Ultimately, that's all Highwater offers - barely explored concepts and short profiles.

Succeeds as both education and amusement.

The multiple-story-line family drama is too cliche-ridden to be considered a great movie. But it's still a very good one, filled with excellent performances, entertaining writing and a final few scenes that are quite moving - even if you can see most of them coming at the end of the first act.

By the end, I was adding my own internal "Deadwood"-style profanities to McShane's clean dialogue. "For the sake of the (God-@#$%) kingdom, cut it (the @#$%) down!" Movies about mile-high beanstalks shouldn't require additional audience imagination.

A strange film, because it seems designed specifically for extremely old moviegoers to see with their great-great-grandchildren.

The fight scenes are lackluster and the plot is needlessly complicated. If you're making an action film that centers on fast cars and fast women, it's usually best to keep the rest of the story simple.

A funny comedy, and sometimes an even better drama.

Isn't quite as boring as it sounds, thanks to writer/director Steve Conrad's strong script and decent performances by John C. Reilly and Seann William Scott.

Has a made-for-television style.

The film Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away highlights both the strains of the franchise and the willingness to promote the brand at any cost - including a coherent narrative. It's a big promo reel, and not a carefully disguised one.

Pretty much everything shot by Shepard and co-director David Palmer looks as if it was done in one take. Hit & Run is closest in tone to the Tarantino-penned "True Romance," but it lacks that movie's menace.

Will satisfy its young fan base and is bound to make a ton of money. At this point, though, the series is no longer an artistic pursuit; it's a business deal.

Lottery Ticket is likable, and that goes a long way.

It's an imperfect facsimile, guilty of borrowing too many ideas from the earlier film, and then executing them with differing results.

The movie is too lethargic for its own good, and many of the events and minor characters don't quite ring true.

More action directors should include scenes such as the Mercers' extended Thanksgiving dinner, which fleshes out the bond between the brothers without using too many words.

The filmmaking is unremarkable, but the obsessiveness of the lead character is infectious enough to make this drama passable entertainment.

This is the animated children's film equivalent of "Another 48 Hours."

While "Saw" and "Saw II" were pretty good splatter films hampered by spectacularly unbelievable endings, Saw III is annoying for almost the duration of the movie.

As cluttered as the movie gets before the ending, it's funny throughout, with some 1970s and '80s music thrown in to keep adults happy.

If there was ever a human being who needed a visit from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, this is the guy.

Retro escapist fun.

Helm gets huge bonus points for noticing everything that's annoying about modern children's films and including none of those things in his movie.

A welcome throwback to family-friendly PG moviemaking.

If you're no longer old enough to carry a Hannah Montana lunch box, this movie will feel like punishment.

If you can lighten up for an hour and a half, the film delivers one good laugh after another.

It's difficult to ignore the fact that they've created a romantic comedy that has almost no romance and even less comedy.

Enjoy the film for its witty dialogue and fun performances, but know that there isn't a single good scare. An episode of "Murder, She Wrote" has more thrills.