Alas, this is a remake without a reason. Alfie can no longer shock us.

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

Director Takashi Shimizu chooses cruel psychological suspense over gore and succeeds in spinning a minimal plot into a panorama of malice.

Since the movie lacks a vision of what Alexander was really about as a man and a figure in history, it falls back all too frequently on movie spectacle.

Despite the unique premise and some truly inspired casting, the picture remains stuck in an existential rut of its own.

The film is less of a drama than a tribute -- an ode, even -- to the spirit and tenacity of firefighters. Its makers hardly bother to explore the lives or motives behind their actions.

Cheerfully disconnected from the real world, bearing a great resemblance to screwball comedies of old.

If you're going to tell a wildly implausible tale of fortune hunting and unlikely heroes, you could do worse than National Treasure.

Unlike his songs, the film holds something back. It goes deep into a life filled with as much trouble and pain as triumph and accomplishment but never quite gets at the root of who Ray is.

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.

While its two credible leads are certainly up to the challenge, there's a relentless claustrophobia that prevents the film from taking on a fully dimensional life of its own.

Because the entire audience knows what's going on, the filmmakers hope to distract viewers from storytelling weaknesses with an urgent sense of style.

A complex and often compelling melodrama, at times almost verging on soap opera.

Code 46 lacks the visceral power of "28 Days Later," as well as what might be termed its "gross-out" appeal.

A teen comedy that possesses a wickedly satirical streak.

Boasts appealing leads and dazzling court play, but the film never rises above its by-the-numbers plot to generate emotional heat.

Like its various post-Cold War European locations, the film remains chilly and distant. Every time you feel like you're finally grabbing hold of something involving, the picture once again spins frustratingly out of reach.

Although A Tale of Two Sisters has some excellent suspense sequences, it falters badly during the dramatic parts.

What the film most damagingly lacks though is a sense of mystery and danger.

Devolves into a repetitive comedy that squanders a hugely talented cast.

Should reasonably please fans of the genre before assuming its place in the horror section of your local video store.

The director's touch of class is consistently present, but it may be a case of the wrong man for the job, since overall film plays unevenly, with a cliche and detached ambiance that robs the plotline of what passion it might have whipped up.

The atmosphere, the buddy stuff and the flashy setting don't make up for the fact that the main story is too distanced throughout much of the movie. Further diluting the film's intensity is the scene structuring; far too often lame expository scenes serve to advance the plot or explain the backstory.

The only thing might have added variety and richness to the film would be the inclusion of more dialogues or interactions with more than one person.

While several of the dance sequences admittedly pack a visual pop, the added dimension does the hokey scripting and some of the acting no favors by amplifying their already noticeable shortcomings.

Utterly disposable but diverting, MacGruber manages to spin feature-length product out of an idea that few would try expanding beyond a "Saturday Night Live" skit.

Jennifer Lopez carries this thin concept about as far and as well as she can, with Alex O'Loughlin in his first leading-man outing managing not to get lost in the shuffle.

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

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

Hernandez's desire to utilize all the armaments of the filmmaker hits the viewer with a visceral force. What could have been a mess turns out to be a success.

A good-natured Indian-American romantic comedy in the style of "Bend It Like Beckham."

Gives these canines the sensual elegance of the Calvin Klein models Weber has so famously photographed. Would that the substance of the film have come close to having the impact of its visuals.

While the film occasionally stretches credibility and is also rather schematic in its characterizations, it tells its tale with skill and economy, and its observations about consumerist Israeli society are critically insightful without being overdone.

Best appreciated for the winning performances of its trio of stars, who convey their characters' desperation with humor and poignancy.

Wastes its promising premise with a wavering tone that veers uneasily between camp humor and, pardon the expression, straightness.

Offers proof that the Korean animation industry is poised for the big leagues.

A diverting blend of "Rear Window"-style suspense and autumnal romance. While the film is ultimately unable to fully succeed on either front, it offers many pleasures along the way.

Fails to overcome its recycled elements but displays a winning spirit that's hard to dislike.

A visually arresting cinematic essay that, unfortunately, makes its points long before its conclusion.

Meredith has woven together a half-dozen portraits of contemporary lives-on-the-edge in this quietly searing drama.

The film reveals the influence of director/co-writer Werthman's profession because it adopts a highly clinical and thoughtful rather than exploitative turn. Although at times one wishes for a little more heat, of both the dramatic and erotic variety, there is an admirable intelligence and restraint on display.

Both in terms of the activities and characters depicted, Rank doesn't truly manage to sustain interest for the course of its feature-length running time.

Cantet keeps a lid on a story that he could have easily exploited, but he makes his points about beauty, fulfillment, self-indulgence and delusion with a measured hand.

One terrific love story sandwiched between two mundane ones in this three-part look at love.

An adulatory documentary that could well have been titled "Ode to Kushner." As good-looking and well-crafted as it is -- cinematographers Eddie Marritz and Don Lenzer, who were on board for Mock's "Maya Lin," as well as Bestor Cram provide the rich visuals -- the film suffers from a crucial lack of perspective.

Offers a litany of images and sound bites that are all too disturbing. Although Ever Again lacks the dramatic focus that would make it truly distinctive, it offers a timely wake-up call that should be well heeded.

Scott's film chronicling the rise of one of the world's fastest-growing sport is best geared to fans, presenting those of us with merely a casual interest with far too much information and repetitive footage of snowboarders in action.

An accomplished and stylistically audacious effort that all too accurately conveys the confusion and mental disarray of its subject's illness, ultimately to its detriment.

While not as balanced or fully satisfying as it should be, Matthew Barney: No Restraint will fit naturally as a pairing for future theatrical and DVD exposures of Barney's controversial works.

