I find nearly every film about mentally challenged characters excruciating to watch...None of these movies ever come close to accurately depicting what it’s like to live with mental challenges.

The final act is all but guaranteed to astonish and satisfy. See this movie.

By the time the film is over it is not so much a "who-done-it?" but a "why-did-we-sit-through-this?"

While Cabin Fever takes its horror very seriously, it still shows that it has a sense of humor.

A consuming and stimulating work and a theoretical thriller, it is a film which could only be created by a remarkably skillful filmmaker.

What remains undeniable is Englert’s directorial chops. Bad Behaviour is exactly the story she wanted to tell. She couldn’t care less if you hate it or love it, refusing to pander to anyone’s expectations. Good for her. That sort of bad behavior is what makes her stand out as a filmmaker.

Amy Adams delivers the knockout punch that will leave you floored by just how close it hits to home.

It is an entertaining bit of fluff, with a few engaging performances and enough visual panache to keep audiences diverted and amused.

Watchmen is indeed gorgeous, with Gibbons' original work reproduced and – in some cases – improved upon by detailed F/X, but even at a healthy two hours and 41 minutes the story feels truncated. Even abrupt.

Deadpool & Wolverine is an absolute blast, mixing savage humor, intense action, and heartfelt moments. Let’s hope this isn’t the end of the line for this dynamic duo – we need more adventures in this brilliantly chaotic universe!

The direction is lackluster, the child actors – with the exception of Eisenberg – are pretty dismal, and the whole thing is about 15 minutes too long.

Leatherheads is as trifling as Clooney’s second movie (“Good Night and Good Luck”) was significant, but that’s okay. It succeeds where so many other romantic comedies fail because of a superior script and because everyone involved has the good sense not to take themselves too seriously.

In the end, the whole shebang comes off like a bunch of snotty, rich white kids screwing each other and screwing each other over.

If only there had been more Salma Hayek.

1BR has a lot to say about what a person is willing to sacrifice to be happy and if said sacrifice is worth it. It does so effectively and intensely, with a smart script, a few plotholes aside, and excellent directing. The acting across the board is terrific, and the culmination of Sarah’s tumultuous journey during the berserk ending is well worth taking.

There is energy to this film that is somewhat different from Nunez's others. Along with a terrific cast, Nunez keeps the action driving forward: dangerous, sexy, and conflicted.

Disco is about how toxicity seeps into everything from masculinity to religion to parenting and, yes, even dancing. It’s as beautiful and heartbreaking as watching a dancer pirouette into an abyss.

Ultimately, I walked away wishing the story would leap out of the good category into greatness. But grab your young kids, lower expectations a bit, and you’ll have a good time with the animated antics.

Valkyrie just misses out on being a great film (it’s no Black Book), but it easily merits mention as a good one.

If being dull is the cardinal sin of the movies, as Capra supposedly said, then Sorrentino is a saint. There’s not a dull moment in Loro, whether it’s the hypersexual, reality-bending party scenes or the quiet backroom conversations where the truth comes at the characters so unexpectedly, they don’t have time to prepare their usual defenses. All of it is visceral pleasure at an eye-bleeding volume.

A mediocre film that presents the troubled poet Sylvia Plath as a jealous, possessive and irritating woman. It is hard to recall another biopic which is so unflattering to its subject.

Animale is the new state-of-the-art for high-end horror. It will have genre fans and art house aficionados weeping black tears of joy worldwide.

Formulaic and creaky as a Harrison Ford action sequence, but sufficiently gussied up with good actors and a decent director so that you don’t entirely mind.

Every single performance is the result of a cast that has gone to the far reaches of acting ability and even exceeded them.

If there is one film which makes the most out of life, this is it.

The kind of film in which you pretty much know that everything is going to turn out all right in the end. That doesn't mean, however, that one won't enjoy watching this warm and fuzzy exercise in escapism in the process.

The director’s new masterpiece is a summation of nearly everything he has learned as a filmmaker, and about black culture, but he doesn’t feel the need to beat the audience over the head for each lesson he’s trying to impart.

While I personally love this movie, I’m not sure how well received a film about a frustrated filmmaker seeking creative solutions in his personal life and work life is going to be to the average moviegoer.

It spends little time on exposition, instead quickly getting into the thrust of the movie. For a film like this, it’s advantageous, grabbing the audience almost immediately after the opening credits.

The picture ranks with the brothers' best mid level output-not as sublime as "Fargo" or "Barton Fink" but infinitely more satisfying than "The Big Lebowski" or "Intolerable Cruelty".

