Misses out on just about everything that made the original work, most notably Falk and Arkin, whose odd-couple pairing was the foundation on which the entire movie rested.

It's all rote, sleep-inducing formula, but it might have still worked if the movie weren't so timid and unimaginative.

Watching this essentially good but misguided kid slide into a hopeless future is both transfixing and heartbreaking.

The stories touch our sensibilities, but the documentary never sugarcoats the childrens' experiences.

Best of all, L'Auberge Espagnol uses Barcelona as a veritable character, a picturesque, vivacious place where, as one character puts it, ''No one eats before 10 p.m."

This cold, generally soulless movie does feel like it was made by people who are taking themselves way too seriously. Remember the delicious anticipation you felt when The Empire Strikes Back was over? You won't feel that way when The Matrix Reloaded reaches its cliffhanger finale. You'll just feel relief.

Mediocre.

In The Shape of Things, love doesn't just hurt: It bites, and bites deep.

Buoyed by strong performances from Perez and Miami-resident Milian, Washington Heights overcomes the familiarity of its premise through its passion and conviction.

Explicitly invites us to mock its artificiality and giggly cluelessness, but beyond its attractive shell the film rings hollow. These days, even a comedy has got to have a heart.

The story's third-act detour into tragedy is predictable and unwelcome, providing a resolution that is too pat and familiar to be moving.

It's a pleasure to see acceptance portrayed so matter-of-factly. May never happen in our lifetimes, but Lesnick's vision of tolerance is a soothing thought, anyway.

By film's end, Leconte has made you believe these disparate men inhabit the same soul: The chasm between them is a matter of paths not taken.

Sometimes engaging, sometimes amusing and ultimately surprising.

This is a thriller that embraces stillness and silence where others prefer noise and bombast. It thrives on the hush before the explosion instead of its aftermath, and it's that eerie sense of expectation that gives the film its thick aura of suspense.

A sleek, rousing contraption, a comic-book movie with a sense of playfulness, a welcome streak of humor and just the right touch of gravity.

The success of The Lizzie McGuire Movie, in which Duff acts and sings while playing both her beloved character and an Italian look-alike, is probably a slam dunk. That doesn't mean it's a great movie.

A well-intentioned coming-of-age film anchored by two indelible performances but weakened by an overabundance of drama.

One of the many pleasures in Spellbound is watching the reactions of these young brainiacs, all under the age of 14, as they first hear the word they are being asked to spell (''Is that even a word?'' seems to be a common thought passing through their heads.)

The movie is polished, well-acted and atmospheric, but still pure formula, and not very scary, either.

A stale pastiche of crime-caper dramas that goes through all the usual reversals, betrayals and triple-crosses with a sense of weary obligation.

Manages to sidestep the potential overload of cheap sentimentality -- an intimate dance between an elderly couple registers with heartbreaking sweetness -- and evokes a lingering sense of loss.

House of Fools is not in the category of the director's acclaimed "Runaway Train." It may be based on a true story, but another filmmaker told it before -- and better.

It's not much, but it isn't awful, either, provided you're interested in this sort of thing to begin with.

Great, multilayered family film.

Leaves you in a state of stunned, exhilarated awe, both for what it shows and how it shows it.

Chasing Papi leaves you wishing Hollywood would just forget about Latinos altogether. If this is how they really see us, I'd rather not know.

More of a warm breeze than a great gust, but its simple, smart pleasures carry the force of a hurricane.