Aside from Hank’s brilliant performance as Fred Rogers, I also liked the style of storytelling. The movie from start to finish feels like an actual Mr. Rogers episode with its simple three-man jazz piano score and its slow, deliberate pace. The overall story is good, sweet, but predictable.

Farhadi fails to provide startles and thrills, relying solely on the dramatic side of things to impress. But even that factor is disastrous as he tiresomely attempts to suggest connections between the past and the present.

Proyas creates a futurescape that's snazzy in a “Blade Runner” lite sort of way and one or two of the film's effects are eye poppers.

Firewall’s predictable second half betrays the film's early promise.

A style-rich, substance-weak B-level gangster movie which is noteworthy for two unusual reasons: it is one of the very few films from Thailand to gain international release and it is the perhaps the only film of its genre to feature a love story between a hit man and a pharmacist.

Watching these old pros elbow their way into the spotlight is the film’s finest surprise, but watching Plowright out-act them all is the ultimate joy.

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 has a television movie quality to it as if it’s a dramatization of a newspaper article, rather than something cinematic.

Although the film is handsomely filmed and features a surprisingly frank view of the political machinations within the upper ranks of Tibetan Buddhism – even the Dalai Lama comes across as a bit of a wheeler-dealer – Unmistaken Child is more than a little disappointing.

It’s not a great film, and it does rely a bit too much on the “evil bank” motif, but it might be worth a Saturday afternoon with the kids.

The Lighthouse doesn’t shed anything new on the pressure cooker, psychological drama, but it is a pleasure to see Crow’s talents continuing to evolve from Demon Bridge to now.

The major weakness in Jumper is the piling on of action and narrative in the last ten to twelve minutes. It's as though the editor was rushing to meet a deadline and did the best he could with too much footage.

Part of the problem with Moonage Daydream is that it is trying too hard.

Detective Chinatown 1900 tries to be a high-energy action comedy but gets tangled in a web of subplots, leaving little room for the buddy-cop fun it teases.

Artemis Fowl is not a horrible film, but it had the potential to succeed, yet falls flat in the end.

Works best when it sticks to some of the tenets of successful horror; namely, gore and surprise.

A glacially-paced disease-of-the-week movie blown up to big screen size.

It's noisy, nonsensical, and will fade from your consciousness even before you make it out of the theater lobby, but it's entertaining enough, and Tamahori throws us a few curve balls to keep things interesting.

What's so disappointing is that the film had so much potential as a concept. The story slowly degenerates into a plodding, sappy bore.

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

Beautiful and atmospheric but essentially empty and pointless, Berlin Alexanderplatz hits you with the bluntness of a sledgehammer.

Hoffman's electric performance carries the film beyond its banal pretext and Dennis Leary and Woody Harrelson are a scream in cameos.

It’s a laughably bad, generic, and bloodless PG-13 waste of two hours, and that’s everything I fantasized it wouldn’t end up being.

A creepy, if disjointed exploration of the nature of evil. But compared to its predecessor, it's also a bit of a disappointment.

Basically more of the same, and depending on who you are, that's either an encouraging statement or a warning.

Never quite clicks, primarily because the central male characters are badly miscast.

For a comedy, it isn't that funny. For a thriller, it isn't that thrilling. In short, it would have been a much better movie if focused on either/or.

There are scenes of utter brilliance and honesty, then clunky scenes of melodrama the next.

Too much of Alex & Emma is an overt attempt to recreate the lightning in a bottle Reiner achieved with “When Harry Met Sally.”

American Carnage has its eye on the right target; it just misses the bull’s eye.

Unfortunately, the outcome here is so over-the-top that it’s going to wind up alienating most everyone that sees it.

At the risk of being called an anti-Semite, I would like to propose a moratorium on Holocaust movies -- While it would be crass to discount the importance of the subject, at the same time one has to admit there is some degree of excess going on here.

Boorman’s movies are usually about the repercussions of violence (Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, etc.) but he recreates Cahill as something of a victim of circumstance. Cahill should have been played by Lee Marvin, not by some fat teddy bear of a man like Brendan Gleeson. It’s too bad Marvin isn’t still around, to at least knock some sense into his old friend, Boorman.

