When the world gets too big and scary, the Hundred Acre Wood remains a clearly delineated comfort zone.

It's nice to see a love story that deals with mature people. We're not likely to get anything like it from Hollywood. So enjoy When the Sea Rises while you can.

An OK kids movie passing through on the way to video.

It's apt that the Rome weather in this stodgy film, contrary to the title, seems quite temperate.

The second half of Godzilla is definitely more fun than the first part of a film I enjoyed overall, if less than last year’s similar dip into giant monster blockbusterdom, “Pacific Rim.”

Hermila Guedes is hot as the damsel in distress. She carries the movie on her slender shoulders, providing erotic charm and believable acting.

Writer-director Schwarz has a lot of fun with this nutty premise. And more important, the twisted dynamics of this particular family ring true.

The result is wholly original, sort of like "The Wizard of Oz" as filtered through the sensibilities of Emir Kusturica, the cult filmmaker and musician.

At more than two hours, Cherry Blossoms could do with some pruning. And do husband and wife have to have rhyming names?

A sleazy and pointless film about sleazy and pointless people, Killer Joe reminds us that what Quentin Tarantino does isn't easy.

Picture how insufferable "GoodFellas" would be if it climaxed with a federal agent making a speech about the victims claimed by organized crime.

In the most thrilling sequence of this consistently rousing old-school adventure, Heyerdahl grabs a passing shark with his bare hands, thrusts a hook into it, drags it aboard and guts it with a knife. Now that’s what I call entertainment. I haven’t seen such crazed brutality since Lou Lumenick’s review of “Movie 43.”

This is a one-joke skit that trots in a straight line, and your enjoyment of it will depend entirely on how many times you need to see gonzo sheep rip out human entrails.

The film falters only when it eavesdrops briefly on a passionate public discussion of rent control and gentrification. The moment is out of keeping with the carefree nature of the rest of the movie.

If “Once” was a bracing blast of cool spring water, Begin Again is a can of Fanta. If “Once” was a piano, Begin Again is a keytar. If “Once” was Otis Redding, Begin Again is Bruno Mars.

The heavily symbolic The Dying Gaul doubtless worked better as a play, but the film is worth seeing for its peerless cast.

Like Truffaut's heaviest work, it's less interested in what brings people together than in what keeps them apart, and it achieves a painful truth you won't find in dating comedies.

Luke, who seems to have been marking time since his impressive debut in the title role of Denzel Washington's "Antwone Fisher" four years ago, is fiercely good as this reluctant warrior and devoted family man.

A real high in a season filled with unfunny comedies.

Ultimately, for the show’s fans, it may not matter if “Sponge Out of Water” shows a hint of mildew. After all, my co-critic’s most enthusiastic note — “Hilarious!” — was written before the lights even dimmed.

Tries, with much less success, to do what "Witness" did in exploring an Amish town.

While the performances are often engaging, this loose collection of largely improvised numbers would probably have worked better as a one-hour TV documentary.

A self-indulgent chronicle of Chris Roe's whiny power struggle with his father over where to eat dinner in various exotic locales.

It's often hilarious, and there is lots of the zippy, apparently improvised dialogue that made "Swingers" such a pleasure.

Does not offer much in the way of exciting boxing footage.

When it was first performed in theaters a couple of years after the L.A. riots took place, Twilight: Los Angeles must have been very powerful. Unfortunately, director Mark Levin's filmed version lacks that impact.

At some point, all this visual trickery stops being clever and devolves into flashy, vaguely silly overkill.

Bell has added unexpected shadings to what could have been simply a sordid tale of highway prostitution, gradually revealing surprises to the characters that keep a murmur of unease thrumming throughout.

It's skillfully rendered fun, but don't expect to remember much the next day.

Everything is predictable three scenes in advance, and it's all stale, stuck, stolid.

You care for these warriors, no matter which uniform they're wearing. I don't know Taub's intentions, but The Fallen makes a potent antiwar statement.

