"Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season Two" Grade B+: The series about the life of Belle, a high priced prostitute, works because of Billie Piper's performance. Her straightforward approach makes the character both powerful and vulnerable.

"Away We Go" is like a perfect glass of lemonade on a hot summer day: It’s sweet enough to satisfy and just tart enough to enjoy. This light romantic comedy is the best work by director Sam Mendes since his “American Beauty.”

SANTA MONICA -- Sofia Vassilieva cried uncontrollably the first time she saw herself in the makeup that would transform her into a young woman dying of leukemia for "My Sister's Keeper."

Like a boxer on a cocktail of speed and Red Bull, director Nick Cassavetes throws a flurry of emotional punches with his latest tearjerker, "My Sister's Keeper."

Numerous robotic transformations occur during the 2 hours and 20 minutes of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." But the biggest transformation never happens: The disjointed summer offering never turns into a good movie.

BEVERLY HILLS - Creating a sequel to the hit-movie "Transformers" was challenging for director Michael Bay, whose "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" opens Wednesday.

BEVERLY HILLS - If stares were lasers, Megan Fox would be Swiss cheese.

"Burn Notice: Season Two": Jeffrey Donovan plays a spy who has been disavowed.

There's a very silly and charming scene in "The Proposal" in which Sandra Bullock and Betty White collide in a blaze of comedic glory.

In the beginning, Harold Ramis directed “Caddyshack” and it was good. That can’t be said for his latest work, “Year One,” which is worthy of nothing more than to serve as a buffet for dung beetles — and even dung beetles probably have higher standards.

If Eddie Murphy's career were an injured horse it would be shot and the carcass buried in the remotest part of the desert to ensure no one ever stumbled upon it.

"Tokyo Sonata" seeps into your psyche like, well, a superbly played sonata -- one that stakes its claim not with bombast but with a delicate, driving, insightful sense of melancholy and hope.

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" is a director's nightmare because the two main players in this action thriller are not in the same spot until almost the explosive ending.

'My Life in Ruins" is full of positive kefi. If your Greek is a little rusty, kefi means mojo.

Nia Vardalos learned an important lesson the two years she stopped acting: You can't plan life.

What was made in Vegas should have stayed in Vegas with "The Hangover." The film is a cheap knockoff of what should have been a much funnier movie.

"Defiance" Grade C: All the expected ingredients are here in this tale of Jewish freedom fighters in Eastern Europe battling Nazi Germany: a couple of love interests, sibling rivalries, near-mutiny among the ranks, diseases running rampant, brutal winters, a traditional Jewish wedding with the bride and groom in raised chairs.

Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" trilogy, released in the '80s and early '90s, is one of the great examples of a director blending the macabre with the comical.

SAN FRANCISCO - There's a reason most Disney/Pixar movies - "Cars," "A Bug's Life," "WALL-E" - feature cute cars, bizarre bugs and rambunctious robots. People aren't easy to animate.

"New in Town": Renee Zellweger plays a company executive sent to shape up a small factory.

"New in Town" Grade D-: Renee Zellweger plays a company executive sent to shape up a small factory. It is bad enough when a movie uses a worn-out plot gimmick.

"Dance Flick" limps along like it has a bunion the size of a cantaloupe. Envisioned as yet another in the Wayans family dynasty's slew of slapped-together parodies, the movie has a few funny bits and characters that work, but the joke-to-be

Director McG opted to not concern himself with "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" when he made his new movie 'Terminator Salvation." He didn't want to deal with inconsistencies between the television series and the movie franchise.

SAN FRANCISCO -- "Terminator Salvation," opening Thursday, is the latest twist on the franchise that's spawned two sequels, merchandising, a theme park ride and a TV series.