The misery is there, all right, in every woozy, spaced-out shot of Hoffman clutching his gas-soaked rag. But in the end, do we really care?

An exuberant, appropriately cynical reinvention of the stalwart Broadway hit that deftly straddles the line between old-fashioned Hollywood musicals and experimental concoctions like last year's "Moulin Rouge."

If The Pianist isn't quite as devastating as "Schindler's List" -- the movie with which all other Holocaust movies must be compared -- it's because Polanski isn't interested in an expansive view of the war.

McGrath has managed to turn Dickens into a cozy date movie. When was the last time anybody could make that claim?

The film actually improves on Cunningham's novel, thanks to gorgeous cinematography, a deft script by playwright David Hare, a mournful, melodious but never intrusive score by Philip Glass and a superb cast that brings the delicately formed characters to full, raging, sorrowful life.

Even in its somewhat unwieldy form, Catch Me If You Can is charming, sparkling entertainment.

A romantic comedy need not be original to work. It just needs, you know, romance. Something to swoon over. What Two Weeks Notice provides, however, is a lot more messy.

An unusually vicious and unforgiving study of police corruption, Narc is a stylistic throwback to such classic 1970s cop dramas as "The French Connection" and "Serpico," with a 21st century helping of the old ultra-violence.

Gangs of New York is many things, but a masterpiece is not one of them. It is primarily, and somewhat surprisingly, a poky western, with a vengeful orphan.

This superbly realized, clammy and unsettling movie doesn't hinge on plot. Claustrophobic and profoundly creepy, Spider isn't a pleasant viewing experience, and that's the point.

The rare sort of movie that gives predictability a good name.

Lee delivers a beautiful evocation of the American Dream in its simplest, purest form.

For now, The Two Towers feels like the second installment in what next year, when Frodo finally reaches Mount Doom and the story draws to a close, we'll surely be hailing as a masterpiece.

A devastating lack of romantic connection between its two stars. Lopez had more chemistry with "Enough" co-star Billy Campbell, and for most of that film they were beating the hell out of each other.

There was a fine family drama to be made here, but what we get instead is too sweet to swallow.

Ever the satirist, Payne mines humor from his characters, be it Randall's cockeyed pyramid-scheme ideas or the banality of a ridiculous wedding toast.

Everything in Drumline engages, from its likable cast to its breathtaking finale. Only the most jaded viewers won't be cheering by the end.

Depending on your personal tastes, Intacto will either be an ambitious concoction of cerebral science-fiction or a towering pile of nonsense. The truth lies somewhere in between.

If anyone tries to tell you how this one ends, blast 'em with a phaser. Set on stun, of course.

Witless, unoriginal mishmash of gangsta-drama clichés.

It's safe to say that without De Niro Analyze This and That couldn't even exist; or rather, if they did, they would be unwatchable. De Niro is that important to the mix.

In a larger sense, Adaptation is a movie about the simple act of enjoying life -- of really embracing it -- without constantly worrying about what others think.

Even in its most tedious scenes, Russian Ark is mesmerizing.

Do not, under any circumstances, consider taking a child younger than middle school age to this wallow in crude humor.

If Soderbergh set out to make a galvanizing conversation piece, he has certainly succeeded. But this cold, occasionally dull movie practically defies you to embrace it.

More than just another feel-good teacher movie.

Amped to the max, with firepower and fisticuffs flying, this is Bond as we have come to know him in the post-Roger Moore years: bigger, badder, better.

The third -- and thinnest and weakest and least funny -- installment in Ice Cube's popular Friday series.

This rich, emotionally complex movie finds Almodóvar venturing into trickier, more fascinating territory, even if his themes.

Vibrant and intriguing, a fine adaptation despite the slight departures from its source, with warm cinematography that captures the feel of '50s Saigon and two performances worthy of Oscar attention.

Doesn't feel quite so lengthy as its predecessor. And while it still falls short of becoming the classic fans so badly want it to be, the film is livelier and better overall than "The Sorcerer's Stone."

