Merle Bertrand

About as flat as a five day old soda.

Not enough to hold the audience's interest, especially with such shallow simpletons as these two women in the leads.

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.

Tedious talk-fest.

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.

Solid debut effort from Lisa Cholodenko.

Highly entertaining film.

The kind of film that requires a lot of work and patience on behalf of the viewer, not to mention a willingness to set aside prejudices and the fear inherent when we meet people different from us. As such, while you may not necessarily like By Hook or By Crook, you won't forget it, either.

Delightfully goofy.

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.

Botko and Gurland's bleak and caustic comedy gets off to a slow start and struggles to overcome the handicap of having three main characters who are, by design, highly unpleasant individuals.

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

Takes a while to get rolling, but builds fairly well once it finally does. Part of the problem, no doubt, is Shokrina's decision to have the dialogue rapidly alternate between English and (presumably) Persian, with subtitles. This is a highly disorienting distraction.

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.

A movie celebrating the life of the greatest military conqueror the world has ever known should feature a bit more conquering.

A stripped-down, small town "COPS" without the flashy editing and hip-hop soundtrack.

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.

Listless clunker.

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.

The resulting concoction is a cinematic elixir that disappoints, no matter how much hypnosis one is under.

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

Good ensemble performances in front of the camera are supported by clever shooting and cutting, which work, not just deftly but unobtrusively so, with and within the readily apparent technical limitations at hand.

With its clumsy storytelling and lack of someone to filter Duvall's gushiness about the subject matter, Assassination Tango winds up shooting itself in its own dancing feet.