Duane Byrge

Bratt certainly illuminates the uncertainty of her quest: the early dawns of heading out to rally strangers and the turmoil of a life fighting against superior, institutional forces.

What distinguishes Bushwick from your standard-issue, boneheaded video game is its cheeky cerebral wit.

It's Not Yet Dark is a heartfelt and stirring documentary

Joshua: Teenager vs. Super Power is actually a rousing documentary on a youth movement against, essentially, educational brainwashing.

Stylistically, The Settlers is crisp: It's an intelligent blend of interviews, historical exposition and newsreel footage.

Shock doc The Blackout Experiments augurs to be an experiment in audience walk-out.... it is neither scary nor shocking.

Throughout, Wang makes a virtue out of necessity: Her on-the-run scoping and jarring cuts infuse the film with a sense of desperate danger befitting its subject matter.

The film is a documentary gem.

Unlocking the Cage makes its case for reevaluation of non-human animals' legal status in crisp, convincing fashion.

Trapped is a succinct and heart-rending revelation of this complex and controversial subject. Most strikingly, it puts human faces on a social and personal issue that has been often engulfed by the invective surrounding it.

A blend of cornpone commentary and tongue-in-cheek exposition, Nuts! is consistently very entertaining.

Finders Keepers charts out a screwy insight into humanity that is usually only captured in the minds of twisted cartoonists.

Being Evel is a warts-and-all portrayal of a man whose ambition and need to be in the spotlight was both a positive and a negative. His insatiable appetites – liquor, women, attention – were parts of his personality that fueled his downfall.

It’s sobering and heart-wrenching.

Filmmaker Heineman vaults us into a true heart of darkness.

The film is a captivating, sobering look at the world’s endangered aquatic species, but it’s also a frightening revelation of what methane and carbon are doing to the ocean.

In this spellbinding story, filmmakers Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman thrust us into the red-alert lives of four E-Team members. It's a comprehensive portrayal of these people's personal and professional lives.

Sad and disturbing, this smartly and conscientiously crafted film is a powerful wake-up call, heard but not yet implemented, by the “civilized” world.

This smart HBO documentary convicts the media coverage and trial itself as guilty to Farce in the First Degree.

The Battered Bastards of Baseball is not just about baseball. It transcends the game and is a charming anti-establishment yarn.

Filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia probe this phenomenon, jarring viewers with an inside look at one of these “reform” centers, as well as shedding light on the mindset of these Internet “addicts.”

In telling their remarkable story, filmmaker Leslie Zemeckis has not only etched a heart-wrenching portrait of their individual and dual misfortunes, she has subtly illuminated on the general public's dark fascination with “freaks.”

While one might agree or disagree with their theme, aesthetically Citizen Koch is feisty.

This intelligent and comprehensive documentary not only conveys the genuine nature of Hill herself, but also recreates the national sensibility of the time, an era when sexual harassment in the workplace was not yet a national concern.

A gloriously inspirational film documenting music’s healing power in Alzheimer patients.

Often heartbreaking, Rich Hill presents real life as few filmgoers know it. In certain respects it’s almost as if cultural anthropologists descended on a foreign land, but, unfortunately, it’s a withered part of this nation that is rarely visited.

American Promise shows the emotional toll that each boy endures, not only from the image that their privileged peers have of minority males but, accordingly, their own lack of confidence.

Directors Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine have fashioned an informative, emotionally uplifting saga of the powers of optimism and persistence in the face of the cruelest odds.

The visual images are manipulative and simplistic; like the verbal ranting, they are devoid of depth.

As a National Geographic-style pictorial, The Machine is modestly engaging.

Unfortunately, after a terrific, deliciously devious first hour, this sophisticated, comic sex battle soars out of control, blown by its own creative excesses.

Serious moviegoers will be swayed by its many 'Being There'-like similarities as Kline's engaging personality and good-natured beatitudes are a perfect bromide for the nation's ills.

Structurally, Predator is a classic behind-enemy-lines/buddy movies. Nothing much new, just well done.

A scruffy underdog yarn that will appeal not only to kids but also to their thirty- or fortysomething parents.

