[Schwartman:] This kind of guy is in a fog type of alcoholism...you can have a period in your life...where you look back and you go 'Gosh. I was in a stasis then. I didn't do anything.' There's no movement. And I think Larry's in that zone.

Assayas implies that what transpires between the characters of Clouds of Sils Maria, between artists and art, and between art and audiences contains its own beautiful mystery that's nourishing, maddening, and essential.

Revives an era in astonishing, delicate detail, then moves through the space with a documentarian's eye. Leigh takes Turner out of art history and puts him back in the world.

Pure, uncut comic-book fantasy...Whedon tames the beast into something spectacularly epic, if a bit exhausting: bursting with destructive mayhem but grounded by interesting character beats, rife with dark implications but seasoned with good humor.

There's parts of me that can be very confident...I guess in real life I don't really dare to do that, yeah, because I don't think it's smart to do, and I'm not confident enough. But to do it in a role, it's fantastic.

While the subject matter...amounts to standard fare, audiences can all the more appreciate the thoughtful rigor applied by a team of artists working from page to screen.

Has a smattering of effective moments and a creepy cinematographic look to it, but the sequel's redundancy to its predecessor and pulseless feints at tapping into human emotion leech the suspense out of the picture.

Assess to what extent we're witnessing man-ufactured monkey life...[or] just pay no attention to the men and women behind the curtain and simply enjoy the underwater photography of monkeys swimming.

Burton pokes fun at Keane's art, but he kids because he loves, and Big Eyes productively asks the question of whether the paintings are art or kitsch (probable answer: both).

The obvious shots at hipster scenes...eventually sour into a complex critique of modern ambition in a changing cultural landscape.

A Nicholas Sparks movie is like cinematic Jello. It sells well, the number one ingredient is sugar, and there's always room for it.

Corny, commercial, predictably platitudinous, and tear-jerkingly weepy...also an inevitably thought-provoking dramatization of facing the "ghosts" of the past on an individual level and a national one.

A satisfying excursion, a secular but spiritual journey of self-discovery.

Winds up sawing logs...instead of locating hard truths of the human condition, Serena lumbers through the motions.

Another conspicuously packaged product seemingly designed to wear down an audience more than entertain it. While wee ones won't notice, they probably won't remember Home by the time the car ride gets them back to the real thing.

Lean, mean...Director Yann Demange and screenwriter Gregory Burke (the prominent Scottish playwright of Black Watch) twist the knife by serving Gary with constant reminders of boyish innocence corrupted...

From its very origins, particularly when it was black-and-white filmed, film was so closely connected to dreaming. And it's probably why people connected to it so readily...

Taps a fresh vein of humor to transfuse the horrific and the mundane.

What could be an inspirational teacher-student, coach-player story keeps playing the race card of simple non-whites not being able to see their own way to prosperity without a guiding white light, who in turn learns from their unsophisticated purity.

Will...[strike a chord] with teen girls, if they can get past the casting of the healthy, but hardly plus-sized Whitman, as well as the changes made to sanitize the book...

Absolutely ludicrous, dramatically clumsy, fifty shades of wrong, but...If audiences can cool their loins long enough, they may have a productive think about the nature of their desires...

Doubles down on glib ultraviolence while pressing buttons of class-consciousness and teasing out pop-culture allusions and self-aware witticisms. But this time, the postmodernism feels played out.

Then and now, Disney fans of all ages have thrilled to the animation-ambitious sight of the titular pack, and chilled at the villainy of mad diva Cruella De Vil.

To the extent we still demand rich characters and sensible plotting, the Wachowskis' latest is a few planets short of a galaxy.

A nominal theme—complete with theme song—of teamwork. But really, Sponge Out of Water is about little more than fast food and ice cream, with the same promise of empty calories.

Though the story touches on politics and even profundities of the human experience, Miyazaki's light touch and overriding sense of fun promise that children of all ages will give themselves over to ninety-four minutes of fantasy that do a heart good.

Along comes the maid at the end, in the sleepwalking scene. And to my amazement, she’s wearing Arthur Dent’s dressing gown. Not any more, I hasten to say, because it was too big for her.

Sorting through prejudices and nuances of racial perception occasionally takes Black or White into intriguing territory...[more often] a rather mushily obvious, TV-movie-style courtroom drama built on straw-man arguments.

Still still hums with humanity in the person of Moore, whose towering performance shows a staggering technical proficiency while never losing a whit of emotional resonance.

An unsettling examination of moral drift, over a year in the life of a man and a generation in the life of a country.

Iraq warrior biopic American Sniper, about the late Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, affords Eastwood another opportunity to wrestle with the way of the gun, but one that gets mired in military hero worship.

The plot is a sideshow to Inherent Vice's luxuriant atmosphere, cracked sense of humor, and idiosyncratic characterization.

Selma is wet paint Americans (especially young ones) had probably best watch dry, as we remember the past and contemplate where the country goes from here.

Determinedly silly...[but the] undisciplined frat-bro comedy's accumulation of innuendos, boner jokes, gay jokes, and gags that tread through racist and misogynist territory works out to less than the sum of the juvenile parts.

Mutlilayered...Though any film adaptation of a classic musical is bound to be a mixed bag, Sondheim fans have dodged another bullet here with this impressive transplant, one that retains the play's complicated moral character along with most of its music.

Ultimately the lesson of Unbroken seems to be this: Louis Zamperini suffered horribly for America, so the least you can do is watch this movie about it.

The extent to which The Gambler may intentionally or unintentionally glamorize or romanticize gambling does raise concerns, but...[the film] remains a study in the self-destructive personality.

Narratively bereft...thematically redundant...[but] fans of the series and fanboy grumblers may have to agree that The Battle of the Five Armies is often entertaining.

Serviceably dramatizes an important historical story while giving rising star Cumberbatch suitably juicy material.

Were Top Five more deeply felt and less by-the-numbers, Rock might have avoided the impression of a long-winded, self-massaging fantasy about reclaiming authenticity...

A biblical epic in 2014 is a strange beast indeed, walking a fine line in the hopes of pleasing both the faithful...and those audiences more accustomed to secular myths.

Quietly but firmly interprets the disturbing story of millionaire John du Pont through bifocal lenses of American dreaming and the sexual fantasies made accessible by wealth.

Will probably divert kids with ease, given its manic exertion and pace...[but] we find out the hard way that these waddlers are better in small doses.

We're meant to feel the weight of Katniss' situation, and we do, but the picture can also fairly be called leaden...

With its equation tantalizingly out of reach, winds up being by the numbers.

Above all, and not surprisingly, media icon Stewart shows his deep belief in the almost holy power of media to bolster political change, and he's not wrong.

While the borderline silly material could easily have sunk like a lead balloon, Shelton and her actors sprinkle enough pixie dust to make Laggies fly.

Love is what's really between the stars, y'all.