Lou Lumenick

Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic works best when this equal-opportunity offender is on the stage.

An entertaining documentary.

It's full of funny stuff, from a hitman forced to drag along his 3-year-old when he can't get a sitter, to one of the goons being asked, "Do you have a Web presence?"

Coming-of-age road trips have rarely been more tedious or predictable.

After a slightly promising start, this great-looking but ultimately deeply confusing and unscary sci-fi/horror opus turns into a quite boring rehash of M. Night Shyamalan's post-"Signs" films.

Sequels don't get much better - or smarter - than the action-, drama-, romance- and comedy-packed Spider-Man 2, which miraculously improves on the webslinger's hugely popular first screen adventure in every imaginable department.

A truly baffling late entry in the "Pulp Fiction" sweepstakes that ends up drowning in its own pretensions -- along with, quite possibly, what's left of Val Kilmer's movie career.

It's a tribute to the filmmakers and cast that by the end of Lars and the Real Girl, you can almost accept that Bianca is, well, a real girl.

Quite possibly the first truly great fact-based movie of the 21st century.

Like legendary producer Val Lewton in the '40s, director Oren Peli, who shot "Paranormal" in seven days in his own home, understands that what's most frightening is what you don't see but merely suggested.

An unrelenting assault on the brain and eardrums.

So unremittingly awful that labeling it a dog probably constitutes cruelty to canines.

Though Iris is extremely well-acted and beautifully photographed, some audience members may find themselves agreeing with Bayley's frustrated complaint: "I've never known who you are."

Exploitation curiosity.

Lassie is a dog movie even non-dog lovers will lap up.

Schmaltzy and endless.

A totally ridiculous and incoherent sci-fi adventure.

Dicey entertainment, indeed.

Cisneros is an appealing actor, but he and Falling Awake get buried under a welter of clichés.

A real head-scratcher that somehow won the grand jury prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

This is a terminally whimsical vanity project that would probably have been a chore to sit through even in its original intended format, a 20-minute stage monologue.

Plays like an unwieldy mishmash of "Big Momma's House," "An Unmarried Woman" and "The Burning Bed," with lots of gospel music thrown in.

This is a beautifully acted chamber piece --especially by the magnificent Blake, who is married to Norris in real life.

Price of Glory isn't an embarrassment on the order of the last major boxing movie, "Play It to the Bone," but it's not especially worth intercepting on its way to the video racks.

The kind of thriller whose ridiculous climax hinges on a hitherto undisclosed GPS tracking device in a dog's collar - an appropriate touch in a movie that's more than a little flea-ridden itself.

We now have the distance to see just how close to a flawless and utterly timeless a film Steven Spielberg and his collaborators crafted – one that transcended genres (sci-fi and kids’ movies) to become of one of the greatest and most durable of American movies. [2002 re-release]

Theron is very good as a woman struggling for respect in a sexist environment. There are also small but telling performances by Susan Sarandon as Hank's worried wife, and Frances Fisher as a topless bartender who aids in the investigation.

It's terribly predictable and often risible stuff.

Fairly shapeless story.

Has enough heart and smarts to recommend it as one of the season's worthier family entertainments.

I love musicals, but I'd be hard-pressed to recommend this curiosity, sort of a shoestring version of Francis Ford Coppola's "The Cotton Club."

Paved with such good intentions and talent that it's sad to report this lavishly mounted gangster epic - the most serious-minded Hollywood film of the season - doesn't come close to living up to expectations.

While there are plenty of laughs, Hunt doesn't play this for farce. Even Midler gives perhaps the most restrained, and arguably the most winning, performance of her screen career.

One of those potentially interesting movies that takes its sweet time getting to the point - by which time many audience members will likely have bailed out or dozed off.

A slickly entertaining war movie that's sometimes striking, sometimes silly -- but never, ever boring.

You gotta give credit to any first-time direc tor who attempts an homage to classic screwball comedies on a shoestring budget, even if Kettle of Fish ends up not exactly being the catch of the week.

Vincent D'Onofrio does capture Hoffman's charisma and nuttiness - and he's the only reason to resist the temptation to skip this exasperating movie.

Desperately unfunny and unexciting.

