Merle Bertrand

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The kind of film in which you pretty much know that everything is going to turn out all right in the end. That doesn't mean, however, that one won't enjoy watching this warm and fuzzy exercise in escapism in the process.

Definitely designed to tug on its audience's heartstrings, a task at which it completely succeeds, In America is ultimately a solid, if unspectacular family film.

Solid debut effort from Lisa Cholodenko.

For nothing but pure goofy escapism, A Foreign Affair is at least worth a fling.

Just a plain old fun movie.

Believe it or not, most of the empathy here is with Wand Jean's legal team. Yes, the lawyers.

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.

With Manito's raw portrayal of its characters and stripped-down cinematography, the undercurrent of impending tragedy is palpable.

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.

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

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.

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

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

By turns chilling, depressing, yet guardedly optimistic documentary.

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.

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 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.

What starts out as a fairly conventional and effective stalker drama with a cyber-twist, soon gets too cute with its dreams within dreams set pieces and shifting realities. It’s kinda nifty at first, but Kon just keeps piling it on until you just roll your eyes, throw up your hands, and scream, “Enough!”

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."

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

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.

The best thing about The Slaughter Rule -- is that the film refuses to succumb to the temptation of a glorious Hollywood feel-good happy ending.