Listen closely: It's the sound of a million Who fans cheering.

By the time ever-noble, ever-watchable Djimon Hounsou shows up to teach earnest young Jake honor and roundhouse kicks, the power-rock and smashmouth idiocy become like a fever dream, sweaty and hard to shake off.

But the regularly overlooked Stahl burrows honestly into this unpleasant place, adding another worthy portrait to his indie gallery of interesting losers. He's still an actor worth keeping your eyes on. Assuming you can keep them open.

The archival footage here is great, and the cosmos-conquering craziness will satisfy space-race nuts.

The Colombian tourist board won't be too happy about Antonio Negret's intermittently compelling thriller, which presents his native country as a cesspool of corruption and violence.

With its carefully-chosen soundtrack, funky animation, and enthusiastic interviews, Dean Budnick's affectionate documentary pays apt tribute to Wetlands, a local landmark that closed in 2001.

A patronizing, self-satisfied piece of work, Funny Games is Michael Haneke's way of chastising us for blindly following the traditional rules of entertainment.

Feels like a VH1 slice-of-life with all the toppings. Yet it benefits from the fact that even a slice of it's title subject is a full meal.

10,000 B.C. tries, but never catches fire.

If, on the other hand, your driver's license is still a distant dream, consider this a path to pure hilarity.

There are some heartbreaking moments here, from the reactions of recent amputees to the tearful doctors and nurses trying hard to remain professional. And there is no question that Sanders has discovered a worthy subject. He just hasn't found the right way to approach it.

A must-see both for girls and the grownups who love them.

It's a sly little fable with at least six very obvious homages to Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, and a dark little heart that happily hides under a double-breasted suit.

It's left to the ideally cast McDormand to keep everything on track and, as expected, she weathers every tonal change with competence, confidence and a perfectly stiff upper lip.

The story's fractured structure - and Christopher Doyle's dreamlike cinematography - make for a striking mood piece.

It does give Sam Rockwell another opportunity to creep us out, and Kate Beckinsale a new shot at believability. Too bad the movie around them meanders.

The movie's power comes less from its contrived story than everything else: the stark setting, chaotic energy and authentic cast.

Bonneville does provide at least one important service: The next time an older actress complains that there are no good projects for women of a certain age, she'll be able to hold this clunker up as Exhibit A.

A provocative reflection of its rule-breaking subjects, Brett Morgen's political documentary re-examines the past while drawing unmissable parallels to the present.

Chadwick builds a brisk pace and sweeping scope that initially grab our interest. But this Anne's sole motivations are sex and greed, and the wild rumors that were designed to destroy her are treated here as gospel.

An endearing premise and fanciful spirit aren't quite enough to rescue a film that has more heart than smarts.

For die-hard Ferrell fans, this could be the ultimate test. He has been playing variations of "Elf" for five years, and his antics have grown as stale as Jackie's socks.

Ale's community is like a band of pirates - collegial, bickering, larcenous and supportive - and his life within it is both heartening and heartbreaking.

There are a few clever moments, as when an Amish farmer saves the tech-savvy students. But mostly, we're in it for the gore.

It's a decent Valentine's date-night flick, and should earn Reynolds the attention he'll need to snare stronger leading roles.

Deep into Hollywood's Dumb Season comes one of its dumbest offerings.

A world designed for children, and most of the grownups involved don't quite understand it - on or offscreen.

Unabashedly earnest, completely predictable and packed with enough high-voltage dance scenes to make any audience applaud.

There’s no questioning the sincerity of the filmmakers or the urgency of the subject matter, but the clumsiness with which this harrowing story of a child soldier in Africa may wear you out long before the puzzle is put together.

Just how long will it be before Matthew McConaughey finally fulfills his destiny by dropping out of Hollywood and opening a chain of nudist colonies? His heart clearly isn't in acting right now, so when it was time to make Fool's Gold, he asked his abs to do the job for him.

You've got to admire Hilton's complete conviction in herself as the center of all that is beautiful and good. And maybe such unwavering self-regard is actually kind of hot. Or not.

The banter between these unlikely partners seems inspired by Quentin Tarantino's ingeniously insipid dialogue, delivered with indelible deadpan sincerity by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in "Pulp Fiction." Neither the dialogue nor the characters are as interesting here.

Wild West Show would have really been something if Vaughn had taken a few of his fellow Frat Packers with him - say, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Steve Carell - instead of the struggling unknowns.

Lawrence's co-stars are more than ready to provide salty humor while creating a loose, almost improvised feel.

Very good but very grim, Paul Andrew Williams' punishing debut doesn't pull many punches - although the characters certainly field their share of body blows.

An excellent actor too often stuck in unworthy roles, Nick Stahl deserves much better than Andrew Jenkins' derivative, self-conscious heist flick.

