It's good enough for a brainless night of fun at the movies, though your enjoyment might hinge on your nostalgia for old-fashioned dude movies, complete with a soundtrack of wailing electric-guitar solos and a wealth of random topless babes. Unfortunately, it could have been a lot better if someone had taken out a hit on the script.

There isn't a cynical bone in this film's achingly sincere body. And it's not really a horror movie, unless the "horror" in question is the all-consuming awkwardness of young love.

Pacino, long ago having given up subtlety for bombast, continues along that path here, but he's still fun to watch.

Sound City is a music geek's dream, a rollicking look at a dumpy California studio where a lot of musicians found magic. It's also a bit of a mess, like all good rock and roll ought to be.

Hoffman wisely gives his actors plenty of room to maneuver, and that they do. It's surprisingly fun to watch them play against each other. It's not as if you're going to learn anything new from Quartet. It's too straightforward for that. But that doesn't mean you won't enjoy seeing old pros at work. And you won't be exhausted by the end of it.

As with "The Central Park Five," you come away from the film impressed by the storytelling but enraged by the facts. It's outrageous that this kind of thing happens, but Berg does an outstanding job of showing us how it does.

The atmosphere is appropriately creepy, and there are some starts, if not outright scares...But it just gets stupid.

There are plot twists galore, but they unfold in ham-fisted fashion, as if the screenwriter (newbie Brian Tucker) didn't know how to layer the mystery. Instead, the movie simply drops these secrets out of nowhere, in clunky fashion.

Riva, meanwhile, is astounding, not just in the way she portrays the physical manifestation of her decline, particularly later in the film, but also earlier, when she knows she is fading and does not wish to do so. The look in her eyes, the sadness in her face, is crushing.

While the good outweigh the bad, it's a close race. But what is good, particularly a heartbreaking performance by Allison Janney, is really good, enough so that Colfer emerges as a talent worth watching on the page, not just on the screen.

It never really comes together in a satisfying way, and given the talent involved, that adds up to a big disappointment.

A great movie, an astonishing achievement on nearly every level.

Solid, enjoyable, good, but not great.

Whatever you like or hate, or like and hate, about Quentin Tarantino's movies, is in full display here. It's long (too long) and bloody, profane and gleeful, with movie-genre references stuffed so tightly into each scene they practically spill out onto the theater floor. Restraint is not his strong suit...Entertainment is, and Django has plenty of that.

This is the first time in ages some of the old stand-up Crystal shows through, flashes of quick wit instead of Borscht-belt antics. Not to the extent that it used to in such movies as "When Harry Met Sally ..." (which was, ahem, 23 years ago). But better than you'd expect...Just like the movie.

If you like your musicals enormous, over the top and bang-on-the-head manipulative, Les Miserables is the movie for you.

A satisfying story of yearning and, eventually, satisfaction.

We aren't used to comedies that make us squirm like this. That doesn't mean they aren't worth our time. This Is 40 is.

One of those movies that's good, but leaves you with the nagging feeling that it could have been better.

In the movie version at least, efforts to render the hero larger than life result in a story that is less than convincing.

The Guilt Trip surprises by avoiding the obvious. It zigs when you expect it to zag. It's perceptive and thoughtful as it swerves around potholes that easily could have broken an axle.

You shouldn't be able to read a book faster than you can see it play out on-screen.

Simply put, it's a mess.

Hitchcock is, well, fun. More fun than good, really. It feels weird to call it a disappointment, because it is entertaining. But you can't help feeling a little shortchanged on the deep-thinking front.

For a movie that seems at times to have no idea what it's trying to do, 'Silver Linings Playbook' is compulsively watchable. ... Throwing together so many movie tropes and blending them is both a brilliant idea and a scary one, but one that Russell proves well capable of handling.

It's not that the artificiality doesn't work sometimes. It does, as some of the scenes are gorgeous to look at. But too often it serves as more of a distraction than an effective tool for telling the story.

The look of the film is jaw-dropping at times, beautiful to behold. If the story... can't quite keep pace with the look of the film (and, alas, it can't) it will take you awhile to notice.

Could be fun, you might think. No. Bad acting and worse dialogue quickly put an end to that notion.

It has a great voice cast, a kinda-sorta interesting premise and the 3-D is effective, but somehow it just doesn't add up.

Set in 18th-century Denmark, it's an intellectual costume drama. It's a romance involving big ideas, the biggest ideas. It's long, it's serious, it's a lot of fun.

If it sounds like so much backroom politicking, it is. But it's exceptionally interesting, entertaining backroom politicking.

It's hard to imagine sitting through the film without Penn in the role of Cheyenne. But there he is, in all his intense, bizarre glory, almost daring us to come along for the ride and rewarding us with a compelling trip when we accept.

