Ruthe Stein

This movie borders on the ridiculous, but is pulled back by an aesthetic portrayal of the supernatural and by its stars.

Considering the talent on both sides of the camera and a story that worked beautifully the first time around, Shall We Dance? should have been a lot better than OK.

The problem with this one may be that it just isn't British enough.

A junior version of "Fight Club," only with no movie stars and different moves.

If you can still be entertained by a thriller that unabashedly borrows from others of its ilk and don't mind reading subtitles, you could do worse than District B13. It's over so fast, in a quick 85 minutes, there's scarcely time to get bored by the silly plot.

The ending is predictable to anybody who's followed the trajectory of outsourcing. Outsourced humanizes those affected by it - even if the story sounds familiar.

Becomes tiresome.

Vanessa Redgrave makes a regal if too-brief appearance.

Hanssen is such an enigma that any attempt to explain him has inherent interest. Breach expends too much energy on a minor functionary, but it is still worth seeing for its fleeting looks into a heart of darkness.

Intermittently funny.

Sleuth"is that rare film that would have been better longer. You're not through looking at Caine and Law when the final credits roll.

It's a first feature film for both screenwriter Alex Rose and director Gaby Dellal, and their inexperience shows in Frank's underdeveloped relationships with family and friends and in the movie's sluggish pacing.

With Lloyd Webber onboard not just as composer but also co-screenwriter and producer, the film seemed destined to stay true to its roots rather than attempt to transcend them.

Overly long and not especially enlightening film.

A mishmash of a musical. The movie never gels -- despite Kline's nuanced performance, the stars' exquisite period clothes, designed by Armani, and, of course, Porter's great songs.

A sweet, bordering on saccharine, comedy.

The film is better than it has any right to be, considering the prosaic source.

While dinner and a movie is in theory a great idea, I'd avoid eating before taking in Lunacy.

I'm not denying that a 40-year- old woman might be self-conscious about going around with someone this young. But the subject isn't interesting or provocative enough to sustain an entire movie.

Has the slapped-together, cheesy look of a porno movie. While this could be distracting, the shoddiness sets the mood for a humorous spin on the European porn industry circa early 1970s.

The movie is unable to achieve lift-off and transcend the formulaic stuff coming out of Hollywood, despite the perfect casting of Uma Thurman.

A sequel arrives for Valentine's Day with the unwieldy title Step Up 2 the Streets. If it performs as well, watch for "Step Up 3: the Sprained Ankle."

Suffers from Resnais' inability to open it up and give it the look and pulse of a film.

It's amusing in a trashy sort of way.

That Pride ultimately gets to you is more of a surprise than the outcome because it's not very well-constructed.

Visually, the film is a stunner, dotted with psychedelic colors and many shades of red -- one battle is fought with red laser-gun sights -- some looking realistically like blood. When gangsters open fire, their falls are choreographed like a ballet. The problem comes when the cast opens its mouth and Elizabethan dialogue tumbles out.

This harmless bit of fluff lacks the element of surprise but is not without random charming moments supplied by its incandescent star.

Well-intentioned but frequently inert.

If you enjoy gross humor -- elevated by an occasional witty line -- and looking at babes, and don't mind a little blood and gore, do I have a date movie for you.

It says something about this movie that Redford is at his most compelling playing opposite a nag.

Perhaps the humor has been lost in translation.

Far from the worst cookie-cutter film to come off the Hollywood assembly line, merely the latest.

Another art film that's more pretentious than it needs to be.

The whole thing is dizzying, like "Moulin Rouge" without songs and dances extolling love.

The movie is shamelessly manipulative.

Although the acting is uneven and the movie's dead spots make it feel far longer than its running time, the twist in Twist' is certainly clever.

You can be 100 percent in favor of rescuing adorable orphans from war-torn zones and still find The Children of Huang Shi a tough haul.

It lives up to its title, flying by in fast motion. Even the first-wave MTV generation may find the pace exhausting, but this piece of fluff wasn't made for them.

Often amusing but lacks the necessary bite.

A needlessly complicated and confusing thriller.

For all the filmmaker's good intentions, Fast Food Nation isn't a particularly good movie. It doesn't hold together or grip you the way a documentary might have.

As moving as some parts are, it's muddled by a script that tries to pack in too much. There's sufficient material for a couple of films and a sitcom.

A peculiar little film -- grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.

Leaves you feeling buoyed, but you must endure a level of overacting more suitable for the soaps.

A supernatural thriller that keeps your attention while failing to hold you in its grip.

Broken English doesn't break any code or offer original insights on the subject. But there's a spark whenever Posey and Poupaud are together.

