Jack Goes Boating (2010)

In his directorial debut, Philip Seymour Hoffman celebrates authentic eccentricity and a heartfelt willingness to overcome loneliness. Jack Goes Boating — at once both dark and playful — subverts the traditional romantic comedy to strike a remarkable balance between affecting and hopeful. Read the rest of my review on KCActive.com.

Secretariat (2010)

The story of one of the all-time greatest racehorses languishes under director Randall Wallace's uneven attention to detail and lack of a central narrative. Cursed with the maddening tendency to cut away at pivotal moments, Secretariat vacillates between speechifying and wisecracking while completely missing the point. Read the rest of my review on KCActive.com.

It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

Writer/director team Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson, Sugar) make a half-hearted visit to the cuckoo's nest for this chintzy teen movie. Read my review on KCActive.com.

Get Low (2009)

Veteran heavyweight cast notwithstanding, Get Low irreparablysuffers from first-time director Aaron Schneider's callow filmmaking and a script dripping in forced momentousness. Subtle performances are no match for tired stereotypes and high-pitched melodrama. Read the rest of the review at KCActive.com.

Nanny McPhee Returns (2010)

Overrun with computer-generated effects and frantic slapstick routines, Nanny McPhee Returns is missing the heartfelt charm and sentiment that carried the 2005 film on which this sequel is based. Director Susanna White buries the life lessons imparted by the title character under convoluted schemes and mounds of muck. Read the rest of my review on KCActive.com.

The Killer Inside Me (2010)

The controversy surrounding the portrayal of violence, particularly toward women, in Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me is fully deserved. Based on Jim Thompson's 1952 noir novel, the film pulls no punches in order to deliver an unflinching psychological portrait of fetishistic sexuality and submerged brutality let loose. Read the rest of my review at TheKiller Inside Me.

The Other Guys (2010)

As cop-movie parody, director Adam McKay's The Other Guys is surprisingly clever, full of rapid-fire wordplay and inventive sight gags and slapstick. But that's only the first 10 minutes. Read my review on KCActive.com.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

After a blow to the head, increasingly decrepit theater director strives to make his mark on the artistic world to win back his wife and daughter by re-creating his worlds. The dream-like premise is clever and engaging, but also stressful and boring at times. A bit too much like life.

Carolina (2003)

Full of hokey Southern cliches, but set in Los Angeles, this romcom fails to deliver on both fronts. Contrived yet predictable set-ups lead to an even more predictable ending.

Bright Star (2009)

A sartorial dream, the rest of the film offers little more than soppy dressing. Mr. Brown's unheeded words of wisdom are worth more than all the treetop poems in the film.

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

A desperate mistake leads to a lost dog and a heartbreaking decision. Desperate, tense, yet hopeful, the film is a powerful gut-wrencher in a small, very specific way.

Dinner for Schmucks (2010)

The damaging, although well-intentioned, chaos Barry inflicts on Tim's life is unsatisfying and quickly turns into a tedious series of increasingly hyperbolic misunderstandings when instead it should feel of delicious, justified comeuppance. Read my review on KCActive.com.