Along comes Elektra to effectively lower the bar for Marvel Comics page-to-screen transitions.

At best, Racing Stripes should play nicely to youngsters with the cutoff for enjoyment extending no further than midteens.

An appealing lead performance from its leading man and a wonderfully sentimental, if overly familiar, story line are the chief virtues of this French drama, a huge success in its native country.

The film has enough originality to interest demanding fans of the genre.

As an introduction to this mind-spinning festival, the film gets the job done.

Geoffrey Sax, a British television director making his theatrical debut, lavishes enough craft on the paranormal thriller to send more than a few chills down the spine.

Offers proof that the Korean animation industry is poised for the big leagues.

Captivating drama delivers literary flair and Louisiana music and great roles for a grizzled John Travolta and lovely Scarlett Johansson.

First-time director Niels Mueller and his co-screenwriter Kevin Kennedy depict Sam's disintegration expertly and they have fashioned a well-made picture with much to like.

Pacino gives a keenly measured performance, leading an excellent British cast through their paces in a richly colorful production that should please selective audiences and adds to the list of major film adaptations of Shakespeare's work.

Weitz gives all his actors room to shine.

An awkward blend of live action and animation.

The sketchy characterizations, laughable dialogue and less-than-stellar performances by the formidable cast, all of whom have done far better work in the past, provide further reasons why Darkness should never have seen the light of day.

A stunning, difficult film.

Outstanding, entirely unique father-son portrait.

A fascinating examination of a mysterious life and the truly bizarre art that it spawned.

What the film most damagingly lacks though is a sense of mystery and danger.

Feels jammed into a sitcom-shaped bid for laughs.

Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration.

A sharply observed tragicomedy that draws laughter as genuinely as it coaxes tears, the nicely paced film tempers its themes of loss and sorrow with a cynically witty edge and is graced by a perfectly pitched Sigourney Weaver performance.

Ultimately, the film staggers under the weight of its pretensions, its plot spiraling into murky illegibility.

Kevin Spacey, both as star and director, has created a hugely entertaining, highly empathetic portrait of a man for whom music was literally the thing that kept him alive.

While it certainly looks swell thanks to director John Moore's striking visuals, the wings of this rebuilt "Phoenix" have been clipped by generic scripting and a short supply of dramatic tension.

The result is a film both poetic and profound.

Brooks is solidly in charge of this feel-good fairy tale as he gets terrific performances from everyone including two super-talented child actors.

Scorsese has crafted a rip-roaringly gorgeous-looking, beautifully acted biographical epic. But while firing on all cylinders, there's something oddly distancing about the picture.

Devolves into a repetitive comedy that squanders a hugely talented cast.

Under Eastwood's painstakingly stripped-down direction -- his filmmaking has become the cinematic equivalent of Hemingway's spare though precise prose -- the story emerges as that rarest of birds, an uplifting tragedy.