Jack Black adds new depths to his slippery comic persona in Bernie, a movie that may not ultimately add up to much, but which is filled with wonderfully odd details of weird Americana.

Just as precise and self-consciously precious as predicted. Which doesn't mean it hasn't got moments of charming wit buried under all its archness.

Lars von Trier's end-of-days drama Melancholia feels as if it's something from another world...but even by his standards this remote yet lovely funereal dirge is in its own orbit.

Almodovar makes some missteps in his icky mélange of melodrama and mischief, but the end result is playfully devious.

Though he has a true appreciation for detail, Joffe has the scar-faced Pinkie so scurvy that Rose ought to run the minute she sees him.

This one could have flown over the cuckoo's nest, or smacked into a glass pane, but instead lands in the middle of the road where quirky and popular meet.

The whole movie is about piecing together broken parts. It may not always come together, but what it makes, if you look at it the right way, is endearing.

Often static and follows a familiar trajectory. Yet it has power, partly because Simmons does a fine job of showing how hurt Henry is that his taste didn't imprint on Gabe beyond grade school; what was their music became, simply, dad's music.

Despite the ominous feel, this is a mystery about losing or gaining lives and unknown detours.

The genuinely sweet nature of this sometimes clunky movie is mixed with a little sass, and wins you over.

Director Malcolm Venville, who made the British gangster flick "44 Inch Chest," has a strong handle on the tone, so even the familiar twists feel fresh.

Kline, who has done a lot of chewy character roles after several stage ­triumphs, is as sly and leonine as ever. His performance here obliterates that phony accent he used in "French Kiss."

Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman give such hard-as-nails, lived-in performances in this stark drama directed by Irish actor Paddy Considine ("In America," "Cinderella Man") that it's impossible not to be pulled in.

Sadly suffers from more than a dollop of boredom. Like the ornate dollhouse that plays a part, "Arrietty" is lovely and well-appointed, but filled with only what you bring to it.

What director Andrew Stanton has brought forth from Burroughs' limited, hoary source material is actually kind of fun.

Through it all, Tatum and Hill are totally winning.

Gorgeously animated and featuring a tapestry of real-looking wonders, Brave is certainly a thing of beauty. But its emotional layers don't yield the same depth.

Though Bloom feels like he dropped in from another movie, it all spins on screenwriter Thornton's charismatic performance, which also accounts for the survival instinct inside the film.

Despite a pleasantly laid-back demeanor, you wish it would just get focused.

Like its antiheroes, this slacker tragedy has moments of calm and originality that are sadly obliterated by a tendency toward the extreme. Still, in a kind of reverse apocalypse, the movie's toughest stretch is its first two-thirds, a navel-gazing, semi-romantic nothing-a-thon that falls away in time for the movie to emerge from the ashes.

Keshavarz's vision is clear and heartfelt, and everyone has an urgency in their eyes.

Haroun is achingly conscious of day-to-day decisions that seem small when they're made but can suddenly loom large.

"2" works harder to land punches, but when it does, it provides the kind of fun it's fan base hopes for. But expectations, and targets, are lower all around.

Director Oliver Schmitz's rhythms take a while to ease into, and admittedly, there is never a bright moment.

Weithorn, a sitcom vet whose credits include "Ned and Stacey" and "The King of Queens," makes sure even the quiet moments in the unassuming "A Little Help" move things forward. And that every one of Laura's missteps is in the right direction.

Sometimes a bit of befuddlement is exactly what you need. That's the driving idea behind writer-director Steven Peros' off-kilter, off-the-beaten path comedy, which owes a lot to 1980s indie cinema.

A streak of "Cinema Paradiso" runs through this Italian dramedy - and while it lacks that film's overflowing emotion, it's filled with its own artfulness and warmth.

Director Justin Chadwick ("The Other Boleyn Girl") shows admirable restraint bringing this true story to the screen, and Litando does much with glimmers of emotion and wells of dignity.