'The English Teacher' has a class of underachievers

"The English Teacher" is a tragedy masquerading as a comedy and doing a disservice to both. The same could be said for the film's normally fine cast. Julianne Moore, Greg Kinnear, Nathan Lane and Michael Angarano have all had better days.

'What Maisie Knew' gives a child's eye view of divorce

It is night in an upscale Manhattan apartment. A child, tucked safely into bed, drifts toward sleep to the sounds of her parents tearing each other apart in the next room. Her eyes close, the fighting rumbles on, their words wielded with lethal precision at each other's most vulnerable spots.

'Deceptive Practice' weaves its own kind of magic

Regard the hands of Ricky Jay. Watch them making cards do things cards never have done before, things cards didn't even know they could do. And for this master of manipulation, cards are just the beginning.

Actress Carey Mulligan arrives at the Calvin Klein party, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2013.

Hot off the press: Seen and heard in Cannes

Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival: Photo Gallery Available

Director Sarah Polley mines her family story for a gem of a film

Everywhere in the culture, there's another monologuist or filmmaker placing herself at the center of a question, or a series of questions: What's up with my family? How did I get here? How can one charismatic family member hold so many secrets?

Director Sarah Polley mines her family story for a gem of a film

Everywhere in the culture, there's another monologuist or filmmaker placing herself at the center of a question, or a series of questions: What's up with my family? How did I get here? How can one charismatic family member hold so many secrets?

A killer of a movie

The protagonist of "Simon Killer" wanders the streets of Paris alone, often shot from the back so we see what he sees, the City of Lights never having looked this seedy and dangerous and menacing. Simon (Brady Corbet) has just graduated from college and broken up with his longtime girlfriend, so he decides to take a European vacation and clear his head. France is his first stop. He'll stay there a lot longer than he anticipated.

'Black Rock': When camping trips collide, bad stuff ensues

"Black Rock" pits three women, camping on a remote island off the coast of Maine, against a trio of U.S. Army veterans back from messed-up tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is where we find ourselves with the legacy of America's Iraq invasion: Apparently enough years have passed, coinciding with the proper quota of well-meaning screen portrayals of psychologically and / or physically damaged military personnel, so that a movie just out for a jolt or two can go the "crazed Vietnam vet" route with impunity. But with a more recent war.

'Star Trek' is expected to hurtle to top of weekend box office

The "Star Trek" movie series has lived long at the box office. But is it time for Capt. Kirk and Spock to really prosper?

Director Sofia Coppola poses for photographers during a photo call for the film The Bling Ring at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2013.

Coppola's 'Bling Ring' at home at decadent Cannes

Sofia Coppola was just 8 years old when she first came to the Cannes Film Festival. Her father, Francis Ford Coppola, was there to premiere a work-in-progress cut of a film he had spent years wrestling with: "Apocalypse Now." Photo Gallery Available