When the crashing chords and defiant lyrics of "Be the Rain" close things out, there's a burst of idealism and energy that redeems everything. If you see Greendale, treat the movie charitably and dig the music.

More spirit and grace and less blood and guts may be what Passion needs.

The movie's gentle humor and offbeat whimsy prove that humanity trumps bureaucratic foolishness, in Norway or anywhere else.

It's a real shame that most new boxing movies try to copy the crowd-pleasing, sentiment-choked tactics of "Rocky" rather than the stark drama of "Raging Bull" or the realistic grit of "On the Waterfront" and "The Harder They Fall." Against the Ropes is only the latest sorry example. The sad thing is that, with this real-life story and subject, it could have been a contender.

Welcome to Mooseport isn't a belly-laugh farce. It's more along the lines of a "My Cousin Vinny," where you just enjoy almost everybody who crosses the screen. Such a comedy these days is more than welcome.

It breaks director Billy Wilder's most important movie commandment: Thou Shall Not Bore. It's just not funny.

Finally, a teen sex comedy that's funnier than both its trailer and its outtakes. More important, Eurotrip -- with its laser-guided sex toys and infectious theme song, "Scotty Doesn't Know" -- just might be the best comedy so far this year.

An actor-turned-director, Stuhr appeared in many of Kieslowski's films and their partnership and friendship produced some stunning work. The Big Animal memorializes a complex man and his deceptively simple work, by a friend and colleague in a fitting tribute.

The message of this movie could not be any clearer: America is no heaven on earth.

The third film, After the Life, much like "On the Run," mixes a hard-edged, relentless and stripped-down crime tale with a compassionate overview.

The movie's sole selling point turns out to be its sweetness. Sandler, Segal and writer George Wing obviously like all of the characters despite the constant ribbing, and Sandler and Barrymore are as cuddly as a pair of love-struck walruses. But only a sucker would get too close.

Solid acting anchors "Laughter," but it's Margret Vilhjalmsdottir and Ugla Egilsdottir as Freya and Agga who carry the load.

While some pedestrian camerawork and spotty acting from supporting players deflate Love Object, it has enough juice - and a surprising twist - to keep fans of the slow-burn horror genre enthralled.

You watch the movie with an ongoing feeling of dread, and it's not a feeling that ever dissipates.

A wry romantic comedy set among Bruno's targets, the Grenoble bourgeois.

This time around, the razors are a little duller, the clicks not as slick, the patter not as snappy.

It's a juicy premise, but the enactment is so dumbed-down -- by turns preposterous and predictable -- that you couldn't possibly fault your jaded children for yawning and rolling their eyes.

While the movie's heroes lay everything on the line, Miracle is too content to skate along the surface.

Ablaze with poetry and danger, and suffused with an odd kind of intellectual kitsch.

The Russian film The Return is a stunning contemporary fable about a divided family in the wilderness - a simple, riveting film that almost achieves greatness.

Like all B-movies (or in this case, pseudo B-movies), "Skeleton" contains sparkling moments of promise and camp performance.

The lead actors, Li Yixiang and Wang Shuangbao, are completely believable, sucking us into their casually cruel world.

In addition to being a good-looking movie with a pumping Foo Fighters anthem, "Score" is actually a philosophical argument against our culture of tests.

An odd mix itself, of contemporary sexual realism and unabashed romantic fantasy. If "Days" works, it's mostly on a sheer fantasy level.

The sheer stark speed and measured violence of On the Run catch us up quickly--and the film becomes a searing portrait of a killer-idealist lost out of time.

Like the frosty tropical drinks the people keep sipping here, it's refreshing and icy-cool, a sinful pleasure mixed by experts.

When a movie keeps repeating its title, you know it's a stinker.

Should please its core audience, which includes anyone who might actually want to win a date with Tad Hamilton. Others may opt to wait for another date with Kate Bosworth -- or Nathan Lane.