Anita Gates

It’s a quietly compelling story.

In between the rampant four-letter words and the occasional partial nudity are likable attempts at humor — some sweet, some saucy.

[A] thorough, powerfully straightforward documentary.

There is little new insight, although the film does create an instructive tension between admiring bravery and sacrifice and being appalled by war itself.

The film is exaggerated, ludicrous and simplistic. It shows a towering disdain for both men and women. But Angie and Marco have a certain good-natured charm, and there are some nice shots of Shanghai.

The concert itself was a bold, life-affirming project, but with a couple of additional extended music sequences, Mr. Xido’s film might have been more powerful and way more hardcore.

This quiet romantic drama never soars but keeps its sense of humor and its balance while taking its subject matter for granted in the best possible way.

Articulate and sympathetic experts, a calmly authoritative narrator (Alfre Woodard), powerfully conversational subtitles and breathtaking scenery enliven the film’s message.

A Requiem for Syrian Refugees is as powerfully direct as it is unfortunately heavy-handed, with lingering black-and-white close-ups of barbed wire and children’s wide eyes. But the film is eloquent, too, thanks to the voices of the refugees themselves.

The film’s storytelling is straightforward, almost standard-issue, but the story itself is compelling, as is the testimony of devotees.

With enough tragic-restorative plot twists for a 12-hour mini-series, Botso is an enchanting film for two reasons: Mr. Korisheli’s humanity is magnetic, and no more beautiful case could be made for the psychological healing power of making music.

The film’s writer and director, Ivan Kavanagh, and his team pull off a few enjoyable, decently creepy scares, but over all, the action is too cryptic, and the pedestrian dialogue doesn’t help.

Joanna Lipper’s documentary shapes one country’s recent history into an accessible and tragic family drama.

Advanced Style is undeniably captivating, even uplifting at times. But Mr. Cohen and Lina Plioplyte, the director, present a disconcerting mixed message.

Although the characters repeatedly express their worship of “original art” in gilded frames, the script consists of singularly unoriginal dialogue.

The film means well but feels generic, strained and claustrophobic (despite several scenes at a deserted beach), with tight close-ups and sudden confrontations.

The two leads are so low-key that they almost disappear at times, but The Quitter is a textured, heartfelt drama that achieves its modest goals.

In Peter Sanders’s sassy documentary Altina... there’s plenty of interesting ground to cover.

Having a mild-mannered writer tell this story by sitting in a chair in front of some pretty art in a house museum and just talking seems lackadaisical, but Mr. Moss’s message is clear, shrewdly edited and peculiarly interesting.

Thomas Carter, the director, whips us into a frenzy during the big winning-again-is-everything game, as all sports underdog movies must. But in the end, the only real impact is limited to a few scenes.

Things turn loud and desperate and stay that way.

There is no gore here, and no on-screen violence, but this is in every way a horror movie. With a devastating ending.

The script, by Mr. Greer and Helene Kvale, rolls along with lifeless, profoundly unimaginative dialogue.

If the film is workmanlike at times, it is also elegantly cleareyed.

The cast does a fine collective job, and Mr. Brill’s script flirts with clever charm here and there. But the whole film is a missed opportunity because the situations repeatedly defy credibility, and the humor never says anything remotely fresh about human nature or the world we live in.

In some ways, this is just another underdogs-go-for-it sports movie. In others, it is as sensitive and observant as an Edith Wharton novel.

The message is repeated ad infinitum; this documentary is painfully long for a project of this kind.

At first, there is something a little too straightforward about the characters and their dialogue. But gradually, a group of strong, sure performances and the script’s twists... take hold, and we are fully involved.