Lisa Nesselson

Building blocks of tale are not new, but there's an appealingly rough-hewn and convincing tone to the proceedings.

Issues of class, wealth and power are woven into the tale but this is a bittersweet love story at heart.

A lively, funny and touching exploration of the way we live now through the filter of two generations.

A demanding but rewarding emotional odyssey in a challenging visual package.

The motivations and the performances are solid in Jane Got A Gun, an attractively mounted post-Civil War revenge drama with plenty of shooting and a well-placed twist or two.

For his (Besson) fans, Angel-A is an achingly sincere but protracted effort to trade mostly action for mostly dialogue.

Adult fans of good thesping in the service of a lightweight but thoroughly entertaining story should bask in the antics.

Enjoyable, if sometimes scattered, comic exploration of the quest for integrity and depth in a world wowed by artifice and superficiality.

Spacey makes an honorable and intelligent helming debut with less-than-dazzling material.

This is not great or memorable filmmaking but the power of the story and some of the performances make up for that.

Uproarious romp, grounded in believable if gleefully implausible human behavior, is a model of comic timing.

Valiant attempt to create a modern fairytale ends up being frustratingly creepy instead of haunting and memorable.

Stereotypes abound, dialogue is conventional and pace scattered. Still, resulting stew is pleasant.

Fails to captivate or intrigue at the most basic level.

The pleasures are modest but consistent in John Carpenter's Vampires, a part-Western, part-horror flick that doesn't aim too high but nails the range it occupies.

Viewers are in good hands — if they’re not too demanding — as Zhang Yimou puts the easily distinguishable characters through their paces.

A refreshingly unpretentious cocktail of karmic serendipity and a tongue-in-cheek look at Hollywood values vs. ecumenical verities.

Deftly juggles gore and suspense, and punchline holds an intellectual frisson or two for fans of gender-role speculation, but basically this is one more horror pic on the distinguished road already trodden by "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," "Maniac" and the like.

This zig-zagging emotionally perceptive tale of an American writer abroad and the women he has bedded — or perhaps merely written about having bedded — is accomplished French filmmaking the way arthouse denizens like it.

Any buyer who's had success with Troma fare in the past will find the makings to delight the self-selecting audience that generates grosses from gross-out humor.

Although occasionally both overwritten and overly symbolic, tale carries a satisfying emotional charge.

Anyone shunning Woody Allen’s artistic output will be depriving themselves of a bittersweet comedy peppered with splendid performances if they give A Rainy Day In New York a pass.

Gamely thesped, lowbrow farce.

The entire cast does their best with borderline hackneyed material, and the proceedings are nicely shot by ace DP Guillaume Schiffman.

Ravishingly lensed, widescreen pic's purely cinematic qualities slightly outstrip its narrative ones as central protag, as a result of the apparent suicide, slowly -- very slowly -- questions whether the aspects of her own marriage she thought were cast in stone may be made of less sturdy material.

Leisurely and overly familiar pic should appeal to young teen girls, but won't be breaking any B.O. bricks with its bare hands.

So understated as to sometimes lack a pulse.

Gritty, engaging.