It's the outstanding performance from Martin Landau that really seems to hold your interest, as well as hold the film together.

Overall, while the film is a gorgeous, nostalgic cinema experience, and there's definitely a multiple of mini-plots to unravel while you work towards the final resolution, the film comes up as a bit of a dud.

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.

Exploring universal themes of seeking familial connection and kindness, Adopting Audrey verges dangerously close to becoming as aimless as its heroine. But because of Malone’s sublime performance, it manages to stay on course. Maybe in the future Cahill could benefit from adopting a different approach.

Fortunately, the core cast is phenomenal, especially leads DiCaprio and Lawrence, who are both luminous and effortless. Combine that with the fantastic editing and the jaw-dropping ending, and one gets a flawed but entirely worthwhile viewing experience.

The story is tight and engaging, the acting first-rate, the themes solid and presented without being sentimental or preachy. But let's hope his next film ("Ash Wednesday") has something new to say.

It seems likely that how much you enjoy Nicotina will be tied to how much you enjoyed the Guy Ritchie pictures it strongly resembles. Those who thought “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” were the cats p.j.'s will likely enjoy Nicotina.

There is humor, drama, and sexual indiscretion, with entertaining and sometimes insightful moments, but the themes are so narratively ill-defined that it never gels.

Even though the screenplay does not explore every character’s backstory enough to work fully, the film is still an engaging coming-of-age story with an utterly brilliant ending.

Plays like a 108 minute episode of Hawaii 5-0, minus the exotic locale.

It’s not for the easily offended or for the squeamish. Porno finds a way to make the disgusting laughable, and I feel that it’s meant to be a fun and slightly cheesy film.

Intermittently amusing.

Onlookers is a novel exercise in audio and visual presentation. Natural light, loads of wild sound, and the environment of Laos are presented plainly with zero artifices or embellishments. If you’re looking for a new kind of travel film, this is for you.

This is an inspiring and emotional watch with one’s mom, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Just what it says -- good. Not great, but not really bad, either.

The benchmark for any horror movie, of course, is how well it frightens you, and The Grudge is pretty satisfactory in that regard.

It is occasionally a first-rate action spectacle, but it is only the spectacle that merits recommendation.

As with all dramatized stories of real lives, artistic license hammers messy reality into a watchable film. Dramas are not documentaries. The essential emotions of Freddie’s life and the history of the band are here. There’s nothing unexpected in the structure of the movie. It’s a visit with some old mates you’ve not seen in a long time.

The film’s repetitive themes and lack of emotional payoff leave it feeling more like a beautifully acted therapy session than a fully satisfying story.

Starts off promisingly, but gets bogged down when it abandons humor for gravity.

Overall, the film is alternately sweet and sad, amusing and moving.

An Italian-British-French-Spanish-Romanian co-production. A better argument against multinational cooperation cannot be imagined.

If only von Trier could work beyond the poster art concept. Antichrist stubbornly fails as a gothic nightmare and meanders as a misanthropic two-character drama.

Into the Darkness serves as a keen portrait of a deeply divided country, unsure of where its allegiance lies. Heavy-handed and slow-moving at times, further bogged down by extended speeches about the future of Denmark’s economy/industry, this behemoth nevertheless impresses, simply due to the sophistication of it all.

It’s more than adequate as an old school action movie slightly updated for modern audiences.

For a film about grief, it’s a pleasurable viewing experience. One feels like they are on a lazy river when watching it. Daniela Forever carries the spirit of fantasy-romance films of the past, such as Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death. For those dreaming of escape, this film is for you!

The writer-director’s perverse, continuous, and purposeful avoidance of any semblance of genuine emotion or coherence results in an aggressively unpleasant experience.

The thing is, these chatty, pedantic, annoying characters are simply not interesting enough to follow for five minutes, let alone over two hours.