The franchise... concludes with a genuinely stirring ending. ... But [Stewart's] acting hasn't improved, and the dialogue remains laughable. Bad actress, bad lines. Bad combination.

The great success for Mendes and Craig, however, is that while Skyfall obviously has a great fondness for the past, it's not trapped there. It also anticipates Bond's future. In this immensely satisfying movie, so do we.

Despite its emotional coldness, the film still manages to end on a note of something like hope.

There is a sad sweetness to the whole affair, for lack of a better term. Or maybe it's a sweet sadness. But O'Brien's outlook on life (he thinks his use-by date may be approaching), and Hawkes' portrayal of it, elevates the film beyond what's on the page, making what's on the screen a lot more satisfying.

It's a small movie but an effective one, using found footage as a means to an end and not as an end in itself. More like it would be a welcome trend.

If you're willing to let a movie wash over you and work at what it might mean, you'll love "Holy Motors," Leos Carax's surreal ode to … identity? Movies? Performance?

Wreck-It Ralph is smart, funny, sweet and sassy. And that's just Sarah Silverman's character... The movie is a treat for kids and the parents they drag to see it. Or maybe it'll be the other way around. Either way. It doesn't matter how you get to it. Just get there.

[Washington's is] a tremendous performance. It's when he is on-screen (most of the time) that Zemeckis' film really, if you'll excuse the expression, takes flight.

It's a movie that should be seen, a throwback to a looser, freer cinema. Wake in Fright has a tremendous '70s vibe to it, a "they-don't-make-them-like-this-anymore" feel that is as welcome as a cold beer in the Outback. [25 Oct 2012]

Everyone in the film is good. Offerman and Megan Mullally (as the principal at Kate's school) do well in more-dramatic roles than we're used to seeing them in. Mary Kay Place is harrowing without meaning to be as Kate's mother. [25 Oct 2012]

Fast-moving, stylish and gritty, but also predictable. [25 Oct 2012]

Deserves commendation for its fearless bravado, if for little else. [25 Oct 2012]

There is something admirable about Fun Size. Not in how it succeeds, because it doesn't. Whoo, boy, it doesn't. Rather, in how bad it is on so many levels, in how it will offend and disappoint different segments of its audience for different reasons. It's an equal-opportunity bad movie. Something to hate for everyone! [25 Oct 2012]

A greeting card set in motion, Chasing Mavericks cheeses up the story of real-life surfing phenom Jay Moriarity so thickly you could spread it on a cracker.

Cloud Atlas is ambitious in nature, epic in scope and, ultimately, a big, overstuffed mess. [24 Oct 2012]

"Southern fried" is as good a phrase as any to describe The Paperboy...It fits, really, because it causes the same reaction. You eat a mess of fried okra or tater tots, and it's tasty going down. It's only after you're done that you feel a little queasy. [18 Oct 2012]

The First Time sets out to be the thinking kids' teen sex comedy but misses the mark by failing its characters. [18 Oct 2012]

Now this is a scary movie. And, given that it's a horror film, that means it's a good one. [18 Oct 2012]

Although it's not as bad as it could be, the film is still middle-of-the-road fare for comedy fans who are already firmly in James' corner, delivering the sort of brainless laughs that James is famous for. [18 Oct 2012]

The bigger issue is that the film is more a slice of life than a real journey. It's an intriguing slice, but the real depth is in the performances, not the story. [18 Oct 2012]

The problem with V/H/S, a compilation of sometimes scary horror shorts loosely bound by an overarching plot, is that, no matter how savage, evil or sadistic the killer, the victims almost always come off as bigger jerks.

For a movie that aspires to be heartwarming, it sure does inspire a lot of eye rolling.

For less patient viewers, the film might play out like an endurance test, a two-hour documentary on wind. But as unforgiving as the glacially paced film is, it's nonetheless utterly absorbing - a cool pink tongue flicking against an open wound. [18 Oct 2012]

Surprisingly, character actor Sam Anderson winds up stealing a lot of the film as Bruce and Frank's dad. He can take a line as innocuous as "We don't have cars right now. Bruce stole them for drugs" and turn it into something hilarious.

Picture Alan Alda in the title role of "Dirty Harry," and you have a good idea why Tyler Perry playing a hard-edged cop in "Alex Cross" doesn't work. [19 Oct 2012]

It's all brutal good fun, with laughs scattered generously throughout the bloodshed.

Simply put, Argo is why we go to movies.

It's an engaging, accessible documentary that explores the (truly) eternal questions, "Does hell exist? If so, who ends up there, and why?"

Butter is funny in spots, but it's so preoccupied with landing below-the-belt cultural jabs that it misses the opportunity for laying out biting social commentary.

Ultimately, however, what prevents The Oranges from being the movie it might have been is Farino's inability to settle on a tone.

