Desson Thomson

There are so many good things to say about this film it's hard to find a statement that really nails it. Perhaps we can leave at this: Y Tu Mama Tambien is originality writ large.

Unabashed, streamlined entertainment, and you won't hate yourself in the morning for liking it.

If The Madness of King George, which Bennett adapted for the screen, dilutes some of the play's articulate intensity, it still conveys the drama's essential spirit. King George-the-movie also has the supreme advantage of Nigel Hawthorne, who originated the role of George on stage. His subtly calibrated performance, as he undergoes emotional rages, bouts of dementia and sudden attacks of lucidity, provide the film's most amusing and touching moments.

The Piano plays itself with such contrapuntal richness, it resonates in you forever.

There isn't enough magic in the bag this time. Although Parkes and Lasker produce a set of primates guaranteed to charm the upholstery off the theater seats, there is little else.

William Shakespeare would need a sense of humor to view Jean-Luc Godard's "King Lear" without getting steamed up in his bodkins.

For all his legitimate laments and pithy documentary moments, Moore gloats too much over his treasure. Where Moore makes his mark is basically where he shuts up and, like a good documentarian ought to, lets the subjects do the talking.

Simple, yet quietly astonishing film.

This is the Mickey Mouse factory at its finest, with inventive animation, stirring music and a pride of inspired, almost-human animals.

By many other directors' standards, Au Revoir would be a major achievement. But Malle has reached higher. If he'd made his childhood movie earlier in his career -- when he didn't have the sense to be so dispassionate -- it might have packed a meatier punch. Now it's just a deftly aimed poke.

The visual comedy is brilliant.

Contains about 10 additional minutes and is as fabulous and enjoyable as ever. To be honest, I didn't even notice the new material, having not seen the original film since its 2001 release. I just saw a film that works beautifully and has held together well.

Frances McDormand enjoys the comedic role of her career.

A sequel that eclipses the original. The toys are back with even more hilarious vengeance. The story's twice as inventive as its predecessor.

[The children's] remarkable lack of self-consciousness ... and Kore-eda's quasi-documentary style give this movie a stunning credibility.

One fabulous Middle-earth show.

The movie does what any great musician should: It lifts an idea to the heights of ecstasy; it sells its song.

Dramatically, this is something of a waking dream.

Amounts to a rare gift and an opportunity to appreciate the end of an era and celebrate one of the screen's most subtly etched heroes: the soft-spoken Monsieur Georges Lopez.

The sexiest movie of the year.

Mulholland Drive is an extended mood opera, if you want to put an arty label on incoherence.

A small masterpiece of a documentary that takes us into the heart of a complex darkness.

Pure energy, a perfect orchestration of heroism, villainy, suspense and comic relief.

A story that rips fleshy holes through your heart.

McNamara fits perfectly into Morris's canon: He tells a story that knocks you right off your feet.

It's one of the most powerful films of the year.

Rushmore is an almost indefinable genre of its own. A comedy with a menacing edge? An ironic romance? Hard to call.

Kettle of Fish, starring Matthew Modine as a commitment-skittish saxophone player, is a warm-spirited romantic comedy, but it tends to have a squawky pitch.