Martin Tsai

Writer-director Diane Bell suggests that these women are so steeped in low self-esteem and codependency that they would not be able to leave their men if they didn't have each other.

The pedestrian writing and acting prove even more cringe-worthy and dreadful than the special effects.

His runners' successes speak volumes, but the film never ventures outside of his inner circle to gain more perspective.

Seemingly meant for the stage, the film feels unnaturally theatrical with characters stiltedly reciting each line of dialogue even when supposedly conversing. But with Mahoney's pedestrian, shot-reverse-shot direction, these scenes play out like situational skits from an instructional video made for ESL students.

It's tough to stomach in more ways than one.... A capricious, counterintuitive narrative also renders the film nearly unwatchable.

Since his due-diligence efforts were rebuffed by the American Dental Assn. and the Food and Drug Administration in their declining of interview requests, director Randall Moore doubles down on the already ex parte narrative with heavy-handed editorializing.

There's no characterization to the cartel members beyond freeze-frame title cards; they are interchangeable and expendable.

The film, unfortunately, treats the important and complex subject of post-traumatic stress disorder in an oversimplified and reductive way.

Writer-director Claudia Sparrow prefers to pay more mind to the abstract.

Coming off like a hodgepodge of rejected spec scripts for "The Walking Dead," Anger of the Dead reveals particularly misogynistic and misanthropic filmmaking.

The temporal puzzle is enough to distract from the artless direction, visibly cheap set designs and tacky special effects. But if the expository scenes are any indication, his writing could benefit from some refinement.

It's little more than an artsy but hollow Lifetime cable movie.

Mastretta does beautifully realize the fluidity and messiness of coupling.

Offering more than a portrait of a woman about town, Rokah gradually exhumes the hardship of surviving the streets of Los Angeles for four decades and the associated stigma and shame that have prevented Haist from reaching out to family.

Earnest and well-meaning, The Congressman devolves into predictable schmaltz.

Easily the most thrilling thriller in recent memory, Crush the Skull seems destined for cult status.