Pete Vonder Haar

Giamatti has his hands full trying to keep us from thinking about Burgess Meredith.

The film is technically superior, and its look and the strength of its performances (Blanchett, Barraza, and Kikuchi especially) carry it above similar fare.

Does it herald a renaissance in the action genre? Not really, but it's a welcome throwback to good old-fashioned, '80s-style lunkhead violence, and no one takes a punch, kick, elbow, or bullet quite like John McClane.

The film's effectiveness is bolstered by juxtaposed scenes of fat and happy Americans and Europeans slurping up frozen chai lattes and clucking about how big Starbuck's is getting with scenes of children going into "therapeutic feeding centers" in the region where Starbuck's gets its coffee because they can't afford to by corn.

The Longest Yard lives or dies with its physical humor, a form of recent comedy I like to call slapstick sadism.

I can't condemn it outright, but damned if I can remember anything (aside from Izzard's performance) that would make me recommend it.

A poignant reminder of why people used to actually listen to their radios.

Biyi Bandele's Half of a Yellow Sun strikes an admirable balance between drama and history.

Has some nice touches. Cheadle is capable as always, and Paula Newsome kills as his acerbic receptionist.

An above average film, and features fine performances (Theron and McDormand are probably stone locks for more Oscar nominations), but be wary of the advertising pointing out the film's similarities to movies like "Erin Brockovich."

Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but that sadomasochistic anti-Semite knows how to shoot a movie.

Glendon Swarthout’s 1988 novel offered a rare approach to those Old West stories by shifting the focus to the women and children who often bore its brunt the worst, and Jones has — for the most part — successfully captured this, often in devastating fashion.

One of the best movies of the year, and a great accomplishment for Messrs. Harmon and Schrab. Maybe now we’ll get a feature length "Robot Bastard" movie.

The doc affords us a look into a world rarely seen by the lumpenproletariat, though we could have done with fewer aerial/time-lapse shots and more history.

Fracture may be smarter than the majority of movies out there, but it's not half as clever as it thinks it is.

The testimonials from a few of these people, with the realization they speak for tens of thousands, reinforces Inequality for All's sobering message while at the same time undercutting Reich's optimism.

Honestly, the most shocking thing put forth in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay just might be the proposition that George W. Bush is actually a pretty cool guy.

The movie's strength is in the performances. And they're enough to make Steel City worth a look.

A broad and occasionally disjointed indictment of the New York art scene and horrorcore rap that leaves no broad side of a barn untargeted.

Sellers' comic mastery is completely fumbled by Martin and director Shawn Levy.

An oddly sweet little tale, and easily Ferrell’s most enjoyable movie in recent memory. And even though his onscreen chemistry with Gyllenhaal fills me with murderous rage, this film goes a long way towards erasing the memory of his more obnoxious roles.

Intermittently refreshing yet thoroughly unpleasant.

Almost unforgivably sentimental.

It elicits so many laughs, in fact, that you have to wonder just what Judge did to piss off the suits at Fox so much that they would willingly torpedo one of the only genuinely hilarious movies to come out this year.

Monotonous. For while it offers a few precious laughs, Talladega Nights simply apes the look and feel of most recent Ferrell movies.

A curious little film. On the surface, it's a story about one man's mission to create an Orthodox monastery in Denmark, and along the way it manages to say something about everyone's desire to be remembered after they pass away.

It's in the film's second half that Parkland goes all Tony Romo and fumbles. Instead of becoming truly engrossing, it threatens to descend into unreserved melodrama.

Comedy, like most everything else, is subjective, and this may be the greatest example out there of "getting it" or not. If you thought the first movie, the original TV show, the Three Stooges, or "Football in the Groin," was funny, chances are “ackass: Number Two is right up your alley.