Robert K. Elder

Presented with such confidence, such care, that we love all of the characters, even if we don't like them.

Unfortunately, the home-run performances of Cube and Epps are handicapped by inept and illogical action sequences.

Hits more laughs than it misses and its characters are likable, empathetic people.

So well crafted, so original, that each overlapping scene swells with new life and interpretation.

Like too many sports-related movies, this one falls back on that One Big Game, the final score that will set everything right.

In the tradition of indie films "Girlfight" and "George Washington," Sollett's emotive, sub-improvising style leads to pitch-perfect performances from a watertight cast in a loose, joyfully fresh film.

Confidently directed and tightly constructed, Carnage announces the presence of a fresh, powerful directorial mind with each frame.

Plagued by continuity problems, ham-fisted storytelling and a problematic voiceover by Da Brat, Civil Brand feels less like a prison movie than a prison sentence.

A magic-meets-macho cop movie that's more gimmick than actual movie.

An emotionally honest character piece that avoids moralizing or offering soggy excuses.

After clawing their way into the Olympics, so-called extreme sports deserve respect, but this is no way to get it.

Limps along on a squirm-inducing fish-out-of-water formula that goes nowhere and goes there very, very slowly.

Muddles through as a film so uninterested in character, it doesn't bother assigning names to them.

Combining cutting-edge computer animation with traditional two-dimensional characters, Treasure Planet pops off the screen, reviving Stevenson's adventure with surprising accuracy.

Although bright, well-acted and thought-provoking, Tuck Everlasting suffers from a laconic pace and a lack of traditional action.

Sonnenfeld mishandles the broad part of the comedic formula, preferring repetition to thematic development.

Gets under your skin with laughs that are fast, slick and slippery and with visuals as vivid as anything this side of Demerol.

Slow and dragging, Pootie Tang is worse than a below-average sketch-to-screen Saturday Night Live film.

While sci-fi conceits still permeate the plot (alien DNA, rogue scientists), attention to personal detail float world-weary, superbly-drawn protagonists in a rare movie-a character-driven animated film.

Think of the Slocumbs as distant relatives of "The Royal Tenenbaums," only more dysfunctional and far from attractively "quirky."

While Reyes seeks his own ambitious style, he can't quite step out from under De Palma's shadow and thematic choices. Everything from the voiceover narration to the final frame in Empire looks and feels like a low-budget hybrid of "Scarface" or "Carlito's Way."

Suit #3: But what will we call the sequel? Suit #1: "XXXX"? Suit #2: Brilliant!

This is a rare gem tripped over while making a run-of-the-mill rockumentary about a band's new album.

Not only does American Outlaws distort history, but the filmmakers have created a dull, one-dimensional pop icon out of James' complex character and legend.

Resonates and inspires rapid-fire bouts of laughter, perhaps even a few giggles from the author himself, whom posterity has rewarded the last laugh.

Worth your time and money? Fuhgeddaboutit.

One of the few video game movies to truly re-create the gaming experience -- from the three-dimensional maps to the structure of encountering increasingly grisly and dangerous foes at higher levels of play.

Jason X conjures up more giggles than scares, assuming you make it through the first 15 minutes.