Phil Hall

For telling America to acknowledge how far the country has deviated from its values and how painfully it has failed to make the world safer, this is the most important movie of the year.

Paltrow gives the performance of the year, and perhaps of her career, in this extraordinary and powerful dissection of genius, jealousy, madness and serenity.

Wilson overstuffs the film with endless artsy shots of nature.

The single worst Shakespeare film ever made.

Rare vehicle which gives the Palestinian people (rather than their failed, double-talking leadership) an opportunity to speak freely and openly, and that feat in itself makes this one of the most important documentaries of recent times.

While Fryar is a charming man and his work clearly deserves recognition, A Man Called Pearl is an obvious case of building a three-story house on a one-story foundation. Really, can you make a feature-length film about a man who carves unique shapes out of trees, shrubs and bushes?

The film is a visceral overload of wordplay ranging from the spontaneous neighborhood park jams to the overflowing concert venues.

Fairly mundane and frequently boring.

Engrossing and brilliantly insightful production.

Bubble is among his (Soderbergh) worst films. What in the world was he thinking with this?

Reconfigured into a very different one-woman movie by Gibson and director Jeremy Kagan. Unfortunately, the transformation was not successful.

Grim and frequently depressing, and despite the artistry of its framing it nonetheless is a very difficult movie to endure.

It is not only the year's best documentary, but it is also among the finest films ever made about religion.

Quirky, entertaining documentary.

A meandering and disappointing documentary about one of Africa's most beloved yet elusive musical giants.

The true power of the film comes from young Marko Kovacevic, who plays the poetic child lost in a family and culture where poetry has no meaning.

The idea of a gay version of "American Pie" might not seem too tasty, but Another Gay Movie offers a fabulous surprise in not only matching that rude boy classic's unapologetic rude humor but by establishing its own identity as a genuinely funny and often touching coming of age comedy.

If Dogville has a reason for importance, it is the astonishing all-star ensemble who try very hard to put life into their cardboard characters and make this silly film work.

With a clumsy hip-hop score permeating every free inch of the soundtrack and ugly 16mm cinematography that would never be allowed out of Film School 101, the audio-visual experience is a wreck. The quality of Quality of Life is non-existent.

Spins in its own orbit and dares the audience to come into its weirdly one-of-a-kind environment. This is a delightful work of humor which is worthy of Spielberg-level praise.

This one deserves to go back in the refrigerator – preferably to the very back of the refrigerator!

One of the year's best films. An extraordinary work of intellectual maturity and emotional depth.

Sadly, Naqoyqatsi quickly degenerates into a monotonous skein of banal images which strangely reinforces the message that we're living in a damn dull society.

Wooden, one-dimensional epic.

There is some very un-Mormon gender bending going on here.

Tiresome, trite and choked with every lousy Dixie-fried stereotype imaginable.

Obviously, this is one subject which may not seem to require the attention of documentary filmmakers.

Thoroughly obnoxious and relentlessly unfunny comedy.

Being released at the same time that Bowie's latest album "Heathen" is being unveiled. Bowie fans who need a reason to celebrate the trajectory of the artist's career can make use of this cinematic Alpha and CD Omega.

Small, amateurish Israeli feature.

A noisy, chaotic affair.

After sitting through this movie, you will want to throw something more pungent than rice at The Groomsmen.

Cimino fashioned a deep, multi-textured screenplay rich with fully dimensional characters. His ensemble cast brought the story to vivid life. Kristofferson gave a career peak performance here as a man who seems perpetually out of his element.

One of the most effective, intelligent, mature and romantic love stories to come across the screen recently is, of all things, a documentary.

While imperfect, it does provide an intriguing glimpse into a subculture, which many people will be surprised to learn, still exists.

A delightfully silly romp which reinvents the legendary Italian lover's adventures into the realm of broad farce.

Easily the most surprising comedy of his career. The surprise: it's not funny.

By the time the film is over it is not so much a "who-done-it?" but a "why-did-we-sit-through-this?"

It is an entertaining bit of fluff, with a few engaging performances and enough visual panache to keep audiences diverted and amused.

A mediocre film that presents the troubled poet Sylvia Plath as a jealous, possessive and irritating woman. It is hard to recall another biopic which is so unflattering to its subject.

If there is one film which makes the most out of life, this is it.

Jaglom has the good sense to cast the legendary Lee Grant in an extraordinary role.

Beautifully produced but emotionally vacant drama.

A beautifully crafted documentary.

It is a shame the film doesn't cast a wider net into deeper political waters – the outrage is barely scratched in this production.

At 100 minutes in running time, Dallas 362 can be called "The Amateur Hour-and-40-Minutes."

While I admire Bishop Jakes and I frequently watch his sermons on TV, I have to question his tactic of charging people admission to generate hosannas on his behalf.

It is a horrifying and devastating spectacle of life gone dreadfully out of control, yet it is also riveting and hypnotic in such a dramatic sensation that you are left breathless by the sequence of events which will haunt and torture for as long as your memory remains intact.

To its credit, the film's costume design is stunning. But unless you have a kimono fetish, there's no reason to pay a good dollar (or a yen, for that matter) on this junk.

Nothing more than a big old chunk of horse poop.

Where Song of the South errs badly is in its regurgitation of the horrible myth that black slaves were always singing and happy and just loved working on massah’s plantation.

