David Stratton

Fails on a number of counts, mostly because the individual stories aren't very gripping.

Precociously inventive horror pic that combines brain-eating zombies with outer space aliens.

Fails on almost every level…the film only succeeds in trivializing this shameful era.

Despite fine performances and the care lavished on the production, Amen. is never as emotionally powerful as it should be.

Visually the film impresses, with Eduardo Serra's widescreen camerawork evocatively capturing the streets and interiors of London and a rain-swept Venice. Pacing is crisp, with little time wasted on inessentials. Dialogue is often caustically witty, and the relations clearly delineated.

A film with a terrifically engaging concept that overstays its welcome by quite a stretch.

Charismatic leads and a promising screwball-comedy premise are sadly frittered away by a weak second half in Antony J. Bowman's third feature, Paperback Hero.

It is at first daunting but ultimately awesomely impressive and beautiful.

Pic deserves nurturing, because it’s one of the best to emerge from New Zealand in quite a while. Tamahori, working from Riwia Brown’s intelligent script, has done a marvelous job in depicting the day-to-day horror of the Heke family, which is held together only by its women, the sorely tried Beth and her eldest daughter, 16-year-old Grace.

The pic is made up of small events and incidents, well observed and naturalistically performed.

Not exactly a police corruption thriller, the film is more a study of innocence betrayed, though its insights into Argentine law enforcement are pretty scary.

This visually lush but sometimes ponderously slowfilm is a poetic saga of love and loss.

Although writer-director Khientse Norbu breaks no ground in unfolding two parallel stories about young men seeking fresh horizons, he creates believable characters -- and has the great benefit of living in a country that provides seldom-seen locations at the top of the world.

A gentle, sad and at times funny film in the best French tradition of high-quality cinema.

This intelligent, engaging indie sets out to find a few answers and in the process introduces a clutch of interesting, very human characters.

This dank, gloomy essay into the supernatural tries hard to create an intriguing mood in which fate guides the lives of its wounded protagonists, but few will be interested in the outcome.

Think of an Anthony Mann Western made by an experimental film director and you get an indication of the challenging components of The Tracker, the story of a manhunt that is politically sensitive because of its depiction of atrocities perpetrated on aboriginals by a fanatical white cop.

Fluid camerawork, a resonant music score and tightly wound editing combine to produce a superior suspense film with a conclusion that is somewhat reminiscent of the final acts of Robert Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and of Joseph Losey's "The Criminal."

Thanks to amiable lead performances from Miranda Otto and Rhys Ifans, this not very original Aussie comedy about a man making a fresh start in life is a pleasant enough time-waster.

Haroun's film is both touching and, ultimately, almost perversely optimistic.

A tremendous, stellar cast is mostly confined to minor roles, but all shine under Allen's assured direction.

While the symbolism of the eel itself is a bit obvious, Imamura has created a rich tapestry of characters and situations, all of it vividly brought to life with pristine visuals and a generous emotional warmth.

Amiable rather than genuinely funny.

An intelligent and extremely well-made romantic drama that tells an intriguing story with economy and insight.

A cheerfully vulgar and bitchy, but essentially warmhearted, road movie with a difference, which boasts an amazing star turn by Terence Stamp as a transsexual, Stephan Elliott's second feature is a lot of fun.

A throughly researched and extremely informative survey of the life and work of one of the great figures of world cinema, Richard Schickel's Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin is a must for lovers of cinema.

Atkinson, who is in almost every scene, boasts a full-on comic personality that on the cinema screen is a bit daunting at times, and it's an open question as to whether the Carrey crowd will go for this seriously eccentric Brit.

An arthouse film par excellence, a consummately made study of loneliness and frustration.