Peter Hartlaub

Children will enjoy the physical humor, but discerning adults are advised to pawn their sons and daughters off on some other unsuspecting chaperone -- preferably one who doesn't read movie reviews.

The mockumentary-style delivery of a serious subject proves to be an unworkable mash-up.

There's little illumination.

It's surprising how dated some of the humor is.

There are some nice moments and beautiful scenery, but the film is often slow and the dialogue is overwrought.

At the heart of The Return is a murder that even the most bumbling homicide investigator could have solved in about 12 seconds.

There are more over-the-top moments, but they never last long. And after every groan-inducing piece of footage, a spectacular near-crash or daring motorcycle chase comes along to leave the movie's shortcomings in a cloud of dust.

The filmmaking is unremarkable, but the obsessiveness of the lead character is infectious enough to make this drama passable entertainment.

If you like gore, this is the movie for you.

As the camera follows four campers in a Portland, Ore., rock school for girls, the result is less a journey than a collage of random thoughts, circumstances and events. There's plenty of telling, but not enough showing.

Not since "An American Werewolf in London" in 1981 reset the standard for man-to-wolf transformations has anyone tried to get away with special effects as pitiful as the ones in this movie.

While the documentary isn't as compelling as its source material, Abbas tells an interesting story about his incarceration.

The sexual tension is thick between the woodland creatures in Alpha and Omega, an animated children's film with a plot that has more in common with "The Blue Lagoon" than "Bambi."

Compelling and frequently entertaining.

The Providence Effect" is flawed, but it's still a moving film.

Basically, this is a really good movie until the last part, where director and co-writer Darren Lynn Bousman ruins so much so fast that you'll wonder if his actions are deliberate -- or if the studio interfered.

There's no attempt at humor in Dead Silence, but the biggest sin in the film is the lack of scares.

One of Miyazaki's most kid-accessible movies, but still an unnerving film.

The result is an interesting but often frustrating effort by the director of "The Sea Inside," who proves that ambition and talent aren't enough to ensure a compelling drama.

If you can get past a few swear words, the film's simplicity makes Glory Road a good starting point to get young kids to talk about racism.

Just funny enough.

Throwing your $10.25 down a storm drain is a better idea; at least that way you won't feel the added self-loathing of wasting more than an hour and a half of your life watching Eva Mendes in the worst acting job of her career.

This isn't just a good throwback satanic thriller - it looks as if it was made during the era of satanist paranoia.

If you want to see Li and Statham in an underwhelming martial arts film, rent "The One" instead. Li talks considerably more in that movie, but at least he punches a lot of people out.

Has beautiful scenery and some enjoyable moments but leaves the viewer feeling the need to find the book to get the rest of the story.

Although intriguing to look at, Renaissance -- the latest animated film geared to adult audiences -- is undone by a plot that is ridiculously hard to follow and hackneyed.

An acquired taste.

Plays like two films in one, and succeeds on both levels.