It’s a shame that this film’s star-studded cast wasn’t able to save the mediocre storyline.

Lahti's feature directorial debut plays like a watered-down variation ("Ghost World") -- that is, until the final third, when the film not only deviates but flat out derails.

Post-personality switch, the picture does come to life somewhat but proves a one trick pony.

Details like period fashion and album covers are handled flawlessly. It's the big stuff that falls short of the standard set by this troupe. A Mighty Wind is good for an occasional laugh but you're not likely to be blown away.

Tessa Thompson answering phone calls is not enough to justify a feature-length film. A short film absolutely would have knocked this out of the park, but there is just nothing holding your attention here.

Like all of his previous films, it's visually arresting - if any recent film embodies the concept of cinema as poetry, this it it - but unlike "Pi" or "Requiem for a Dream," these aren't characters we're ever invested in.

Clumsy and meandering, Imprisoned seems unsure of whether it’s a story of personal revenge, an outcry against a corrupt regime, or a study of the Puerto Rican justice system.

Astral is a mediocre supernatural thriller at best.

The concept is intriguing and the car chases are pure adrenaline.

A lopsided effort which is part-thriller, part-social commentary, and totally forgettable.

There are occasional moments of inspiration, stylistically and thematically, where the movie hints at its true potential. But most of the time, the movie is tripping over its desire to be noticed.

Inherit The Viper had the potential to be an exciting thriller with dramatic family elements. Instead, its characters fall flat as if the actors were not allowed or unwilling to flesh out their characters more.

Humorous yet subtle characters aid Malkovich in creating a film that is engaging and entertaining, while at the same time lumbering during long stretches.

The Invisible Raptor will have its fanbase, but it takes a little too long to get to the Raptor hunt.

It is always unclear what the film is really about.

When the filmmakers focus on the artists who work there, it is moving and engaging. Despite how fun it is to see your favorite musicians in everyday life, there is not much they say that is interesting.

Casting and premise are Haunted Mansion‘s greatest strengths, though many of the best ensemble moments or narrative choices are fleeting.

It makes no sense, but then again neither does much of anything in The Country Bears.

Too much of the time, Jackson is a complete blank, like he's bored with his own story.

Less Bond than simply boring, a tedious and overdirected race-against-time drama with a few espionage elements thrown in.

When all is said and done and you get the full explanation of what meant what and who did what to whom, it's not fulfilling at all. It's a magic trick that's all showmanship and craft, but lacking true whimsy, ultimately failing the audience.

The sexually charged undercurrent of Mertoland promises something dark, disturbing or at least provocative, but as the characters reach their defining moments, it's the plot that yields to the ordinary.

Right out of the gate, we realize that bringing the series to the big screen makes the flaws that much more obvious. The voices are too thin, the music and lyrics too simplistic, and the production values are – frankly – too "televisual."

While it’s abundantly clear that Farr and his star Dreya Weber, who produced the movie and is an actual aerialist, know that physics-defying world inside-out, they could use a lesson or two in defying a predictable, sentimental story arc.

Evening”has so much going for it. A great cast, amazing visuals, and solid directing throughout. So why did I leave the film saying aloud to the parking lot, "I didn't like it."

Gelfer may have missed the mark with this one, but she displays enough technical skill and empathy for her characters to deserve another shot.

Aspires to a backwoods North Carolina Woody Allen quality that it often comes close to achieving. But sadly it’s just never quite funny, touching or insightful enough.

The "star-studded" cast seems to have been cast according to their Premiere power ranking and/or desperation for exposure.

The film pursues its sensitive material with the appropriate degree of care, but the direction by M. Night Shyamalan turns potentially provocative moments into dull eddies of melodrama. Would have made a perfect “After School Special,” however, it barely makes it across the finish line as a feature film.

Lee makes a great looking film, though the soap box message about greed becomes exhausted and overplayed early on.

Coolio videographer Antoine Fuqua frames Yun-Fat in slick style and his choreography of the slo-mo shoot-outs is worthy of comparison to those of the film's executive producer, John Woo.

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.

As much as I find Eckhart and Dobrev to be a fun duo surprisingly well-suited for a movie like this, Harlin’s action opus is just begging for a rewrite and a jolt of originality.

