Nothing about this rote exercise feels remotely fresh. It's a re-tread of the 2009 original, sans the inspired lunacy.

Nathan Lane steals the show in this tale of a high school English teacher who becomes obsessed with a student's play.

Sarah Polley's memoir is a poignant, funny and engrossing film, challenging our notions of memory and family mythology.

Spectacular special effects, superbly crafted action sequences, plenty of humor and terrific performances render it a cut above most summer blockbusters.

It's an unrelentingly brutal movie set in an unusually scenic locale — the coastal city of Valparaiso, Chile.

The film is beautifully shot, with vivid production design. But because of the tale's lack of cohesion, it doesn't carry enough emotional heft.

Grier plays the part of the pompous patrician with superb finesse and dry wit, easily the movie's highlight.

So much effort seems to have gone into the eye-popping production design, swooping camera work and anachronistic musical score that the result is hyper-active cacophony rather than enthralling entertainment.

Brosnan and Dyrholm are irresistible, communicating volumes with mere glances as well as sharp dialogue.

Shannon's restrained and mesmerizing portrayal, bolstered by an excellent offbeat supporting cast, makes for an edgy and compelling Mob yarn.

The rambunctious Iron Man 3 is a briskly paced thrill ride until about 90 minutes in, when the excitement wanes. A few late-breaking surprises re-invigorate the tale, however.

Forced, formulaic and never believable. It's a particularly unholy combination.

Arthur Newman is an old story and chronically, consistently uninvolving.

Endearing and believable, the two actors playing Ellis and Neckbone are pitch-perfect.

A badly constructed, blood-spattered caper that comes unglued early on.

With its complex look at storytelling, imagination and the teacher-student dynamic, In the House is an elaborate cinematic fresco.

Brannigan is terrific as Robbie, and the entire supporting cast is superb.

Oblivion is a slick spectacle — seeing the humorless but ultra-fit Tom Cruise wrestle with himself might be worth the price of admission alone.

Melodramatic and gritty Filly Brown marks the debut of a magnetic screen presence in Gina Rodriguez, as well as the final performance of singer Jenni Rivera, who died in a plane crash in December.

Characters are richly drawn and relatable, though at times stories teeter on melodrama. The overall effect, however, is powerful.

It takes a particularly ham-fisted filmmaker to transform a fascinating and historically significant story into something as formulaic as 42.

Never was a film so visually stunning and so intolerable as To the Wonder.

The visionary filmmaker's psychological thriller weaves a too-complicated tapestry.

The stars make this political drama engrossing, despite its few missteps.

Goes overboard on the gruesome and scrimps on humor. Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" was a much funnierchill-fest.

Family Weekend is the kind of dark-for-dark's sake, wannabe quirkfest that proves indie films can be just as clichéd and vapid as the most soulless Hollywood movies.

A riveting crime thriller, it's also a multi-generational familial saga that approaches Greek tragedy.

Saoirse Ronan's talents are wasted on a foolish dual part in this dull sci-fi fantasy.

A more sure-footed shoot-'em-up that finds some heart, wit and perhaps enough momentum to spawn a formidable action franchise.

A potent combination of rousing music, appealing performances and an uplifting story renders this film-festival favorite nearly impossible to resist.

Largely because of its engaging cast, Admission is an amiable, but only slightly-above-average, comic romp.

More than anything, the striking spectacle of primordial flora and one-of-a-kind fauna makes it easy for audiences to get pleasantly lost in the adventure.

This is for those who like their political thrillers far-fetched, far-reaching and filled with pretty people.

With director Harmony Korine's visual overload and somnolent voice-overs — the same sentences are repeated ad nauseum — it manages to be both mind-numbingly dull and off-putting.

The action starts with a bang, but deteriorates and grows more absurd as the story strays farther from the LAPD call center.

What might have been an entertaining, silly comedy opts for pseudo-earnestness over movie magic.

