Director Tim Burton and leading man Johnny Depp have enjoyed considerable success with their previous collaborations: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Sweeney Todd (2007)

From the opening frames of the film, in which Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arrive at the title locale, its immediately apparent that nothing is quite what it seems. The fun, ostensibly, is in trying to piece together whats wrong.

The histrionics come hot and heavy in The Last Sation (opening Friday), an adaptation of Jay Parianis novel by director Michael Hoffman, which dramatizes the last days of famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy (played here by the inestimable Christopher Plummer).

The longawaited, long-delayed and infinitely disappointing new version of Universals The Wolfman is the sort of no-brainer that gets bogged down by its bigness. Think of it as a big, bad Wolf although not without its intermittent attributes.

Noted fashion designer Tom Ford makes an auspicious film debut with his adaptation of Christopher Isherwoods 1964 novel A Single Man, which offers a spectacular showcase for leading man Colin Firth, who deservedly received an Oscar nomination as Best Actor for his deeply moving performance.

Gibsons Tom Craven is a veteran Boston police detective (replete with accent) whose reunion with daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) is twice interrupted first by Emmas violent illness, then by her violent death via a masked gunman waiting outside her door.

The great Christopher Plummer plays the title role, that of the immortal (and occasionally inebriated) carnival barker and magician who rattles through contemporary London in his rickety, horse-drawn carriage, stopping only to present one of his...

Jackson doesn't specifically depict Susie's murder, thereby maintaining a more audience-friendly PG-13 rating (and, by contrast, angering some of the novel's more fervent admirers), yet the build-up to the act is so excruciatingly suspenseful that a more explicit approach is hardly necessary.

Screenwriter Oren Moverman makes an auspicious directorial debut with The Messenger, a topical and hard- by Mark Burger hitting drama contributing columnist that ranks among 2009's best films.

These include Marion Cotillard as his adoring but long-suffering wife, Luisa; Penelope Cruz as his impetuous mistress, Carla; Nicole Kidman as his leading lady and screen muse Claudia, whos requesting to see the screenplay that Guido hasnt...