Although laughs do come... the film is happy to observe wryly as boredom and failure threaten to overwhelm the men.

The Dirties is as provocative as it is sloppily messy in its themes.

The cinematic axiom of diminishing returns appears to be catching up with Robert Rodriguez’s Machete franchise in only the second installment, as the series’ engagingly lowbrow concept gets overwhelmed by episodic plotting and uninspired, rote performances.

Hubbell lays the groundwork for a nuts-and-bolts examination of changes over the decades in treatment and teaching techniques. In the present tense, however, the first-person aspect of his documentary can veer toward the cutesy.

The fight sequences are staged with admirable proficiency despite the often cheesy special effects.

The film’s reluctance to fully explore its provocative moral conflict renders it terminally bland.

An appealing documentary about one of the American West’s unique cowboy conservationists.

A film that lingers in the memory in spite of being rather irritating to watch.

A deliberately distanced but often harrowing vision of a living hell.

The level of socially accepted discrimination exposed here provokes both heartbreak and anger.

It offers scant insight to go along with its simplistic homilies about the power of faith and the reassuring presence of God.

Far from being overkill, the well-conceived drama featuring A-listers Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth in key roles, will bring this infuriating tale of injustice to many mainstream moviegoers for the first time.

This intense, painful movie lingers in the memory.

Shamelessly contrived in the manner of most jukebox musicals, and more than a wee bit precious, the movie has little use for emotional shadings as it flogs its feel-good charms.

Utterly lacking in imagination or suspense, this inane effort is strictly for hardcore Argento cultists.

At times fascinating, at times not, its in-depth look at the administration, campus, students and faculty offers an insider's view into the way American academia functions.

Matti and Yamamoto aren't reinventing any wheels here, and many of the dialogue scenes operate on a functionally prosaic level. On the Job takes off into a different stratosphere, however, when the emphasis is on visuals and movement.

A trove of great stills and movie footage accompanies the colorful anecdotes, but the film's most consistent pleasure is the way interviewees recall the moments before the tape rolled on an immortal recording.

This overly convoluted and contrived farce features a typically scenic setting and an engaging performance by Helena Noguerra in the central role but otherwise has little to recommend it.

In a showy adaptation by first-time helmer Charlie Stratton, the story is more glum than seductive -- offering surprising sexual encounters, yes, but too little of the slow burn and psychological depth that might have made the Les Mis-meets-Jim Thompson concept get under one's skin.

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.

Unfortunately, the power of the message is diluted by the pedestrian filmmaking, with the overall effect resembling a compendium of public service announcements.

Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon bring impressive emotional and physical heat to Sunlight Jr., director/screenwriter Laurie Collyer’s beautifully observed character study of an unmarried couple living on the economic margins.

Wedding Palace is being billed as the first Asian-American romantic comedy and the first U.S.-Korea independent co-production. Too bad, then, that this shrill, unfunny effort from director/co-writer Christine Yoo features such broad clichés and stereotypical characters that it doesn’t exactly reflect well on the Korean-American community.

A formulaic comedy that displays as much subtlety as its title.

This intense drama co-starring Jeanne Tripplehorn and writer-director Leland Orser is at times too minimalistic for its own good, but it has a powerful emotional immediacy that fully grips the viewer by the time it reaches its wrenching conclusion.

What's actually up onscreen in this vaguely ambitious but tawdry melodrama falls into an in-between no-man's-land that endows it with no distinction whatsoever, a work lacking both style and insight into the netherworld it seeks to reveal.

It might not possess the robust charm of its 2009 predecessor, but Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 nevertheless gets an amusing boost from a genetically modified, marauding menagerie of Tacodiles, Watermelophants, Sasquashes and assorted other "Foodimals" that have overtaken the once-tranquil island of Swallow Falls.