The sequel retains not only the same gimmicky premise as the original but its preference for cliche-ridden dialogue and flat-footed comedy as well.

May have been adapted the 1996 French film "L'Appartement," but pretty much all evidence of what was once an engaging psychodrama has been lost in the translation.

Rarely do films from Hollywood emerge in such an inane manner. Its rote characters are inevitably in predictable situations with no subtext or subtlety to any of their predicaments.

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

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.

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.

Ultimately, the film is as numbingly boring as, well, a lengthy train ride during which there's nothing to do but look out the window.

Having tackled treacherous terrain to film Hayata's story, the filmmakers miss the opportunity to deliver a scorching testament to the dangers and passions that drive the saga.

A dysfunctional drama.

If ever there was a lusty, lowbrow genre film destined for a life on video, this is it.

An oddity as awkward as its title, Angels With Angles is writer-director-star Scott Edmund Lane's would-be valentine to old-school showbiz comics, wrapped in a silly adventure-romance involving Cuban cigars and, yes, Fidel Castro.

The movie strands you in two miserable flats with these cliche-ridden characters and a static love story that is as predictable as it is pedestrian.

This silly film does nothing to enhance Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang's reputation. The acting is below par, the mise-en-scene is clumsy and the structure is lazy.

Longing makes you long for a good movie. Tedious and long-winded even at 90 minutes, this German film, written and directed by Valeska Grisebach, tells a mundane tale of adultery that lacks even the slightest insight.

The most appreciative audience for this lame National Lampoon release likely will be guys in tour buses.

What's most disturbing about "Bank" is its lack of ambition. Maybe Jenkins will take more chances in the future. If he's lucky, this stinker will be quickly forgotten.

Unfortunately, whatever father/daughter, time/memory, music/therapy issues Jaglom is striving to invoke here come across as mostly psychobabble and immaturity.

Krakowski's heavy-handed overreaching is the fatal problem: It's impossible to believe this character, even as he softens late in the game, as a forgiving and familiar victim of awful parenting.

The acting is overly broad, so even the dimmest light bulb in the audience gets the gags.

Over-the-top -- and ultimately tiresome -- female mud-wrestling, kick-boxing and cat fights in a parody of old exploitation movies.

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

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

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

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.

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

Even during the climax, the film still is struggling to introduce the world of the film and its strange rules.

Has no inherent laughs, so an extremely versatile and talented cast struggles mightily to make something funny that simply isn't.

The film doesn't just fail, it actually gets sillier by the minute.