A funny, heartfelt look at families, relationships and the lies that prop them up as much as tear them down.

A mean-spirited little movie, investing its limited charms in all the wrong characters.

The feminist subtext should come as no surprise given Larsson's lifelong advocacy on social-justice issues, but it also is a refreshing slant on the familiar character dynamics of crime fiction.

There's no hard-and-fast rule that says you have to like the main character in a movie. It's more a custom, really - a custom that Ben Stiller stretches nearly to the breaking point in Greenberg.

The Runaways broke new ground. And if "The Runaways" doesn't, it's still a movie worth watching - and listening to.

The film is a slice of life, and although nothing earthshaking happens, at only 75 minutes long, it never quite tries your patience either.

It may be slow by Hollywood standards, but it's accessible at every moment, and we come away feeling that human character is more complex, and perhaps darker, than any studio is willing to test an audience with.

To pretend that the film doesn't make a political statement is silly. Of course it does. It wouldn't be effective at all if it didn't.

There's plenty of gross-out humor and lots of sex jokes, some of them absurd, some really funny. But what elevates She's Out of My League - it doesn't turn a 5 into a 10, but it helps - is heart, of which its characters have a surprising plenty.

Carroll purists and freshman English majors may be aghast at the change in story, but for those who watched "Avatar" and marveled at the images but were left wanting by the wooden acting and tired story, "Alice" is a treat.

Fuqua tries to create the illusion of meaning by copycatting the style and techniques of better directors, but he can't save the naked emperor of the script.

A movie that makes little sense, is dumb when it's not being stupid and yet is still at times laugh-out-loud funny.

A lot of fun for horror fans, a nice little jaunt through paranoia and conspiracy theories.

It's not a great movie so much as it is great moviemaking. It's basically a potboiler genre film, a B-movie with big talent attached.

Polanski builds suspense slowly, exquisitely. It's not a matter of shocking the audience, although there are surprises, but of creating an ever-growing sense of dread.

The movie plays like a missed opportunity, with its by-the-numbers scares and a story that feels disjointed, hurried in some places, slow in others.

Percy Jackson isn't a great movie, but it's a good one, trotting out kernels of Greek mythology like so many Disney Channel references. For the most part, it works.

There's far too much going on in Valentine's Day, and far too little of it is worth the trouble.

Awash in mawkish sentimentality, Dear John still will move you deeply - if you're a 12-year-old girl.

Doesn't really know what it wants to be. Morel would have done better to remember the "to thine own self be true" bit, and stayed with the dunderheaded shoot-'em-up vibe, with Travolta having a blast, often literally.

Terribly Happy must surely be the greatest Danish Western ever made.

Both the film and television project were directed by Martin Campbell. He creates a nice level of tension throughout, and there are a couple of legitimate shocks (including one jaw-dropper).

Slow-moving and occasionally ponderous in tone, "Creation" nonetheless is an intriguing portrait of a man and a time that changed everything.

The overall feel is one of a generic, feel-good drama, albeit one with Harrison Ford stomping around most of the time as if someone kicked him in the shins. One suspects that this is a story that deserved better.

Focus. Tooth Fairy isn't as bad as you may have feared. It's not all that good, either, but at least it's possible to sit through it and hold down your popcorn.

Its over-the-top violence is cartoonish at times, menacing at others - which is a good thing. And truly, if one must wander a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape with somebody, who better to wander with than Denzel Washington?

Daybreakers isn't a great film, but it's a good one, and in a market oddly lousy with vampire tales, it's an original.

A by-the-numbers romantic comedy as predictable as it is cloying.

It does give Cera a chance to play at being a bad boy. But it's just that - playing at it.

A harmless little mess of a movie whose cast you've mostly heard of, including Tim Allen, who also directed.

Slow, stark and sometimes surreptitiously beautiful, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon is as cold and clinical an examination of evil as you could imagine.

If you're game, "Parnassus" is a richly rewarding experience. If not, it comes off like pretentious nonsense.

