James Berardinelli

Cusack invests such sincerity in his portrayal of Lloyd that it's impossible not to root for him to get the girl. He's the classic underdog that we all think of ourselves as -- earnest, engaging, and impossible to resist because of his flaws, rather than in spite of them.

Patton remains to this day one of Hollywood's most compelling biographical war pictures.

The Lost Daughter uses tone, location, and a string of expert performances to leave an impression, even if the story itself is unremarkable.

The Big Sick has the qualities that could make it a sleeper hit. It’s funny, touching, and perceptive.

Recognizing that many of the movie's elements are lifted from actual events elevates the importance of what the movie has to say.

Summer Hours attracted two of France's acting luminaries, and their presence elevates the material. Charles Berling has the central role; the movie is largely told from his perspective. Juliette Binoche, with blonde hair, has a secondary part.

Whether it works as a traditional motion picture is up for debate. However, it’s short enough (about 90 minutes) that it never overstays its welcome and is generally a fun, wild ride, even though it may at times be difficult to figure out where the journey began and where, as the 1964 Chevy leaves the streets like Doc’s DeLorean in Back to the Future, it ends.

Although most movies favor passion and true love, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg shows that another less demanding, more subtle kind of love has its own appeal.

Almodovar also manages to conclude the film on a hopeful note, and one that will have many audience members wishing that he will someday return to tell more about these characters.

Like Possessor, Infinity Pool is challenging and eclectic but it’s not one of those pretentious movies that’s weird for weirdness’ sake. The film piques the intellect and feeds the bloodlust while offering an experience that only a Cronenberg can deliver.

Yet, for all of The Master's laudable elements, it falls short of greatness for one simple reason: the storytelling is unspectacular.

This is a fun motion picture on all levels, and, while it doesn't quite measure up to the standard established by Beauty, it's still one of the year's best bets for pure entertainment.

Sentimental Value offers a powerful story about fathers and daughters, roads not taken, the thirst for redemption, and the path toward reconciliation.

In addition to telling an involving story, This Is England is insightful and informative.

It's an uncompromising movie that illustrates one of the most convincing personality transformations that I have seen in a recent motion picture.

My sense is that adults will be more taken with Ponyo than their offspring.

Z is disquieting not only because the events actually happened, but because we sense they could happen again, closer to home.

Wright is savvy enough to realize that suspense and tension require characters that are more than human figures in a CGI playground. He does just enough with the men and women populating Baby Driver for us to get a sense of who they are.

Chilling and creepy, and there's no denying that the most celebrated aspect of the film -- the Clarice/Hannibal connection -- could not have been accomplished with greater skill.

The problem with Beasts of the Southern Wild is that, like "The Tree of Life," it seeks to integrate its small, very personal story into a much larger, more ambitious tapestry.

Arguably the most rewarding aspect of Persona is its rewatchability. The movie’s themes are so complex and deeply buried that it offers something new each time it is seen. Like a Rorschach test, one’s interpretation says more about the person offering the opinion than the film itself.

Delivered with dashes of black comedy, thriller elements, and pathos, this film illustrates how even a seemingly decent, hard-working man can be driven to unthinkable lengths in pursuit of a job that's to die for… or, more appropriately, to kill for.

With its rare mixture of intelligent plotting, flawless acting, and start-to- finish tension, Copycat is a force to be reckoned with.

Director John Dahl has fun with this material, filming the modern-day noir potboiler with such gusto that it's impossible not to fall under its spell.

The visuals of a blasted city are impressive but hardly reason to spend $10 to sit in a theater seat and watch a bunch of underdeveloped characters get chased by zombies for an inordinate amount of time.

A Real Pain will resonate most strongly with movie-goers who don’t mind films in which conflict is internalized and where human interaction – simple, vivid, and unforced – takes center stage.

For the most part, Walkabout is an involving, occasionally hypnotic, motion picture. Some of the photography, including images of the outback and its denizens, is spectacular.

The Green Knight has its share of flaws but there’s a freshness to Lowery’s approach that demands to be noticed.

The film tells a compelling story with many of the elements that audiences find appealing. However, 65 years later, there’s little about From Here to Eternity to differentiate it from other well-made productions of its era.

The Bourne Ultimatum provides a lot more suspense and tension than "Transformers" could hope for.

Overall, Part 2 tells a more compelling and emotionally fulfilling tale than the one related in Part 1, although that could be a result of this movie having a conclusion - something its predecessor notably lacked.

Crafted without a whiff of melodrama, this motion picture takes a steady, unflinching look at the plight of Jews in Warsaw.

The R, however, isn’t for the usual “extreme gore” of a slasher movie. Instead, it’s mainly for profanity. Get Out has only a little blood and viscera; the approach of writer/first time director Jordan Peele is to approach the more stomach-churning aspects of his production with tact.

