Paula Nechak

First-time feature film director Max Farberbock has given a terrific visual style, resonance, sense of hope and power to the material.

Something doesn't quite gel in the end.

Original, imaginative and stylish.

Has difficulty reaching a resolution. In the final half-hour, the film becomes almost hysterically out of sync with its prior quiet reserve.

Nettelbeck has created a movie recipe that ladles great dollops of dessertlike joy and equally dark tragedy around her strong-willed heroine. It wouldn't work without actors capable of finding vulnerability, humanity and kindness in sometimes inaccessible characters.

Lurches toward an offbeat honesty but it also very nearly crashes in its quirkiness.

If ever a film seemed poised to take over the spot occupied by the surprise indie hit, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," it's Real Women Have Curves.

Daring, gorgeous.

The most fascinating aspect of the film is how the point of view shifts -- each character, as seen through another's eyes, is something else entirely.

Unfortunately can't transcend its theatrical roots and the actors, good as they are, seem like they're grandstanding.

Gorgeously evocative visually.

Its only constant is that it's strangely eloquent and quite original.

Like a family visit during the holidays. Tensions run high, not everyone is likable but being there's an uneasy comfort because everything is so familiar.

Never offers much enlightenment through its message.

Occasionally falters in its symbolism and storytelling, but still unnerves because we're never quite sure of our bearings, or whose "reality" we're watching.

Instead of making fun of the series' fans and their lifestyle, Galaxy Quest targets actors and how an onscreen image can forever lock a performer in a particular role. And that proves to be its saving grace.

A genre-twisting surprise.

The movie is reminiscent of the films of Claude Sautet but it has a grittier, more youthful appeal. Still, it's just as nuanced and rich in all its messy revelation. [21 May 1999]

While there is a faithful following of kids, it just never seems as exciting or sad or emotional -- or as ablaze with personalities -- as what has gone before.

The actors navigate tough characters through emotional mayhem with such intense determination it's a shame they're undercut by the intrusive voice-over.

Doesn't offer much texture or depth of character.

There are some nice ideas floating around this ambitious film, as well as attempts to say them in a unique way.

Though Signs & Wonders loses its bubbles and runs flat in its anticlimactic final moments, it's far more inventive and demanding than any movie of recent memory.

The joy is in watching a talented cast make something crisp and fresh out of material that -- though perfectly adequate and enjoyable -- trespasses little into territory that's new or out of the traditionally plotted points of the genre.

Chereau's film is disjointed and abrupt and it rages when is should be deft. We're given too little too late and, despite the lessons that lie within the affair, the lines between enlightenment and nihilism blur.

Sticks in the mind and simply won't go away.

Director Marcelo Pineyro imbues the film with mood and style and yet the violent climax holds little thrall as a lack of character development makes it had to care about the robbers' fate.

Much ado about very little because it takes no stand and gives little insight into the Chopper's psyche.