Superficial and hokey yet still oddly endearing.

Rock appears to have edited I Think I Love My Wife with a roulette wheel.

Apprently novice filmmaker Angela Ismailos' definition of a Great Director is one who's willing to sit or walk with her while she lobs innocuous questions and gives herself lots of awed close-up reaction shots.

The movie jogs along nicely without ever getting a case of the stupids; far from being a bloated “John Carter,” it’s just a pared-down yarn of survival: “Die Hard” on a planet.

Here’s some perfectly mindless couch viewing.

So eager to please, it practically licks you in the face.

Director Timothy Linh employs a delicate - but never sentimental - touch which, combined with strong performances from the principals and Kramer Morgenthau's vivid cinematography, makes for a transporting experience.

Remarkably sluggish and not particularly suspenseful.

I've seen three or four other movies by Miike, and I can tell you that he's one of the most exciting, versatile directors working today.

Might as well be called "Around the World in 80 Yawns."

It's an underdog story with teeth.

Argentina’s noir Everybody Has a Plan is as sludgy as the river delta in which it takes place.

If this overcooked version of James Ellroy’s novel - inspired by a famous 1947 Los Angeles murder - is less than fully satisfying or even believable storytelling and acting, it’s still possible to get a kick out of this fever dream loaded with eye candy.

More watchable for secular audiences than the handful of earlier films released under the Fox Faith label, this one actually has a sense of humor, a politically progressive point of view and a solid cast including the ever-reliable James Garner.

Tells us just about everything we might want to know about her - except why she did what she did. That important information will have to wait for another film.

There are a lot of casualties in this stylish, unoriginal thriller, but James McAvoy’s knee was the only one that moved me.

Given its obvious parallels with modern-day events, it’s a shame Felt’s ensuing story is so wanly told.

Freeman is Freeman, all homespun dignity. Surely it's time for him to play a saucy interior decorator or a crazed dictator.

Updates are fine for some stories. Not this one, though. Moving the action to a contemporary urban setting is akin to fitting a fairy with cement boots.

Offers a few laughs - and little sexual heat.

Say a prayer that there's no "Hatchet III" in the future.

Rolls out stiff clichés to tell a familiar story of racial injustice in the South.

Unfortunately, as in Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,’’ much of the sometimes draggy 2 1/4 hours is given to clichéd inspirational drama.

The Good Night is at heart a mediocre Sundance variation on the Dudley Moore-Bo Derek alleged classic "10."

Beautiful but boring.

A sloppy and only mildly engaging documentary.

The story is superficial at best. And the movie is too long.

An excellent case for euthanizing the entire talking-animals genre.

If anything is frightening here, it's the scenes of the small children being indoctrinated into an organic lifestyle and being made to sing, at least three times, a song about the evils supposedly lurking in the environment around them.

Lola Versus, like Lena Dunham's show "Girls," brings an indie perspective and cast to this mainstream genre. In the more limited medium of film, this is a mixed bag.

Doesn't quite reach the heights - though it does plumb the depths - of its hugely popular predecessor. But it will have an enormous, appreciative audience doubled over with belly-busting laughs.

Breathtakingly filmed (lots of slow-motion) by Wang Yu, but then it would be difficult to go wrong when your star is one of the world's most beautiful women.

Winning performances by Roger Rees and Mary McDonnell, as well as colorful Virginia locations, lift Crazy Like a Fox slightly above the TV-caliber script by its director.

The film is well-constructed, as one would expect from Gondry, but it offers little reason for anyone outside the family circle to care about dear old Tante Suzette.

While the film has impressive 18th-century trappings and vivid battle scenes, the plotting and acting are rudimentary.

In the clumsy hands of director Rob Marshall, this tacky, all-star botch more closely resembles a video catalog for Victoria’s Secret.

Gut-bustingly funny -- perhaps this waning summer season's ultimate guilty pleasure.

A movie about bisexuals sounds fresh and fun on paper, but a sensitive acoustic song under the opening credits shows exactly where The Happy Sad is going. Deadly earnestness and sex don’t mix well at the movies.

Watching it, unless you’re already a demented diehard fan, is utter agony.

If you insist on seeing Soul Men, stick around during the closing credits for the best part of the movie, an interview with Mac.

Demonstrating the limits of being too clever in a genre movie, the art-house chiller Silent House lets the tenseness of its first act trickle away.

As actor pairings go, you couldn’t hope for better than Oscar winner Sam Rockwell and nominee Taraji P. Henson. So why is The Best of Enemies such a slog?

Quickly morphs into a messy double message movie with motifs and clichés lifted from military courtroom films like "A Soldier's Story" and "A Few Good Men."

The biggest load of New Agey hogwash to grace the big screen since Spacey's "Pay it Forward."

The Price of Milk, which boasts a lush classical score recorded by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, has a few more twists that make this a Valentine's Day delight.

Kline's divine -- alas, the film isn't.

The first half-hour of Jeepers Creepers is so frightening that it's almost a relief when the movie subsequently collapses into silliness.

Wholesome entertainment that will please the under-10 crowd without boring their parents.

An unsatisfying drama that premiered at Sundance '07 and was supposedly delayed because of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Short, fast and nasty, The Mechanic is considerably more fun than the rather lethargic original.

It's also sugary and has a silly tear-jerker ending. But I found myself laughing at the film's gentle humor, anyway.

What profiteth it a man if he should gain the whole world, but lose his hairline? Matthew McConaughey considers the question in Gold, which is in essence a vanity project about a vanity project.

Son of a Gun, from first-time feature director Julius Avery, begins with an enticingly dark first act in jail, but descends steadily downward into a mass of clichés.

