Despite a super-dark noir plot and respectable cast, Deadfall is a thriller that never quite delivers on its promise.

The movie is anything but flawless. There are flourishes that seem plucked from Errol Morris' work but aren't as good, and some re-creations of past events are hokey. It's the film's content that packs a punch.

You can get away with almost anything in a farce except failing to be funny, and that's what kills Death at a Funeral.

This is compelling stuff, but Lilien is less successful in trying to link Pale Male's story to his own.

Don't fault Thirlby, who does as much as she can with the material. Krasinski is pretty good, and DeWitt and Ennenga are outstanding. The direction is decent, and the film is handsome. But it's finally frustrating, enigmatic in a way that suggests emptiness more than mystery.

The entertaining work by Spacey and Pepper is a good thing because the film has problems, including an utter lack of subtlety.

An unbroken flow of sad or nasty incidents.

It's no great shakes as a film, but its combination of mild comedy, slapstick, pathos, many photogenic canines and a positive message will make it irresistible to families.

An intriguing portrait of an insular community, but its recounting of the seduction of a bright young man by the surrounding culture is heavy-handed.

In the end, all the bitterness seems like window-dressing to disguise a trite story.

A remarkable cast for a small, non-mainstream effort.

Wilson is basically playing an even more feckless version of his "Office" character, Dwight, another intense and self-deluded doofus. It's a character that works better in smaller doses.

The film doesn't see any contradictions between the man and his work, which is folkloric, mostly upbeat, often humorous. Both art and artist are outsized and entertaining, and that's about all that Bel Borba Aqui has to say.

While the film adopts a sometimes jaunty tone, the fact is that gerrymandering is bad news, assuming you believe that elections should mean something.

This ambitious and sometimes entertaining Brazilian feature tries to pull off a tricky maneuver but doesn't quite get it done.

The best of the longer segments is "Steve," a piece of Pinter light starring Firth as a passive-aggressive neighbor from hell who repeatedly turns up at the door of a bickering couple (Knightley and Tom Mison) to register a series of baseless complaints.

Perhaps the film's greatest strength is the performance by Kwanten, who appears in HBO's "True Blood" and may be familiar from his lead role in the big-screen Aussie thriller "Red Hill." Dermody also does well.

There's more than a touch of whimsy in A Touch of Spice, a sentimental Greek offering that's been immensely popular in its home country but doesn't translate well.

Has more in common with a horror movie than with a genuine political work.

It's an intriguing portrait, but it makes no pretense at objectivity, erring on the side of hero worship.

Amenta was deeply moved by Rita's story, but his prosaic direction can't do it justice.

Surprisingly pedestrian.

Overall, it's pretty elementary stuff, along the lines of a Disney Channel TV movie. It's uplifting, and it's in a good cause.

The film is morbid and mawkish, and packed with enough forced whimsy to make you scream.

Its examination of identity and loneliness begins to feel like a soap opera season boiled down into one very long episode with too much happening.

Lacks the finesse of other puzzle films.

It's an interesting spectacle, but not enough to carry a movie.

Affecting at times, but finally feels overblown and heavy-handed.