So much...is bungled with inept storytelling and watered-down dialogue, and Story is so powerless to right the course, that Fantastic Four winds up more dopey than fun.

A story that hasn't gone out of style....Perhaps Berri spoke for himself through the old man's self-summation: 'I don't have a church bell for a heart, but I respect life.'

Undead is sort of imaginative and considerably scattershot....succeeded only in making me groggy.

Never less than intriguing, and often adrenalized....[depicts] men who live harder than most "able-bodied" individuals.

Though Dark Water doesn't run deep....Salles keeps his head above [it]...with superior acting, mise en scene, story, script, and photography.

Has all the mechanized ingenuity of one of those dazzling Tripods, but the bigger they are....it's the gutless ending that renders War of the Worlds most insulting.

Coming soon to a theatre near you: "Water Wings," with Adam Sandler coaching a swim team, and "With a Paddle," starring Eddie Murphy as a ping-pong coach.

Romero delivers the satire and the gory action...[but this] isn't the masterpiece the posters claim. Still, lackluster Romero is better than no Romero at all...

Dance as an expression of the African collective unconsciousness, an expression of the anger born of oppression, and an expression of faith to overcome hardship.

This G-rated charmer will make a guiltless and educational outing for parents of grade-schoolers...even if it does tenaciously anthropomorphize the cute, wee wobblers.

Overlong and a bit overcooked...but it's also properly grueling.

Herbie: Fully Loaded, with its emotional-roller-coaster story beats, will work like gangbusters with kids.

Cranial scars; a robot in a yellow jumpsuit; gypsy thugs; catfights; Ted Raimi doing hip-hop; a mauve, tasseled Vespa; and a salad bar....C'mon: you know you want it.

How bearable you'll find [the film] has everything to do with your tolerance for stylized indie poetry, played mostly in a quirky, anesthetized deadpan.

Press and Blunt['s] characterizations are expressively detailed and never rely on declamatory dialogue or excessive behavior.

Ozon presents no easy answers, but his often incisive "show, don't tell" character study makes touching emotional observations of marital folly.

Exhibits an Alice in Wonderland puckishness in its characters and their absurd situations, and an underlying spiritual calm [unlike] the usual animated franticness.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith has a one-joke premise, and it's one we've seen before....But Liman fights valiantly to sustain the newfangled comic tango and largely succeeds.

A modest film, and a messy one...about a modest, messy life...Reigert and Shapiro mine delicate humor from unpleasant situations.

Layer Cake always pulls itself up by its bootsraps whenever its energy threatens to flag.

It's hard to shake the feeling that Hardwicke's film is a stunt itself, with talented young actors dolled up in skater drag to peddle Peralta's...self-mythology.

I see no compelling reason to begrudge the kiddies of this mostly amiable timewaster, but this one's hardly destined to join the crowded top shelf of animated winners.

So sound in its construction and...[its] space-operatic catharsis that even the nitpickiest fanboy will likely adopt a humbly mumbled "All is forgiven" as a daily mantra.

Dance allows Dench to overact her lovestruck nervousness...By the time he stages a hay-baling montage, you'll have had enough of this close-but-no-cigar misfire.

A roughhouse between the Hayes's dingbatty script...and director Sera's winking and surprisingly skillful treatment of it...ultimately disappointing.

Too shapeless...but the topic is worthy, and the onslaught of trivia and quirky anecdotes hold interest for the film's 75 minutes.

The Dickensian trials of a poor shackled martial artist, but save your great expectations for the next summer action movie.

"At the end of the day, building a better mousetrap is just mechanics." Within that comment is the philosophy of director Renny Harlin...you'd best lower your expectations.

Something happens halfway through the movie: star Will Ferrell cuts loose...Suddenly, we're in a cauldron of blood and coffee and Gatorade.

Arnaud Desplechin's domestic comedy-drama spins emotions like plates in a variety show.

If you've ever wondered what Jane Fonda would look like while scaring off a bear, the ghastly Monster-In-Law is the movie for you.

It's impossible...to dismiss a film with this much stuff: exotic production design, imaginative characters, and a wide variety of digital jedi fu.

Begin by blaming leads that lack charisma outside of their model bodies, move on to the cheap technique of pounding soundtrack blasts...arrive at the comically clichéd script.

While it's a dazzling feat of screenwriting, less would be more...Still, Haggis evinces remarkable skill [and] with actors like these, who needs subtleties?

A confused and confusing compromise at best and a dull obfuscation of history at worst.

It's the risks that pay off most handsomely in It's All Gone Pete Tong, a curious mash-up of dance-culture mockumentary and searing biopic.

Populated solely with hateful characters...strictly for connoisseurs of crass.

Earns points for resisting the usual corny romantic comedy gimmicks (I'm looking at you, The Wedding Date!) for most of its running time.

The affectionate ribbing of the cultural milieu and Joan Chen's sly performance raise this a cut above the...[formulaic] lesbian romances and "my crazy family" comedies.

Duchovny shows signs of wit and wisdom [but this] feels much more written than lived...for every funny or gut-wrenching moment, three head-scratching ones are sure to follow.

Making poetry cinematic requires greater imagination than King evinces...If the medium isn't always as sturdy as the message, that's a fault that can be readily overlooked.

Look at Me...states the film's theme: the difficulty of getting...attention and the horrible realization that, when it comes, it usually comes for the wrong reasons.

Guka Omarova's assured first feature Schizo is a noir forced out into the sunlight.

I'd say that this mixed bag is better toted home from a video store, but Wong Kar-Wai's just not as swoony on a picture tube...cineastes, proceed with caution.

Fever Pitch may be something short of miraculous, but perhaps it isn't how you play the game that matters after all, as long as you have a "winning" personality.

Masculine brooding [fuels] Steamboy, with its monolithic, steam-spewing tower, powered by balls, constantly rumbling out of control.