Jonathan Foreman

The most effective moments in Taymor's gorgeous, surprisingly romantic Frida are those that evoke the visual world from which Kahlo's work was formed or the paintings themselves, often using clever animation and other special effects.

Ed Radtke's film-fest favorite does at least boast some fine acting, excellent photography and an authentic feel for life on the highway.

Surprisingly smart and satisfying.

A reminder of just how good Hollywood storytelling can be.

Familiar and predictable enough, especially if you have seen Hollywood serial-killer thrillers like "Se7en."

Mostly an unfunny, rather dull affair.

The movie that deserved to win the Oscar for foreign-language film, and one of the best movies ever made about life behind the Iron Curtain.

This second installment of Lucas Belvaux's acclaimed "Trilogy" is decidedly inferior to the first: a farce that simply isn't funny.

Wilde's masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest, may be the best play of the 19th century. It's so good that its relentless, polished wit can withstand not only inept school productions, but even Oliver Parker's movie adaptation.

A unique, priceless portrait of the now legendary leader, and of his beautiful country when it was in the grip of a disastrous civil war.

Unfortunately, the mind and motivation of Otomo -- remain a mystery.

It's frightening enough, to be sure, but too often it feels like a well-executed but rote exercise.

It proves once again that it doesn't matter if the camera is dancing a jig on the ceiling if the storytelling is no good.

But it's more than a crowd-pleaser shot at spectacular Rocky mountain locations -- it's almost revolutionary.

The Rock deserves better than The Rundown, a brisk, good- hearted but predictable and uninspired - not to mention bone-crunchingly violent - action comedy.

Its plot and political symbolism manage to be both over-familiar and confusingly muddled.

Better Than Chocolate is well-filmed and for the most part well-acted. But its technical professionalism only serves to make the amateurishly crude patches of Maggie Thompson's script more obvious. [13 Aug 1999, p.062]

One of the more entertaining documentaries to come along in some time.

Merely a watery, poorly directed update of "Clueless."

A genuinely clever plot.

Unfortunately, you really only hear about prostitution from the side of the pimp.

One of those films that takes up a potentially fascinating subject only to fumble it.

Francois Ozon, perhaps France's hottest director of the moment, is often better creating stylish visuals than dramatically credible situations, but Criminal Lovers is never boring.

The pace slackens a little after the first hour, but the photography by Remi Adefarasin and music by Magnus Fiennes keep the emotion stoked.

Better than any automobile flick put out by Hollywood in a while and, thanks to some genuinely exciting moments, it is easily the most entertaining so far of this summer's big, brainless action movies.

Represents a kind of progress. Where once only a few ultra-talented, lucky black filmmakers got to make big studio movies, now we have standard-issue Hollywood schlock that happens to be made by, about and for African-Americans.

With uncommon ineptitude even by the standards of contemporary action flicks, Kyle's script submerges the inherently dramatic tale of the K-19 under a pile of clichés, while failing to tell you enough about the characters for their actions to make much sense.

A quietly compelling documentary that is refreshing in both form and content.