The blend of coming-of-age and coming-together in director Fernando Grostein Andrade’s film is a poignant one, regardless. The lessons Abe learns about life through Chico and his inventive cooking are made all the more beautiful by how tasty and colorful the food looks. And with Schnapp’s work in the title role, I found myself believing that a 12-year-old Brooklyn boy just might be able to solve the world’s thorniest conflict with an appetizer.

An enjoyable mix of tragedy and comedy.

Carell’s niche right now isn’t awkward anchormen, but parents going through hell. He makes a believable dad to the equally moving Chalamet, who writhes, screams and cries, but never showboats. The perfect pair is better than this movie.

Slyly funny.

This belabored movie, which is much more serious than its predecessor and takes nearly an hour to take off, feels like it lasts a Day-O.

Who gets to say what art is? Does honest emotion count for more than cold abstraction? If Andy Warhol likes it, does that make it OK? Big Eyes toys with some amusing ideas, and that’s enough.

It's a simple tale of father-and-son bonding that director Huo Jianqi injects with a quiet power, and it benefits greatly from the gorgeous lushness of its backdrop.

Let the French stick to love stories and leave stupid comedies to Tinseltown.

Not that a film as taut and exciting as this one needs punchy dialogue, but Black Sea has that, too.

Curious George skews very young, but parents should be warned that it arrives not only with the worst ad slogan in recent memory ("Show me the monkey"), but a full line of plush toys and related tie-in merchandise.

Klown turns out to be one long, brutal life lesson for Hvam's hapless character until it finally crosses the line into just plain creepy at the end.

Vogt-Roberts never develops the characters enough to make us care whether anyone lives or dies and never whips up even a flirtation between Hiddleston and Larson.

Emotionally honest, feel-good saga with a universality that stands out in a season of singularly depressing and cynical Hollywood product.

Seems more like a merchandising ploy than a successful attempt to entertain kids and their parents.

The picture is smothered by solemn right-mindedness, and hobbled by scripter David McKenna's simplistic, knee-jerk liberal take on suburban white racism.

Uneven, self-conscious but often hilarious spoof.

Overlong but telling look at three young misfits.

The Outskirts, handsomely directed by Petr Lutsik, will grab people's emotions. The dark and bitter comedy deals with a corrupt, post-communist Russia.

If action's your thing, then the Chinese-Hong Kong martial-arts epic True Legend is your movie.

The best parts of this awkwardly paced film are Bell’s scenes with Enrico Colantoni, who returns as her private investigator dad, concerned she’s throwing away a bright future by getting sucked back into her old life.

Antarctic Edge will make good viewing for science classes of all levels, and ideally inspire a new generation to continue this hardy mission.

It's brilliant work.

See his movie now, brag about your discerning taste for undiscovered talent later.

The film begins by telegraphing impending doom (and wraps up, underwhelmingly, with thriller clichés).

Their '50s-style comedy mugging not only don't come across to Americans, it's hard to believe even New Zealanders would care.

The Yellow Handkerchief tells a timeless fable, and tells it extremely well.

The undeniably sweet film, based on the wonderful West End musical, fixes some of the (much better) show’s flaws, but loses its humor and energy while it wallows in sadness.

Has a few too many coincidences and tends to be sugary, but it has an important precautionary message in this age of terror.

Unlike American movies about challenging yourself, it's all played in a minor key.

The biblically themed Seraphim Falls moseys along very slowly, climaxing with a lengthy series of flashbacks and an appearance by Anjelica Huston as a medicine woman who may or not be the devil.

A witty mix of "Frankenstein" and David Lynch's "Eraserhead" - with a tip of the hat to Hitchcock's "Saboteur" - Puzzlehead is an indie delight.

The film opens with a disclaimer: "Although based on real events and people, this is a work of fiction." There should be another warning: Unless you're up to date on French politics, a lot of Googling is needed to follow the players.