It's a competently made movie - in Jackson's hands it could hardly be anything but - yet rarely a moving one.

It relies on a singularly brilliant performance by Colin Firth to make it one of the year's more satisfying films.

Never miss a chance to see Helen Mirren. You certainly could do worse as far as movie advice goes. Mirren may not be the only reason to see The Last Station, about the final year of Leo Tolstoy's long, eventful life, but she's the best reason.

There is a predictability to the story, but that's OK. The acting is superb, Holbrook in particular, making That Evening Sun an understated pleasure.

Writer and director Ti West accesses all the hot buttons for fans of the genre in a manner that doesn't make fun of it (and its followers) in a "Scary Movie" way, but instead treats it with the appropriate amount of respect. (Key word: appropriate.)

Trouble is, it all adds up to . . . not much.

Doesn't attempt much, doesn't accomplish much, doesn't offer much and doesn't leave you with anything memorable to take home with you.

This is unhinged genius, an amazing piece of acting. Brutal, yes, but magnetic all the same.

Director McG proves perfectly adept at blowing things up in interesting ways, but there's not so much acting here as there is yelling at different volumes.

The movie is fun, it's smart and there's plenty of action. There are enough knowing nods to old-school fans to satisfy them, but the nods don't get in the way. In fact - and a feel for this kind of thing is what makes Abrams so good - they're perfect, nice accents that won't slow down the uninitiated.

A mix of solid action and an underused cast, with star Hugh Jackman left shouldering the burden of bad lines and forced emotion, it leaves you longing for more editing and a tighter story.

Inkheart is entertaining enough, if not always easy to follow. And if it does nothing else, at least it may inspire kids to read, if for no other reason than to help make sense of it all.

Quantum is hugely entertaining.

The animation is first-rate, and the settings and background are appropriately exotic. The fights are a lot more exciting than you would think. And if the story is somewhat predictable (and the final blow somewhat difficult to fathom), one could find lesser heroes to root for than Po, although none more unlikely.

Brutal, sadistic yet well-made statement about how violence is portrayed in media and our reaction to it.

There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece; Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as a ruthless oilman is without flaw.

In creating the ultimate movie for sword-and-sandal blood-spatter fetishists, director Zack Snyder scores on the spectacle side—300 looks amazing—but his mechanical story line and over-the-top melodramatics don't support the action. [9 March 2007, p.1]

A frenetic movie that combines a video-game sensibility with cartoonish, whacked-out violence. As with all good modern horror, one minute you're laughing out loud and the next you're covering your eyes. [19 Mar 2004, p.1P]

In Praise of Love has virtually no plot, no characters and is not about love, and there is precious little praise in it. It's an essay in film, and it's not always consistent in that: You'll never quite know what he's trying to say. But the film remains great because of the way he says it. Memorable images and dialogue worm their way into your psyche and won't let go. [18 Oct 2002, p.8P]

Schindler's list is a great movie that serves a greater purpose. [07 Jan 1994, p.D5]

Moronic mace-and-mail mischief. [02 Jul 2004, p.1p]

The problems with the narrative begin early. [Review of re-release]

Youth on the fun can be a whole lot of fun, but Reckless, by first-time director James Foley, is a particularly dreary affair. [16 Feb 1984, p.81]

It is fun, a hodgepodge of styles and technique and feathered hair that really evokes the late ’70s.

Disney movie about U.S. cavalrymen who are short on horses so they start riding camels. But how many movies feature Slim Pickens, Denver Pyle and Jack Elam? A cornucopia of coots. [18 Aug 2006, p.1]

Although the Pythons went on to make a number of movies, true fans will always have a special place in their hearts for Holy Grail, which is Python at its best. [14 Sept 2001, p.1P]

One of the creepiest horror films ever. [24 July 2009, p.2]

[Poitier] does a surprisingly strong job of directing (his initial attempt) this well-written, meaningful script by Ernest Kinoy. [16 Jun 1972]

It's powerful stuff.