Maybe Rubber is an homage, maybe it's a statement on horror films and their audiences, maybe it's a total goof.

Will anyone really believe in this GQ-perfect big man on campus who lacks the courage to ask her out on a date?

Humor is the most powerful weapon deployed by director Kenneth Branagh in Thor, his rollicking take on the comic.

Go for Caan and Farmiga, and stay to be surprised by Reeves.

A funny, if slight, documentary.

Add romantic chemistry to the list of things that fall flat in the film, alongside dialogue and acting.

Can we ever get innocence back once it's lost? The ending suggests that we can. But at enormous cost.

There are lots of laughs - a commercial Spurlock makes for Mane 'n Tail shampoo is hilarious.

A sequence set during Carnival is equally engaging, with giant floats and throngs of people watching the parade. Several scenes are shown from the birds' points of view, which make for a dizzying, dazzling experience.

The cast is uniformly outstanding, a pleasure to watch. It's a more toned-down role for the often-fiery McAvoy, and it suits him.

It's oddly emotionally detached, easier to admire than to become involved in.

The acting is so poor and the story so badly told that the viewer's feelings about Rand's novel - an epic ode to free-market fundamentalism - are almost immaterial.

A fast-starting film that quickly piles meta, self-referential elements on top of each other until they no longer make much sense, and the whole thing collapses under the weight of its own coolness.

Overall, Kill the Irishman is an entertaining look at a brutal time in an ugly place.

Brand ultimately can't make a watered-down Arthur as sweetly charming as the original, but he certainly makes it better than it would have been otherwise.

It's an ironclad rule for comedies: Stupid is fine, as long as it's funny. But if it's not? Well, then it's just . . . stupid.

An unorthodox delight.

Shaffer's inexperience pays off. He's completely natural as a mixed-up kid (and great on the mat).

Check your driver's license - if you have one, you're probably too old to get the most out of it. If not, you may find your satisfaction a little harder - though not impossible - to come by.

What's really cool about the film - in addition to Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as Stevens - is how Jones makes sure that we don't know any more than Stevens does, right up till the end.

No blood, no gore, no hacked-off arms and legs, but plenty of creepy set pieces, quick cuts and blasts of music that will have you both squirming in your seat and jumping out of it. Until the bone-headed part kicks in.

Manipulative, overly sentimental, sometimes ludicrous and almost completely irresistible.

An improvement over its predecessor.

Strongman is a documentary Diane Arbus might have made: These are the wretched of the Earth, and our peeking into their lives feels intrusive.

What he (Fukunaga) doesn't deliver, however, is a fresh take on an often-told love story.

A celebration of sci-fi flicks, fanboys and good, old-fashioned bromance, Paul is a thoroughly enjoyable road trip.

Some of its conceits may not hold up under intense scrutiny, but, generally speaking, it's a good time at the movies.

The story, based on the Michael Connelly novel, grows increasingly far-fetched - at times it plays like an expensive pilot for a TV series, maybe a "Young Barnaby Jones" or something.

There is a sweetness to Radnor's character and to his film. What there is not is a sense of urgency, of a desire to find out what happens next.

Unfortunately, screenwriter Christopher Bertolini has given Eckhart and Liebesman a story so riddled with war-movie cliches that it contains almost nothing else.

There is a sort of unintentional campy fun to be had in places. Just don't go in expecting much, in other words, and perhaps you'll live happily ever after.

Despite the silly-sounding premise, it's a wistful, bittersweet meditation on aging and death.

It's funny enough, and Grace is an engaging actor, always making a good impression but never quite getting over the hump to become the star it seems like he ought to be.

Ultimately it's not the lives of the characters that need adjusting here. It's the story itself.

There is one good thing you can say about Beastly: The title perfectly sums up what you'll see on screen.

It's refreshing to see an animated movie that doesn't look as though the idea for the Happy Meal came first.

An epic film about Algeria's fight for liberation from France, with three outstanding performances and a grand, sweeping feel.

Mean-spirited.

A really entertaining effort, aided by some terrific performances.

There are a couple of intriguing ideas floating around here and there, but that's all they do - float around, unmoored by any sense of reality and, thus, suspense.

Like a good episode of "Smallville": You may feel a bit silly watching it if you're past high-school age, but you just might have a good time.

It strains both credulity and patience in its attempt to be different, and it leaves you feeling creeped out as well.

Just Go with It provides not only the title of the film but a one-step instruction for how best to enjoy it.

The voices are outstanding; the story demands British accents, and with such people as Caine and Smith providing them, so much the better.

The many battle sequences, though carefully detailed, are lacking in energy and originality. There is some ambition here, but the results fall short.

Chomet's defiantly two-dimensional artwork is warm, inviting, beautiful, establishing immediately a comfort level, at least for audiences of, ahem, a certain age.

What it has instead is really bad acting set against often-stunning cave-wall backdrops and underwater action sequences.

Whatever it is, Giamatti finds it and sells it. And despite a few dead ends with the story, I'm buying.

It's Bardem's portrayal of his search for those answers that drives Biutiful forward.

Hafstrom creates a nice, creepy vibe, especially for the first part of the movie, which has a menacing atmosphere. Too bad he doesn't sustain it.

The action is entertaining enough, and it's kind of fun to follow the intricate plotting and planning of the jobs.

That's not a pretty story, of course. But it's a compelling one and, thanks to Wells and a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper, an entertaining one.

