Marjorie Baumgarten

With a running time of only 84 minutes, Rize frequently feels padded. However, there’s no denying the fascination of watching these bodies in motion, and perhaps the ascendency of a new, American-born art form.

One of the most emotionally honest movies about drug addiction ever made.

Writer-director McKee’s arch comic dialogue (i.e., "We’ll hang out and eat some melons or something") is out of synch with the creepy horror he wields.

Elliot’s coming-out story is mostly shunted into the film’s latter half, and when it does emerge it is woefully conventional and diluted by other goings-on.

A distinctive story with universal appeal.

Cheech & Chong's first movie is still their best. The duo wrote the genial script about the never-ending search for great pot, and a good supporting cast co-stars.

The film itself tends to wander as it pokes around uneasily for its tone. Yet this is also, undeniably, the source of much of the film's charm. Afterglow bathes the screen with a warm amber light.

Far grislier than one ordinarily expects from black-and-white, Habitaciones Para Turistas is a real homemade fright.

Supremely goofy in tone, the film pits Wayne (in his last Ford film) and Marvin as drunken pals who careen from one friendly brawl to the next. A Pacific island paradise becomes their silly playpen.

Exciting to watch: The audio disruptions of Carla putting in or taking out her hearing aids and the inventiveness of the way the heist plot is revealed are just a couple of the film's treats.

Ultimately, Hidalgo won't win any movie races, but I'd definitely bet on the movie to show.

A confident return to the kind of teen comedy that's funny without being raunchy, youthful without being juvenile, and reflective without hitting you over the head.

This Danish film is an alternately funny and harrowing look at a family crisis, a meltdown that blends the needs of the truthsayers with the instincts of the let's-bury-our-heads-in-the-sand-and-pretend-none-of-this-is-happening types.

It grabs you by the viscera in the opening prologue and for the next two hours rarely lets go.

Game 6 is ultimately a curious dud.

Would be a much better film had it not relied so heavily on a bombastic soundtrack (by James Newton Howard) for its emotional impact and spared itself some of the more overdone images of campus life.

Ju Dou is a juicy and stylish potboiler that keeps the pilots turned on full blast.

The yuppie dream of an unencumbered life where style always exceeds substance is at the crux of The Object of Beauty. Partly likable and partly odious, your reaction may depend on whether, like the proverbial glass of water, you see their lives as half empty or half full.

The script is awash with uncertainties -- some intriguing, some frustrating. The wildly uneven director Rudolph also must shoulder some of the blame. What cannot be underestimated in Mortal Thoughts are the performances. Absolutely extraordinary all the way around. Disappointments don't come more intriguingly packaged than in Mortal Thoughts.

Even though the storyline of Real Women Have Curves is a somewhat familiar tale, the film's originality lies in the way in which it's told.

As sad and poignant and potentially hopeful as it is amusing. The movie is our story as much as it is Schmidt's, no matter if it's viewed as a self-reflection or cautionary tale

A strong first film, and with a better-honed script, Williams should prove to be a director to watch.

Carrey is in top form here, giving a wildly confident, physically draining performance with all the stops pulled out.

You won’t want to miss a word of the deliciously bad dialogue in this Hollywood tale of twisted sisters.

Although it's interesting and well-performed, East-West never locates its crux: It's all over the map.

The perfect antidote to the summer heat in Austin, more refreshing even than a dip in our chilly holy waters of Barton Springs.

Green wisely gives his actors lots of room to work, all the while putting the emphasis on the characters and their relationships instead of the blurry hokum of the narrative threads.

Very satisfying. Classic storytelling, modern techniques. And the images: This movie has embedded so many strange and new mental pictures in my head that I'm not able to shake free. Yet, neither would I want to be free.

With top-notch performances (especially that of Mortimer) and the gray of the Siberian wilderness providing an apt backdrop for the movie's gray zones of morality, Transsiberian is on a great track.

It’s a vivid indictment of the way in which we all stumble along, yet the film never musters full-throated chagrin at our dull complacency.

