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.

Beatocello’s Umbrella could have been a terrible movie. In theory and largely in execution, it is little more than a promotional video for Kantha Bopha, a group of hospitals in Cambodia, and Dr. Richner, who has run them since the early 1990s. But what a guy!

By the time the long, throbbing concert finale begins, there is no doubt that Mr. Brown’s intensity has not faded over the years and that the Stone Roses’ breakup was a serious loss.

The first half of Behind the Blue Veil makes a case for the noble cause of preserving a way of life; the second half admits its near-futility.

Boss is billed as an action comedy, but it isn’t always clear what is part of the joke and what isn’t.

The film benefits from nice performances and nice work by Mr. DiFolco (making his directorial debut), even if the ending is not as psychologically complex as earlier scenes lead us to hope.

The burning question is why Mr. Hyde’s story has never been made into a feature film. You’ve got big sky, a crazy but magnetically confident old coot, a noble but seemingly hopeless quest and a triumphant ending.

A lovely small surprise of a film.

Ms. Kapoor, in her early 20s, gives a performance that seems to reinvent female confidence.

Mr. Takata deserves praise for refusing to oversimplify the situation, although his film doesn’t always bring the conflict fully to life.

An enthralling documentary.

Like so much of current polarized communication, “Assaulted,” wherever it is shown, is likely to be preaching to the choir.

This is certainly competent filmmaking, sort of like a long “60 Minutes” segment without the confrontational interview style.

This is a sweet adventure story for children. (Surely, American parents can deal with the bare breasts of one talking painting.) For adults it is short on narrative sophistication but visually a true objet d’art.

Their meeting was arranged by the filmmaker, and their encounters reek of false bonhomie.

This film from Rebecca Richman Cohen is a mostly dutiful documentary that drifts dangerously close to earnestness.

The film is an unabashed promotion for space exploration.

Makes its case with breathtaking force.

Giorgio Perlasca, who has been compared to Oskar Schindler, deserves better than this Italian television film.

A one-dimensional romantic comedy that feels like an old-fashioned vehicle picture, the kind the big movie studios used to make in the 1930's and 40's just to bring in the fans of a particular actor or actress.

Inconsequential sequel for the undemanding moviegoer.

With smarter dialogue, it might have made a fascinating film.

For most moviegoers over 12, this, the fourth Three Ninjas movie, will be interminably boring. But it's possible that young children will enjoy the film, since it falls into both the action category and the children-are-smart-adults-can't-do-anything-right genre.

The pleasant surprise is that the film is a delight.

Dan Harnden's screenplay keeps things relatively interesting, despite the very thin plot.

Venom certainly can't be called a good movie, but within its genre it's perfectly palatable.

William Powell and Myrna Loy may not have invented star chemistry but they perfected it.

Touching, intelligent and admirably thoughtful, but more action-packed than its predecessors, thanks to escaped convicts, a local murder and a truly suspenseful finale, with lives at stake.

Rick King's stirring documentary Voices in Wartime is not, as you might guess from the title, a compilation of soldiers' battlefield letters to their families back home. This intense little film is about poetry, and not just Homer's "Iliad."

In this splattery George A. Romero movie from 1977, the title character is not your typical vampire. In fact, he may not be a vampire at all. I mean, did Count Dracula ever need hypodermic needles (for sedation) or razor blades? Mr. Romero, the director who gave the world the ravenous 20th-century zombies of Night of the Living Dead, plays around with the possibility that Martin is just certifiably psychotic.

Most of this is old news. And the filmmakers never make a coherent case, at least not to the layperson. As a result, the film, which runs about 90 minutes, seems painfully long.

A significant development turns Susan Kaplan's documentary into a thought-provoking story.

There is something good-natured about Jaan-E-Mann that makes it possible to forgive its many faults -- even the film's opening, a "2001: A Space Odyssey" ripoff with a space station gliding through the cosmos to the tune of the "Blue Danube" Waltz.

Not a shred of suspense enlivens the proceedings, and the movie's idea of humor is having a man slip and slide on a floor covered in blood.

Mildly scary here and there. It does not play by all the horror movie rules (e.g., the black guy always dies first). And the cast is good-looking.

The most horrifying thing in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's fiercely original, thrillingly creepy Pulse (released as "Kairo," or "Circuit," in Japan) is the way the ghosts move.

Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, who wrote the screenplay, have crammed dozens of movie parodies into this deliberately juvenile spoof of romantic comedies. Mr. Seltzer, who directed, has made very few of them funny.

Watching the rest of Damon Dash's playful movie is like entering a room where a large, too noisy party is going on and never fully adjusting to the dark or the din.

Mr. Wranovics sometimes goes too far in setting up cute situations for filming witnesses' comments.

Admirable but unfocused.

Sheriff may have a point to make about the impact of family, roots and religion on the changing face of rural America, but the film, while admirably restrained and competently made, is too polite to clarify that.

Mr. Coyote, who appears to be playing Steven Spielberg and steals every scene he is in.

It isn't often that you see a film about Israelis and Palestinians that can be called hopeful, but Ronit Avni's assured, thoughtful and clear-eyed documentary certainly qualifies.

Both Ms. Angelou and Ms. Tyson deliver powerful, touching messages. Just as they're sinking in, the film turns into an unabashed chick flick with a painfully gaudy wedding that includes live angels hanging on wires from the ceiling.

Appealing if obvious little fable.

Mr. Refn may yet have justification for boasting about his natural talent. There is one magnificent scene in Pusher... Maybe Mr. Refn's next film will take us into that emotional territory.

Rise to Power is notable for one achievement: It makes Sean Combs (better known, at the moment, as Diddy) unconvincing as a rich man who enjoys power and luxuries.

Anne Fontaine's seductive film Nathalie is mostly about French star power and sex, so it's somewhat surprising that it is also subtle and intriguing.

Makes it case expertly and powerfully, but it does not propose a solution. The cumulative effect of the film's message is enormous sadness that hate is so strong and so resistant to reason.

Cube, the story in question, proves surprisingly gripping, in the best ''Twilight Zone'' tradition.

It does have the feel of farce at times, but much of the time it just seems determined to shock.

This is a one-dimensional, sometimes illogical film, but it's certainly good-looking.

Wants to be both heartwarming and quirky but is sometimes just cutesy instead.

Jake Wade Wall's screenplay does deserve a word of praise. It has managed to incorporate the advent of cellphones, the *69 command and caller ID, which could have easily made the entire story impossible.

The script, by Chris Haddock, leaves numerous questions unanswered. It also reflects the character depth and conversational complexity of a 14-year-old’s first effort at fiction.

When Mr. Mitchell says it, it's hysterically funny. And he's immensely likable.

The production doesn't resolve the paradoxes in Newton's life, but it does give viewers some idea of what it might have been like to be inside his head.

There is occasionally some gorgeous scenery, and the challenge of driving through silt is mildly interesting.