Ruthe Stein

Lemmon and MacLaine are magical together, and MacMurray more than holds his own as the third part of the triangle. He commands the office - and, not incidentally, the big screen - with a sexual energy he would scarcely have a chance to show again.

The film has aged gracefully.

It looks like a low-budget film, but in this case that just adds to the charm. Croghan's only false move was to divide her film into segments, each one introduced by a quote from a famous writer.

So disturbing it makes you uncomfortable watching it.

This is a very little film with a very large heart.

Force of Evil is a more thoughtful kind of film noir than we are used to but still employs the traditional black-and-white contrasts and shadows.

Deliriously original.

To say it is about a debilitating disease is as reductive as saying "Little Miss Sunshine" is about a beauty pageant. Both are intimate stories of family ties that bind but sometimes also choke.

For all the squalor and extremely upsetting subject matter, you can't take your eyes off the screen.

This is a movie of excesses that doesn't know when to settle down. It aims to be a slapstick comedy, a romantic comedy and a plain old romance but falls short of each goal.

Worth seeing just to admire how Argentine writer-director Marcos Carnevale avoids so much as a whiff of condescension.

The movie is a stunner, so hypnotic that the length hardly matters.

A revelatory independent film whose moments of incredible sadness are offset by the same state of grace that blesses its astonishing title character.

Accomplishes the near impossible, bringing a fresh perspective to a horrific subject.

A solid WWII movie that's been lost among myriad others about the same war. [02 Jul 2006, p.28]

The spellbinding power of this almost certain Oscar nominee for best documentary comes from its chilling subject matter.

For all the precision shooting, Autumn is a colossal misfire, a tedious film noir wannabe. It doesn't even qualify as film gris.

Though overly long and difficult to digest, it's a feast you won't want to miss.

Sad yet offering glimpses of hope.

You never catch Gosling doing anything out of character. It's the first Oscar-caliber performance I've seen so far this year.

The best way to take this film is with a box of popcorn and a grain of salt.

The result is a film that fails to completely involve you, even as you admire its artistry.

Lower your expectations going into Volver and accept it for what it is: a ridiculously entertaining melodrama with loud echoes of "Mildred Pierce" that provides Penelope Cruz with a vehicle for her multifaceted talents.

Sitting through Diggers is so tedious that you might find yourself envying the clam diggers. At least they get to be outdoors.

The key to enjoying the film is warming up to the heroine, Poppy.

Out to Sea has an emotional pull that is much stronger because it is so unexpected. You come for the laughs and find yourself wiping away tears.

Watching the film is like being at a freak show: You feel like a voyeur, yet you can't take your eyes off this Mommie Dearest or her childlike middle-aged daughter.

Engrossing documentary.

Deliriously charming.

The suggestion that Peter O'Toole is playing some version of his real self in Venus adds a bittersweet poignancy to this quietly affecting British drama.

Often amusing but lacks the necessary bite.

Immediately has you in its thrall and doesn't let go -- a reminder of how powerful and moving cinema set in wartime can be when all the elements align.

Showing the intricate dynamics of family relationships is something Mira Nair does as well as any director working today.

Instantly captivating.

Offers another way into these complex indigenous people, through storytelling as haunting as their artwork.

Offers a brew of wondrous chimera combined with the wonders of human nature.

An emotionally satisfying example of a genre whose sketchiness can be off-putting.

As the title character in Lady Chatterley, Marina Hands does the most persuasive job of feigning sexual pleasure since Jane Fonda in "Coming Home."

A highly amusing combination period film and mockumentary.

Sly, near-perfect comedy.

Reprise has a smart and knowing script and will compel audiences to reflect on themselves at that age.

An engrossing new drama from France.

The Visitor, is, if anything, more imaginative and touching than his first.

The movie harks back to a time before state-of-the-art technology when writers and directors had to rely mostly on imagination.

Blanc is completely without vanity in showing the physical deterioration wrought by addiction. Her performance is as chilling as Lee Remick's in "Days of Wine and Roses.''

Wildly imaginative if extremely strange.

The young people in Nowhere spend a lot of time worrying about the world coming to an end. Watching these sour characters abuse themselves and one another, the more immediate concern becomes: When is this movie going to end?

The humor is all over the place, veering from light to dark and from broad to subtle -- as if an "I Love Lucy" episode had been retooled by Woody Allen.

