Yu's portrait of Darger, which clocks in at 82 minutes, skims over the only aspect of his life that commands respect: his craft.

The drama is hampered by a vague screenplay that takes its sweet time explaining the characters' past and never specifies the nature of the boy's palsy and apparent retardation.

Lots can be said for The Aviator as entertainment, though not much for it as edification.

Episodic but entertaining fantasy.

Brooks has an uncanny talent for making us feel insightful.

The old-fashioned theme of disaster as an existential test of character still works.

As long as Spacey is singing, the movie soars.

A film about freedom as well as death, this won't suit every taste, but it rewards close attention and has moments of saving humor.

The stand-up performance is still that of the mom--Sigourney Weaver, making the most of the meatiest part she's had in years

Haggis's dialogue is worthy of Hemingway, and the three leads border on perfection.

All I got was this lousy movie. OK, it's not that bad, though in contrast to "Ocean's Eleven," which gave its megastars a neat little heist story, this sequel is both contrived and convoluted.

Noah Baumbach collaborated on the arch script, whose bittersweet weirdness leaves a residue even as the narrative disintegrates.

The overall mood is stately and melancholy, the selective use of color is ravishing, and some of the natural views are breathtaking.

Initially this seems naive and archaic, but it conceals a Buñuelian stinger in its tail.

Awkward storytelling and spotty exposition reduce it to a string of rude shocks--not even the eventual denouement provides a lucid enough account of where this is all coming from.

The only one who seems to be having much fun is Parker Posey, camping it up as one of the vampires.

The children are not exactly reporters -- they bring back no shattering images of sexual servitude -- but their photography, like much children's art, is fresh and sometimes startling.

The actors are brilliant, the dialogue extremely clever, and the direction assured. But by the end I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters.

Zhang weaves in both thrilling martial-arts set pieces and stunning studies of period silk tapestry and costume.

Gorgeous high-definition digital photography adds to the rapture; the museum resembles a cavernous magic lantern with its seductive plays of light and shadow.

The film's relaxed pace, unassuming tone, and respect for its characters all recall the films of Abbas Kiarostami, who provided the story idea, but director Ali Reza Raisian adds a slightly more dramatic and emotional edge.

An engrossing tale of ego, strategy, and the limits of human intelligence.

Unfortunately writer-director Paul Feig has a weakness for artiness in general and hokey art movies in particular, and the overall sluggishness of this 2003 adaptation starring Ben Tibber makes such devices as slow-motion seem like mannered rhetoric.

The ghoulish tone and Mikkelsen's glassy performance smother any laughs.

A comprehensive and devastating critique of the TV news networks' complacency and complicity in the war on Iraq.

Engrossing documentary.

Fedja van Huet gives a fascinating performance as two very different twin brothers.

Sacrifices compelling drama for gratuitous whimsy and big-budget spectacle.