What it's about is also what it requires for proper appreciation -- the ability of the human mind to hold, and even cherish, diametrically opposite thoughts.

For all its video-game bedazzlements, Attack of the Clones suffers from severe digital glut, periodically relieved, if you can call it that, by amateur theatrics.

Meticulously crafted and beautifully performed.

That Mr. Rohmer is an octogenarian just beginning to play with digital technology makes the venture even more intriguing.

It's thanks to her (Leoni) that we stay tuned to Mr. Allen's comic premise long after it has gone from delightfully outrageous to off-puttingly preposterous.

Every action adventure needs a memorable villain, but no movie needs the strident intensity of Mr. Dafoe, who either has no interest in, or no grasp of, the sort of charmingly malign wit that Gene Hackman brought to "Superman," or Jack Nicholson to "Batman."

Through exquisite details, evocative music and bold dramatic strokes -- including a tragedy that transcends the melodrama it might have been -- Rain renders this family's life in its full dimensions.

Every now and then, though, a movie comes up with a scene of surpassing stupidity, and then builds from that defining moment to a climax of perfect ineptitude. Life or Something Like It is such an achievement.

An improbably bountiful subject -- kids on skateboards turning themselves into virtuoso artist-athletes -- has been brought to life in a wonderful, unpretentious documentary.

Predictably dumber than its predecessors, though that shouldn't get in the way of its profitability.

The shallow-seated problem with Murder by Numbers is that it's serious and doggedly intricate but not much fun.

An accomplished and enjoyable Spanish-language debut feature by Fabían Bielinsky.

A small story, a monodrama with a hero but no antagonists.

Truly transporting film.

A hoot, or at least a collection of delightful hootlets hung on a short, frayed line.

A curious combination of strident preachment and smartly farcical thriller; it's heavy-handed and light-footed at the same time.

The script is dead in the water, and most of the misanthropic repartee rings resoundingly false.

A minor comedy, though a major delight.

Ms. Judd commands the screen with consistent authority, and Mr. Freeman brings expansive humor to the role of a self-styled wildcard who's still dangerous in court.

With all its misfires, though, and with a Strangelovian twist that's a dud, Big Trouble remains a reasonably pleasant way to spend an hour and a half and still get change.

The script's foolish contrivances crush its content.

Mr. Quaid has long been a reliably likable actor, but this time he pitches a perfect performance -- no frills, no tricks, not a single false note -- in a film that's true to its stirring subject, and to the sweetest traditions of the game.

Vincent is played masterfully by Aurelien Recoing, who gives him a sort of as-if anomie; this haunted hero is so detached that he may not realize he has no real life to be detached from.

Ingeniously scary.

The big news in Blade II is that there's something worse than vampires, but is there something worse than Blade II?

A drama of rare distinction, and wonderfully funny in the bargain.

Give yourself away to this movie and you'll be glad you did.

What the movie lacks in coherence it makes up for in zest, well-founded self-delight and a sharpshooter's eye for the absurdities of reality TV.