Niccol’s film may not be perfect, but it shines a light on a subject many viewers will know vaguely by name — and not much more.

The performances are so solid - and newcomer Jon Dichter's direction (he also wrote the script) is so utterly assured - that the rather contrived ending barely seems to detract from the film's entertainment value.

A refreshingly naturalistic depiction of the dynamic of traveling companionship — at any age.

Only the French could or would make a movie like this. You'll enjoy it if you turn off your brain and concentrate on the eye candy.

It's not surprising that This Thing of Ours -- the title refers to the literal translation of La Cosa Nostra -- rings with authenticity and solid acting.

Its characters are likable enough to settle in with for a pleasant hour and a half.

The only character who makes much of an impression is a crazed, cannibalistic cockatoo voiced by Jemaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords"), who gets the best of the handful of musical numbers.

Butler’s pretty bad — not horrible — but the movie itself is quite watchable, if a lot bleaker than your average disaster flick.

The love story is nice, but Ember and Wade’s relationship also goes from zero to 60 awfully fast. There have been many a romance told inside of two hours, but these guys’ instant gushiness is awkward and doesn’t ring true — even for CGI blobs.

Posey is a delight throughout, and Zoe Cassavetes is clearly a filmmaker to watch.

On a technical level Buried is impressive, at times blisteringly suspenseful.

Its abundant laughs are heavily reliant on the chemistry of stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson - who show once again that they're as fine a comic team as Hollywood has ever produced.

The movie is a visual feast, with Oscar-caliber sets and costumes that for many will justify the trip to the Paris Theatre.

An Italian romantic comedy that's irresistibly set in Mole Antonelliana, the cavernous Museum of Cinema in Turin.

Slight but entertaining and occasionally touching.

What’s different from the previous entry is that humor here, despite a formulaic plot, is balanced with surprising dramatic heft.

If you enjoy foulmouth dialogue mixed with sex, violence, bikes, badass bikers, boobs, babes, booze, brawling, broken noses and broken promises - then the Quentin Tarantino-produced Hell Ride should make you one happy guy.

There can only ever be one Bad Lieutenant: Harvey Keitel. In Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Nicolas Cage, pretend tough guy (Malibu accent, long floppy coiffure, nervous smile), is more like the Bad Used-Car Salesman.

If you're starved for on-screen nudity and sex garnished with art-film trappings -- The price you'll pay is putting up with the director's relentless Euro-pretension, manifested in a tediously contrived plot crammed with absurd coincidences, clunky symbolism and soap-operatic melodrama.

The film has a nice sense of female friendships’ emotional depth. But as a woman, Duris (while amusing) is not much more convincing than Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in “Some Like It Hot.”

The result is mystifying - intentionally so - and frustrating. But it's worth a look.

By far the best single performance in the film - and it is really, really terrific, utterly believable and moving - is by Emma Thompson. To the extent that there is genuine feeling in the movie that doesn't feel slickly manipulative, it's in the scenes involving her character.

Makes a powerful case against the wisdom of budget cuts at universities everywhere.

He may be saddled with an overly ironic title role, but Bystrov is terrific. His cowboy squint and dogged intelligence are enough to give you hope for Russia, although the movie certainly won’t.

If you go, be sure to stick around through the closing credits. By far the funniest part of the movie is a blackly humorous fantasy sequence starring Merchant.

It's basically left to the viewer to figure out the historical significance of this drug-fueled odyssey.

France's friendship dramedy Little White Lies is such a blatant rip-off of a far better American movie that it could have been called "Le Big Chill."

The gorgeous heartache of songs by the group Belle and Sebastian gives God Help the Girl its dreamy appeal, but thanks to a poky story line it essentially amounts to a series of music videos.