Ruthe Stein

Well-intentioned but lifeless.

Only intermittently funny.

The dreary teen drama Step Up appears to be cobbled together from bits and pieces of successful movies.

McNally adapted his Tony-award winning play for the screen, and for once a movie is an improvement on the stage version.

Accomplishes the near impossible, bringing a fresh perspective to a horrific subject.

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

Bouncy, informative and funny documentary.

Annoyingly simplistic.

Wickedly funny.

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.

Dark, disturbing and audaciously original in a way only indies are given license to be anymore, the film never telegraphs where it's heading. But you don't need a pathfinder to sense the general direction is toward hell.

Notes on a Scandal won't be everyone's cup of tea. But if you like your films strong, this one is not to be missed.

I don't claim to have seen every entry from around the world, but it's hard to imagine five better than this deliciously offbeat comedy, as wildly inventive as anything Billy Wilder ever conceived.

It's a broad generality to say that French filmmakers have a particularly perverse sensibility, but it can be backed up by one import after another. The latest, La Moustache, is wonderfully odd in a minimalist kind of way.

The film's ambitions are laudable, and it manages to be touching, funny and true to life. It seems ungrateful to ask for anything more.

The suggestion that Peter O'Toole is playing some version of his real self in Venus adds a bittersweet poignancy to this quietly affecting British drama.

Akeelah and the Bee connects where it counts most, on an emotional level. Only a curmudgeon could watch this feisty but vulnerable youngster rack up victories against all odds without tearing up.

So cleverly constructed that it's easy to be taken in and believe these twins really rocked.

The Astronaut Farmer's goofy quality makes it totally endearing. It's also super entertaining. Critics are fond of referring to movies as a "great ride." With this one, the words couldn't be more apt.

Charmingly offbeat in the vein of early Woody Allen.

Nobody into lush melodramas dripping in sex should miss this pulsating Italian import.

Spending an hour and a half inside a uterus might be more entertaining than this tiresome sequel.

Among the many strengths of the sweetly touching Introducing the Dwights, a small gem from Australia unearthed at the Sundance Film Festival, is that Jean never becomes Godzilla.

Engrossing documentary.

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.

Imaginative and immensely engrossing film.

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.

The offbeat drama The Seagull's Laughter is the kind of movie I appreciate because it never announces where it's headed.