Lively acting and stylish directing make this an engaging comedy-drama, although its attitude toward guns and violence is disconcertingly romantic.

This capably made HBO documentary takes an understated and compassionate look at a subject that is often sensationalized in other contexts.

Leconte reconfirms his growing importance to French cinema with this precisely crafted, marvelously acted drama, which makes a powerful statement on capital punishment.

If a mildly magical story is what you're after, it'll be worth the price of admission. Otherwise save your milk money for something more substantial.

The sweetest thing about Sweet November (a remake of the 1968 movie) is the on-screen magic between Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves. But that's pretty much where the magic ends.

Why does affection sometimes grow between people who seem to have little or nothing in common? That's the tantalizing question running through this capably acted comedy-drama

This is only Ustaoglu's second film, but smart performances and expressive camera work mark her as a talent to watch in the future.

Unusual and imaginative drama.

Much of the action is as ponderous as it is predictable. Lector fans will get their fill, but be warned that the menu contains at least two scenes with over-the-top excesses that Hannibal himself might not want to swallow.

The story gains most of its dramatic impact from superbly understated acting and Christopher Doyle's atmospheric camera work.

This offbeat drama has more atmosphere than logic, but a few sequences are strikingly well acted and filmed.

It's rare for an Egyptian movie to look so closely and unflinchingly at class conflict and other forms of social disarray, but lively acting keeps the story engaging even when it wanders and meanders.

The acting is amiable but the story isn't much deeper than the callow main characters.

The slasher-movie genre may never die, but can't its perpetrators think up variations more clever than this by-the-numbers rehash?

This romantic comedy is so awfully misjudged and ineptly executed in every department that, while it isn't quite a contender for the "so bad it's good" category, this critic was nonetheless dabbing tears of laughter from his eyes.

Finkiel's filmmaking is so careful and cautious that it becomes plodding at times. The theme is powerful, though, and the movie's sincerity overrides its heavy-handed tendencies.

An intense, claustrophobic drama of love and infidelity.

Frankly, it's excruciating to watch.

The acting is excellent and Penn reconfirms his remarkable talent for muted, understated filmmaking that focuses on character and dialogue rather than spectacle and sensationalism.

All emerge as vivid historical figures in this lucid account.

If the film is too similar to Ritchie's first movie, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" with its multiple story lines, complex plotting, and double-crossing antics, it's at least colorfully told with dialogue that shines with the inventive slang of Ritchie's screenplay.

The atmosphere is more compelling than the plot, but the story does pack a surprise or two.

Liu is dazzling as the heroine, and the movie as a whole strikes a lovely balance between comedy and compassion.

Seems more clever than heartfelt, and whether you enjoy it may depend on how much you like Robert Altman's eccentric western "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," which it uncannily resembles.

This astoundingly beautiful Korean production is poignant, original, and engrossing.

Malkovich is wryly amusing as German director F.W. Murnau, and Dafoe steals the show as a vampire playing an actor playing a vampire.

The picture's thoughtfulness and ambition make it unusually suspenseful, gripping, and disturbing.

Striking photography, period detail, screen-filling crowd scenes, and veteran composer Morricone's score make this one worth seeing, but the sheer nastiness of the town's people drags it down.

The subject is so gripping that you almost forgive the filmmakers for skewing their material in order to keep Costner's pretty face at the center of everything that happens.

Depardieu gives the story a firm center of gravity, aided by Joffé's eye for colorful settings and period detail.

Politics and humanism find an engrossing balance in this ambitious drama based on the life of Reinaldo Arenas, a gay Cuban poet who was persecuted by the homophobic Castro regime.

Wharton's old-school compassion and Davies's taste for artfully wrought melodrama make an unusual but ultimately successful combination.

Hanks's extraordinary acting keeps the adventure involving even though the beginning is predictable, the middle is uneven, and the finale slips into Zemeckis's patented brand of "Forrest Gump" fuzziness.

For all its ambitions, though, the Coens' odyssey is a scattershot affair with too many tricks and twists for its own good.

The action of this South Korean melodrama is fast and furious, but its emotions and ideas don't manage to keep up.

Mamet's screenplay is full of savvy satire and the cast couldn't be better.

The drama is likably low-key but builds little excitement, and Bowie's star billing says more about the power of his agent than the number of scenes he appears in.

The premise is more interesting than the movie, which takes several wrong turns on its way to an unconvincing conclusion.

There's too much hokum and too little suspense in the screenplay by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.

The dialogue isn't quite as sparkling and the plot twists aren't quite as snappy as you want them to be. And the story keeps rambling on after its oomph runs wearisomely thin.

The film's touches of unconventional style interfere with its emotional effectiveness at times.

The movie is enriched by its fine acting and by its creative respect for an innovator whose influence still permeates contemporary art.

More sugary than satisfying.

The movie has moments of breathtaking suspense, at least until it lapses into cartoonish implausibility in the second half. With good acting and good dialogue it might actually have been a good picture.

A wide range of concert and media clips lend vigor and variety to the documentary.

The film may be too talky for action-minded viewers and too fantastic for more serious spectators, but it brings appealing twists - including a feminist sensibility - to the venerable martial-arts genre.

The movie's seven scenes were filmed in real time (as opposed to condensed editing-room time) over the course of a year, giving the drama an extra touch of realism and humanity.

