The new Wuthering Heightsis all gloomy moors and muck, but not much convincing passion.

Gator-filled swamps, an ultra-grungy murderer, racial undertones and a sexually charged atmosphere make up the tense and lurid world of The Paperboy.

The first half of Taken 2 is a serviceable action flick, but the second half descends into cliches.

Frankenweenie is a love story between a boy and his dog. It is also a beautifully crafted homage to classic horror films, a study of grief and a commentary on the mysteries of science and those who narrow-mindedly fear its advances.

The spirited a cappella singing in Pitch Perfect makes a predictable, feather-light coming-of-age film irresistibly fun.

When so much of what Hollywood churns out is almost instantly forgettable, it says a lot about a film when viewers want to take time to argue, ponder and puzzle over it.

While it's an energetic romp, there is more slapstick humor than wit at work here, and a good deal of borrowing from the far more clever "Monsters, Inc."

While there are moments where this drama, about a pair of mothers hellbent on improving their children's education, is compelling and deeply moving, the film gets mired in heavy-handed cliches.

Its title notwithstanding, there's nothing that remotely approaches a narrative curve ball in this tired saga of an aging baseball scout.

Unlike many action thrillers where the viewer is fairly certain that no real harm can come to the protagonists, such is never the case here. In this gritty ride-along, we sense that anything can happen, which adds to the propulsive momentum of a riveting story.

While there are humorous and poignant moments, this angst-filled story of tender kisses, awkward dances, friends drifting apart, kindly English teachers, unrequited crushes and drug-addled partying has a nagging sense of deja vu.

An artful blend of tenderness and sharp, clear-eyed observations. Its characters talk like real people -- who also happen to be smart, appealing and thoughtful.

While it's too hastily and neatly resolved, Hello I Must Be Going is a funny, well-written, involving and emotionally honest tale.

Despite an abrupt ending and the worst title of the year, Arbitrage manages to leverage real tension from its veteran stars in one of Hollywood's first pedigreed films of the fall.

Anderson has taken pains to re-create the '50s with superb production design and gorgeous cinematography. But he seems less concerned with whether the audience is along for the ride. The story can leave viewers at sea, floundering to give meaning to what they are watching.

Chicken With Plums is not a thoroughly delectable concoction, but its exotic flavor is worth sampling.

Ironically, the dialogue in The Words is its chief failing.

Talented actors are wasted in a film that induces more cringes than chuckles as women old enough to know better act like horny sailors on leave, absorb mass quantities of alcohol and drugs, and generally behave horribly.

Alas, if you're someone who enjoys movies as, say, a two-hour escape, you may find this documentary on the death of film at digital's hands a bit too inside baseball.

A dream for fans of offbeat, well-written, subtly acted projects.

Does its share of teasing, but amounts to nothing serious.

While the sound design and spooky minimalist music add suspense, and CGI effects are duly sinister, a climactic strobe effect is more annoying than frightening.

So stunningly photographed that the blood that spurts early and often in this grisly period piece is extra-vivid red. But that hardly makes the Prohibition-era story of a trio of bootlegging brothers feel authentic.

Despite far-fetched plot points - such as a flash mob of bike messengers ready to rumble and thwart evil - it's easy to get caught up in this life-or-death two-wheeled slalom.

The handsome production design notwithstanding, The Awakening is not an elegant thriller. It's more like solemn drivel.

This fun-loving genre-bender, inspired by "Smokey and the Bandit," opens languidly, then picks up the pace. Even in the midst of cars racing, it's funny and endearing.

Unlike most rom-coms, Celeste and Jesse Forever delves into the complicated heart of relationships, exposes some painful truths and allows melancholy to co-exist alongside breezy humor.

Shines brightest during its musical numbers.

The Expendables 2 is corny, barbaric and sometimes visually murky. But humor and self-deprecating macho charm make this male pattern badness crowd-pleasing fun.

This wryly funny take on the classic ghost story, with its tributes to horror thrillers from "Halloween" to "Friday the 13th" and rich cast of characters, has distinctive Tim Burton-esque visuals, and a welcome dearth of potty humor.

