Those looking for genuine drama should probably look elsewhere.

What more could a horror fan ask for than a spook-fest that feels pure in its intentions while taking full advantage of every opportunity to scare us silly?

A Holocaust film that's light on sentimentality but high on human drama, Defiance tells one of those remarkable survival stories that's so incredible it must be true.

Indeed, all of the performers in the film truly shine, and all of them can probably thank Sam Mendes for creating an ideal environment.

Brimming with intriguing concepts and brilliant visual effects, making it a stimulating treat for both the eyes and the intellect.

It's not that Bedtime Stories is bad, it's just entirely and thoroughly adequate.

As a modest little dramedy about the everyday adventures of starting a family, Marley & Me is pretty solid, but as a movie about the joy and heartbreak of owning a dog, it goes straight for the jugular.

The notorious action star keeps his bombastic persona remarkably reeled in, and the resulting film is earnest, somber, and extremely modest -- almost to a fault.

A perfect fairytale, adhering to The Princess Bride's standards of fighting, fencing, torture, and true love, without the ham-fisted moral element of so many of its fairy-tale predecessors.

Yes Man isn't without a few simple charms, but it ends up being about as funny, profound, and memorable as the average bumper sticker.

An insult to the intelligence of most moviegoers.

Pretty good as science fiction thrillers go, but sadly, there isn't much more to say about it.

Satisfies the heart and engages the mind.

While it is true that nothing all that original happens during the funny parts of the movie either, the family's Puerto Rican heritage gives the movie's comedy a unique spin.

Whether the source material or Hare's tinkering is to blame for the fact that the story keeps the viewer at arm's length, the end result is still the same: A film that's technically superb, yet still falls short of true greatness.

Reichardt is such a canny filmmaker that one could almost believe that she intentionally leaves Wendy underwritten and a bit of a cipher, because Wendy is far more effective as a bold-faced symbol of the downtrodden than as a fully realized human character.

The craftsmanship, acting, and history lesson all make it among the most satisfying films of Ron Howard's career.

We never get a real sense of what made these recordings so different or revolutionary. Part of the problem is that re-recorded versions of songs by the actors were used in the film, with vastly mixed results that never match the ferocity and excitement of the original tracks.

Rarely have moviegoers seen such a two-fisted wrecking ball of vengeance such as the one realized here by Ray Stevenson.

Though this third installment is not quite as nuts as the second film, it's nevertheless firmly set in the same ridiculous mold.

It's well acted and it's entertaining -- and who can resist a movie where Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau are brothers, and Robert Duvall is their dad?

Harvey Milk embodied the concept that "all politics is personal," and by presenting the famed Mayor of Castro Street's personal and public lives with such clarity and empathy, Van Sant has made something very rare in Hollywood -- a genuinely powerful political film that works equally well as a story of personal triumph.

This winning mix of exciting action, heart-tugging sentiment, and gentle character comedy makes Bolt yet another solid addition to Disney's history of family-friendly fare.

In terms of bringing the book to life, Twilight is a complete success, so much so that most of the film's flaws work within the context of the story.

Australia goes for the absolute limit in terms of scope. And let's not be coy -- size may not matter, but it still helps.

This rare direct follow-up hopefully will put to rest the leftover emotional baggage of the character and leave Bond open to a bit more familiar interpretation in the future.

A great movie is something more than the sum total of all its parts, and here, the elements all come together to form a feature that speaks a universal form of optimism that isn't likely to get lost in translation, no matter where it screens, or who is watching.

It does consistently remain both totally nuts and totally hilarious.

Herman fails to journey beyond the surface-level realities of his central perspective, which makes his film feel half-developed and poorly conceived, and drives it into sensationalism.

The movie suffers from a serious case of unoriginality.

It's a joy to watch soul legend Isaac Hayes in one of his final roles.

Horror of the glossiest, safest kind. It's a boring bubblegum shocker that loses its flavor faster than Fruit Stripes.

Zack & Miri stand out as Kevin Smith's most thoroughly representative film -- both for better and for worse.

The resulting film is compellingly watchable and consistently entertaining, even if it does feel somewhat disingenuous, given the pedigree of talent involved.

Pride and Glory would be a pretty cool movie if it were made in 1982.

It's a well-produced yearbook that will one day bring back sweet memories for the cast and fans, but probably won't be of interest to anyone who wasn't part of the scene.

It's cheap, sloppy, and too jumbled up to know what it should be.

Perhaps with a few more drafts, the filmmakers could have found a means of maintaining the quiet momentum displayed early on, but as it stands, Changeling is little more than a frustrating missed opportunity that's dressed to the nines, but a day late for the party.

For a movie of its type, Max Payne is a little short on excitement and heavy on pathos.

The final result is a bittersweet product closer to honey than treacle.

All that matters is if it's funny -- and it is.

The crisply photographed and edited Body of Lies reveals some ambition, for while it certainly works as pure entertainment, this tale of a good man trying to extract himself from an impossible situation offers some commentary on America's feelings about being in Iraq.

Claustrophobic, jittery at times, and electric in pace, Quarantine is a stripped-down bloody thrill ride that -- while certainly not catering to everyone's tastes -- should satisfy gore-hounds looking to step up their theatrical horror cuisine beyond the usual creepy little kid rehashes.

Davis led an unquestionably inspirational life, but The Express, however heartfelt, is uninspired.

A fun and moving family film with a subtly dark feel rarely seen in kids' movies since the '80s, City of Ember succeeds despite its shortcomings, not only because of its fun and inspiring story, but because most of its flaws are things kids won't notice anyway.

