'Warm Bodies' Review: Zombie Rom-Com Brainier Than 'Twilight' Franchise

The new zombie rom-com "Warm Bodies" tells us what the "Twilight" saga might have been had it didn't live down to its lousy reviews. 2 Feb 2013

'Gangster Squad' Review: Soulless Mobster Mash Misses the Mark

January slouches on with the release of "Gangster Squad," a bloody revision of the old Warner Bros. crime films of the 1930s. The story begins in 1949 in Los Angeles, a city thick with vice and corruption, where snarling mob boss Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is determined to take over the town. Cohen owns any number of cops and judges, and his dope and prostitution rackets are thus untouchable. 12 Jan 2013

'Amour' Review: Engrossing Tale of Love, Aging and Commitment

Director Michael Haneke's "Amour," a tale of an elderly couple dealing with serious health woes, offers a brisk tonic for the standard glut of underwhelming January film releases. 5 Jan 2013

'Les Miserables' Review: Adaptation Will Win Over Even Ambivalent Musical Theater Patrons

The big-screen adaptation of "Les Miserables" will easily win over fans of the venerable production as well as those who typically recoil at the notion of characters breaking into song at will. 28 Dec 2012

'Django Unchained' Review: Quentin Tarantino Marries Style and History with Epic Results

Slavery never was a laughing matter. Yet Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" is both uproarious and righteous in its undiluted anger toward the Peculiar Institution. 26 Dec 2012

'The Hobbit' Review: Fantasy Prequel Lacks Fellowship, Focus

Well, Peter Jackson is no George Lucas, I’m happy to report, and his new Middle-earth prequel is no "Phantom Menace." But the movie is a disappointment, and not only because it fails to equal the grand achievement of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy of a decade ago. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" wanders and slumps and generally fails to engage. 16 Dec 2012

'Deadfall' Review: Snowy Film Noir Fizzles Out Midway In

Deadfall has most of the elements of a good tricky noir: sex, love, doom, death. But the movie is dogged by intermittent listlessness, and it never quite comes together. About halfway in you can tell that the film itself is doomed. 7 Dec 2012

'Killing Them Softly' Review: Gangster Tale Doubles Down on Capitalism Critiques

The talky film noir "Killing Them Softly" clumsily compares capitalism to organized crime, something Francis Ford Coppola did with far more efficiency via his "Godfather" epics. 2 Dec 2012

'Life of Pi' Review: Gorgeous Saga Stricken by Narrative Excess

Director Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a visual triumph, but one marred by an overambitious framing device and a cumbersome prologue. 24 Nov 2012

'Silver Linings Playbook' Review: Glorious Rom-Com Minus the Clichés

"Silver Linings Playbook" is a tart, terrific romantic comedy that lacks all the depressing quirks of the current rom-com genre. 17 Nov 2012