Gemma Files

Surreal to the point of poeticism, amusing and tragic by turns.

It's a rollicking good time, full of genuine emotional pull and incandescent acting, and anchored by a passionate love for the theater itself which puts most human liaisons--including Shakespeare and Viola's -- to shame.

An incredible star turn from Hilary Swank.

An exercise in outrageous style over substance.

Quills -- like the Marquis himself--is a posey, pungent, ultra-theatrical yet weirdly seductive mess which wants to have its cake, eat it too and discuss the whole concept and context of its meal (constantly, contradictorily) while it does so.

Some things just don't translate . . . not with Lipnicki attached, at any rate. Stick with the books.

Man, I just can't recommend this enough.

The kind of thing Franz Kafka might have dreamed up, had he only had access to a daily dose of MTV.

Opinionated magic and mayhem

This is half a good movie held hostage to the other, trashier half, and unfortunately for all of us, no rescue seems forthcoming.

Subtle, strange, off-putting, fascinating.

A fascinating combination of dare, stunt and genuine artistic risk -- often disorganized, but never less than entertaining.

It's sumptuous, archaic, and longer than a firehouse ladder.

This is independent acting (and movie-making) at its best -- true, tight, anything but trite.

Chan's glorious madness.

Retains enough of Soderbergh's usual indie sensibility to make some sly but contentious points.

A startling debut full of emotional depth and political punch.

A two-hour slice --of comedy pie.

Mehta's latest release, combines a similarly intoxicating visual immediacy and delight with a sobering outsider's long view.

Sunshine's historical reference-heavy narrative walks a fine line between novelistic tragedy and comically overstated melodrama, falling down on the job more than once.

Kusama understands her subject intimately, and it shows.

A gorgeous and enduring piece of work.

One of the most consistently amusing ways in which it frustrates audience expectations has to do with how amazingly little of this very violent cast of characters' violence actually ends up being expressed onscreen.

It always surprises, never bores. It's also just damn good, on every possible level -- so go see it. Now.

Confirming the moral of a thousand "Twilight Zone" episodes: Don't play with time.

If the current flood of pre-millennial tension movies teaches us nothing else, it demonstrates how desperate we've all become to see whether we could make our peace in the time provided, if forced to by circumstances beyond our control.

Visually stunning but emotionally shallow.

Starting small and building steadily, the movie reaps some fall-down funny laughs.