The premise is provoking and well-conceived, confidently moving things forward until the increasingly knotty rules of the film’s universe eventually come to overbear the experience a bit in the homestretch.

Alas, when Rounders lays out its cards, the results aren't as much as you'd been led to believe. But the movie's style and authenticity run a good bluff.

Go For Sisters is something of a frustration. It’s the least interesting crime caper ever, and there are fascinating characters forced to go through the motions as if any of us could possibly care.

Consistently runs the danger of substituting cool but ultra-hyper, modern special effects for boring old human sentiment.

For those seeking even a little adventurousness in their filmgoing experiences, the movie will wear thin very quickly.

Unfailingly energetic, 10 Things is like a puppy that can't stop wagging its tail, begging for attention...Even more than "Cruel Intentions," this movie plays like an awkward high-school production of a classic.

It is an ostensibly serious story about being young and struggling to wrest control over one's life from the hands of fools, yet it doesn't behave like a serious drama that wants to lead us anywhere.

Altman is just as nastily misogynistic as ever.

Hughley and Jones have an explosively comic chemistry together; her kooky, open-faced looks are a counterpoint to his whipcrack improvisations.

Because (Vilanch) is such a character, the movie ends up being a lot of fun.

No classic, but two hours well-spent nonetheless.

It has a nose for what's cool, but is completely inept at execution.

As a primer on the arcana surrounding the profession of personal injury lawyer (more familiarly known as ambulance chaser), A Civil Action is deeply, and even passionately, informative. As a drama and character study, though, it mostly misses the mark.

Watching Seven is like cracking open a safe, only to find it crawling with eels

All fleeting charm where it could have been one of the most memorable films of the decade.

Drags on far too long.

If it weren't so pushy about selling itself, The Dish might have been a very special movie.

The movie gives us episodes from her life, and although some of them are charming and all of them well-played, I occasionally found myself wondering why I should want to be interested in this person.

It is -- in mood, execution, and shameless sentimentality -- a Bette Midler movie with an Irish accent.

Mostly he's (Fraser) trapped in a sequel that's too wrapped up in a desire to top itself.

Has its clunky and wince-worthy moments, it does explore some new territory, and there are moments when it's quite fresh and moving.

Compulsively watchable and its occasional lapses into that familiar Polanskian overkill are almost charming.

I still feel pushed around by Darabont's mysticism, and his overbearing sense of grandness; a little bit of the Mile goes a long way.

A reminder of why Bullock became a movie star in the first place.

Works best as a free-flowing essay.

Although The Reluctant Fundamentalist raises some complicated questions, in the end, it doesn’t challenge that much.

The evidence Herzog serves up is impossible to dismiss.

Although the film disappoints in the final stretch (both the villain and his motive turn out to be very lame), it confidently thrills for most of its nearly two-hour length.

Prince Avalanche occupies a strange space between [Green's] broadly comedic fare and devoutly character-driven dramas, and while we’re happy to see him closer to the latter mode once more, let’s hope that he’ll be back in a bigger way the next time out.

Despite the numerous patchy moments The Brass Teapot by and large squeaks by as an enjoyable entertainment.

(Tyler's) voice is still mall American, and Onegin's rejection of her is nowhere near as puzzling or as tragic as it's supposed to be.

A good, though unremarkable, film.

The problem is that the motion picture around these individual stunts is patently a committee-made artifact.

I Origins is about on-par with “Another Earth,” but it’s still disappointing that a film so obsessed with the eye has such a fuzzy, blurred vision of what it wants to do.

Good enough in spots to make you wish it could have sustained its campier inclinations.

Jim Carrey is magnificent as Kaufman.

It's a film in which nothing is at stake, that's safe and sentimental to the core.

The storm is the reason to see the movie.

Entertaining as it often is, Outside Providence feels as if it were a collection of installments from an unusually raunchy television series.

All the Pretty Horses may end up being a good movie to watch on DVD, when all the footage is restored and we can see the subtle shadings Thornton jettisoned.

The true star of this film, funny and often breathtakingly lovely, Zellweger carries virtually every scene in which she appears -- which aren't nearly as plentiful as one might like.

For me, Trixie finds its own peculiar groove, and-buoyed by a compulsively watchable actress-folds neatly into the off-center work of a distinctive American director.

Has a soundtrack crammed with infectious music gleaned from fairly surprising sources.

The Host gets bogged down in its “who’s kissing whom now?” dynamics, and it becomes all too easy to snicker at it.

There's not a single moment when you forget it's Weaver; she always seems to be inhabiting this poor character's soul for her own purposes.

A smart and somber little film with some decent performances and a few sharp observations about function and futility, but I can't help wishing that the picture, like it's characters, had not gone quite so gentle into that good night.

Fancher seems uninterested in developing real suspense, or incapable of it, at least until the end, when there's plenty of it, but artificially imposed.

A mixed bag, all in all (casting Huey Lewis was not the best idea), but worth seeing.

Streep delivers another of her chameleon-like transformations in appearance, accent, and manner.

Remind(s) us of the power of good old-fashioned character-driven movies.

What makes the film ultimately successful, though, is the outstanding comic talents that inhabit it, especially Zahn and Macy.

Intelligent thriller--turns-- into an embarrassing gothic horror show.

The film is simplicity itself.

Livingston is especially good at capturing Peter's passive rebelliousness, which suggests the suddenly uncooperative worker who defies employer logic in Herman Melville's "Bartleby."

When it counts, this film is absolutely successful.

Worth a look, even if it doesn't quite find the internal logic it seems to be searching for.

Thoroughly artificial and overly schematic, to the point of caricature even, but often lively and witty nonetheless.

Basically a drama-in-disguise. Unfortunately, it’s a formulaic and extremely uneven one, albeit with a number of sympathetic performances.

Monuments certainly isn’t unbearable to watch, but for all its quality pedigree and good intentions, the result is a frustratingly flat film that drifts from moment to moment with a curious lack of urgency and an overbearing sense of self-importance.

Europa Report doesn’t entirely sell out to convention by the end, but the steps it takes to reach its noble conclusion reflect a lack of imagination and invention, especially for a film that initially seems to champion such qualities.

Frankly, Elysium is a bit of a liberal’s wet dream: the good guys want accessible healthcare, while the bad guys want to do away with undocumented immigrants.

Tusk is revolting, but that’s entirely the point of Kevin Smith’s admirably imaginative and utterly disgusting latest feature, a twisted fairy tale that trades on gross-out gags and visual shockers instead of actual story.

The Sapphires may be your stock triumph-over-adversity show-biz story – but then, how is it that we never get tired of seeing that story?

It pulls off the tricky feat of being both commanding and subtle, emerging with its dignity intact.

Like the back half of its namesake, Wonderstone isn’t terribly hip, edgy or new itself, just amusing enough to pass the time. While Scardino and friends do manage to end the film on an admirably nutty note, this gathering of comedic minds ultimately fails to produce any true movie magic.

A glimpse into how three different definitions of love can find themselves quietly at odds, the interactions between our three leads are always convincing if not always compelling.

Sometimes in life, simple pleasures can be rewarding, and that’s certainly the case here. Parker is not a particularly innovative film, but it’s no less effective for the blemish.

The bloodshed speaks volumes enough, though, even if it takes some time getting to the mayhem proper.

For all its darkness, [it] never really scares up anything new.

Alas, despite the timeless concerns of adolescent bullying and burgeoning sexuality, Carrie as a film fails to become its own satisfyingly whole interpretation of coming-of-age horrors both literal and figurative. Its bloodshed may be all dressed up, but it ultimately has nowhere to go.