Culkin is superb - he makes you forget that Igby is a spoiled brat who actually deserves the beating he gets.

The main flaw is that, as an actor, Duplass isn't able to make the audience love him. Picture "Bottle Rocket"-era Owen Wilson in the role, and you've got something special.

The presentation is conventional, but the subject matter isn't. Besides, when was the last time you saw anything resembling good news coming out of the Middle East?

Under the generous debut direction of Damon Cardasis, there’s enough heart and raw truth here to uplift the moments that falter.

The only darkness here — besides the dingy-looking images dimmed by 3-D glasses — is the murky plot, which is as silly as it is arbitrary.

As a comedy, the film isn’t especially funny, and as a screwball drug caper a la “Go,” it’s raggedly plotted, with ridiculous coincidences popping up everywhere.

On the whole, though, you couldn’t do much better than Monkey Kingdom to get kids invested in learning about, and protecting, the natural world.

Bugonia buzzes by, if sometimes nauseastingly, and is a huge improvement from Lanthimos’ episodic drivel last year.

Pieta is one of Kim’s most complex and mature efforts, melding violence and humor into dark entertainment.

Author is one of the most entertaining documentaries in recent memory — and, possibly, the origin story of catfishing.

Brace yourself for an explosively brutal finale.

Grim but worthwhile.

It succeeds mostly thanks to stellar work by the wonderful Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who capably handles the dramatic heavy lifting, and Seth Rogen, who delivers big laughs as his raunchy bud.

It is up to each viewer to decide if the Mojave project is a stroke of genius or a very expensive boondoggle.

It's an enjoyable, well-acted, old-school geekfest pitting a group of middle-school students against an escaped monster from outer space.

It's not a knock on Steven Spielberg to say he is history's finest maker of children's movies. His capacity to evoke simplicity, awe, beauty and unconditional love are his genius, and his vision of the children's story War Horse is a gorgeous, majestic fable about a boy who yearns to be reunited with his steed.

You'll either be screaming with laughter - or be incredibly offended.

With Lake Tahoe, Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke proves himself adept at turning a blank screen into a work of art.

Writer-director Will Gluck has written a stiletto-sharp, zinger-filled script that recalls "Mean Girls" as well as the films of John Hughes, which are sampled to amusing effect in a clever clip montage.

It’s fine, if not a little too long at two hours — but for “Breaking Bad” fans jonesing for something, anything, connected to the chronological timeframe of their beloved series, it should do the trick.

Both witty and poignant.

Under the direction of Allan Moyle ("Pump up the Volume"), Nairn, McCarthy and Balaban give confident, believable performances but overacting plagues the rest of the cast.

A promising film that is dragged down by the weight of its gray morbidity.

Goodman doesn't preach or point fingers. She lets the three recruits have their say, and allows viewers to make up their own minds on the issues her film raises.

Ultimately “Mad About the Boy” is much like Bridget herself: endearing, silly, messy, wacky, kind. I like it… just as it is.

Priceless provides lightweight, predictable entertainment that will make you yearn for the Tatou of yesteryear.

Brad Anderson's Transsiberian is a genuine sleeper that jump-starts an almost extinct genre.

There's little new in Armadillo.