Unpredictable and hugely entertaining.

Using long takes, largely improvised dialogue and an increasingly out-of-joint time frame, Van Sant chronicles the final hours of fictional but Cobain-like rock star Blake.

Mediocre documentary squanders a terrific subject.

There's less than meets the eye in this tricky psychological thriller, one of a long line of mess-with-your-head brain ticklers in which all is not as it seems.

The film is as beautiful as it is unpredictable.

Neo-Gothic fantasist Tim Burton and writer John August (Big Fish) play it strictly by the book for this darker but far more faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl's cautionary 1964 young-adult novel.

Delivers 90 minutes of riotously funny raunch; unfortunately, its running time is closer to two hours.

Roos' sly, throwaway insights into the ways people deceive and undermine themselves are both ruefully funny and painfully on the mark.

Their subtle, complex performances could put far more experienced and better-known actors to shame.

The film's epic look is undermined by his narrow focus; in the end it feels rather thin and less than the sum of its handsome parts.

Powerful, documentary-style drama draws on the real-life experiences of "at risk" teenage girls.

White's take on southern life is no more "real" than the stereotypes he's trying to disrupt, just cooler.

True to form, Salles' version is an intelligent, brooding ghost story brimming with atmosphere, emotions and, above all else, water, but it's disappointingly short on scares.

Favors light action over character dynamics.

Versatile, highly skilled Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland's poignant drama examines the lingering effects of U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia.

The film is filled with humor, compassion and cajones, and never once glosses over the fact that these guys are prickly personalities who can sometimes act like jerks. There are also a few tears, but remarkably, not a single one is shed in pity.

A rare, unexpected treat.

What distinguishes Cordero's film is his use of location.

Offers substantial food for thought on the subject of prison reform, and Ariel and Menahami close by noting that Bedi's example has been followed in Thai and -- surprisingly -- U.S. prisons with encouraging results.

Stylish but shallow story.

An amateur in the best sense of the word, Dobson is an engaging ambassador for a life of the mind lived firmly in the real world.

Even by the debased standards of preachy sports movies aimed at kids, this is pabulum.

It lacks "Fingers" searing, explosive vitality.

There's nothing under the goofball gags and gushing gore, and its welcome is worn out well before it's over.

Maverick Chinese director Jia Zhangke examines the rapidly changing face of China as its economy edges further toward a modified form of market capitalism with yet another complex, multicharacter masterpiece.

Like so many true stories, Comes' lacks the clarity and comforting resolution of fiction

It unfolds in the angst-haunted shadow of the 9'11 terror attacks and teeters on a thin edge of sheer panic.

"All of us are by nature wild beasts. We must be like animal trainers and teach ourselves tricks alien to our bestiality." Cutting-edge Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses this quote from the novelist Ton Nakajima to introduce his entrancing third feature.