A nicely shaped script by Chicagoans Rick Shaughnessy and Brian Kalata makes this independent comedy drama a pleasure to watch.

Dark fantasy triumphs in this gorgeously animated surrealist adventure.

Without becoming manipulative, sensational, or trite, the movie lets us know what became of the animals -- many dogs and one stowaway cat -- on the ill-fated ship.

A realist mode that strains credibility; it's tenuous and inflexible -- and easily ruptured by the contrived irony in Jimmy McGovern's screenplay.

Takes too long to get its themes and characters out on the field.

A watchable but not very memorable comedy-drama.

Chillingly beautiful cinematography makes the state's landscapes appear timeless as it sets the stage for a grim history told with archival portraits.

Some of the gags here are funny, but they aren't executed effectively enough to score.

The filmmakers realize that playing baseball isn't nearly enough to fix what's wrong in these kids' lives, which might have made a more provocative ending than what follows.

Writer-director Mark Brown ruptures and restores the realism in this romantic comedy with ease, dispensing earnest wisdom with a little tongue in cheek instead of undermining it with a lot of irony.

Has its faults, but it's Barbet Schroeder's most relevant and interesting film in over a decade.

Two interesting asides: the director and most of the cast aren't gay, and the film is based on a true story from 1996 -- the real Iron Ladies are shown, too briefly, during the closing credits.

The music could have been better in this spineless drama, which has several angles but no perspective.

Elegant flamenco tragedy.

Realist fairy tale.

Hassan Yektapanah's first film attests to the deceptive simplicity of Iranian cinema, transforming the most minimal of props, scenes, and stories into a complex journey of discovery.

Mott Hupfel II's noirish photography, Pete Beaudreau's smooth editing, and McAbee's wry script are all wonderful, and Dawn Weisberg's costumes are especially killing.

The story (what there is of it) doesn't make much sense, but this is a very scary horror thriller that should keep you either on the edge of your seat or halfway under it.

The film does offer a good deal of engaging dark humor.

The script, which infantilizes one of the older siblings as much as the father does, undermines its own admonitions against parents and adult children meddling in one another's lives.

A wonderfully complex examination of sexual and material politics that's full of bravely provocative, gently funny, and warmly human encounters.

Best of all, and unusual for a screenwriter, Anderson handles the science consistently (maybe even scientifically).

This kind of wheel spinning comes from having the desire to speak but nothing much to say, and Smith, who's made a slight movie about his being a slight filmmaker, seems to know this.

Awful light drama.

This Farrelly brothers "hommage" replicates the mechanics of their work without echoing its spirit or complex tone, and many of the deliberate offenses fail to transcend mere exploitation.

One thing I especially like about it, apart from the flavorsome 40s decor in color, is that it's silly in much the same way that many small 40s comedies were.

Tedious mockumentary.

It's all so overdetermined -- each encounter of the present-day lovers mirrors some moment from the long-ago day when they parted -- that it reduces their whole affair to a matter of last-minute revisionism.

Sumptuously hued in its emotional and visual tones, this drama is also a fairy tale, its plot contrivances beautifully justified by its minimalism.

Strives for comprehensive coverage of its theme of forbidden love.

Jas lots of action, drama, comedy, and corn -- and few pauses, which is striking.

Inspired, elaborately plotted, and unusually satisfying variable-speed chase comedy.

Surprisingly, this didactic and self-consciously clever romantic comedy isn't annoying -- it's refreshing, moving, and at times quite funny.

The simple premise of one scene of table-turning voyeurism is brilliant.

Cathartically disgusting adventure movie.

Gardos -- treats it competently, though without much freshness or imagination.

The payoff matters at least as much as the setup, and this story's secret is way too easy to guess.

Watchable enough on its own terms.

Though I hate to ruin the complex experience of following a rather calm story about a lonely widower as it becomes something else, I feel obliged to point out that the hard-core gore and soft-core surrealism of this baroque morality play may not support any theme.

Thomas is a couch potato as well as a recluse, and a terminal bore to boot. The women, real and simulated, are only slightly more interesting, and then only when they talk back.

Retained my interest and sympathy -- at least until the nonsensical ending,

All three lead actors are adroit; but the story, adapted from a short story by H.E. Bates, is both contrived and not very well told.

This action comedy transforms LAPD detective Chris Tucker from an intolerably annoying egotist into a practically lovable intolerably annoying egotist.

Trite transformation comedy.

Better in certain ways than the original Apocalypse Now, though the flaws are also magnified.

As satire it's toothless and at times close to incoherent; its predictable swipes are aimed equally at conservative racists and bleeding-heart liberals.

