Edward Guthmann

Emily Watson is ravishingly good -- and brings an amazing focus and intensity to what could have been a disease-of-the-week picture.

A blast of manic energy in the form of a film.

Nelson's work is relentless, grueling and courageous. He makes a large blunder in having American actors (David Arquette, Steve Buscemi) play Hungarian Jews with American accents, while Harvey Keitel plays a Nazi officer with a German accent.

Disarms with its sincerity and frankness.

It's Eric Bana, a popular Australian stand-up comic, who justifies our interest with a dazzling performance of blunt humor, unpredictability and an edge of menace.

A master of minimalism, Finland's Aki Kaurismaki makes films that are so dry, so delicately ironic that they seem on the verge of crumbling in front of us -- but they never do.

We're left with a metallic aftertaste.

Although some of its parts are brilliantly executed and played by a terrific cast, the result is scattered, overamplified and unsatisfying.

A strange, vivid tale of two British schoolchildren stranded in the deserts of the outback.

This is trash on a big budget, but trash nonetheless.

An indelible statement on loneliness and spiritual thirst.

Coming on the heels of Ma Saison Preferee, Thieves suggests that Techine is filling the void left by the deaths of Truffaut and Louis Malle, and ought to be considered his country's finest humanist filmmaker.

It's a strong film, but apart from its stunning images, it doesn't linger in your mind's eye the way you would like it to.

The result is a sprightly, entertaining film, but one in which the satire is neutralized for laughs.

The magic here is all in the telling: in the graceful, laconic direction of Jacques Becker.

Despite its implausibilities, Only the Lonely disarms you with its innocence. [24 May 1991, p.E1]

It's a sensational part for a young actress -- the film is told entirely from her point of view, using her journal entries as voice-over narration -- and Judd, in her first film, gives a subtle, delicate performance. [05 Nov 1993, p.C12]

(Morris's) strangest and most disturbing portrait yet.

What Happened Was . . . isn't always easy to watch. Like a Beckett play, it doesn't spare its characters, but strips bare their insecurities, their fear of rejection, their essential isolation and foolishness. [07 Oct 1994, p.C3]

A pretty lame premise for a movie.

When Ross gets serious and grasps for allegorical import, Pleasantville bogs down in mixed ambitions.

Ultimately, it's a cold, caustic film that doesn't take a strong point of view but seems to offer up its numerous set pieces.

Much of Astronaut comes off as tedious and self-amused, but the musical vignettes are fun.

Tough, mean and unsparingly honest, Ladybird, Ladybird is the kind of movie that people resist going to, feel edgy while sitting through and then can't shake off for weeks afterward. [31 Mar 1995, p.C3]

Altman has delivered a lot of surprises in his long directing career, and his new comedy, Cookie's Fortune, is one of the most refreshing -- not because it's so good, but because it's so sweet and affectionate.

Polanski attempts a precarious mixture of drama and comedy here -- seesawing between a serious look at sexual obsession on the one hand and an antic, spoofy tone on the other. It's a bold risk, but it rarely works because we usually don't know if Polanski is being intentionally funny, or merely inept. [25 Mar 1994, p.C3]

The film doesn't explore the nature of ghosts, as it promises to initially, but it's fun to watch Del Toro confront death and fear with such energy and humor.

Dredges up every cliche about druggy, obnoxious dreamers on the fringes of Hollywood and assumes that said cliches have the power to shock and surprise.

A zingy self-empowerment fantasy for kids.

A confounding and unsatisfying film.

The quality of acting in September, coupled with Idziak's images, warrant a visit.

A sexy, mildly entertaining import.

A gentle, sprightly satire that pokes fun at these trendy communards but emphasizes their humanity and fallibility.

A breezy, occasionally funny spoof.

Doesn't sanitize its tale of African American loss and survival -- the way Steven Spielberg's “The Color Purple'' did -- but delves deeply, heartbreakingly into an American tragedy.

A big, gorgeous, sprawling swashbuckler that delivers its diversions in grand, uncomplicated fashion.

Does about as good a job of simulating that terror as it possibly could, but it's no competition for what we create in our mind's eye while reading.

What's lacking is an explanation for the relationship, and some insight into the origins of Rimbaud's art. The other big problem, aside from DiCaprio's twang, is his lack of chemistry with Thewlis. These are two fine actors, working in vastly different styles, who might as well be walking through different movies. At the end of the handsome, frustrating Total Eclipse, you'll be wondering who these two men were.

Manhattan Murder Mystery is splendid good fun, and especially gratifying for those of us who've missed the harmonious Allen-Keaton combo. [20 Aug 1993, p.C1]

A time-waster that might be diversionary on a dull cross-Atlantic flight -- but only in the absence of alternatives.

What is meant to be brave comes off as gimmicky and immature.

It's a sweet, low-key and satisfying film -- and it deserves a heap of credit for treating its subject with humor and humanity.

Myers and Carvey bring a lot of goofy, adolescent charm to the party, but not enough to save an idea that's grown stale. [10 Dec 1993, p.C3]

Jefferson in Paris is dull, sluggish and unfocused.

Gentler in tone than the English working-class comedies of Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet and High Hopes), The Snapper manages to draw laughs from the cheerful vulgarity of its characters without ridiculing them. [17 Dec 1993, p.C3]

Harron validates and largely clarifies the work.

Crooklyn is loud and raucous and occasionally cruel. The actors shout their dialogue, the kids trade insults and the movie has the strained, desperate-for-fun anxiety of a TV sitcom. [13 May 1994, p.C1]

The film's aim -- to dazzle and inspire -- is sapped by Cruise's vein-popping, running-the-marathon performance.

A wildly implausible thriller.

The film's loose, scaled-down technique never turns gimmicky...but enhances the tension and intimacy of Rosetta's struggle.