The slowness of the film's first half will be off-putting to many, but the film's turns and final twist will reward the patient.

Brooklyn’s Finest is mo’ wrong than right.

A challenging concept conveyed here most impressively onscreen.

The lesson learned from The Tale of Despereaux is that an overabundance of vocal talent does not a good cartoon make.

Then along comes a movie like Deconstructing Harry, which marks the writer/director/actor's return to top form, once again using the stuff of his life to create the stuff of his fiction.

If this movie does anything to rally crowds against cinema's mass distribution of mediocrity then it has served a noble purse.

It's amazing the filmmakers never really concern themselves with satisfying the audience's rules of engagement.

Despite this film's narrative lapses, Malick has a unique way of distilling the poetry from the commonplace -- and for that precious gift we should say amen.

Tom Arnold and Anthony Anderson become an official comedy duo as they deliver an extraneous (and questionably funny) comedy riff, as they did in "Exit Wounds" over the film’s closing credits.

Oscar-winning special effects and animation sequences by Ward Kimball make this musical fantasy a perennial favorite.

Peter Weir made this unsettling, atmospheric film early in his career, and it is still one of his most successful projects to date.

Oddly, most of the elements needed for a good movie are present here, but when added together they equal less than the sum of the parts.

The movie's third act begins a baffling and not-very-believable character turnabout.

Despite its shortcomings, Redacted is nevertheless a film brimming with spontaneity and fury, and in a season of often-ambiguous films about the war in Iraq, there is a lot to be said for this kind of combustible energy.

Amiable and proficient, this indie romantic comedy is never more or less than reliable.

The film's content is adult – and for the first time in Araki's career, so is the director.

Certainly there are filmgoers who enjoy this kind of noncommittal metaphysical quest. I am not one of them. It makes me think that the filmmaker is more interested in showing us his vacation slides instead of sharing any real insights.

The performances are likable and there's nothing really wrong with the story -- other than the fact that Nutley hardly has any story to tell.

Nightmare’s macabre humor is very adult, yet the storytelling is woefully simplistic.

And, by comparison, it almost makes Basic Instinct's ending look coherent.

The film's light comedy and dark morality make for an unsettling mix.

Von Trier’s vision is amazingly thorough and exquisitely executed, but the audience may feel executed as well.

Fails to create a seamless and believable web of measured performances and period color.

Like its images, The Promise billows through the imagination as it unfolds but it leaves little lasting impression once its last feather has fluttered.

Rodriguez’s technical wizardry is less showy here than in his other recent outings, which helps Shorts connect with kids on a basic human level.

What The Newton Boys lacks in dramatic definition, it more than compensates for with its underlying intelligence and visual luster.

One wonders what its objective is other than the cynical obliteration of all hope.

Post-JCVD, we'll never again be able to think of Van Damme as just another kickboxer turned actor. Van Damme is an actor, pure and simple, and proves that he is just as deft and accomplished as the movies in which he appears.

A concept executed with bravura style, intelligent curiosity, and playful wit.

Wonderful but improbable tale about a group of mercenaries sent to Mexico to rescue their employer's wife from bad man Jack Palance.

The film's ideas are provocative, yet vague and unfully formed. It's much like Pulse itself, which is a bit too long, despite several great sequences.

What Tsotsi fails to explain is how the mere introduction of a baby can melt the cruel cycle of criminality and disregard for others.

A dish of empty calories.

Egoyan’s return to form is welcome, nevertheless Adoration adds up to less than we might have hoped for

If you want to see a good comedy about a couple’s marital problems getting worked out through the course of a home invasion, check out "The Ref."

The actors are all charged up, too; there’s just nowhere in this script for them to go.

Fascinating, perplexing, amusing, and irascible.

Julien may be a donkey-boy but it's Harmony Korine, this film's director, who is a horse's ass.

