Ron Wells

One warning however: James Caan's shoulder hair, when seen on this size screen, may frighten children considerably (you'll at least want to discuss it openly after the show, answering any questions your kids may have in an honest and direct manner).

I've already seen at least 20 documentaries this year. They've left me amused, sad, informed, bored, pissed-off, whatever. I'm willing to bet, though, that I don't see another this year as richly entertaining or as cathartic as The Kid Stays in the Picture. Is it really that good? You better believe it.

Take the safety off of the comedy Magnum called Happiness and put the barrel in your mouth. You'll laugh your ass off as it takes off the back of your head...It could be the best film of the year. At the very least, I'll never forget it.

A very funny and painfully relevant two hours of entertainment.

This is a family film. There's a great deal of wackiness.

I'll just say to anyone lamenting the state of American cinema since the 1970s, if you're curious where the next generation of auteurs is coming from, look in the art houses and look in The Matrix.

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.

The director’s new masterpiece is a summation of nearly everything he has learned as a filmmaker, and about black culture, but he doesn’t feel the need to beat the audience over the head for each lesson he’s trying to impart.

This is not light-hearted entertainment. Be prepared to think. Uncle Dave will take you someplace new.

I thought I might have seen everything I needed to see about neo-Nazi skinheads in "Romper Stomper" and "American History X". Not only was I in for a surprise, but newcomer Ryan Gosling gives every bit as stunning a performance as did Russell Crowe and Ed Norton in those two films, and then some.

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.

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

After half a century, does the story hold up? Eh, pretty much. In the end, the story doesn't really matter that much as this is really a vehicle for the amazing visuals.

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

Gallo transcends the medium in a manner I only associate with David Lynch. It's brilliantly spooky.

Scorcese has made one of his best and most personal films...Kundun is also mercifully free of white teachers or saviors, such as, oh, say, Brad Pitt?

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.

The portrait drawn by this film is of a man loved and/or respected by nearly all that have known him.

I don't want to say any more about the plot, it's just too much sick fun.

Probably the best comment I could give it is that after sitting through the first two and 1/2 hours, I would have happily sat through another five. How long am I going to have to wait for that DVD Box Set?

Of all the teen films released this year, this one is, by far, the best.

They should have produced this in 3D for IMAX as Metropolis is the kind of work destined to blow the minds of stoners everywhere.

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

I saw this movie in a room full of San Francisco movie critics, and I haven't heard that much laughter since, well, the piano duet in "Island of Dr. Moreau" (which you must admit, was pretty funny.)

A great film and an important one.

I've never been a fan, but in the space of a couple hours the Woodster gives both an explanation AND the finger to ALL of his critics. This is mean-spirited fun, just the way we like it!

It seems as if all of the new animation competition has lit a fire under Disney's collective ass and they have something to prove again.

I don't know if this movie could have been made with anyone but Chow Yun-Fat. As Chen, he finally is allowed to display the nervous energy and Eastern rhythms we associate with his Hong Kong work.