Movie Reviews

Sandra Bullock retrieves much of the career momentum that "The Proposal" gave her (and that "All About Steve" threatened to kill) with "The Blind Side," a surprisingly smart and moving drama about a Memphis steel magnolia who doesn't truly bloom until she takes in a homeless teen and gives him a life.

The first 20 minutes of "Precious," the full title of which is "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," are so intense and pitched so high, you may not feel like sticking it out.

Few filmmakers destroy the planet with as much unabashed glee as Roland Emmerich. In his previous films, he has eradicated the White House ("Independence Day"), the Statue of Liberty ("The Day After Tomorrow") and Matthew Broderick's career ("Godzilla").

Richard Curtis makes romantic, sentimental and overlong comedies filled to the rafters with friends as cast members.

You cannot ruin the essence of "A Christmas Carol." The example of a man who learns that wealth is not happiness, but happiness is wealth, is surely eternal.

Sixteen-year-old Jenny learns the ways of the world in the coming-of-age drama "An Education," but there's a revelation in store for us, as well.

No TV. No cars, buses or subways. No conspicuous consumption.

Michael left them wanting more.

The mesmerizing "This Is It" pays tribute to Michael Jackson as a singer, dancer and, most strikingly, as the guy in charge.

"This Is It," the movie version of four months of rehearsals before Michael Jackson's death in June, shows not only the entertainer's gifts, but also his talent as the man in charge of what promised to be an epic concert.

Considering the risks Amelia Earhart took, losing her life in the call of aviation, Hilary Swank and director Mira Nair don't put much on the line in their film biography "Amelia."

"Good Hair" consists of two documentaries braided together, one enjoyable, the other enjoyable and provocative.

"Where the Wild Things Are," the book, is just 339 words long. But in turning it into "Where the Wild Things Are," the movie, director Spike Jonze has expanded the basic story with a breathtaking visual scheme and stirring emotional impact.

"Access" is what distinguishes the basketball documentary "More Than a Game."

It's hard to put a finger on exactly what a Coen brothers movie is. That's part of the great allure of them.

"Couples Retreat" plays like the NBA All-Star game: What seems like a dream-team exhibition of pros at the top of their game too often turns into an undisciplined mess.

The true-life drama "The Boys Are Back" delicately and deftly finds a balance that's hard to strike: It depicts death, and the way a family rebuilds and redefines itself afterward, without any mawkishness.

This is tricky: How to talk about "World's Greatest Dad," the latest comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait, without giving away all its twists and twisted details?

A huge hit back home, Park Chan-wook's delirious vampire picture "Thirst" has run into image problems as an export.

Ten years ago, Mike Judge satirized the absurdities of the workplace experience from the perspective of put-upon employees with "Office Space."

First comes the noise: a systematic banging of metal poles underwater, a wall of sound that frightens the dolphins and sends them scurrying in the opposite direction.

This is the way we should remember Woodstock – a sea of people, a river of mud, a mountain of garbage and a whole lotta love.

Robert Rodriguez channels his inner 11-year-old with "Shorts," a childish but fun wish-fulfillment fantasy for kids that's equal parts boogers, big messages and product placement.

If only Quentin Tarantino the director weren't so completely in love with Quentin Tarantino the writer, "Inglourious Basterds" might have been a great movie rather than just a good movie with moments of greatness.

In "The Time Traveler's Wife," Eric Bana plays a guy named Henry who jumps around the past, present and future, only he can't control where or when he goes.

If you're 5 years old or under the influence of some hallucinogenic drug, "Ponyo" is probably awesome.

The Julia parts in "Julie & Julia" are a delight. The ones about Julie? More like an annoying distraction.

At the end of the drearily formulaic romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth," as our two leads are finally admitting they've fallen for each other (no spoilers here, folks), Katherine Heigl's character asks Gerard Butler's why he's in love with her.

The scares are cheap, the laughs mostly intentional and the ending a real lulu in "Orphan," the latest from the director of "House of Wax."

"Summer Hours" opens with a family reunion at a marvelous old house in the country. But while the setting is familiar, even Chekhovian, what writer- director Olivier Assayas does with it is not.

Harry Potter has kept his fans waiting for two years, the longest school break they have had to endure for a new movie adventure about the teen wizard.

Oh, to have teenage kids just so I could forbid them to see "I Love You, Beth Cooper."

"Brüno," Sacha Baron Cohen's shock-and- ach du lieber follow-up to "Borat," is a miss-or-hit mockmentary aimed at turning another of his "Ali G Show" guises into a pop cultural phenomenon.

In the world of horror and exploitation films, there's a fine line between trash (gross but fun) and garbage (gross, period).

In the tradition of ethnographic dramas from "Nanook of the North" to "The Fast Runner," "Tulpan" drops us in the middle of a godforsaken nowhere and marvels at the people who live there.

"Moon" does something extraordinary: It seems familiar and derivative, yet it upends your expectations about science fiction and surprises you over and over.

Woody Allen has aged into that grandpa you hate taking out to eat because you never know what he might say. He's still got the occasional Oscar-worthy bit of wit in him.

You put food in your mouth every day. But do you know exactly what you're consuming when you pick up chicken breasts at the grocery store or drive though a fast-food restaurant for a cheeseburger?

With last year's record attendance cementing its status as the area's premier film event, the Sacramento French Film Festival probably shouldn't have stirred things up this year.

Derivative in most ways, "The Proposal" marks itself as original in one regard: It presents a 44-year-old woman as a potential romantic option for a 32-year-old man without branding her A) a cougar, B) a sugar mama or C) that acronym applied to friends' mothers who inspire slow-mo fantasies of summer wear, soap buckets and dirty Toyota Camrys.

Israeli Arab actress Hiam Abbass has become a cinematic force of nature. U.S. moviegoers know her as the mother in "The Visitor," but her best recent role was probably as the bride's older sister in 2004's "The Syrian Bride," coping with the ruinous surrealism of national identity.

"Year One" is this summer's "The Love Guru," this weekend's "Land of the Lost." It's a throwback to the "star comedy," the days when hit movies were outlandish farces built around larger-than-life comics playing broad characters.

"Away We Go" is a self-satisfied film about insecure people, a quirky and episodic comic drama that squanders its assets and ends up not as special as it tries to be.

Denzel Washington and John Travolta always have shown exorbitant amounts of charisma, even as movie stars go.

Contemporary uber-babe Jessica Biel steps into the snappy banter of Noel Coward's roaring '20s in "Easy Virtue," and it's an awkward fit.

The words "Eddie Murphy family comedy" are enough to send shivers down the spine of any self-respecting film lover.

How's this for creepy?

"The Hangover," a blackout comedy about a derailed bachelor party, hits and misses with its gags. But it distinguishes itself from other what-happens-in-Vegas comedies (practically a subgenre at this point) by setting an especially vivid scene and telling an actual story instead of pasting together random shenanigans the way many modern comedies do.

The adorable Nia Vardalos makes an obvious choice for a movie she hopes will recapture a bit of her "Big Fat Greek Wedding" mojo from 2002.