Coolidge has no axe to grind with Valley Girls. They’re simply teenagers subject to the classic problems of love and peer pressure, albeit spiced with their own distinct valley jargon. Coolidge directs all this with a light hand and the non-stop musical score features music by the Plimsouls, Josie Cotton, Clash, Men at Work, Sparks, and many more.

LaBute's narrative structure and visual strategies are rigorously crafted, bespeaking an almost mathematical calculation that, in compellingly contradictory ways, both enhances the dramatic experience while undermining its very authenticity.

While Chloe may seem reminiscent of Egoyan’s outlandish thriller "Where the Truth Lies," it also calls to mind another would-be thriller about marital infidelity that starred Neeson and was utterly ludicrous: "The Other Man."

Though mildly interesting for their individual merits, there is little sense of their connection to each other as a film and to us as an audience. It's as though this cab ride of a movie keeps moving forward with no clear destination or purpose.

A fine example of advocacy filmmaking.

Usually, I am not so persnickety about such things, especially with first-timers, but the accumulation of mis-matched shots is so great that you have to wonder why some of the more experienced crew members weren't climbing the rafters to say “Whoa, Mel.”

A well-meaning but ineptly made message movie.

Frankly, one's sympathy sides more with the class bitch who thinks she has the better voice and deserves the choral solo instead of Terri. In your heart you know she's right.

Much more "Splish" than "Splash."

The movie's suspense derives from figuring out how wide the evil net has been cast. But in terms of suspense, this Net is full of holes.

So much of the credit must be laid at the feet of Ian McKellen, whose portrait of Whale is a study in acting excellence.

Too much is tossed into the ring and the last hour becomes a frantic swell of emotions and ideas, not all of which are exactly on point.

Amos & Andrew is a better-than-average comedy that's likable enough while unfolding but evaporative when over.

The Counterfeiters differs from most Holocaust movies in that the emphasis is on the personal moral choices that are made rather than the overall horror and despair.

There’s more narrative happenstance loaded into the script of Blue Car than its running time should effectively allow, but the real keeper moments in Moncrieff’s movie are the small, quiet ones in which a simple glance speaks volumes.

A delightful little wormhole that takes us on a journey to another dimension of consciousness.

Reminiscent of HBO’s new hit "Entourage."

Better in theory than in practice.

Unlikely to receive many curtain calls.

Manages to incorporate all these things into a moving yet unsentimental story about the beauty of maintaining one's wits while stumbling blindly in the insane no man's land that lies beyond wit's end.

The details are intriguing, but ultimately we learn little more about what's in their heads.

Capturing the nuances of quotidian life may not be everyone's cup of tea.

This political satire that's as fresh and exhilarating as anything we've seen come out of Hollywood in quite some time.

This Danish comedy, like most of that country's dramas, is dark, dark, dark.

The adaptation by Joel and Ethan Coen (both co-credited as writer and director) of McCarthy's as-if-written-for-the-screen No Country for Old Men becomes a marvelous meld of narrative faithfulness and pre-established sensibilities.

The battles between the imperious Hepburn and the presumed-mad Taylor are pure theatricality, while sensitive shrink Clift observes it all and emotes.

Nabokov’s satire is sensationally cast, with Winters and Sellers delivering some of their best work ever.

When a human joke like Tony Robbins is the only one who comes away from your movie smelling like a rose, there's a real problem in Farrellyland.

Ridiculous plot, dumb characters, foolish dilemmas. The only point to this movie is to make Macaulay a millionaire.

Seems more like an amateur revue, perfectly all right for what it is, but not meant to be seen beyond an audience of friends and family.

The information it presents is eye-opening for medical consumers and health professionals of any stripe. And the film incidentally makes a great case for health care reform.

Serves up a weak brew.

Civic Duty stands out amid the new wave of terrorism-paranoia thrillers. It's a taut drama set primarily within the confines of two apartments in the same urban building complex and keeps the viewer guessing until the end regarding the reliability of its two central protagonists.

