Stone is highly charged and vibrant, and pits Edward Norton against Robert De Niro for two utterly electrifying performances.

While the scenario has all the smirking charm of Stillman's earlier movies, the sobering realities of off-campus life are never even alluded to, and the humor of insularity eventually becomes stifling.

A shrewdly understated satire of feel-good dramas disguised as gross-out inside jokes, Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie should alternately leave some viewers in stitches while making others quickly leave the theater.

This Americanized version of the 2008 Nordic thriller "Reykjavik Rotterdam" transfers the original's gritty, violent action into an entertaining and intense starring role for Mark Wahlberg.

The bad news is that if you haven't seen "Thor," "Captain America" and "Iron Man 2" - that's six hours and three minutes of homework - The Avengers won't make sense. The good news is if you're a human under the age of 45, you probably already have.

Sometimes hilarious, occasionally outrageous and terribly uneven.

The overarching lesson is twofold: environmental issues are never as simple or as cut-and-dried as we would like, and the first order of business is to get the science right.

Williams embodies Margot's inner turmoil with an unfussy sense of terrified instability.

Bridged by rude comedy familiar to veteran viewers of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, True Legend is refreshingly unpretentious in comparison to the pompous nationalism of recent Chinese war spectacles like "The Warring States."

A conventional portrait of an endearingly unconventional sister act-with roots in music halls and the dairy farm on which they were raised (and became expert yodelers)-The Topp Twins is a piece of hagiography.

First time documentarian Angela Ismailos has interviewed ten noteworthy international directors about their art, and then cut them together by skipping back and forth between their voices like an iPod in shuffle mode.

With a terrific cast led by Reeves, Vera Farmiga and a splendid James Caan, this is a fun comedy with irresistible heist and heart.

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

Borte supports his jewel of a story idea with dead-on casting, stunning images and product placement that's intentionally heavy-handed.

The kind of grim, character-based movie that needs a strong performer to anchor it. Director Derek Cianfrance has been fortunate enough to land two: Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling.

If it's true that movies can transport you to places you could hardly have imagined, then Resident Evil: Retribution is the cinema's ultimate passport to purgatory.

Hugh Hefner has earned the gift of a fawning, non-confrontational greatest hits package and that's exactly what he's received, even if it's not what we necessarily wanted. As such, this will only preach to the converted (and maybe the perverted) and is best suited to DVD or cable.

Repression is one thing, but discontent generally breeds self-knowledge and rich interior lives, two things that are eerily absent here. Regardless, the film features some really intriguing conflicts and solid performances throughout.

The script is ridiculous, the bodies are great and the film skates so long on the line between knowingly bad and bad that by the time the body count hits 100 and the booby count hits 1000, we've lost track of the difference.

The key selling point is Bayona's ten-minute reenactment of the tidal wave and its carnage, which is brutal, visceral and without peer. His visual mastery is almost enough to make up for The Impossible's conventional final hour and the empty feeling of trying to find the point of this whole exercise.

On one side Lbs. deals with a subject not often handled dramatically and this alone gives it an urgency and a credibility.

Beneath the hype and promises, however, it's almost a letdown that the actual film is merely very good: a better-than-average 3D big-budget space tale.

Current Saturday Night Live (SNL) comic Will Forte may have bombed in the recent SNL spin-off "MacGruber," but a dream team of SNL alums, including ringleader Adam Sandler, put the luster back in the SNL reputation with the audience-pleasing, all-ages comedy Grown Ups.

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

The movie is really best enjoyed as a fun little addendum to a profanity-laden chapter in New Media history.

The film wears its heart on its sleeve, but the drama falters when the tone grows over-earnest; additionally, Scott's direction fails to exert a tight grasp on his material.

Men in Black 3 is exactly what you'd expect: amiable mediocrity and nicely laid-back performances with pricy special effects plugging in the gaps where jokes should be.