You'll have to look elsewhere than this love letter to the Great White Way to explain why "Wicked" and "Avenue Q" became huge hits, and why "Caroline, or Change" joined "Taboo" as a costly flop.

Taylor also makes an impressive comeback as the conflicted daughter who instinctively distrusts Heather, but Starting Out in the Evening is first and foremost a triumph by Frank Langella.

Strange and quirky.

The movie spins further and further into coincidence and incoherence.

If you insist on seeing Soul Men, stick around during the closing credits for the best part of the movie, an interview with Mac.

One of the better political documentaries flooding into theaters after "Fahrenheit 9/11" and before the election.

Slick as a pig and reeking of phony sympathy for recession-wracked consumers, The Joneses is a black comedy about stealth marketing made by a filmmaker who's evidently much too close to the subject to bite the hand that feeds him.

Solid performances can't save Melissa Painter's pretentious teen drama Steal Me, which plays like a cross between "Dangerous Skin" (without the gay sex) and "Picnic" (without the production values or credible situations).

A lot more stupid action - and a lot less heart - than the character-driven original, as Stuart ends up rescuing Margalo from Falcon.

Boasts special effects that are really spectacular - too bad it lacks flesh-and-blood characters.

The performances are solid, but as a screenwriter, Guttenberg can't make the situation seem like more than a theatrical construct in a contemporary setting.

What might seem like showing off in another movie is dazzling storytelling here, packing in an hour's worth of human misery.

Jim Carrey mostly plays it straight as the narrator. The 3-D effects are uncanny; much of the audience ducked when sea snakes lunged at it. You can't get that on your TV set. Yet.

Whatever message Brooks was trying to put across with Spanglish, it clearly got lost in translaaaaaaaaaaation.

A collection of product plugs masquerading as a movie en route to home video.

Does not offer much in the way of exciting boxing footage.

There are bachelor and bachelorette parties, as well as much misbehavior, in this glossy and unconvincing little flick, receiving a vanity booking on the way to video.

Co-star Christina Applegate, who's much more at home in this down and dirty milieu, wipes the floor (in one scene, literally, in a ludicrous cat fight) with the erstwhile Oscar winner.

Brain-dead variant of "Risky Business."

Bursting with energy and originality even after 36 years, A Hard Day's Night is easily the best show in town.

A low-rent, slow-witted horror flick notable chiefly for its hilariously unsuccessful attempt to pass off Luxembourg City as New York City.

One of the 10 best American movies released so far this year, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is the surprisingly satisfying first theatrical film inspired by a long-running series of historically themed dolls.

A thoughtful, rousing and beautifully crafted epic.

Actually more entertaining than its 1994 predecessor.

Uncompromisingly mediocre comedy.

Arguably the most insipid movie released so far this century.

More "the mild one" than "The Wild One."

This rousingly sweet little flick is certainly nothing to go out of your way to avoid.

It says a lot about the sequel that the funniest moment belongs to none of the big stars, but to Owen Wilson.

2046 is a bit overlong and not for all tastes, but fans of "In the Mood for Love" will relish this second helping, which is more emotionally substantial than the first.

Ends up taking enough detours to keep DreamWorks' latest animated epic from striking cinematic gold.

Ruefully funny, beautifully acted comedy of manners.

Sitcomish, stereotypical and sporadically funny romantic comedy.

Beautifully shot by Michael J. Ozier, the dominating taste in Bottle Shock is Rickman's beautiful performance as a snob - a snob who is secretly open to being delightfully surprised.

A crock - a pandering epic that's as phony as it is condescending.

The “Transformers” hottie undergoes her very own transformation here, thanks to satanic possession.

The first conservative documentary to join the bumper crop of liberal political films riding Michael Moore's coattails into theaters.

Nearly stolen by the veteran Stamp's gently fatuous John.

A painfully sincere indie drama that isn't content to evoke only the misery of 9/11 -- it has to reference TWA Flight 800 for extra grief.

A cheesy affair with no big winners. Especially the audience.

Science fiction movies don't come much more ponderous than the beautifully filmed Never Let Me Go, which reduces the debate over genetic engineering to a mild, moist romantic soap opera.

Excruciatingly maudlin.