James Berardinelli

Dune: Part Two is a spectacle to behold with an underlying arc that makes it more satisfying than a 2 1/2-hour bite of eye candy.

The movie not only represents the best effort from Eastwood since his Oscar-winning "Million Dollar Baby" but the finest acting we have seen thus far from two-time nominee Bradley Cooper.

It's likely that 2004 won't offer a better movie about a mid-life crisis.

Under a director with less vision and ambition, Heat could have been just another routine crime drama, but Mann brings such an edge to the proceedings that the threadbare story takes on a new urgency.

The kind of expression of emotion that touches a deeper chord.

A meditation on the pain suffered by a mother when her child turns out to be a monster, We Need to Talk about Kevin is the perfect tonic for holiday cheer.

Magic on celluloid -- fresh, funny, romantic, and upbeat. You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face and perhaps a tear in your eye.

A firecracker of a story - sharply written, superbly acted, and fast-paced.

With September 5, Fehlbaum has crafted one of 2024’s most unlikely thrillers. It’s also one of the best movies to reach screens in a year when genuine tension has been too often absent from films in which it should have been a key ingredient.

Local Hero is a fragment of cinematic whimsy - a genial dramatic comedy that defies both our expectations and those of the characters.

Sisu is one of those unheralded films that comes seemingly out of nowhere to grab the adventurous movie-goer by the throat. For a perfectly-pitched 90 minutes, it glories in the excesses of gore and violence with an exuberance rarely experienced this side of Quentin Tarantino.

Although not without moments of sadness and tragedy, Brooklyn is sublimely uplifting and life affirming.

Flipped is Rob Reiner's best film in 18 years, and includes echoes of two of his most accomplished efforts, "The Sure Thing" and "Stand By Me."

Together, Crystal and Ryan really click. Even though their characters are polar opposites (or perhaps because of it), their interaction has a charm and warmth that most motion picture pairings lack.

For those who have gotten their Harry Potter fix entirely through the cinematic incarnation, the script is lucid and fast-moving.

With solid performances and a terrific screenplay, this movie offers solid, no-frills drama that feels organic and believable, not contrived.

Here’s hoping the movie finds its audience because it’s one of the freshest and most audacious films available in this year’s sparse cinematic landscape.

Even some who generally enjoy gangster films may be turned off by this one, with its focus on dialogue over action and its harsh style.

This is easily the best family feature of the early year.

Witness states its position about clashing cultures with eloquence.

Dealing with subjects that could easily have emerged half-baked, Lee instead applies his talent and comes up with a dish cooked to perfection.

This is one of the best of the subgenre, an action-packed movie that delivers adrenaline jolts with both barrels while not skimping on character development and wry humor.

The film captures a specific fissure in American history, where the ancient, superstitious wilderness was beginning to yield to the steam and steel of the industrial age.

This is a deeply cynical movie and, in that cynicism, it finds truth.

A film that defies categorization, The Wicker Man can be considered to be a horror film, a psychological thriller, a musical, or a melodrama. In reality, since it includes elements of each of those types, it literally has something for just about everyone.

The purpose of Bully is to educate and promote discussion. If the problem is not solved, there will be more Columbines and additional stories like Tyler and Ty's.

Although there are certainly elements of tragedy in the storyline, this is first and foremost a crowd-pleaser. It touches the heart and, in addition to being Branagh’s most personal film, it’s also his most intimate. Unquestionably one of 2021’s most affecting motion pictures.

It’s no surprise that this is one of the best films of the year (and would have retained that distinction in any year it was released, not just this one).