For all the work that went into the whimsical creatures and painterly palette, the voice actors more or less steal the show.

With the exception of a decent train-top chase, Torque is all vroom and no action.

Has the punch of a good Western with a clean and direct script plus an adventurous use of songs and folk paintings.

Might be a lame, formulaic comedy, but it sets up entertaining sequences cleverly designed for the talents of three of its stars and has the good sense to get out of the way and let audiences enjoy their performances.

It's a touching movie that, like the best animes, transcends the limitations of the genre.

The most damning account of the failure of the criminal justice system in America anyone is ever likely to see.

Chases romance and comedy across Europe for nearly two hours without ever quite catching either. Essentially a teenage rendition of William Wyler's immortal "Roman Holiday."

Will best be appreciated by those already familiar with the fashion world in general and Saint Laurent in particular.

While visually stylish and thematically ambitious, Secret Things is ultimately more preposterous than provocative, its vague explorations of sexual and class struggle failing to coalesce in a coherent manner.

This offbeat take on "The African Queen" stumbles on a couple of awkward transitions, but generally succeeds on the merits of Collette's unerring ability to carry the viewer along her constantly changing emotional landscape.

A wonderfully vivid and engaging theatrical experience.

A nifty science-fiction twist on the old amnesia plot where a guy spends most of a movie trying to remember what he did and why everyone is after him.

Designed to maximize the visual opportunities for Imax's cameras even as it minimizes the dramatic conflicts that make for a satisfying moviegoing experience.

A somber, often downbeat depiction of human savagery and treachery as well as of human kindness. Writer-director Anthony Minghella has meticulously crafted an intimate epic.

Thanks to Martin and Hunt, who both have a seemingly casual flair for mining laughs from even the most generic lines of dialogue, Cheaper by the Dozen works better than it might have in less capable hands, but even they're challenged by some of the picture's forced mood swings.

The film suffers from uneven acting, an over-reliance on production values and an uncertainty over how dangerous the children's adventures should be.

Challenges audiences with an unrelieved portrait of self-destruction and horrific violence. American movies don't get much grimmer than this.

First conceived as a documentary, this debut feature from Geoffrey Enthoven betrays its origins via its naturalistic, raw style and occasionally suffers from aimlessness and poor pacing.

It's a real-life story adapted into a grown-up comedy that is warm, winning and sexy. Call it "The Full Auntie."

Arguably the most conventional documentary made by Errol Morris and, perhaps equally surprising, it displays sympathy toward its subject.

Perfect holiday entertainment, albeit for those small fry who can read English subtitles.

Rote characterizations and a trite, even condescending, attitude toward that era's misguided mores robs the film of the satiric punch Todd Haynes delivered in "Far From Heaven."

The carefully laid foundation of suspense and dread, with its symmetries and crisp dialogue, is squandered in a clumsy pileup of credulity-stretching cataclysmic events.

A crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero.

An epic success and a history-making production that finishes with a masterfully entertaining final installment.

Filmmaker Devlin details this complicated series of events with clarity, a sense of drama and more than a few touches of dark humor.

The technique adds little in the way of illumination and a lot in terms of inducing a migraine.

Has the hallmarks of a top-notch Jewison production -- splendid performances, especially from leads Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton and Jeremy Northam, a pulse-quickening pace and production values that establish story and character within a distinct environment.

What distinguishes Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender's film from the many similarly themed efforts that have preceded it is that it tells a morality tale of a man whose hubris partially led to his downfall and whose willingness to work for his Nazi overseers resulted in one of the most notorious propaganda films of the era.

Instantly forgettable.

While it has its moments of pure Farrelly inspiration and swell performances from Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear...the patented blend of the outrageous and the sweet that has become the brothers' trademark struggles to find the desired balance here.

The film also does something quite remarkable for an American film: It makes middle-age love look sexy and hugely satisfying.

This is an art film in spades.

A misfire. The film that wants to be lighter than air instead crashes to earth with the swiftness of a concrete parachute.

Both an appealing coming-of-age yarn and, as Monsieur Ibrahim embraces his own mortality, a heartfelt coming-of-aging saga.