This film may be Korine's most accessible as a director, featuring characters, images, and situations that are stirring and unforgettable – even if they don't add up to a complete narrative or visual whole.

Ultimately, Frost/Nixon may be stuck in time – but, oh, what a time it was.

The top-line talent, particularly Thornton and Rourke, do manage to hold our attention with idiosyncratic performances, but most of the others are a jumble of fair-haired, disaffected boys.

Something about The Comfort of Strangers remains aloof, creating a physical and emotional distance between its characters and its audience. Some of that is, no doubt, Pinter's script. But Schrader pinpoints a nucleus of moral decay and then observes it with a detached clinician's eye rather than the eye if a rapt storyteller.

Kubrick’s gladiator film is the pinnacle of sword-and-sandal epics, and who isn’t a sucker for stories about rebellious slaves? This is the kind of movie the Paramount’s screen was made for.

Images seem to be grafted into the film that have little to do with the actual story.

It’s good to see that passionate cinematic rabble-rousing does not rest solely in the hands of the left.

Certainly one of the best drug movies ever made.... Great performances make this dispassionate study a memorable experience.

Kaurismäki’s spare style and economical storytelling are well-suited to this particular story about loneliness, as the director never muddies the frame with sentimental dross or lugubrious inclinations.

Provides a smart and funny respite from most of what passes for romantic comedy these days.

A stroll with these characters is a refreshing break from from the usual film exercises.

Wolf Creek (much like the new Saw horror franchise) exists for no reason other than to inflict an acute sense of inescapable and inscrutable torture upon the story's victims – and, by extension, the audience. If that's what you're into, Wolf Creek should be a satisfying assault.

Certain to be distasteful to children and adults alike, Eight Crazy Nights is a total misfire.

Sympathetic to the core but not to be believed.

Eye of the Dolphin is much better than most films of this sort, and if it helps a generation of young girls want to grow up to swim with live dolphins rather than groom My Little Ponys, that's certainly not a bad thing at all.

The Wedding Banquet wins fans with its sunny disposition as it turns a contemporary story about a marriage of convenience into a deft bedroom farce and humanist drama.

Could have used a touch of Madea’s down-home, self-reliant wisdom to spice up the marital doldrums of these four buppie couples.

Beautifully made, courageously edited, and swift-moving, this challenging, provocative film is a work that is both humanist and revolutionary.

Doesn’t provide any answers, and that’s both its strength and weakness.

The problem nipping at the designer heels of Confessions is not the state of the economy but, rather, the film's predictability.

Meyers has a good feel for contemporary comedy; it’s reality, however, that slips through her grasp.

Campion’s story of a tubercular poet and his lady love recasts the hackneyed old stanza in refreshing new verse.

Although the movie contains occasional moments of glimpsed accomplishment, Kansas City is for the most part a lame duck.

While not always successful or even unusual, Night and the City is a tart Manhattan cocktail worth savoring until the cup runs dry.

By the film's climax, following the plot movements has become merely complex rather than suspenseful.

By the time the police come knocking at the front door, Mr. Brooks has exploded from its mild-mannered start into full guignol mode, and would take a defter filmmaker than Evans to steer the tonal shift.

Chow's loyal fans are sure to be disappointed by CJ7, and the film faces one other significant problem in traveling to these shores: Any kid who is the right age to appreciate this pap is going to be too young to read subtitles.

Edwards' crowning achievement. It is a wickedly funny, impeccably cast, ingeniously subversive satire of the Hollywood film industry.

In an era in which too many of us automatically accept women's right to choose, Vera Drake reminds us that the time for complacency is not now.

The Hanna-Barbera animation is better than the studio’s usual bare-bones mediocrity, and the voice cast is superb.

A stylistic tour de force, one that wordlessly emotes and wears its emotions on its literal silk sleeves.

It's a cuckoo's nest that's nicely feathered.

The situation is not too far removed from that of Jayson Blair and The New York Times. The corporate oversight in place to catch deceptions is lulled into becoming part of the deception. Mahowny wanders through this film as if waiting to get caught, forced into deeper gambling debt because no one applies any brakes.

