If "Harold and Maude" hadn't already gotten there 40 years ago, this quirky but engaging trifle might seem refreshingly original.

Upbeat, bitter, sweet and always gripping, Shut Up! Little Man gives remix culture the ucky origin story it likely won't heed, but could sorely use nonetheless.

Director Douglas McGrath's empathy rescues it from the brink of disaster porn - it's so good-hearted and optimistic that a swath of stressed out moms will feel the flick speaks directly to them, which it does.

An investigation into Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting "The Way to Calvary," Majewski's film is a stunning piece of art in its own right.

Of course, Bucky Larson isn't one of the year's worst films because its laughs are poisoned and problematic - rather, it's one of the year's worst films because there aren't any laughs at all.

Surprisingly, George Clooney's direction is somewhat underwhelming with crucial conversations oddly lacking in tension.

The surprisingly effective Moneyball has a smart script, solid direction and great performances.

Shaolin is simultaneously regal and stilted, stirring and sluggish.

Falling to pieces almost immediately, and then somehow discovering new ways to devolve into outright ludicrousness, it's a horror effort of such silliness that it's likely to be greeted with apathy at the box office before making a swift, deserved trip to the local video store's bargain bin.

Garbus' over-reliance on interviews that state rather than dramatize Fischer's excellence makes this a portrait that too often seems more overheard than inhabited.

The title's no joke: the film presents Ceausescu as he presented himself to the world and wanted to be remembered.

This is Steven Soderbergh at his best delivering a gripping, chilling and powerful movie experience that will have audiences talking (and freaking out).

Drive dynamically merges a terrific film noir plot with a cool retro look, evoking '60s classics like "Point Blank" and "Bullitt."

Apollo 18 is a drab horror that tries to plant fears about untrustworthy authority (Nixon, NASA, etc) that are as stale as a freeze-dried peas.

A thoroughly shabby attempt to piggyback on the success of last year's "Piranha 3D," Shark Night 3D embraces convention with a voraciousness matched only by its predictability, amateurishness and all-around tameness.

The big event plays in the same cartoonish key as the rest of the film.

What Foy and his team discover is unbelievable. More importantly, their adventures will prove popular with street art buffs as well as documentary fans.

Just when many may have thought that Cold War thrillers had gone out of fashion, along comes one to reinvigorate the genre.

A squishy Hallmark Channel-level melodrama that rarely bothers to mask its propagandistic intentions.

Though Warrior excels at the big stuff-fighting sequences and rousing crowds and victories that all but force audiences to stand up and cheer - the film is at its very best in the small moments, the little looks.

A CG-steeped period-piece fantasy that weds whodunit drama and punch-and-kick mayhem.

Circumstance demonstrates raw talent and a taste for big ideas.

Despite its ultimate lack of profundity, Gainsbourg is certain to still be a sufficiently engaging and meaningful experience to enthrall the initiated while stimulating the curiosity of the uninitiated.

While most action films fall apart because they succumb to stupidity, Colombiana suffers most because it tries to be too smart.

Higher Ground is a weird film with some very nice moments, but its odd and offbeat combination of comic touches, serious spiritual subject matter and occasional surrealist interludes never quiet gels.

Control's Sam Riley steps into a role made unforgettable by a young Richard Attenborough in the 1947 original and makes it his own, slipping into the character like a second skin.

Far more charming, quick-witted and high spirited than anyone could have expected...for a film that didn't screen for press. It's gimmicky up the wazoo (not just 3D, but scratch-and-sniff "Aroma-Scope" cards handed out at screenings) and it's all the better for it.

Programming the Nation is a lo-fi, issues-driven documentary carried along by the strength of its ideas rather than its artless desktop aesthetic.

Contrary to all of my bitter nudging, I found both sweet and charming. It's just me: I hate precocious children.

Blame director Troy Nixey for lacking the touch, or blame the basic material which is better suited to TV - either way, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark never gets you jumping out of your seat.

With a similar brand of self-aware playfulness, retains its predecessor's sturdy narrative foundation.

The dismal reality is that this romantic drama is a disaster, a dour "When Harry Meets Sally" that tries to jerk tears out of the story of a man and a woman who go from friends to lovers.

