It is nonetheless imaginative in a highly familiar and ultimately tedious way.

The picture has enough entertainment value to tickle its target audience and even offers a few chuckles for accompanying adults. A strong cast and bright -- if uninspired — animation help to offset a thin story.

A bland romantic comedy in the Richard Curtis style, The Decoy Bride is mainly notable for its proof, if any was needed after "Boardwalk Empire," that Kelly Macdonald is a major talent.

An exercise in opaque supernatural storytelling that's as frustrating as it is beguiling.

Where the film falls apart is in trying to steer this nightmare out of dark fantasy into the cold light of logic.

Nicely cast and made with as much conviction as can be brought to something so intrinsically formulaic.

As cartoonish as much of this is, Pickering's story is refreshing in its refusal to paint all Christians with the same brush,

With Melissa McCarthy playing a one-woman demolition team who, for 95 percent of the running time, is a genuine affront to nature, there are unavoidably some laughs here, although the gifted comic actor got more of them in less screen time in her previous films than she does in this starring role.

Vuorensola's sci-fi comedy is uneven, its humor never quite matching the luster of its visuals.

Despite the filmmaker's obvious good intentions in trying to impart valuable life lessons to younger viewers, We the Party suffers from any number of problems, including uneven acting (talent isn't always hereditary); stereotypical characters and situations; and a manic visual style featuring the sort of split-screen obsession that felt outdated decades ago.

As with many films of its ilk, Surviving Progress takes on more than it can comfortably handle, veering haphazardly from subject to subject.

While superbly acted, the dramedy plays out like a tepid "Big Chill" at best.

A niche theatrical run might draw fans of Goldthwait's previous work, this effort isn't likely to get as much help from critics as those sometimes did.

Corny, calculating and commercial...Their slickly executed culture-clash character piece is stuffed chock full of hard-knock life lessons that owe much more to the conventions of the screen than the tough realities of social deprivation and of the severely handicapped.

Imagine a teenage lesbian love story directed by David Cronenberg and you'll have some sense of the weirdness of Jack and Diane. Bradley Rust Gray's attempt to weave horror elements into a fairly conventional narrative yields diminishing returns in this overly stylized effort.

Beyond a few chuckle-worthy one-liners and some amusing visual comedy, there’s not much to engage adults, although the wee ones should be distracted enough.

This debut feature by Anne Renton doesn't quite find the proper tone to convey its heartfelt message.

While Downtown Express suffers from a derivative storyline, it offers enough musical authenticity to provide ample compensations.

The film's slender conceit is given some weight by its 11-year-old leading lady Sydney Aguirre, whose portrait of a flinty, instinctively mischievous tomboy growing up without benefit of parental guidance provides gratification even when there's not much going on.

The castmembers portraying Splinter and the turtles achieve a persuasive level of realism that was never possible with the elaborate puppetry required for the original film series and adequately fulfill expectations for their characters.

Informative and lively if low on cinematic value, the documentary will play well on the small screen.

Filmmaker Julia Haslett lacks focus in her ode to the French philosopher.

Amusing but scattered and unconvincing comedy.

The young dancers' undeniable skill and athleticism is squandered in this formulaic, overly familiar dance movie.

Other than for the pleasure of watching Green try to conquer ancient Greece dressed as a distant forebearer of Catwoman, more is less and a little late in this long-aborning sequel.

Madea is starting to look a little tired.

Subject matter this powerfully charged shouldn't feel like a study aid.

As an exercise in style, it's diverting enough, but these mean streets are so well traveled that it takes someone like Eva Green to make the detour through them worth the trip.

Despite the highly mobile and often arresting work of cinematographer Christina Voros, The Broken Tower is not a heady experience like many of the semi-experimental 1960s films he emulates. Instead, it's mostly a tedious chore, much akin to listening poetry you don't much like.

Pretty when it should be gritty and grandiosely noble instead of just telling it like it was, 42 needlessly trumps up but still can't entirely spoil one of the great American 20th century true-life stories, the breaking of major league baseball's color line by Jackie Robinson.

In trying to merge this alarmist theme with an old-fashioned murder mystery, the filmmakers throw at least one plot-twist sucker-punch too many, leaving the viewer with an “Oh, come on” reaction to the entire film.

