ShangLuda Admirable film.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

evening1 This show takes a superficial look at the provocative and glitzy world of porn but barely seems to scratch the surface of what's really going on in the business. We get broad-brush statements about the history of porn -- we're told it dates to caveman days -- and about how the Internet poses challenges by making so much of this stuff free. About how porn execs have come to include women in their ranks, how porn addiction has entered the annals of psychiatric ailment, and how stars like the vulgarly made-up Jesse Jane have huge followings.If the porn trade is going gangbusters, what does that really say about our society? After all, hours and dollars spent on porn mean resources drained from other pursuits. What are the purposes of porn -- to arouse lonely guys or re-inject energy into couples' bedrooms? Its uses aren't examined at all. And what of the addiction issue? We gain no insight into what turns a consumer into a victim. Nor do we gain much of an understanding of the headliners, these surgically enhanced, bottled-bleached caricatures who perform sex acts on cue. What does this kind of job do to a person? (Ms. Jane has a husband and child but we never hear a word from them.) The show points out that with the proliferation of high def, even divas like Ms. Jane won't be able to work forever. Yet nothing is said about where porn stars go when the next dazzling body comes along.Michelle Lee seems to have tried her best with this, but I didn't find the show very gratifying.