interesting as they need to be.

Certainly for most audiences the viewing experience will prove not only tedious but bewildering.

An earnest drama about the search for self-esteem and sense of responsibility among young black people that successfully relies on its fine actors.

Odd too, for a film that wants to correct impression anyone had as to the abilities of black U.S. soldier in combat, are the ethnic cliches about Italians and Germans, to say nothing of rednecks.

The guy really goes all out in these performances.

Simply lets the sinfully gorgeous music and emotions sweep over an audience.

Kevin Spacey, both as star and director, has created a hugely entertaining, highly empathetic portrait of a man for whom music was literally the thing that kept him alive.

When under water, the action-adventure Into the Blue has genuine thrills. Above water or on dry land, this is one dead fish.