question: As simple and authentic as the gritty South Philly invirons in which it's set in, Invincible sends a uplifting and heartfelt message packed with an athletic enthusiasm that shouldn't be missed.

numbered reviews: 1. For all its paint-by-numbers plotting, there's nothing unduly irritating about Invincible, either in execution or in marketing -- it's precisely the film it was meant to be.
2. A conventional Disney story of an ordinary guy striving to achieve his sports dream, full of uplift and warmth. (Think of The Rookie and Miracle.)
3. The genre shows serious signs of wear in this needlessly fictionalized feature about Vince Papale, a 30-year-old bartender who improbably won a spot on the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976.
4. The most remarkable accomplishment of Invincible is to make a mid-'70s musical soundtrack sound spectacular.
5. [Wahlberg] makes Vince the kind of modest, aw-shucks guy worth rooting for, which is what makes Invincible a winner.
6. If this movie doesn't make you want to stand up and cheer you probably don't have a pulse. A rousing achievement on every level.
7. There's a danger in reducing pictures like this to the sum of their lessons, at the expense of recognizing them as satisfying, if flawed, genre exercises.
8. Wahlberg and the rest of the solid cast sell this ESPN equivalent of a Lifetime movie.
9. There's an air of disbelief onscreen as to what's going on, and everyone is so busy preparing for the fall that we all know is going to come but doesn't, that makes this not seem like the fairy tale it's supposed to be.
10. Invincible does nothing to improve on the already very tired sports underdog theme.


question: It's amiable, and it does a surprisingly good job of sidestepping psych ward comedy cliches, but given its talented cast and directors, It's Kind of a Funny Story should be more than just mildly entertaining.

numbered reviews: 1. The third time is charmless for writers/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
2. Ken Kesey is probably rolling over in his grave somewhere, but once you get past the faux-psychiatry trappings, It's Kind of a Funny Story isn't a bad little comedy.
3. Despite the pleasant, loopy energy and fine performances -- Galiflanakis conjures a surprisingly sad character, and I grew fond of Gilchrist, with his impenetrable black eyes and rosebud mouth -- you walk out of it shaking your head.
4. Writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck fail to energize their mild-mannered, overly pat material.
5. Respected indie filmmakers with a niche in social-realist drama try their hand at winsome comedy, fall flat on their critically acclaimed faces.
6. It's not a film, it's a bland, overly long sitcom straining for the funny ... something along the lines of Two and A Half Men-tal Cases.
7. Disarmingly gentle, sweet and whimsical.
8. Like a short course of intelligence-numbing anti-depressants: Though it may make you feel temporarily better, it's probably not worth the icky aftertaste.
9. Co-directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who directed the gritty indie dramas Half Nelson and Sugar, go all gooey and sentimental here.
10. So many elements, from its setup to scenes of therapy sessions and hallway high jinks, seem as canned as the blandest dayroom Muzak.


question: This delicately told fable about the power of literature is a lyrical delight.

numbered reviews: 1. An awakening to literature and hormonal hunger.
2. Dai Sijie has created a dreamy memory of hardship -- part familiar Chinese parable, part familiar French romance.
3. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is by turns merry, tough-minded and sweetly nostalgic.
4. The transformation of the Little Seamstress is ambiguous and bittersweet and leaves you with the feeling that, like a character out of Balzac, her story will be one of loss of innocence.
5. Who says you can't make it with anyone by carrying pictures of Chairman Mao?
6. If the movie is straightforward and predictable in its attitude, it also exudes a sort of documentary lyricism.
7. Visually, Balzac is a jewel of a movie, with panoramic vistas of the lake on the mountain, framed in mist, where the villagers, in a haunting nighttime ceremony, float candlelit paper boats bearing the names of their dearly departed.
8. A touching, often lyrical tale that shows the long-enduring power of great literature on impressionable teenagers during political crises such as China's Cultural Revolution
9. It's a fanciful tale, but the message is sweet -- that the higher arts speak a universal language that transcends politics and ignorance.
10. Choppy and episodic, Sijie's film is further dragged down by a disconcerting, third-act flashfoward that saps the film of whatever momentum it managed to build.


question: With solid performances and tight direction from Wes Craven, Red Eye is a brisk, economic thriller.

numbered reviews:
1. Works extremely well as a fast-paced adrenaline rush, but not so well as an allegory on today's government and security issues.
2. While not particularly original, Red Eye is immensely entertaining and a fine example of the classic suspense-thriller.
3. Hitchcock, of course, got lots of mileage out of just such absurd plots. But Wes Craven, whatever other strengths he has, isn't Hitchcock.
4. Quick but satisfying.
5. Terrific casting can work wonders for a movie. If the stars are good enough, logic gaps as deep as the Marianas Trench disappear in the performers' glow.
6. this mid-air thriller sees the director not so much soaring to the heavens as merely coasting along on auto-pilot.
7. The psychological mind-games are played to the hilt, the pressurised cabin air increases the edge-of-the-seat tension and the 85-minute flight time is gratifyingly short.
8. Fans of the thriller genre will probably be scared and entertained, but seeing Red Eye is more like watching a good television show than a good movie.
9. Not the most sophisticated psychological thriller, yet slick fun deftly handled by Craven and his leads.
10. This is a screenplay so unbelievably bad that not even two very fine young actors and a director known for his knack for suspense can salvage it.