The bigger problem is that the action literally bleeds together and there's no sense of pacing.

Writer/director René Féret tells the absorbing and ultimately tragic story of this gifted young woman now forgotten by history.

This is Rudd's movie and he once more displays an unerring eye for comedy. He comes at it from an actor's perspective rather than a comedian's and it shows as his character as hilarious as he is credible.

A complex political statement, Amigo is epic in scale but trades the schmaltz of the traditional war film for a more resolute treatment of subject.

The strong central hour - full of beautifully assembled linking montages and a refreshingly offbeat sense of dramatic timing that could pass for comedy - makes up for a lot, marking Najbrt as a filmmaker to watch.

The film is really a valentine to the fans.

It's the best 3D horror movie ever made, as much for its superlative technical merits as for its satisfying thrills.

Fiennes' technique is extraordinary in its simplicity, balancing a literal prowl throughout his immense sculptural environs with a respectful observational distance.

At barely 80 minutes, the film seems like a slight little adventure, but Fleischer fleshes out his twists and turns to make it feel like a fully-rendered story.

A chick flick for do-gooders, The Help suffers from a malady common to the discrimination drama: its treatment of inequality is more condescending than the prejudice it aims to remedy.

The message is nearly as slight as the presentation and just as hard to pin down, but even when tackling something as sharp edged and soft bellied as exclusion Littlerock is not without its pleasures.

Sadly, the documentary just doesn't have enough coherent passages to make anything about this now seemingly ancient journey compelling for contemporary audiences.

Compared to this summer's grab bag of superheros vying for a franchise, the apes rise (pardon the pun) to the challenge of making us care.

The melodrama is tiresome, overwrought and clichéd.

Despite all the boobs, The Change-Up is very fair to its female characters-well, at least to Mann and Wilde, who both ring true, even if Wilde is almost too good to be true...It sounds like a trifling detail, but those details are sorely missing from most "date movies," in which even the women laughing in the audience exit feeling like they're the butt of the joke.

A feast for the eyes, Mysteries of Lisbon deals with 19th century passions, love affairs and escapades on a broad canvas. It might have made a lovely TV series, parsed out over several weeks, but at one sitting it's a challenge.

Severe and unflinching, The Whistleblower relies on journalistic realism to pack its punch.

It doesn't surpass the performance he gave in "JCVD," but if you're a fan of "the muscles from Brussels," it's worth watching if only because it suggests that whether he's drop-kicking enemies or delivering emotional dialogue, the best is yet to come.

There's nothing wrong with social message melodramas that tackle the AIDS crisis and certainly not every gay release has to please crowds like "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," but Schlim has a good-time movie with a likable cast.

Good Neighbors' greatest strength is that even when the plot becomes too obvious and the thriller aspects fall apart, it can always wrestle a laugh out of you.

Looking at the obnoxious TV ads for The Smurfs, it's easy to dismiss the film as a shrill, joyless exercise in special effects without substance. It's even easier after actually seeing it.

Beautifully shot but more than a little sterile.

James keeps viewer attention the whole time, despite forcing unnecessarily sentimental music on his footage and chopping his scenes down to dramatic highlights rather than letting them play at length.

For all the innovative dishes we watch being concocted, the movie needs another ingredient or two for flavor enhancement and full satisfaction.

A traditional southern gothic, Septien delivers oddities from the perverse to the parochial with a straight face, and in the process restores the oddball genre to what might be called authenticity.

The movie is a bit of a departure for the mumblecore pioneer, one that does not play to his strengths.

Thrilling and suspenseful without an American star like Russell Crowe or an excess of explosions.

The Guard may be a formula movie but McDonagh does wonders with the familiar character types and action climax.

July has mounted a surrealist fable about the delicate balance between relationships and the inner monologue inside each lover, with its incessant demands and individual needs. Unevenness is an aesthetic here - not so much a flaw as a conscious choice.

In keeping with the flamboyant clan of despots that were the Husseins, the drama is ultraviolent and over the top and made absolutely mesmerizing by Dominic Cooper's electrifying turn in both roles.

