Bob Graham

It is so propulsive so much of the time, it almost looks as if it's going to go the distance. If Washington & Co. don't quite manage to bring it home, the getting there sure is something.

Goes Hitchcock one better by imagining what it would be like if the master had the advantage of digital technology.

What makes it interesting is the story that the viewer must put together, of a model who lives her entire life -- or at least what we see of it -- in front of the camera.

Jim Jarmusch has come up with something strange and amazing.

He (Aronofsky) has put together a phantasmagoria of self-destructive obsession that is so visually astounding it becomes its own saving grace. Otherwise, we might not be able to bear it.

The stuff of high romance, brought off with considerable wit, too. People are going to love it.

This warm, celebratory and very public film is punctuated by sudden and luminous private visualizations.

This movie can be recommended only to dyed-in-the-wool fans of the genre. Anyone who goes into one of Miike's films must be prepared to be put through the wringer.

I Stand Alone ("Seul contre tous" in French) is a portrait of a pathetic soul, but it is also a cautionary tale. The butcher cannot be dismissed as a monster, nor is this a creep show. Something like the butcher's story can be found almost every day in newspaper crime reports.

A venemous Valentine to Hollywood sugarcoated with laughs.

Claude Rains' performance in the title role of The Invisible Man may be outtasight, but you can still see the hand of director James Whale.

The class act of action movies.

The new Planet of the Apes is not a remake, and it's not a sequel. It is an amazing display of imagination.

Delivers plenty of laughs and succeeds on a level that recent ``SNL'' movies (``It's Pat!'' and ``A Night at the Roxbury'') didn't.

Potentially oppressive subject matter is redeemed by impeccable moral integrity and stunning artistry.

In Ran, the horrors of life are transformed by art into beauty. It is finally so moving that the only appropriate response is silence.

At times, Anderson may be too brilliant for his own good, and there is a risk that viewers will tire of the director's relentlessly prowling camera.

All bets are off. For my money, Vincent Gallo wins the Triple Crown of indie filmmaking -- for writing, directing and starring in Buffalo '66.

It is described as about a guy who came back to life, and clearly one of Dumont's aims in The Life of Jesus is to express a spirit of charity for flawed humanity amid the rhythms of ordinary life.

Perfect Blue manages, through animation, to take the thriller, media fascination, psychological insight and pop culture and stand them all on their heads.

It is impossible to take your eyes off the screen.

Needs to be seen and savored.

It's got unpredictable plot twists and unexpected laughs coming out of dark corners. The sharp-edged film also looks terrific.

It's hardly possible to overstate what a welcome change of pace The Shipping News is for admirers of Kevin Spacey.

Isn't vicious. It's just cheerfully mocking as it courses the canyons and flatlands of Los Angeles.

Where it really counts, though, it's the same good old comic action fantasy.

Don't be too quick to jump on Hurt with complaints of old-fashioned gay stereotyping. Only with a development well into the movie will the audience realize the layers he brought to Molina's role-playing.

Love and basketball -- if you like either one, here is a movie for you.

It would be nice to say that Blast From the Past is, but it ain't exactly. Half-blast is more like it.

This Alfred Hitchcock film on his familiar theme of the wrongly accused man is outstanding in every respect. [19 Sep 1999, p.52]

A daring, free-spirited and ultimately moving performance by Benjamin Bratt lies at the beating heart of Pinero.

Best movie of the summer.

Audiences will talk about how satisfying this movie is.

The look of the film is first class, with muted colors but deep textures, the opposite of historical kitsch.

If it doesn't always come off, enough headlong energy develops to carry it through.

This movie knows how to entertain.

People who see it may feel like dancing out of the theater afterward. Go for it.

It's the kind of unpretentious movie that falls between the cracks, and for a certain kind of audience, the thoughtful kind, it would be a shame to miss.

The audience, too, will be sorry to see this fleeting, beautifully made French film end.

An overwhelming experience.

Not a routine cut-and-paste horror but a full-fledged revenge fantasy -- and a completely satisfying one.

It overcomes some patchiness to turn into a rich emotional experience, ranging in degree from fire to ice.

This is a solid suspense thriller that's fun. These stars have put it together in a spirit of playfulness -- as in playacting.

Some will say this film is overly ambitious, but what the hell. The man put five years of his life into making this epic mystery. We can surely give it two hours of ours.

This good-natured comedy is set off by the high spirits of its stars.

It is a warm, closely observed satire of lived life, and it is a charmer.

Channels the spirit of Frank Capra in this serio-sentimental fable about a man who loses his memory but finds his soul.

