Though the blending of archival footage into a faux documentary is occasionally clever, ultimately it's banal and unconvincing.

With its ho-hum performances, muddled point of view, inert plot and pedestrian writing, all that's left to appreciate are the sumptuous costumes, elaborate hairstyles and rococo production design, which are not enough to sustain any movie, even one set in the gilded splendor of Versailles.

Running With Scissors lacks the edge of Augusten Burroughs' best-selling memoir. The result is an inconsistent tragicomedy that attempts to be cut from the same darkly humorous cloth as "American Beauty," but fails.

It is one of the year's best films and perhaps the finest modern film about World War II.

A visually stunning, startlingly clever sleight of hand that will have audiences pondering well after the lights go up.

Like a politician who waters down his message to gain favor with the masses rather than truly serving his constituency, Man of the Year seems determined to play it safe on all counts.

Deliver Us From Evil is so horrifying it makes "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" look like a walk in the park.

It's a stellar cast, but you can't help but lament the bad timing.

Though the film is not terribly original (and features a jarringly miscast Alicia Silverstone as Alex's nanny), the action scenes are diverting, the veteran cast is amusing and the engaging Pettyfer makes a solid debut.

Little Children maintains much of the power, humor and nuance of Tom Perrotta's wonderful novel, but seems unsure if it's a satire or a serious drama.

The film's score and editing brilliantly heighten the film's energy, keeping the audience somewhat off-kilter and unsure where things are headed.

You're bound to have more fun working overtime than watching Employee of the Month.

The Queen is the kind of thought-provoking, well-written and savvy film that discerning filmgoers long for but rarely get.

Don't be surprised if, in the middle of The Guardian, you get an overpowering sense of déjà vu. Assuming you've seen "An Officer and a Gentleman," "Top Gun" or any of the myriad basic-training films Hollywood churns out, you've seen The Guardian.

School for Scoundrels will only leave you scratching your head in bewilderment and might possibly shave off IQ points.

Forest Whitaker is astoundingly multifaceted and convincing as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. In the performance of his career, he fully inhabits the part of the barbaric and charismatic ruler.

You can't help but have high expectations from Zaillian and this stellar cast. But the result this time is a thuddingly tedious soap opera.

Flyboys doesn't succeed as a wartime adventure story or as a period romance. Even the special effects, set in a historical context, are too ho-hum to save this over-long and tedious film.

The look of the film is dazzling, even hallucinatory, and the concept is beyond quirky as conceived by Gondry, a talented visual stylist, in his first film based on his own script. The story is compelling, unconventional and diverting in its blurring of reality and fantasy.

The Black Dahlia captivates with its dark style. But as with the particulars of the yet-unsolved case, the movie is frustratingly convoluted. What it accomplishes with its stunning cinematography and set design is undercut by a lack of coherence.

A sweet, inspirational movie that doesn't offer any surprises, but entertains youthful audiences in a gentle, almost old-fashioned way.

The best thing about Gridiron Gang is the performance of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He is engaging, affable and wholly believable as a former football star turned officer in a juvenile detention center.

The movie occasionally reveals truths about relationships that, while not earth-shattering, are nonetheless entertaining and worth considering.

Overall, Confetti is agreeable and appropriately daft, though occasionally tepid and contrived.

Hollywoodland explores an intriguing bit of Hollywood history, and through the strength of its performances keeps us engaged and entertained.

There is nothing flashy about these performances, but Gyllenhaal, Dillon and Gosling fully inhabit their characters, giving haunting portrayals. Watch for these names to emerge on the short list for Academy Award consideration.

Much as they would like it to, basketball can't save the youthful inner-city players here. Nor does the ultra-fast-paced street version of the sport save this movie from predictability and tedium.

There is no question that the organization is a riveting subject for a film.

Ultimately, Beerfest plays like a party that's gone on too long, when the buzz has worn off and the hangover starts to set in.

The music by Outkast is great, and the rowdy, randy en masse dance sequences are riveting. The story, however, is rather thin and lacks focus.

