Lou Lumenick

Despite pitch-perfect performances, the craft of Moretti's direction and his honorable intentions, The Son's Room was not especially moving.

A dull, by-the-numbers psych-ward horror thriller that's sadly a lot closer in quality to "Sucker Punch" than "Shutter Island."

This flick is fast and ferocious, his (Sidney Lumet) sharpest and best since "Prince of the City" (1980) - and surely one of the year's finest.

Overall, the film is not quite up to "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid" from the same directing team of Ron Clements and John Musker, not to mention the recent string of masterpieces from Pixar.

Dark, morbidly funny and quite violent movie, which plays with audience members' heads in ways many people will find quite disturbing.

A challenging experimental film that will never play in a commercial movie theater and is settling in for a two-week run at the ever-venturesome Film Forum.

An absorbing documentary.

An excruciating indie knockoff of "Training Day."

The action is brutal, bloody and virtually nonstop in this adrenaline-packed riff on "Assault on Precinct 13.''

Mostly, the gorgeously shot Queen and Country depicts Bill and his more rebellious mate Percy pursuing beautiful women with varying degrees of success — and pulling pranks on their exasperated superiors, hilariously portrayed by David Thewlis and Richard E. Grant.

Based on the many delightful samples on the soundtrack, it's an exemplary goal.

Anything following that spectacular sequence is bound to be something of a letdown - especially when it ends up playing like standard-issue Hollywood melodrama.

This satisfying adaptation of a popular novel is mostly an artistic reflection on youthful loss of innocence.

Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan are superb as the couple, who use the occasion to drop bombs on each other.

An exquisitely crafted Civil War epic that combines the epic romantic sweep of "Gone With the Wind" with a more intimate voice that speaks eloquently to the war-weary nation of today.

Me and Orson Welles is, in effect, a sequel to Tim Robbins' star-filled, self-important film about "Cradle," but it's far lighter on its feet.

Like Roald Dahl's book, Tim Burton's splendidly imaginative and visually stunning - and often very dark and creepy - new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is squarely aimed more at children than their parents.

To his credit, Blitz throws in an unexpected twist that delivers a more ambivalent ending than your typical sports movie.

Depicts the bleak suburban milieu in a manner that avoids exploitation.

Doesn't shy from the ugly side, though it's far from the no-holds-barred exposé being touted in the ads.

Expertly directed, acted and written crowd-pleaser.

Well worth seeing for Walters, whose comic and dramatic gifts are showcased to very entertaining effect.

It's also a terrific, career-capping role for Eastwood, who claims he's now retired as an actor. He shows off his comic chops more fully than in any film since "Bronco Billy" more than a quarter-century ago.

Way too long, too convoluted and too peppered with title cards...Even so, it's hard to dislike Don Roos' "Magnolia"-inspired triptych of interconnected comic tales about lies, sex and video.

Cars leaves the animated competition in the dust, even if it is a tad slower and more predictable than Pixar at full throttle.

The kind of stand-up-and-cheer movie Hollywood is supposed to have forgotten how to make.

The film also wastes the coiled intensity of Jeremy Renner, as the newest member of the IMF team with a none-too-compelling past. Bird does keep audiences guessing whether Renner is the only leading actor in Hollywood who's even shorter than Cruise.

Has its sluggish stretches, but the superb level of acting is more than ample compensation.