Wolfgang Petersen's popcorn epic doesn't fail exactly. It just takes on too much. Modern man is at something of a disadvantage-even aided by his trusty muse, the computer-when presuming to bring the stuff of gods, myths and timeless sacred texts to the big screen.

Director Daniel Barnz produces an enjoyable film that reminds us that imagination is a precious commodity which adults need to nurture by allowing kids to jump.

Fast X is an entertainer. You need to leave the brains out and have fun.

A Sloth Story delivers a message with warmth, charm, and just enough energy for its younger audiences. The film’s heart is in the right place, balancing a gentle cultural exploration with the universal challenge of growing up and finding one’s own way.

I found myself in a tug-of-war between enjoying Bottle Shock as entertaining fluff, and thinking that there might be a more serious, gritty, complicated story lurking behind the grab-ass soap opera.

I got my first date because of this movie so you won't see me giving it any less than three stars.

Beyond The Night is a solid film with a solid story, good acting, and beautifully shot.

Overall, the film is lost and never found. In her first shot as director, Hunt seems direction-less.

Writer/director Schwab has crafted a piece that is beautiful, austere, and terrifying.

There are glimpses of a real actor struggling to get out of Pacino, although they are rare. It’s as if Pacino is dying to act, but he’s either too old or director Roger Donaldson just isn’t allowing him to do it.

It’s an exciting movie filled with plenty of action, adventure, beautiful cinematography and best of all, terrific performances.

My biggest frustration with Summerland is three major plotlines mixed like a tossed salad. Each plot is interesting to watch as well as engaging, but transitions from one to the next can clash with the good feelings generated by the previous.

The 3D visuals are an enormous part of MVA's experience and they also help to cover up the lackluster “comedy.”

W. is the kind of film that demands discussion and only then can we start to decipher what Stone's intentions are towards our President.

Jaglom has the good sense to cast the legendary Lee Grant in an extraordinary role.

The film vacillates so wildly, it spins out of control. As for the love story sub-plot – the less said about the poor, vacuous hole of a character that is Marie, the better.

Fluff. The cinematic equivalent of too much cotton candy Tetsuya Nanashima's Kamikaze Girls is a hyperkinetic fun house ride that is about forty five minutes too long.

The movie's front-loaded with puerile, junior high humor (and, admittedly, several laugh out loud moments), which is fine, but all this still followed by an increasingly awkward and clichéd third act.

Q: When is a vampire not a vampire? A: When it goes out in daylight, sees itself in a mirror, doesn’t drink human blood, and still manages to suck.

Immerse yourself in two fantastic performers, a polished narrative (by Menno Meyjes) and a “could have happened” scenario. It plays all too real if you ask me.

My conception of “punk” must differ from the creators of Tamala 2010. The lead character is feisty enough (she says “f---” a lot), and even skateboards, but she’s owned lock, stock, and oversized eyeballs by the Big Evil Corporation.

The actual performances during the film range from excellent to somewhat amateurish, but this amateurism is easily absorbed by the sheer power of the imagery on display.

Most appealing is the film’s mixture of California post-War history, cults and a tinge of science fiction — an intriguing combination of elements that make it a winner.

The Beach Bum is not a terrible movie. The directing is competent, the score is excellent, and the cast is game and hilarious. However, considering who was at the helm, it is not focused enough and winds up with nothing to say.

Rich with compelling, often heartbreaking stories.

In Monuments, the comedy outweighs the drama, for better and worse. For better because Sullivan is an engaging comedic presence, at once gawky, twitterpated, and restless. For worse, because the ending does not have nearly as much emotional effect as it probably should.

Beautifully produced but emotionally vacant drama.

It may not be great but you're guaranteed to feel great walking out the theater door.

Olympic Dreams offers a little love in a fantastic location.

A lyrical poem to the lost places in our past and our heritage.

Despite the many things it does right, atmosphere and casting, mostly, it doesn’t give you any reason to remember it.

Even if this doesn’t wind up being your favorite version of the film, it’s worth seeing Fennell’s updated take.

It’s all about the action. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare may be forgettable in the long run of Guy Ritchie movies, but it’s fun.

Fans of A Christmas Story, and those simply in the mood for a holiday flick, will enjoy A Christmas Story Christmas for the light, nicely touching tale that it is in its own right, without the pressure of having to be as perfect as something as legendary as the leg lamp.

Hathaway's exuberance and dramatic range are fitting for this portrayal of the celebrated literary figure.

A great film because of it's realism and the ability to show viewers a world that exists even today, but not everyone knows about.

None of the characters feel real, necessarily, but they’re all immensely watchable in their own right.

