The Mission is beautiful to look at, features impeccable period and setting detail, and offers a fascinating and tragic backstory, but it falls short in many simple human qualities. Overall, it's an impressive motion picture, but lacks the epic greatness sometimes associated with it.

The film is worth seeing for the humor and for its high level of energy, but it falls short of being the "complete package." It's probably a better pick for home viewing than a trip to a theater.

There's something to be said for the power of a classic, even if it has been given an imperfect makeover.

The real problem with Desperado, however, is that this sequel is without purpose and may be the most unnecessary follow-up since the second "Crocodile Dundee."

If the mandate for any new interpretation is to offer something fresh, one is left wondering what this version claims as its justification for taking up over two hours of our time.

It’s all in good fun, if a little shallow.

There are enough similarities between the movie and "Pride and Prejudice" that one could be forgiven thinking this screenplay is Austen lite.

There are moments when The Relic is almost enjoyable, albeit in a visceral sort of way. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, this horror/science fiction amalgamation seems like nothing more ambitious than a bad reworking of elements from Aliens, Species, Jaws, and Predator.

The movie hits its stride when it deals directly with the concert. The more peripheral Elliot is to the story, the better things become.

The period detail is impeccable and The Devil All the Time gets high marks for its establishment of time and place.

The Brothers Bloom with satisfy those with a yearning for lighthearted heist tales, comedies, and offbeat romances.

Taken as little more than six disconnected shorts featuring the same group of players in different roles, Cloud Atlas works. It's entertaining and the manner in which it has been edited reduces one's tendency to lose patience with the less engaging stories.

Anthony Hopkins is probably a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination.

Unfortunately, Kelly’s reach exceeds his grasp and the movie’s thematic content comes across as muddled and superficial.

Instead of focusing on FDR as a president, this movie gives up half its length to tawdry soap opera.

Old is as wrinkled and decrepit as the title makes it sound.

Dark Shadows is a mess, and it's unclear whether its bizarre recipe of comedy, campy horror, and gothic melodrama will satisfy anyone, regardless of their familiarity with the source material.

The film maintains a light tone and, although that creates a breezy, unforced approach, it also undercuts tension. (If they were trying to replicate the delicate balance achieved by Wes Craven in Scream, they haven’t completely succeeded.)

There are occasional nice moments scattered throughout, but this is mostly a big, uncomfortable cartoon focused on the twisted attraction between two caricatures.

Gripping and compelling, and doesn't make us wish we had checked our brains at the theater entrance.

As ghost stories go, this one is handled with great subtlety and delicacy.

Despite the predictability of the overall story arc, there's suspense and tension to be found between the credit sequences, but the movie is saddled with an ending that is both improbable and borderline insulting.

Unfortunately, despite a surfeit of talent in front of and behind the camera, the movie is unable to overcome a shaky narrative whose increasing preposterousness ensures it’s difficult to take seriously.

Although the idea behind Yesterday was to craft a love-letter to The Beatles, the end result tastes a lot like a typical Richard Curtis rom-com with a generous helping of John-Paul-George-Ringo gravy.

The transformation sequences on their own are disturbing enough to upset sensitive viewers (even though the first one doesn't occur until an hour into the 97 minute film, making the first two-thirds of the movie relatively tame, with the exception of a few appearances by Jack, who looks like a "walking meatloaf").

From the sluggish introduction to the chaotic heist scenes (which happen quickly and haphazardly), the first 45 minutes of Ambulance struggle to find any sort of rhythm. Once the protracted ambulance chase begins, the film is on firmer footing and viewers will recognize aspects of the familiar Speed template, but the movie never achieves anything more substantive than being impressive eye candy. After a while, it becomes more exhausting than exhilarating.

The film clearly wants to be more than just a run-of-the-mill horror-thriller but the allegorical aspects are half-baked and the attempts to mimic Kubrick’s "A Clockwork Orange" and "Eyes Wide Shut" feel more like campy satire than an homage.

Annaud's desire to create an epic tale actually harms the production, since it results in unnecessary scenes that pad the running length to more than two hours.