If you want to escape all the deadly serious fare of this pre-awards season, run to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.Why? Cox rocks. This rowdy spoof of music biopics is silly fun and often hilarious.

The flashbacks, functional at best, aren't really the problem. Interminable one-on-one dialogues between the two male leads are. [7 Apr 1995, p.03.D]

An L.A.-based story with more turns and curves than a Hollywood canyon.

Given the story's focus on religion and the intolerance that still rages in today's world, The Merchant of Venice remains deeply meaningful.

Dramatically, even a persuasive supporting cast gets Heaven only so far.

She has been compared to Lenny Bruce because of her incendiary topics, but Silverman's style, capitalizing on her innocent smile and good looks, is her own.

A raw and powerful suspense thriller.

Though the journey ends on some fun notes after a sagging middle, Galaxy never fully breaks out.

Bale's is a pitch-perfect, understated performance in this involving neo-noir thriller.

While just a jot less fun than its predecessor, Pitch Perfect 2 is a worthy sequel in tone, even if the story feels padded with a few too many montages.

Directed by Simon Curtis and written by series creator Julian Fellowes, the sequel is a charming and soapy new chapter filled with enjoyably dry humor (mostly courtesy of the fantastic Maggie Smith), some heartbreak, a dash of mystery and a history lesson from old-school Hollywood.

This isn't a polished work, but anyone who's ever spent time on the movie-making edge will recognize it as a true one. [28 Aug 1992, p.5D]

An endearing, occasionally sentimental story told with depth and substance.

Take out the cool retro tunes, neon everything and the formidable woman of action, and Atomic Blonde tends more bland than Bond.

How She Move has two key assets: powerful dance sequences and an emphasis on education.

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.

Overall, this is a tart little toughie - within its limitations. Like 1987's The Bedroom Window, also directed by Curtis Hanson, it admittedly pales next to suspense classics it recalls. Yet on its own terms, it's a hefty cut above the norm. [09 Mar 1990, p.1D]

A warm and pleasantly diverting tale.

Cheri, like the character, is an entertaining bauble without much on its mind.

When it's good, Friends With Benefits is quite good - especially as it skewers rom-com clichés.

The special effects are pretty special for the most part, and the movie seems only about 10 minutes too long. [23 June 1989, p.1D]

This supernatural yarn is thoroughly engrossing until it loses its way about three-quarters in. It's as if the filmmakers didn't know how to resolve the mayhem, opting for silly over diabolical.

An equitably rude comedy about abortion, brazen by definition but also fairly droll. It's probably too schematic to reward more than a single viewing, but as a provocative one-time surprise it may become a specialized sleeper. [13 December 1996, p.4D]

Notable for the easy chemistry of its ensemble cast.

You have to love any movie in which Robert Mitchum sells trains in a toy store and Janet Leigh looks the greatest she ever did on screen this side of Jet Pilot. [19 Dec 2008, p.6E]

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.

For hilarity, characterization and clever structure, "The Hangover" is far superior. Still, there are some laughs in this uneven but good-natured raunchfest.

More than a quarter-century ago, Redford played a young CIA employee in "Three Days of the Condor." Someday, it will make a great living-room double bill with Spy Game -- the actor then and now.