Note: We're giving this one 4 stars if you're under 12; 2-1/2 stars if you're not...That unwieldy name should give you some sense of Disney's intentions: this is, plain and simple, a consolation prize for all the frustrated fans who couldn't get tickets to Cyrus' sold-out stadium tour last year.

Back to Wisteria Lane, Eva, and stay there until we call you.

Trachtman's gentle profile does make for touching viewing, but she leaves too many questions unanswered.

Like a lost recording by the Beatles, Sylvester Stallone's Rambo arrives with its feet planted firmly in the past, a reminder of a time when Stallone, Chuck Norris and other wooden soldiers of the big screen filled multiplexes with the floor-shaking thunder of trivialized war.

Gets it right in every dance sequence, but stumbles badly whenever the characters step offstage.

Part soap opera, part sitcom and part relocated French farce.

I like the idea of a cybercrimes agent cracking cases through superior knowledge of the Internet. Marsh could be a great heroine for a continuing series. But Untraceable essentially forces its audience to identify with those who would be willing accomplices to torture and murder. To understate the point, that's not an audience-friendly approach.

Apparently, the show’s appeal is due to the good-heartedness of its undereducated anti-heroes, but their kind of dumb grows old fast.

The source for Jieho Lee's The Air I Breathe is an ancient Chinese proverb about the four cornerstones of emotion - love, pleasure, happiness and sorrow. But Lee and co-writer Bob DeRosa went 0-4 with their convoluted screenplay, making me thankful they didn't try to adapt the Seven Deadly Sins.

The power of this plot comes from the drudgery of daily existence, not shocking revelations or dramatic encounters. Some stories, Teixeira is wise enough to realize, are best left unadorned.

This year’s foreign language Oscar scandal – there is always at least one – is the snub of director Cristian Mungiu’s disturbing, masterful realist drama following two college roommates as they carry out plans for one’s black market abortion in Communist Romania.

You have never seen a concert film like U2 3D, and it may change your expectations for the rest of your rocking years.

The film should have the edgy wit of "Election" here, but instead is played so straight it's hard to make the shift when things start getting really crazy. But stick with it and you'll be rewarded with a new kind of superhero and a couple of the ghastliest, most outrageous penis jokes ever imagined.

The Coen brothers might have pulled this off, but it's out of Allen's faltering reach.

Manhattan has always been a fat target for apocalypse filmmakers, but with its 9/11-inspired imagery, Matt Reeves' breathlessly fast-paced Cloverfield is going to resonate with New York audiences in a way no other horror film has.

What's good about the idea is that it triggers the kind of debate we would be having over Iraq if there was a draft. What's bad about it is that the three main characters in Robert Malkani's script - anti-war lawyer George (Chris Klein), gung-ho cab driver Dixon (Jon Bernthal) and sissy novelist Aaron (Elijah Wood) - are not interesting, either as individuals or as three amigos.

Why would so many accomplished women waste their time and talents on a movie as counterfeit as Mad Money?

There is no turning back; the biggest project in China since the Great Wall and the Grand Canal has claimed its human cost and now must prove its own worth. -

Marsden's natural charisma is totally wasted in an unlikable role, while Burns doesn't even try to hide his boredom.

Alex Gibney's forceful documentary starts with a single tragedy: the torture of an Afghani prisoner at Bagram Air Base. By the time it's over, he's broadened his focus into a documentary so damning of the U.S. government, it's hard to believe he even got it made.

Though Ice Cube and Morgan should make an ideal team, neither seems particularly comfortable grappling with Talbert's amateurish script. Most of the laughs, in fact, come from the strong supporting cast, led by a high-energy Williams and the unflappable Devine.

My 3-year-old date had a fine time, pronouncing the movie "very good" and backing up her assessment by going 90 minutes with barely a fidget. Which may actually be the highest compliment any movie can ask for.

The two-part film focuses on Jung-rae's one-night stand with the protégée of a colleague he invites to his seaside retreat, and then with a second woman who merely reminds him how much he liked the first. The scenery's great and the performances adequate, but wake me when it's over.

Passionate, enlightening and unabashedly one-sided, Abby Epstein's documentary is not for everyone. But at the very least, it should be seen by every pregnant woman in America.

Piddington does a beautiful balancing act, creating a movie that works both on the level of suspense and as a detailed factual chronicle.

Like previous films by the literary-minded auteur John Sayles, Honeydripper takes forever to develop its characters, its period and its location. But once it's done all that, the payoffs are rich.

A combination ghost and shaggy dog story that is so well-made and acted you can nearly overlook its murky, unsatisfying ending.

With a grating symphonic score by ­Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and the constant sense of danger following Plainview, "Blood" does not release its grip on the audience until its last, bizarrely crazy minutes.