Far removed from being a Hollywood production. There are no big-name actors and no fancy camera work. But that's what makes it interesting.

The film has good actors and enough quirky moments to keep it interesting.

Poignant, funny and ultimately exhilarating.

Had the film been more balanced, it would have added a new star to the recent wave of remarkable Mexican cinema.

You come out with a sense you've seen it all before.

There is some exhilarating wordplay in 8 Mile, and you don't have to be a fan of rap to appreciate its quicksilver energy and mischievous wit. For all its grit, 8 Mile ends up radiating a joyful, hopeful vibe. It's an old-school charmer.

It feels wholly artificial, and your eyes never tire of drinking it all in.

Viewers who like their movies to adhere to some sort of reasonable logic, or to at least make sense, will not be pleased by Femme Fatale. For everyone else, it's playtime.

If Treasure Planet falls short of "Lion King's" classic status, it still proves there is plenty of room in animation for movies that aren't geared exclusively to 8-year-olds.

This sequel, while lacking the freshness of the original, shares much of its charm and for the most part rises above some trite, syrupy dialogue.

The idea, I suppose, is that love connects us all, even when it goes wrong. Fortunately, even love doesn't usually go quite so badly as this movie does.

An uncommonly perceptive and finely shaded character drama.

Exhausts you with its derivative stupidity, leaving you weak and bored and weary of comedy that's not funny, action that's not exciting, dialogue that's not clever. It's not even an adequate rip-off of the TV show.

In the end, Roger Dodger doesn't really add up to much. Guys can be jerks when they're lonely, or even when they're not. It's not news. But Kidd's version of this truth shows he's a writer worth watching.

It's never a good sign when a movie's credits include: ''Tony Orlando as himself.'' But the crooner is the highlight of the dreadful Waking Up in Reno.

Think of The Truth About Charlie as a Parisian getaway that happens to have a movie percolating in the background.

Frida, the kaleidoscopic drama based on the life of the Mexican painter/feminist/icon Frida Kahlo, was directed by Julie Taymor, which is the movie's first blessing.

The Bank, despite its faulty finale, is a fun and thrilling ride.

An intelligent crime drama, not because of the criminal activity it dramatizes but because of its powerful examination of the forces that drive criminals.

In its favor, the film's production values raise the standard of usual Christian entertainment. Sadly, though, it preaches to the choir.

Coincidentally, this is the second movie in two weeks about a haunted seafaring vessel ("Below" is the other), and if you see just one, this shouldn't be it.

As much as I laughed throughout the movie, I cannot mount a cogent defense of the film as entertainment, or even performance art, although the movie does leave you marveling at these guys' superhuman capacity to withstand pain. Compared to these jackasses, Vin Diesel is a big, overpaid wuss.

There's no doubt that Leigh gets inside his characters' lives. But that's often someplace we'd rather not be.

Too much of this well-acted but dangerously slow thriller feels like a preamble to a bigger, more complicated story, one that never materializes.

It plunges so deep, in fact, that the film winds up bordering on the unwatchable.

A warm, funny, engaging film by Patricia Cardoso that realistically portrays the struggles of many first-generation American women.

Feels like it's been pasted together from 51 other movies -- none of them good.

It's an understatement to say that The Ring is not your ordinary horror film. And never forget to rewind.

It's a clammy, depressing movie, but not a very illuminating one.

Hits the parallels between love and hip-hop a little too hard when the message is relatively easy to grasp: Don't sell out: not your art, not your heart. If only music business executives were listening.

Hollow and pointless.

Not as bad a movie as it sounds, just mediocre.

That broad range of subject matter is indicative of the messy, meandering structure of the movie. But if Moore fails to tie this unwieldy movie into a lucid thesis, at least every tangent he chases down has its own payoff.

Sreams its devotion to style over substance with slick action sequences, fast cars and breathtaking stunts.

The magic of the film lies not in the mysterious spring but in the richness of its performances. The producers have assembled a cast with three Academy Award winners.

Shows Jerry Seinfeld as you've never seen him before: being unfunny.