Noirish thrillers live or die by their plot twists and dialogue -- talk literally being cheap compared to action shots. Unfortunately, the script by first-time filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson fails on both counts.

Vivid and madcap but fails to connect on any emotional level.

Don't little ones have enough to worry about without ecological concerns popping up in family entertainment? Happy Feet should have stayed light on its feet.

The director has a natural's gift for storytelling and eye for casting.

Block's hypnotic documentary, among the finest of the year.

Lumpy.

The least appealing of the trilogy.

Suffers from Resnais' inability to open it up and give it the look and pulse of a film.

A slow seduction.

A hauntingly lyrical study of sexual awakening.

Mehta has created the perfect guide to this strange female world.

The thrills in Spike Lee's singularly savvy thriller are in small unexpected moments.

That Duncan can't come up with a satisfying ending and lets the story drift into a confusing polemic is hardly surprising. He's guilty of overreaching -- interrupting his very sly satire with quasi-serious thoughts on the end of Soviet communism.

It's hard to get swept away when you're struggling to figure out who's doing what to whom and why.

Insightful but unfocused.

Hauntingly tells a story older than the Odyssey and as timely as today's body count from Iraq.

Imaginative and immensely engrossing film.

If you enjoy gross humor -- elevated by an occasional witty line -- and looking at babes, and don't mind a little blood and gore, do I have a date movie for you.

Deeply affecting, "Blade'' portrays an oddly elegant way of life that will soon be like the era in that other movie, "Gone With the Wind."

Totally original yet filled with familiar human frailties, "Everyone" leaps off the screen to become one of those rare movie-going experiences.

Daring in its affirmation that a dowdy woman in her late 60s still can let go of her inhibitions and exhibit a lascivious side.

Boy A will rivet you while raising issues about forgiveness and just who deserves it.

Evokes grand emotions -- anxiety, sadness, joy -- sometimes within moments of one another. Broken Wings has heart and a poetic soul.

An unusual look at love and how it can unexpectedly develop. Those for whom the concept of an arranged marriage is foreign will get a little history lesson on the immigrant experience watching this sweetly engrossing film.

Extremely amusing.

Dunye's engaging personality quickly wins you over. She deserves to be a character in a movie; she's more interesting than most.

Riveting.

Unlike Sean Penn's demagogue in "All the King's Men," you're able to forget that Whitaker is acting. He embodies the role. When clips of the real Amin are shown at the end, it's almost shocking to realize the extent to which Whitaker has become him.

Gut-wrenching.

An eerily affecting domestic drama combining elements of "The Lost Weekend'' with "Lost Highway.''

One of very few films to accurately portray the experience of growing up male.

While hardly glorifying abusive husbands, Take My Eyes, a mesmerizing and deeply disturbing film from Spain, makes an attempt to understand their thought processes.

Utterly enchanting.

Played by likable newcomer Jamie Sives, who resembles Colin Farrell without the scowl, Wilbur grows on you the same way this offbeat movie does.

An argument could be made that too many bad things happen to the good members of this sisterhood. The movie does occasionally teeter on the brink of soap opera, but then, so does life.

Heart-wrenching film.

The result is a deeply moving experience, alternately funny and sad.

Shot on the streets of New York and offering vistas of the city before all the glass and steel skyscrapers, The Naked City, which won Oscars for cinematography and editing, boasts an impressive pedigree. [04 Jan 2004]

Hanssen is such an enigma that any attempt to explain him has inherent interest. Breach expends too much energy on a minor functionary, but it is still worth seeing for its fleeting looks into a heart of darkness.

Opens up a world of words.

This was Davis' return to the screen after her own legal battle with the studio to get meatier roles. She got one here, and she gives it her all. [09 Jul 2006, p.32]

A spellbinding Australian Western.

Sounds great and if nothing else should help diminish the stereotype, blasted by the film's subjects, of Gypsies as little more than pickpockets whom travelers need to be wary of.

Doesn't have much to say.

Extremely pleasurable and well worth seeing.

A solidly above-average thriller.

Lacks what could kindly be called coherence.

Notes on a Scandal won't be everyone's cup of tea. But if you like your films strong, this one is not to be missed.

An intriguing exploration of New York theater at the height of its glory.

Glatzer and Westmoreland live in Echo Park, and they have given their film a remarkable sense of place.