The worms, the real stars of the film, are fairly impressive, looming large, plump and slimy as they are boiled, fried, served with sauce and added to omelettes and smoothies.

Invincible doesn't offer any surprises. But it is a well-made, fairly exciting movie that, like its hero, has heart.

Cheesy, campy B-movie fun, thanks mostly to the cadre of cobras and their ilk and also to Jackson (probably the only actor alive who could pull off this save-the-day bad ass movie role).

Mostly, it wallows in partying with a capital P.

The Illusionist casts an exquisitely bewitching spell with its dreamy atmosphere and pervasive sense of suspense.

Trust-- and the genre itself -- needs to dump the stale formula and embrace reality and reinvention.

For a movie about dancing, Step Up is pretty clumsy on its feet.

A compelling drama that establishes Ryan Gosling as one of the finest actors of his generation.

Where "United 93" was a superb example of masterful storytelling, World Trade Center is a more conventional rendering.

It's made expressly for fans of unmitigated gore.

It's a sweet and mildly funny movie that will entertain young audiences, but one aspect is utterly mystifying: The two main characters, father and son bovine creatures, have large, distracting udders.

This unconventional psychological drama weaves a fascinating tale, and Collette and Williams give two of the summer's best performances.

Like "Anchorman," the secret to the inspired absurdity of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is in the improv.

Quinceañera is a spirited and poignant exploration of the bonds and challenges facing a Latino family and the pains of a community undergoing a transition of its own.

All this movie has in common with its ancestor are speedboats, shotguns and drug-dealing Colombians.

Johansson is not Allen's new Diane Keaton. She's closer to Mariel Hemingway -- though even Allen couldn't attempt to pull off a romance between his septuagenarian self and a girl in college.

The movie starts out cleverly enough but grows insipid as the girls' antics become more predictable.

Ant Bully, while not wildly fresh or inventive, is entertaining and energetic.

It has been a while since we've seen such a consistently funny and entertaining road movie.

It's the crude humor that trips up the movie.

The character played by lead Paul Giamatti is a dead-on Shyamalan protagonist: emotionally distanced and something of a train wreck.

Monster House may be the first true horror film for children.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend manages to do what the recent crop of crime fighters haven't: show us how much fun it might be to fly, or have super strength, or look buff in spandex.

Almost in spite of itself, Little Man manages to deliver big laughs. It's not enough to make it a consistently funny movie, but this one-trick pony from the Wayans brothers has flashes of humor and sincerity that almost save it from its disastrous ending.

You, Me and Dupree is a good idea badly executed.

It does deliver a combustible combination of ingredients for a summer blockbuster: a cornucopia of action and dazzling effects, some raucous humor and a large dose of Depp's winning charm.

Definitely not for everyone. It's a very bleak story with uneven pacing and a narrative whose jumps in time are confusing and occasionally infuriating. But the post-apocalyptic mood blends well with its uniquely stylized look and surreal story.

The comic appeal of The Devil Wears Prada is the cinematic equivalent of a size 2 - wafer-thin and ultimately lacking in meat and substance.

A rousing spectacle.

Fans of the cult TV comedy Strangers with Candy may be happy to catch any sighting of the silly escapades of Amy Sedaris' middle-aged ex-con junkie. But purists will prefer the Comedy Central episodes to this uneven film.

Despite its ultra-formulaic premise and juvenile sense of humor, there are a few laughs, and the movie's heart is generally in the right place, with the notable exception of racist characterizations of an Arab prince and Japanese businessmen.

A riveting and disturbing documentary that falls short of greatness by not providing enough insight into the characters. It is mostly intent on inciting a sense of outrage in the viewer, and it succeeds.

I'm Your Man movingly captures the artist's lifelong search for truth and beauty and his translation of it into song.

Has plenty of fast cars and revving engines. But unless you're a fan of that sort of thing, its stultifying plot and wooden acting is likely to make you drift - off to sleep.

