F. X. Feeney

This is such a dazzlingly self-assured directorial debut that it's hard to know what to praise first.

Christine Lahti, making her directorial debut, wrings good laughs and strong emotion throughout, largely through the performances.

Khouri manages, with terrific flair, to keep the extremes of screwball farce and blood-curdling family intensity on one continuum -- not only through the strength of the performances (including one from James Garner, who, as Sida's dad, gets the best one-liners) but in the ways they match across time.

A superb, instructive portrait of an artist at work.

Well-tuned wisecracks and clever plot twists.

Some of the performances are remarkably natural amid so much farce.

To their great credit, writer Benjamin Brand and director Greg Harrison weave these contradictory variations into an effective puzzle, if one that doesn't quite transcend being a puzzle - it never becomes a mystery, like, say, "Mulholland Drive," or even "The Sixth Sense."

A reliably solid treat.

Although the dialogue initially flakes with awkward exposition, writer Ruth Epstein and director Harvey Kahn have fashioned a riveting thriller full of good scares and learned, muckraking insight into the global labyrinth of oil and politics.

The interactions between the realms of the magical and the everyday are carried off with an easygoing charm.

By the last third, one is sick to death of seeing people tortured, no real catharsis is offered, and stupid is how one feels.

Overall, King of the Jungle never quite achieves a necessary, culminating insight about charity, or mercy -- though Leguizamo's performance puts one in reach.

There isn't a moment in the film that isn't overhyped.

Janssen proves herself an actress of delightful range.

Lurie manages, despite these obstacles, to inspire Redford to give one of the most layered and interesting performances of his career.

This bright farce is spun from interlocking coincidences that only seem far-fetched.

Celebrity is one of Woody Allen’s finest. This is a minority opinion….But I prefer Allen when he works in a minor key – “Broadway Danny Rose,” “Radio Days” --precisely because he’s not trying to be profound, only true to firsthand observation.

It's great unruly fun.

Silver, manages the deft balance of making Seagal seem both genuinely courageous and charmingly blockheaded.

A happy vulgarity still reigns.

A cleverly plotted, cleanly crafted matinee item -- pure entertainment on a romping continuum with Frankenheimer's "Ronin."

As powerfully as the film lingers in the mind, one can't help wishing he were led just a bit more by his heart.

First-time writer-director Mark Hanlon creates a solidly trippy atmosphere.

These bantering would-be heroes mostly live at the tops of their voices.

They make a believable trio of siblings, but not even their combined wit can lift this script above the maudlin.

Writer-director Hernandez is comfortable with violent, perverse emotions, and can find humor in them -- a refreshing quality that keeps one watching long after her movie has jumped its own tracks and zoomed to a private world of obscurely motivated quarrels and uninvolving reconciliations.

Although this movie doesn't have an ounce of depth, it's so thoroughly amiable and upbeat that you'd have to be in a fighting mood to find fault with it.

The Wayanses can be crude beyond crude, but they're so clever that their inventiveness takes the place of taste.