Dieckmann's debut film is skillfully acted, and builds a sense of true menace.

The acting is passionate, but the film would be more effective if it presented a more thoroughgoing lesson in the raging horrors that swept through European culture during the era of the French Revolution.

The story grows sillier as it goes along, culminating in a final switcheroo that's about as deep as the comic-book ideas that inspired the plot.

The acting is solid, but Tony Pierce-Roberts's unimaginative camera work falls short of his highest standard.

Carrey is excellent, making the most of his comic gifts even in a cumbersome Grinch outfit, and the eye-spinning color scheme is dazzling to behold.

The movie is well acted, deeply moving, and unlike some love stories, it doesn't feel forced or contrived.

Good acting and understated filmmaking turn off-putting material into a mildly engrossing drama, if not a particularly compelling one.

The fine cast helps an old-fashioned screenplay seem reasonably fresh most of the time.

This sexually explicit South Korean drama aims more to jolt than to illuminate, but it illustrates an aspect of Asian cinema that globally minded moviegoers should know about as films from that region take on more international prominence.

A pungent pleasure from start to finish.

Stoner jokes, awful gags, and just stupid stuff equate to one bad movie.

This tragicomic tale doesn't have the supercharged brilliance of "Run Lola Run," which it occasionally resembles, but it's certainly fast-moving and action fans should enjoy it.

The story is likable if not memorable, and the Chinese settings lend the basically ordinary plot a touch of novelty.

Wittily written and deliciously acted, Lonergan's debut film is a clear cut above the average.

Crash-lands as disastrously as the heroes and never quite recovers its wits.

Gooding and De Niro bring their characters to vivid life despite the unsubtle screenplay and hyperactive music score.

This offbeat Chinese production is at once an innovative art film, a traditional suspense yarn, and a moody voyage through Shanghai's gritty back roads.

The trouble lies in its stereotypical style, its schmaltzy emotionalism.

Glover and Bassett play the title characters with great energy, and Berry has invested the movie with the moral conscience that underpinned his entire career.

Both a blood-churning war movie and a mind-stirring antiwar movie, focusing not on guts and glory but on the stark realities of real battlefield experience.

Too bad the action scenes rarely rise above standard kung-fu comedy, diluting the film's otherwise considerable entertainment value.

Green tells the tale through leisurely, eye-catching shots that allow the young cast members to imbue their characters with striking credibility and intensity.

Baye gives a stunning performance in the central role, backed by a first-rate supporting cast.

Splendid acting, a screenplay as likable as it is unpredictable, and an undercurrent of deep human generosity make this a particularly engaging comic-dramatic experience.

A few mildly amusing gags don't outweigh the trite situations and mean-spirited attitude of this comedy.

The tale is simply told but stunningly photographed and superbly acted in the best tradition of modern Iranian cinema.

The satire is intermittently amusing, but Arcand adds little to the arsenal of standard mockumentary tricks, and the interesting cast doesn't get many interesting things to do.

Downright awful.

Many times more African than "Tarzan" and "The Lion King" combined, Kirikou and the Sorceress is one of the best movies so far in this very young year.

Rarely does a movie combine so much genuine human drama with such vivid exemplifications of "identity politics" and other sociocultural issues.

Quite funny and eye-catching.

The cast is just right for this mini-"Godfather" yarn, and Gray's filmmaking is generally on target even if it does tend to dawdle along the way.

The comedy isn't quite as crude as it sounds, but there's not much of value here beyond a little lively acting.

You'll enjoy this sentimental drama if you feel good intentions are their own reward, at least where movies are concerned; but it'll exasperate you if you want your entertainment to have some connection with the world we actually live in.

Some will dislike its shaggy-dog screenplay and restless camera work, and others may find its finale too postfeminist for comfort.

Buscemi's directing blends hard-hitting visual qualities with great emotional energy.

Trumpets the worthwhile message that ballet is just as manly and athletic as any other masculine activity - and maybe a touch more so, if you have to defy an uncomprehending community in order to pursue it.

Preposterous plot, bad acting, and dialogue that provokes more laughs than shivers.

The story is so calculated that it ultimately bears little relation to the real world.

De Felitta dodges the temptations of sentiment and preachiness.

Yang favors a gentle and introspective style that shows how deep and strong everyday emotions can run. A memorable treat.

The movie's most striking assets are its lyrical visual style, which forms a silky counterpoint to the plot's turbulent emotions, and Beat Takeshi's smooth and expressive performance as a senior warrior.

It's a unique blend of history and hysteria, and there's no escaping the dead-serious ideas that run beneath its flamboyant surface.

Many belly laughs.

Solid acting helps the story stay earthbound when Aronofsky's filmmaking gets addicted to its own flashy cynicism, but the picture sometimes seems as dazed and confused as the situations it wants to criticize.

Rodriguez's acting almost scores a knockout even though the movie's directing and dialogue are fairly routine.

It has a good heart, though, and makes an amiable introduction to the integration battles of the '60s and '70s.

Too many clichés and too much uneven acting dilute its impact.

The song-and-dance numbers that make this musical tragedy a celebration of life despite its awfully grim climax.

The drama has compelling moments and touches of imagination, but it relies more on sentiment than sense in conveying its messages about faith, family, and tradition.

Good acting and an effectively claustrophobic mood compensate for a story that doesn't add up to much in the long run.