Though it appears to be about the travails of illegal immigrants, Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) (* * * out of four) is a powerful and evocative account of the efforts undertaken to forge a perilous mother-and-child reunion. Told in Spanish with English subtitles, it is a moving tale of yearning, as well as unflagging courage and determination. Read more>>

Moviegoers will come up empty with Mad Money. This lifeless comedy and uninventive caper feels as if it were cobbled together at a studio’s obligatory consciousness-raising diversity seminar: Read more>>

27 Dresses is like one of the many bridesmaid dresses featured in the film: frothy, predictable and over the top. But the movie is made pleasant by the likeability of its star, Katherine Heigl, and her chemistry with the affable James Marsden.
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Watching this movie feels a bit like being trapped on a weekend holiday with an unpredictable and seriously unhappy group of people. You find yourself cringing in wary anticipation of what cruelty they’ll inflict upon one another next. Read more

Writer/director Zach Helm, who wrote Stranger Than Fiction, achieves bursts of charm and whimsy, but not quite enough magic to elicit a consistent sense of wonderment. Read more

Though it lags in the middle and is at least 15 minutes too long, Gangster is a sprawling, fascinating look into the complicated mind and operations of the head of a crime syndicate and the conflicted emotions and tenacity of a police detective on his trail. Read more

Men are apparently not the only ones from Mars. Small boys hail from the Red Planet, too, according to Martian Child, an occasionally schmaltzy but likable story of healing and redemption. Read more

It’s so unfunny it almost stings. Read more

Though not exactly a valentine to the octogenarian Nobel Peace Prize winner, the film is a lovingly rendered, candid and intimate portrait. Read more

A crash involving a train and a car leads to an unexpected bond between the train engineer (Kevin Bacon) and the 11-year-old boy (Miles Heizer) who escaped the collision. Read more