Walter Addiego

Some of the talking heads say entertaining or thoughtful things and some of the locations are quite exotic. But does this justify 98 minutes of screen time?

The Sorcerer's Apprentice boils down to "The Karate Kid" meets "Harry Potter," with maybe a dash of "Ghostbusters" to keep it interesting.

Whatever It Takes is DOA -- dated on arrival.

This is a slacker comedy with "festival" stamped all over it, so you can bet the consequences will be quirky.

Timeless, and as fine a depiction of human folly as you're likely to see at the movies.

About as close to pure mall fodder as you'll see.

While amusing and sometimes touching, Pleasantville is far from challenging.

An unbearable exercise in provocation.

Not a great picture but an entirely entertaining one. [02 Nov 2008, p.N34]

A liberating experience.

This is a vision of hell conveyed in a simple, documentary style, far removed from the sumptuous American Mafia fables.

Nunez's style is quiet, simple and deliberate, but the film never drags.

Both very funny and a bit of a tearjerker, with an on-the-money performance from Ricky Gervais.

Second-banana material.

Powerful and depressing.

The dramatic payoff is a bit disappointing; the movie is often overwrought; and its sense of its own importance finally wears you down.

A film of stark and galling contrasts.

Artful filmmaking of the old school.

Hoodwinked is a computer-animated, "Shrek"-style satire of "Little Red Riding Hood" that offers a few laughs but overall is pretty tired.

A complete misfire.

At some point, the movie itself crosses the line, from a modestly thoughtful attempt to extrapolate a drama from real and urgent events to a generic action piece with predictable good and bad guys and pat, civics-book morals.

It's an interesting spectacle, but not enough to carry a movie.

Gattaca is a welcome throwback to the days of good, low-tech sci-fi, stressing character and atmosphere over computer-generated effects and juvenile thrills.

We're compelled to admire these athletes because, despite their obvious skill, they are in constant danger.

Really doesn't pay off much.

An affable comedy (with some serious notes).

It's soft-edged fun that loses direction (or, given the scattershot plot, directions).

The Phantom is a spiritless affair likely to vanish quickly from first-run screens.

Occasionally funny and touching, but often embarrassing and cringe-inducing.

The film is far from perfect but has enough going on to compensate for its excessive length and some sentimentality.

An old-fashioned prisoner-of-war movie that becomes much more because of writer-director Werner Herzog's admiration for the remarkable true story of its protagonist, Dieter Dengler.

Dante's Peak expands the concept of badness in movies.

The result is a thrill ride with enough plunges and turns and loop-the-loops to make it worth a spin. What the picture lacks is the magic and resonance you feel in the best of popular entertainments.

It may not sound funny, but there's a bleakly comic air about the story, and a bit of surrealism, suggesting the most caustic side of the Coen brothers.

Does about as good a job as any film could be expected to.

This ambitious and sometimes entertaining Brazilian feature tries to pull off a tricky maneuver but doesn't quite get it done.

Entertaining but predictable, and too long.

Goes south as a sci-fi film.

Lust on the Grand Prix circuit. [30 Sep 2007, p.N34]

Works a familiar mine and produces more than a few nuggets. It's a good tonic, if one's still needed, for '80s-style cynicism: Greed is not good.

His good-natured slob routine compensates for a lot of the film's dead spots, and the picture winds up a modest cut above the usual vehicle tailored for a would-be film star.

The Great Escape is great entertainment. [06 Jun 2004]

A lot of noise and nothing to justify it.

The scale is small, but Jellyfish has deep currents.

A powerful polemic leavened with moments of beauty and humor.

Gets blue-ribbon results from its thoroughbred cast of improvisational comics.

If only it wasn't such bloody nonsense.

A potent and troubling meditation on the state of Western society.

What's on the screen may not be a letter-perfect Mansfield Park, but something true to its spirit.

A sobering documentary.

Outstanding in support roles are Alison Lohman, playing a friend of Jerry's, and John Carroll Lynch, playing a neighbor who befriends Jerry.

Some delightful surprises, but the sort of heavy-metal, high-definition sci-fi look that dominates the proceedings, plus the relentless pace and endless morphing, are somewhat tiring.

Legends of the Fall never makes you think too hard; its woes-of-a-proud-family formula takes a back seat to a self-conscious visual style that strains toward the level of myth.

This love letter to man's best friend will make dog fanciers roll over and do tricks. It's so warmhearted, you'll want to run out and hug the nearest big, sloppy mutt. And while you're watching it, have your handkerchief ready.

The real joy here is the gorgeous nature cinematography.

This is middling Woody, at best: For every funny line or sequence, there's at least one misfire.

A charming and moving film about a slightly racy subculture in a highly rule-bound society.

Relies on slapstick scenes that are neither essential nor especially clever.

The sum here is less than the parts, which have problems of their own.

History rendered with enough brains and imagination to more than make up for its few stumbles.

This new picture is mainly in the spirit of fun, a loose, generally good-natured comedy with screwball overtones.

A weakly performed rehash of master-slave role-reversal tales.

City of Angels will probably work better for some people than it did for a crusty fellow like me. I feel guilty that I don't like this movie more. I think the devil got the better of me.

It's compassionate but unblinking.

Bujalski has a serious talent for finding resonance in the mundane.

While the film raises simple but deeply puzzling questions about memory and identity, the hit-or-miss search for answers by the subject and assorted experts, family and friends is finally unsatisfying.

The strangeness, humor and melancholy of aging are deftly explored in this film.

This splatter film is set in Norway, but rest assured, it sticks with the formula. The young people to be killed off are just as obnoxious as their counterparts in American gorefests.

Exhilarating for Lynch diehards.

Cher is an inspired bit of casting, while the talented Dench is underused. Smith seems to be going through the motions as the fatuous and deluded aristocrat, while Tomlin has a ball as Georgie. But what really stays with you is the work by Plowright - she is a beacon of good sense (both as actor and character) and plucky as you please.

Overall it's a remarkably eccentric work coming from a cagey old Hollywood hand who directed Bogart and Hepburn in their primes. [28 Jun 2009, p.Q30]

Eventually comes into its own as a wacky commentary on the state of America in the fifth year of the Iraq war.

It's a testament to what happens when all the right ingredients come together. Wag the Dog is the best political satire in years.

Director Abdullah Oguz gives us lots of nice scenery, but the simplistic story and characters strain credibility. What's more, the climactic plot turn is as hokey as it gets.