It's the best date-night movie to hit the screens in a while, which, considering the competition, is very faint praise.

As a complete work, Robot Stories is a solid collection.

It seems nothing is left out, and the movie makes us begin to feel as though we've witnessed every swing the man ever swung.

The questionably good news put forth in this documentary is that vanity apparently survives everything.

The amazing thing is that, despite such crass beginnings, Space Jam rises to the occasion and succeeds as an enjoyable piece of film entertainment.

Across the Universe will have ardent defenders, but in the long run, it will do nothing to infuse life into the current mini-revival of movie musicals and is as soft-headed as the wishful refrain “All You Need Is Love.” Maybe that works in real life but not in the movies, sister.

A conventional story, conventionally told.

The most delightful segments are those which observe new audiences experiencing the motion picture phenomenon.

Paul Green seems more interested in what rock school can do for him than for the kids.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is hopelessly depressing. Yet as a story of the callous impersonalization we inflict upon one another, the film is timeless.

Never transcends its clichés.

Everything about Agent Cody Banks 2 reeks of hurry-up and make this movie before its kid star Frankie Munoz loses his pubescent looks (it’s already borderline).

It's a bit surprising that a documentary with such an unwieldy title offers such a streamlined and resonant account of history.

Adults may discover, however, that when they get to the center of this particular world, they find no real there there.

Gordon-Levitt already proved in last year's "Mysterious Skin" his captivating command as a dramatic actor; with Brick he further demonstrates his remarkable dexterity and range.

Intelligent and well-meaning, Rendition is nevertheless an oversimplified and uneven attempt to arouse righteous indignation among its viewers.

Its narrative conceit will entertain for a while, but eventually you will long to disappear with the rest of the Mexicans.

The sexual chemistry between Hepburn and Grant, when set against Charade's tumultuous backdrop of shifting identities, makes this movie an enduring favorite.

Raises fascinating question within a compelling narrative framework, and is also intriguing for the glimpse it provides into the inner workings of Orthodox Judaism.

As all his films have shown, Cuarón is clearly one of the most original filmmakers working today, and Children of Men should solidify his place at the top of those ranks. With a great script, there should be no stopping him.

The rush subsides, however, the minute the movie ends, and leaves the viewer with the faint aftertaste of a processed sugar high.

A blast to watch if for nothing more than the performances. They hit the proverbial jackpot.

Watching and listening to these two is a charming experience; their conversation has the ring of veracity, and rarely does the viewer's interest stray.

The Ghost Writer hasn’t the complexity or breadth of such stunners as "Chinatown" or "The Pianist," but it is nevertheless a solidly built little roundelay of intrigue with a veracity that seems torn from newspaper headlines.

So definitive in so many ways, Bonnie and Clyde has become a 20th-century touchstone.

With Eight Below, Marshall has created a family film that doesn't pander, preach, or poop out. That alone is a rare thing.

Though the story played out in the national media, this documentary makes effective use of commentary by Tillman's survivors, who resent the way the military lied to them and exploited the memory of their loved one to serve an ulterior purpose.

You can tell that everyone's whole heart is in this project, you just wish that a little more of the heart was conveyed on the screen.

The kind of movie that gets under your skin and takes root.

A top-notch cast was gathered and then wasted in this atmospheric but prosaic hoodoo spooker.

Whether their goal is to nourish the faithful or lure the heathens is not always clear. The only thing that's clear is that The Last Sin Eater serves neither of these higher purposes.

Will be of interest for anyone seeking unconventional romantic stories as well as those curious about the development of the Dogme movement.

Sandler has become one of our primary symbols of the modern rage-repressed American male. Let’s hope that one day he will learn to channel that rage to greater effect.

It becomes unmistakably clear that Wuornos’ wretched childhood and young life is representative of a deep failure within American society to adequately protect our young and defenseless. This becomes part of the movie’s argument against capital punishment.

