So lightweight that you're likely to start forgetting it before it's even over.

A nervy as well as somber piece of work, not only for the way it confounds and even frustrates certain genre expectations, but also -- and especially -- for the way it confronts the viewer with the moral implications of that frustration.

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

Some pieces of the plot feel dishonest, others contrived, but there are also moments of nicely observed detail and plenty of good messages.

As this wonderful adaptation reminds us, Dickens endures mostly because of his characters.

Although Broomfield's grandstanding has provoked charges of hypocrisy, this is a genuinely moral work that raises unsettling questions about the haphazard application of the death penalty, and it's certainly more complex and affecting than the fictionalized portrait of Wuornos in "Monster."

The technically uneven performance footage is redeemed by excellent sound and charismatic interviews with popular bachateros.

It's highly inventive, self-conscious camp, made in 1965, well before the genre wore itself out in superciliousness.

A fine, freewheeling musical.

With an intelligent, provocative and stylized approach, Bronson (based on a true story) follows the metamorphosis of Mickey Peterson into Britain's most dangerous prisoner, Charles Bronson.

The task of dramatizing this proved too difficult for Niels Arden Oplev when he directed a Swedish adaptation in 2009, but as Fincher demonstrated in "Social Network," he knows how to make information technology eerily seductive. Unfortunately Larsson's salacious plot elements - mass murder, Nazism, and the like - feel just as shallow as they did in the earlier version.

This is fun if you're looking mainly for light entertainment.

The film acquires a pleasant, syncopated rhythm as it bounces from one unlikely event to another, and Seidelman manages some nice detailing in the minor characters. Arquette is consistently charming and inventive in a role that barely exists as written, and Madonna is given ample opportunity to strut her stuff.

Shot in and around the town of Bradford in long, loping takes, this sprightly comedy, adapted by Andrea Dunbar from her own play, has some of the energy that one associates with the better exploitation films that used to be produced by Roger Corman.

Movies about the trajectory from outsider to insider in LA social and professional circles--the two always seem inextricably linked--are a dime a dozen, but this one is fresh, thanks to a script by lead actor Jon Favreau that lets us know Mike knows he resembles a character in a movie even if he doesn't know he is one.

The tolerance and loopy poetry of the beloved book by Dr. Seuss have been nicely captured.

Andrew Horn, writer of “East Side Story,” directs, stylishly.

Ruppert makes a compelling argument that the world is approaching a paradigm shift unlike anything in human history.

Lugubrious and rather contrived... Because this whole project seems detached at times to the point of indifference—no one ever seems to be having any fun, including the filmmakers—even one's clinical interest eventually begins to evaporate.

There's something more than a little perverse about taking one of the most timid, self-effacing heroines in English literature and turning her into a paragon of modern free-spirited womanhood.

This low-key romantic comedy proves that destiny-powered love stories can be formulaic without being predictable.

At 92 minutes this could hardly be considered a definitive statement, yet its combination of high drama and carefully articulated principle delivers quite a punch.

The dialogue slackens after the first half hour, but the stars have some fine comic moments together, and the intimate precode encounters are pretty sexy.

This high-powered sports melodrama benefits from its strong male leads, a sinewy narrative, and the maverick attitude of MMA. But for all the contemporary references, it's essentially a spin on the story of Cain and Abel, which may be the reason it feels timeless.

Magical, visually exciting, affecting even in its sincere hokeyness, and extremely provocative.

Whatever else you might say about this weird, creepy, and funny independent item by Guy Maddin, it's certainly different.

Like most of his British films, Blackmail is a sign of things to come rather than Hitchcock at his height, but it shouldn’t be missed.

This bleak vision directed by Darren Aronofsky ("Pi") is pointless with good reason.