It's an uplifting motion picture that will bring smiles to faces, and Boyle's trademark irreverence keeps the feel-good experience from becoming too saccharine.

Lacks both a focus and an edge, making it an amorphous mess.

This movie probably falls within the purview of a "love it/hate it" subgenre of the psychological thriller.

Offensive because it offers little more than unleavened stupidity in the place of the family-friendly action and comedy it promises.

The end result is an unremarkable, unmemorable movie that deserves neither praise nor approbation.

If there's the kernel of a good story buried somewhere deep in Cursed, it never pops. As werewolf movies go, this one is on par with "An American Werewolf in Paris," but at least that dud had plenty of gore and Julie Delpy's bare breasts to recommend it.

It will bore you.

An accomplished film that uses dark humor to leaven its serious topics.

Constantine will appeal most strongly to those with a penchant for vivid cinematic comic book adaptations.

Downfall and Bruno Ganz are deserving of Oscars they will not get.

Bright, colorful, and exhilarating.

Hitch is 2005's lone legitimate contender for a Valentine's Day movie date.

Passably interesting, occasionally compelling, sporadically amusing, and badly lacking in focus.

This is a charmless, lifeless affair that had me leaving the theater in a mood more appropriate to a funeral than a wedding.

As a feel-good movie about disabled youths, Rory O'Shea Was Here gets the job done, but it isn't interesting or daring enough to make it worth a trip to a theater.

It is a ghastly experience, and I left the theater feeling as if I had waded neck-deep through a stream of raw sewage.

For what it is, Assault on Precinct 13 delivers. It's not great art, but, for B-movie fans and those looking for a mid-winter jolt of energy, it's good fun.

The main problem with Coach Carter can be summed up simply: too much sermonizing.

One of the least effective comic book-to-movie stories to have come along in the past few years. Without a viable screenplay, there's nowhere for the character to go, and no way to avoid making her look silly.

You may end up being pleasantly surprised, especially if you have a ten-year old girl in tow.

Heartfelt, but not to the degree that it becomes cloying.

White Noise has nothing. You'll have a better time staying home, tuning your TV to a station that doesn't carry a local signal, and staring.

Has two strengths to recommend it: strong character interaction and a viciously accurate depiction of the modern corporate philosophy.

Intriguing but ultimately unfulfilling.

The acting by Scarlett Johansson is so raw and sincere that the film leaves an impact despite its deficiencies.

This is another movie where politics trump the narrative.

It takes a confident actor to accept a role like this and to perform it to flawless perfection.

The problem lies in the screenplay which latches on to the few clever and/or funny elements in the film and runs them into the ground via repetition.

Ultimately, however, appreciation of The Phantom of the Opera will hinge upon your opinion of Lloyd Webber's skills as a composer.

This role could represent a career performance for Cheadle, whose forceful and multi-dimensional portrayal keeps Hotel Rwanda at a consistently high level.

A flawed but entertaining (and perhaps informative) tale.

Manages to remain witty throughout.

trong on characters and relationships, but weak on some of the details that would elevate it from merely "good" to "great."

This remake replaces suspense with boredom and witty dialogue with lame lines any self-respecting actor should be embarrassed to utter.

Saved by energetic musical numbers.

The Sea Inside is uplifting. This is a movie that may cause viewers to both laugh and cry.

It is a rich and challenging motion picture that both affirms life and emphasizes its fragility. Eastwood touches our hearts and energizes our minds without resorting to overt manipulation.

Enjoyable, and will likely appeal to anyone who appreciated the 2001 film.

It is not as engaging as "The Royal Tenenbaums," but about on par with "Rushmore" and "Bottle Rocket."

Take away the film's attitude, and you're left with "Son of Van Helsing."

This is most definitely NOT a date movie. But if you appreciate films that are more substance than style, that take challenges and don't follow formulas, and that feature Oscar-caliber performances, Closer is not to be missed.

If you think "Hero" is a sumptuous film, prepare to be blown away by House of Flying Daggers.

Starts slowly, but builds to a satisfying conclusion.

By de-mythologizing Alexander, Stone has turned him into an unbelievable individual. We accept great deeds from great people, not from sniveling whiners.

Not an abomination, although it is uninspired and insipid. As such, it's perfect television fare.

National Treasure's storyline isn't compelling or coherent enough to warrant the term "plot."

Ultimately, Bad Education must be considered to be a minor effort from a major director.

After the Sunset is a mess, but it's a breezy, fun mess.

Compelling and life-affirming.

Die-hard fans are advised to wait for the video. Everyone else would be better off pretending that this movie doesn't exist. In the long run, you'll have a higher opinion of everyone involved.

