True, the movie tends toward the treacly at times, and the children's mischievousness seems a bit forced. But Thompson's turn as a glammed-down Mary Poppins with an even more no-nonsense attitude is hard to resist.

Unapologetically cliched and determinedly upbeat (even when it shouldn't be).

Looking for comedy in Albert Brooks' Looking for Comedy In the Muslim World is a fool's errand. There's hardly any there.

It's a topical, iconoclastic documentary with the warmth and pace of a first-rate personal essay.

The end result is more a lecture than a film; audiences may come away understanding what went on, but for most, the emotional connection will be lacking.

Latifah's performance and the film's gentle heart should prove enough to win over even the most churlish.

With Tristan & Isolde, the core must be a passion that enlarges two outsize characters and seems as momentous as the rise and fall of a kingdom. Too bad this film's Achilles' heel is its heart.

It aims for outlandish and athletic love lyrics and instead achieves all the potency of a makeshift nonsense song banged out on a toy lyre.

Johansson bequeaths the welcome sight of a talent in full bloom to this wilted, dark whimsy of a movie.

This is a movie for genre fans only; there's not an aspect to it that should appeal to the rest of the world. It's neither original nor inventive, and while its young cast works hard, there's not even a standout performance worth recommending.

A lovely, mischievous Casanova that will sweep you off your feet.

This movie proves to be the year's most anti-romantic comedy.

Despite its haphazard rhythms and longueurs, The New World achieves an emotional payoff unlike anything else in Malick's work. It's all you think his movies are, and more.

In the end, the movie proves to be, like Brosnan's character, a tarted-up cliche: a whoremonger with a heart of gold.

Munich is so broad-stroke it cuts itself at every turn. It's also a thoroughly lifeless movie.

Cache is the feel-guilty movie of the new millennium.

If the movie were as funny as it is well-meaning, this would be one for the ages.

What can you say about a film where Carmen Electra's performance is one of the high points?

As social commentary, Fun With Dick and Jane wears Leno-thin. As a big-screen sitcom, it's a procession of hit-or-miss touches that cancel each other out.

It offers top actors in Fiennes and Richardson, plus a rare joint appearance by the sisters Redgrave.

The talented and quirky-pretty Sarah Jessica Parker gives an excruciating performance. It's a keenly self-conscious caricature - the bold, showy kind that often wins awards yet sends audiences running from the theater.

It lacks even Tarantino-esque vitality. It moves more like a busted concertina.

Producers hits few wrong notes on the big screen.

A low-level hoot.

When it comes to what's great about King Kong, it's not the harum-scarum. It's the girl.

Memoirs of a Geisha was never primed to be a film that burns down the house.

Romanticism fights stoicism to a draw, and the movie grows ever more static, too. Down to the quasi-ambiguous hate-crime finish, Brokeback Mountain comes as close to being a still life as you can get with human characters.

A humorous bounty of flesh and fantasy.