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.

There are times when watching this film is like a near-death experience.

Keeps sinking into its own grimness.

Doesn't look like a movie somebody made. It looks like a movie somebody hallucinated and put up on the screen.

A coming-of-age story that gets it all wrong.

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.

Something so sappy, no one would believe me if I told them. It has to be seen to be disbelieved.

The specifics of their predicament are well handled -- being thrown in a Third World prison may be every tourist's nightmare -- even if the movie eventually goes soft and squishy.

Jim Jarmusch has come up with something strange and amazing.

Li is a phenomenon.

Astonishing visualizations of the afterlife are coupled with a drawn-out allegory about communication between the living and the dead that becomes something of a trial to sit through.

Rich supplies some eloquent grace notes, and Van Sant uses them to make understated music.

Not half-bad. It's about three- quarters bad, actually, but what's left offers some goof-off fun.

Adam Sandler finally has a good excuse: The devil made him do it.

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.

This land of sweetness and light may appeal to many, but to some it is going to seem like living hell.

A hodgepodge of half-baked visual styles can't disguise the fact that this dismal thriller is all situation and no story.

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.

Fascinating -- up to a point.

The picture, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, becomes a juggling act, contrasting the efforts of the three grown-up buddies to get to a wedding on time, with flashbacks of their youth.

Action in an action comedy is supposed to be funny, too, as Jackie Chan well knows. The refitting of the crashed plane is so tedious we feel as if we're doing the work ourselves.

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.

Turns into one long wallow.

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.

At its most interesting, and a bit frightening, when Moore starts to get a little loony. Too bad they didn't follow through and make this more of a psychological thriller than a melodrama.

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.

Don't tell Mom, but everybody seems stoned.

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.

For a bighearted effort like this one, some patience on the audience's part is not too much to ask. Go ahead. Take a chance.

It's more psychological than a genre movie, and that is the source of both its greatest interest and its biggest problem.

It is maliciously entertaining, up to a point.

A tired and dispiriting affair that takes forever to get going.

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.

Amusing enough.

It is the Eddie Murphy movie where Eddie Murphy has next to nothing to do. Do little says it all.

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.

Gives stupid, vulgar comedy a bad name.

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.

Even if his (Stallone) own star may be fading, the popularity of car racing is enormous. These fans are not likely to be disappointed by Driven.

The first half-hour of this movie is sensational, creating an atmosphere of dread that any horror master would envy.

The show takes little more than an hour to finish and less than a minute to forget, while politely reminding us not only that gay movies have fallen on hard times but also that they refuse to give up.

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.

It's astonishing that so much money, talent, technical expertise and visual imagination can be put in the service of something so stupid.

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

Gutter romance meets metaphysical thriller.

This movie knows how to entertain.

What is bloody and full of holes?

There are barrages of fast cuts to distract us from the fact that the director is showing us no real action.

Nobody would claim it adds up to much of a comedy. It's strictly for someone looking for a goof-off.

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

Anyone expecting a flashy Bond-style fantasy is going to be disappointed.

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.

Voyeuristically wallows in the sadistic violence it professes to deplore. What hypocrisy!

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

Dumb.

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.

The lead actors on both sides of the vampire divide are all strong personalities.

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

Handsomely weathered John Hurt, as Pelagia's father, gives a performance of such unhackneyed dignity that it provides a moral compass for the action and helps to keep the ricocheting emotional content of the film in balance.

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.

The film is well shot and has titillating action without a single persuasive emotion.

Mystery skillfully evokes Victorian London's dark depths.

Kline, in particular, has the spark and know-how to overcome some awfully belabored writing and situations.

Thank God for James Gandolfini.

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.

Dirty Work was directed by Bob Saget, who always seemed slightly embarrassed by his enormous success as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos. Now he's got something else to be slightly embarrassed about.

This noir mystery is murkier than it needs to be, through no fault of Stallone's.