Andresevic includes photogenic clips of the vibrant and diverse areas of New York City, giving a strong sense of the settings of the different love stories spread around the city.

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.

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

A visually rough retreading of Superbad territory with a slightly more treacherous journey, The Virginity Hit has a surprisingly softer ethical edge than you'd expect.

Jeon received the Best Actress at Cannes for her wrenching performance. She's the first Korean to receive an acting award at this Festival.

For those looking for the rare romantic youth drama without vampyric overtones or other gimmicks, Remember Me should satisfy and it works as a much-needed change of pace for the talented Pattinson who remains one of the most watchable of our young stars.

The film’s warmth and heart comes from introducing us to someone born to do exactly what she’s doing.

Formally, everything's in order-it's an attractive film with some ingenious action sequences-but the problems overwhelm the pleasures, leading to the conclusion that this film's trouble is under the hood.

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.

At 74 tough and tragic minutes, though, Kimjongilia is not destined for monetary glory. The waiting arms of public television are the more likely destination.

Italian audiences are bound to like it and the broadness of plot and appeal suggests casual fans of foreign film should, too.

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.

Such a story is made to be colored in jumbo crayon, and at first you might long for a more nuanced approach, but this film was produced in the 1940's serial style that's made Lucas Films enormous.

Writer/director Chris Ordal's debut feature is not a documentary nor is it precisely a biopic. Instead the drama captures the artist at a pivotal moment in time.

To say the movie is understated is an understatement, yet it’s justified.

It's a wonderfully moving meditation on the capacity of animals to inspire our imaginations and something applicable to educational markets as well as regular documentary audiences.

Hobo is trash cinema through and through and gives fans everything they want from a drive-in throwback. That's something that doesn't happen often.

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

A film about how outwardly alienating our circles are (much to the detriment of our careers) and how caustic our supposedly nurturing intimacies can be at the same time.

Like James in the ring, it doesn't pack a lot of power, but it comes out swinging and sweats for applause.

Though the film is a fairly plastic British period piece with all the intimacy of a Hitachi Wand, the script captures some delicate and intelligent facets of a tensely conflicted era.

Actress and director Maïwenn Le Besco (a.k.a. Maïwenn) confounds expectations by drawing together a heart-thumping patchwork of dramas and emotions.

Landau and Burstyn remain compelling throughout.

Unsurprisingly, the strongest moments of the film are musical.

There's nothing more irritating than a piece that strains to be kooky and eccentric, yet one reason The Living Wake ultimately gets to you is that O'Connell is not trying too hard.

The film is light-fingered and charming.

The blistering tunes and unique animation compensate for the rather unconvincing central love story that works best as a Forrest Gump-ian device to highlight some legendary real-life musicians.

Piccoli in a role that relies on looks, gestures and very few words, does not hit an off note, making him into a silent, everyman figure.

A soft and sweet cancer drama that hits with the force of an ill-timed hug.

That sense of mischief and pleasure in the craft makes Bellamy a thoroughly intriguing and likeable experience. From Chabrol we would expect nothing less.

Some may say giving Mr. Killen screen time equals a bully pulpit, that it would be reckless and cheapen the heartfelt message. To the filmmakers credit they offered generous portions from both sides.

The movie, largely improvised and totally believable, is often very funny, and the glimpses of life inside what remains a very repressive regime are fascinating, but in the final analysis, despite a fairly grim denouement, there's little here you haven't already seen in Hollywood flicks like "Singles."

Neeson’s austere, meticulous turn is the best reason to see After.Life. He’s cinema’s most soft-spoken, high-toned boogeyman since Anthony Hopkins opened his first can of fava beans.

Those unfamiliar with the Duplass' previous movies won't realize what's missing; they'll just enjoy the earthy angst, edgy laughs and off-kilter casting of Jonah Hill.

It's not much, but adult audiences starved for mature entertainment should be counted on to investigate this flawed, if admittedly heartfelt, work.

