Ron Wells

For the most part, the film is brilliant.

Lee gives us cross-section of characters, almost none of whom escape the summer unchanged.

The film is not without its problems, some inherent to Wilde's original play.

The strong parts are the rip-offs of "The Conversation." The worst part is the lack of understandable character motivations.

Lock is filled with great writing, great acting, colorful characters, and a tight story. I actually like this film more than "Pulp Fiction".

Not too far below the gloss you can still feel director Denis Villeneuve's beating heart and the fondness he has for his characters. Because he does, you and I can too.

At least the studio hired enough likable scene-stealing actors and comedians to carry the bloated carcass of this film over the course of two hours.

While bearing many similarities to Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream in look and theme, the film covers Maddin’s traditional themes of failed romance. While much brighter than his other films, if you like Maddin’s other works, you’ll probably dig this. If you don’t, this film will not convert you to the cause.

Now the big question: Does this whole thing actually work? Some of the time.

This masterpiece started out at around three stars, but after the credits, it just got sillier and more lurid.

Waters brilliantly skewers the pretensions of the New York art world and culture, and uses real people from that world in the process.

Best of all, Robert Downey Jr., as Rick's seedy private eye provides a little comic relief at his own expense.

Much of the animation is stunning and all of the vocal performances are good to great. It's just much of the passion seems to be in not stepping on anyone's beliefs or interpretations, instead of in telling the story in the most compelling way possible.

If this is the direction Williams is headed in his career, fantastic. For auteur Romanek, it was at least a good first try.

This movie best exploits the strengths of the show as well, such as the chemistry among the cast.

Quentin actually made a REAL movie, with believable characters and performances, rather than just repositories for clever dialog.

The final result becomes a search not for a knight in shining armor, but one of acceptance for one's own identity.

Jackson gives an amazing, nuanced performance as he teeters on the edge of paranoia. Spacey gives a great, toned-down show as I guy who's in over his head trying to find out what the hell is going on.

The stunts are great but they make sense and don't blow the sense of reality of the whole movie.

I'm sure that an interesting film could easily be made about girl surfers, this just ain't it.

With basically a single set and a limited cast, the producers get the most of their limited budget, particular with a couple of spectacular death scenes.

The problem is, the main conspiracy of the show is so vast, you have to walk around it a couple of times before you can see what it is.

Garofalo is amazing, as always, and the film is almost about her as much as the leads. The recreation of the casts' high school years is wickedly funny and dead on.

It's charmingly bad and an excellent date film.

Unfortunately, the script is a light romantic comedy and unwilling to go the extra distance to really make it stick.

As always, Don Cheadle is fantastic, but the film belongs to Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

The best thing the filmmakers did was to pull a cast out of the stage productions. Importantly, the actors convey a sense of history and comfort with each other.

Some of the acting may not be the best and many of the points aren't made with a soft touch, but damn, I can't think of another film about addiction with a more accurate view from the inside.