It's gently funny, modestly scary in spots, full of valuable but low-key observations about life.

Has more psychological complexity than the average suspense drama, and the results prove more satisfying than not.

The energy never lets up, and two committed, unfussy leading actors are an improvement over other summer flicks.

A smooth, often funny, occasionally thoughtful romantic comedy.

The audacious ending, though unjustified by what had come before, was clearly something mainstream Hollywood would not have tolerated. Yet the 90 minutes in between, a mass of symbols and improbabilities so great they provoke outright laughter, made me wonder whether aliens stole Bahrani’s brain.

The worst thing about the picture is that the people involved all seem to realize it's generic.

What made “District 9” special was attention to details: You believed in the characters, their society and their surroundings. The big effects in Elysium work fine. But the people never become individuals, and the vagueness and coincidental nature of the storytelling undermine its structure.

It’s rare that a movie stops making sense before anyone speaks a line of intelligible dialogue, but The Wolverine is a rare movie.

Writer-director Derek Cianfrance knew he was dealing with a story full of coincidences when he adapted M.L. Stedman’s novel The Light Between Oceans, so he avoided melodrama by holding himself and his excellent actors in check. The result is a movie that crackles quietly without flaring up into an emotional blaze.

Watching this comedy is like going out with an attractive blind date who runs out of conversation after a quarter of an hour.

At the center of the film, like a man trying to pull a donkey out of a peat bog, stands Craig: inexpressive, uninflected and obviously tired. Perhaps he’s trying to play a chap who never allows himself access to his emotions, for fear loved ones may be snatched away, but he just looks like an actor who wishes he could quit his job.

This good-humored bonding story emphasizes the actresses’ gifts, rather than their gender.

It's an approachable film that handles a serious topic deftly and offers a fresh take on a familiar subject.

Carrera directs with a light touch, letting the screenplay speak for itself.

Parker's afraid that we'll be bored by the language alone, so he throws in absurdities.

So despite fine acting and swift pacing and well-managed effects, it falls apart.

Cinematographer Christopher Doyle suffuses the film with color, fire and smoke. But the more lively his images become, the more faded the characters seem.

The director is a cinematic equivalent of his subject, but a man who was able to reach middle age and examine that culture's good and bad points with a clear, detached mind.

What Levine does have is a gently gruesome way of amusing us, converting the uneasiness of a wooer from another species into the everyday anxieties of a young man around a girl he likes.

Emotions too often get ladled unconvincingly.

The movie leaves a bunch of questions unanswered but rockets ahead in such entertaining style that I scarcely minded.

Fairly entertaining, repetitive exhortations of a televangelist who looks like Kurt Russell playing Elvis Presley with 12 additional teeth.

He decided early on what he wanted and pursued it straightforwardly all his life. That rarely yields riveting drama, however well-intentioned filmmakers may be.

One of those rare action comedies that actually delivers action and comedy.

I think Foy simply wants to deliver well-gauged terror and make a few points about personal responsibility and the need to overcome our fears. That he does quite well.

The 23-year-old Evans has been acting just four years, and his near-anonymity makes him well-cast: He's an Everyslacker breezing through life in Santa Monica, the kind of guy who could turn into a hero under the right circumstances or remain a zero the rest of his life.

I can't tell you if Red Dragon is more faithful to Harris' book than "Manhunter," which I haven't seen in 16 years. I can tell you it's less artful and atmospheric, a straight-ahead thriller that never rises above superficiality.

The film has a huge heart, and it's in the right place.