A dicey blend that generates viewer goodwill but can't make its conflicting vibes gel, A Bag of Hammers will play best with the most soft-hearted viewers provided they don't mind rooting for unrepentant felons.

A campaign movie for viewers who, if they care about politics at all, certainly don't require the full Sorkin treatment.

The family drama The Cup revisits this popular win in a workmanlike fashion.

The sort of lumbering epic drama that went out of fashion by the late 1960s, For Greater Glory is mainly notable for shedding light on a little-known historical conflict, namely the Cristero War that took place in 1920s Mexico.

Has heart to spare, but little new to say.

The filmmakers may have hoped to make a timely commentary on the amorality in our executive suites, but they end up merely restating the obvious. Maybe the whole thing would have played better as a corporate comedy, the kind that Doris Day and Rock Hudson made some 50 years ago.

A heartfelt but rather generic coming-of-age dramedy.

The Queen of Versailles will prompt loathing not only among the so-called 99 Percent, but among those in the top 1 percent who would like someone more sane to represent them on camera.

Predictable from first moment to last, it does at least provide a showcase for lacrosse, a sport heretofore cinematically unexploited.

Much like the recent, similarly themed "Life in a Day," the results are more admirable than enlightening or even entertaining.

Never less than watchable and loaded with trademark negativity so extreme it's sometimes funny, the new film is nonetheless saddled with a protagonist so narrowly and unlikably presented that, in the end, he doesn't seem worth the time devoted to him.

If viewers have any remaining doubts as to whether or not the dams are a good idea, the gorgeous shots of the threatened landscapes are bound to erase them.

The Pact demonstrates both why people respond to horror and why it's so routinely scorned.

Not quite soaring into the heavens, but not exactly crash-landing either, Cloud Atlas is an impressively mounted, emotionally stilted adaptation of British author David Mitchell's bestselling novel.

A credibly drawn central character is trapped inside a half-cooked dramatic stew in Hello I Must Be Going.

While all the interview subjects are enthusiastic, the overall lack of familiarity with Rodriquez's personal background and career collapse begin to drag.

Although Martin Sulik's drama sheds light on typically unseen populations of Eastern Europe, the film, heavy on "Hamlet" allusions, may be overstuffed.

It's problematic, however, that we learn very little here that wasn't more stirringly conveyed in the earlier film. In its mesmerizing, propulsive drive, "Tarnation" was a heartfelt scramble to make sense of messy lives. Walk Away Renee is an occasionally illuminating patchwork.

The scattershot results, while admittedly providing plenty of fascinating details, doesn't quite do its subject justice.

Unfortunately, Mockingjay — Part 1 has all the personality of an industrial film. There's not a drop of insolence, insubordination or insurrection running through its veins; it feels like a manufactured product through and through, ironic and sad given its revolutionary theme.

While Big Boys addresses the extent to which journalists (particularly in the U.S., Gertten believes) too readily accept the claims of powerful entities, the film misses the opportunity to explore this issue in a more universal way.

The film’s chief asset is Nabaway, who delivers a subtly moving and restrained performance that transcends the contrived plot mechanics. It’s a heartfelt turn that befits this well-intentioned but ultimately reductive film.

An arresting visual style cannot make up for lack of new information or viewpoints about the Green Revolution in 2009 Iran.

Eccentric, misguided and occasionally charming and sweet, this curiosity item with Sean Penn in one of his nuttier performances is unlikely to be embraced critically or commercially.

Full of legitimate, even urgent concerns but so garish in tone it encourages viewers to view it as propaganda, Peter Navarro's Death By China does a disservice to its message.

Ultimately suffers from an uneven execution and repetitive overload.

A tasty cast and a good share of snappy dialogue provide entertainment but can't make this pre-nuptials shindig quite the party that it might have been.

The scant character development is not enhanced by the film's directorial style.

Feels slight and pretty ordinary by the end, with no edge or compelling insights, just a reasonable feel for teen attitudes and banter.

Even if some of them are playing hackneyed gangster-film types, the strength of the actors makes it almost possible to forgive the formulaic plotting and artificially movie-ish developments. Candis and Justin Wilson's screenplay stretches credibility thinner and thinner as the story advances.

Unfortunately, the Collector simply isn't a very interesting screen villain. Clad in a black mask that reveals only his eyes and mouth, he mainly communicates by heavy breathing. It makes one yearn for the perversely witty chatter of Jigsaw.

