Jami Bernard

A marvel of character-driven drama that no serious filmgoer should miss.

Beneath the noisy, farcical surface of John Turturro's Illuminata is a thoughtful and unusually mature meditation on love.

Pretty thin feature-film subject. But the silliness is so contagious that it doesn't matter.

What really makes the jaw drop is the presence of so many talented actors in what seems like traditional TV treacle. Saddest of all is Debra Winger, reduced to playing the wife-as-wallpaper role. For this she came back to Hollywood?

The suspense is as tingly as jalapenos on the tongue.

As Ryan, Evans attempts to graduate from "Not Another Teen Movie"-type fare to more adult stuff. He holds his own, but he has no edge.

The same audience that loves "March of the Penguins" will eat up this beautifully told, gorgeously shot story of a grieving boy trying to return his pet cheetah to the wilds of South Africa.

Movies about junkies are often brutal to watch, but Jesus' Son has such a light touch, you have little to fear. Little to gain, too.

A stately and deeply affecting look at the human condition, told in something like a series of snapshots.

Tense, fiercely optimistic movie.

The screenplay has no idea how to modulate the banter between the movie's talented stars so that it approximates affectionate and playful sparring.

Although rife with comic possibilities, The Personals develops into a somber tale of personal identity.

A brutal and preposterous action movie about a guy, a kid and a secret code. And a whole lotta shattering glass.

The award for hardest-to-watch movie of the year.

A silly buddy caper that should delight the adolescent at heart, even if some of the jokes have been sitting too long in the desert sun.

Any which way you describe this uncompromising movie, it will never sound palatable. Still, it features one of the most spectacular physical transformations by an actress hungry for a meaty role. I haven't used the term "tour de force" in all of 2003, but now it is time.

A sunny-looking movie about the darkest paranoia.

The idea that every animated feature from Disney is an instant classic officially springs a leak with the noisily disappointing Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Annaud is a filmmaker who often works with a bare minimum of dialogue. Yet his storytelling is so strong and emotional that words are barely necessary.

Falls short of the mark, content to shoot fish in a barrel.

A standout feature of the movie is its representation of female friendship.

This challenging, inventive movie from Thailand is not for everyone.

For all its folksy jocularity, the movie inspires a sense of global patriotism. In the big picture, every little dish counts.

Feels like an old-fashioned movie in the way it deals with bold sacrifices made in the name of love, while its setting and chary view of the era's political machinations mark it as distinctly modern.

A perfect example of an "art" movie that is so lugubrious and soul-sucking that it's hell to sit through.

A lame buddy-cop movie that squanders stars De Niro and Eddie Murphy as it races from one cliche to the next, blithely unconcerned with whether anything parses.

Shangri-La is in your own backyard.

A lyrical, subtle, chaste and nearly wordless romance.