It leads exactly where we think it will on a sometimes funny, ultimately predictable, journey.

The acting is uniformly terrific, just a marvel to watch.

Once it's done, you feel terrible for these people, for their lives, for their daughter, especially. Is that entertainment? To each his own, but it is compelling and, yes, rewarding.

The Green Hornet, which strives to be a different take on the superhero genre, is an interesting film - until it devolves into abject stupidity.

There are a few big laughs, but there are also long stretches in which nothing funny happens.

Coppola's audacity in not only portraying the unmoored nature of Marco's life but immersing the audience in it proves satisfying over time.

Several good performances are left adrift, as the characters roam from scene to scene, singing (quite well) as they go. Even as a sort of long-form music video, it's disjointed.

The film is quiet, patient, allowing for lived-in performances that get at the enormous change in the characters' lives.

It might have worked, too, if Black had anything remotely funny to work with.

A gorgeously shot, well-acted Western that resonates more the more you let it settle.

A host of British acting royalty, meanwhile, roams around the film: Derek Jacobi as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Claire Bloom as Queen Mary, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill and so on.

This is Ferrell's movie, meaning some inspired laughs sandwiched between annoying bits that stretch on well past their usefulness.

David O. Russell's film makes use of some terrific performances - Christian Bale is brilliant, as is Melissa Leo, even by their lofty standards.

TRON: Legacy may well satisfy the fanboys who have waited almost three decades for its appearance. Enjoy. Who knows, maybe one day if you wait long enough they'll make a "Super Mario Bros." sequel, too.

From its bland title to its fair-to-middlin' story, mediocre is the word that fits How Do You Know perfectly.

Due Date should be a disaster, derivative of every road-trip movie you've ever seen. What prevents that are the efforts of the two stars.

The movie is never boring, but there may be some information overload for laymen in the audience.

With a movie like this, trying to guess how it ends isn't the point. Enjoying the ride is, and on that front, Unstoppable delivers.

Zwick can't seem to decide what the movie is - a refreshingly frank comedy about sex and commitment, or a more-serious look at illness and its effect on relationships.

A stripped-down affair, from title to characters to plot. It never strives to be more, instead concentrating on making the most of its self-imposed limitations.

A flawed script prevents Welcome to the Rileys from being the effective meditation on grief and healing it wants to be.

Four Lions is a comedy about terrorism. No, not a thoughtful, intellectual take on the absurdities of suicide bombing. It's slapstick. Actually, it's the Three Stooges of Jihad.

And now with Tangled, a delightfully fresh spin on "Rapunzel," the entertainment powerhouse delivers its first classic-caliber computer animation outside the Pixar family.

The bad news - it's not interesting enough to be a disaster.

The best thing about the film is neither the top-notch CGI nor the shallow moral lessons but the performance of Will Poulter ("Son of Rambow") as Lucy and Edmund's insufferable cousin Eustace Scrubb.

It's all or nothing with Black Swan. Either you embrace its headlong descent into madness brought on by the pressures of artistic perfection, compounded by smothering anxiety, or you reject it. It's that simple.

If you're a fan of provocative, offbeat films such as "My Own Private Idaho" or "The Crying Game," you might want to give "Phillip Morris" a chance.

Star power can cover up a multitude of shortcomings in a film. Turns out stupidity isn't one of them.

It's not a bad movie, but it is very much a transitional one.

To say that the film is uncomfortable to watch is an understatement. It's searing. Yet it's also invaluable.

127 Hours is based on Ralston's memoir, and it's a really good movie because director Danny Boyle is a genius.

There are some things to admire in the film, based on the French movie "Pour Elle," most of which involve developments that would give too much away.

It's a slight movie that makes "Broadcast News" look like "All the President's Men" in comparison.

An emotionally inert film that never pulls viewers into the spiraling web of deceit that the couple face.

There's no question that Black women are underrepresented in movies. There's also no question that when they get a chance to perform, they deserve a better movie than For Colored Girls.

Scarier than anything you'll find in a horror movie this time of year.

It delivers its considerable moments of terror in the same way the original film did. But it does deliver.

This film is a wonderful act of imagination on its own.

Swank and Rockwell, both typically great in almost everything they do, act as if their lives depended on it - their lives, not their characters'.

Damon's portrayal is perfectly understated yet powerful. It's also sneaky; you don't realize how invested you've become in it until the final act, when the characters' stories merge in what seems like too much of a rushed coincidence.

Red isn't a great movie, but it's great fun, and if that sounds like damning with faint praise, you take things too seriously.

Secretariat was such a commanding presence, the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, a Time magazine coverboy, the focus of the public's imagination during his pursuit, that any excuse to relive that excitement is worthwhile, and Secretariat gives us one.

Sarah Burns steals scenes as a seemingly prim social worker, and Melissa McCarthy (Sookie on "The Gilmore Girls") does the same as a pushy neighbor. The supporting cast serves up enough small moments of surprise to keep this formula flick from falling flat.

Gilchrist, Emma Roberts and, especially, Zach Galifianakis, give affecting performances, but they are ultimately let down by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's screenplay.

It's a measure of how good a film Nowhere Boy is that it would be compelling even if it were the story of the formative years of a boy named Joe Brown.

It's one of the best movies of the year, one of the best entries ever in the Way We Live Now oeuvre.