What ultimately waters down a movie like Touchback, aside from a really sappy ending, is that we know the answers going in.

It recycles the same tired battle-of-the-sexes premise employed by every third romantic comedy that gets made.

It's true that the language in the film can be harsh -- but it's also very obvious that kids are hearing this kind of language in schools every day, much of it directed at them.

As its title suggests, This Is Not a Film may not be what we're used to in a movie, but in many ways it's much, much more.

The movie is content to simply mimic the old Stooges, bringing nothing new to the table.

If you like martial-arts films, it's well worth your while, a non-stop orgy of brilliantly choreographed fight scenes. Eventually it's all too much, a blur of fists, blades and snapped bones that run together. Still, it's a wild ride.

Movies like this are supposed to be ridiculous on some level. It's part of the fun. But, dang. Falling through space, popping your parachute and landing on the one empty stretch of freeway in some bustling future city? C'mon. We all have our limits.

The Cabin in the Woods is a fantastic poke in the eye of our horror-movie expectations.

A delightful discovery, a charming little film about fathers, sons, New Zealand and Michael Jackson.

The film is not without charm, much of it provided by Larson as the sneakily demanding Brie. Liu is also funny and vaguely dangerous, while Henke is an agreeable presence. As for Hall, he's not asked to do much more than mope.

May walk like a comedy and quack like a comedy, but despite the absurd extremes to which it takes the squabbling-family formula, it inspires nary a chuckle.

American Reunion depends more on the audience's feelings for recognizable characters than telling an original story, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

It is an offbeat gem.

Intruders promises much but delivers relatively little.

The film is cinematically brilliant but morally obtuse.

As reinventions of fairy tales go, this one has some pretty big holes. Not all of the twists on the story work, but for the most part it's well-meaning, goofy good fun.

An improvement. Not a gigantic leap forward for cinema but, armed with a new director, a new story and the return of a trying-harder Worthington and good ol' Liam Neeson as a put-upon Zeus, a marked upgrade in quality.

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.

Some of the behavior of Uriel and Eliezer will make you squirm. But Ashkenazi and Bar-Aba are so compelling in their performances of difficult men that you'll gladly suffer.

Delicacy is not a very good movie. But it is entertaining enough -- barely enough -- to make it worth seeing.

There are few issues more bitterly divisive than abortion, with emotions and rhetoric running at fever pitch. October Baby is a faith-based movie that resides staunchly in the pro-life camp. Yet directors Andrew and Jon Erwin, who also contributed to the story, rarely let their film get didactic, instead going for a more low-key approach.

Lawrence is a tremendous talent, and she is what makes The Hunger Games ultimately worth spending time with. She doesn't elevate the film to the heights to which one might have wanted, but she takes it a lot higher than it would have otherwise risen.

Good in spots, overall Cage is fine. Nothing more, nothing less. Kind of like Seeking Justice.

The story is gripping, compelling. One wonders what De Niro might have done with such a role 30, 35 years ago. De Niro -- whatever happened to him?

You expect the big joke in Casa de Mi Padre to involve Will Ferrell mangling the Spanish language. Instead, the movie is funny because of just how commendable the actor's Spanish is.

This isn't a movie for everyone, but for fans of quirky charm leavened occasionally by uncomfortable, realistic exchanges, it's a small delight.

Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller get nearly everything -- the tone, the self-referential nods to the shoe and the dead-solid-perfect surprises -- just right.

As a portrait of modern warfare, politics and propaganda, Coriolanus is intriguing, even if the gritty action sequences don't quite measure up to the realism of "The Hurt Locker."