Spielberg’s West Side Story is a resplendent entertainment and a reminder that at least some of cinema’s great classics can in fact find new life in the hands of a master director who is more concerned about crafting a movie than making a blockbuster.

The Edge of Heaven is marked by a number of remarkable performances.

These are fascinating, three-dimensional individuals brought into the foreground by a pair of today's finest actors.

In the end, this is more a character study of Jenny than a tale of tortured love, and a reminder that any education worth having comes with its share of trauma.

Kinetic, atmospheric, visually stunning, and mind-bending.

If there’s a knock on Eighth Grade, it’s that it feels too true-to-life to be entirely comfortable.

At times compelling, at times devastating, and at times long-winded.

The narrative is little more than a flimsy envelope -- it's the men and women who are sealed within that make Sling Blade worth watching.

The escapism on offer here isn’t of a light and airy nature but instead provides insight into the darker, obsessive aspects of the human experience.

In an era when movies about love almost always invariably devolve into formulaic affairs, Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa stands out as an often-surprising, multi-layered achievement. By offering a rumination on a wide variety of love - real, imagined, romantic, sexual, and platonic - Mona Lisa defies easy categorization and offers a complex and superior one-hundred minutes for all who view it.

Knocked Up could be one of the summer of 2007's sleeper hits. It certainly deserves the distinction.

The Quiet Man showcases [Wayne] as the leading man in an old fashioned romantic drama. Cast against type, Wayne pulls it off with aplomb, largely because his tremendous screen presence allows him to get away with gaffes that would sink other actors.

The original film was gritty and entertaining ("Infernal Affairs"); the new version is a masterpiece - the best effort Scorsese has brought to the screen since "Goodfellas."

Using perfectly composed shots to amplify an emotionally resonant story, the film successfully argues that "artistic" films do not have to be boring.

The underwater sequences, which are choreographed and directed with great skill, are Thunderball's standout feature... Thunderball is classic 007 -- not the best picture in the long-running series, to be sure, but a more-than-worthwhile diversion for the action-loving escapist in us all.

Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy may be the best possible movie version of the story, but it illustrates that the big screen is not the ideal medium for a tale of this complexity.

The Wild Robot proves to be one of the best animated features to emerge from the American studios post-pandemic and even approaches Miyazki’s (alleged) swansong, The Boy and the Heron, in blending artistry with entertainment value.

If there’s a compelling reason to see the film, it’s Regina Hall.

Vincere is Ida's story, but it says as much about fascist Italy and its ruler as it does about the central character.

I recommend the movie both for Nicholson's performance and for the opportunity to spend some time with the kind of man that we often meet in real life, but rarely see on screen.

If there's a drawback, it's that the plot is trite. Hero is an exemplary example of visual poetry. The narrative is clearly of secondary concern.

The movie, like the book, takes a long, hard look at the system of racial inequality that defined this time and place, and reminds viewers of the price to be paid for surrendering to our base instincts.

The movie has a magnetic quality that’s all the more welcome because of all the weighty issues forming its foundation. It’s a tremendous debut effort for Hall, whose work seems more like that of a seasoned veteran than a first-timer.

One of Unforgiven's assets is the way it overturns conventions, taking the man who is typically the hero and making him the villain, while transforming the traditional bad guy into a sympathetic protagonist.

Wages of Fear is the kind of motion picture for which commonplace phrases like "white-knuckle tension ride" have been coined.

Christopher Nolan has provided movie-goers with the best superhero movie to-date, outclassing previous titles both mediocre and excellent, and giving this franchise its "The Empire Strikes Back."

The Pursuit of Happyness is long, dull, and depressing.

Emotionally, Linklater’s recreation of August 1980 is spot-on. Sure, there are a few anachronistic cheats (how many college-goers in 1980 had a VCR in their room?) but the tone is just about perfect.

Hollywood’s decision to abandon this kind of storytelling is one reason why cinema in the 2020s has fallen into the doldrums and, when something like Black Bag arrives, it’s a bittersweet reminder of the potential of the big screen experience.

Atonement is effective at getting under the skin, and some audience members won't like that.

The Tree of Life falls short of masterful but retains a power that far too many motion pictures lack. It's about SOMETHING and, even when it fails, it does so in a manner that is interesting and not infantile.

The Fabelmans isn’t likely to go down as “Great Spielberg” or even “Very Good Spielberg” but it’s a warm, enjoyable plunge into the 1950s and 1960s.

Those in search of escapism should not look to this motion picture, but anyone willing to assume the risk of facing the ugliness of Johnny's world will find a startling, gut-wrenching, eye-opening experience.

