question: Bombastic and occasionally silly but extravagantly entertaining, Cecil B. DeMille's all-star spectacular is a muscular retelling of the great Bible story.

numbered reviews: 1. The Ten Commandments (1956), Cecil B. De Mille's most spectacular epic and last film. Although a blockbuster, the film reverts to melodramatic style,
2. Big, hokey, and unintentionally funny.
3. The crammed contents are linked ponderously in a long, warning movie sermon that has authority but little power.
4. Heston may as well be screaming about Soylent Green, but damn if he doesn't make for one hell of an inspiring leader.
5. DeMille remains conventional with the motion picture as an art form. The eyes of the onlooker are filled with spectacle. Emotional tug is sometimes lacking.
6. Still the definitive depiction of the Exodus in the popular imagination.
7. Stirring, even if it's as much showbiz as Bible.
8. Bank holiday afternoon fare it might be, but DeMille's remake of his 1923 silent is a marvellous epic of the kind they don't make any more.
9. A great big wallow, sublime hootchy-kootchy hokum, peppered with lightning that does automatic writing and an unsurpassed homage to the joys of jello.
10. With a running time of nearly four hours, Cecil B. De Mille's last feature and most extravagant blockbuster is full of the absurdities and vulgarities one expects, but it isn't boring for a minute.


question: The Nanny Diaries' miscast lead and unrealistic, one-dimensional characters make this class satire far less effective than it should've been.

numbered reviews: 1. On the upside, we get a closeup of Johansson's panties, which should be worth the price of admission for many.
2. Every character in The Nanny Diaries is ill-defined, including Johansson's floundering nanny. Exhibiting a dull to puzzled expression, Johansson gives a shapeless performance in an embarrassing misfire of a movie.
3. While it's entertaining, well-acted, and professionally mounted, better time could probably be spent with our own families than watching someone take care of someone else's.
4. The problems with this light romantic outing don't ruin the entertainment value.
5. Here's an average comedy about a nanny that's a little naughty, a little nice, and a little above average
6. Even a high-powered cast proves unequal to the task of breathing life into these bloodless, lazily conceived phantoms.
7. fully deserves its late-summer time slot dump.
8. A miserable little film that wastes good acting talent by handing them a screenplay that misses the mark big-time.
9. Those with deep pockets sometimes have shallow hearts. The post-college lurch can be a panic zone. And the only shocker in "The Nanny Diaries" is that there's not one sprig of chest hair to be seen on a shirtless Paul Giamatti.
10. An agreeable time at the movies even if it's not anything like a great movie.


question: Director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. make this smart, high impact superhero movie one that even non-comics fans can enjoy.

numbered reviews: 1. This middle section, in which the newly energized Tony tinkers with his emerging superpowers like a kid in shop class, is the movie's finest and funnest hour.
2. ... lives up to its promise and premise... the benchmark for this summer's blockbusters has just been set.
3. Fulfills all the requirements of its genre admirably, but never rises beyond the level of baseline satisfaction.
4. While not perfect, it comes pretty damn close - Iron Man is one of the best superhero movie adaptations to hit the big screen so far.
5. A slightly-better-than-average popcorn epic featuring a performance from Downey that is so funny and inventive and entertaining that he pretty much winds up carrying the entire movie on his shoulders.
6. Iron Man is a thrilling ride full of excitement and laughs. Finally this year we have a great family film that everyone will enjoy.
7. a fun night at the movies but unfortunately disposable
8. While the movie is technically a marvel, it would have been an empty shell without the strong turn from Downey Jr. Wonderfully sarcastic and hedonistic early on, his transformation from capitalist to hero is logical because of the sincerity the actor inv
9. If you can get past the irony (or hypocrisy) of the central concept Jon Favreau's adaptation is reasonably entertaining and uses its digital effects energetically.
10. "Iron Man" is highly entertaining and well made, and when I say highly entertaining and well made, I mean it's almost in the same league as "Batman Begins," "Spider-Man 2," "Superman Returns" and "X-Men 2." Hard to believe, but yes, it is that good.


question: All the atmospherics in Dark Water can't make up for the lack of genuine scares.

numbered reviews:
1. Director Walter Salles give this shocker an added psychological/ dramatic level that heightens the shivers.
2. There are only so many thrills you can generate with terrible plumbing.
3. Dark Water will leave some viewers scratching their heads, while others will be wide-eyed with appreciation. This viewer, at least, is reasonably wide-eyed.
4. With his stirring visual sense very much intact here, Salles sets the creepy mood eloquently, but the picture ultimately fails to reward all the little shivers with any satisfying jolts.
5. Dark Water is a lesson in how to transform atmospheric J-horror into soggy B filmmaking.
6. A dull and occasionally risible remake of an even duller, more risible Japanese horror flick ...
7. While his movie lacks the psychological resonance of Rosemary's Baby or The Sixth Sense, it easily equals their creep-out quotient.
8. Dark Water has plenty of creepy moments, but few scares, and it becomes bogged down in setup.
9. Some may consider Dark Water too leisurely paced, but it's refreshing to see a film that doesn't shoo the ghost from a closet in the first half hour.
10. Dark Water achieves some, but not all, of what we might hope for.