Glimmers of a fascinating and lively period film surface and fade in the first half-hour of The Immigrant. What predominates is a dully morose, overheated and implausible story.

When it focuses on the clash of cultures, laughs naturally flow. When it follows the familiar sports movie playbook too slavishly, it grows tedious.

Neighbors is the "Animal House" for an era in which food fights seem quaint.

A slow-cooked film that's one of the most heartwarming of the young year.

Mothers deserve a much better break than the hectic, shrill and dismally unpleasant Moms' Night Out.

While the film is not nearly as evocative as Egoyan's 1997 masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter" (also about children who died tragically), it is still an intrinsically fascinating story.

And that's Fed Up's ultimate, if not fatal, weakness: The movie seems to acquit consumers of any culpability in our health crisis.

The layered film's blend of Austen-style romance, courtroom drama and historical look at the British slave trade works surprisingly well, though there are moments — especially involving the conniving suitors — that teeter on melodrama.

Aerial sequences are often thrilling. However, interpersonal relations are front and center in this installment.

Narrated by Johnny Depp, a portrait emerges of an anarchic, humble spirit who now fears becoming "a visual polluter."

Blue Ruin is the rare film that is nearly consistently tense, the suspense only temporarily subsiding about an hour into the story. It's a welcome respite.

The story soon devolves into a far-fetched, futuristic snooze-fest that often defies its own logic. Characters' motivations are rarely clear, and allegiances shift with no explanation.

The breezy and sometime absurd Fading Gigolo is reminiscent of vintage Italian films and early Woody Allen movies.

It has lighthearted moments, but is also suspenseful at the right times.

A wide-eyed 4-year-old makes a fairly convincing case for the existence of an afterlife in Heaven is for Real. But it's Greg Kinnear — with his characteristic affability — that just about seals the deal.

Rio 2 teems with colorful animated splendor and elaborate musical numbers, but its rambling, hectic, if good-hearted, story is for the birds.

Unsettling and well-acted story.

For those who puzzled over the "Twilight" hoopla here are Adam and Eve, the artiest, most sophisticated pair of vampires to hit screens in a long time.

For a well-acted movie about the horrors of war and the lure of revenge, it's surprisingly dull and starchy.

Draft's reverence for the gridiron, its heroes and the cities that worship them (particularly Cleveland) will make the movie a first-round pick of diehards.

Jude Law put on 30 pounds to play this slimeball. But the weightier question is, why would he bother to take this worn-out role, at any size?

An often breathlessly exciting action thriller told with humor and intelligence.

An enthralling tale of friendship that transcends biases, Ernest & Celestine offers a lovely lesson on acceptance and inclusion.

Enlivened by a strong cast, Cesar Chavez is a straightforward and inspiring account of a noble man.

Indisputably the most violent film of the year and disputably the worst.

Noah is no by-the-book Bible story. Think of it as a visually mesmerizing sci-fi adventure saga loosely based on the book of Genesis.

For those who don't equate sexual appetite with the intricacies of fly fishing, Nymphomaniac: Vol. 1 is more tiresome than titillating.

Gyllenhaal is excellent in the dual roles, though Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) is given too little to do to make much of an impression. Isabella Rossellini has a brief, thankless role as the mother of at least one of the two look-alikes.