Jami Bernard

The movie isn't a day in the park, but it manages to close on an existentially uplifting note.

Poignant, eccentric comedy.

Another excellent example of how Iranian cinema uses deceptively simple techniques to decode devastating truths about human nature.

It's a romantic weepie.

This is a serious and well-acted drama, not a jokey ripoff, whose relevance (however distant) to Columbine is a plus.

A darkly brilliant sci-fi movie about emotions so deep, the story could be taking place within the chambers of the heart instead of an arid space station. At the same time, it is a coldly theoretical piece that could leave viewers unengaged.

Movies about the dawning of female sexuality and its links to mother-daughter competition are tough to pull off, but Rain is a splendid example of how to get it right.

This is no simplistic vigilante movie. Like Park Chan-wook's "Vengeance" trilogy, it explores the nature of the beast of revenge, leaving the audience in a sweat of dread.

A journey that goes from prosaic to existential. Director Hans Petter Moland's raw drama of father-daughter reconciliation features an excellent cast.

The cinematic equivalent of comfort food it soothed when you were younger and, in its familiarity, it soothes again.

That the actors can work under such scrutiny is amazing, and they are superb. The standout is Brad Renfro as Marty, the kid most under the thumb of the neighborhood bully.

Streep is perfect, as per usual, but the showy orchid role goes to Cage in an Oscar-worthy tour de force. He pours his body into Charlie's slumped frame of mind and creates a character churning with endearing contradictions -- the unforgettable nebbish.

It's like a walking tour inside the head of a deeply troubled, deeply talented young man, where most of the systems have already shut down.

It's about the kind of kids who could never sit still enough, unfortunately, for a movie that perfectly captures the frustrations, longings, obsessions and torments of the awkward years before manhood.

It's an excellent fusion of subject and style.

The results are amazing, though bittersweet, and demonstrate how complicated and expensive it is (though not impossible) to break the cycle of poverty, crime and lack of education.

An eye-pleasing French action-slasher film that is cheerfully unencumbered by the usual conventions of stuffy costume drama.

The movie is fun, fun, fun.

Moore brilliantly unmasks the inanity of the arguments used in the debate over gun control in America. He then undermines himself by leaping into the blame game without supporting his central thesis, that the media is what makes teens like the ones at Columbine turn around and shoot up their schools.

The film, written and directed with an intimate, hand-held camera by Assayas, is notable for the details how love that is ended sometimes flares up in little brush fires, only to be banked down again; how lovers awkwardly balance the push and pull of new relationships; how things neither start nor end with any punctuality or precision. [07 Jul 1999, p.38]

Kinetic, meaningless and fun.

It won't cure the ills of the world, but it doesn't need to. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is adorable in its own spongy way.

Hey, kids! Skip the job fairs and go directly to a screening of Me & Isaac Newton.

For sheer escapist fun, the proudly ridiculous Bandits fills the bill.

We Were Soldiers works. The action is well-staged and realistic. And Gibson is a commanding presence in a role that has more shadings and stature than his usual action heroes.

There's no refuge in this uncomfortably realistic movie, and that is its strength.

Fresh and unexpected. It feels like a real window on the lives of disenfranchised youths - these are in South Atlanta - as they make their way in a society that doesn't cut them any breaks.

It's killer, dude! [17 October 1997, p. 52]

Gives a white-knuckled, you-are-there account of a politician's dilemma, one whose repercussions are still felt in Africa.

Smart, psychologically complex film is an offbeat and effective tale.

The joy of Space Cowboys is in spending quality time with some favorite old actors who obviously enjoy working together.

An unexpected pleasure, a buoyant comedy that will make you feel young again.

The sexy, psycho Mad Love is like a Spanish "The Story of Adele H.," in which a woman loves once and only once, to the point of self-destruction, in the days before Prozac.

You'd think it would be boring to stare at Thomas's computer screen so intently for 97 minutes, but the movie is eerily riveting.

The result is a funny, tender, satisfying blend of fiction and cinema vérité.

It's got style and charisma to spare, with all the characters acting from fiery reserves of self-interest, including Christopher Plummer as a bank president with a secret in his safe-deposit box.

