With Desplechin, it doesn't ever feel as though he's straining to show us things. It's more like we're just hanging out. We're in this house, and by some strange coincidence, every time we turn around, something interesting is happening.

A compelling Irish drama.

A remarkable cast for a small, non-mainstream effort.

Doesn't hit its stride until the last 30 minutes, and by then, it's just a little too late.

A funny and twisted movie from beginning to end, closing with an emotional payoff.

A shrewd satire about stardom and the cult of celebrity.

Told from a different angle than any other Holocaust film I've seen.

A nice surprise, surpassing the quality of the first film.

This illuminating film by director Gini Reticker and producer Abigail Disney is a much-needed attempt to put the spotlight on a moment of history that still inspires, especially because that moment led to Taylor's exile and to Liberia's election of Africa's first female head of state.

Needless to say, Soul Men has a lot to overcome in its effort to be funny.

Along with the awkward romantic exchanges that always seem to find their way into Smith's movies, there's also a sweetness that you don't often see in films that average multiple f-words per minute.

It is exactly as one might imagine it: slapstick humor, gross-out monsters and more self-referential digs per minute than "Arrested Development."

As presented in "What Just Happened?" the world of Hollywood looks like a very expensive, lethal version of high school, not fun to live in, but lots of fun from a safe distance.

Strikes a surprising array of notes: scary, sad and hopeful. The director, Tomas Alfredson, does a great job of presenting peril in the film.

The temptation to be emphatic about Synecdoche, New York is overwhelming but should be resisted, because the movie really is a mixed bag. A particularly odd mix.

A disturbing film about grim subject matter, but the overall experience is more exhilarating than saddening. There's just something satisfying about seeing a movie so well made.

Kristin Scott Thomas' performance in I've Loved You So Long is one of a small handful of highlights by which people will remember this year in movies. This is acting at its most exalted.

Hackl weaves scenes from the previous films into this one in clever ways, without adding to the confusion. The director also does a good job of maintaining the dark tone, which includes FBI offices that look as if they're being illuminated by night-lights, and dungeons that look as if you'd catch a venereal disease or two just by touching the door handles.

A single 125-minute monstrosity of a cop movie.

Unfortunately, the writing has become so bad that it becomes impossible to keep your head in the game - even as your toes continue to tap to the beat.

That's the real problem with this melodrama. Whether or not you agree with the pacifist message, the presentation is often overwrought and maudlin.

Reminded me of the occasional thrill of coming upon Haring's puzzling, unsigned chalk drawings in the New York subway at the turn of the 1980s, before he made a name for himself above ground.

The result is more lyrical than frightening - and there are some misses mixed in with the hits - but it's well worth checking out.

Not for the faint of heart.

In the end, W. makes up in immediacy what it lacks in objectivity.

Filth & Wisdom is dead in the water, an excruciating bore even at a compact 84 minutes.

With its flat story, numbed-out protagonist, and faux artistic lighting and set design - everything is dark or moody or darkishly moody or moodily dark - Max Payne seems a good half hour longer than its running time.

Has a made-for-television style.