Earns an A for effort but a much lower grade in the entertainment department.

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

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

Tinged with sorrow, compassion, forgiveness and, ultimately, love. More than 25 years after his father's death, Nathaniel visits his father's architectural works and speaks to the people who knew him.

A wacky comedy involving a suicidal marketing executive and his highly irreverent shrink, Martin & Orloff ultimately doesn't fully succeed in its comedic aspirations, but it does offer some genuine laughs along the way.

Will best be appreciated by those who are already firmly in Earle's camp.

A bizarre exercise in perversion that will well test even the most jaded art house audiences' appetite for the offbeat.

Ultimately involves a highly contrived, melodramatic ending that wouldn't have been out of place in a '40s-era film noir.

While Billabong Odyssey ultimately resembles an infomercial more than a coherent cinematic exercise, its spectacular images of well-toned athletes battling with the world's largest waves should find a receptive audience of those so inclined.

Long on atmosphere and Old World charm.

While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, Elf is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat.

Reminds you of an elaborate Christmas card that tumbles apart with pop-up figures, silly/charming greetings and perhaps even a jingle. It probably cost more than the gift it heralds, and you can't help but laugh at the audacity of such an aggressively cheerful card.

A worthy title for cable nets scheduling hard-hitting documentary fare

Ending with neither a bang nor a whimper, the finale falls somewhere in between. It's an improvement over its concurrently shot, babbling predecessor, but it ultimately fails to capture any of that jaw-dropping sense of exhilaration that made the original such a must-see event.

Often gripping footage, and the finished product resembles a taut if at times confusing and inadvertently comic political thriller.

Ultimately too sluggish and disjointed to have much cumulative impact.

Although the substance could have used more visual style, Ray tells an uncluttered story and draws strong performances from his actors.

The thriller aspects of the story and the overall solid level of acting -- including a sexy performance from a red-hot Nicole Kidman -- keep the audience interested but never fully emotionally involved.

An eye-opening sociological examination that is alternately moving and tedious.

Keith Gordon's brave attempt to make cinematic sense of Potter's 1986 BBC mini "The Singing Detective" at least has the advantage of a screenplay finished by Potter before his death. But problems of style and tone bedevil the earnest effort.

The cast, which includes Alfre Woodard and Debra Winger, manages to give thoughtful performances that salvage the film's integrity.

A playful movie that celebrates nature and the spirit world with striking imagery and a smooth blend of drama and comedy.

Ends up committing the spoof genre's worst crime: becoming a tired parody of itself.

Even assuming the best possible motives by its makers, Beyond Borders runs the risk of making human suffering exotic while glamorizing white disaster relief workers in the Third World.

A scattershot exercise whose points of interest are surrounded by too much that is trivial. Still, the film earns points for its examination of politics and the political process.

Emerges as a frustrating cop-out.

This feature glimpse into the Bell Jar is an exercise in drudgery, with nothing particularly insightful or revealing to say about the charter member of the Suicidal Poets Society and the artistic endeavor in which she would make her indelible mark.

A luminous performance from Cate Blanchett lies at the heart of Joel Schumacher's impressive drama.