The subject is intriguing even if the dialogue is stilted and the acting is uneven.

Repetitious teen-targeted fluff.

This unusual Macedonian release is engrossing if not always nimbly directed.

There's much subtle beauty in the last movie completed by Merchant Ivory Productions before Merchant's untimely death.

A mixed package, but often fun to watch.

Superbly acted, movingly written, and directed with a tough-minded lyricism rarely found in today's films. A summer movie to love.

This isn't a movie, it's a thingamajig - frequently as off-putting as can be, but unassailably one of a kind.

Delivers enough action to please Saturday-night crowds, if not the surreal wit that made the first two "Batman" movies, directed by Tim Burton, so entertaining.

Suspenseful and psychologically rich.

Riveting and unique.

The movie is a mish-mash of action-adventure clichés, book-ended with lame attempts at psychological interest. Written, directed, and acted with ham-fisted heaviness.

Serial killing and other insanity in the French countryside, with ineptly dubbed English dialogue.

Only part of it is in 3-D, but youngsters should enjoy pulling their special specs on and off at appropriate moments.

You run across animation this ingenious about as often as a moving castle comes your way.

The primary impression is lots of moping and mooning, plus a song at the beginning with some of the worst lyrics you've ever heard.

Compellingly acted and rich in visual ideas, but a bit thin in its psychological approach.

Has touching and instructive moments.

Hou's sensitivity plus Ozu's inspiration equals sublimity of sight and sound.

Riveting, suspenseful, and a perfect antidote to the too-tricky documentary "Super-Size Me."

In sum, the classical Ron Howard and his splendid cast have made a spellbinding movie that joins "Million Dollar Baby," as well as "Raging Bull," the first two "Rocky" pictures, and "Fat City" as one of boxing cinema's all-time heavyweight champs.

Maybe the movie does so much dawdling and meandering so we'll have more time to bask in their presence; in any case, the otherwise pleasant picture uses up its ideas long before it uses up its running time.

A very uneven dark comedy.

This dramatic comedy is an Italian style "Mean Girls" when Castellito isn't stealing the show as a dysfunctional dad.

You may not literally laugh or cry, as the ads promise. But you'll have a good time watching the dream-fulfilling denims make their comic-romantic rounds.

Yedaya's prizewinning debut film is acted and directed with uncommon psychological realism.

Touching, transfixing, unique.

Humane, unsentimental, eye-opening.

The result is a quickly paced, slickly filmed entertainment that's also as crude and rude as the PG-13 rating will allow. It's mighty mean-spirited too, aiming "satirical jibes" at everyone from black illiterates to white rednecks, from breakers of the law to enforcers of the law, from society's elites to society's dregs.

The animation is deft but the screenplay is stilted, the voice-performances are unimaginative, and the whole project is surprisingly clumsy in its efforts to please young and old alike. A major disappointment.

Well acted and ably directed, if not very probing about its subject of underclass youth.

This is moviemaking on the highest dramatic, psychological, and moral plane.

While the movie is strong on the history of its subject, it allows some yawns to enter its own account of a big, heavily hyped tournament. Still, it's very entertaining.

Nicely acted.

Faucher's filmmaking is exquisite, Naymark's acting is luminous, and superb use of music lends a crowning touch.

The material is right up Schrader's alley, and while his vision of the first "Exorcist" chapter isn't a masterpiece, it's far superior to the Renny Harlin prequel to "The Exorcist" released last year.

Comically grotesque, strikingly filmed.

On the action-adventure level it's a sure-fire delight for fans, a punchy entertainment for average sci-fi buffs, and a colorful rocket-ride for moviegoers who just want a good time on Saturday night.

A gripping documentary, although we learn too little of the relationship between the filmmaker and his subjects.

Wrenching on both personal and political levels.

Some scenes are just silly, others are dead-on uproarious. Ditka, a real-life football legend, is a real find as our hero's assistant.

The comedy is shamelessly stupid and flagrantly vulgar by turns.

Luc Besson's screenplay is dumb, but has just enough weird touches to give occasional glimmers of interest.

At heart this is a cuteness exploitation flick.

Based on a novel by French provocateur Georges Bataille, an important thinker whose fiction rarely translates into good cinema.

It's hugely ambitious, with a sweeping range of character types, frequently shifting moods, stylistic flourishes of many kinds, and some mighty wry satire, aimed largely at the world of psychotherapy.

A fascinating glimpse of family love and rivalry, if not a deep-digging documentary of "My Architect" quality.

As a frightfest it's better than today's average.

Bottom line: Kingdom of Heaven is the most exciting action-adventure yarn so far this year. Just don't expect anything deeper.

