An energetic young cast, consisting of a mix of professional dancers and actors who do convincing imitations of Arthur Murray graduates, is positively inspired in numbers combining traditional ballroom steps with hip-hop.

Qualifies as a mild success. It's an easy picture to like, even if it's not exactly satisfying.

It's a first feature film for both screenwriter Alex Rose and director Gaby Dellal, and their inexperience shows in Frank's underdeveloped relationships with family and friends and in the movie's sluggish pacing.

Sir! No Sir! is far from a dry rehashing of what may seem for some like ancient history. Driving guitar rock and lively editing add to the film's urgency. The voices of the veterans alone, however, make this an important and poignant film that can speak to any generation.

An ideal introduction to Toback's output as well as a welcome elucidation for longtime fans. Apart from those worthy functions, The Outsider is also shrewdly made, illuminating its subject in a variety of settings and, at times, subtly assuming the style of Toback's films.

This is a small -- if rough -- gem of a film.

There's no other film like it. It's embarrassingly frank and self-revealing, sometimes funny, sometimes creepy, sometimes both.

The sequel is one big tease.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age saga that will make you laugh and cry, maybe at the same time.

Less a story than a series of complicated slapstick bits.

In a variety of forms, Slither excels in imaginative gore and shows that first-time director James Gunn has learned much about the joys of linking humor and horror.

A weird and near-perfect polyglot of indie art film and noir mystery.

The result, although a great idea, doesn't translate into a great movie.

A genuinely affecting love story with something to say about such contemporary obstacles to affection as weird families, hot exes, addictions, anonymous hookups, homophobia, irony, gay two-stepping -- and the difficulty of connecting no matter what gender you go for.

A one-of-a-kind cinematic experience. This musician may not be a genius along the lines of Brain Wilson, as Feuerzeig claims, but Johnston has a knack for revealing innermost thoughts in an offhand way that is eerie and uncanny.

An attempt at a beautiful film about renewal -- about past love, love lost, longing and rediscovery -- but it has no emotional truth.

A potent social allegory told with humor and mystery.

You might if you have a strong interest in and at least a general familiarity with Buddhism. If not, the film is a crashing bore, and does little to help the novice understand what the religion is all about.

A proper labor of love profiling many of the principles involved in the making of the films, peppered with a generous helping of wonderful clips.

Anyone who puts production gloss above performance, plot, dialogue and editing may thrill to Drawing Restraint 9.

The thrills in Spike Lee's singularly savvy thriller are in small unexpected moments.

Works better as unintentional comedy than horror.

At its best, Mermin -- who used an all-female crew -- conveys the sense of an entirely feminine world being created under the beauty school roof, and it's refreshing.

Well-intentioned but lifeless.

For all the squalor and extremely upsetting subject matter, you can't take your eyes off the screen.

Some say all the great movie stars are gone, but I say we've still got Charles Busch. A one-man archive of vanished showbiz glamour and period acting styles, Busch has reincarnated the great ladies of stage and screen in such camp treasures as "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom" and "Psycho Beach Party."

Almost so bad it's good. Almost.

This so-called comedy is so not funny, it makes "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" look like Chaplin.