Peach will enthrall viewers with its blend of comedy, stop-motion animation and special effects. [8 Apr 1996]

Despite the premise's admittedly thin motivational set-up, "Act 2" skits along on exuberant charm and zippity humor. [10 Dec 1993]

While Van Damme's cyborgian performance in the classic Western role should satisfy the thespic demands of action fans, it will blunt a mainstream crossover. [18 Jan 1993]

In all fairness, this swill's swells are in the action: car chases, foot chases, wipeouts, shootouts, brawls and falls -- and they're terrific. Director Kathryn Bigelow pumps up the action to, indeed, full adrenal dimension. [12 July 1991]

While appealing as a pet show, as a movie, "Babe" is penned in by the lackadaisical story line and the film's grimy sensibilities. Despite the funny flourishes of the costumes and some sprightly animated figures and spunky effects, "Babe" is a pretty oppressive-feeling production. [25 Nov 1998]

Lee's direction is utterly masterful: delicate, lively, rambunctious and spontaneous all at once. The performances are similarly splendid, particularly Sihung Lung as the embroiled father and Chien-Lien Wu as his careerist daughter. [03 Aug 1994]

Under Jonathan Demme's masterful cinematic surgery, we get into Lecter's twisted skull and, through this outrageous descent, we come to see this sinister in the everyday.

A haunting glimpse into the horrors of mental illness as well as the harsh world of mental-health care, "Mr. Jones" is, unfortunately, sugarcoated with a glossy doctor-patient love story that diminishes its emotional strengths. [6 Oct 1993]

As Precious, Sidibe is superb, allowing us to see the inner warmth and beauty of a young woman who, to her world's cruel eyes, might seem monstrous.

Director Bill Duke vents his rage on L.A. with Deep Cover, a graphic and powerful anti-drug drama.

Disney's 30th animated feature, Beauty and the Beast stands at the pinnacle of animated accomplishment, even when weighted against the excellencies of its lineage.

Credit to co-writer and director Marc Rocco for the film's consistently high-level performances. Mulroney and Boyle scrounge up all the right emotions and insecurities in their street couple portrayals, while Astin is particularly terrific as a pathetic, downsliding junkie. [14 Jan 1992]

Likely to be popular among kids, as well as the aforementioned slugs, Stay Tuned is an amiable, end-of-summer, lite refreshment making good fun of suboobia. [17 Aug 1992]

Although the story line is somewhat stretched and overly neat, "The Paper" is a tight and entertaining read, uh, view. [14 March 1994]

This trying-to-please-everyone Jennifer 8 is likely to disappoint viewers on every level, from the cerebrals who enjoy a brainy, cop-and-killer psychological duel to the clunkheads who savor a bloody, bump-in-the-night, mechanical scarefest. [5 Nov 1992]

Revenge of the Nerds is primarily the story of outcasts getting their just rewards, and that is always a satisfying movie ingredient. Nonetheless, this scattergun, often scatological film is filled with extensive racial stereotypes, which may offend some moviegoers.

It's a breezily cheerful and affectionate send-up of the contradictions of California chic.

With its superbly cast leads, including a well-selected Alex Datcher as a feisty stewardess who wins Cutter's heart with her heroics, Passenger 57 soars beyond its simple generic dimension. [06 Nov 1992]

Narratively, Titanic is a masterwork of big-canvas storytelling, broad enough to entrance and entertain yet precise and delicate enough to educate and illuminate.

A combination of exposé on Air Force experiments with chimpanzees and cuddly pet story, Project X should fly high as family entertainment.

Contrasting Forrest's unassuming innocence with the upheavals and rancor of the times, the film is a wisely goofy commentary on the stupidity of smartness.

Mainly Bernie's is good old, knock-down slapstick with just the right dose of cruelty thrown in.

In the lead roles, both Robbins and Freeman are outstanding, layering their performances with snippets of individuality: Their small, daily sustenances and minor triumphs are wonderfully inspiring.

Admittedly, the storyline weaves all over the place, but no matter — Chase's performance and a plethora of daft and witty situations carry it past some structural rough spots.

