Ruthe Stein

Like a soap opera, but most of what glitters is gold.

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.

Shoot 'Em Up is not only the title of Hollywood's latest descent into nonsensical mayhem but pretty much sums up the entire inane plot as well.

Muddled, to put it kindly.

Wondrous performances.

The star's amusingly inventive performance keeps your attention through predictable early scenes when "Ohio" repeats familiar material on women's sexuality. It's like a continuation of "The Vagina Monologues" to see Liza Minnelli, as a New Age orgasm coach.

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

A tearjerker that earns its sobs with heartfelt emotions.

Dunye's engaging personality quickly wins you over. She deserves to be a character in a movie; she's more interesting than most.

An enjoyable if fairly predictable film.

The movie is shamelessly manipulative.

You're under the thrall of a new peculiar couple. Both actors appear to be having fun outmaneuvering each other on the ice and onscreen.

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.

An engrossing new drama from France.

A dreary little thriller that irritates more than it thrills.

Extremely amusing.

An unusual look at love and how it can unexpectedly develop. Those for whom the concept of an arranged marriage is foreign will get a little history lesson on the immigrant experience watching this sweetly engrossing film.

One of those quirky little movies that you marvel ever got made.

The Visitor, is, if anything, more imaginative and touching than his first.

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.

An extremely good picture that, with a little tweaking, might have been a great one.

Frothy and exuberantly entertaining - in part because of the sexual innuendoes - it's the best romantic comedy so far this year.

Deeply affecting, "Blade'' portrays an oddly elegant way of life that will soon be like the era in that other movie, "Gone With the Wind."

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.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age saga that will make you laugh and cry, maybe at the same time.

A spellbinding Australian Western.

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.

An intriguing exploration of New York theater at the height of its glory.

Powerful and moving.

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

There's an edge to this exemplary family movie, just as there is in the story.

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

Sad yet offering glimpses of hope.

A slow seduction.

Poor casting is compounded by a ludicrous script.

Exhilarating and enchanting family picture. It's the best I've seen this year and highly recommended for girls and for boys, too.

A pile of junk.

Often is on the verge of spilling over into melodrama, but that doesn't bother me because life is the same way.

Offers a brew of wondrous chimera combined with the wonders of human nature.

The thrills in Spike Lee's singularly savvy thriller are in small unexpected moments.

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.

Mehta has created the perfect guide to this strange female world.

Unlike Sean Penn's demagogue in "All the King's Men," you're able to forget that Whitaker is acting. He embodies the role. When clips of the real Amin are shown at the end, it's almost shocking to realize the extent to which Whitaker has become him.

As bad as its title.

Block's hypnotic documentary, among the finest of the year.

It tells the amazing, but mostly true, story of a late-18th century aristocrat who made an indelible mark on English society akin to that of her direct descendant, Lady Diana.

Brosnan and Moore display a knack for fast delivery of smart dialogue both in court and in bed. Their verbal sparring is the main attraction of Laws of Attraction and helped me overlook plot holes of massive proportions.

The sooner you let yourself go with Kim's flow, the more likely you are to come away satisfied. Think of it as South Korea's answer to "Memento," just don't think too hard.

The movie has a sweetness and innocence that makes it near perfect entertainment for its target audience.

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

Columbus' schizoid approach works more often than not.

Like a Christmas present you didn't know you wanted but are delighted to receive.

A marital comedy as perceptive as it is delectable.

Daring in its affirmation that a dowdy woman in her late 60s still can let go of her inhibitions and exhibit a lascivious side.

Heart-wrenching.

A solidly above-average thriller.

Offers another way into these complex indigenous people, through storytelling as haunting as their artwork.

Like its low-key star, Hamlet 2 is more likely to elicit quiet chuckles than raucous laughter.

Utterly enchanting.

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

A compelling Irish drama.

Sly, near-perfect comedy.

The way Boynton Beach residents reach out to one another is enough to make you consider relocating to one of these communities.

A half-baked script by Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark admittedly gives Feig little to work with. But his young cast is capable of a lot more than is required of them in this so-called comedy.

Feels like a personal vendetta.

Although well intentioned, has the superficial gloss of a TV movie of the week.

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.

It's as if a trumped-up biopic of Andy Warhol were to appear titled "Soup.''

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.

Lower your expectations going into Volver and accept it for what it is: a ridiculously entertaining melodrama with loud echoes of "Mildred Pierce" that provides Penelope Cruz with a vehicle for her multifaceted talents.

That the film succeeds as well as it does despite a series of coincidences that strain credibility is a credit to a fine cast and a joie de vivre that pervades even the most implausible moments.

A powerful and disturbing political drama.

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."

To the extent that this difficult but ultimately rewarding film has a message, it's that you can't run away from who you are.

Quietly unsettling.

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

Hogwash and not even funny hogwash.

It looks like a low-budget film, but in this case that just adds to the charm. Croghan's only false move was to divide her film into segments, each one introduced by a quote from a famous writer.

The very best thrillers -- a select group to which The Clearing clearly belongs -- exploit subconscious fears that bubble up at vulnerable moments.

The humor manages to be simultaneously sophisticated, supremely silly and very dark.

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.

Lacks the marquee names and production values of big studio romantic comedies, but it connects on an emotional level most of them fail to do.

As the title character in Lady Chatterley, Marina Hands does the most persuasive job of feigning sexual pleasure since Jane Fonda in "Coming Home."

The movie harks back to a time before state-of-the-art technology when writers and directors had to rely mostly on imagination.

Lumpy.

Surprisingly robust.

Lacks compelling narrative.

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

The real wonder becomes how British filmmaker Sandra Goldbacher was able to write and direct such an accomplished, touching and original movie her first time out.

Sharkboy relies almost entirely on 3-D for its kicks. The novelty, however, quickly wears thin with the thinnest of stories to project.