The real revelation of Sound and Fury is how it introduces hearing people to a culture they insist on ignoring.

A black comedy that features Renee Zellweger as the most adorable psychiatric-trauma victim ever.

Parts of the movie play like French farce, but ultimately Hrebejk uses very simple cadences to unveil, movingly, the big picture.

Letting any other actor run wild like this could have been a disaster, but Depp's peculiar buccaneer is an instant classic of actorly charisma.

This drama offers a chuckle at every turn.

Turns out to be a thoughtful, beautifully acted story about feeling alive before it's too late to feel anything.

As gorgeous and contemplative as it is, Hero is a genre picture and needs to deliver the action goods. To that end, there are plenty of clever, lovingly choreographed sequences.

It's a fanciful tale, but the message is sweet - that the higher arts speak a universal language that transcends politics and ignorance.

Director Samira Makhmalbaf made this raw and effective parable with the recognizable help of her father, legendary director Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

The philosophy is even less plausible. But the action -- oh, the action! There's nothing else out there like it.

An informative, amusing and unnerving overview of the history and consequences of corporations.

What keeps these mother-daughter tumbleweeds from drifting right out of consciousness is the unique rapport between the actresses.

Amusing and slightly alarming documentary.

Uplifting and moving in a traditional Hollywood way, while also seeming as raw and unfiltered as cinema vérité.

Vardalos is a breath of fresh air. After all the little nipped and tucked bunnies we've been seeing onscreen for so long, we forget what real women look like.

Jacques Demy showed up with the lightest touch with his 1960 Lola, a movie that has been called a musical without music.

A sobering documentary done in a whimsical style.

Here, Noyce lets his camera, the geography and the youngsters tell this exceptionally powerful story.

Apt to scare kids. [18 December 1998, p.72]

The floating, flailing, flying puppies in the inspired opening credits of 102 Dalmatians set the tone for an adorable sequel to the live-action version of the famously spotted cartoon.

A neat, twisty little domestic drama about smart people, foolish choices.

Impressionistic and open to interpretation, which is a kind way of saying that there's no way to figure out the ending.

A good-natured, gag-filled sequel.

The strangely mesmerizing dance contest in "Pulp Fiction" was born of Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 New Wave classic Band of Outsiders.

Wiseman's film is revealing. But it is also a silent rebuke to a society that tries to hide this pervasive problem behind a smug vision of itself.

The tension of Matt having to work alongside his wife without being able to trust her provides the movie's real electricity, sexual and otherwise.

All of Haas' movies have an air of weirdness and dread, and this one is no exception. But it's romantic as well.

Among the movie's oddball treats are Robert Downey Jr. as Grady's flamboyant editor and Rip Torn as a pedantic author and sermonizer known only as Q.

The best way to look at this installment, however, is as musical theater of the absurd. The song-and-dance set pieces are brilliant, including a rap-style "It's a Hard Knock Life" in a prison.

The acting is superb, with emotions roiling beneath rigid exteriors.

Outside of the leads, the acting is uneven, but The Tao of Steve has an unquenchable playful spirit.

A gentle comic stew of monster movies, adding dashes of Bugs Bunny irreverence and British gentility.

Sharp, erotic performances are the mainstay of Olivier Assayas' unnerving Demonlover, a visually stylish movie that equates and fuses high-stakes corporate negotiations with the video-game mentality.

Alamo buffs will be delighted, and everyone else will be treated to something that feels like Old Hollywood crossed with new sensibilities.

Surprises, repulses and provokes. It's also brilliant and infuriating, wise and naïve, outrageous yet unforgettable.

The movie's clever ambiguity allows a number of interpretations. Perhaps it is all a dream, a parable, or a combination of wishful thinking and reality.

How dangerous it is to be a woman in Iran, especially one going against the wishes of her menfolk, is brought home time after time in these related vignettes.

Too bad Heaven creeps into town when it deserved more fanfare. Consider it buried treasure, a thriller for the art- house crowd.

Explores the comparatively enlightened Berlin culture that had allowed homosexuality to flourish in intellectual and social circles before the Nazis forcibly changed the national mind-set.