Pete Vonder Haar

A genuinely engrossing film.

Strong performances from Vera Farmiga and Hugh Dillon keep things from becoming overdramatic.

The Wicker Man isn't all that bad a movie; it's visually striking and ambitious in some ways. It just fails to bring enough to the table to fully distance itself from the original.

“Syriana's” dumber, louder cousin.

An arresting and disturbing piece of work that gets its message across without coming off as overly preachy.

The Ringer is astoundingly craptastic not because the handicapped are handled poorly (though if they were paid more than union scale I'd be surprised), but because it's one of the most singularly unfunny films ever made.

As a look at the disenfranchised of America, Explicit Ills could use some work. As a debut, however, it's quite promising. I'm looking forward to seeing what Webber comes up with next.

1408 isn’t great cinema, but does an adequate job in spite of its flaws.

For my money, no movie comes close to capturing the high school experience like "The Substitute."

The original movie One Missed Call is based on was pretty tame, at least by Miike standards. And since it appears studios have no intention of halting this flood of abysmal rehashes, allow me to suggest that they at least have the stones not to pussyfoot around and give us a remake worthy of Hollywood, of America, and of an audience that lacks the willpower to stop buying tickets to half-assed crap.

Even understanding the audience for which Kicking & Screaming is aiming, it's hard not to notice the flaws.

Far and away the best of the Star Wars prequels (tough chore, that) and also holds its own with the hallowed films of the original trilogy.

The biggest loser in all of this is Chan, whose legacy over here won’t be his 20+ years as a martial arts pioneer, but rather his playing straight man to the likes of Tucker and Owen Wilson.

Once you become accustomed to her material and begin to anticipate it, some of the shine comes off the act.

A film about a family billed as "bizarrely dysfunctional" – is a pleasant enough experience. However, it probably could have used a little more of the bizarre or dysfunctional to spice things up.

If nothing else, Into the Wild is a beautiful film. Penn meticulously shot in the actual locations McCandless visited, and Eric Gautier's cinematography is breathtaking, many scenes are framed in such a way as to almost Hirsch entirely, further emphasizing how solitary his trek actually was.

It isn't as if any of the actors do an especially bad job or anything – Fox is capable enough as the lead, and Whitley and Wilson especially carry themselves quite well – but you can't help asking yourself, what's the point? Are there that many more broad topics in need of shallow examination by a Hollywood studio picture?

An almost constant misfire. From its paper-thin plot to the utterly flat script, virtually nothing works.

The only mildly interesting bit of casting comes from bringing Cartwright back (as one of Bennell’s patients).

What Flags of Our Fathers is not, however, is moving, evocative, or very unique.

The release of Fantastic Four marks the beginning of the end for movies based on Marvel Comics' upper tier of characters.

The problem with Sandler’s latest movies is that he now feels the need to inject some sort of dramatic conflict in order to complete his character’s shallow story arc of maturation/redemption. Introducing such mawkish sentimentality causes the humor level in his films, never that elevated to begin with, to sink like America’s credibility overseas.

Casino Royale is quite possibly the best action movie of the year.

Dreamgirls is a better musical than "Chicago" or "Rent," but then, that isn't really saying much.

Ultimately a story about the American mindset post-9/11, Right at Your Door is also a much more personal tale, as it forces all of us to consider what we would do if the chips were down.

The real problem is that Sex and the City is, except for a few laughs, mostly just irritating.

Depressingly inert.

Waiting… is only intermittently funny, but when it is, it's hilarious.