The entire story -- has been done before, and should have been limited to a 30-minute Saturday morning cartoon episode.

The fact that Swept Away got made at all implies there simply is no dissuading Madonna from her movie-star aspirations. Her tenacity is admirable, but it's also block-headed.

Pfeiffer is the antithesis of the girl next door: You just have to look at her to know that she was born to be bad.

It's a small victory, but Punch-Drunk Love knows how to reap epic delight from the most precious of details.

If Heaven doesn't quite achieve the transcendent power that Kieslowski might have attained, it comes close. One shot in particular, with the couple making love under a tree in silhouette, is a thing of quiet, sublime beauty that is eloquent in a way words never could be.

I'm not big on getting lectures from produce, and the Jonah story is not exactly fresh from the crisper, but Jonah is engaging enough for parents looking to introduce their kids to the veggiest story ever told.

What Bloody Sunday lacks in clarity, it makes up for with a great, fiery passion.

Ratner is canny enough to close the movie with a devilish tease that will send the Lambs faithful out with a delirious smile. What Red Dragon won't do is haunt your nightmares. Who could have guessed Hannibal Lecter would ever become such a crack-up?

The best thing you can say about Just a Kiss is that it isn't every romantic comedy that throws in suicide, bondage and a plane crash in between all the bed hopping.

Has an elegant feel, with beautiful shots on the beach and engaging camera work. If only Philip Jayson Lasker's writing could match that.

One thing that strikes you as you watch Shanghai Ghetto is how little mingling there was between the Chinese and the Jews.

Who writes this stuff, anyway? Does this not sound like utter gibberish? Surely, this film did not actually get made, did it? Yes, it did. I have seen it. But you, oh, fortunate one, don't have to. Consider yourself lucky.

A romantic comedy so rote, dull and predictable that it makes "You've Got Mail" seem innovative and fresh.

A movie about grief for people who don't want to be upset too badly. It's a half-a-hankie tearjerker, a meek, polite weepie.

Puts you on edge about what goes on behind the closed doors of the White House. Even if the case against Kissinger is not fully convincing, the documentary keeps you glued to your seat and thinking long after you've left the theater.

Even the graceful ending, one that lifts the film a notch, is startling. But at the very least, His Secret Life will leave you thinking.

Likable, cheerfully off-color comedy.

What The Four Feathers lacks is genuine sweep or feeling or even a character worth caring about.

The characters in Secretary never feel the least bit human. Their quirks, sexual and otherwise, are all on the surface. Inside, where it counts, nobody's home.

Sometimes it seems as though Hollywood can't make a decent action movie anymore. Now that's a thought to make you go ballistic.

Offers a ride worth taking -- an excursion through a fantastical pop universe that is pure, enchanting magic. Try it; you'll like it.

In between all the emotional seesawing, it's hard to figure the depth of these two literary figures, and even the times in which they lived. But they fascinate in their recklessness.

More sour than sweet, but Steers knows that, even in a cruel, unsentimental world, there is room for forgiveness and hope. Just don't expect a hug.

The film's heart lies in what goes on at Calvin's shop, that haven from the cold, cruel world. Where else can you get philosophy, humor, friendship and a little off the top?

Suffers from dialogue that often sounds like convenient exposition as well as from a climax that feels too pat and prosaic. But the film is peppered with small, explosive scenes that have a refreshing complexity.

Not only does the fragmented delivery become trying, but also the behind-the-camera dialogue and city shots with heavy Parisian traffic numb the senses. And as beautiful as it looks, there's really nothing new coming out of the lens of the revered Godard.

It's López de Ayala's show, and she's relentless in her energy and passion.

Isn't exactly memorable, and as far as its prison setting goes, it has nothing on HBO's infinitely more brutal "Oz." But as late-summer time killers go, you could do worse.

What strikes you the most about this well put-together film is how little you're drawn to either character or really understand where either is coming from.

It's a beguiling exploration of friendship, trust, truth, insecurity and, yes, secrets.

Downright terrible: impossible to enjoy, impossible to believe.