His story is simple, unadorned, direct. Only the margins are complicated.

Has the high-octane feel of real life, closely observed.

Wants to make larger points, but succeeds only in being a story of derangement.

An uninspired assembly of characters and story lines that interrupt one another.

A seriously confused film that makes three or four passes at being a better one and doesn't complete any of them.

Essentially an interlacing of irony and gotcha! Scenes.

Never quite attains takeoff velocity.

A delightful demonstration of how spirituality can coexist quite happily with an intense desire for France to defeat Brazil.

A flat and peculiar film.

A movie like this falls outside ordinary critical language. Is it good or bad? Is there too much melodrama? I don't have any idea. It triggered too many thoughts of my own for me to have much attention left over for footnotes.

Movies like this renew my faith that the future of the cinema lies not in the compromises of digital projection, but by leaping over the limitations of digital into the next generation of film technology.

This is one of Denzel Washington's great performances, on a par with his work in "Malcolm X."

Here is a rarity, a film about religion that is neither pious nor sensational, simply curious. No satanic possessions, no angelic choirs, no evil spirits, no lovers joined beyond the grave. Just a man doing his job.

More reverie and meditation than reportage.

The movie doesn't know how odd it seems to cut from the bloodshed in the ring to the dialogue of the supporting players, who still think they're in a comedy.

A brilliant and absurd film of "Titus Andronicus" that goes over the top, doubles back and goes over the top again.

The movie's humor works best when the illogic of the TV show gets in the way.

The movie is as intelligent a thriller as you'll see this year.

It's a close call here. I guess I recommend the movie because the dramatic scenes are worth it. But if some studio executive came along and made Stone cut his movie down to two hours, I have the strangest feeling it wouldn't lose much of substance and might even play better.

What is wonderful about Angela's Ashes is Emily Watson's performance, and the other roles that are convincingly cast.

What is most wonderful about Man on the Moon, a very good film, is that it remains true to Kaufman's stubborn vision.

Uusually satisfying in the way it unfolds.

The story, having failed to provide itself with character conflicts that can be resolved with drama, turns to melodrama instead.

It is one of the year's best films.

Foster, I believe, sees right through this material and out the other side, and doesn't believe in a bit of it.

There is a cool, mannered elegance to the picture that I like, but it's dead at its center.

Its hero upstages anything the plot can possibly come up with.

A long slog through perplexities and complexities.