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.

The sooner you let yourself go with Kim's flow, the more likely you are to come away satisfied. Think of it as South Korea's answer to "Memento," just don't think too hard.

Engaging and perceptive.

A needlessly complicated and confusing thriller.

In the riveting Transsiberian, a train of that name adds international intrigue to the mix.

Viewers will be swept away by the beauty of individual moments and by Ivan Barnev's extraordinary performance.

If you can still be entertained by a thriller that unabashedly borrows from others of its ilk and don't mind reading subtitles, you could do worse than District B13. It's over so fast, in a quick 85 minutes, there's scarcely time to get bored by the silly plot.

Akeelah and the Bee connects where it counts most, on an emotional level. Only a curmudgeon could watch this feisty but vulnerable youngster rack up victories against all odds without tearing up.

The Rainmaker has a mostly plausible story, an engaging young courtroom hero (Matt Damon, Hollywood's new cover boy), a giant insurance company as the perfect adversary and the best supporting cast of any movie this year.

A compelling, tightly made political thriller.

Nightmare-inducing.

It's a broad generality to say that French filmmakers have a particularly perverse sensibility, but it can be backed up by one import after another. The latest, La Moustache, is wonderfully odd in a minimalist kind of way.

Although based on a fictional story, it has the feel of truth and is a vivid reminder of the hell Mexicans put themselves through to live in the United States, even illegally.

Trumbo is welcome just to bear witness to the severe consequences meted out to one man who dared to do the right thing.

Both actors are so appealing, you root for the inevitable meeting to happen somewhere in the vicinity of Wonderland.

Quietly unsettling.

Powerful and moving.

Bouncy, informative and funny documentary.

Van Houten, a veteran of European TV, is in almost every scene, and her energetic performance keeps Black Book percolating despite an overstuffed plot that strains credibility and often tips over into melodrama.

As bad as its title.

Lacks the marquee names and production values of big studio romantic comedies, but it connects on an emotional level most of them fail to do.

Has an old-fashioned feel, as if it had been made in the period of its setting. I mean this as a compliment.

One of those quirky little movies that you marvel ever got made.

It grabs you from a symbolic opening scene of gang members rolling the dice -- the odds, it soon becomes clear, are stacked against them getting lucky -- and never lets go.

Like a soap opera, but most of what glitters is gold.

The title is all that's boring about director Michel Gondry's latest mind bender, as trippy as LSD.

By focusing on one family's dilemma, the movie brings home the messy Middle Eastern situation in a way easier to relate to than the headlines and opinion pieces.

The ending is predictable to anybody who's followed the trajectory of outsourcing. Outsourced humanizes those affected by it - even if the story sounds familiar.

I'm not denying that a 40-year- old woman might be self-conscious about going around with someone this young. But the subject isn't interesting or provocative enough to sustain an entire movie.

There's a manic quality to the film that may wear you down. But at least you won't be bored.

A very human story.

A disturbing drama about the dehumanizing and humiliating effects of war.

The movie is one big in-joke. It's watchable, but eventually wears you down with its over-the-top cleverness.

The biggest puzzlement about "What'' is what it's doing in major movie theaters around the country when it so clearly belongs on one of those small cable channels given to peculiar programming.

For all its dazzling computer-generated sequences, "Museum'' wouldn't be nearly the delight it is without the talents of some of the best comedians in the business.

Fascinating and impressively balanced documentary.

Woody Allen's strongest and most mordantly funny movie in years, even if it is also his bleakest.

A potentially great movie winds up buried inside a just OK one.

Entertaining in a pulpy kind of way, like the fight films of the 1930s and '40s, and more accessible than most of Mamet's movies.

Adapted from a French play but never seems stage- bound.

As moving as some parts are, it's muddled by a script that tries to pack in too much. There's sufficient material for a couple of films and a sitcom.

Richard Jenkins gives the standout supporting performance, worthy of Oscar consideration, as Josey's father, a miner unable to conceal his anger at his daughter for having a child out of wedlock and, now, creating dissension at his workplace.

Mate swapping is so '70s. But Alan Rudolph, who wrote and directed Afterglow, avoids making it seem dated by presenting the menage a quatre as accidental.

A peculiar little film -- grim and disturbing yet perversely riveting.

I don't claim to have seen every entry from around the world, but it's hard to imagine five better than this deliciously offbeat comedy, as wildly inventive as anything Billy Wilder ever conceived.

There's an edge to this exemplary family movie, just as there is in the story.

A bit of fluff expertly made and a hoot to watch.

Revelatory as well as unsettling.

It's doubtful that audiences go to animated features to hear movie stars talk. They go because a film sounds like fun and something their kids and maybe they themselves might enjoy. Bolt is all that and more.

Overly long and not especially enlightening film.

The casting, at least, is magical. Plowright shows both her character's strength and her heartbreaking vulnerability, sometimes at once.

Compelling.

The filmmakers succeed with an unexpected ending. It's as fresh as everything in the movie, which turns out to be about so much more than one youngster's resilience.

So cleverly constructed that it's easy to be taken in and believe these twins really rocked.

