Retained my interest and sympathy -- at least until the nonsensical ending,

All three lead actors are adroit; but the story, adapted from a short story by H.E. Bates, is both contrived and not very well told.

This action comedy transforms LAPD detective Chris Tucker from an intolerably annoying egotist into a practically lovable intolerably annoying egotist.

Trite transformation comedy.

Better in certain ways than the original Apocalypse Now, though the flaws are also magnified.

As satire it's toothless and at times close to incoherent; its predictable swipes are aimed equally at conservative racists and bleeding-heart liberals.

The least characteristic movie Jean-Pierre Melville ever made. It replaces his sternly fatalistic philosophizing with a benign, genuinely comic spirit, and his rigidly classical style yields to a pleasant informality.

The first half of the film, in which Maglietta gradually discovers herself as something other than a servant, is genuinely engaging.

The film may never fully attain the emotional resonance it seems to be striving for, but it's still an accomplished and interesting piece of work.

Potential irony is everywhere in this movie's subtly surreal situations and candy-colored imagery.

It's not a sex movie but a parody, and the loose feel is part of its genius.

Where "The Full Monty" earned its laughs with rich characterizations and a biting take on economic hardship, Greenfingers is content to trot out predictable stereotypes, adding a romantic subplot as filler.

A wizard at manipulating time, Kitano introduces staccato elements that interrupt the meditative pace even as they help set it.

Overwritten by Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan, overdirected by Joe Roth, overplayed by most of the cast, yet typically undernourished.

Mitchell, who also directed and wrote the screenplay, originally created this glorious rock opera for the stage with composer-lyricist Stephen Trask.

If, like me, you've been wondering how Terry Zwigoff, the brilliant documentary filmmaker who made "Crumb," would negotiate his shift to fiction filmmaking, here's your answer: brilliantly.

Isn't terribly frightening or gory, and at times it's even atmospheric. It also has a sense of humor, and the digs at the prequels hit pay dirt.

This one's slightly better than average these days, which means slightly diverting.

Favreau, who also plays the long-suffering Bobby, mixes elements of drama into this appropriately annoying comedy.

The old surrealist created another masterpiece in this, his final film.

In a perfect marriage of player and part, Reese Witherspoon is Elle Woods.

The tone -- a combination of earnestness and gallows humor -- is strangely appropriate.

The thin story covering her acquisition of one wave after another while narrowly escaping death time and again is strictly for player one.

This is the first feature I've seen by writer-director Dominique Deruddere, and I hope it won't be the last.

The new sexism -- the old sexism plus the idea that everything is ironic -- is getting old.

Amiably unvarnished... Much more successful than most other films that deal with daily life in the projects.

Story is fairly conventional and not especially well told, though as usual Tran's images are so sensual and beautiful that I was rarely bored or frustrated.

Nicely written as well as filmed.