The story [lacks] a clear narrative or emotional throughline to connect all of the film’s setpieces.

Efficient, if ultimately rote, political thriller.

More impressionistic than enlightening, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's Detropia introduces us to some interesting citizens of Detroit and gives them a welcome opportunity to speak for themselves, but reveals little we don't already know.

It's a nice little human interest story, but hardly seems worthy of this full-length treatment.

Director Tim Johnson (DreamWorks’ Antz) and writing team of Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember (Epic), keep the momentum humming and the amusing bits reasonably entertaining, but they can’t vanquish the prevailing feeling of deja vu, and that the Boov are merely Minions of a different hue.

While there are plenty of madcap antics to fill a feature, all that manic energy ultimately proves to be more exhausting than exhilarating.

Though not novel enough to attract non-devotees of America's Pastime, the film should please fans on the small screen.

Deftly playing Tina Fey's feminist-icon mother, Lily Tomlin all but steals Admission, a knowing but uneven comedy about the neuroticism of the college-admission process on both sides of the equation.

The anomie of entitlement pushed to poisonous extremes is the basis of this provocation, which is as frustrating as it is intriguing.

Approaching the first half of the film fairly conventionally, Stewart then misses the opportunity to capitalize on shifting to more full-on genre mode.

Smurfs: The Lost Village is a mediocre effort that nonetheless succeeds in its main goal of keeping its blue characters alive for future merchandising purposes.

Will charm many arthouse patrons, though some highbrow-leaning art lovers will find the subject unworthy of such attention.

Although the humor helps, the Groundhog Day-like repetition gets tedious; it makes you feel more like a hamster than a groundhog — or rather a hamster's wheel, going round and round, over and over again.

The result is more promotional film - Springfield happens to have recently released both a new album and an autobiography - than intriguing sociology, although the rabidly intense middle-aged female fans on display are probably deserving of psychological study.

It has little to offer a well-informed viewer.

La Vie au Ranch boasts an undeniable authenticity. But how much you enjoy it will depend on your affection for its aimless if attractive characters.

Vivid if scattershot documentary examines today's sexualized culture by focusing on three subjects.

Kate Clere McIntyre and Saraswati Clere's less than revelatory documentary that incessantly makes the point that yoga is really, really good for you.

Their inside jape is unfortunately not as much fun for the audience as it may have been for the filmmakers, though it does have its piquant moments. But it’s not consistently entertaining enough either as a spoof or as a thriller.

Emphasizing local color but often unconvincing in its depiction of social customs.

Diehard fashionistas will likely want to see it, but few others will take notice.

A couple of scenes toward the end do generate the suspense that the whole movie needed. But the impact is too muted, and an air of tired familiarity ultimately curdles the entire enterprise.

Short on both romance and humor.

A dispiriting horror cheapie whose monsters-in-the-projects premise plays out like an anti-welfare parable.

Stronger in concept than execution.

While the idea of a German romantic comedy may seem like an oxymoron, What a Man proves an amiable diversion that at least has the distinction of not starring Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson.

There is surprisingly little emotional resonance with the well-drawn and acted characters, making it a tiring two and a half hour trek for filmgoers who don't have a stake in the history it recounts.

A very sympathetic turn by Colm Meaney both lends box-office appeal and helps Byrne pull back from the saccharine possibilities inherent in the premise.

Heartfelt but clumsy.

The romantic dilemmas suffered by these twentysomethings may be universal, but their naive attempts to address them are hard to buy.

Remakes of '80s-era cult-favorite horror flicks seem to be all the rage these days. But they have to be better than this formulaic effort to replace the already not-so-great originals.

What should be a clammy exercise in claustrophobic, queasy tension becomes, in the hands of writer/director James DeMonaco, an underpowered compendium of over-familiar scare tactics and sledgehammer-subtle social satire.

Out-of-date animation throws up a roadblock for this Indian animated 3D family film.

Sincere performances and well-intentioned scripting should help it with vets eager to see their stories told on-screen, but the film's dreary, secondhand feel is hard to overcome.

Something less than monumental, The Monuments Men wears its noble purpose on its sleeve when either greater grit or more irreverence could have put the same tale across to modern audiences with more punch and no loss of import.

Despite its fast pacing and well-staged action set-pieces, the film fails to make much of an impression.