There's a refreshing frankness to the film's treatment of its sordid subject matter that more than compensates for its technical limitations. The three performers inhabit their roles with, yes, an emotional truth that is bracing. This is particularly true of Ivey.

A decidedly upbeat number, centered on a good-hearted character.

Hugely satisfying entertainment that will attract a broad spectrum of audiences around the world. Zwick fully exploits the star power at his disposal, pairing off Cruise and Japanese star Ken Watanabe as two larger-than-life warriors.

Demanding but deeply affecting, My Flesh and Blood ultimately takes on a literal, highly visceral meaning that transcends notions of conventional family dynamics.

An ultimately moving effort that well illustrates the often hopeless situation faced by the people whose lives it depicts.

Glorious so-bad-it's-good entertainment.

A refreshing throwback to another era of moviemaking: This movie was poured from the bottle, not one of those bar regulator machines. It's got the kick, style and flavor of a straight-up story, before movies were watered down with the opinions of marketers, lawyers and committee heads.

Pleasant and atmospheric family romp, offering enough mildly chilling thrills to keep everyone entertained during its brief running time.

Layered with elements that are both amusing and touching but never threatening to collapse into a big heap of sentimental mush.

Happens to be extremely funny -- at times sidesplittingly so -- thanks to Zwigoff's way with raw irreverence and Thornton's perfectly pitched, ready-for-anything performance.

Episodic in its storytelling, the film never really achieves any true narrative momentum. But individual scenes do register strongly.

There's little to distinguish this tale from the countless similar efforts that have preceded it, other than the exoticism of its setting. The performers do manage to bring some life to their characters.

Resembling a short story more than a narrative feature, the film tells its slender story in leisurely fashion, relying more on mood and atmosphere than dialogue or character development.

A stunning virtuoso performance by director, cast and crew. This movie knocks you out with an astonishing blend of hyper-realism, visual complexity and powerful themes.

For a while there, Mathieu Kassovitz's atmospherically charged direction sucks the viewer into the story's hellish vortex. That is until the film becomes possessed by an increasingly ludicrous beyond-the-grave element from which there is no rational return.

Emerges as a lackluster and nearly charmless affair.

Ultimately unable to overcome both its amateurish qualities and its overly familiar elements.

This murky, thriller-tinged Western has the terrain down cold -- from the wide-open spaces to the rocky vistas -- but beneath all the requisite genre trappings there's a vast, empty gulch where the affecting dramatic element should have been found.

This well-made epic boasts carefully researched production values and the talents of classically trained actors, but by literally playing it by the book, the picture loses something dramatic in the translation.

A poet warrior of the first order emerges in this riveting chronicle of the brief life and times of rap superstar Tupac Shakur.

It will never be confused with the groundbreaking "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," but when it comes to a zippy live-action-meets-animation kid flick with plenty of grown-up gags, Looney Tunes: Back in Action does not disappoint.

The epic adventure, set during the Napoleonic Wars, boasts at least two artists at the top of their respective games -- namely filmmaker Peter Weir and actor Russell Crowe.

Earns an A for effort but a much lower grade in the entertainment department.

At once impressive and indulgent, hypnotic and patience-inducing with its languorous rhythms. It is, in other words, decidedly not for everyone.

Unfortunately demonstrates the same fractured attention span that makes those Oscar-night montages so entertaining.

Tinged with sorrow, compassion, forgiveness and, ultimately, love. More than 25 years after his father's death, Nathaniel visits his father's architectural works and speaks to the people who knew him.

A wacky comedy involving a suicidal marketing executive and his highly irreverent shrink, Martin & Orloff ultimately doesn't fully succeed in its comedic aspirations, but it does offer some genuine laughs along the way.

Will best be appreciated by those who are already firmly in Earle's camp.

A bizarre exercise in perversion that will well test even the most jaded art house audiences' appetite for the offbeat.

Ultimately involves a highly contrived, melodramatic ending that wouldn't have been out of place in a '40s-era film noir.

While Billabong Odyssey ultimately resembles an infomercial more than a coherent cinematic exercise, its spectacular images of well-toned athletes battling with the world's largest waves should find a receptive audience of those so inclined.