Some of the film's most illuminating scenes involve Aya's uncle, General Kajima (Toshiyuki Nishida), who schools Fellers on the sense of duty that is ingrained in Japanese culture.

It's a story that could only happen in an era of YouTube and American Idol. Well-chronicled and fascinating, Don't Stop Believin' is a cinematic journey well worth taking.

As a gritty thriller, Dead Man Down doesn't stand out among its bullet-riddled brethren.

The combination of tight close-ups and jarring camera work might require a dose of Dramamine. Better yet, give this movie a wide berth and check out a superb film set in a submarine, the 1981 classic "Das Boot."

Despite its collegiate setting, 21 and Over is pretty much for people with an IQ of 21 and under.

Vivid visuals are the key to this handsome and moderately entertaining adventure. And the tone is more fairy-tale appropriate than video-game friendly, though the effects-laden swashbuckling sometimes obscures efforts at light whimsy.

In its focus on an ordinary family facing a nightmarish scenario, Snitch is a terrifying but relatable story.

What might have made Bless Me, Ultima more powerful would have been additional scenes with its mystical title character.

For anyone fascinated by the political process and the powers of persuasive advertising, No is a resounding yes.

Lead actor Ehrenreich conveys a spirited charm, while Englert, the object of his affections, is more blandly self-contained.

The picture-postcard location of Southport, N.C., is the film's strong suit.

The best thing about A Good Day to Die Hard is its title.

Preposterous, goofy and a clear ripoff of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” Identity still manages to make off with just enough laughs to work, thanks to the wondrous McCarthy, one of the few actresses in Hollywood allowed to showcase her wit and charisma as much as her physique.

Like a lot of meds, it loses its effectiveness over time, and you'll build a resistance to Effects eventually, particularly when it dissolves into a standard crime flick.

Geared for teens who perhaps found the Twilight series too profound, Warm Bodies is an unabashed homage to that wildly successful franchise. One of its stars, Teresa Palmer, is even done up to be a carbon copy of Kristen Stewart, the anchor of the vampire series.

It's been a long time since a movie wasted as much talent as Stand Up Guys, a film that aims to be a geezer "Goodfellas" but whose execution is a misfire.

Alas, shell casings, switchblades and severed limbs are all that's offered in this vile film, whose sole redeeming quality is that it ends. Eventually.

This genre stew throws in so many ingredients - including sundry body parts that are cut off and go flying, and heads that explode - that the result is a tasteless mash-up that's hard to stomach.

Quartet is endearing, sometimes even irresistible.

It tries to be a moody thriller, but cliched dialogue and too many coincidences make for a predictable and hackneyed film.

In the last five minutes the film shifts gears and offers a tribute to law enforcement. But this tacked-on resolution is as sticky and fake as Sean Penn's make-up job.

The highlight of Not Fade Away, a meandering and bittersweet coming-of-age story, is its killer '60s pop-rock soundtrack.

Promised Land is an involving and timely tale that explores the changing nature and complex challenges of rural life.

This is a tale not only of epic disaster but also of resilience. The Impossible is a nimbly acted drama that is at once a stellar visual achievement and a life-affirming story of familial love and courage.

Les Misérables is sweeping, as would be expected given the scope of the hugely popular stage musical from which it is adapted. But it's also wonderfully intimate, thanks to Tom Hooper's deft direction.

Despite a terrific cast, Jack Reacher comes up empty-handed.

The movie spends too much time wedging the couple into a May-December moment, where Crystal cracks nostalgic about the good old days. It's sweet, but it grows old.

There's an epic spaghetti Western feel to Quentin Tarantino's latest action/comedy/romance hybrid that is by turns dazzling, daring, gruesome and astonishingly funny.

Give it plenty of points for brutal honesty. But This is 40 could have used more laughs.

While this decade-long look at the inner workings of the CIA is intriguing, the movie would have benefited by more character development and additional editing.

Audiences deserve a resounding "mea culpa" for the embarrassing dreck, masquerading as comedy, in The Guilt Trip.