What we have here isn't a disaster, exactly, but a very handsomely produced let-down.

An elegiac, visually hypnotic film about love, honor, reverence for nature and the loss of tradition.

They try to make Beverly adorable, and the movie comes off strained and dishonest as a result.

Cold Comfort Farm may be hysterically funny to regular readers of Hardy, Lawrence, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, but it won't ring many bells for the rest of us.

The Secret Garden unfolds like a richly illustrated storybook. It's an enchanting film, full of visual surprises and a story so simple and wise that it makes most ''children's'' entertainment seem gaudy and facile and overly explicit. [13 Aug 1993, p.C1]

Humanite isn't like any other film: It's uncompromising, eerily affecting and wildly unresolved.

Exhilarating but blatantly biased.

It's a witty, intelligent scramble, and it's beautifully mounted.

Conveys the character of this tiny, insular community through richness of detail.

A silly Hong Kong action flick from actor-turned-director Corey Yuen, fits nicely in the "bimbo fu" genre.

A compelling, sympathetic portrait.

A delicious comedy that starts out promisingly as a pleasant gag comedy but then turns unexpectedly into a bright social satire.

What sounded like an embarrassing blunder -- the romantic pairing of Richard Gere and Jodie Foster -- turns out to be surprisingly entertaining and persuasive.

An uneasy mixture of tragedy, satire, monster yarn and David Cronenberg creepiness, No Such Thing can't decide what it wants to be or how it needs to get there.

First-time film director Sullivan draws good performances from Goldwyn, Hutton and Parker, as well as Debra Monk, Elizabeth Franz and Eric Bogosian in minor roles.

Jackson has called "Creatures" a "murder story about love, a murder story with no villains." His generous approach makes it an unforgettable experience.

Murphy, who started directing movies in his native Australia, does a good job of locomoting Under Siege 2 at a lively, muscular clip.

I'm not quite sure what David Cronenberg is trying to say in Crash, but whatever it is, he deserves a lot of credit for having the nerve to put it on screen and face the consequences.

A strange but oddly memorable film.

It's rare that we have a screen character as well-rounded, as recognizably human or as brilliantly played as Sonny Dewey.

Terrific.

Death Becomes Her may be crude and tasteless, but it's also irresistibly funny and very well played by Streep, Hawn and Willis -- each of whom suffered career disappointments of late, and each of whom shines in a role that casts them against type. [31 July 1992, p.D1]

A wonderful, cockeyed sex comedy.

Plays like the cinematic equivalent of a paperback bodice- ripper with embossed type.

Her direction is weak, her dialogue is cliched, and her acting lacks energy and focus.

Despite its posh trimmings, and Fiorentino's feline presence, Jade never rises above its limitations and never cloaks the fact that Eszterhas' dialogue and script are basically pulp -- minus the trashy fun that we've come to expect from the genre.

An entertaining but exhausting satire on tabloid media and the way they feed our thirst for violence, Natural Born Killers stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, in banshee-out-of-hell performances, as serial killers Mickey and Mallory Knox -- a trashy, gonzo/weirdo version of Bonnie & Clyde. [26 Aug 1994, p.C1]

If they weren't so funny and real, and if Linklater hadn't done such a good job in writing their dialogue and casting them, their lack of ambition might seem depressing, and the movie might come off as some smug hymn to negativity. [9 Aug. 1991, p.F3]

Takes a long time getting started and doesn't hit its stride until Danny starts coaching a team of fellow cons -- think "Bad News Bears," just nastier.

A sweet but curiously unfulfilling story.

Cheesy.

The Indian in the Cupboard is such a sweet film, and so lacking in the bloodthirstiness and violence that parents dread in children's films, that its mere existence seems worthy of praise. Too bad, then, that it turned out so dull and lifeless.

It's beautiful to look at, but it's stiffly acted by some of the performers and tends to get ponderous.

An absorbing look at emotional tyranny, with a great screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

Naked Lunch will undoubtedly bring pleasure, much of it perverse, to [David Cronenberg]'s many fans - and, simultaneously, confound and repulse a huge chunk of filmgoers. [10 Jan 1992]

Today, Blade Runner works better than ever: Scott's version not only has more dramatic integrity, but its visual aesthetic and futuristic vision are more in sync with today's movie-goers. [11 Sept 1992]

Rising Sun doesn't work all that well as a thriller: it's far more successful in its old cop/young cop character study, and in its examination of cross-cultural tensions. [30 July 1993, p.C1]

The best scenes are the ones that Fox shares with Tamala Jones, Wendy Raquel Robinson and the full-figured Monique as her sassy girlfriends. There's a ripe, crackling spontaneity when these women get together.

Surprisingly, Potter takes what seemed like a recipe for embarrassment and excess and delivers a film that's sweet and understated and devoid of diva posturing.

4 Little Girls brilliantly captures a moment in American history and tells an achingly painful story of injustice and family loss.

Self-serious, pointless and silly.

[Raimi]'s drawn lovely, complex performances from Paxton and Thornton and proven that he can work effectively -- and movingly -- in a minor emotional key.

Joyously unhinged and outrageously inventive.

This is a sloppy hash of a movie, poorly directed and plotted in a way that looks as if it were improvised on the spot.

Knows its audience and doesn't stint on the flatulence jokes, poop jokes, leg-humping dogs and moments of homo-panic.

A goofy genre-buster that takes its amateur criminals as seriously as ``Pulp Fiction'' or ``Run Lola Run'' did theirs.

Down Periscope makes a surprisingly successful launch, with plenty of brisk one-liners and a promising set-up. But after that auspicious opening, it sinks.

One of the most impressive actor-to-filmmaker transitions in recent years.