The Host is a strange little movie: part creature feature, part social commentary, and part slapstick comedy. The problem with the film is that the sum isn't greater than the parts and the pieces don't fuse in a way that's consistently pleasing or cinematically satisfying.

Takes all of the drama and suspense inherent in a submarine-based story and delivers it in a near-perfect package, establishing Das Boot as not just a terrific adrenaline rush, but one of the best movies ever made. [Director's Cut]

A mixture of documentary and thriller, this is a compelling two-hour production.

It is by no means an “easy” movie with its somnambulant pace being a significant drawback. However, the movie has qualities that make it hard to forget and, on that basis alone, it is recommended viewing material for anyone serious about film.

The film functions as a time machine to take the viewer back to when (s)he watched “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” on television and re-introduces the man who functioned as a friend/mentor/father-figure.

The lackluster acting and horrendous dialogue don't help.

The Long Day Closes is very much the visual equivalent of a verse or a poem: beautiful images, but no narrative.

It's a compelling tale that offers the opportunity for reflection and discussion about issues that have never really gone away and continue to lurk in the cultural background.

At times, the movie gets bogged down in minutia but the emotions evoked and captured are as honest and brutal as one is likely to find on film.

While much of the archival footage presented in The Last Days is new, the substance is familiar. These are the kinds of images that no Holocaust film can ignore, because they drive home the horror of what transpired five decades ago, half a world away.

Deliciously perverse, delightfully twisty, and unapologetically erotic.

The result is magical and life affirming, and will enrapture those who are not scared away by the mention of "subtitles."

The film's success or failure depends almost entirely on a viewer's ability to relate to and become involved in the lives of the characters. We are with them for less than a week and, during that short time, we come to understand the lifetime of hurt and misunderstanding that stands between them.

Like Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart," this is an opportunity for a sometimes-underrated actor (Elliott has never been nominated for an Oscar) to show his range and capabilities.

Paranoid Park is a rare breed: a movie about teenagers in which the characters talk like real teenagers, act like real teenagers, and are played by real teenagers.

Aggressive editing could have shortened Giant considerably, but the three hour twenty-one minute running time permits the tale to breathe. And, even at this length, there are times when events feel rushed or compressed... So, although Giant may not be a classic in the purest sense of the word, it's a fine example of a virtually-extinct genre.

Everything in Out of Sight is smart -- the dialogue, the characters, and the storyline.

Brazil can be enjoyed without knowledge of the behind-the-scenes circumstances but the rich irony of the parallels between Gilliam and his fictional creation, Sam Lowry, add a layer of appreciation to the project that it otherwise lacks.

There's more to the film than nostalgia; it also offers insight, and that's what makes it worth viewing on the big screen rather than waiting for its Discovery Channel premiere.

Lee's primary objective is to reflect back and offer a uniquely personal perspective of that single day last October. This viewpoint, which ultimately transcends the movie's flaws, is one of the aspects that makes for a worthwhile two hours.

The movie highlights how little things can become big issues within the preteen bubble and draws the audience into a communion with the characters and their circumstances. Although the target audience is unquestionably mothers and daughters, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret has things to say to viewers of all genders and ages.

Although imperfect, it's engaging, thought-provoking stuff.

Although King’s film may not accomplish everything it sets out to do, it represents an important perspective of a time period whose essential injustices have gained renewed attention some 50 years later.

The Man Without a Past is a modern fairy tale. It certainly is divorced from reality. Despite this -– or perhaps because of it -– it's a satisfying motion picture.

This is the director’s least violent feature film but it is in every meaningful way evident as a product of the man who made "Pulp Fiction."

Moonrise Kingdom is lovingly crafted with an attention to detail that is breathtaking while, at the same time, it displays genuine affection for its young protagonists.

No film can ever hope to convey the complex mosaic of cultural upheaval caused by everything that happened between 1924 and 1977, but Farewell My Concubine does an excellent job presenting samples of the flavor while telling a story that is both epic and intimate.

I wanted to love Sinners more than I did but the energy level is so infectious that it’s impossible not to get swept up and pulled in. It’s a sloppy concoction that carves out a new niche for vampires not unlike what Let the Right One In achieved.

Perhaps the best way to describe Booksmart, the assured directorial debut of actress Olivia Wilde, is John Hughes for the 21st century. Although Hughes never came close to the level of raunchiness on display here, when one peels back the layer of vulgarity and R-rated dialogue, the beating heart of an honest teen-oriented comedy can be found.

For the briefest of moments, someone not paying attention might mistake Lantana for a mystery. -- Lantana is actually an examination of human interaction.

A solid starting point for those unfamiliar with Apted's greatest work, and a must-see for those who have been down this road before.

Fascinating and satisfying the way the diverse threads are knitted together into a single tapestry.