Granted, the film lacks the kicky element of surprise that made the first movie so enjoyable, but it's hard to gripe too much. Taken 2 aims to be a fast-paced, workmanlike sequel that shows off its charismatic leading man, and that's exactly what it does.

There's no question it looks fantastic...As for the story, well, much like the original Frankenstein's monster, it is a haphazard assemblage of well-aged source materials jolted back to life with new technology, but it isn't quite as sophisticated as one might hope.

Clearly set up to be the first film in a franchise. It's not a bad movie, but I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

A comedy about an all-female collegiate a cappella group. And to paraphrase one of the characters in the movie, it's A-Ca-Awesome.

It's this simple: If you like movies, you need to see Side by Side.

Has a big-name cast, a cute premise and... and... hang on, thinking here. Nope. That's about it.

There is an honesty to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a genuineness of experience that makes the movie soar when it just as easily could have stumbled.

Gordon-Levitt has been so terrific for a while now that he's become a magnetic presence; Willis is also on a nice streak, not as strong here as in "Moonrise Kingdom," but still quite good.

The film is at its best when it focuses on real-life human drama rooted in character: failing marriages, crushing poverty, professional malaise. Davis in particular delivers as impassioned a performance as ever -- good enough that you wish you could airlift her character into another movie.

17 Girls doesn't try to explain its many mysteries. That would have made for a better film, but this one does a nice job showing its effects.

A surprisingly enjoyable movie.

There is something to be said for giving people what they want, but there are no surprises in Randy Brown's script, and Lorenz plays it safe. It's feel-good stuff; you wonder what Eastwood, a terrific director, might have done with it behind the camera.

This breathless science-fiction thriller isn't just gory. It practically revels in graphic violence, with several scenes shot in excruciating slow motion.

The action and the chemistry is stronger than the story, because Gyllenhaal and Peña are good. In that respect End of Watch works better as a series of vignettes held together somewhat loosely by a larger story.

The film is not an epic. It's not a masterpiece. But it is an involving study of men searching, searching for answers, for belonging, for a foothold in life at a time when footholds were hard to find.

Pure preaching-to-the-choir poppycock.

The film winds up being a collection of striking visuals without any emotional heft.

Although the film features a powerhouse performance by Clarke Peters as Da Good Bishop Enouch Rouse, it's saddled with a sloppy story.

Surprisingly entertaining, probably because it uses Wall Street shenanigans and schadenfreude as the backdrop to a crime drama.

It makes you think. And that's invaluable.

It's a style of storytelling that leaves the audience guessing, but it also gives the actors room to breathe, to inhabit their characters without having to explain them away in terms of biography or pop psychology.

It's a somewhat formulaic romp, but it's an utterly winning one.

A lush but fumbling literary melodrama outfitted with an attractive, generations-spanning cast and a puzzle box of three competing narratives.

General Education is kind of like a science-fair project slapped together at the last minute -- a sad, withered potato pierced with copper wires, rotting on the counter next to a resplendent baking-soda volcano. You can't help but feel a little sorry for the poor spud.

The perfect movie for fans of "The Daily Show" who actually stick around for the second-half interview. A cinematic memoir based on the one-man show by Mike Birbiglia, it is the aesthetic intersection of Comedy Central and public radio.

This is director Jake Schreier's first feature, and, working from a script by Christopher D. Ford, he creates an inviting world.

Ole Bornedal's film hits enough high notes to make it a worthwhile addition to the exorcism-film heap, somewhere in the lower middle.

The Day is not a classic, not by a long shot. But it's not a disaster, either. With movies like this, that counts as a small victory.

Lawless is one of those movies that feels like it's trying to say something more important than it really is. It could have been better, but with Hardy and Pearce on board, it's plenty good enough.

He (D'Souza) reaffirms many of the complaints against Obama, and when he sticks to the facts is much more persuasive.

Malik Bendjelloul really knows how to spin a yarn.

Horror comedies can be wildly entertaining -- "The Return of the Living Dead," from 1985, for instance. It sends up horror movies in hilarious fashion while still managing to be gross-out scary. The Revenant never rises to that level. Nor does it seem to want to.

Cosmopolis is frustrating, funny, thought-provoking, weird, maddening, worthwhile. It isn't a great movie. Sometimes it's not a good one. Sometimes it is. Ultimately, it is one worth working through, a valuable exercise if you're willing to make the effort.

This is a movie that's just out there, beyond our normal experience in a theater. You may walk away impressed or offended by Killer Joe, but Friedkin and McConaughey make sure you won't walk away indifferent.

The film is a live-action cartoon down to its main character's name -- Wilee, "like the coyote." It's just a few sticks of dynamite and a 10-ton anvil short of going full Looney Tunes, and is all the worse for that restraint.

Just slam the pedal to the floor, blast on past the weaknesses in the plot, and enjoy the ride.