While the production design is impeccable and the journey intermittently involving, The Hobbit is overlong and lacks the enchantment of the Lord of the Rings films.

The shenanigans of randy soccer moms and their obnoxious blowhard husbands are intended as comic relief. But the sappy plot of this formulaic romantic comedy is just as silly as its inane attempts at farce.

The setting is vivid but the film is lifeless, despite many innuendos dropped about FDR's alleged infidelity.

This gritty examination of physical and psychological wounds offers a superb performance by Marion Cotillard, who speaks volumes with her eyes, and a less convincing one by her lead co-star.

Takes a fascinating chapter in Danish history, little-known to general audiences, and presents it engagingly.

The latest undead-soldier story carries on the franchise tradition of graphic violence and bad acting.

There's nothing touchy-feely about Killing Them Softly, a stylish thriller worth seeing -- despite its relentless violence -- for its sharp dialogue, mesmerizing photography and gritty performances.

Though the film is titled Hitchcock and ostensibly centers on the legendary director, we get a better sense of the women around him than the enigmatic filmmaker.

A spectacular high-seas epic that employs technology brilliantly and underscores the power of a vividly told story.

Only those with paranoid fantasies of an en masse invasion on American soil will find Red Dawn remotely powerful. The concept should have been updated to allow for more complex and surreptitious kinds of warfare.

With its fanciful razzle-dazzle, Rise of the Guardians is appealing, if slightly hectic, family fare.

Though energetic, daring and gorgeous to behold, this re-imagining of Tolstoy's classic tale lacks a viable sense of passion, holding the characters at arm's length and glossing over social issues.

There may never have been a movie whose quality mattered less than this final chapter of The Twilight Saga.

Silver Linings is consistently entertaining, with its scrappy, well-drawn characters, offbeat humor and indefatigable positive outlook.

Through this very specific look at a critical time in Lincoln's presidency, Kushner, Spielberg and Day-Lewis work together to present an honest look at America's most revered statesman. Kushner finds an artful way to weave in the texts of the Gettysburg Address and the 13th Amendment, as well as a creative way to present Lincoln's assassination.

With a powerful jolt, 007 feels relevant again, with serious questions about espionage vs. cyber hacking amid the fun.

With Halloween bags still brimming, it's an ideal time for the inventive candy-colored fun and wicked humor that is Wreck-It Ralph.

The film is not without flaws. It glosses over the story of the dissolution of Whitaker's marriage and does not delve deeply enough into the source of his problems with his son. A romance with recovering junkie Nicole (Kelly Reilly) rarely rings true.

RZA's directorial debut is heavy on bloody kung fu action...and light on just about everything else.

Fun is hiding behind a bad movie costume in this humorless and idiotic Halloween teen comedy.

Ultimately the story of Jay Moriarity, who died tragically in a diving accident at 22, is a moving one, and he deserved a better tribute than this film.

The cinematography is gorgeous and the makeup amazing, but the story lines are too disconnected.

Nothing is easily resolved in this complex drama, which makes it all the more honestly moving. More than anything, this is a film about a woman on a journey of self-discovery, finding her way gingerly.

There's virtually nothing new in the dull Paranormal Activity 4 except for a modification in the method of documenting the spooky shenanigans.

A moving tale with wryly funny moments.

Perry must have felt it was high time for him to try his hand at playing a darker role. But starring in this badly directed, suspense-free film with its unintentionally laughable dialogue does Perry no favors.

Smashed is quietly affecting, though sometimes difficult to sit through. The saving grace is Winstead's smashing performance.

When the comedy connects, it can deliver with funny force

Despite the hype, this horror story can't shake its run-of-the-mill storytelling.

A superbly crafted and darkly funny real-life political thriller, with pitch-perfect performances.

Men in movies are often just overgrown boys, and Seven Psychopaths is out to prove it - in the most twisted, hilarious way possible.