question: While some have found the latest star-studded heist flick to be a fun, glossy star vehicle, others declare it's lazy, self-satisfied and illogical.

numbered reviews: 1. Ocean's Twelve is clearly the work of filmmakers and stars who have come to play. It's not art and it's not substantive, but it sure is a blast.
2. What Ocean's Twelve lacks in zip and sparkle, it makes up for in good old fashioned fun.
3. Some of the bits are hysterical, but others fall flat.
4. It's a throwaway movie, a harmless time-waster, but it'll make money, and moviemakers and viewers alike will most likely have a cheerful time with it.
5. Post modernist fluff and nonsense: Beautiful, but vapid.
6. Plot confusion and lazy pacing subvert this film's entertainment potential.
7. Ocean's 12 is malt-liquor-on-a-Monday stupid.
8. It does the hard work of being a light, smartly turned-out amusement, the sort of thing that's becoming more and more rare on the movie landscape these days.
9. May be one of the most glamorous, goofy and heartfelt films about failure ever made.
10. All in all, this isn't as good as it's predecessor, but this'll more than do.


question: A classic of the Western genre that broke with many of the traditions at the time, High Noon endures -- in no small part thanks to Gary Cooper's defiant, Oscar-winning performance.

numbered reviews: 1. Flaws don't negate the strong impact this film would have on the viewer, the impact that inspired many future filmmakers and made High Noon one of the most important pieces of American film legacy.
2. The Western may be one of the few truly American art forms, and High Noon shows exactly how much potential it can embrace.
3. A film about what it means to be a man that manages to avoid the musk of machismo, High Noon is truly a film that improves with each and every viewing.
4. Just a good guy, a bad guy, and a clean-cut ending that leaves you shrugging the whole thing off.
5. This outstanding drama ticks by in real time, only 84 tense minutes long.
6. O primeiro filme a ensinar que um faroeste poderia ter densidade dramática sem perder suas próprias características.
7. One of the best westerns ever made. Had me on the edge of my seat the entire time!
8. There's no reason to upgrade if you own the previous DVD release. ... [But] if you don't have this movie, you should pick up a copy. It's a classic.
9. Meaningful in its implications, as well as loaded with interest and suspense, High Noon is a western to challenge Stagecoach for the all-time championship.
10. Regarded as '50s melodrama, it's nearly perfect.


question: Monkey Kingdom's breathtaking footage of primates in the wild is likely to please animal lovers of all ages.

numbered reviews: 1. An engaging, kid-friendly nature doc with a hint of social commentary rolled in.
2. A populist take on simian society and alpha leadership leads to an entertaining look at caste systems in the animal kingdom.
3. The cheekiest, funniest, and most purely entertaining entry in the Disneynature series.
4. The film should hit the sweet spot for family audiences.
5. With its sumptuous photography, razor-sharp editing, and a delightfully comic narration by Tin Fey, "Monkey Kingdom" shows us like no other film in recent memory how closely animals act like people.
6. The cumulative effect is cheerily life-affirming, a bracing infusion of macaque-style joie de vivre.
7. Monkey Kingdom is delightful, and its swinging and vaulting best any stuntwork you'll see in this year's summer blockbusters ...
8. The imagery of this film will linger in this reviewer's mind long after the monkey names are forgotten.
9. It's hard to imagine what message children will take away from this film other than that monkeys are just like characters in a fictional Disney movie, which they are not.
10. Monkeys.


question: Pivoting on the unusual relationship between seasoned hitman and his 12-year-old apprentice -- a breakout turn by young Natalie Portman -- Luc Besson's Léon is a stylish and oddly affecting thriller.

numbered reviews:
1. The European cut rocks -- U.S. version less so. Biggest drawback is that Besson tries to persuade us Reno is Italian, and I'm never buying that.
2. Oldman's character is so over the top, so utterly ridiculous that the audience may feel prompted to laugh unintentionally.
3. It's an American movie as seen by someone whose main frame of reference is American movies, not American life. Therefore, while it's draped in a cloak of gritty realism, Besson's movie is really a kind of bizarre cinemaphile fantasy.
4. The most objectionable thing is Gary Oldman's performance, baroque in its awfulness. Almost as bad is the director's attempt to construct a visual style -- and, for that matter, characters -- by piling one mannerism on top of another.
5. Besson has a gift for amoral sleaziness that should serve him well over here. In his very first American film, he has gone straight for the smarm.
6. Its strengths grate against the movie's glaring flaws, mainly its complete lack of credibility.
7. You'll enjoy the action, but you'll remember the movie because of Reno and Portman.
8. Leon: The Professional has style to spare.
9. Mathilda is like no New York City girl-child I've ever seen riding the subway. And I couldn't take my eyes off her.
10. Stylish, mature hitman thriller is quite violent.