Curious and effective.

As a film An Inconvenient Truth is a treasury of information. Attention may occasionally drift, but the film’s message of urgency is abundantly clear.

American Me is crafted with heart and conviction and intelligence. It demands no less of its audience. It insists that there are no quick fixes, but that solutions are of the utmost urgency. It demonstrates how the capacity for change resides within each individual.

A crowd-pleaser for the under-10 set judging from the preview audience’s reaction, Dunston Checks In offers a few funny scenes, one-liners, and characters, but not enough to inspire the entire film.

Puts an unusual spin on some of the clichés of the romantic comedy.

This is the way this ground-breaking monument was meant to be seen: in mind-boggling 70mm.

The actor Scott Caan makes a strong debut as a writer-director in this atmospheric character study in which he also co-stars.

Hopefully find the audience it deserves.

Rejecting normality for nomadism, Van Zandt's life was difficult, but, man, what a legacy of music he left.

In the Line of Fire is a terrific action movie with good performances and a smart script that occasionally falters for trying too hard but, on the whole, takes us on psychological journeys that few of us have had opportunities to experience.

A fascinating sight to behold.

Has little of the wit, surprise, or memorable characterizations of the original.

Humor is a key ingredient in Kafka, though it definitely leans toward the wry and quirky. The movie loses some of its clarity and narrative force in mid-story however, though it never abandons its original visual style and focus.

Echoes long after the movie ends.

When you get to the end of The City of Your Final Destination, you may discover that there is no there there.

Would have been smart to fold before it let its hand go this far.

The performances are all strong (particularly Landau's) but, as a whole, the movie suffers from competing impulses that push and pull Mistress from comedy to drama and back again. It can't quite seem to make up its mind and as a consequence loses a lot of its steam and momentum.

Each member of the well-chosen cast not only creates a distinct character with unique and memorable resonances but also meshes these separate personalities to form as satisfying an example of ensemble acting as we are likely to see for quite some time to come.

Manages the most delicate of hat tricks: It gives definition to uncertainty.

Seeing The Terminal is like experiencing an uneventful flight: The trip was pleasant but not delightful, and you’re happy to deplane at the other end.

All the advance signs looked discouraging, but I still kept thinking: How bad could a comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum really be? Well, let's put it this way … you won't ever hear me asking that particular question again.

Filmed in luscious black and white, Mustang Island is a millennial comedy of manners that also doubles as a superlative acting showcase for real-life couple Macon Blair and Lee Eddy.

For the first time in her film career, Plummer really owns the movie. Plummer's habitation of the character of Eunice in Butterfly Kiss is a creation that sears itself permanently into the viewer's consciousness, though it's possible that, ultimately, you may wish the memory to be quite otherwise.

There are warm, genuine moments that endear these attractive characters and their experiences to us despite all the falderal. Feast of Love may be enough for some to keep the pangs at bay ’til the real thing comes along.

Although the story and imagery are absorbing to watch, the details of the plot are sometimes hard to follow and fully digest. But enough of it survives to make this extravagant production a delightful experience for Westerners to watch.

Learn from the Evers family: The Haunted Mansion is not worth the detour.

With all the hallmarks of a prestige picture, chief among them a great cast and creative crew and an "important" message, The Soloist plays its tune with a frequently heavy hand.

A fun, well-assembled and -performed slice of life that requires no special affinity with the subject matter in order to -- ahem -- get one's groove on.

What Soul Food lacks in narrative originality and flourish it nicely makes up for with wonderful performances by a large ensemble cast.

As cold and unseemly as that stiff found in the shower.

There is a new definition of the term, "critic-proof movie," and it goes by the name Pokémon: The First Movie.

Balibar and Depardieu make a compelling duo who exude an animal magnetism that's undeniable.

The performances in this costume drama are wonderful.

More like watching a Polaroid picture develop without ever getting to see the finished picture.

