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Christy Lemire, Associated Press

  1. The FP 2012 Rather than crafting a movie that's so bad it's good, writer-director brothers Jason and Brandon Trost have come up with something that's just plain bad -- and boring, and repetitive. full review
  2. Girl In Progress 2012 This is being marketed as an ideal film for moms and daughters to see together on Mother's Day weekend. A long, awkward brunch sounds more fun -- and more truthful. full review
  3. God Bless America 2012 "God Bless America" has a whole lotta "Taxi Driver" in it, and some "Network," and some "Heathers" (with Barr functioning as Christian Slater in the equation), and even some "Kick-Ass." full review
  4. The Imposter 2012 Director Bart Layton takes a story that was already fascinatingly weird to begin with and makes it even more compelling by structuring it as a shadowy film noir. full review
  5. The Innkeepers 2012 The trappings may look familiar, but "The Innkeepers" is a new twist on the good, old-fashioned ghost story: It's the bored-slacker horror movie. full review
  6. Kill List 2012 You may look back at the end and wonder, how did we get here? Pay attention: There are small clues along the way. full review
  7. Nobody Walks 2012 Artfully constructed but hollow at its core, "Nobody Walks" makes it impossible to stop watching while simultaneously making it impossible to care about what's happening. full review
  8. Red Lights 2012 Red Lights culminates with a twist ending that doesn't just change everything that came previously, it actually negates the entirety of the film. full review
  9. Take This Waltz 2012 Polley (who's been an actress herself) never judges these people she's created. Instead, she depicts the giddy, fleeting and illusory nature of new love, and lets us get caught up in it, too. full review
  10. Buck 2011 This is going to sound corny, but here goes: "Buck" will make you want to be a better person. full review
  11. Dirty Girl 2011 The heavy eye shadow, cheesy clothes and stiffly flipped-out hair feel almost too mocking ... rather than serving as stylistic choices that make the characters feel like real people. full review
  12. Hugo 2011 Being a hardcore cinephile (like Scorsese) might add a layer of enjoyment, but it certainly isn't a prerequisite for walking in the door. A sense of wonder, however, is. full review
  13. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 2011 Part biopic, part concert film and all crowd pleaser, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never is a big, glossy celebration of the musical phenom that knows exactly what it needs to do to send its target audience of 'tween girls into a tizzy of giddy screams. full review
  14. The Other Woman 2011 Roos does find elements of truth here and there; frustratingly, there are too few of them. full review
  15. Polisse 2011 Sure, you've seen this sort of material before -- comparisons to HBO's "The Wire" are frequent and obvious -- but when it's done right, as it is here, it's gripping. full review
  16. Sarah Palin: You Betcha! 2011 It's juicy stuff but not very informative. full review
  17. The Ward 2011 The kills aren't terribly suspenseful or dramatically staged and they quickly grow repetitive. Worst of all, they're not particularly scary. full review
  18. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer 2010 You want tears? You want convulsive sobs, weepy remorse, pleadings for forgiveness? Well, look elsewhere, because Eliot Spitzer isn't going to give them to you. full review
  19. Cold Weather 2010 The fact that the stakes end up being ridiculously low doesn't matter. That's just one more appealing element of the film's unconventional intrigue. full review
  20. I Am Love 2010 Words like "lush" and "gorgeous" don't even begin to scratch the surface in describing I Am Love, Italian director Luca Guadagnino's retro-styled melodrama. full review
  21. I'm Still Here 2010 If we're truly witnessing the unraveling of a talented man in his prime, it's just sad. If it's all performance art, though, it's just pointless. full review
  22. Monsters 2010 Even if the visually similar Cloverfield and the thematically similar District 9 didn't already exist, this would still seem painfully hackneyed and obvious.
  23. The Limits of Control 2009 Paint drying. Photosynthesis. Rush-hour traffic. All these activities would be more entertaining to watch -- and probably speedier -- than Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control.
  24. Wild Target 2009 Wild Target takes aim at various styles and genres and misses the mark every time. full review
  25. Man on Wire 2008 The word 'documentary' doesn't begin to do justice to [director] Marsh's achievement. full review
  26. New York, I Love You 2008 The result is a curiously bland hodgepodge -- not terribly evocative of such a famous place, and not all that inspiring in the connections it depicts. full review
  27. Passing Strange 2008 Like Lee, the artist formerly known as Mark Stewart possesses a powerful and singular voice, one he uses to express vividly his own unique experience of growing up as a black man in America. full review
  28. The Tale of Despereaux 2008 Whereas the gorgeous, sophisticated Ratatouille was both a crowd-pleaser and a critical favorite, duly winning the Academy Award for best animated feature, Despereaux feels obvious, preachy and heavy-handed. full review
  29. What Just Happened? 2008 Hollywood is full of liars, back-stabbers, sycophants, would-be power players and rampant egomaniacs. And your point is what? full review
  30. Eagle vs. Shark 2007 Eagle vs. Shark might have seemed amusingly original, albeit in a self-consciously quirky, indie-movie kind of way, if Napoleon Dynamite didn't already exist. full review
  31. The Hunting Party 2007 [Director] Shepard strikes just the right absurd, satirical tone until near the end, when he allows the film to wrap up a bit too conveniently.
  32. No End in Sight 2007 No End in Sight will leave you floored, agape and enraged anew. full review
  33. Phoebe in Wonderland 2007 Writer-director Daniel Barnz manages to achieve a true and delicate balance for much of Phoebe in Wonderland, his first feature, but ultimately undermines himself with heavy-handed and rather hackneyed whimsy. full review
  34. Postal 2007 How does Uwe Boll keep getting work? Seriously, this is not a rhetorical question -- someone, somewhere surely must know the answer. full review
  35. Curious George 2006 George is just so darn cute with his big eyes and bright smile and perpetually sunny disposition, he's pretty much impossible to resist. full review
  36. Failure to Launch 2006 There are elements of Failure to Launch that elevate it, albeit sporadically, above the typical romantic comedy that it is. full review
  37. Golden Door 2006 A STRIKINGLY shot tale of Sicilian villagers seeking a better life in America, Golden Door is so minimalist, it's practically a silent film. full review
  38. Elizabethtown 2005 So curious, and such a disappointment. full review
  39. How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer 2005 Ms. Reidel also deserves credit for depicting the possibility of finding love at all ages, something that larger and more mainstream movies so often shy away from showing. full review
  40. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days 2005 Rothemund and screenwriter Fred Breinersdorfer have locked themselves into an episodic structure that offers virtually no nuance.
  41. Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams 2002 Rodriguez seems to be trying too hard to cram in too much - more gadgets, more characters, more noise, more color. But bigger, brighter and faster isn't necessarily better. full review
  42. Gossip 2000 The movie feels longer than its 90 minutes.
  43. In Too Deep 1999 An extremely raw, disturbing film! full review