Ma Mere (2005)

"Manages, while wallowing in bleak nihilism, to be simultaneously utterly perverse and hair-pullingly dull."

Mad Money (2008)

"What's intended as empathy feels more like condescension, built around Hollywood's out-of-touch belief that anything below Land Rover is the poverty line."

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

"The jokes fly by at a Shrek-ish rate, and a some are even funny."

Made of Honor (2008)

"You may find it dreamy, or you may simply be asleep."

Magnolia (1999)

"The exuberance and richness of Anderson's movies reflect the pure joy of somebody in a state of vocational rapture."

Maléna (2000)

"As John Boorman did in Hope and Glory, Tornatore's Malena has great fun imagining wartime as it must appear to a child."

Mamma Mia! (2008)

"You may find that the movie version of Mamma Mia! brings out your inner Simon Cowell."

Man of the Year (2006)

"The movie is strangely determined to move political commentary to the back row while bringing to the fore a dull, conventional thriller about electronic voting."

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

"Brothers Coen retreat to inscrutable film noir style."

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

"No filmmaker keeps the seething anger of severely dysfunctional families as dangerously close to the surface as Noah Baumbach. Particularly while in the process of making a comedy, if that's what his films are."

Marie Antoinette (2006)

"Really -- our lives as info-age rabble would be so much more tolerable if we could simply deliver our celebrities, as soon as they become tiresome, to a guy with a leather hood."

Married Life (2008)

"If you can slow yourself down to the stately pace of 1950 (a whiskey sour or two might help), you might enjoy the offbeat Married Life."

Masked and Anonymous (2003)

"As a lifelong devotee of Dylan's music, I found this far and away the best of the four movies he's made, in large measure because it's chock-full of his music and dramatically structured like one of his epic tirades."

The Master of Disguise (2002)

"It's the one summer movie you simply can't afford to see."

Matchstick Men (2003)

"It is fairly stunning to see Scott helming a comedy like Matchstick Men, and it is doubly surprising to see so many actors enjoying themselves."

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

"Special effects in Hollywood blockbusters often have the feel of compulsory piecework performed by bored technicians. The people who contribute the effects in Reloaded appear to be excited by them, and they want us to be excited."

Max Payne (2008)

"Another laughably bad movie based on a popular video-game title."

Mean Girls (2004)

"The social situations will be tellingly familiar to anyone who's been to high school, girls especially."

Meet Dave (2008)

"It's enough to keep smaller kids amused, and the ugly vibe that plagued Norbit is thankfully absent."

Meet the Parents (2000)

"This isn't Ernst Lubitsch or anything, but the movie is consistently funny without the calculated gross-out moments that have been dominating mainstream comedy in recent years."

Memento (2001)

"The more attention you pay, the more fun you can have."

Men in Black II (2002)

"MiB2 shows sequel smarts in the most crucial area -- running time. Bloated length has destroyed more sequels than Sylvester Stallone, and MiB2 delivers its modest selection of goods in a brisk 82 minutes."

The Messenger (2009)

"The scenes are rendered by director Oren Moverman with an authenticity and realism that makes them as harrowing and heartrending as they deserve to be."

The Mexican (2001)

"Feels longish and showy, and ultimately wears out its welcome."

Mickey Blue Eyes (1999)

"The movie's main asset is Grant, whose shtick as the befuddled Englishman never changes much, but somehow never seems to grow old."