Adventureland (2009)

"Mottola also wrote the screenplay, which is most fresh and honest when dealing with supporting characters."

Australia (2008)

"Australia is an unbroken string of clichés. Director Luhrmann does the obvious at every turn, making each character an archetype and every action a crowd-pleasing, grandiosely predictable moment."

Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)

"The little beasties in the new film are computer-generated, reasonably realistic (way ahead of Garfield) and cute. It's not their fault the humans, especially Jason Lee's Dave Seville, are excruciatingly boring."

American Gangster (2007)

"The meal's perfectly edible but falls short of delicious."

The Astronaut Farmer (2007)

"The film follows a Hollywood marketing plan more than any personal vision and couches ideas in timeworn platitudes. It's illogical and emotionally unsatisfying."

Away From Her (2007)

"The whole film grows on you. Polley's trademark as an actress is that she gives nothing away at first; you have to watch an entire movie to know everything she's thinking and feeling. Away From Her unfolds with that kind of restraint."

All The King's Men (2006)

"It's possible for a movie to go wrong from the opening frame, and All the King's Men shows how."

Apocalypto (2006)

"It represents as brazen an act of career suicide as I can recall from a star director. If he were a first-timer, he'd never work again."

Art School Confidential (2006)

"Bitterness can carry us only so far in a movie. Director Terry Zwigoff and writer Daniel Clowes, who adapted his own comic book, don't know what to do after they've impaled their targets."

Alone in the Dark (2005)

"I didn't see director Uwe Boll's zombie dud House of the Dead, but on the evidence of Alone in the Dark, he belongs in the pantheon of hopelessly inept directors."

The Aristocrats (2005)

"What makes the experience enjoyable for those who tough out the vulgarity will be insights into comedy."

The Alamo (2004)

"Everything about the movie seems smaller than life, from Carter Burwell's hollowly pompous music to Dean Semler's muddy cinematography."

Alfie (2004)

"Jude Law's considerable charm as the philandering limo driver whose heart is the last to be broken goes a long way toward making this needless film palatable."

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

"Hammers away at the same comedic notes like an 8-year-old pounding out 'Chopsticks' on a parlor piano."

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

"Days represents everything that over-budgeted Hollywood can possibly get wrong in a period piece."

Against the Ropes (2003)

"A title card says the film was 'inspired by the life of Jackie Kallen.' Nothing's actually inspired here, from Dutton's haphazard direction to an inapt score by the late Michael Kamen."

Alien: The Director's Cut (2003)

"Watching it again reminded me how remarkably the sound engineers did their jobs."

American Splendor (2003)

"The fictionalized [Pekar] is played to schlumpy, bitter perfection by Paul Giamatti."

Anger Management (2003)

"The results are sporadically hilarious but don't always hang together."

About Schmidt (2002)

"Impeccable acting makes every character a pleasure to watch."

All or Nothing (2002)

"Reality is always Leigh's strong suit, and this movie brims with it."

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

"The funniest, crassest, wildest, most musical, most satirical and most scatological of the Powers trilogy."

Aberdeen (2001)

"The characters, irritating as they can be at first, grow on you as they grow up."

Ali (2001)

"The new film shouldn't serve as a history lesson, but it will show young folks (and remind us old-timers) what made him the most famous athlete on the planet."

Along Came a Spider (2001)

"It comes at us in clumsy chunks of plot that fit together as badly as blocks of broken concrete."