The humor manages to be simultaneously sophisticated, supremely silly and very dark.

Visually, the film is a stunner, dotted with psychedelic colors and many shades of red -- one battle is fought with red laser-gun sights -- some looking realistically like blood. When gangsters open fire, their falls are choreographed like a ballet. The problem comes when the cast opens its mouth and Elizabethan dialogue tumbles out.

A well-deserved 2003 Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film.

A richly satisfying and darkly funny movie.

Heart-wrenching.

It's a serious subject handled with humor -- not the ha-ha kind, but the hard laughter that comes from recognizing parts of yourself in the Perelmans.

A richly textured and compelling film.

Keeps you riveted through parts that might otherwise be difficult to watch.

Good in their individual scenes, Yakusho and Kusakari are magical together. They convey so much yearning -- not so much for each other as for that extra something to give real meaning to their lives.

A tearjerker that earns its sobs with heartfelt emotions.

Vincente Minnelli's lavish and hugely entertaining adaptation of the Gustave Flaubert classic leaves little doubt that Emma (Jennifer Jones in an over-the-top performance that works surprisingly well) has found satisfaction for the first time in the arms of wealthy rogue Rodolphe (a perfectly cast Louis Jourdan). [26 Aug 2007, p.N44]

Like its singular central character, Before the Fall stands out from the pack.

Another art film that's more pretentious than it needs to be.

An appealingly quirky thriller from Brazil.

The offbeat drama The Seagull's Laughter is the kind of movie I appreciate because it never announces where it's headed.

Wickedly funny.

Bloody good.

The film version is gorgeous to look at and contains amusing performances from Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett in the title roles. But it fails to get inside the minds of gamblers as Peter Carey so admirably did in his Booker Prize-winning novel.

While the documentary does a credible job of pointing out the magnitude of the problem, it skirts the issue of what can be done about it and by whom.

It says something about this movie that Redford is at his most compelling playing opposite a nag.

Known for his visual images, Jordan outdoes himself in "Breakfast,'' a feast for the eyes.

Except for an ending that's so implausible it might have derailed a less solid work, Twelve and Holding is a realistic and sympathetic portrayal of what it's like to be young and confused

Hits a bulls-eye.

The Pillow Book sometimes seems like three different movies, each one an eyeful but together too much of a good thing.

This is by no means a polished film. But it has an energy lacking in thrillers that cost hundreds times more to make. It should be viewed as a calling card from gifted and resourceful filmmakers whom I hope some Hollywood producer will have the sense to sign up immediately.

Passes by like a dream.

That the film succeeds as well as it does despite a series of coincidences that strain credibility is a credit to a fine cast and a joie de vivre that pervades even the most implausible moments.

A breed apart from anything coming off the Hollywood assembly line or, for that matter, from the saccharine romances Britain has lately produced.

Much about Living Out Loud is pretty far-fetched, but at least it accurately portrays the dating possibilities for newly divorced women of a certain age.

Schizo offers not just the proverbial window into village life in Kazakhstan, but a panoramic view.

At its exhilarating best, Following Sean is reminiscent of the lauded British documentaries that began with "7 Up.''

A film that must be seen to understand the sad truths of our times. It's been made with a sensitivity and creativity that's come to exemplify Winterbottom's work.

You're under the thrall of a new peculiar couple. Both actors appear to be having fun outmaneuvering each other on the ice and onscreen.

Overall Freedom Writers is a noble effort. At a time when New Year's resolutions to change already are falling by the wayside, you can't help but be moved by a group of young people who followed through on their resolve.

Each time Something New touches on something controversial, it quickly retreats to some silliness.

Mitchell may be another Russ Meyer -- a dubious honor -- but he's no Tony Kushner.

For all the filmmaker's good intentions, Fast Food Nation isn't a particularly good movie. It doesn't hold together or grip you the way a documentary might have.

Annoying, soporific and singularly humorless.

Funny, original, occasionally poignant and almost all of it too dirty to repeat in a newspaper.

Wise and wondrous.

Vitus is likable enough and definitely suitable entertainment for young people willing to read subtitles.

The film's ambitions are laudable, and it manages to be touching, funny and true to life. It seems ungrateful to ask for anything more.

Given the juiciest plotline, Tamblyn goes for it, turning in a hard-boiled performance that's a needed contrast to her co-stars' tendency to go for sweet.

Intermittently funny.

While dinner and a movie is in theory a great idea, I'd avoid eating before taking in Lunacy.

Frothy and exuberantly entertaining - in part because of the sexual innuendoes - it's the best romantic comedy so far this year.

A compelling Irish drama.

A compelling and visually arresting drama.

Wondrous performances.

Much as she did in "Little Miss Sunshine," Breslin imbues Kit with joy.

The movie is shamelessly manipulative.

It works as an intriguingly offbeat character study while offering Nicolas Cage a chance to show why he used to be considered one of the top actors of his generation.

It's reassuring to see Steven Soderbergh return to riveting down-and-dirty filmmaking with Bubble.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age saga that will make you laugh and cry, maybe at the same time.

An extremely good picture that, with a little tweaking, might have been a great one.

