A harmless and mildly amusing family comedy.

Quickly devolves into a violent thriller that resolves itself in sadomasochistic romance.

Slackers is, well, consummately cheesy. Ugh.

Although Solondz's view is omniscient, as a filmmaker here he condescends to his characters' innocence, ignorance and bigotry, making him guilty of the same narrative crimes.

We feel it, in our hearts. And therein lies the great power of this small, wise film.

This delicious adventure of crude betrayal and elegant revenge is yummy even when reheated by director Kevin Reynolds.

Wang's young actors are impressively natural, and his documentary-style camerawork captures the rhythms and cacophony of the big city, all its crazy-quilt comings and goings.

Watching the film is like getting hooked by a fearful angler who can't successfully reel you in.

It's wholesome as a glass of milk, and as refreshing.

Snow Dogs? "Snow Job" is more like it.

The movie is hipper than its L.A. establishment credentials would suggest.

The perfect film for anyone who likes their headbutting and kickboxing dressed up in gold brocade, frilly collars, and tri-cornered caps. And isn't that all of us?

While its careful pace and seemingly opaque story may not satisfy every moviegoer's appetite, the film's final scene is soaringly, transparently moving.

Plays around with some interesting notions, such as the nature of reality, the nature of humanity, and the nature of spiffy apartments with sleek bathroom fixtures.

Throw in the music -- a wall-to-wall whorl of Eastern modal dirges, thumping rock and Celtic-y skirl -- and you've got a veritable cinematic rhapsody of war.

Not a movie, it's a museum catalog of gorgeously rendered portraits and landscapes. What a crashing disappointment.

The film's one realistic performance is that of Dakota Fanning as Lucy, whose child's shame, fear and resourcefulness ground the movie in recognizable behavior. She breathes air into this suffocating enterprise.

Dark Blue World is "Pearl Harbor" without the product placements, without the Hollywood bombast, and certainly without the $100-million-plus budget.

Hate, love, bigotry, empathy and chance are the uninvited guests at Monster's Ball.

At its best it is one of the most dynamic movies from a most dynamic filmmaker, now 76.

While Smith gets into Ali's head and under his skin, the movie around him has more footwork than punch.

Despite its haunting artistry and its winning eccentricities, The Shipping News is a vehicle that's still very much at sea.

For the first half-hour I, too, demurred. And then the irresistible force that is Hugh Jackman -- or was it his swoony Leopold? -- swept me off my seat and into the movie.

What began as a bold and thrilling story descends into Hollywood cliché. But Crowe and Connelly's work rises above the mush. They make A Beautiful Mind go.

If only I liked The Majestic half as much as I liked Carrey in it.

Rife with dark humor, Little Otik presents a cautionary variation of the creation myth, and a warning that tampering with the natural order of things may not be such a wise idea.

But moving across this tableau is Frodo and his gang, and here the trouble lies...Not a one seems believable as conveyed by Wood, who forever looks to be on the brink of a good sob. Likewise, his hobbit sidekick Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) is a real wuss.

A story with a beginning and end but without a middle. Two slices of bread without the sandwich meat, I wrote in my notes.