Proves to be an engrossing and entertaining polemic that successfully walks a fine line between thoughtful debate and, well, juicy gossip.

Rudo y Cursi scores from every angle -- comic, personal and cross-cultural.

Paced at warp speed with spectacular action sequences rendered brilliantly and with a cast so expert that all the familiar characters are instantly identifiable.

So muted and internal in its focus that its entire running time feels like a preamble to a drama that never quite begins.

Unfortunately, the whole seldom adds up to the sum of its illustrious parts, and Jarmusch's trademark deadpan quirks seem to have gotten lost in the translation.

Hard luck conspires with bad sex in this unspectacular Austrian tale of crime and punishment.

A Wink and a Smile tries to tame burlesque, make it something to laugh at -- or worse, something that requires no skill.

The animation is splendid on what must have been, since this is not a studio film, a modest budget.

The movie clumps through one witless if not wince-evoking sequence after another without the relief of laughter.

An edgy entertainment, the movie also remarkably has the feel-good warmth of an old-time Irish film.

A film whose every shot seems lifted right off the wall of an art gallery and just as powerfully, if quietly, satisfying.

Feels surprisingly tame, coming off more like an extended advertisement for Grecco's coffee table book of the same name.

It's all an earnest effort, three decades too late.

One long wallow in sordidness.

Every move is telegraphed well in advance thanks to desultory writing, routine direction and ample musical cues.

In Channing Tatum, who also starred in "Saints," the film has a good-looking, magnetic hunk to draw a crowd. Terrence Howard lends the pedigree of great screen acting, and Zulay Henao adds charm and glamour.

The frequently outrageous Il Divo follows the career of one of the best-known and most tenacious figures in Italian political history in a lively, sensory-overload, cartoonlike fashion reminiscent of "Amelie" and "Moulin Rouge." The fact that it's often over-the-top goes with saying, and is part of the fun.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx are on fire in the lead roles: They're both charismatic as hell without sacrificing any of the emotional honesty necessary for you to believe that these movie stars are a scruffy reporter and a mentally ill musician.

The saving grace of Throw Down Your Heart is Fleck himself, who transcends the contrived unconventionality of the project to emanate a genuine warmth and camaraderie. This extraordinary performer remains shy, soft-spoken, simpatico and as unpretentious as he is talented.

It's a sympathetic portrait of a complex man driven by an anger that still bubbles beneath the surface.

Although Earth falls short of its potential, it still contains enough glorious photography to please its target audience.

Without wallowing in sentimentality or judging any of her characters, Kim has drawn a mature portrait of an elementary school girl old before her time and a loss of childhood that rings true on every level.

There is nothing we haven't seen here before in terms of chases, intrigue and betrayals, so for all its A-list cast and production values, the film comes off as routine.

Works better than you might imagine at times but stumbles awkwardly other times. The unevenness in the writing is matched by directorial overkill in certain comic sequences.

Wears its righteous indignation and good intentions on its sleeve but its simplistic, heavy handed treatment of a complex issue gives it the weight of a contrived movie of the week melodrama.

Follows the same formula as the first, with one difference: They've managed to ramp up the action and vulgarity beyond the insane heights of the original.

The result is an insightful, exuberant, probing, long-winded and even exhausting look at what it takes for a performer to have a life in the theater.

While Caine and young Milner make for amusing adversaries, it's nice to see Crowley paying respect to his elders by populating the retirement home with a number of familiar faces, including those belonging to Rosemary Harris, Sylvia Syms and longtime "Coronation Street" resident Thelma Barlow.