Richly satisfying entertainment the way movies are at their best, when they prod you to think.

Caruso, a very visual director, serves up some surprises and scares, and he's paced his movie briskly. You're out of this disturbing suburbia before you know it, shaken and even stirred.

An overwrought and ultimately silly thriller.

A quirky but surprisingly lighthearted dark comedy.

This deeply moving and disturbing film derives power from being based on the true story of a black South African who does everything possible, no matter how degrading, to get by within an immoral system, but becomes radicalized almost despite himself.

It tells the amazing, but mostly true, story of a late-18th century aristocrat who made an indelible mark on English society akin to that of her direct descendant, Lady Diana.

Has the slapped-together, cheesy look of a porno movie. While this could be distracting, the shoddiness sets the mood for a humorous spin on the European porn industry circa early 1970s.

It's a first feature film for both screenwriter Alex Rose and director Gaby Dellal, and their inexperience shows in Frank's underdeveloped relationships with family and friends and in the movie's sluggish pacing.

A Western short on dialogue and long on pomposity, is little more than an extended chase scene down a snow-filled mountaintop to a desert floor.

With a strongly visual director, Ridley Scott ("Blade Runner," "Alien", the film really shows what's involved at this level of combat training.

A little picture -- the names of the entire cast would fit on half a sheet of paper -- but it’s more heartfelt than movies with 50 times the budget.

The directors pull off this faux documentary.

Broken English doesn't break any code or offer original insights on the subject. But there's a spark whenever Posey and Poupaud are together.

The producers have stated that they're going after an American market that supports Spanish-language TV networks, radio stations and newspapers. This niche audience may well respond to not being required to read subtitles, for once, in a movie geared to them.

The material obviously had to be stretched to fill the big screen for almost two hours.

To label the parents in Wah-Wah dysfunctional doesn't adequately describe their wildly inappropriate behavior.

An enjoyable if fairly predictable film.

Haunting case study of a romantic obsession.

Two guys panting over the same babe leads to tedium, despite a near-record number of overheated sex scenes.

The way Boynton Beach residents reach out to one another is enough to make you consider relocating to one of these communities.

Charmingly offbeat in the vein of early Woody Allen.

A frothy comedy with the most adorable buddies since "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

To the extent that this difficult but ultimately rewarding film has a message, it's that you can't run away from who you are.

The very best thrillers -- a select group to which The Clearing clearly belongs -- exploit subconscious fears that bubble up at vulnerable moments.

It lives up to its title, flying by in fast motion. Even the first-wave MTV generation may find the pace exhausting, but this piece of fluff wasn't made for them.

A subtly rich performance by Dillane and a fine supporting cast make this Holocaust drama worth seeing, even if you don't think you can bear another one.

The real wonder becomes how British filmmaker Sandra Goldbacher was able to write and direct such an accomplished, touching and original movie her first time out.

Distressingly predictable and not a tad scary. But as a parody of the genre, it's a scream, like the "Scream'' franchise, only funnier. It's as if all the ingredients for a thriller coagulated into Silly Putty.

Perhaps the humor has been lost in translation.

Chock-full of holes.

A sweet, bordering on saccharine, comedy.

Harris' impressive channeling of Ludwig is diluted by the decision of screenwriters Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson to put the copyist front and center, possibly to distinguish their feature from "Immortal Beloved."

Nobody into lush melodramas dripping in sex should miss this pulsating Italian import.

Sweet and deeply moving.

A warmhearted film.

McNally adapted his Tony-award winning play for the screen, and for once a movie is an improvement on the stage version.

A feel-good movie.

Perversely fascinating.

Director Robert Mulligan exhibits the same sensitivity about young people and their foibles as he did in "To Kill a Mockingbird." In 1962. You never sense that he's making fun of Hermie or his pals. [08 Jul 2007, p.16]

As a sports drama -- a genre that's gotten entirely too much play lately -- "Dreamer" is singularly unexciting.

Family entertainment at its best.

A wildly entertaining fantasy thriller that propels Russian cinema into the 21st century.

Well intentioned, but only occasionally creepy.

A heartwarming, inspirational tale.

Boasts a collection of oddball characters, some more sharply written than others.

Dark, disturbing and audaciously original in a way only indies are given license to be anymore, the film never telegraphs where it's heading. But you don't need a pathfinder to sense the general direction is toward hell.

A marital comedy as perceptive as it is delectable.

A romantic saga that dares to ask realistic questions.

The film is a particular disappointment considering its pedigree.

A neo-noir thriller long on atmosphere and short on production values.

The filmmakers have wisely turned it into a comedy, and a wickedly entertaining one at that.

Doesn't poke fun at anyone's beliefs.

A pretty ugly movie in its own right.

Fascinating and distinctly politically incorrect.

For all its depiction of a descent into drug addiction, Candy is filled with surprisingly sweet moments and goes down more easily than seems possible given the subject matter.

Suffused with a golden glow, the movie looks and sounds like a fairy tale.

May be too convincing for its own good.

The Last Kiss ponders what you give up -- and what you gain -- from sticking with what you've got.