El GringoAs an undeniable exercise in third-hand coolness, with nods to spaghetti Westerns and '70s drive-in actioners, "El Gringo" is diverting enough.5/10/2012 2:00pm PT
Stash HouseDespite a decent premise -- a couple unknowingly buys a foreclosed home full of heroin that prior criminal owners want back -- the pic's pedestrian execution and uninvolving characters make it a passable time-filler at best.5/10/2012 2:00pm PT
The Philly KidPic delivers the basic goods, if not much more, as formulaic, functional guys'-night-in entertainment, providing employment to many shirtless, no-necked actors.5/10/2012 2:00pm PT
Dragon EyesMaintaining an admirably straight face, this fist-flying flashback is good fun for fanboy types who take its myriad absurdities with the requisite grain of salt.5/7/2012 5:51pm PT
NestingA comedy about acting your age, or not, writer-director John Chuldenko's "Nesting" focuses on a thirtysomething Los Angeles couple who, worried they've settled down too fast, try to revisit their free-spirited youth (all of 10 years earlier). 5/7/2012 4:15pm PT
TransitThere's nothing quite like having murderous thieves on your trail to get those dysfunctional-family issues resolved in a hurry, as a Texas family discovers in "Transit."5/6/2012 5:30pm PT
The Beatles: The Lost ConcertRepackaging footage reportedly inaccessible for decades, "The Beatles: The Lost Concert" presents what's billed as the Fab Four's only available complete live show.5/6/2012 5:27pm PT
InformantThe unreliable-narrator docu develops a new wrinkle or two with "Informant."5/6/2012 11:32am PT
The SkinnyMultihyphenate Patrik-Ian Polk sticks with what he knows in "The Skinny," another likable seriocomic ensembler about a group of young, gay African-American best friends navigating hazardous romantic waters.5/2/2012 6:59pm PT
The Waiting RoomA rock-solid verite docu, Peter Nicks' "The Waiting Room" spends hard time in the emergency room at Highland Hospital in Oakland, Calif., where patients often have to wait all day to be seen, then weeks or even months to receive follow-up treatments.5/2/2012 5:59pm PT
Step Up to the PlateA quietly absorbing portrait of the infinitely finicky care that goes into Michelin three-starred French cuisine, "Step Up to the Plate" has the requisite mix of vicarious gastronomical thrills and relatable human interest to make foodie auds swoon.5/2/2012 5:57pm PT
The SourceEnthusiasts of '70s subculture will get their smiley face on with "The Source," which chronicles the short life and rather spectacular demise of a quintessentially Southern California spiritual "family" based around sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll -- plus, of course, a charismatic, self-proclaimed guru.5/2/2012 3:48pm PT
California, 90420: The Story of "4:20 Somethings"A doobie in hand -- along with some munchables, of course -- might aid viewing of "California, 90420," an unfocused documentary that touches on marijuana legalization and other concrete issues, but too often seems content just to hang out with some people who really, really like pot.4/29/2012 5:12pm PT
People v. the State of Illusion"People v. the State of Illusion" provides author Austin Vickers a glossy illustrated lecture to propagate his motivational message that we can escape our personal "prisons" through fundamental, liberating shifts in perception. 4/8/2012 6:24pm PT
An Encounter With Simone WeilA rather queasy cross of conventional biodoc and first-person therapy cinema, "An Encounter With Simone Weil" has helmer Julia Haslett seeking solutions to her own problems by investigating the life of the titular French philosopher-activist. 3/22/2012 8:44pm PT
The Trouble With BlissThe difficulties of adapting idiosyncratic literature to the screen are all too apparent in "The Trouble With Bliss," which turns Douglas Light's well-received debut novel into a misfired quirkfest whose put-upon slackerish hero arrives at a vague breakthrough by way of random adversities.3/22/2012 8:43pm PT
Reuniting the RubinsInauspiciously billed as a life-affirming descendant of "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Full Monty," "Reuniting the Rubins" proves as drearily formulaic as the weakest of those films' myriad imitations.3/22/2012 6:04pm PT
Yes, We're OpenA smug San Francisco couple's status quo is shaken by the overtures of a second, sexually rapacious pair in "Yes, We're Open." 3/21/2012 3:58pm PT
I Am a GhostAfter the indie songfests "Colma: The Musical" and "Fruit Fly," H.P. Mendoza goes in another direction entirely with "I Am a Ghost," the writer-helmer's idiosyncratic wade into horror terrain.3/14/2012 5:16pm PT
Mr. Cao Goes to WashingtonThe current GOP nomination race has many wondering how things shifted so far right that Republicans risk alienating much of their own membership.3/13/2012 6:08pm PT
Daylight SavingsContinuing a collaboration between helmer/co-writer Dave Boyle and musician-turned-thesp Goh Nakamura that began with last year's "Surrogate Valentine," "Daylight Savings" offers more of the drolly comic black-and-white same.3/13/2012 3:11pm PT
TouchA pokey but pleasant romantic drama, "Touch" chronicles the developing attraction between a withdrawn Vietnamese-American manicurist and a working-class Joe in need of clean hands to address his marital woes. 3/12/2012 5:41pm PT
Lou Harrison: A World of MusicThe film pays homage to a composer who remains perhaps the most warmly accessible figure in the American musical avant-garde.3/8/2012 6:26pm PT
