Randy Cordova

Strangely, almost everyone must have been in the middle of some weird creative dry spell. Some stories are pretentious, some are annoyingly whimsical and some are just out-and-out obnoxious.

The Meddler is one of those movies that surprises you by being something it’s not.

Perhaps because the bar was set so low, Mother’s Day turns out to be surprisingly watchable.

Trapero handles the movie's pacing with a masterful ease.

Director Enrique Begné, who helmed this year's winsome "Busco Novio Para mi Mujer," directs with an emphasis on action over comedy. Sometimes that feels misplaced; the stretches without laughs grow increasingly longer as the plot moves forward. But he keeps things enjoyably fast-paced, so it's hard to complain too much.

Unfortunately, what the filmmaker has wound up with is something that feels like it should be playing at the bottom end of a triple bill at a drive-in.

[Costner's] utter conviction to such a daffy project is strangely endearing. You may never believe one minute of Criminal, but Costner sure does.

Thanks to the nicely layered characters and a near-perfect mix of action and merriment, the movie feels wonderfully vivid and alive.

Ultimately, the film is never boring, but it's never involving, either. At the end, what you're left with is a modestly entertaining film that doesn't seem to have an original thought in its head. In that way, it's a lot like the characters it spotlights.

The script, written by the actress, is downright wretched at times.

The film feels overlong and a bit repetitious, but it’s obviously a complex subject that deserves a thought-out treatment.

The effect is initially giddy but it ultimately wears the viewer down.

The Finest Hours is set in the early '50s. But did it really need to feel like it was made during the Eisenhower era?

Cate Blanchett gives a ferocious performance as the steely Mapes, and she mines some genuine emotion out of the material.

There might be a decent movie in here somewhere, if the focus had been on the right character.

The cast is excellent, anchored by the one-two punch of Colunga and Yañez.

Nothing feels believable in “Big Stone Gap,” a bungled, charm-free look at small-town life in the South in the late '70s.

Roth's tale is fairly twisty, as the behavior of the women grows increasingly violent and more outrageous. The two are not simply nut jobs; Roth presents them as a form of avenging angels who target philandering husbands. That's an interesting premise, but the movie lacks the depth or layers to make that truly compelling.

If you’re a major fan of the "Love Live!" world, this is possibly enjoyable. If you’re not, it is shrill, garish, confusing and badly paced, with cheap-looking animation and characters that resemble Walter Keane’s big-eyed waifs.

A scary fun-house ride that expertly blends jittery tension and laugh-out-loud humor.

It's mindless entertainment with enough thrills and chuckles to make the time pass painlessly. Just don't examine anything too closely.

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau never made a movie called Grumpy Old Men Go Camping. If they had, it surely would look a lot like A Walk in the Woods.

Director Craig Zobel (he made the creepily effective “Compliance”) lets the story unfold in wonderfully hushed fashion.

Newbie director Aleksander Bach handles the project with a competent precision. The film doesn’t rise above the genre and the plot is muddled, but he pulls off the basic elements with a distinctly chilly European style.

Pat and silly, the movie offers a wheezy moral that a buttoned-up American just needs a sensitive Latino and some ethnic cuisine to end the blues.

People Places Things is filled with that kind of heart-piercing comedy that makes a viewer cringe and laugh at the same time.

At first, it’s fun and shiny, then you’re left with a crumpled mess on the floor.

Stark’s turgid approach feels both pompous and cold, and the film never connects emotionally.