A little bit of screwball comedy and a lot of film noir, add a dash of suspense-drama, and half a dozen card tricks too, then you have the recipe for making The Brothers Bloom.

It is great to see a boxing movie that portrays both boxing and Jackson in different lights.

Beast Beast captures the high school experience like lightning in a bottle.

The actors do what they can, but even the talent assembled here can’t help getting swallowed up in the Shyamalan vortex of nonsense.

The Garden Left Behind is an amazing drama filled to the brim with realistic and heavy performances that will absolutely leave a lasting impression and subject matter that should more commonly be explored and celebrated. This film is special, and it deserves mass audience attention.

This is the kind of film you can watch over and over again on several levels, especially as you mine the script for knowing jokes about the theatre (it's packed with them).

A beautifully crafted documentary.

Two things come to mind as you watch the first act of Street Kings, the first is how fresh and exciting the movie would’ve been if it was released in 1984, the second is the question, “James Ellroy wrote that?”

What Richard Curtis brilliantly does with this well-worn storyline is bring in elements to make it feel fresh.

This is innocuous, pop entertainment and, taken on those grounds, it does the job just fine.

Much like the rides at the carnival, Whistle delivers heady highs and some disconcerting lows, sometimes within the same scene. It’s a film with flashes of imagination and nostalgia that suggest something brighter lurking beneath the surface. Much like the whistle itself, it delivers on what it promises, and the noise it makes is hard to ignore.

There were many aspects from a filmmaking and storytelling process that I found admirable, but I just can’t see myself recommending it. I know all too well that my criticisms have everything to do with the very core of J.M. Barrie’s original story and Pan mythology itself.

It’s a great story. I’ve read books on the subject and have found it fascinating. But even reading Mandela and Desmond Tutu will not prepare you for the barrage of information Endgame throws at you.

The filmmaker plays with our assumptions around justice and race. While A Lot of Nothing uses elements ripped from the headlines, in this context, what you expect to come from it will say more about you than it does the script. The revelation of the final act changes everything that has gone before. Hang onto the edge of your seat for a wickedly entertaining ride.

Close To You is ultra-real, ultra-important, ultra-fascinating, and ultra-recommended.

An unusual tale about an often over-glorified era from our past, The Scoundrel's Wife exposes wartime America's sordid small town underbelly in a captivating, even entertaining manner.

The narrative that unfolds in the wake of Spence's journey recalls "Paris" but walks too heavy for a character study to gel.

As he proved with "The Bourne Identity," director Doug Liman can devise an enjoyable little action movie.

This is a film that shouldn’t work. It should collapse under its own weight, but somehow, in the end, it all comes together after a fashion, and that’s the magic of Coppola.

Aquaman is worth seeing if only for its original visuals and the grand vision from director James Wan. As a whole, it is a bit of a mess and ends up being an exhausting experience that would’ve benefited from some judicious editing.

In the end, Jack, Kyle and director Liam Lynch ("Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic") have created more than just a low-brow comedy, they've created a comedic saga, a film more rock show than movie.

Its premise may not be particularly original. But with it, Knuckleball could still have made for an effective movie, a horror film that’d also have doubled as a meditation on family. In actuality, however, Knuckleball ends up falling into a subcategory of horror films that I like to call “music-dependent.” Take away Michelle Osis and David Arcus’ scary-sounding score, in other words, and the film’s myriad flaws become woefully apparent.

Ultimately, when Love Actually pulls out all the stops, which it does at least three times during the final smorgasbord of climaxes, it can be well nigh irresistible.

Good old-fashioned slashers never get old for horror fans as long as they’re done right, and Clown in the Cornfield is like a fresh splatter to the head, with a smile.

A beautifully told, deeply personal story ... for people who can dig the mumblecore.

Ultimately, the story is the film’s star, and director Andrew Muschietti knows how to tell a comic book story. As much as there is excessive fan-baiting and nostalgia, it earned it at the end by holding most of it off until the end. I’m sold.

Over all, the short stories never gel together or create a unified whole.

This tired old pile of garbage will hopefully be chased out of town soon.

A pleasant enough little film. Jerry isn’t what one would call a sympathetic figure, but you find yourself cheering for him anyway.

The shared experiences of the Bonds around the world and the extraordinary consequences of having that name are interesting. For budding documentarians, this is an example of a film birthed from a simple “I wonder…” statement. Through research and diligence, filmmaker Matthew Bauer managed to string together an intriguing and engaging film.

The resulting product is so disjointed it's hard to tell if Russell dumbed down the film in the hope of garnering a larger audience, or if I Heart Huckabees simply isn't as smart as it likes to think it is.