Long on atmosphere and Old World charm.

While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, Elf is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat.

Reminds you of an elaborate Christmas card that tumbles apart with pop-up figures, silly/charming greetings and perhaps even a jingle. It probably cost more than the gift it heralds, and you can't help but laugh at the audacity of such an aggressively cheerful card.

A worthy title for cable nets scheduling hard-hitting documentary fare

Ending with neither a bang nor a whimper, the finale falls somewhere in between. It's an improvement over its concurrently shot, babbling predecessor, but it ultimately fails to capture any of that jaw-dropping sense of exhilaration that made the original such a must-see event.

Often gripping footage, and the finished product resembles a taut if at times confusing and inadvertently comic political thriller.

Ultimately too sluggish and disjointed to have much cumulative impact.

Although the substance could have used more visual style, Ray tells an uncluttered story and draws strong performances from his actors.

The thriller aspects of the story and the overall solid level of acting -- including a sexy performance from a red-hot Nicole Kidman -- keep the audience interested but never fully emotionally involved.

An eye-opening sociological examination that is alternately moving and tedious.

Keith Gordon's brave attempt to make cinematic sense of Potter's 1986 BBC mini "The Singing Detective" at least has the advantage of a screenplay finished by Potter before his death. But problems of style and tone bedevil the earnest effort.

The cast, which includes Alfre Woodard and Debra Winger, manages to give thoughtful performances that salvage the film's integrity.

A playful movie that celebrates nature and the spirit world with striking imagery and a smooth blend of drama and comedy.

Ends up committing the spoof genre's worst crime: becoming a tired parody of itself.

Even assuming the best possible motives by its makers, Beyond Borders runs the risk of making human suffering exotic while glamorizing white disaster relief workers in the Third World.

A scattershot exercise whose points of interest are surrounded by too much that is trivial. Still, the film earns points for its examination of politics and the political process.

Emerges as a frustrating cop-out.

This feature glimpse into the Bell Jar is an exercise in drudgery, with nothing particularly insightful or revealing to say about the charter member of the Suicidal Poets Society and the artistic endeavor in which she would make her indelible mark.

A luminous performance from Cate Blanchett lies at the heart of Joel Schumacher's impressive drama.

Like a juicy steak served to a man suffering on a diet of micro-greens and tofu, Runaway Jury will be devoured by fans of movie melodramas.

This particular reconceptualization actually does an impressive job of capturing the nasty dread of the original. It certainly is a vast improvement over those previous remakes/sequels.

This warm and scruffy film may strike some as a mere period piece, but it's juiced with recognizable family trauma and garnished with a quirky sensibility -- it's the portrait of a group of people we come to care about.

Witless, sophomoric and relentlessly frenetic, 9 Dead Gay Guys... is about as funny and understated as its title.

Bored audiences enduring this talky, aimless film might wish that they, too, were watching the porno film that is seen only in brief snippets.

Chabrol has been making and remaking this film for six decades now. He seemingly will never tire of explaining how tired he is of the petit bourgeoisie.

Mostly, Good Boy! exists for the middle section where youngsters and dogs speak the same language. These escapades, all taking place under the adults' radar, generate many sound laughs.

Although cheap looking and amateurishly acted, Flesh for the Beast, which features a music score by the eccentric guitarist Buckethead, doesn't invite huge critical derision, if only for the palpable enthusiasm of both the cast and filmmaker for their gory shenanigans.

The Coen brothers had a golden opportunity to make a darkly humorous, deliciously clever battle of the sexes, and they let it slip through their fingers. Instead, the duo... settled for a broad farce that is long on manic, cartoonish behavior and short on intelligence and wit.

Laughable performances.

The one-gag camp-athon has gone over big at gay film festivals, but in theatrical release this debut feature from theater/TV veteran Richard Day has limited appeal. Its best bet will be as a rental item.

Is Kill Bill a homage to great Asian action movies? Yes. Is Tarantino trying to outdo his cherished masters (on a budget that dwarfs their films)? Of course. Is there any other point of any of this? Let's see "Vol. 2."

Voices overcome some used story conventions to give it a very specific charm of its own.