Well meaning but less than riveting in its execution, this documentary is far better suited for public television exposure than theatrical release.

A muted psychological mystery where filmmaker Hilary Brougher's interest in "solving" a possible crime is superseded by her investigation into matters involving denial, free will and the physical and emotional burdens of pregnancy.

The film, which thankfully doesn't wear out its welcome with a scant running time of 64 minutes, is fairly prosaic stylistically. But the admittedly rough-hewn footage of the games is thrilling, and the pride and self-respect instilled in the players by their success is still evident today.

Best of all is Holm, who is consistently hilarious as the sarcastic shrink from hell.

Shows tremendous control and discipline, especially for a young filmmaker on her first feature. Director Julia Loktev might be working on a profoundly low budget, but her camera work and lighting are precise and imaginative.

In large part the film succeeds, feeling like a good-natured throwback.

Khan's work, despite great performances, may not ride the popularity charts, and the film may have to content itself with attracting limited arthouse audiences.

Despite effective moments, VanAlkemade's film is too diffuse. He gives us snippets of the group's spirited performances, but their effect on audiences remains unclear.

Brainlessly entertaining action picture.

There are undeniably arresting moments along the way, thanks to Dafoe's subtly intense performance and the well-crafted visuals.

For all of its access and exposure, American Teen seems skin-deep. It's well shot, with good production values and lots of cool music. But it's fun and facile in much the same way reality TV is.

You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy Sixty Six, but it probably wouldn't hurt.

Its impact is weakened by a limp ending and a sense that it all adds up to rather less than the sum of its parts.

A penchant for suffocating close-ups and an overabundance of scenes that go on far too long mar Abdellatif Kechiche's The Secret of the Grain, an otherwise engaging drama about an immigrant Arab family in France.

Although the film is a routine thriller with few surprises, it deserves attention because its topic, even eight years after Sept. 11, is one that many South Asian Americans still take very seriously.

More atmospheric than compelling.

If one thinks of "Babel" minus the melodrama and histrionics, you get a clearer picture of what Moodysson has done here.

The observational detail is impressive and the two men's growing affection is well-drawn but Takerman's depiction of the conventions and strictures of religion and the impulses of two closeted gay men are too understated to achieve universality.

Morbidly fascinating Swedish doc about Berlusconi's Italy hits the mark.

The film's good points, though, are marred by a slow start and a nerve-jangling soundtrack.

This is a slicker, shallower exercise. It's hypnotic as it unfolds, but once the credit roll frees you from its grip, it doesn't bear close scrutiny.

Stylized, pure cinematic retelling of this ancient tale of misogyny will enchant some and bore others.

Displaying his usual mixture of broad, sitcom-style humor and soapy melodramatics, it's an entertaining if hokey effort that his target audience will eat up.

A must for Doors fans as the film attempts to disentangle the facts from the myths surrounding the legendary band.

This is an affectionate portrait rather than a meaningful critical analysis.

Of the many performers captured by D.P. Turaj Aslani's highly mobile video camera, an unframed woman singer identified as Rana Farhan is a standout.

A love note to '30s-era burlesque that plays best for those already invested enough in the milieu to hang on every word of aged strippers.

Some may find the film overly schematic, but Garcia smartly uses three parallel narratives to probe the extraordinary nature of motherhood.

Despite dialogue devoid of subtext, weaknesses in the screenplay and uneven performances, the story, as rendered, has a disarming innocence.

Insightful but ultimately ponderous entertainment.

While the film clips are well chosen, it's disappointing that the director often fails to identify the movies from which they are taken.

Its adult and hard-hitting subject matter probably won't bring in masala-loving family crowds, but it offers a lesson with long-lasting emotional and moral impact for thinking audiences.

Expertly acted, impeccably photographed, intelligently written, even intermittently touching, the film is also too parched and ponderous to connect with a large audience.

This odd collection of oddballs doesn't quite play out as a satisfying movie.

Like most films in this underdog genre, the emotional manipulation of the audience is constant and obvious.

Artistically uneven, emotionally strained but at times sullenly poetic depiction of a sexually confused love pentangle.

Affleck gets the tribalism of Boston's traditionally Irish-American enclaves; it's a defining force in his character's lives. But for all their well-played grit, those characters resolutely remain types, and for all the well-choreographed action, the outcome doesn't matter nearly as much as it should.

Although wholly predictable in its every beat and featuring bland, unremarkable WASPs as romantic leads, "Life" is not without its charms.

As a thriller, The Debt performs many if not all the right moves. Where the John Madden-directed film gets into trouble is in wanting to deal with the Holocaust without being entirely a period film.

Shot in actual 3D rather than being the latest example of the horrible post-shooting conversion process, "Afterlife" undeniably looks terrific.

A feel-good flick about a serial killer who just wants what's best for her daughter. Broad and not too spicy, the London-set Indian rom-com is a crowd-pleaser.

Contains enough fascinating archival footage to make it worthy of interest.

The drive to keep alive the name of a young American woman who died beneath a U.S.-made bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier in Palestine continues in Simone Bitton's sober documentary Rachel.

The film does achieve moments of catharsis, but it can be heavy going.

The simple but affecting film begins a weeklong award-qualifying run Friday before opening in stateside art houses Jan. 21, and is worth a look for its gutsy and commanding central performance.

The movie boils down to one character, acting under enormous pressures of space and time, racing to solve a mystery. In this case, that may be good enough.

The generational mix of actors works well enough, although Campbell too often seems stranded with little to do until the climax.

A true story of courage, determination and guts that deserves a more exciting approach.

Though it takes some time to sort out the large cast, the leads, all fine actors, eventually come into focus. As the good and bad samurai, Yakusho and Ichimura have the gravitas to take their roles seriously and perform a decisive one-on-one sword fight straight.