As the sequence builds, it accretes so many heroic and nightmarish associations it plays like a prelude to apocalypse, which of course will come in Episode III. Attack of the Clones is part soda pop, part witches' brew - and all visual ambrosia.

American movies are generally so skittish about sexuality that Adrian Lyne's appetite --and aptitude -- for exploring it in Unfaithful is a relief.

The New Guy doesn't have a new idea in its head, but it trods over the old ground with such wit and heart that its lack of originality can be overlooked, if not entirely forgiven.

At its best, The Mystic Masseur is like a tall tale that grows more beguiling and credible the taller it gets.

The overarching joke, of course, is that most movies are so lousy they might as well have been made by blind men anyway. Hollywood Ending is only mediocre, but you may leave wondering, what's Allen's excuse?

When the cast and their director are really cooking, they conjure a bipolar sense of high school-age emotion -- and use it to fuel outrageous fantasy.

The cast of Rain is first-rate, especially Wierzbicki and Peirse, whose tense relationship is as loving as it is competitive.

To top it off, the ending is a clumsy cheat. Of course, I was rooting for the news gal to expire and the film to die a quick death.

There's great action moviemaking here: You learn what it means to "carve" a pool, as you learn what it means to "close off" the boxing ring in Ali.

Enigma, named for the Nazi secret-coding machine, has everything going for it except a pulse.

The results are sometimes too frenetic, the laughs too obvious and predictable. But director Joel Zwick paces things well, and leavens the lunacy with enough seriousness (including a wonderfully poignant exchange between Toula and her brother) to keep the film grounded in the real.

Plays like Abbott and Costello Meet Conan the Barbarian.

The story may be about cold-blooded murder, but Bullock's pulsating performance is about the getting of wisdom.

The movie may be Nine Queens, but it slakes your thirst for surprises and thrills because of its Nine Jokers.

Supple, eloquent and enchanting.

For all its pretensions, Changing Lanes, ultimately, is about nothing more profound than one foul day.

Gory but lifeless.

This movie's biggest contribution to film history will be resurrecting Davies' reputation as a natural comedian stuck in deadly costume pictures because her lover wanted her placed on a pedestal.

Its effects don't linger long enough to seriously detract from the raunchy good time had by all.

It's hard to see Franklin's fingerprints on the material. It's as if he directed with his gloves on.

A comedy that doesn't work if you think about it too much. Cut it some slack, however, and you just might have a good time.

A very funny movie ... in some alternate universe, maybe.

Crush is the kind of movie that gives friendship a bad name.

If the movie has a flaw, it's that the working out of Vincent's psychology is too perfect.

To call Death to Smoochy satire -- or parody, burlesque, or even lampoon -- would be too generous. The moviemakers merely glide on the thin ice of yesterday's cynicism.

Not enough to keep Clockstoppers from turning viewers into clock-watchers.

The kind of joyless, over-calculated hit that may leave viewers feeling not haunted but headachy.

So witless it wins most of its laughs when Czech-speaking characters spout obscenities that get translated into English subtitles.