The picture as a whole benefits not merely from the excellent performances, but from its warm emotional core and its infectious love of people, topped off by a mature (though not jaded) sobriety about human limitations that thoroughly validates everything preceding it.

Noisy, derivative and thoroughly preposterous even by the standards of 21st-century action movies.

A shameless puddle of romantic slop.

This is first Lee's first attempt at a war epic, but it feels like it's his very first film: What should have been an eloquent answer to the likes of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood -- with whom Lee justly took to task over the total absence of any black soldiers in "The Flags Of Our Fathers" -- is instead a patchy war-time drama.

Fine performances from Sam Rockwell and Brad William Henke deserve some passing attention.

An entertaining road movie with a topical point: The three passengers on this cross-country trip are U.S. soldiers who've just returned from Iraq.

Rios is the glue that holds Johannesson's neither-fish-nor-fowl film together.

There's something disheartening about seeing real-life stories and their inevitable complexities put through the Hollywood sausage machine and transformed into bland parables about a privileged, wayward young bucks redeemed by wise, infinitely patient mentors and the self-abnegating spirit of team sports.

Engrossing documentary about the life and times of publisher Barney Rosset, who spent much of his career advancing the cause of free expression, is a flawless match of style and subject.

It's earnest, well-intentioned and scrupulously even-handed, in the style of made-for-TV problem movies.

Clearly a labor of love and a call to action, but it's undermined by the sheer volume of topics it tackles in addition to the main subject.

In Koepp's comedic variation on a similar theme, the dead are not just unhappy -- they're irritatingly needy.

Much of it will probably go right over the heads of kids who aren't familiar with classic movies or the naughtiness of Eddie Izzard.

It lacks the courage of its swinish convictions, and abruptly acquiesces to bland rom-com clichés three-quarters of the way to its appointed end.

Tediously predictable thriller.

Played for Maverick-like comedy, the film might have coasted on Harris and Mortensen's dialogue. But played straight it's both dull and preposterous.

What the film lacks in artistry it makes up for in commitment.

perfectly serviceable costume drama.

A handsomely produced but unintentionally risible film that mistakes high grotesquerie for high gothic.

The film does, however, assemble an amazing array of recorded conversations and vintage newsreel, and offers up enough press conference footage to make one nostalgic for the days when an uncowed, penetrating press really did serve the public interest, and the president was a smart, inspirational and often very funny figure who could think on his feet and fearlessly take on all comers.

The brothers' dark, all-star farce about sex, lies and surveillance is pretty damned funny.

So consistently, outrageously wrongheaded in every way it's hard to know where to start.

The entire movie is one big build-up to a twist that, while not exactly cheating, plays is an awfully cheap trick.

The movie belongs to the fifth-billed Bishil, a truly gutsy young actress who captures the essence of young female desire in all its adolescent confusion.

Thanks to some first-rate acting from its stars, it ranks among Perry's best.

A morose, slow-moving action picture.

A gripping mystery and an ever-timely reminder of the terrible power of repression and silence.

So awash in tired ethnic clichés that the story drowns.

Has a certain silly, kid-friendly charm.

A solid performance by the often underrated Judith Light lends considerable weight to this melodrama's controversial subject.

At the heart of this picturesque fable is a truism so shopworn it can barely stand repeating: It's better to give than to receive.

Lazy, superficially au courant and utterly forgettable.

An ugly, unfunny frat comedy.

Rich with atmosphere but too similar to films ranging from "Children of Men" to "Doomsday" to carve out its own distinctive niche.

The ideal viewer is a Miike fan...You know who you are.

Has a certain weird charm, but it's too seamy for children and too simplistic played for adults.

The film's greatest asset is its performances.

It honestly delivers the goods without all the preachy moralizing about violent entertainment and cultural ruin.

Silly but endearing comedy.

It's all terribly trite, but Durst does make an effort to keep his film grounded in the reality of a lot of once thriving towns like the fictional Minden.

The movie's is really good, clean fun that's fine for slightly older kids and a lot of fun for adults.

Essentially an extended trailer for the 2008 Cartoon Network animated series.

There's a terrific movie buried in Woody Allen's tale of two American girls broadening their horizons in Barcelona, and every once in a while tantalizing glimpses penetrate the twee narration and mannered performances.

A dry, thoroughly modern reminder that while mores change, human nature doesn't.

Offers what her fans came to expect from the "Jezebel of Jazz": great music.

The result is slick, mainstream entertainment with just enough surprises that you don't have to feel like a fool for enjoying it.

Actually a marked improvement over the plodding and confusing original.

Cheerfully gross, deliberately retro horror picture pays tongue-in-cheek homage to the kind of genre movies Charles Band and Roger Corman's companies turned out in the 1980s.

Cruise is downright scary. It's the creepiest -- and most entertaining -- performance since his unforgettable appearance in that Scientology video.

This melancholy mediation on aging and desire hangs on an exquisite performance from Penelope Cruz.

While not every artist Aaron Rose profiles in his documentary about one colorful corner of the 1990s New York Art scene is "beautiful," they're all "losers" and proud of it.

Larry Bishop's painfully self-conscious homage to biker films of yesteryear is a carefully crafted pastiche that doesn't miss a wild-deadly-angels-devils-sadists-revenge cliché and can't hold a candle to the down-and-dirty likes of "The Glory Stompers."

Shane West does a pretty impressive impersonation of the on-stage antics of Darby Crash...Unfortunately, little else in this clunky, half-baked biopic rings very true.