Frequently hilarious.

A big-hearted celebration of the we're-all-in-this- together American way.

No one else makes movies like this Spanish director.

Sly and very savvy.

If this is an example of Australian live-and-let- live, it is very likable.

Mystery skillfully evokes Victorian London's dark depths.

What The Thomas Crown Affair has to sell audiences is a fantasy of the life of the super-rich who jet off to Martinique on the spur of the moment, and the super-smart who operate outside the rules.

The actors have enough appeal to keep it moving over the speed bumps.

Enter the Dragon goes far beyond the philosophical, of course. Its best sequences, and the only real reason for seeing it again, involve Lee's phenomenal physical and emotional presence.

It falls short where it counts: In the final confrontation.

Stir of Echoes is much more down and dirty (than "The Sixth Sense"), and the thrills are more visceral.

Connects so often and so persuasively that its shortcomings -- the movie goes slack from time to time -- really don't amount to much.

This is almost Mel Brooks territory: The frontiersmen think the Chinese are Jews, while the white settlers think it's the Crow Indians who are. Whoosh!

It's an audacious little comedy with bursts of hilarity and a certain giddy energy.

An actors' feast.

Although it takes something of a slog to get there, this thriller finally comes through where it counts.

When all's said and done, it turns out to be quite sweet-natured. OK. I laughed. So sue me.

A sly variation on the buddy movie.

It is not merely a thriller but a shocker. It will separate hard-core Jet Li followers from the fair-weather fans.

A millennial medley to the max.

The no-sweat clunkiness of the detective plot becomes kind of charming.

Has that Dickensian spirit wherein simple acts of kindness can bring an audience close to tears.

This nasty, provocative comedy comes from a play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

But the single most compelling performance may belong to Australian actor Guy Pearce.

A viewer may even blink his eyes to be sure the turn of events is actually happening.

A quirky character study of the four-man team, led by Sam Neill as the crew leader who seems surrounded by an aura of sadness but is so dedicated that he's not above lying to Houston to buy time when something goes wrong.

The Coens' plotting, with its suspense and reversals, is a source of amazement and delight.

The belly laughs finally start to come --legitimately.

Neither true believers nor newcomers to the phenomenon will be disappointed.

It is impossible to think of anyone but Costner in this role. His commitment and sincerity are never in doubt.

It is an exceptional accomplishment.

Most of the right laughs in most of the right places and some unexpected ones thrown in.

Slowly unfolding but liberating film, which is also a rare look inside a circumscribed community.

This feast of fantasy is worth it.

The Corruptor' quickly turns into a good bad-cop drama of fascinating moral complexity.

The most striking effect of the Technicolor process is its subtlety. The viewer is aware of the gradations of flesh tones in Leigh's face and can see the color rise in her cheeks. The exact color of her eyes is a source of fascination (they are gray-blue with flashes of green).

It comes as a bonus that this romantic comedy is one of the rare pictures of its type that actually is about something -- the double-edged sword of celebrity.

Faye's presence provides an unexpected context for the photographer's circle, where the gay and straight worlds overlap, and adds a delightful dimension to Chop Suey.

A potential problem with the movie is that it can be a challenge watching people hand-wringing over moral decisions. But the acting is so good that it makes it worth sticking with during the slow patches.

The comic drama is refreshingly anti- sentimental but will break your heart anyway.

A crackerjack combination of live action, special effects and recycled footage.

Bride is often cited as Whale's masterpiece, and one of the reasons surely is his intentional lacing of humor throughout that never completely undercuts the horror or pathos.

Tends to be lugubrious.

Slam, directed by Marc Levin, is schematic but effective as it makes its points about African Americans caught in the Washington, D.C., criminal justice system. It's got a wonderful eye and, for a film, ear.

The comic contrast between the genteel snobbery of von Bulow, a Danish aristocrat, and Dershowitz's dry contempt for his well-tailored client is treated with understated but stinging wit in Nicholas Kazan's brilliant script. [9 Nov 1990]

A surreal comedy about sex that comes as close to charming as Greenaway ever gets.

Chunhyang is an extravagantly beautiful movie that many viewers are going to love and others are not going to be able to sit still for. That's their problem.

Part of the appeal of Topsy-Turvy is its generosity about human folly and shortcomings. Its wistfulness is very touching.

Digs up both laughs and chills from timeworn material.

Delivers a sucker punch to the audience and then pulls the rug out from under it. It is sensational. It is also grimly funny.

If the dialect is hard to comprehend, that soon becomes part of the joke. It's unlikely that even the British audiences who made Lock, Stock a big hit got it all.