We get the broad strokes of how the hippies corrupted their own movement, but there isn't a single lead character we'd give a dollar to on Haight Street.

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.

This depraved charmer offers enough to admire and a specialized hipster crowd will enjoy it, if to a mutedly positive effect.

More of a stunt than a script, The Human Centipede (First Sequence) should get a modest amount of I-dare-you ticket sales, but it's about as mass market as a dogfight.

Quality evidently not being a concern, Ice Age: Continental Drift is nonetheless a slight improvement over its predecessor.

So it's a half-certainty, half-shock that Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is both good and bad, a sequel that's hungry for thrills but bereft of the cohesiveness - and budget - to be a full meal.

The problem is that once you get past the barriers that Jewish players dramatically overcame between the early 20th century and post World War II, the rest is precipitously less interesting.

It's certainly a story worth telling, but hardly as pivotal and all-encompassing as they would like to believe, all of which makes the effort far more exhausting than it ever should have been.

A messy if initially intriguing take on sci-fi-underpinned high school angst for the vlogging age, Chronicle eventually grows repetitive and stale.

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.

It's a great (if middle-of-the-road) family comedy to seek out.

There is a passionate, combative and riveting documentary to be made about the plight of the American schoolteacher, but unfortunately the well-meaning, unfailingly decent and overly slack American Teacher isn't it.

The look is appealing, but the dark third act and heavy themes may alienate family audiences.

Zemeckis intends to give us a slightly more depraved version of Washington's usual charismatic hero, then pull the rug out from him. But Flight's true downward spiral is its own loss of momentum.

The movie never strikes a balance between its comic and dramatic halves and that dooms it. It is an almost good film that flounders, because there is no treatment for tone deafness.

Though it fails to live up to its dynamic predecessor in almost every way, District B13: Ultimatum should still be enough to satisfy the earlier film’s small but faithful core of American fans.

Channing doesn't bring any new tricks to the table but with her character's tenacious and spirited nature she's fun to have around for a few brief scenes.

Bernie is an interesting guy, but he doesn't make for very good company.

By focusing on the human aspect of Al-Qaeda, The Oath does give the viewer something to think about, but the film is unsatisfying, raising questions and providing too few answers.

It's not nearly as snappy or campy as it should be-though its self-seriousness is its own kind of entertainment.

This sci-fi thriller manages to blend genuine suspense with unintentional laughs.

This doc is far from perfect, formally it accomplishes nothing new and has opportunities to go places that could have been massive, but these missed opportunities don’t undermine its other accomplishments. It’s imperfect and still does quite a lot.

For all the interviewees who tearfully speak of her work, the film does anything but.

It's never boring but the relentless twists do get a bit tedious.

Shadyac spins cooperation in a different direction. I Am takes the sharing instinct as proof that all living beings are interconnected.

The movie's true horror isn't the murderous extraterrestrials, but the lame script.

The Music Never Stopped isn't exactly good, but it's definitely better than you fear it is when you reach the halfway mark.

Still, the fans are lovable no matter how mixed the Comic-Con bag is, and Morgan Spurlock is precisely the doc maker to tell us about it.

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

Scott excels in maintaining a low, persistent hum of eroticism whose purpose is not titillation or camp.

No surprises or major laughs here, but as far as Sandler family fare goes, it's inoffensive enough.

The film engages sporadically but mostly fails to take advantage of its under-documented milieu.

Leon Gast's profile of the photographer is not devoid of entertainment value or unhelpful in understanding the history of photojournalism, however, the movie is as ephemeral as one of Galella's snapshots of a coked out, B-list celeb exiting Studio 54 circa 1975.

Audience appeal will be limited to people who see nothing silly about saying the man who invented the five-point haircut was one of the primary architects of the '60s.

It's in the moments Abrams attempts to combine emotional payoffs with popcorn-style thrills that the film rings most false.

The positives have an edge over the negatives, but it probably doesn't matter either way. It is an Adam Sandler movie.