Strip out the thriller moments and you have an interesting film, instead, we’re left with a mediocre thriller that phones in the final act.

You’ll chuckle at a few moments.... You’re more than likely to wince at many more, as each remotely-genuine moment is rapidly punctuated with a forced musical cue or cheesy sentiment.

A curious little film. On the surface, it's a story about one man's mission to create an Orthodox monastery in Denmark, and along the way it manages to say something about everyone's desire to be remembered after they pass away.

Simply, the movie is a tale of extremes resulting in a tepid middleground.

There are a lot of good messages in The Second Chance about how Christianity is a mix of love, both gentle and tough. Some of those, unfortunately, are lost in the uneven performances.

Being that I’m a fan of the 60s era and war films, I truly wanted to like this film. I feel like there were many missed opportunities for a film with this particular subject matter.

If characters with more than one dimension, a plausible story and some sort of viewpoint are moviegoing musts, you may leave 2012 feeling a tad shortchanged.

It’s unfortunate that Knocking is so muddled as Milocco is thoroughly engaging. Plus, Kempff demonstrates a visual strength and confidence that will serve her well when she gets ahold of a script that is a bit more grounded than the one here.

This feels like a high-budget television drama. Let’s face it, Jackman, Dern, and Kirby can elevate pedestrian dialogue, but they deserve higher quality work for their talent.

It wasn't as good as the films it cites, but at least it didn't bore me.

Okay, this isn’t a great film. Maybe it’s not even a good film. But for 1954, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” filled the bill with enough mindless silliness to keep people amused for two hours. Even today, it’s good for a cynical laugh.

The situation is suspenseful and unique enough to hold our attention for a time.

While it’s solidly produced from a technical standpoint, and the lead does her best to sell the most outrageous scenarios, the end result feels undercooked.

The action-comedy could have easily been a delightful romp thanks to its A-list cast and well-written script, but poor editing causes Bandits to be just another hum-ho movie.

Something of a letdown. Previous statements aside, I understand Warner Bros. has to set the table for "Half-Blood Prince" and "Deathly Hallows," but too much of Phoenix is filler. And with only two movies left, we better get to the main course in short order.

It never attains the balance between gloomy allegory and Disney-like adventure, the former element too challenging for the wee ones, and the latter too infantile for their parents.

Unfortunately, Black Sheep takes so long to get going and misses so many easy opportunities for classic comedy it has to be regarded as a noble failure.

What starts out as a fairly conventional and effective stalker drama with a cyber-twist, soon gets too cute with its dreams within dreams set pieces and shifting realities. It’s kinda nifty at first, but Kon just keeps piling it on until you just roll your eyes, throw up your hands, and scream, “Enough!”

Overall, Norton's effect and Watts' able portrayal are not enough to move the misogyny of the narrative.

Less discerning kids may enjoy Robin and the Hoods… when they’re not deep into their PlayStations and Switches.

In a feature filled to the brink with needles being inserted into – ahem – a variety of teenage orifices, an injection of humor would have certainly been welcome.

Were it not for the presence of higher-level acting talent, A Rumor of Angels would have been a banal TV movie.

As a bitter commentary on family, truth, trust, and above all, the religion, The Lodge is a serviceable mood piece that ends up leaving you feeling cold, and not in a good way.

It's impressive enough to look at, and the voice talent – especially Black and Hoffman - doesn't disappoint, but all the CGI wankery and high-end talent only barely allows Kung Fu Panda to rise above cliché.

Though there's nothing especially terrible about Stateside, there's nothing terribly special about it either.

A little boring and extremely long for what it is, all that Azumi really has going for it are several eye-popping battle sequences, including the climax which is a totally delicious celebration of graphic violence, and some nice camera work.

If you're looking for Rock's trademark smart-ass wit, you'll want to look somewhere else. Likewise when it comes to a movie with something fresh to say about the balancing act that is wedded bliss.

Its ambition cannot be faulted, but I’ll Find You gets lost in its own nostalgia, ultimately drowning in mush.

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.

This movie stunk so much you’d think that there were barking spiders in the theater.

Comes up short in many ways, but none more so than its failure to fulfill Penn's and Zaillian's desire to provide the catalyst for political sea change.

A mild but diverting farce about misperceptions involving gays and goombas.