Aside from an uninspired script by Frank Cotrell Boyce, is that none of the assembled actors really has enough star presence to compete with the sheer spectacle.

An interesting - but very slow paced - thriller.

The film looks nifty, but the flat and unemotional English-language dialogue lessens its impact.

It feels less predictable and derivative than it is, thanks to Gus Van Sant's deft direction and two fine central performances.

A not particularly revealing documentary.

While it is obvious that the filmmakers went into this project with an agenda, they did try to give each side a chance to have its say.

A lavishly mounted blockbuster that has little personality of its own except on a purely visual level.

If your film is as downbeat and deflated as this one, you had better be leading up to a more interesting insight than, "The older I get, the more I know that I don't know anyone."

Harper and the film's director, Jeremy Kagan, try valiantly, but they are unable to bring Meir to life or hold viewers' attentions.

A warm-hearted and ambitiously honest look at the pros and cons of monogamy, but it tends to be understated to the point of underwhelming.

The title of the overlong Fifty Dead Men Walking refers to lives saved by Sturgess' character, who is still in hiding years later.

CSA would have benefited from a bigger budget and better actors and it gets weaker as it goes along, but it's still thought-provoking stuff.

Watching The Photograph is like looking through a friend’s old photo album — it’s not as exciting as your friend thinks it is.

They should sell antidepressants along with the popcorn at theaters showing Cecilia Miniucchi's Expired, one of those Sundance "comedies" that make you contemplate slitting your wrists.

Especially worthwhile for the chemistry between Bell and Myles.

As in the original “Despicable,” masterful physical comedy is what raises this animated pic so far above most of its competitors.

The dazzling 14-minute chase includes cars, motorcycles, a couple of 18-wheelers - and nonstop martial-arts battles and leaps inside and on top of the vehicles. That scene alone will justify the price of admission for many.

The surprise of Ted is that it goes for honest Spielbergian wonder, too, and even earns some tears.

Beautiful Boy ends up being an endurance test.

The actors are engaging enough that you only occasionally remember that there really isn't much going on. Then, unfortunately for the audience, something does actually happen.

Erstwhile boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe works no magic as a grieving lawyer in The Woman in Black, a creaky haunted-house story that's strong on creepy atmosphere but woefully deficient in the scare department.

But it is Thurman who stands out, with a marvelous, full-blooded performance, her best in some time, as tragic Charlotte.

A formulaic and predictable movie that combines minimal characterization with some irritating implausibility.

The result is as enlightening for viewers as the journey was for Harris.

Yet another teen comedy that tries to have it both ways -- basically, "Mean Girls" with crucifixes instead of designer jewelry.

A thoughtful, old-school documentary.

It remains for a tougher documentary to more forcefully trace exactly who benefits from this shameful practice -- multinational corporations and consumers who don't ask enough questions.

Here's a tagline for Disney's Sky High: "Like Harry Potter, only stupider!"

Directors Matthew Pond and Kirk Marcolina wisely keep this unrepentant charmer, in her 80s during filming, on-camera, save for when they’re interviewing fascinated writers and fed-up prosecutors.

France's François Ozon's 5 x 2, which resembles Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" told in reverse, could be played for laughs, or suspense -- who killed this marriage? -- or with the rueful irony of Stephen Sondheim's backward musical "Merrily We Roll Along."

It might not have as many gut-busting laughs as "Bridesmaids,'' but there are still plenty - and for once in Apatow's phallocentric universe, most of them don't come at the expense of female characters.

The script by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn is hysterical, but director Shawn Levy must’ve sold his soul to the devil to secure this cast.

Maybe my favorite thing about this About Last Night, though, is that it’s proof romantic comedies don’t have to be so predictable.

Under writer-producer-director-editor Patrick Hughes, the suspense level is high and the action constant.

Genre fans will definitely get off on I Sell the Dead, but outsiders might be less enthusiastic.