Merle Bertrand

A heartwarming, cleansing film that's simply good for the soul.

The film reveals a man whose wiry build, relentless passion, fearless guile, and bravery made him a beloved human rights activist in his strife-ridden country.

While Intoxicating is far from a perfect film, it is nonetheless a highly effective -- and affecting -- clash of two fiercely independent talents, Kirk Harris and Mark David.

The greatest accomplishment of Occupation: Dreamland is showing those of us on the home front that it really is possible, Republican howling to the contrary aside, to support our troops without supporting the war itself.

War is chaos and confusion even under the best of circumstances, of which this current fiasco clearly ain’t. The Prisoner… underscores this fact, as well as muddying up the waters on such commonly accepted platitudes as "Support the Troops."

There's just something maddeningly upbeat about this film's shameless hokiness. Combine that with the film's colorful art and wardrobe designs, spiffy choreography, the joy of seeing some veteran faces on screen for the first time in a while, and a soundtrack that'll make even the dead tap their toes, and Swing simply makes for some serious jump-jivin' fun.

The appeal of The Burial Society lays in its unusual and obscure take on an otherwise mundane tale of greed, treachery and double-cross.

Gleaming like a well-polished magic lamp on a vibrant Persian rug, The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam showcases Arabian/Muslim culture at its best and brightest.

An unusual angle on the age-old coming of age story. Filled with solid performances by veteran actors Ivey and Raymond, as well as a captivating performance by newcomer Grace.

If you liked "Magnolia," you'll also like Mind the Gap.

By turns chilling, depressing, yet guardedly optimistic documentary.

This well made, slightly cornball and riotously comical romantic comedy not only extols the old fashioned American dream, but charmingly celebrates the virtues of the great American melting pot as well.

When done well, they are scintillating cinematic brain teasers, and Timecrimes is one of the best time travel films to come along in, er, quite some time.

A powerful no-frills drama. It's a film that never flinches from its colorful, if sometimes cruel namesake neighborhood and the people who populate it.

Highly entertaining film.

One of those films where, even though you're pretty sure you know where it's going, it's still fun to get there.

Has the intangible and distinctive feel of a movie from a different era. Which just adds to this fine film's mystique, providing yet another reason why The Cooler hits the jackpot.

Ultimately a rewarding -- if weird -- experience. It's just too bad that it takes so long to get there.

A rare high school dramedy with some heft to it. Smartly photographed and edited, it manages to walk the difficult tightrope strung between the typically loopy coming of age film and a simmering disaster in the making.

A film that's every bit as odd, unique, and unnerving as its title character.

A black comedy that nonetheless manages to tap into the sense of alienation and unfocused rage so prevalent in today's kids.

An unusual tale about an often over-glorified era from our past, The Scoundrel's Wife exposes wartime America's sordid small town underbelly in a captivating, even entertaining manner.

If the fascinating, if disconcerting Our Brand Is Crisis teaches us one thing, it's that consultants, handlers, lawyers, and middlemen can always find a job.

Director Mike Bencivenga takes what could so easily have been a trite, cliche-riddled melodrama and instead, somehow turns it into...well, a wry and moving melodrama.

A touching and almost ridiculously inspirational story for all of us.

Unlikely but winning farce.

Draws an unspoken parallel with, of all things, beauty pageants, complete with unnaturally driven kids and nervously supportive parents desperately trying not to appear too pushy.

This white trash "War of the Roses" is a surprisingly engaging film.

An amazingly powerful piece of cinema. Actually, it's more an amazingly powerful piece of news journalism; the kind of in-depth stories told in all their complexity that such fluff American network "news" magazines as "Dateline" could only dream about telling.

Haunting and chilling, yet biting black tragi-comedy.

Not only does this film have the coolest title ever, but this bittersweet, multi-layered comparison of life's realities versus life's potential is as compelling as it is deeply resonant.

Secretary, like the type of relationship it explores, is not for everybody. But it does what good films do best; that is to provoke us, push our buttons, make us think and maybe even entertain us in the process.

One of the most wildly original, dryly comical, and smartly structured films ever created.

With his darker secrets hidden away, secrets that could have provided us with the final layers to this influential man, we’re left with an incomplete portrait of Bayard Rustin. But thanks to the documentary “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin,” we at least have that much. And for a man who’s as important and relatively unknown as Rustin was, an incomplete picture is far better than no picture at all.

Brilliantly scripted and full of a virtual Who's Who of familiar faces, The Big Lebowski is yet another golden hunk of totally unique celluloid from the versatile Brothers Cohen.

Both Democrats and Republicans take it on the chin here, although the left-leaning bias is obvious.

An intensely moving and oftentimes haunting film; a compelling look at the unique life paths of three totally different women.

This soothing, elegantly-crafted film is such a marvelous piece of work.

Yes, there is a very palpable lesbian erotic undercurrent pervading this film. However, the reason it's so palpable is because it's so subtly and deftly handled...AND it's only one thread of the film's storyline.

A gripping example of "You Are There," on the spot journalism, even if it is a little slim when it comes to motives and back stories.

"We are who we are," is the mantra for this grim urban drama. That human escape velocity can be awfully hard to reach with all those bad influences hanging around.

ZigZag rests heavily on Jones III's sensational turn as the lead character. Capable of drawing empathy without pity from an audience, his ZigZag is the unlikely constant in a world swirling with change and intrigue.

Full of enough legitimate red meat to incense salivating Democrats who can't wait to tear into a pound of Bush's flesh in November. Yet, this film should truly frighten partisans on both sides of the aisle.

Would that we could extract the essence of this utterly enjoyable film and distill its creativity, intelligence and originality into a serum which we could then inject into all the tapped-out Hollywood screenwriters and directors out there.