Emanuel Levy

Though carefully rendered from a historical perspective, this powerful account of female friendship and bonding under the most cruel conditions lacks the narrative focus and dramatic shapeliness to generate emotional excitement.

Humor prevails throughout, but it doesn't deflate the disturbing elements of the tale, which miraculously manages to stay droll, heartfelt and poignant to the end.

Under Siege is an immensely slick, if also old-fashioned and formulaic, entertainment. Steven Seagal fans and action buffs should eat up this taut suspenser, which is set entirely on board a battleship.

Achieves a poetic, quasi-religious tone.

Provides a platform for Sean Connery to deliver a definitive, career-summation performance.

3 Ninjas Kick Back clearly was made with an eye on the international movie market. Set mostly in Japan and adding a female ninja to the three boys, this high-spirited adventure succeeds in conveying the positive and fun elements of both Japanese and American cultures.

A remarkably inventive and audacious film that almost overcomes its flaws.

A thriller that tries aggressively, but not entirely successfully, to deliver the goods of three genres -- suspense, supernatural and horror.

Ultimately Kundun emerges as a movie that's hypnotic without being truly compelling, sensuously stunning but not illuminating.

Anchored by a strong cast, including Samuel L. Jackson (also credited as a producer), Lynn Whitfield and Diahann Carroll, this talented debut by a black female writer-director is a well-made, if also old-fashioned, multi-generational drama.

Nasty, profane and wickedly entertaining for the most part.

A sensitive, intimate, enormously touching drama.

A briskly vigorous, occasionally brilliant actioner.

A top-notch production, exuberant period music and Hanks the actor in an important role cunningly disguise a rather slight and inconsequential narrative.

The pic is so well directed and lead performance by Sanaa Lathan so charismatic that audiences will overlook the script's flaws and root for the central duo.

A darkly intriguing drama that probes the very nature of love and the lasting effects of loss.

Reveals Soderbergh in peak form, as he endows Leonard’s postmodern yarn with a meticulously detailed mise en scene that helps each member of his terrific ensemble soar.

In what's easily his most zealous and fully realized performance since "Malcolm X," Washington elevates the earnest, occasionally simplistic narrative to the level of a genuinely touching moral expose.

The most amazing thing about Another Stakeout is that even though some of its skits are dopey and cloying and its plot recycled and derivative, the movie is still very amusing.

Still, this strikingly proficient production boasts genuinely scary thrills and first-rate visual and creature effects.

Riveting, often haunting.

Few actresses can convey the kind of honesty and humanity that Zellweger does here -- it's hard to imagine the film without her dominant, thoroughly credible performance.

Though often enjoyable, it’s an old-fashioned, feel-good movie whose significance is more sociological than cinematic.

Heartbreaking yet truly inspirational.

An emotionally powerful but extremely old-fashioned coming-of-age saga.

Blends in a most satisfying manner the conventions of several genres, resulting in a coherent picture that is at once a poignant inner-city drama, a rousing sports movie, an emotional family yarn and, above all, a sweet romance.

Massively inventive, Wonder Boys is spiked with fresh, perverse humor that flows naturally from the straight-faced playing.

Overall, this smooth, glossy, enjoyable film showcases an impressive new authorial voice.