It’s a compelling topic, even if directors Steve Brown and Jessie Deeter don’t dig deeply into the cultural and psychological significance of it.

You also get drinking. Lots and lots of drinking. By the time the movie is half over, you'll feel hungover.

Director Francis Lawrence does a nice job capturing the claustrophobic environment of District 13 and has a good eye for action shots. But the actors are what really sell the movie.

It's not an easy ride, but it is ultimately a satisfying one.

It’s an interesting film, consistently entertaining, a mile wide and an inch deep.

Cobham-Hervey's breathtaking performance elevates the whole endeavor, capturing the heart of what made Reddy so deserving of the winning tribute Moon has given her with I Am Woman. It's in Cobham-Hervey's understatement that we truly hear this woman roar.

The story has something of a flow, but the film feels more like someone dropping in on the characters' lives. It's more about observation than connecting dots. This isn't a detriment, particularly with strong performances to carry things along.

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.

The story probably doesn’t stand up to heavy scrutiny, and at times the effort by star and director shows. But at least the effort is there.

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.

Far-fetched? Yes. A little sugary? Also yes, especially if Thomas were removed from the equation. Happily, she is not, and that, combined with the performances of McGregor, Blunt and Waked, makes Salmon Fishing in the Yemen a charming little movie.

Firth remains in low gear throughout his character’s transition from fuzzy dreamer to desperate schemer to mad transcendental poet. It takes a bit of voiceover to get the job done, but Firth’s steadfast refusal to chew scenery turns out to be the key to his performance

Ultimately it’s a sympathetic portrayal. Yes, people called her a clown, but The Eyes of Tammy Faye shows her as someone more complicated and much more interesting.

While Midsommar is too overwrought to be a masterpiece, it’s also too entertaining in its abject lunacy and assured in its craftsmanship to be considered a sophomore slump. Aster is a filmmaker still defining his voice, and despite the growing pains, Midsommar is an intriguing step in its evolution.

Never quite delivers on its promise -- a dark retelling of the fairy tale in which women hold the true power, good and evil -- but it certainly is an attractive misfire.

The plain facts, presented without commentary, are an effective plea for a more compassionate immigration policy.

It is incredibly stupid. Gleefully stupid. Relentlessly stupid. It’s also really funny. Is it any good? That does not seem to be a major consideration.

It's beautiful to behold and wears its magic on its well-appointed sleeves, daring the audience to crack wise.

It’s a complicated movie about a complex man that courts controversy, both intentional and not. If that doesn’t make it a great movie, it makes it a necessary one, now more than ever.

If you had to update the film for the Instagram generation, you could do a lot worse than what director Shana Feste (“Country Strong”) has come up with. She has crafted a stylish, evocative journey into overheated-teenager territory. For a good chunk of the time, it works.

What stays with you is Franco, one of the more enigmatic actors around, going way over the top yet grounding his performance in … something. Whatever it is, it’s more interesting than all the wet T-shirt contests in the world, and it makes Spring Breakers worth watching.

Jersey Boys is a good movie, and the performances are first-rate. But Eastwood should have roughed things up a little more.

Thelma treads the line between the psychological and supernatural, gracefully at first, and then with increasing abandon.

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]

You can't help leaving the film with the following thought: Man, it's good to see Murphy being funny again.

There are moments in The Dinner, Oren Moverman’s tense drama based on the Herman Koch novel, in which you sit back and watch four terrific actors go at it. There just aren’t enough of them.

For a Woman, Diane Kurys' semi-autobiographical film, benefits greatly from its intimate nature, in which a woman discovers secrets from her family's past.

Occasionally the film seems as if it will make a political statement (the value, or lack thereof, of torture, for instance). But it doesn’t really follow through. But they keep us occupied with twists, well-played, and some of the laughs are genuine, if uncomfortable and guilt-inducing.