Robert Pattinson must be hellbent on escaping the world of sparkly-skinned undead to take on the starring role in the leaden, obtuse and ultra-pretentious Cosmopolis.

Drama/comedy fables such as "Big" and "13 Going on 30" effectively transported viewers to their whimsical alternate reality. But Timothy Green feels more predictable than other-worldly.

This latest Bourne doesn't send adrenaline surging the way "Ultimatum" did, but it's still a tense, well-acted thrill ride.

"It's a mess" is the campaign slogan of Marty Huggins, played by Galifianakis. He's referring to the state of government. But he might as well be describing the movie in which he co-stars.

It's about as uncomfortable as sitting through an interminable counseling session - involving two people you hardly know and don't much care about.

What snookered Slater (not to mention Donald Sutherland) into this film is a wonder, because there's not a genuine bone in it. Think the Bourne franchise meets the Bond franchise, without the wit or action.

The bone-crunchingly violent film has luridly entertaining moments. But by its resolution, this sleazy Southern Gothic nightmare has simply gone off the rails.

Maintains the franchise's knack for getting kids right.

Instead of drawing the audience in, the action scenes merely blur together. And the intriguing, thoughtful concepts at the story's core are glossed over.

Revolution tries a few plot moves, but, narratively, it has two left feet.

A musical detective story, this enthralling documentary focuses on a little-known American musician whose haunting voice and poetic lyrics were essentially unknown in his own country, but had a massive impact across the globe.

The film is one long Costco joke - but the punch line is never all that funny.

The fictional premise is used cleverly to illuminate the creative process and explore romantic minefields, and the appealing Ruby Sparks has a low-key, polished charm.

The point of the film is not to scorn or mock the Siegels, despite their excesses. They embody the quintessentially American urge to live beyond one's means. Their saga is simply the story of a nation's materialism writ large.

While it's the most ambitious of the three films, it's not as mesmerizing as 2008's "The Dark Knight." The plot is occasionally murky, its archvillain lacks charismatic menace, and the last hour is belabored.

It's mystifying how such a muddled and silly movie drew the talented cast it did.

Much of the action in Ice Age: Continental Drift takes place on an iceberg fashioned into a seagoing vessel. No one seems to be piloting the boat, which is an apt metaphor for the film.

So sobering an example of why crime doesn't pay that it could be shown to petty drug thugs to scare them straight.

Williams is hampered by her character's limitations. What results is a mannered tale of an immature, empty vessel.

Savages comes off as director Oliver Stone trying to rekindle his "Natural Born Killers" mojo from 1994. But when the bigger-name stars show up here in cartoonish roles, things feel more silly than gritty.

Does Part of Me plumb the depths of her soul? Hardly. As billed, it's a part of Perry she's willing to share.

As a new chapter in the superpowered arachnid saga, it stands on its own quite nicely, focusing more on human emotions than on a panoply of special effects.

It certainly stays alive in this spare and intriguing film directed by Jonathan Demme, who has helmed two previous Young concert films.

The movie's soap opera quality undermines its efforts to tell a family saga with much believability.

This bromance with rapid-fire quips, however, is undermined by unoriginal scenarios and a long, drawn-out chase scene.

So many movies try to capture human relationships and fail miserably. A few come close. Your Sister's Sister nails it with grace, humor and winning charm.

Almost as impressive as Tatum's moves are his comic flair and breezy grace. He proved his comic talents earlier this year in "21 Jump Street" and shows them off winningly here.

It's unlikely there will be a film as visually stunning or poetic this year - or perhaps any year - to rival Beasts of the Southern Wild.

It's a lively, psychologically astute tale filled with humanity, wit and charming performances.

A stylish slasher of a movie, a monster flick that does its vampires right, if not their real-life counterparts.

It's neither one of Allen's best, nor among his worst. It is also not likely to win audiences over with the passion that "Midnight in Paris" did.

This is a romantic comedy for people who don't like rom-coms. There's no chance of a happy ending, but its tender mercies speak volumes.