The one lesson learned from watching this film is that Canadians can make movies just as badly as anyone else.

With a stronger actress who could have been in greater command of the character, Freeze Me would have been a cold-hearted masterpiece rather than the okay thriller it turned out.

A diverting and delightful visit with two unheralded indie cinema veterans with a surplus amount of anecdotes and zany film clips.

Fans of prison flicks would do better to catch the HBO series "Oz" or the five millionth rebroadcast of "The Shawshank Redemption."

Unfortunately, Brooks errs badly by having his film centered in India. Yes, India - which, as most people know, is not a predominantly Muslim country. Rather than look for comedy in the Muslim world, Brooks uses this film to make fun of contemporary Indian society.

A pleasant diversion which mixes snatches of Wilde's waspish humor with a stylish Art Deco environment. The result is amusing to the ears and easy on the eyes.

More of a curio than a classic and it takes the strongest of constitutions to endure this film without entertaining notions of matricide

Has a terrible air of been-there/done-that.

This amazing tour-de-force presents Huppert in a role, which is equal parts abrasive and vulnerable, exasperating and pathetic, monstrous and saintly.

Theaters showing Mad Cowgirl should install seatbelts, because audiences are in for the ultimate wild ride.

A raw, brutal, hypnotic journey into the world of seven heroin addicts who barely survive on the streets of New York City. It is a film of great sadness and pain.

Typical of too many films produced in Israel: plodding, verbose, badly-made and completely monotonous.

There is a wealth of smaller dramatic triumphs of sly gestures, body language working at odds with spoken words, and minor goofiness (such as repeatedly blowing the rim of an opened beer bottle to create a rough whistle) which makes Home more humane (not to mention more human) than the vast majority of today's movies.

An original and highly memorable comedy, and mention should be made of Ebiri’s work beyond filmmaking: he is also a film critic for New York Magazine, thus giving proof that those who review films for a living can also turn around and make a damn fine movie.

A minor and forgettable bore.

An Italian-British-French-Spanish-Romanian co-production. A better argument against multinational cooperation cannot be imagined.

Okay, this isn’t a great film. Maybe it’s not even a good film. But for 1954, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” filled the bill with enough mindless silliness to keep people amused for two hours. Even today, it’s good for a cynical laugh.

This sounds an awful lot like "Memento." But unlike that movie, the French-Swiss-Spanish-Italian co-production Novo opts for a Eurotrash sex comedy approach instead.

Such a hopeless mess that there's no fun in tossing insults at its endless shortcomings.

The results are either darkly comic and tragic, depending on the viewer's mindframe. But McElhinney's route to these results, as with the Bertolucci, is nothing short of stunning.

Something of a surprise: a gay-oriented feature that is genuinely touching and sincere.

A style-rich, substance-weak B-level gangster movie which is noteworthy for two unusual reasons: it is one of the very few films from Thailand to gain international release and it is the perhaps the only film of its genre to feature a love story between a hit man and a pharmacist.

If Stalin's Wife doesn't provide solid answers, it nonetheless offers a fascinating tapestry of love, madness, politics, suspicions and jealousies.

It's all a case of been-there, done-that, although the singing is nice. Still, do we really need another movie with thirtysomethings who ache to re-live their college years? C’mon, guys, grow up!

A small, no-budget, seemingly unsophisticated film that creates a minor energy miracle by fueling its running time on pure raffish charm.

The ultimate rarity: a sequel that is miles ahead of its predecessor in every imaginable department.

A mild but diverting farce about misperceptions involving gays and goombas.

Painfully boring.

Never quite clicks, primarily because the central male characters are badly miscast.

Ghastly.

I would like to praise My Big Fat Independent Movie for achieving something that most independently-produced comedies fail to do: it creates laughs.

A dull film, inspired by a true story.

How does Xanadu qualify as the greatest movie musical? Simple: it offers nothing but pure wall-to-wall fun and nonsense to keep a smile on one’s face from the opening credits (which cleverly spoof the logo of Universal Pictures) through the end of the picture. [11 Aug 2005]

A potentially great film stuck inside a not-so-great film. Watching Dog Run is fairly painful since flashes of brilliance peek out and shine at unexpected moments.

Provocative and poignant.

The result is a great-looking bore.

The Quiet is best for cheap laughs by jaded moviegoers with absolutely nothing better to do with their time.

A small, tacky non-comedy.

London is the independent film world's equivalent of a fiasco.

A guilty pleasure diversion. Yeah, it is dumber than a bag of hair. But it is also fast, occasionally funny and genuinely entertaining in an old-fashion no-brainer manner.

Unless you are severely addicted to Johnny Depp, this film offers very little in the way of genuine entertainment value. Ultimately, “The Brave” should have been renamed “The Foolish.”

The primary problem with “Rabbit Test” was that it was based on a hoary one-joke concept – in this case, a man becomes pregnant. But Rivers had no clue how to take the concept and expand it into a flowing, coherent comedy script.

A painfully awful film.

If you want pure, undiluted, 100% guaranteed entertainment, Soap Girl is the film to enjoy. This film is a wonderful work of fun, with a marvelous ensemble cast who have more energy, sex-appeal and charm than any group to strut and vamp across the camera in recent memory.