Despite some emotional dips and a see-it-to-believe-it load of schmaltz at the end, The Bucket List is mostly a joy ride with good company, and the actors obviously were having a high time on their traveling boondoggle.

The three young actors are good, but the movie is held together from beginning to end by another riveting performance from Washington. Few actors can dominate a film with their diction as well as Washington, and the role of the erudite, passionate Mel Tolson gives him plenty of opportunity.

The black-and-white animation won't dazzle your eyes, but everything else about Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's adaptation of Satrapi's graphic comic book series Persepolis will hold you in its thrall.

It's a little corny and somewhat overlong, but a sweet sensibility and stirring adventure scenes make The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep a welcome gift for anyone looking to keep kids entertained over the holidays.

Of all the Middle East-theme movies this season, Mike Nichols' Charlie Wilson's War is the least political and most entertaining. That doesn't mean it's great, just that it's unimportant.

If there was an iota of plausibility to any of this, we could forgive the film's greater leaps of imagination - all those break-ins of absurdly unprotected bastions of Western civilization. But this is not audience-participation suspense. All you can do is sit and watch, and wish there was more wonder.

The movie - with some gamy sexual references, a one-night stand and a long look at a stud muffin's naked buns - targets an older female audience. They may see it as unbearably cute, filled with ridiculous coincidences and laced with performances that - like the obnoxious soundtrack music - overstate the mood.

Depp may not be a trained singer, but his voice is more than passable, and his presence - his Sweeney is Edward Scissorhands gone bad - is perfect. Bonham Carter sings well, too, and young Ed Sanders, as the pie shop's Dickensian apprentice, is a delight.

This kind of parody is hard to sustain for an hour and a half, and "Walk Hard" does gets wearying at times. But the humor is so outrageous, the original music so much fun and Reilly so good - both while hamming it up in the role and in singing the songs - that it's irresistible.

The skiers' explanations, on the order of "no risk, no adventure," won't wash with people born without the daredevil gene and watching them fly down these vertical blankets of snow, often out of control, is a little like watching a train wreck

Unless you happen to be one yourself, chances are pretty good that you'll take an immediate dislike to the self-satisfied hipsters who populate this disappointing comedy.

If karma exists, Alvin and the Chipmunks must be Lee's punishment for appearing in the likes of "Jersey Girl."

The Manhattan movie of the year, Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend, offers a stunning glimpse into how the city - as we know it today - might look in 2012 if it were abandoned in 2009.

This is an eye-opening story that doesn't quite hold together as a movie, but it deals with honor in men's lives in ways rare to mainstream film.

The upside and downside of surveillance cameras are explored in ways both funny and sad in writer-director Adam Rifkin's imaginative, ultimately disturbing ode to high-tech voyeurism.

Whatever it was in Romanian philosopher Mircea Eliade's novella Youth Without Youth that drew Francis Coppola out of a 10-year retirement to make a movie, the result is the year's most bizarre novelty item.

If you're really hoping for a perfect holiday, steer clear of this stale fruitcake of a comedy.

It is the devastating testimony from survivors themselves that leaves the most indelible impression.

Looking for plot holes? You can't miss them. But if you go in hoping for a good time, you'll find that, too.

The film serves him well, replaying a few surviving recordings that make clear what a beautifully melodious voice he had and what a talent went wasted.

It is an amazing story, filled with quiet moments of profundity and more surprises than you could imagine.

Represents the year's biggest gamble - and it delivers the year's biggest and most ambitious fantasy.

We'll overlook the clichéd predictability of their partnership and note that Plummer, and M. Emmet Walsh as his lonely friend, are a pleasure to watch.

Bednarczyk's natural instincts put most programmed Hollywood moppets to shame, and the quietly affecting O'Keefe shows genuine talent.

Schrader's main interest is not in the mystery, per se, but in the political intrigue of incestuous Washington, where conflicts of interest are the norm and morality is indeed relative. The points are well-taken, but Harrelson's performance often gets in their way.

A few scenes are stylish enough to amuse, but they all add up to nothing - leaving you ten bucks short and feeling like a sucker.

It is certainly the feel-good movie of the season.

Possibly the worst movie of 2007.

Take us on an indelible tour through the highest and lowest points of the human experience.

Though we had just heard the name Lee Harvey Oswald, I believed he had done it alone. I still do, even more so after watching Robert Stone's meticulously researched, seemingly unbiased summary of the killing and the major conspiracy theories.

While Yu's experimental approach brings valuable insight to the human condition, the interviews themselves too rarely measure up to her ambitious structure.

Possibly the worst idea for a movie this century.

The Savages is a TV movie made for the big screen - and it needs the larger venue to accommodate the huge performances of its stars, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney.

Whether this reserved, hypercautious widower can deal with the arousal she creates in him - let alone be physically able to act on it - is one of the many layers of tension that drive this unusual and absolutely riveting dance.