When it comes to comedy, Deck the Halls is remarkably tedious.

Denzel Washington plays Denzel Washington, good cop. This isn't a great performance, but Washington wasn't brought in to show off his acting chops.

In the end, you have to possess a sweet spot for Black and his antics to find Tenacious D more than barely watchable.

This is no longer the James Bond we know from the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s. Welcome to the new world of MI6's most storied agent.

Happy Feet ends on an upbeat note with singing and dancing, but the weaknesses that precede it deflate the euphoria.

Despite being well made and supremely acted, Candy is a true feel-bad experience.

One of the great frustrations associated with Fast Food Nation is the way it drops subplots.

For Your Consideration will not go down as one of Guest's crown jewels, but it's nevertheless engaging.

The resulting finished project is a series of skits performed by famous people doing favors for a friend, and it works about as well as one might expect from such an endeavor.

Gorgeous photography and strong acting keep the formula from becoming stale. For those who don't mind pictures that fall into predictable rhythms, A Good Year represents a pleasant diversion.

Harsh Times occasionally echoes "Taxi Driver," Ayer's own "Training Day," and even "First Blood" in the way it examines the psychological disintegration of a character and the seduction of amorality.

Stranger than Fiction is a wonderful cinematic experience - a welcome way to spend a chilly autumn evening.

This is a Beauty & the Beast romance between Nicole Kidman and Chewbacca.

This is one of those middle-of-the-road art pictures that will impress some music lovers and attract a small audience, but won't really excite anyone. Copying Beethoven does not do for its title composer what Amadeus did for Mozart, and that's a shame.

The variation keeps things fresh and the relatively short running length (less than 90 minutes) ensures that Borat doesn't overstay its welcome - even though when it's all done, we wish this absurd man might have lingered a little longer.

It's better than 90% of the animated fare of the last few years. It's refreshing not to have to qualify the movie's appeal by appending the words, "for the kids."

There's some potential in this storyline, but the movie doesn't do much with it besides giving Martin Short an opportunity to put on the fat suit.

Although Volver has a tendency to stray too far down tangential paths, it is ultimately satisfying.

Catch a Fire isn't edgy like some of Noyce's previous titles nor is it a big-budget endeavor with A-list stars. Instead, it's a simple and sincere tale of inspiration.

Its complex (yet not mystifying) storytelling, forceful character development, and superb cinematography make this a candidate for one of 2006's best offerings.

Death of a President is celluloid mediocrity. It's neither interesting nor convincing.

Three adjectives spring to mind when describing Marie Antoinette: odd, irritating, and tedious.

Character development is of secondary importance to narrative and theme. As a result, we never really get to know any of the film's protagonists.

There's plenty going on but never any real magic.

For 60 minutes, the movie appears to have found the right tone and approach, then everything goes wrong. It's rare to see a production that starts so strongly finish so weakly.

With Deliver Us from Evil, Berg has been uncompromising in the picture she paints. She pulls no punches and makes no apologies.

"Capote" is the more intellectual of the two films; Infamous is the more emotional. They exist to complement, not eclipse, one another.

Tideland is, by turns, a complete bore and a creepy experience. And I don't mean "creepy" in a positive sense.