This is a fine motion picture with a couple of superlative performances. It is arguably the best, most honest bio-pic of the year.

Cinematic magic.

This is a mixed bag - passable entertainment made palatable largely by Law, but the question of "Why?" (more than "What's it all about?") still lingers where this remake is concerned.

Isn't just fine family entertainment, it's superior family entertainment.

Sluggish, conventional, and almost completely lacking in energy.

Saw is for hard-gore horror aficionados only.

Stay away from Birth not because of what goes on (or doesn't) in a bathtub, but because this is not a very good movie.

It's likely that 2004 won't offer a better movie about a mid-life crisis.

Pretty much a one-trick pony, and, after a while, that trick loses its ability to impress.

Can't decide whether it wants to be a black comedy, dumb farce, or sentimental sit-com.

A harrowing experience for those to whom this sort of story appeals.

Although there is violence and danger, this is less about the chase than it is about the relationship between the siblings.

The film's central flaw is that the characters are haphazardly developed, and don't come across as more interesting than the props.

This movie is more of a curiosity than a fully formed motion picture.

I walked out of the original Shall We Dance? with a silly grin on my face. I left this one shaking my head, wondering where it had all gone wrong.

Because I so enjoyed the last 45 minutes, I'm tempted to recommend it. The problem is that you have to sit through an hour to get to the worthwhile parts.

An intriguing and satisfying romance that may hold some appeal even for those who normally do not like films about affairs of the heart.

Fatoumata Coulibaly's peformance is striking. She plays her character with a mixture of determination and compassion.

For those who have the patience to become absorbed in this kind of drama, Vera Drake offers a stunningly real character portrait whose image will linger long after the movie has faded.

Berg's picture is certainly an above average effort that provides a solid emotional punch.

For every thing that Stage Beauty does right, it fumbles at least one other element, resulting in a movie-going experience that is of the glass half-full/half-empty variety.

One could argue that such an approach isn't all bad - after all, it allows us to know and like the characters - but there are times when Ladder 49 gets a little too cute.

Represents solid family entertainment, and will find a special place in the hearts of those who adore the "Godfather" movies and the TV series "The Sopranos."

A lot of people are going to describe it as a waste of time, yet there's a likeability to the quirky characters that held my interest while tickling my funny bone.

This is an unusual source of entertainment.

This could easily go down as the year's best example of solid acting in a wretched motion picture.

Tracey Ullman is a bright spot in an otherwise sordid, murky production.

Understands baseball and the men who play it, and, for a film about the sport, that's half the battle.

A crowd-pleaser.

70% style and 30% substance. It has a plot and characters, but those are almost beside the point.

That Sayles is able to say these things in the context of a compelling story with well-defined characters makes this one of the early fall triumphs of 2004.

A respectable caper movie in the tradition of "The Sting" and David Mamet's "Heist."

One has the sense that if the level of violence had been ratcheted up a little, Paparazzi might have been more of a guilty pleasure and less of a chore to watch.

As the movie approached the end credits, I cared about what happened to these characters, and that made the coincidences and occasional missteps forgivable.

Despite its flaws, the movie is compulsively watchable, and few will be bored by it. It's a charming movie that falls short of greatness, but is still worth a solid recommendation.

The Brown Bunny is one long, self-indulgent bore topped off with a hard-core porn scene featuring Gallo and co-star Chloë Sevigny.

If there's a drawback, it's that the plot is trite. Hero is an exemplary example of visual poetry. The narrative is clearly of secondary concern.

So bad that it will annoy and/or bore those who have minimal standards and a high tolerance for sewage.

By entering such fertile, intellectually stimulating and psychologically rich territory, Estes provides us with a freshman feature that is far beyond the generic coming-of-age tale Mean Creek initially seems to be.

One of the best thrillers I have seen this year: tight, taut, and unpredictable.

The film is critic-proof and it will find an audience, but it's hard to imagine even the film's target demographic (teenage boys) being overly enthusiastic about the product. It's disposable entertainment of the worst kind.

The limp movie seems to be an attempt by an Australian to mimic a bad American romantic comedy, and, unfortunately, he succeeds admirably.

Cruise is chillingly credible as the cold, cruel Vincent. And Foxx shows unexpected depth and humanity as Max, whose night encapsulates the cliché about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ron Livingstone plays his part relatively straight, and, as a result, comes out unscathed.

Code 46 is like "Solaris" without the psychological depth and strong acting. The movie is flat, boring, pointless, and nonsensical.

It offers genuine scares and chills without the self-aware, packaged feel of many horror/thriller films.

The result, regardless of how it was arrived at, is gutless.

Watching a misfire like Thunderbirds illustrates how impressive the "Spy Kids" movies are.