It's Costner's eye-on-the-ball exuberance that carries Dreams past its often mechanical aesthetic paces.

A deliriously fractured film, ambitiously packed with bowling, bimbos and other great inspirations of latter-day thought. Closest in style and temperament to Raising Arizona, this Gramercy release should roll box office strikes with select-siters and score some winning spares with mainstream viewers.

Coming to America is the filmic equivalent of using a Maserati to go to the corner grocery store — Murphy's colossal comic gifts and Landis' countercultural sensibilities are largely wasted, never pushed to the floor in this idling, curbed comedy.

Charismatic Snipes is shackled by his weary role, continually slinking around feeling guilty about his life and consumed by remorse for his ex-partner. Hopper flashes some sleazy snazz but, similarly, his crusty old character can barely make it through the slow dances. After criss-crosses between these weary guys in the dim of cinematographer King Baggot's dull noir lighting, audiences will reach the snoozing point. [19 Apr 1993]

The central performances are jewels, most luminously Emma Thompson as the blithe and bonny Beatrice and Branagh as the prickly and proud Benedek. Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington and Beckinsale serve with distinction. [26 Apr 1993]

While the elements all seem to be lifted from the scriptograph, they're pleasingly assembled in this Richard Dreyfuss/Emilio Estevez starrer, a good-natured, lightweight amusement which should nail down some passable box office and then scurry on to greater success as a video rental. [19 July 1993]

The atmosphere, the buddy stuff and the flashy setting don't make up for the fact that the main story is too distanced throughout much of the movie. Further diluting the film's intensity is the scene structuring; far too often lame expository scenes serve to advance the plot or explain the backstory.

It's a veritable bagful of box office treats.

Like a shooter whose skill allows him to take careful aim with a rifle rather than going for the easy splatter of a buckshot, director Eastwood's big picture is suredly calibrated: He points your eye to the tiniest specs, the most telling and powerful parts of this moral panorama.

Despite its seamy nature, Cyclo abounds with touching small moments, acts of kindness and acts of charity. [01 Aug 1996]

Splash, the story of a lovelorn bachelor who falls in love with a mermaid, deserves high marks both for technical verisimilitude and artistic merit.

In this deep probe into modern-day medicine, the old guy is shuttled from hospital to hospital in a surreal, horrifying ordeal of errors, missed diagnoses and institutional malaise. At two hours and 34 minutes, we, seemingly, also endure his agony -- part of this Romanian film's power and, also, its Achilles heel.

Writer-director Quentin Tarantino is one lethal storyteller. Reservoir Dogs, even for those of us with weak stomachs, is a masterful story setup, aided and abetted by all those colorful guys in on the thing.

Overall, Space Jam is a seamless marvel as Jordan slams and jams in the Looney Tune world.

Carlo Di Palma's intense, smashing, claustrophobic cinematography is terrific: Jarring, moving, and hitting all the hard angles of Upper East Side Manhattan, Di Palma frames a tight picture of woe. As ever, Woody Allen's smear on himself is appropriately smudged with telling musical notes: Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love" and Mahler's "Symphony No. 9 in D" sound the agony. [26 Aug 1992]

Directed by Howard Hawks with his sly sidearm grace, this is top-of-the-genre stuff.

While the plot is a bit light even to be carried on Wayne and Garth's droopy shoulders, it's splendidly smart, dumb stuff.

While vampirologists at the priciest film schools may someday offer thick tomes on the mythical traditions of Joe and Marie's civic quest, Innocent Blood is, at its story marrow, your basic kill-the-monster-before-it-devours-the-city yarn. Screenwriter Michael Wolk's straightforward scenario is flecked with outrageous snatches of humor, which Landis expertly milks to the hilt. While he demonstrated a splendid ability to blend tones and rhythms in "An American Werewolf in London," Landis goes straight for the jugular here -- Innocent Blood is a horror-comedic onslaught. Even its romance is a rampage. [25 Sept 1992]

While far too much of the film is staged discussion and smug political jousting, there is savage and lethal black irony.

