Despite its unevenness, it's impossible to look away from The Infiltrators, due to the sheer audacity of the activists and their willingness to risk their safe but shadowy existence in the United States for this cause.

It's a tasty but evasive treat, no matter what your taste in politics or movies.

A true story, feel-good parable and a respectable, uplifting descendent of "To Sir, With Love" and "Lean On Me."

I took the film not as any sort of design for living, or facile explanation of anything, but as a design for communicating — honestly, humanely, painfully, sometimes — for the good of whatever relationships yours happen to be.

The film ticks a lot of boxes. Underdog triumph. Showbiz triumph. Working-class heroics. Flagrant, often effective filmmaking technique, from a first-time feature writer-director, Geremy Jasper.

Jones is first-rate (and her fellow writer McCormack is fun as the wild-eyed pot dealer, Skillz). The film has a conventional fake-documentary look, but underneath it is an honest concern about how to learn to treat people well and kindly after the end. Or to get to an ending, or a new beginning, in the first place.

Vision Quest survives by means of a few powerhouse weapons. One of them is Darryl Ponicsan's screenplay, adapted from the novel by Terry Davis, that tells the story with restraint, tenderness and a solid respect for theme. Another is director Harold Becker, who succeeds, most of the time, in touching the sensitive nerves of this tale without fraying them. Best of all are a couple of winning performances: Matthew Modine as a high school wrestler intent on beating an unbeatable state champ and Linda Fiorentino as the hard-as-nails drifter who wanders into his life. [15 Feb 1985, p.J]

A quirk-heavy comedy that tonally reads almost exactly like "Millions," as executed by amateur actors having the time of their lives.

Hardy is remarkable, however. This is an actor with a memorably expressive rasp of a voice, both blunt and musical.

While the film's patient, moody progression into personal nightmare territory won't be for everyone, it's a genuinely evocative creation.

The movie does its duty. It's a reliable commodity, delivered efficiently and well, like pizza.

DePalma`s camera is relatively restrained-for him-and the result is a small movie that looks more like an outdoor stage play than an exercise in freewheeling combat. Penn`s performance has resonances of Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro in their Vietnam films; Fox gains credibility as the movie progresses.

A rare thriller - and a rare American film - that centers on both dramatic and moral issues, crises of conscience. And thanks to a superb central performance by Nicholson as detective Black, it's a film that compels, thrills and ends up coming very close to tragedy.

It's all very mesmerizing, for them and us.

Big moves with polish and assurance. It's too soon to tell whether Marshall has anything of her own to say, but Big is proof that she can handle the Hollywood machine, and that is no small thing.

Early in LFODH, a villain taunts our hero, calling him "a Timex in a digital world"; McClane, characteristically, takes the dig as a compliment. Two hours, countless butt-kickings and hairbreadth escapes later, we know why.

A modest but engaging film that mixes hormonal surges with art-house ingenuity.

What the writing and filmmaking sometimes overdo, the actors mitigate beautifully. Benesch is a powerhouse of subtlety and focus, and the camera stays as close as possible to her watchful, at times disbelieving eyes.

The musical evergreen, with Irene Dunne billed over Fred and Ginger. [03 Nov 2006, p.C5]

Soapdish runs on longer than necessary, and not every scene is as funny as one would like, but it's funny enough to recommend. [31 May 1991, p.C]

The diversity of the Beauty Shop ensemble is a large part of what makes it so much fun to watch;

The Rookie may be pushing buttons, but at least they're the right buttons.

Mostly it's an incredible tale of ritual and perseverance.

The film offers plenty of good screen company along the way.

Like Workman's other films, it's a time capsule that sings.

Samsara is gorgeous. And sometimes, depending on expectations, looks are enough.

The movie's fun, a lot of it having nothing to do with its specific subject.

The elements don't quite jell here, and the ending doesn't work, but they all have a racy charm anyway. [19 Dec 1999, p.34]