Problem: 1. A schizophrenic hodgepodge of coming-of-age sincerity and watered down Farrelly brothers antics, the movie is endearingly sweet-natured even as it gasps for air.
2. It makes you want to see more of Hanks and Fisk, but overall it just isn't all that memorable. Worth a rental.
3. This is a breath of fresh air and it rattles along at a zippy pace with change from an hour and a half, just as every good comedy should.
4. 'Orange County," happily, is an exception to the rule. It is a better-written, better directed version of the genre with few raunchy jokes.
5. 'Jack Black is back on track.'
6. Despite some good intentions and a decent coming-of-age story, Orange County is sadly bogged down by lackluster jokes, poorly utilized celebrity cameos galore and decent if uninvolving leads.
7. A breezy comedy that celebrates the way we all need just the right place to nurture our creativity.
8. This extremely unfunny film clocks in at 80 minutes, but feels twice as long.
9. Wonder of wonders -- a teen movie with a humanistic message.
10. There's probably a sweet little comedy hidden somewhere in Orange County. It's just too bad it's mired amidst so many small-minded pratfalls.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: Smarter than the average teen movie, but a little on the unmemorable side.


Problem: 1. Even though I'm pretty much vampired out these days, I appreciated the grossout thrills and the B-movie dialogue.
2. It's a shame Australia's Spierig Brothers opt to turn it into just any old noir-future chase movie - roughly Blade meets Minority Report, without the production flair.
3. It's big and brash, but were it not for Weta's visionary special effects work, there would be little to keep the blood pumping.
4. A gripping feature that is just as likely to provoke thought as it is fear.
5. Daybreakers isn't exactly good or bad, and that is the problem. The film could have broken the rules and expounded upon its initial ingenuity. It could have been about something. It's not.
6. Daybreakers is an entertaining genre hybrid with functioning brain cells and, in its exciting finale, an original solution to solving its vampire epidemic.
7. A polished, intelligent, well-acted and darkly humourous vampire tale. Fangtastic.
8. Iffy plotting, squiffy dialogue and directorial indecision - is this po-faced science fiction or hokey horror? - leave the film, like its protagonist, torn between two extremes.
9. With beautiful Blade Runner-style cityscapes, smartly conceived takes on the vampire mythos (sun-proofed cars and video mirrors), inventively engineered shocks and copious blood loss, this is an engagingly skilful blend.
10. Daybreakers takes the undead in an entirely different direction, melding smart sci-fi with a timely political subtext.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: Though it arrives during an unfortunate glut of vampire movies, Daybreakers offers enough dark sci-fi thrills -- and enough of a unique twist on the genre -- to satisfy filmgoers.


Problem: 1. Genuine empathy and inquisitive humanity cast a spiritual cinematic spell.
2. Absolutely captivating... stimulating even though it really does seem like it ought to be sedative.
3. This is a small film. It is also a great one. "Great" is a word I don't use often.
4. Mija, at the center, is perhaps determined to not fill her remaining memories with despair, and to avoid adding to the sum of the world's misery. Maybe it's as simple as that.
5. About guilt and responsibility, about loss, about the terrible things human beings do, and the moments of serenity and spiritual succor to be gleaned from the natural world.
6. Now is the time to bestow on yourself the gift of one of the most, well, poetic films of 2010. And by "poetic," we mean rich with soulful pauses that are at once visual and aural and deeply observant of the dance of routine and quiet surprise.
7. Lee Chang-dong's perceptive drama about a woman facing the onset of Alzheimer's as well as a torrid family crisis is keenly acted but meandering.
8. Sometimes you don't fully appreciate what a movie's doing to your heart until it's been shattered.
9. Completely engrossing.
10. A captivating film, as observant and nuanced as a sonnet.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer:
Poetry is an absorbing, poignant drama because it offers no easy answers to its complex central conflict.