Jami Bernard

Pacino is masterful as the sharp-witted, seen-it-all detective.

That it all seems improvised on the spot (it was not) is testament to the power of a film that trusts its characters, its actors and its ultimate goal.

Delicious, intelligent thriller.

Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed and stars in this compassionate, occasionally funny, character-driven movie about a mentally unstable man who takes the best interests of children very seriously.

One of the reasons the move is so funny is that it is only a few degrees away from real life.

It's a compassionate story about what makes people tick and what really matters.

Omar Sharif certainly doesn't disappoint in Monsieur Ibrahim. The casting alone promises something extraordinary.

Delightful and moving - although fanciful.

Earthlings beware: The dialogue and characters have less weight than bodies freed from gravity's grip.

A bouquet of snappy one-liners and disarming nuttiness.

It is a sweet, wonderfully acted cameo of a movie about the lengths to which a lioness will go to protect her cub.

It's too bad there's so little of LL Cool J as the secret object of Georgia's fantasies. He'd make a funny, nimble, sexy romantic lead with just a bit more screen time.

The result is a back-lot studio tour that's not exactly good-natured, but terrific fun and it gives the ensemble cast plenty of clowning opportunities.

Peregrym's performance as fiery, troubled teen Haley Graham is a triumph of charisma over technique.

Mostly pitched at a new crop of children who will detect the movie's mildly sarcastic, audience-winking tone with no problem.

An actress' dream.

An entertaining, post-modern mulling of the nature of truth, and whether truth is ever so fixed that it can be captured on tape.

The Cockettes epitomized a brief confluence of new possibilities, not so much in theater as in personal style, lending them a certain historical value that greatly exceeds their contribution to theater.

The filmmakers caught the kids arguing their cases like adversaries on "Judge Judy," sticking to phrases they've memorized or absorbed only too well.

Behind the inspired wackiness is a story about how our warlike nature needs some changing before we can all live in relative harmony.

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.