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Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger

1. Civic Duty 2007 Civic Duty sends you home depressed, but at least it makes you think. It's a breed of film that's rare to find on the summer movie slate. full review
2. Day Watch 2007 It's a playful, surrealistic antidote to standard genre entertainment. full review
3. Evening 2007 Great cast, mediocre writing. full review
4. Memory 2007 The movie draws upon so many influences -- stylized Hitchcock suspense, surreal Asian horror and the Gothic romance of Britain's Hammer Studios -- it's easier to follow the reference points than the plot. full review
5. Mr. Bean's Holiday 2007 For a silly kids movie about an accident-prone man on a trip to the beach, Mr. Bean's Holiday is actually quite mean-spirited and pretentious. full review
6. The Ten 2007 It's more a frivolous spoof than a pointed satire. full review
7. Brooklyn Rules 2006 Once you get beyond the surface cliches, there's truth and sincerity in the dialogue and performances. full review
8. Bug 2006 Bug is a twisted, visceral film with an uncompromising sense of nihilism. full review
9. Copying Beethoven, (Klang der Stille) 2006 It works on an aesthetic level but it's uneven as a drama. full review
10. The Ground Truth 2006 It's an edifying, upsetting film that offers a different perspective on the situation in the Middle East. full review
11. Keeping Up With The Steins 2006 A barrage of bad jokes, offensive stereotypes and dated reference points, the movie is like Meet the Fockers on overdrive. full review
12. Last Holiday 2006 Latifah's carpe diem spirit sustains the picture, even when the script is carpe dumb. full review
13. Aeon Flux 2005 The picture climaxes with the crashing of a blimp, an image that encapsulates the Hindenburg scale of its failure. full review
14. Bad News Bears 2005 Bad News Bears pitches more than punchlines. The film has a moral, even if it doesn't explore the deepest themes. full review
15. Casanova 2005 It's a breezy fling that showcases the lighter side of Ledger. full review
16. Coach Carter 2005 The movie may consist of formulaic elements, but it excels on the strength of its cast and the sincerity of its message. full review
17. Conversations With Other Women 2005 The technique heightens the drama, illustrating how each character is in his or her own lonely little world. full review
18. Factotum 2005 While the acting is good, the narrative is flat and repetitious. The director doesn't connect the scenes into a meaningful character study. full review
19. Land of the Dead 2005 In George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, it's depressingly evident that the horror pioneer has been surpassed by his imitators. full review
20. Lonesome Jim 2005 Indie moviegoers have met slackers like Jim before, but he's still good company. The laughs are frequent while the emotions ring true. full review
21. Nine Lives 2005 For a film centered on connection and continuity, Nine Lives is curiously erratic. full review
22. Sweet Land 2005 A love story and an elegy, Sweet Land is a meaningful film that makes its points with subtlety. full review
23. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind 2004 Gondry still lags behind Jonze in rendering cohesive stories and human connection from Kaufman's adventures in self-analysis. full review
24. Little Black Book 2004 All Little Black Book offers is a pileup of sitcom scenarios overlaid with annoyingly glib narration, a la Sex and the City. full review
25. Me and You and Everyone We Know 2004 The debut film from performance art crossover Miranda July delivers an unlikely blend of irreverence and optimism. For all its dark humor and fringe qualities, the movie never descends into easy misanthropy. full review
26. Somersault 2004 The movie's centerpiece is a candid, fearless performance by newcomer Abbie Cornish. full review
27. White Chicks 2004 Even though they go preachy in the end, these chicks with quips deliver scattered bouts of hilarity. full review
28. Word Wars 2004 A surprisingly entertaining documentary that captures the triumph, the heartbreak and the consonants of the competitive Scrabble circuit. full review
29. Ned Kelly 2003 Offers a couple of well-filmed showdowns and lots of pretty landscapes, but you need more than scenic views and stylish action to chronicle a life, especially one as controversial as Kelly's. full review