It comes off like a coughed-up furball: a wan rehash with too many elements of the hard-to-swallow 2004 original.

One of the more befuddling movies of recent years. The premise makes no sense, no matter how you turn it around in your head.

What is missing in plot and character development is made up for in silly fun.

If it's challenges you're after, forget cracking "The Da Vinci Code." Wordplay captures the exhilaration that comes from navigating the ins and outs of complex puzzles.

Cars is a classic American tale firing on all cylinders and fueled by organic emotion and a lively sense of adventure.

At its best, it's a gentle meditation on mortality. But at weaker moments it feels meandering and strangely empty.

It captures an authentic feel-good spirit and inspirational message that most Hollywood movies barely approximate.

The devil has a new spawn, but this one is not nearly as creepy as its progenitor.

The Break-Up is not comical or romantic, and it's certainly not a date movie. Sitting through it is almost as painful as going through the demise of a relationship.

Has a couple of emotionally resonant scenes that build on the first two story lines. But it lacks the intriguing moody quality of the previous films. The mutants are more pumped up and angry this time, rather than misunderstood and conflicted.

Haunting and inspiring film.

Ron Howard has taken an intriguing page-turner of a story and re-shaped it into a bloated wannabe epic.

The vividly animated film -- based on a comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis -- has an appealing balance of comic bits and exhilarating action sequences.

A darkly disturbing melodrama anchored by some powerful performances.

Poseidon is a sodden saga, with a script that is awash in clichés. It nearly drowns under the weight of its own soggy tedium.

An occasionally entertaining, always fluffy teen romantic comedy with some moderately funny physical comedy by gadabout star Lindsay Lohan.

The film is capably acted and somewhat inspiring.

Blends humor with heart for a satisfying, if predictable, experience.

Against sizable odds -- a sense that the franchise is played out and its star over-exposed -- Mission: Impossible III delivers.

There is nothing objectionable in this family film, but it doesn't seem to appreciate the intelligence and savvy of its youthful audience. Kids can spot a silly stereotypical character as fast as the rest of us.

Bridges actually does a fine job in an uninteresting role. But this chick flick is all about the attitudinal teenagers.

An unflinching, powerfully visceral and haunting portrait of the tragic events aboard one of the terrorist-commandeered flights on the fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

You could be cynical about the first movie produced by the coffee colossus Starbucks. But there's nothing cynical about Akeelah's story of courage and determination.

Unfunny, sappy and massively predictable.

A haunting and disturbing film, set in 1938, about "widow houses." Though occasionally overwrought, it emerges as life-affirming.

Not as incisive a political commentary as "Thank You For Smoking," American Dreamz lampoons the public's appetite for mindless entertainment and easy distraction from serious concerns.

Director Clark Johnson has an energetic style of filmmaking and a facile way with stunts and chase sequences. The result is a fairly stylish action thriller. We've seen plenty of suspense films in which a seemingly good guy is framed, so it helps when a director can pull off a few cinematic tricks to keep audiences on their toes.

Just be the most wildly derivative animated movie in ages.

It would be nice to be able to report that Kinky Boots is a kick in the pants. But this conventional, manipulative British import feels like a re-soled pair of shoes that unquestionably have seen their day.

Hard Candy, a highly original psychological thriller/revenge fantasy, can be bitterly hard to take and uncomfortably intense, but it's well worth consuming.

Because we are left with so many questions, the film emerges as emotionally lacking and flat when it should be moving, or at least enlightening.

This pop-culture-infused mistaken-identity thriller ultimately grabs hold and beguiles, though its convoluted plot takes a while to get going.

The movie's best moments are between Banderas and the kids. When the plot shifts to reveal the students' back stories (one has a prostitute mother, another a drunken father), the story becomes a melodramatic rehash of other movies, like "Fame" or "Rent."

The film is likable, with some funny moments and recognizable human conflicts. But the origin of the women's friendship is not explained, and the nature of Olivia's problems is not examined or taken very seriously, making her seem inexplicably lost and shallow.