for those willing to go along with von Trier's typically in-your-face tactics, it's a good, if uncomfortable (and surprisingly funny), film. And the discomfort is part of what von Trier is after.

Where this falls on your personal line between funny and abusive may vary. Either way, what makes the comedy work is that Bateman doesn't relent. Guy is, simply, a loathsome person.

Woodley makes Tris easy to root for — only she and Winslet seem to be having any fun — but it's hard to become invested in the convoluted, rambling story. And at two hours and 19 minutes, it rambles for a while.

Although this movie has lots of laughs and a willingness to poke fun at itself, it doesn't quite recapture the magic of the last movie. Close, but not quite.

The project drips with sincerity, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What doesn't work is the tin-eared dialogue and the utter lack of momentum, both in the script or the direction by Nikita Zubarev.

Although Pasikowski is heavy-handed in his filmmaking, sometimes in the extreme, Aftermath does show the danger inherent in this kind of groupthink.

It's a terrific movie.

For a film about art forgeries, The Art of the Steal is itself something of a forgery, a painstaking, brushstroke-by-brushstroke re-creation of masterworks dreamed up by better artists. And like a good forgery, it's enjoyable on the surface, but loses its charm a bit once you do some digging.

The mystery isn't the reason to watch the film. Bell is. She's the perfect vehicle for Thomas' sharp, sassy writing, able to deliver a pop-culture-infused put-down with ease. And yet she is also vulnerable, something her relationship with her father drives home.

If you like watching people drive really nice cars really fast, Need for Speed scratches that particular itch. But expect nothing more, because everything else about it is just running on empty.

In spite of the compelling raw material in the lives of its ostensible subjects, it strikes out as an act of storytelling.

Grovic knows all the tricks of the trade, such as keeping the lighting dark (often too dark), in an attempt to add atmosphere. But in the end it seems like a series of shortcuts.

The film is nakedly candid, but Stritch is also a ham who is almost always aware of the camera.

Rob Minkoff’s film has the generic feel of a kids’ movie that’s trying to please everyone. It’s not horrible. In fact, it’s agreeable enough. But nothing more.

The best thing about the movie, by far, is Green. Her Artemisia is a real nut case with a taste for blood, and Green is the only one in the cast who seems to be having any fun at all.

It’s fascinating and funny while forcing us to consider the line between technology and art.

Adult World is a happy surprise.

It's more thought experiment than film, and although it's laudable for its daring to be unlike any film you’re likely to have ever seen, it ultimately doesn't have more meaning to import than a well-photographed daily affirmations calendar.

he beauty of The Wind Rises — and it really is gorgeous — does not mask the troublesome aspects of its story, or of human nature itself.

Abu-Assad does a masterful job of showing, in these seemingly hopeless circumstances, the fragility of life.

This is a rich, and important story. There’s no argument there. The only problem with “Son of God” is that there are much more compelling ways to tell it.

There’s no rescuing Non-Stop from its own worse impulses. The likable Neeson’s implausible second act as an action star continues, but not in a believable direction.

It fails to offer as single compelling character as a sacrifice to the angry volcano.

In Bloom, whose title proves more and more ironic as the film goes on, is a fascinating snapshot of a country at war with itself (literally, eventually) as seen through the eyes of two teenage girls, whose lives are complicated enough as it is.

This is a difficult film, one that asks questions that can’t really be answered. There are a couple of surprises along the way, but more than anything Koreeda is getting at what really makes a family a family.

It’s a spectacularly wrong-headed, chemistry-free romance, and too dumb to know how sexist it is.

The acting is good, the story of doomed lovers suitably tragic. But the film is never quite moving in the way one would hope.

Although it’s not impossible to mix humor and violence, as “Midnight Run” proves, it isn’t easy — as 3 Days to Kill proves. Points for effort all the way around, and welcome back, Costner. Let’s hope things get better from here.