The problem with The Book of Eli is that the narrative isn't a match for its sentiments. The script feels like it's an iteration or two short of a final draft.

It's not comfortable but it is engrossing.

On balance, however, there are more things to like about Daybreakers than to dislike. The production is loaded with impressive touches, some more nuanced than others.

We believe the dislike at the onset but not the romance at the payoff. And that's a major flaw.

From the beginning, it's apparent that there's something "off" about Youth in Revolt. It's not that the film is fatally flawed, but the tone is uneven, the satire is blunt, the comedy rarely generates more than feeble laughs, and the lead character never comes fully to life.

Wonderful World feels like a modern-day half-baked riff on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

As in all powerful films, the content unfolds onion-like, with each level being peeled back to show something fascinating beneath.

The reason Sherlock Holmes fails at least as often as it succeeds is because more effort and attention was lavished upon the concept than upon the script. Given a worthy story, Downey's Holmes might have been memorable. Here, he's an interesting character in search of a worthwhile story.

Ends up being one of the end-year's best sources of pure entertainment. And for those who believe laughter is the best medicine, there's more than a bellyful or two to be found here.

A movie assembled from diverse pieces that don't quite match. It's the cinematic equivalent of a patchwork quilt.

Did You Hear about the Morgans? Yes and, to be perfectly frank, I wish I had been spared the experience.

Avatar is entertainment of the highest order. It's the best movie of 2009.

Despite following its stage inspiration and bringing structure to Fellini's "8 1/2" (the ultimate source material), Nine still suffers at times from a lack of narrative drive and it doesn't have the surreal, dreamlike quality of "8 1/2" to fall back upon.

The Young Victoria feels like a wasted opportunity and is among the least impressive in a long line of motion pictures about British royalty.

Crazy Heart is the country music version of "The Wrestler": a grizzled veteran whose days in the spotlight are behind him struggles to keep going while seeing the world through a haze of regret and booze.

The story told by Jackson's The Lovely Bones is the same as the one related by Sebold, but it lacks the complexity and empathy evident in the book.

Eastwood has crafted something that works both as a sports drama and as an examination of the birth pains of the racially unified South Africa.

A Single Man tells us about love, isolation, and sorrow, but never makes us feel any of those things.

Brothers is arguably the most successful remake of a foreign film since Martin Scorsese reworked "Infernal Affairs" into "The Departed" and won the Oscar.

Reitman brings the same mixture of comedy and drama to this movie that he brought to "Juno."

The movie works because so much of what's on screen will resonate with viewers.

It's fascinating to see how life imitates art; the closing months of Tolstoy's life read like something he might have penned. One need not be familiar with "War and Peace," "Anna Karenina," or anything else written by the Russian great to appreciate the movie, however.

The movie The Road is nowhere close to its literary sire, but it's probably the best one could hope for from a movie version.

Randy Newman's songs are catchy and are effective within the movie's context, but I can't see any of them having "legs" beyond the screen the way tunes from the earlier animated musicals did.

What's wrong with this movie? A better question might be: What's right? Every attempt at comedy is not only obvious but delivered in such a forced manner that any hope of generating laughter dies before the joke has been told.

Designed primarily for those who are intrigued by theater, curious about Welles, or some combination of both.

The storyline is all over the place, with numerous unresolved subplots sprouting out of thin air and being left hanging (presumably to be resolved in future movies).

In a head-to-head comparison, one would be hard-pressed not to declare that "Precious" is the better film - it makes fewer compromises and doesn't shy from showing the true ugliness only hinted at in this movie, but The Blind Side is more accessible. It's easier to digest. In the end, both films tell stories of triumph over adversity - a category of drama that uplifts while offering a dollop of social commentary.