Unfortuately, the film emerges more as a listless travelogue than as a philosophical trek. Stylized in the manner of "Badlands" with a flat voice-over from the film's dullard female lead, River of Grass is a meandering and ultimately uninvolving film. [26 Jan 1994]

The chief wonder of this rock 'n' roll cast is Tom Everett Scott, whose easy charisma, dreamy smile and undersurface intelligence should shoot him up the acting charts like a bullet.

Packed high with explosive action and loaded with high-stakes jeopardy, Con Air charts a generally sound narrative course, although it hits some story turbulence before it hits its climactic jackpot.

Director Carl Franklin has cranked up an unnervingly tight-triggered film. Screenwriters Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson's scenario never relents from the out-of-control nature of the trio's bad acts. [7 May 1992]

A terrific blend of farce and personal stories, "The Wedding Banquet" is no mere slapdash slapstick. With its graceful, character-driven screenplay and sympathetically zippy lead performances from Chao as dutiful gay son, Chin as the immigrant artist and Lichtenstein as the longtime companion, "The Wedding Banquet" is a tender feast of wit and charm. [04 Aug 1993]

Writer B.J. Nelson has skillfully combined plot elements and situations which draw from the best of Westerns and anti-Establishment cop films.

Tykey Michael J. Fox is Mikey in Life With Mikey, a charmingly scruffy story about a former child star whose career and life are rejuventated by a feisty street urchin. Impish and good-hearted, this Buena Vista release should delight elementary school kids on summer vacation and stake out a lively life at the boxoffice. [1 June 1993]

Harry and the Hendersons is a disappointment.

An unflinching portrait of the harsh life this family of three ekes out, Gas, Food, Lodging is a warm-spirited testament to female strength. Screenwriter-director Allison Anders' skilled adaptation of Richard Peck's novel "Don't Look and It Won't Hurt" is a taut, off-road depiction of American life. [3 Feb 1982]

Skillfully juxtaposing private revelations with public documents, co-directors Berlinger and Sinofsky have created a mesmerizing portrait of the American justice system and revealed an insight into this country's nature -- throughout, there is the feeling that people take care of one another, and neither laws nor outsiders can quell inherent qualities of decency. [02 May 1994]

Smartly spreading his story beyond the end lines of the basketball court, writer-director Shelton has knocked down a sparkling, slice-of-life Americana story. As rough and shiny as chain nets on a sweltering summer day, White Men Can't Jump is a poetic, rag-tag triumph.

What truly makes Liar Liar work, however, is Shadyac's inspired sense of comic proportion. While torquing the hilarities to the max, he never loses sight of the story's important human side. His blend of farce with heart is perfect.

Light and likable, with hearts unabashedly all over its sleeves, Roxanne is a winning romantic comedy whose appeal should cross age barriers and backgrounds — giving it an across-the-board promise.

What makes this movie work is Jennifer Lopez's electric performance as Selena, capturing the charismatic aspects of Selena's stage persona and the essence of her maturity as a growing woman.

It's not a trip of ''Nashville'' sweep. In fact, it's closer to Dullsville. [13 May 1996]

The scripting is painfully thin in all aspects of character relationships, patched together consistently with low-level goonery (outlandish driving, drunkenness, stereotypical fringe characters). The forced hilarity of the proceedings leads one to believe that neither the story team nor the scripter have natural senses of humor. [27 May 1993]

Even by the slight standards of high concept -- put sexpot in next-to-nothing costume and have her shoot people -- "Point of No Return" is thin. Screenwriters Robert Getchell and Alexandra Seros make attempts at humor, primarily such high frivolities as sadism or food-gorging, and there is a perfunctory attempt to round out Ms. Killer herself, largely socio-drivel about her abusive upbringing. [19 March 1993]

Despite some minor Hollywood flourishes, this Buena Vista release is a superb and unflinching glimpse into the reserves of the human spirit. [13 Jan 1993]

Heart is an often enthralling film of determination, heartbreak and triumph.

The Rocketeer is low-octane Steven Spielberg — projected in the right happy direction but lacking the gritty accelerant and around-the-edges humor and humanity of other heavy popcorn-load adventures.

Polanski's crisp and twisted direction unravels one kinky film. [18 Mar 1994]