The look is artfully stylized, influenced by classic film noir; the mood is dark; the performances nuanced; and the story unnervingly exciting.

Has nothing remotely new or comical in its arsenal. In fact, this vacuous farce has nothing original to say about marriage, working parenthood, child-rearing or corporate America.

Even by today's standards, some scenes are jaw-dropping in their bloodshed. To that end, Lurie accomplishes some of what Peckinpah evoked 40 years ago.

While potent and well-paced, Contagion doesn't come together as the fearsome bio-thriller it starts out to be. But it may make audiences twitchy about the guy coughing in the next row.

Warrior is a relentless, emotionally engaging family drama and underdog saga with touches of "Rocky" mixed with "The Fighter."

While the two leads emerge soulless as melodrama hovers around the edges of the tale, the era is convincingly portrayed and the melancholy mood is hauntingly rendered.

With its dark, wacky humor, some moments are reminiscent of last year's "Machete."

With its blend of taut action and profound revelations, The Debt is definitely worth an audience's investment.

Watching Rudd bring dimension to what could have been a clownish caricature is the best reason to see this good-natured family comedy.

Saldana is in top form for the acrobatics required in the role, and she makes the gritty determination of her character believable.

Farmiga never seems to strike a false note in any role, but this is perhaps her most reflective and multi-layered performance.

This insipid wannabe frightener features a checklist of derivative conventions.

One Day is an aching lovely romance, but it's also an insightful look at human potential and the search for a purposeful existence.

Conan the Barbarian lives by a pretty simple ethos: He lives, he loves, he slays. What he doesn't do, alas, is act.

Fright is way too quick on its feet to be slowed by clichés. David Tennant seizes McDowall's role as Peter Vincent, now a Criss Angel-style clown vampire slayer. Christopher Mintz-Plasse was born to play a high school nerd.

30 Minutes or Less is "Pineapple Express" gone sour.

Glee the TV show has become a cult phenom with three essential ingredients: whip-smart kids, adult-sized issues, all blended to sugary pop tunes. About a third of those components made it into Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

Even by today's horror standards, Destination has some ghastly scenes. After seeing them, parents may want to reconsider letting their daughters try gymnastics or laser eye surgery.

The Help sidesteps easy sentimentality. As the film's heart and soul, Davis and Spencer add vast reserves of depth and dignity to a crowd-pleasing tale.

The Change-Up should have fired on all cylinders. What went wrong here?

The cautionary tale feels surprisingly fresh and entertaining, given that this is the fifth "Planet of the Apes" film since the 1968 original.

Smurfs is utterly kid-friendly.

Sometimes Crazy, Stupid, Love captures the complexity, humor and sweetness of relationships. But in several scenes, the film takes that insight and replaces it with farcical coincidences and strained scenarios that undercut the poignancy and wit.

Dialogue is terse and predictable, and the sci-fi thriller portion is even less compelling than the Western saga.

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

While the story is preposterous and most of the cast standard-issue, it's hard not to like a comic-book movie that features both Busby Berkeley-style dance numbers and high-tech vaporizing weaponry.

Sarah's Key is, for the most part, an exercise in reserve. We never see Hitler, never enter battle. Paquet-Brenner (Pretty Things, Walled In), rightly tells his Holocaust story as it now lives: through survivors and descendants.

Another Earth proves compellingly that science, intellect and emotion can coexist in mesmerizing synchronicity on the big screen.