Vitus is likable enough and definitely suitable entertainment for young people willing to read subtitles.

This will never be the movie of the month, but you could do a lot worse at the multiplex.

Feels like a personal vendetta.

Much about Living Out Loud is pretty far-fetched, but at least it accurately portrays the dating possibilities for newly divorced women of a certain age.

An unfortunate casting decision, however, comes close to sabotaging a witty script.

The Pillow Book sometimes seems like three different movies, each one an eyeful but together too much of a good thing.

A lumpy concoction.

The film will have to settle for a bogey rather than a par. Still, some hyperbole is warranted, like "Safest Movie to Take the Entire Family To."

Has a certain charm and is sure to appeal to tweens, at least the female variety.

But the jury is still out on Romano's future in movies. Hackman blows him off the screen.

While still trumpeting human ingenuity, the new movie lacks the subtlety, character development and exceptional ensemble acting of the 1965 version.

Lumpy.

Lacks compelling narrative.

To label the parents in Wah-Wah dysfunctional doesn't adequately describe their wildly inappropriate behavior.

This is familiar territory for writer-director Nancy Meyers, Hollywood's queen of the chick flick. Her latest has charming moments and a hopeful message for despondent singles, but it lacks the emotional resonance of Meyers' "Something's Gotta Give" and the zaniness of "What Women Want."

Distressingly predictable and not a tad scary. But as a parody of the genre, it's a scream, like the "Scream'' franchise, only funnier. It's as if all the ingredients for a thriller coagulated into Silly Putty.

Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard are incredibly compelling and hold your attention despite Jordan's deliberately slow pacing.

Unfortunately, Hotel de Love also has all the originality of an all-purpose valentine. First- time filmmaker Craig Rosenberg appears to have seen every relationship movie ever made. To his credit, he borrowed only from the best.

While the documentary does a credible job of pointing out the magnitude of the problem, it skirts the issue of what can be done about it and by whom.

The producers have stated that they're going after an American market that supports Spanish-language TV networks, radio stations and newspapers. This niche audience may well respond to not being required to read subtitles, for once, in a movie geared to them.

A pretty ugly movie in its own right.

An overwrought and ultimately silly thriller.

A noble try that disappoints.

The truly shocking thing about the new version is that it's not bloody awful.

The least appealing of the trilogy.

A potentially great movie winds up buried inside a just OK one.

Superficially entertaining romantic romp.

Doesn't have much to say.

An energetic young cast, consisting of a mix of professional dancers and actors who do convincing imitations of Arthur Murray graduates, is positively inspired in numbers combining traditional ballroom steps with hip-hop.

The movie is one big in-joke. It's watchable, but eventually wears you down with its over-the-top cleverness.

Harris' impressive channeling of Ludwig is diluted by the decision of screenwriters Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson to put the copyist front and center, possibly to distinguish their feature from "Immortal Beloved."

May be too convincing for its own good.

The attempt to be clever is transparent.

Extremely bleak but occasionally compelling debut feature.

A clever idea, but it's not quite pulled off.

Well-intentioned but lifeless.

Only intermittently funny.

A neo-noir thriller long on atmosphere and short on production values.

The last half is so superior to the first that you wish they'd rethought the whole thing and devised a way to make it more of a one piece.

Another romantic comedy about a career woman who has everything except a man, is Jennifer Aniston's attempt to break out of her TV role. But she doesn't have the magic on the big screen to make us forget where she came from.

Given his built-in appeal, Perry has the opportunity to broaden the subject matter of so-called black movies. He takes a stab at it in "Girls," but he could do so much better.

Despite a clever script and top-notch cast, whose commitment to doing service in the indie branch of the industry is commendable, Unknown falls apart just when it should be coming together.

Something to see and occasionally even to laugh at.

While often cliche ridden and preposterous, it's too busy and loud to put anyone to sleep.

A wildly erratic, often annoying but never boring endeavor.

The material obviously had to be stretched to fill the big screen for almost two hours.

A mostly entertaining movie with built-in appeal to young audiences. The good news for parents is that it won't put them to sleep.

Has to be one of the least charming French romances to find American distribution in recent years.

As a romantic comedy, Cease Fire is more annoying than amusing.

It's hard to get swept away when you're struggling to figure out who's doing what to whom and why.

Amusing performances -- especially from Willis, who takes on a new personality with each new hairstyle -- can't disguise the fact that the film is basically a pastiche of recent movies.

The mystery of Nancy Drew' is how a movie can get so many things right -- particularly the inspired casting of Emma Roberts as the spunky teenage sleuth -- yet ultimately disappoint.