Like the last two "Pirates" movies, Australia is ambitious more than awe-inspiring, grandiose rather than grand, full of spectacle but not spectacular.

The stunts are as muscular and the film as handsome to look at as the hero who so ably pulls them off. But the story linking it all together is thin and weak.

If feuds, drunken outbursts and thoughtless bed-hopping sound like fun, then A Christmas Tale is a hoot. Some wry humor runs through the course of the overly long saga. But there's not enough dark wit to mitigate the tedium and pretentiousness.

Director Danny Boyle's riveting and kaleidoscopic tale, based on Vikas Swarup's debut novel "Q and A," is exquisitely adapted to the screen by Simon Beaufoy.

Misfits and misanthropes are the heroes of Role Models, a surprisingly clever comedy.

JCVD is a whimsical twist on the biopic, sending up heist movies and breaking cinematic rules to interesting effect. At a critical moment, Van Damme rises out of a tense hostage situation to look into the camera and speak movingly to the audience. He has never seemed more convincing.

Viewers should know that the film's resolution, though admirably restrained and unsentimental, is devastatingly sad. Parents should take this into account. This beautifully rendered family film is told in a classic and old-fashioned style, in the best sense, providing poignant and powerful teachable moments.

More animals don't necessarily translate to more fun and laughter, at least not when it comes to animated sequels.

The biggest mystery about Repo! The Genetic Opera is why the grisly Goth-horror musical is opening the week after Halloween. The second-biggest mystery is why this unfunny, unscary, preposterous bloodbath about organ transplants is opening at all.

The material doesn't consistently do justice to their talents, but the movie is worth seeing for their chemistry and for the Motown-infused soundtrack.

Splinter is no exploitative blood bath or torture horror like the "Saw" movies. It's more of a thriller along the lines of "The Thing" or "Alien." The scares are equal parts psychological jolts and gore. This is classic Halloween fun, with plenty of thrills and chills, surprisingly believable performances, and healthy doses of humor.

Longs to be a smutty film with a heart of gold. Instead, it's a funny concept whose execution does not live up to its potential.

It's déjà vu all over again. There isn't much more to say about "We Own the Night 2." Oops, make that Pride and Glory.

Even if the refreshing gust doesn't stay with you long, it's fun while it lasts.

Saw V is a terrible combination: grisly and tedious. Let's just call it bloody dull.

While the neo-Gothic tale is inherently intriguing, the film should inspire strong emotion, but deliberate pacing and a contained sense of melodrama make it a surprisingly passive experience.

Writer/director Philippe Claudel knows just how to structure a character study of this sort, so that key elements and important secrets are revealed over time, piquing our interest. The film is almost like a novel or short story, so one's curiosity is satisfied slowly.

The film disappoints terribly, too. The directorial debut of such an imaginative and clever screenwriter was a highly anticipated event. His "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" are two of the most innovative and intriguing movies of the past decade. Synecdoche is one of the most maddening.

The performances are good (some scarily realistic), and the movie is enjoyable to watch. But as a probing analysis of the 43rd president, it falls short.

Madonna's directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom, feels more like a collection of scenes than a fully drawn film.

Max Payne couldn't be more appropriately named. Sitting through this stylish-looking but derivative, vacuous and bullet-riddled movie inflicts maximum pain.

The documentary is enjoyable, though it could have been edited more tightly. The ending, in which three of the contest participants write and perform a catchy pop song, is buoyantly fun.

Hampered by over-earnestness and tugs too intently at the heartstrings.

Sex Drive does not fully satisfy our comic desires.

A tautly paced, well-acted espionage thriller with the requisite explosions and action sequences. Still, it ends up leaving the viewer rather cold.

Despite appealing performances and kinetic football scenes, the storytelling is mostly conventional.

At its best when sticking to a classic sci-fi-fantasy format. But when it tries to be a generic thrill ride, it loses its originality and peculiar charm.

It is that rare film that is equal parts entertaining, life-affirming and thought-provoking.