It's easy to like the cast - thanks as much to their previous work as anything on screen here - but with such a convoluted, illogical and dull story, no one fares particularly well.

Cornish's idiomatic dialogue is hilarious and the longtime comic's sense of timing is perfect.

A superb ensemble cast makes the most of the comedy's numerous detours and storylines.

Lucky has its moments, but even with good, sometimes exceptional performances, its criminally vile characters are never likable enough to make you laugh at (or forgive) their wickedness.

By poking fun at the cliches, director Gluck thinks he can turn an inevitability into an in-joke. Eh, it'll do.

What I can say is if you're flesh and blood, and have ever suffered a substantial loss, you will be moved by Another Earth. And also renewed.

That Sarah's Key never quite descends into melodrama is a credit to the strength of Scott Thomas' performance, more than to the writing.

Gingerly pieced together, The Woman with the 5 Elephants has a delicacy and indirectness that's alluring and provocative at the same time.

What really distinguishes Captain from the other superhero movies of 2011 (and quite frankly, the majority of the others released in the last several years) is a romance that feels like an integral - not incidental - component of the plot.

The Undefeated says less about Sarah Palin than about the political and cultural environment that made her big screen beatification possible.

A highly entertaining and richly human movie experience with a gem of a performance from Jenna Fischer.

The author's texts are used as biographical inventory, and they're not simply read, they're performed, sometimes to the detriment of the prose.

This elegant weepie offers plenty for fans of melodrama, character-driven stories and period pieces.

Stunningly shot by cinematographer Nigel Bluck (Handsome Harry) the film captures beautifully the magic of the foliage and the surrounding landscapes.

It is a dark drama to be sure and it does carry with it a whiff of disease-of-the-week melodrama, yet there is also transcendence in the tale; as bleak as the film is, it is not without hope.

Gripping, offensive and bewildering, Tabloid is a mean-spirited masterpiece.

Part II gets everything right to send off Harry on a cinematic high.

In this case, boredom is the deadliest sin.

The Sleeping Beauty lacks either the dramatic intensity or the sexual frankness that drew attention to her previous films "Fat Girl" and "The Last Mistress."

Too dull for camp and too bad to be taken seriously.

Almost totally devoid of charm and genuine laughs despite the presence of star Kevin James and a wonderful veteran voice cast for the creatures.

The laughs are proportionate to the stakes, which are middle-of-the-road.

Casting is almost uniformly first rate with Cox, Purefoy and the always brilliant Giamatti providing noteworthy standouts.

Compellingly taut and existentially thoughtful, this exceptional Euro-American hybrid is perfectly pitched for the kind of crossover success previously enjoyed by Guillaume Canet's 2006 surprise hit "Tell No One."

Typically, Carpenter thrives on modestly budgeted films like The Ward, but this one comes off as an amateurish misstep due to unoriginal storytelling from fledgling screenwriters Michael and Shawn Rasmussen.

British filmmaker James Marsh recreates this tale of an ambitious primate language study through traditional face-the-camera interviews, clever graphics and dramatic recreations.

Before The Ledge descends into third act melodrama, there are enough intriguing moments to make the viewer sense the better film this one wanted to be. A real shame that one didn't make it to the screen.

Stylistically dull, Crime After Crime proceeds from one talking-head interview to the next, sticking to sentiment.

Don't count on special effects: it has been lovingly and traditionally animated to pay homage to E.H. Shepard's original drawings.

Documents the development of a crime lord from his beginnings in petty childhood activities. Fresh details enliven a conventional story arc. This absorbing view of urban decay has the potential to draw audiences beyond the arthouse.

Shooting in Calais give Welcome a realistic atmosphere with vivid details.

On the surface Monte Carlo is charming, oddly down-home wish-fulfillment, but it's riddled with unexplored class issues and generic filmmaking.

This charmer about late middle-aged renaissance is pertinent for these times and a perfect summer comedy for grown-ups looking to escape robots and superheroes.

A tough psychological drama, it may stretch some audience sensibilities.

As uninhibited as its heroine, this film is full of clever surprises.

A lawman seeking redemption can't seem to escape sin in Ed Gass-Donnelly's haunting, rural drama.