Good-humored, illuminating and without cant, Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's documentary South of the Border is a rebuttal of what he views as the fulminations and lies of right-wing media at home and abroad regarding the socialist democracies of South America.

Laziness permeates the film from the inexplicable escapes to the neglected romance.

It admittedly starts off great guns, but all too quickly it becomes apparent that the big-screen arrival of the supernatural Western DC Comics series Jonah Hex"is firing loud, empty blanks.

Insightful but ultimately ponderous entertainment.

If the impact of co-director/writer Reed Cowan's film is undercut by its sometimes sloppy execution, it nonetheless provides a disturbing portrait of the increasing overlap between church and state.

An ambitious film, and Guadagnino deserves praise for the risks he takes here.

This is very much an actors’ film, not least because director-scripter Agnes Jaoui also appears in front of the camera in the well-seasoned role of Agathe Villanova.

Woody, Buzz and playmates make a thoroughly engaging, emotionally satisfying return.

As a depiction of youthful resilience, the film works, but Max's trials and tribulations might have had more dramatic impact with a trained actor in the role.

For an event of such seismic social importance in the modern era, the 1969 Stonewall riots went shockingly undocumented. Almost no archival footage exists, which gives Kate Davis and David Heilbroner's documentary feature Stonewall Uprising the frustrating air of an oral history lesson. But it's a vitally important one nonetheless.

If its summary approach is less than penetrating, its underlying message of tolerance and open-mindedness is commendable.

It's a measure of the times that the new version of The Karate Kid manages to be longer and bigger-budgeted than the original while having lesser impact.

The film seems nearly writer-free. Absolutely no time gets wasted on story, character development or logic.

A highly entertaining documentary revealing a serious talent behind the one-note present-day reputation.

There are so many guilty pleasures here that it's amazing the film is as good as it is. The passions feel real, the roles are fully inhabited and the art speaks for itself.

Grim backwoods tale takes its time building momentum.

With fierce arguments, often drawn on partisan lines, raging across the country, The Lottery will be of vital interest to anyone interested in the topic, especially the parents of young children.

This redemptive tale set against southwest Ireland's moody seascape holds its tangible charms.

Writer/director Vincenzo Natali takes his tale in some truly icky directions, not quite making it into Cronenbergland but going far enough to elicit solid 'ewww' laughs from the crowd.

Never achieves the propulsive traction and outrageous/endearing balance that made "The Hangover" such a smash this time last year.

An action comedy that nearly renders the term an oxymoron, Killers is devoid of suspense and laughs.

One thing Marmaduke does have in common with the earlier Disney titles is a blessed scarcity of crass bodily-function gags that often pass as family comedy.

These are people at the frontline of idealism in action, working to alleviate suffering, one patient at a time, in some of the most devastated places on Earth.

As the film veers between cartoonish and earnest, it doesn't so much find bliss as try very hard to manufacture it.

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.

A horror spoof that has little reason for being, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead pretty much uses up its quotient of wit with the title.

The film, which received its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, no doubt will become a mainstay of university film courses.

Despite its many ominous implications, Grimonprez also infuses Double Take with sly wit, inserting scenes from the TV program showcasing Hitchcock's wry sense of humor and the exaggerated domesticity of commercials sponsored by Folgers Coffee.

The simplest of stories can be elevated by first-rate acting and directing. Consider Stephane Brize's Mademoiselle Chambon, a French film that achieves a subtle but devastating impact.

Another beguiling if draining fantasia from Jean-Pierre Jeuet that harkens back to silent movies.

A handsome, fast-paced and innocuous adventure that's easy to take but lacks epic scale.

A polished, fast-moving, entertaining picture whose mainstream success will depend on audiences' tolerance of its tendency to become an abattoir of extreme carnage.

In the end, an audience has far too much knowledge about Gregoire's movie projects and finances and far too little about what makes anyone here tick.

It is a pleasure to see Weisz's scenes of scientific inquiry, which capture the passion of research and discovery without artifice or pretension. That the scientist is a woman makes it all the more engaging.

The film's satirical commentary about the intersection of politics and art is rarified, to be sure, but there is enough pointed humor in its execution to make The Juche Idea a provocative if intellectually challenging experience.

Features a profusion of provocative ideas and a wealth of vintage film clips but is unable to avoid having the inevitable feel of a college thesis.

So even if Sex and the City 2 consisted of nothing but a two-hour fashion show, it would draw crowds. But it also has the returning cast members in fine comic form, and it has more cutting-edge humor than the first movie.

Reveals a definite been-there, done-that feeling.

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.

Holy Rollers squanders a fascinating premise with predictable execution.

The 134-minute film jams in much information, incidents and characters without losing any entertainment value. And, fortunately, its heroism isn't pumped up or glorified.

What makes the movie pop is a standout performance by Roshan, one of Indian cinema's treasures.

If there's one defining characteristic among English criminals, it's that they apparently are a quirky lot. That, at least, is the conclusion one draws from the endless series of comically tinged British crime thrillers that have come down the pike during recent years, of which the mediocre Perrier's Bounty is the latest example.

This attractive cast may help get an audience, but they will surely puzzle over such a downward-spiraling story that lacks inner logic.

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

Scott has an eye -- and it's a very good one -- for sieges of castles, charging horsemen, hand-to-hand combat, glistening swords arcing through the air and deadly arrows whistling toward helpless targets.

Bland, predictable picture, whose sole assets are a cute premise, the Italian countryside and the dignity Vanessa Redgrave brings to a part that, on the page, is quite beneath her.

That it squanders a terrific cast in the process -- one that also includes Common, Phylicia Rashad and Pam Grier -- makes it all the more disappointing.