Taken as a whole, The Ugly Truth is much like its orgasms: phony and unsatisfying.

Part drama, part civics lesson, part entertainment, it sustains our deep curiosity despite the forgone knowledge of how things turn out.

This oil-family story is way, way east of Eden. Were I asked to choose, Written on the Wind would blow in as my favorite Sirk film.

The use of Bryan Adams as the madwoman's imagined paramour is indicative of just how mediocre this movie is.

No nectar of the gods this, but we can still be thankful that Bee Movie is a sweet morsel that's devoid of any jokes about bee farts and poop.

An effective sound design enhances several of the film's sudden frights, and Sutherland, who appears in almost every scene, is a predictably solid presence.

There's just enough plot to keep things moving but never too much that it gets in the way of the basic fish-out-of-water gagfest. The Beverly Hillbillies' greatest achievement is its inspired casting.

Maintains a breezy charm throughout and contains many extremely funny sequences.

Makes it pretty difficult to tell the difference between good mothers and bad.

A tour de force of modern cinema.

Fans of the Polish brothers and fans of inspirational movies may all depart the theatre scratching their heads: The Astronaut Farmer is not exactly the movie any of these viewers expected to see. This is almost always a good thing – even if the movie is a deserved head-scratcher.

Restrepo is an example of photojournalism at its finest.

There's a lot of truly hilarious material in The Grand.

In the end, Redbelt prevails, just as Terry teaches his students to prevail, but getting there isn't always pretty.

It’s hard to say what makes Veronica Guerin feel so distant and uninspiring. Maybe, it’s just as conventional wisdom has always said: Journalism is a dull and tedious business to put on the screen.

If you shut down your brain and simply take in the wardrobe and performances by Streep and Blunt you'll have a swell time, like aimlessly flipping the pages of a fashion magazine.

The movie is, ultimately, a fascinating victim of its own ambitions.

On the whole, there are some good moments in the movie, but altogether, 2 Days in the Valley is about one day too much.

The greatest problem with The Great Buck Howard is that writer/director McGinly shapes the story with young Troy as the protagonist, when the really interesting character is the one for whom the movie is named.

This essential Billy Wilder film smoothly combines trenchant social observation with hilarious comedy.

Butler's film hopes to confront our national battle fatigue so that we may move on.

Plot and character development are scarce; the film is more an abstraction than an absorption.

(Greenaway) is often described as a director whose movies "are not for everyone." The obvious retort is that neither are the Three Stooges, but at least everyone understands them.

Though we will differ on the methods of improving the American health care system, Sicko's enduring contribution is the undeniable evidence that the system is broken. If the film brings the debate out into the open of our movie lobbies and living rooms, it can’t be long before the conversation trickles into the corridors of Congress.

Offers a very interesting snapshot of some decidedly modern pathologies.

It's interesting to see this more quotidian aspect of Israel displayed on film, but the parable of James' Journey to Jerusalem has the sophistication of a Sunday School lesson.

It's all rather clumsy and routine.

Overall, the quality of the film has that made in America feel -- sturdy enough to last through the initial warranty period but not designed as a long-term durable good.

The entire cast is marvelous and capable of conveying continents of emotion with a furtive smile or arched brow.

Watching Raimi's visual style and narrative verve flatten out into this pale reiteration of a middle-aged-male weepie is an exercise in modern horror.

In the mold of their previous films "Ice Age" and "Robots": a nice blend of rudimentary and inventive touches.

The Girlfriend Experience uses nonprofessional actors, aside from lead Grey, who is the acclaimed star of more than 80 porn films and here debuts in her first "nonadult" role.

At times, it looks as though Broken Embraces might be the love child of Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock, with its dramatic broad strokes, iconic reds, and teasing narrative clues.

Pleasant but dull formula film.

Nobody Knows is the rare film that successfully tells its tale of childhood from the children’s point of view.

In filming this movie with such artistic precision, the movie ironically winds up objectifying Griet just as much as any appreciator of the original painting.

