With a deflated global economy forcing people everywhere to pinch pennies, the mood seems right for the return of the cheapest of the cheap, Ebenezer Scrooge, in Disney's big-budget holiday extravaganza, “A Christmas Carol.”

Love happens. But so do malodorous bodily functions. First time filmmaker Brandon Camp tries and fails to flout the genre's formula with his dud of a title, “Love Happens.”

Director Lu Chuan ("The Missing Gun," "Kekexili") is not a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, nor is he a troublemaker.

“I always feel particularly nervous at this time; I'm afraid that Han-sun will never come back.”

The “Saw” franchise has long over-exploited its most intelligent twists and trickeries, though the latest installment of the serial horror saga comes up with a new way to inflict suffering by introducing political relevance into the mix.

There's a whole lotta whiz-bang in “Astro Boy,” a slick CGI interpretation of the 1950s manga classic, but even Astro's shiny red rocket boots can't lift this conventional superhero story into orbit.

If horror films reflect the anxieties of a culture, then it makes perfect sense that so many nefarious characters have emerged from the darkness in recent months, in films such as "The Last House on the Left,” "Drag Me to Hell," "Jennifer's Body" and "Halloween II."

Two movies battle for pride of place in "Julie & Julia," Nora Ephron's adaptation of memoirs by blogger Julie Powell and culinary legend Julia Child.

The exclamation point at the end of "The Informant!" gives it all away. While the title may promise a straightforward drama, that bit of faux-jaunty emphasis shows that nothing of the sort is in store — not surprising, with the lively Steven Soderbergh directing.

Prominent director Monika Treut, known for feature films and documentaries that explore gender issues and sexuality, returns to her beloved Taiwan in her latest film, “Ghosted," a supernatural murder mystery entwined with a cross-cultural love triangle.