Most notable for its evocative photography of the bleak Oklahoma landscapes and for the memorable turns by its two leads, who bring a haunting, world-weary gravitas to their performances that feels utterly authentic.

There's no shortage of fascinating segments.

Here and There deserves all the attention it can get for its limited release. Beautifully executed, the semi-autobiographical film is set between the director's adopted New York and his native Belgrade, Serbia.

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

A stirring romantic drama centering on the last royal heir to the native line of traditional monarchs.

Very funny and a bit sentimental, it's naturalistic comedy of the highest order, with Evets and Henshaw standouts among a terrific cast.

The colors are mostly gray tones with the sharp, disturbing animation that works well for a thriller. However, Metropia is weighed down by a convoluted plot.

Well, that didn't take long. Everything fun and terrific about "Iron Man," a mere two years ago, has vanished with its sequel. In its place, Iron Man 2 has substituted noise, confusion, multiple villains, irrelevant stunts and misguided story lines.

Running two hours, "Casino Jack" is an exhaustive and exhausting elaboration of Abramoff's canon of greed and power that will enervate audiences with a surfeit of details.

An overwrought and undernourished drama.

A lifeless period romance of the cutesy-cantankerous persuasion.

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

A numbingly indulgent drama whose fine cast can't breathe life into a script that isn't nearly as self-aware as it thinks.

Fascinating, however uneasy, viewing.

This mostly unfunny effort -- though it might have made them laugh silly in its home country -- is unlikely to appeal to art house audiences on this side of the Atlantic.

As a portrait of children who are wanted and loved, it's intimate and often delightful.

Not for the faint of heart or for those who like their films to have beginnings, middles, and ends.

A would-be provocative satire that too often settles for sitcom-grade silliness, The Infidel represents an opportunity wasted.

A rousing fable drenched in Indian "magic realism" pays tribute to the enchantment of movies.

It's an energetic and vivacious film that will appeal to fans of punk rock worldwide and should find its place in the pantheon of great music-film biographies.

The back-to-the-beginning approach unimaginatively goes through the motions, offering scant justification for its boring existence, at least from an artistic point of view.

A collection of feeble jokes in the service of green themes. Sustainability never looked so stupid.

Think of Please Give as a finely tuned short story with every glance and gesture full of suggestive meaning. Drama is not high on the agenda here. There is a bit of comedy and, briefly, sexual mischief even though it doesn't look like much fun.

Crosses the line from horror to just plain sick.

The performances are excellent all around, with Scott mesmerizing as the emotionally volatile Laevsky and the gorgeous Glascott making vividly clear why her character drives all the surrounding men to distraction.

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.

The film never is boring, but it's never engaging, either, because its heroes hit every target in sight, while the villains, despite holstering much greater weaponry, never hit anybody. So forget about suspense.

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.

There's no denying that it is often outrageous fun, and the news that Fragasso and Drudi are working on a script for "Troll 2: Part 2" is but the icing on a very nasty cake.

A jaunty, happy-go-lucky adventure that packs a fistful of dynamite in the spectacular showdown.

A well-stirred titillation that will appeal to twentysomething audiences and movie-buff viewers who appreciate the pursued-pursuer, Hitchcockian style of suspenser.

Paper Man is a bad idea, and the film, despite a few brave and good performances, never recovers from awkwardness of its premise.

Adolescent angst is the focus of Accidents Happen, a turgid melodrama based loosely on Brian Carbee's autobiographical book and one-man theater piece.

What "Winged Migration" did for birds, Oceans does for all sorts of strange sea creatures in an ambitious, impressively filmed documentary.

The guy really goes all out in these performances.

But nothing taps his own particular talents to unsettle audiences with truly edgy material. Funeral gets no more edgy than a potty joke and a corpse tumbling out of a coffin. This is nothing more than juvenile slapstick.

Its balancing act between innocence and gore perfectly matches the expectations of genre fans, who should embrace the movie.

What could have been a biting black comedy taking product placement to the logical extreme instead is so obviously predictable that even a savvy cast led by David Duchovny and Demi Moore can't sell it.

Its appeal naturally will be to book-reading audiences who appreciate films with well-written dialogue, a tony cast, lush visuals and the triumph of civilized values.

Hugely entertaining documentary challenges conventional concepts of legitimate art and the creative process.

A slight story with little action, this rueful dissection of male bonding builds to an undeniably emotional last act.

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 riveting Argentine thriller spiked with witty dialogue and poignant love stories.

Comprising seven individual films with a cumulative running time of more than 8 1/2 hours, Have You Heard From Johannesburg (the title comes from a Gil Scott-Heron song) naturally will find a more receptive home on television and home video, but New York's Film Forum, presenting it in three parts, is to be commended for giving the series its world theatrical premiere.

Writer-director David Kittredge clearly has serious things on his mind about such subjects as voyeurism, the thin line between fantasy and reality, the link between sex and violence, etc., but whatever points he is trying to make are lost in the general muddle.

These talented performers star in two of the wittiest, most sophisticated sitcoms on the air, but for this movie pairing they're stuck with an endlessly silly plot line and overblown physical mayhem that is instantly forgettable. The fact that they make it so funny nonetheless is a testament to their abilities.

One hates to say it, but after this and "Black Snake Moan," it might be time for the talented actress (Ricci) to keep her clothes on.

The intensity of observation reminds one of Bergman's "Scenes From a Marriage," though of course played in a much more benign key. For the patient, the deliberate pacing is perfect, as each additional layer is quietly and subtly put in place.

Their heart is in the right place, and their tale is colorful, complete with Indian dancers in ceremonial costumes dancing on a street corner.

A well-made and entertaining descent into a black-comic hell.