A dumbass "Kick-Ass," the superhero comedy Griff the Invisible sits on the screen like a steaming lump of Kryptonite.

The inferior second part, short but not nearly short enough, proves just how ill-prepared its creators were for the original’s success.

It’s hard to believe Costner left “Yellowstone” to make such an embarrassing, poorly told mess.

Rio 2 is not what I would call Amazon prime, but it’s got enough silly songs and daffy critters to keep the little ones happy.

Teen Lisa Johnson (Abigail Breslin) is trapped in a kind of undead, unfunny “Groundhog Day,” living one particular 24 hours with her family over and over.

It’s a sprawling plot that consistently teeters on the edge of unwieldiness, but Affleck’s assured directing, gorgeous cinematography by Robert Richardson and a who’s-who of Hollywood’s best character actors keep it mostly on track.

Although Scary Movie 3 boasts the same relaxed attitude to racial and sexual humor, some of the same eye for movieland ridiculousness, along with the usual cameos (Pamela Anderson and Simon Cowell), it lacks a single explosive, roll-on-the-floor gag, and too often repeats and belabors jokes that are merely OK.

The feel-bad movie of the holiday season, Spike Lee’s often-repellent Americanized reimagining of Korean director Chan-Wook Park’s twisty 2004 revenge thriller Oldboy is relentlessly gruesome, self-consciously shocking and pretty much pointless.

A flea market of fairy tales and hocus-pocus, Inkheart makes as much sense as an inkblot.

By far the best thing about Pitch Black is the cool-looking lighting and photography.

Despite many flaws...Romance is unquestionably an important film.

The first half of Scotland, PA is by far the funniest, with witty dialogue, hilariously ugly period fashions and hairstyles.

The trouble with authenticity in a punk rock film is that it comes off as amateurish, and while "Dolls" has a feverish energy -- and some good songs -- it suffers from crude performances and a trite rise-and-fall plot.

Mawkish and manipulative, the film isn't worthy of its widely praised German director.

It's certainly a lot more charming than the last attempt at a Peter Pan sequel, Steven Spielberg's star-laden, ham-fisted "Hook."

Gunning for the near-annual Ugly Makeup Oscar, Aniston proves, as always, a modestly gifted actress, only this time with scars and weedy hair.

A black-and-white fantasia shot against a bright backdrop of famous sites, and it has potential to be a cult hit on its dreamy-hipster look alone.

Suggestion: When making a film called Run Fat Boy Run, how about hiring a fat boy?

A marginally funny comedy at best, recycles themes, scenes and even lines from Allen's own old movies - like many of Allen's later efforts.

Still, if 13 Hours lacks the gravitas of “American Sniper,” it’s powerful stuff. Bay’s goal is to put you right in these men’s boots, to feel the heat, the fear, the fatigue, the weight of the weapons and the web of camaraderie.

Overlong and sometimes schmaltzy — but still hugely engaging.

The best thing about the Escape Room film series is that it gives audience members clear directions in the title about what they should immediately do: Escape. Room. Get out of that theater and go see Black Widow instead. Run for your lives — and sanity!

One big hunk of cinematic moussaka with lots of appetizing shots of food.

By the last battle, you may find yourself hoping that at least one person escapes without being macheted to death.

Say this for A Lot Like Love: It isn't one of those impossibly witty romantic comedies.

Directed by Guy Nattiv, the sluggish film caves to the worst tendencies of forgettable biopics. Mirren is ensconced in prosthetics and a gray wig in hopes that a lookalike transformation can distract from bad writing and a total lack of insight.

There's nary a dull moment in the semi-autobiographical Secuestro Express (secuestro means kidnap), as Jakubowicz pleases the eyes with closeups, sped-up scenes, hand-held camerawork and other stylized tricks.

In the end, it is inadequate, juiceless storytelling that deprives Titan A.E. of any dramatic force.

For the most part, it's both sitcomishly predictable and cloying in its attempts to be poignant.

It isn't as ridiculous as this year's other version of a local best seller set during WWII ("Captain Corelli's Mandolin"), but it's arguably even less entertaining.

This is an egotistical endeavor from the daughter of horror director Dario Argento (a producer here), but her raw performance and utter fearlessness make it strangely magnetic.

A civics lesson about integration very artfully - and entertainingly - disguised as an upbeat family sports movie.

The characters are tired stereotypes, the sentimentality nauseating and the situation comedy way below the standards of the very worst WB or UPN shows.

Proudly airheaded, incoherent, endlessly pandering - yet fitfully entertaining.

Little more than an infomercial for the candidate.

Racially offensive quips, flagrant sexism and Tourette syndrome gags all contribute to this witless, scare-free junk.

Ride sounds a bit like a Lifetime movie, but in Hunt’s capable hands it’s a brisk, funny and touching comedy for boomers.

The script suffers from blandness and aimlessness.

So moron-friendly they should have called it "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Checkers." The skill level in the script is elementary school, my dear Watson.

The ingredients are there for a cute con game, but instead the movie turns out to be a mushy melodrama.

The Protégé should’ve been a home run for director Martin Campbell, who did brilliantly with Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s first James Bond film. He brought seriousness to the old franchise without sacrificing its charm or decadence. Instead, we get old clichés.

Director Andy Goddard’s film is far too aware of its subject’s peculiarity, and every frame knows full well that something is a bit off.

Isn't perfect, but it's light years ahead of "Ong-Bak."

Trouble is, the movie is only sporadically funny, and the concept soon grows tiresome. In fact, you could say that there's too much downtime in Autoerotic.

Forty-three years later, “Tron: Ares” is groundbreaking for being the first “Tron” film with a discernible plot.