Shawn Levy

Although the plot might sound like the stuff of a soap opera, a smart script, strong performances and an ideologically determined lack of filmmaking niceties result in a shattering, deeply felt work.

While the urban texture and the unapologetic work of Basinger impart a sophisticated air to what is essentially a downtrodden-teen-makes-good film, that is, finally, just what 8 Mile is. That's not a bad thing, but it's nothing to rap home about, either.

Ferrific fun and rousing proof that there’s still vital life in an aging master filmmaker.

If film is an art, it's because it's possible for somebody to make films like this.

The film does leave you with the lingering regret that you missed a hell of a good party. It is, as the kids used to say, a trip.

Director Bart Layton's film takes us to such strange and emotionally-charged places that we cannot believe that what we're seeing is real, even though it demonstrably is.

Built around Firth’s fine work, A Single Man is a handsome film that, like its slender source novel, is stylish, quiet and sure.

You wouldn't want to be Daniel Johnston, or even know him too well. But see this film and you won't forget him.

In all that empty space, the film gets a bit lost.

It's inconsistent fun, and it's a little too layered with self-congratulatory irony to be truly transporting.

Among the film's highlights are an interview with Grand Wizard Theodore, who is generally uncontested in his claim to have invented the idea of scratching vinyl.

A staggering movie about a reality so dark and painful and real that it almost crushes the mind to think about it.

Gets its hooks into you in ways that are hard to explain or to ignore.

A winning, grown-up film that benefits from fine, homey performances, a steady directorial hand, and the sense that everyone involved was invested in the story and not just the job.

There are strange variations in the mood of Three Burials that may strike some viewers as flippant. As gritty and real as the business of toting a corpse at gunpoint gets, the tone occasionally veers into farce. But it's never too long before the focus returns to Jones' weathered eyes.

The film is somewhat scattered in construction, but it's an eye-opener.

Had Williams chopped away more pointedly at the rambling script, he might've had something memorable.

So emotionally overwhelming that its aesthetics seem almost beside the point.

An audaciously unique and exciting film, not as successful as an A-to-Z story as it is mind-expanding as a vision of what the cinema can do.

It's a teeming, steaming, bubbling stew, a tremendous good time, a rich entertainment and a heck of a lesson in music, human etiquette and the politics of making it (or not) in show biz.

In Almodóvar and Cruz we have a real collaboration of artist and inspiration that only seems to improve and deepen over time.

The Dardennes are talents, clearly. Watching Rosetta is like watching them flip you the bird.

The laughs in Adventureland aren't as outlandish as those in "Superbad," but they seem more based in experience and truth. You could want something more raucous, I suppose, but that wouldn't necessarily be an improvement.

An unexpectedly charming little film.

Working with someone else's material and a story outside the mainstream of his (Lee) work, he delivers laughs, puzzles, tension and the immense gift of fine actors at their delicious, familiar best.

It's hot and sweet and made with inspiration and cheek. And it is not your children's animated fare -- which, in this case, is a recommendation.

Though the fiction doesn't quite equal the documentary in razzle-dazzle impact, it's a credible, handsome and engaging entertainment.

It's a fresh-hearted film that only frustrates when you sense how close it is to being exceptional.