It's equally endearing as a sweetly funny romance between two likable oddballs and as a low-tech time-travel thriller, and has something profound to say about making the most of the present.

That's My Boy is puerile, mean-spirited and charmless.

Don't stop believing. Just avoid clichéd musicals that try to capture the anarchic spirit of rock with trite commercial re-treads.

Hardly fresh, but it never stints on energy or vivid colors.

Scott seduces audiences with thought-provoking possibilities, then pulls a bait-and-switch, subbing in a familiar monster thriller and fiery explosion-fest.

One of those movies that makes for a fantastic trailer. Much beyond that can feel like repeat viewing.

Filmmakers must have been tripping pretty badly when they made High School, a flub that's about as lucid as a stoner at a spelling bee.

Despite an unlikely setting and a moderately intriguing premise, Chernobyl Diaries proves to be a generic horror flick where young tourists are systematically victimized in unoriginal and not terribly scary ways.

While this third go-round may not seem necessary amid summer's blockbusters, it's an entertaining jaunt back in time with the likably mismatched duo.

The Intouchables is an exuberantly charming French buddy comedy that proves an audience will suspend disbelief and follow an unlikely story as long as it's superbly crafted.

Literate, melancholy and magical, Moonrise Kingdom is quintessential Wes Anderson, infused with his brand of daffy wit.

What audiences should expect is a tone-deaf, superficial, charmless ensemble rom-com, focused on five attractive, but uninteresting, couples.

The comic elements of this semi-factual tale are heavy-handed, and a key romance falls flat. Despite its titillating subject matter, Hysteria is only mildly stimulating. The final third of the story meanders during a tedious trial and clumsy speechifying.

Mostly, Battleship is a noisy, overlong and numbing military-vs.-aliens saga with laughably bad dialogue.

After laughing at crudely funny scenes in The Dictator, there's a cringing sensation of guilt.

Seems like a work in progress.

At its best in comic mode, more effective as goofy spoof than horror show.

A refreshing, mature fairy tale.

This clever, low-budget film kicks the concept up a few notches to mesmerizing.

Whedon weaves a story that allows each of the heroes to do what they do best. And while they may not have exactly equal time, audiences get enough of each to feel satisfied, but not sated. Clever work, indeed.

Boaz Yakin's slick direction, marked by quick cuts, unstinting energy and a lack of sentimentality, makes the action scenes satisfying. But he's a better director than writer.

May be far more ragtag than swashbuckling, but the film is sure-footed, witty and zany fun.

This many-feathered animal occasionally soars before it crash-lands.

The story starts out well, then becomes contrived and goes on too long.

It's unfortunate that the filmmakers juxtapose those striking visuals with a warlike anthropomorphizing element.

Dog lovers will instantly warm to the handsome stray collie mix, but they may struggle to fully embrace the amiable but toothless adult story surrounding him.

Sprinkled with riffs, concert footage and home videos, the family-authorized documentary does what the artist usually did: When in doubt, return to the beat.

Visually stunning and narratively stunted, this IMAX documentary is the family version of 2006's "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary on global warming.

Just earnest enough to blend its religious theme with a beer-chugging hero for a surprisingly contemporary look at faith.

Even though Think Like a Man espouses something akin to the philosophy in Beyoncé's Single Ladies(Put a Ring on It), it makes manipulation more fun than it ought to be.

So the cliches are as thick as a vat of honey. And the love story proves just as syrupy. But for those who lap up this sappy vision of romance, it contains all the key ingredients.

What's missing in Morgan Spurlock's latest documentary is a key ingredient: Morgan Spurlock.

A putrid film that comes dead-weighted with hammy one-liners and a plot so silly it borders on comedy?

Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford are particularly funny in their middle-management roles.

Pop culture references intermingle with the loopy trio's iconic foolishness, and the result is a movie with some big laughs, plenty of heart and terrible coifs.

These are hardly damsels, but the distress will be felt by audiences watching the collection of non sequiturs, twee remarks and tangential vignettes that is Damsels in Distress.