In People I Know, Al Pacino brings his patented blood-and-thunder theatrics to the role of a washed-up flack trying to claw his way back to glory; Confidence feels like a scam.

Christopher Guest’s hilarious docu-comedy, A Mighty Wind, takes aim at the folk-music scene. Anger Management is nothing to get worked up about.

Neil Jordan’s South of France caper, The Good Thief, is nearly done in by an overdose of glamour and glitz; happily, Nick Nolte’s dapper druggie steals the show.

Peter Sollett’s sweet coming-of-age tale Raising Victor Vargas delivers a fresh take on the teen movie, thanks to the uncontrived performances of its nonprofessional cast.

A straight-up shot of horror, via Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher, may restore Lawrence Kasdan’s box-office vitality; echoes of primal Mexico in Carlos Reygadas’s Japón.

An unflappable soccer teen fields Bend It Like Beckham's generational anxieties; Mickey Rourke's cowboy junkie cooks up a dose of authenticity; Laurel Canyon is all about Frances.

Steve Martin’s uptighty whitey in Bringing Down the House falls miserably short of being funny; in Tears of the Sun, Bruce Willis gets to play Great White Father.

With Spider, David Cronenberg once again demonstrates his deep affinity for decay—but gets ensnared in all the shadows; The Life of David Gale is a manifesto gone amok.

In Dark Blue, Kurt Russell plays Eldon Perry, a street-smart cop who must confront his own capacity for corruption while working for a rogue unit of the LAPD.

All the Real Girls purports to be a fresh indie take on the teen-romance flick, but other than some truly original cinematography, all it offers are the same old Hollywood clichés.