If you were shying away from “The Big Wedding” because (a) it has the word “wedding” in the title; (b) the cast includes Katherine Heigl and/or (c) the cast also includes Robin Williams as a Catholic priest providing marriage counseling, thus calling to mind his similar role in the wince-inducing “License to Wed,” well … those are all actually valid points, come to think of it.

Still, in its defense, it’s worth noting that this farce is funnier (and naughtier) than it has any right to be, and that Heigl gives her most winning performance in years -- precisely because she’s playing a rage-filled...

"Mud," writer-director Jeff Nichols’ follow-up to "Take Shelter," might best be titled "Quicksand,"since it doesn’t get bogged down until its final moments. What begins as a sweet and subtle coming-of-age story, told with quiet wisdom, keen observation and a minimum of bombast, unfortunately overloads its final act with incident and on-the-nose declarations that threaten to derail its very gentle power.

By the end, it’s like watching a version of "To Kill a Mockingbird" that’s been choked by studio notes suggesting that Boo Radley should get into a speedboat chase that culminates in Tom Robinson escaping from prison and crossing the border into Mexico.

For the most part, however, "Mud"actually does merit comparison to Harper Lee’s classic novel, in that it’s one of those stories of a...

French filmmaker François Ozon has triumphed in a variety of genres, from psychosexual drama (“Water Drops on Burning Rocks”) to workplace satire (“Potiche”) to murder-mystery musical (“8 Women”), but his biggest hit to date in the United States was “Swimming Pool,” which starred Charlotte Rampling as a blocked novelist vacationing in a French villa.

Does she observe the sexual and homicidal misbehavior of her publisher’s daughter … or is what we see all in her head, the makings of her next book?

Ozon takes another glimpse inside the mind of a writer in “In...

A moment of movie history: Perhaps the greatest spoof film of all time was 1980’s “Airplane!” which mocked a trope of a previous decade (1970s disaster movies) by parodying a 23-year-old movie (1957’s “Zero Hour!”).

By contrast, “Scary Movie V” goofs on “Mama,” which was released 12 weeks ago. And the remake of “Evil Dead”…which came out last week. Thirty-three years later, we’re still quoting “Airplane!” whereas almost no one is going to remember “Scary Movie V” after, oh, Monday.

Given the steady decline of the sequels, it’s easy to forget...