This thoughtful, troubling drama is leagues above the sensationalistic stuff Araki peddled in earlier films.

A triumph of psychological drama, owing as much to Ms. Bier's sensitive style as to Anders Thomas Jensen's smart screenplay, based on Bier's own story idea.

Touching and sentimental.

Amiably bland actors can be fun to watch, as Tom Hanks has proved. Freeman is no Hanks, though, and The Hitchhiker's Guide won't boost anyone's career into hyperspace. Or give your mind a workout.

Most of the movie is standard action fare, but the political commentary is interesting when it's allowed to surface.

Quiet, mysterious, sometimes violent, ultimately close to sublime.

It's unlikely there will ever be a more moving portrait of the shared selfhood, usually veiled by politics, common to the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.

The picture repeats itself a lot, but Dash is a good sport in poking barbed fun at the PR machinations of today's music business.

Superbly cast, evocatively directed.

Dance's directorial debut isn't exciting, but it's deeply felt and engagingly acted. Why doesn't he take more advantage of the story's opportunities for fine music, though?

There's interesting material about Soviet history, but searching for answers about the revolutionary's spouse turns out to be less than engrossing.

For close-up views of large African animals in the wild, this IMAX spectacle is hard to beat. However, the film takes up too much of its brief running time tracking down the photogenic beasts.

A swiftly told, smartly acted yarn, and it even has an idea or two on its mind.

What's the point of the picture, except to allow Kutcher fans occasional peeks at acting talent he usually keeps hidden?

Entertaining documentary about stuntwomen who do risky business for a living.

Spellbinding.

Furtado's comic thriller is a telling commentary on modern avarice in Brazil and elsewhere, which touches on everything from "The Simpsons" to "Rear Window" along the way. Too bad it runs out of ideas before the overlong story is over.

Very inventive, but stay away if you can't stomach over-the-top violence.

This remake stays close to the eponymous 1979 horror movie it's based on, except for being precisely 10,000 times scarier.

House of D, arrives in theaters this week, after debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival last year. I'm sorry to report it's the opposite of impressive.

There's heavy influence from the "Brave New World" brand of dystopian fantasy, but engaging performances and a stylized visual approach lend it originality.

Like all this adventurous filmmaker's work, it's truly one of a kind.

The best is "Equilibrium" by Soderbergh, about a man being analyzed by a distracted shrink.

As quietly dazzling as a small, very precious stone.

It's not a masterpiece, but its story of Civil War enemies banding together for battle against Indian warriors and French soldiers packs an occasional wallop.

Stranger than fiction, indeed.

If it weren't so smartly filmed and acted, this might add up to an over-the-top mess. But watch how inventively Mr. Antal keeps the action moving and you'll see why his picture has won a passel of prizes.

While Jaoui's film is interesting to watch, it dawdles enough to lose its storytelling grip.

This leisurely, transfixing movie is much more interested in nostalgic atmosphere than "educational" facts.

Sadly it's been botched. Guess Who serves up such flat dialogue and stilted situations that it's hard to sit through.

Smart and engrossing, if too heavy on the symbolism at times.

Alas, the movie isn't nearly as amusing as its premise, but it's refreshingly different from most run-of-the-mill teenage fare.

An entertaining look at a genuinely offbeat subject.

This wry comedy drama has excellent acting and surprises galore.

As mysterious as it is sinister.

Full of fascinating eye-witness accounts.

The real subject, though, is how globalization fosters a homogeneous, "same-old-stuff" conformity that molds almost everything on the planet into an ever-shrinking number of shapes, sizes, and varieties.

It's great to see so many smart girls in a Hollywood movie!

Watts is wonderful, and the story's forsaken-child theme still has plenty of horrific power.

This is closer to an Allen comeback than anything else he's made recently. Maybe he'll achieve it with his next movie, "Match Point," due this year.

The pacing soon grows dull and the frequent narration is a nonstop string of clichés, platitudes, and truisms that should have been flung out the cutting-room window.

Visually stunning animation.

Smart and surprising.

Dark, eccentric, silly.

The action is dynamically filmed and Willis is at his best. Suspense is soon hijacked by outright gore and grisliness, though.

The visuals are spectacular at times, but the screenplay is trite, intermittently vulgar, and just not funny.

What's lacking in The Upside of Anger is a steady sense that we're watching real people cope with real, jolting emotions.

You never know what to expect from Boyle, and that goes triple in this offbeat comedy drama. It's a movie about family that family viewers will find good, quirky fun.

Boorman treats this moving, important subject with restraint, tact, and candid views of horrors suffered by the nation.

Lots of lively tunes and spirited acting.