Girl Walk // All Day"Feature-length dance musicvideo" only begins to capture the delights of "Girl Walk // All Day." 3/8/2012 5:57pm PT
StormlandBest known offshore as author of the novel on which Baltasar Kormakur's 2000 "101 Reykjavik" is based, Icelandic painter/ writer Hallgrimur Helgason has won plenty of regional attention for his other novels, notably 2005's "Stormland." 3/8/2012 2:58pm PT
Worth the WeightPic is a pleasing romantic comedy about a double-plus-sized guy who falls in love with his trainer. 3/7/2012 5:00pm PT
Mixed KebabA closeted Antwerp man's juggling of his tradition-minded Turkish family's expectations and a best friend-turned-boyfriend propel "Mixed Kebab."3/7/2012 4:58pm PT
MimesisAs perhaps the most famous public-domain feature, George Romero's original 1968 "Night of the Living Dead" has been excerpted innumerable times, not just in other horror movies but in everything from "Sid and Nancy" and "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" to "That '70s Show." 3/6/2012 8:17pm PT
Mariachi GringoPleasant seriocomedy "Mariachi Gringo" stars Shawn Ashmore as a depressed young American who finds a new lease on life going south of the border to play traditional Mexican music.3/6/2012 3:29pm PT
Pursuit of LonelinessDocumentary-styled down to the casting of primarily non-pro actors in their own workplace roles, "Pursuit of Loneliness" pays dispassionate attention to concerns most people prefer not to think about until forced: preparing for death, and its bureaucratic aftermath.2/27/2012 3:22pm PT
SahkanagaA grotesque incident that scandalized a northwestern Georgia community 10 years ago is fictionalized to surprising ends in "Sahkanaga." 2/26/2012 7:03pm PT
Gone"Gone" is a low-pulse thriller that evaporates from memory with the last credit. 2/24/2012 3:06pm PT
Surviving ProgressTying together problems of overpopulation, pollution, consumption, global warming, industrial development and more, "Surviving Progress" offers a cinematic wakeup call so cogent and non-didactic even Tea Partiers would be hard-pressed to shrug it off. 2/20/2012 7:57pm PT
GlickmanThe life of a sports broadcasting pioneer is memorialized in "Glickman." 2/20/2012 7:56pm PT
Re:GenerationEngaging docu "Re:Gen-eration" charts an experiment conducted under the Grammys' auspices that matched leading producer-DJs in the electronica and hip-hop realms with talent in other musical genres to create collaborative tracks. 2/16/2012 9:28pm PT
Family Band: The Cowsills StoryPic goes behind the scenes to dig up its share of dirt and family secrets on the flower-power pop band that inspired the fictional "Partridge Family." 2/10/2012 10:34am PT
VinylLoosely inspired by an actual record-biz hoax, "Vinyl" is a genial underdog's revenge comedy about some old punkers who fool the industry that's forgotten them into promoting their new single -- which they've disguised as a debut disc by a generic boy band.2/7/2012 3:40pm PT
A People UncountedFinally addressing at length the issue of an estimated half million Romani people killed by the Nazis during WWII, "A People Uncounted" joins "Paragraph 175" (about homosexuals) and the myriad documentaries related to Jewish persecution in illuminating another facet of Hitler's Final Solution.2/6/2012 8:54pm PT
Jesus in IndiaProduction emerges as a one-joke proposition spread very thin over 80 minutes of actual stagetime.2/6/2012 10:32am PT
Gypsy DavyEveryone's family has drama, complexity and intrigue, but in just about any related contest, Rachel Leah Jones would win. 1/31/2012 2:16pm PT
DetropiaAmong several recent documentaries about Detroit, the elegiac "Detropia" is perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing, if not the most informative or insightful.1/29/2012 12:59pm PT
Me @ the ZooThe film provides a cautionary tale as it chronicles several years in the endlessly self-recorded life of Chris Crocker, who won fame with his 2007 "Leave Britney alone!" YouTube rant.1/28/2012 5:08pm PT
How to Survive a PlagueHindsight allows David France's stirring "How to Survive a Plague" a concise overview's clarity and an epic narrative shape, with a happy ending to boot. 1/27/2012 3:37pm PT
V/H/SOmnibus feature brings energy and diverse story ideas to the found-footage horror subgenre, but overstays its welcome at nearly two hours.1/27/2012 1:10am PT
GrabbersHungry alien visitors try to make a meal out of a quaint Irish coastal village in "Grabbers," a comedy creature thriller that is a polished, watchable genre entertainment.1/26/2012 4:26pm PT
For a Good Time, Call …Pic doesn't rise much above sitcom level in material or execution, but provides enough laughs and goodwill to be disarmingly entertaining.1/24/2012 12:09pm PT
Wrong"Wrong" is a curious tale about a man searching for his dog in a suburban bubble where everything is a little askew.1/24/2012 12:05pm PT
Teddy BearPic is an offbeat character study about a bodybuilder whose shyness leads him to look for an arranged bride in Thailand. 1/24/2012 11:44am PT
That's What She SaidThough "Bridesmaids'" success last year made it clear dudes aren't the only ones who enjoy a good raunchy comedy, it's unlikely folks of any gender are going to get many laughs from charmless femme-driven "That's What She Said."1/23/2012 10:18pm PT
Valley of SaintsMusa Syeed's first narrative feature is a likably low-key docudrama set in an attractive area of politically turbulent Kashmir.1/23/2012 7:00pm PT