When all is said and done, director bob Fosse (Cabaret, Lenny, All That Jazz) delivers a sluggish movie that exhibits none of his usual flash and even less psychological drama.

Provocative and prodding, but apart from its queen bee Ellen (the marvelous Rampling), the characters are representational types instead of fleshed-out human beings.

As a whole, September 11 never reaches any conclusions or ready insights. But as a collection of moments, the film often soars.

Avildsen is a master at pulling populist heartstrings, Johnny Clegg provides the African music which is so essential to the movie's plot and the panoramic shots of the veldt are frequently breathtaking. But these things alone do not a good movie make.

Never gives us the nuts and bolts of mental illness and guilt, just the sight of cooped-up steam escaping from a valve that’s about to blow.

Only a quite over-the-top character played by Raquel Welch strikes any false note. Otherwise, Tortilla Soup is a real chef's special.

Smart and self-deprecating story about love and mortality: It’s merely a winter's tale told with a summer's palette.

It's one of those period dramas about upper-crust Europeans in vacation resorts, which at first we think we've seen a million times before.

After spending time with Moretti during the course of this movie, one discovers that he makes an interesting and entertaining companion.

Ultimately passable movie entertainment, but like most future in-laws leaves a feeling of something still desired.

A very funny and well-acted comedy about the slings and arrows of outrageous adolescence.

G.I. Joe was not screened for critics, but that’s not because of its mindless action and nonsensical plot. It’s because G.I. Joe is the kind of movie that bludgeons the viewer into submission with its loud and constant barrage of sound and fury.

The revelation of Little Ashes turns out to be none of the leading men but rather Gatell, a riveting actress cast as the girlfriend who is mystified by Lorca’s lack of sexual interest in her.

What's compelling about Caché is not the answer to the whodunit but Haneke's exacting invocation of palpable tension.

Provides tepid but fun entertainment.

Nearly a decade before the supper-table racial detente of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Kramer mined the subject matter of racial divisiveness in the groundbreaking The Defiant Ones, which paired Curtis and Poitier as hunky prison escapees unhappily bonded to each other by means of metal chains and the mutual need to survive.

A hackneyed police story, rife with clichés, implausibilities, and weak performances.

The characters never come across as anything more than self-interested parties. It’s hard to have a rooting interest in any of their fates, and even less in the outcome of this movie.

The film reunites Carell with his "Little Miss Sunshine" co-star Arkin, who, as always, delivers the goods, as do most of the other supporting players. Too long by at least 15-20 minutes, Get Smart is nevertheless a giggly summer movie.

Not even the always reliable talents of McKean and Lynch can help pull this comedy out of its ironic slump.

It was written by military-horror storyteller David Rabe (Sticks and Bones, Streamers), and features outstanding performances by this ensemble ñ especially Fox and Penn.

Solid performances, capable visuals, and the honesty of the interracial subject matter make Restaurant stand out from the typical "I'm an artist, not really a waiter" pack.

Though you might have a hard time discussing some of the film’s verbal descriptions of torture with young ones, Persepolis will prove a worthwhile movie for thoughtful teens.

There is also a lot of good supporting work in this movie, including the performances of Irma P Hall, Tom Bowser as Evie's clueless dad, and Bruno Kirby as Kiddie Acres' gruff impresario.

Not only is Kikujiro sweet and funny, it is, no doubt, Kitano's experimental "art film."

My conclusion is that exploitation of a child for the sake of one's career is a shameful act.

Doesn't break any new ground in the baseball movie playbook. However, it does bring it all back home with the assurance of seasoned pro.

Intends to be a farce, not a drama. The film never quite achieves either definition.

Yet, the problem goes beyond the film's staginess (although there's plenty of that to go around). It could even have something to do with the delicate difficulties involved in the successful transfer of stage camp to the more intimate level of film.

Director Caton-Jones ("Scandal", "Memphis Belle") once again shows his flair for period detail though he never here exerts his grip on the human drama.