It's not a bad movie, but Big Eyes might have been better off if it had sold its audience the same bill of goods Walter Keane sold America.

The big star with the most unexpected chops, though, is Chris Pine, who runs with his Prince Charming role and, along with Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince, contributes the movie's best musical moment with the duet "Agony."

Those who watch Unbroken, Angelina Jolie's movie about Zamperini's life, only have to suffer for a little more than two hours, but it's a cruel and unusually harsh punishment.

Wahlberg's The Gambler is California Lite.

The exhibits in this Night at the Museum may still come to life nightly. But their latest movie stays stubbornly inert.

Even the show-stopper "Tomorrow" comes off as half-hearted and obligatory. The choreography looks like it was improvised by the young actors who play Wallis' fellow foster kids — all listless jumping and arm-folding, no inventiveness or energy.

Foxcatcher has a sober, chilly vibe that's completely at odds with the sport of wrestling and the men and women who love it.

If film's rapturous reception is due in part to the rarity of filmmaking this skillful within the horror genre, it's hard to begrudge this near-masterpiece of unease any of the praise it's gotten.

The "Hobbit" trilogy started slowly and ended with a rush, heroes and villians fighting it out over a mountain of gold. What kid of any age can resist that?

Life Partners may be a dispensable sitcom of a movie, but it's charming and cannily made.

An Italian import that isn't sure what it's supposed to be but knows it's not funny.

The dialogue has its moments of perception, and Long and Rossum deliver it with conviction and spark.

The best stuff in Wild is the simplest. The movie is at its strongest when it's just Strayed out in the wilderness, seeing what there is to see and finding the strength to keep going. Witherspoon is excellent in the lead, delivering a contemplative performance and appearing comfortable with just being by herself.

Rock – who also wrote and directed – is very good as Andre, and the filmmaking is fine.

As an action spectacular, Exodus is on par with Scott's other forays into ancient times, "Gladiator" and "Kingdom of Heaven." But as a believable human drama, much less a worthy exploration of Judaism's origins, it falls flat.

It's hard to say what's more fascinating: The engaging explication of various paintings by the remarkably articulate docents, the behind-the-scenes looks at the preservation and restoration processes, or the boardroom discussions about the appropriateness of marketing efforts. Actually, that third one probably isn't the most fascinating, but I still wanted more of it.

The Homesman is so stark and haunting to look at and listen to -- cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and composer Marco Beltrami support the story with career-best work -- that it's easy to miss the twists that blow across the screen.

Despite all the camaraderie, natural beauty and exotic weather, though, you couldn't pay me enough to live there, especially not when there's a movie like this to show me what I'm missing.

Maybe you can skip the movie and just watch the credits.

The only danger with a movie like this is the inevitably disappointing return to more humdrum reality once it ends.

This movie about a great woman and a great man ends up merely good.

The best part of "Mockingjay -- Part 1" is when Katniss sings "The Hanging Tree."

Ignorance is bliss, maybe. If you don't know (and the film doesn't tell you, though the press notes do) that Diplomacy plays fast and loose with the known facts, it's a thrilling, even moving drama. But learning the truth gives an unpleasant aftertaste to a movie that's otherwise a solid piece of work.

"Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove" is a line that could raise the spirit of any political prisoner, and Stewart's message -- that journalists risk their lives in pursuit of the truth every day around the world -- couldn't be timelier or more heartfelt.

Occasionally, particularly when it sticks to simple slapstick, the movie wins a laugh. But the majority of it isn't just dumb and dumber, or even crude and cruder. At nearly two hours, it's just dull — and duller.

It's similar to 2011's "The Loneliest Planet," which examined a similar dynamic between a couple backpacking in the Caucasus Mountains. But Force Majeure (which, as a legal term, refers to unforeseeable events or "acts of God") is sharper and smarter, combining precision-strike storytelling, directorial art, and impressive, often invisible visual effects, including that avalanche scene.

The people are pretty, the music scenes are well-staged (they're supposed to be crude and corny, right?) and we've needed a silly romance for a while now. But for all its hugs and kisses, the film refuses to embrace itself.

Laggies doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it puts an engaging spin on the old canard about high school being the best years of our lives.