In just three months, Wincer has gone from one of the worst IMAX movies ever (The Young Black Stallion) to one of the best. This time, and in all ways, he has more horsepower.

There may be no crying need for this movie, but we could use the laughs.

There is some lovely cinematography by Shelly Johnson in the classic David Lean style and plenty of excitement. Taken just for that, Hidalgo delivers.

By any reckoning, director Paul McGuigan and writer Mark Mills seem mighty ground down trying to buck these medieval odds.

The name is a tipoff: Club Dread is dreadful.

If you can't find a more scintillating brand of dirty to enjoy during your own nights (Helena or Hoboken), you're not trying very hard.

This is by far Kaufman's worst outing since becoming a major filmmaker more than a quarter-century ago, and the fact that his only other stinker from this period is 1993's "Rising Sun" means that maybe he ought to stay away from cop melodramas.

This is a very funny picture, though it's never burlesqued and is, in fact, occasionally poignant.

There is enlightenment -- even stark poetry -- in The Passion.

Though the movie is more mediocre than abysmal, Ryan's recently banged-up filmography (remember In the Cut) could use what every fighter needs at ringside: a good cut man to stop the bleeding.

This junior chick flick merely reinforces superficial clichés one associates with female teens: petty fights, intense highs and lows, and self-absorption.

Mixed with the sleaze is the unexpected and occasionally inspired.

David Mamet handled such small-town whimsy better in 2000's "State and Main." Hackman could play his role in his sleep, but Romano IS asleep. Result: Welcome to Mildport, and that's being kind.

50 First Dates is working awfully hard to be romantic and not hard enough to be a comedy.

A smooth mix of humanism and keen filmmaking instincts.

Just as sharply funny and as heartwarming, yet unsentimental, as the first.

Kid's tone is off 100% of the time. The young actors are irredeemably bland, and two of the adults (Michael Des Barres' bank president, James LeGros' Storm Trooper-like security guard) are hammy enough to make James Brown seem controlled.

Patricia Clarkson, who has emerged as one of the screen's best character actresses, plays Brooks' wife with intelligence and down-to-earth warmth.

The problem is the letdown you feel when these glorious morsels (film clips and soundtrack) end, and it's back to three morose schlumps.

The lark-ish Perfect Score is on the high side of the time-killer it sounds like.

It's too bad more energy wasn't devoted to fleshing out the one-dimensional characters and crafting a decent script. The only reason to catch this harmless diversion is for the group dance sessions.

It gets wackier as it goes, starting with Charlie Sheen cast against type as a guy who's getting no sex and turns down the chance. Bebe Neuwirth has some funny scenes as a lush.

Unexpectedly charming. It's a classic date movie, but it also will appeal to pre-dating tweens and middle-aged romantics.

Unpleasantness alone doesn't sink a movie. But miserable tidings intensify when there's not only a high ick factor but also floundering storytelling.

The civilized running time and breezy editing between scattershot plot threads keep the attention in a superficial way, and it would be misstating the case to deny that the movie has some chuckles (the kind that don't linger).

Teacher's Pet is no "Finding Nemo," nor even "Lilo and Stitch," but it is an enjoyable family film -- particularly for younger kids -- during a time of year when such fare is lacking.

The cycle thrills here are everything: flips, collisions, a chase across the top of a fast-moving train and even a zoom down the aisle of one of the train's cars as the passengers take it in stride.

It's an innocuous, occasionally cute movie made watchable by the appealing Mandy Moore and hunky Matthew Goode, a Brit who has a bit of Hugh Grant charm in an otherwise silly role.