The least characteristic movie Jean-Pierre Melville ever made. It replaces his sternly fatalistic philosophizing with a benign, genuinely comic spirit, and his rigidly classical style yields to a pleasant informality.

The first half of the film, in which Maglietta gradually discovers herself as something other than a servant, is genuinely engaging.

The film may never fully attain the emotional resonance it seems to be striving for, but it's still an accomplished and interesting piece of work.

Potential irony is everywhere in this movie's subtly surreal situations and candy-colored imagery.

It's not a sex movie but a parody, and the loose feel is part of its genius.

Where "The Full Monty" earned its laughs with rich characterizations and a biting take on economic hardship, Greenfingers is content to trot out predictable stereotypes, adding a romantic subplot as filler.

A wizard at manipulating time, Kitano introduces staccato elements that interrupt the meditative pace even as they help set it.

Overwritten by Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan, overdirected by Joe Roth, overplayed by most of the cast, yet typically undernourished.

Mitchell, who also directed and wrote the screenplay, originally created this glorious rock opera for the stage with composer-lyricist Stephen Trask.

If, like me, you've been wondering how Terry Zwigoff, the brilliant documentary filmmaker who made "Crumb," would negotiate his shift to fiction filmmaking, here's your answer: brilliantly.

Isn't terribly frightening or gory, and at times it's even atmospheric. It also has a sense of humor, and the digs at the prequels hit pay dirt.

This one's slightly better than average these days, which means slightly diverting.

Favreau, who also plays the long-suffering Bobby, mixes elements of drama into this appropriately annoying comedy.

The old surrealist created another masterpiece in this, his final film.

In a perfect marriage of player and part, Reese Witherspoon is Elle Woods.

The tone -- a combination of earnestness and gallows humor -- is strangely appropriate.

The thin story covering her acquisition of one wave after another while narrowly escaping death time and again is strictly for player one.

This is the first feature I've seen by writer-director Dominique Deruddere, and I hope it won't be the last.

The new sexism -- the old sexism plus the idea that everything is ironic -- is getting old.

Amiably unvarnished... Much more successful than most other films that deal with daily life in the projects.

Story is fairly conventional and not especially well told, though as usual Tran's images are so sensual and beautiful that I was rarely bored or frustrated.

Nicely written as well as filmed.

Transcendently kitschy, trippingly funny fairy tale, which has a surprising amount of psychological insight and a dance number to die for.

This special-effects animal-action comedy is for heavily identified pet owners.

The movie occasionally makes an unexpectereference -- though with more desperation than wit.

Funny? This one is. It's also sweet and thoughtful.

The shtick based on whether other people understand him is subtle enough for 79 minutes.

Gutsy romance-drama that breaks a cardinal rule of storytelling and pop psychology: its iconic lovers aren't forced by a tragedy to learn that they shouldn't depend on each other to feel whole.

A film that might make you cry watching it is just as likely to give you the creeps thinking about it afterward, which is as it should be.

The characters are so full-bodied and the feelings so raw and complex that I'd call this the best thing he's (Singleton) done to date.

While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie.

Too much plot and too much faith in special effects and adolescent humor doom this "Babe" wannabe.

Powerfully illustrates what globalization has been doing to underdeveloped countries around the world.

Old-time music aficionado John Hartford is on hand to hold it all together, and in fact his presence is the most gripping element of this disappointingly flat production.

Unafraid to look absurd but lacks the self-conviction needed to come off as camp.

Drove violence to the point of redundancy.

An amiable black comedy.

Ridiculous but occasionally fun.

It's marvelous or unwatchable.

Demands to be treated with conviction as parody if not as science fiction.

Watchable, if at times familiar.

Visually imaginative and even persuasively spiritual.

Director Bruce Beresford -- not intending to be funny but succeeding wildly.

Mild gross-out comedy integrates a non sequitur -- a running joke made by a sidekick -- into the plot, providing some payoff.

The theories about sexuality and trauma artfully advanced in this previously unreleased 1975 debut of director Catherine Breillat (Romance, Fat Girl) are more nuanced and intuitive than those of most schools of psychology.

Funny, moving, and insightful look at questions about identity and community.

If you decide to hit the concessions stand (where you're bound to have lots of company), I'd suggest going out for popcorn during either the first hour or the third, because the second features some pretty good big-screen effects involving planes, ships, and explosions.

One girl's melancholy (beautifully expressed by actress Kerry Washington) is a response to a fractured romance.

The sincerity of their performances (Lopez and Caviezel) overrides the intermittent implausibilities of Gerald Dipego's script.

A movie whose story may be even more innovative than the superreal solidity of the animated characters.

Diverting, energetic, and even reasonably satisfying, so long as you aren't looking for a real musical to take its place.

The narrative decays more quickly than the characters.