In a movie that dwells so wittily and movingly on forgiveness, you have to grant pardon. Clarkson alone makes "April" a feast.

Hits the ground running and never lets up.

Almost all of it works as wish-fulfillment fantasy.

It's fun! Extremely violent, cleverly managed fun, full of eviscerating aliens.

A tender and upbeat spirit informs the writing and the execution.

Like the Danny Boyle film version of "127 Hours," Wild is extremely nervous about boring its audience with its protagonist's aloneness. Still, Witherspoon and Dern are reason enough to see it.

Plenty of fun, less for its many plot twists than for its large and varied assortment of vibrant characters. [12 Mar 1999]

One of the last and best of the Hammer vampire flicks has Lee doing his umpteenth turn as Transylvania's thirstiest and most sexually active aristocrat. [05 Jul 1985, p.47C]

It's as if the movie itself has been sprinkled with fairy dust, and good thing, too: The world of Peter Pan is, at heart, so troublesome that it might as well also be enchanting.

Withering study of white-collar alcoholics.

As Cornelia's revered documentary filmmaker father, a crusty truth-teller in the Frederick Wiseman mold, Charles Grodin provides a master class in minimalism.

When the actors get their chances, Crown Heights rises above the routine.

For all the film's popped eyeballs and severed limbs, Beetlejuice retains an innocence that makes the grotesque humor very appealing. Burton has captured the sweet ghoulishness of a 12-year-old pouring over horror comics, dreaming of the greatest Halloween costume ever invented. [30 Mar 1988]

Spielberg’s control of pacing, rhythm, action dynamics and tonal juggling is so astute that the story of Wade never quite gets lost in all the fly-by jokes and references. Sheridan’s highly skillful, as is Cooke.

The charm of the film (and it does have an effective degree) ultimately seems as synthetic as Jack's. Perhaps the real pickup artist of the title is Toback himself, hiding behind a winning smile as he attempts, for the first time in his career, to hustle the audience.

Is what we see grief porn or an epic, careerlong study in the best and worst we can find on Earth? See the film and decide for yourself.

The film with the year's funniest title turns out to be a basketball comedy about the Pittsburgh Pisces team transformed onto a winner by a young boy and an astrologer. Real-life basketball star Julius Erving stars in a trivial but entertaining picture filled with rhythm and blues pop music.

I couldn't help but feel this adaptation needed more of the thing for which Jane herself yearns: a sense of freedom. At their best, though, Wasikowska and Fassbender hint at their well-worn characters' inner lives, which are complex, unruly and impervious to time.

Even when it falters, Master Gardener speaks from a place the filmmaker has always worked, with one foot in the character-building of “slow cinema,” and the other in spasms of violence. It may be hard to buy where this movie lands. But even an unstuck landing isn’t enough to un-recommend it.

A salute to those who were blessed not only with savvy and courage, but something between an uncanny sense of foresight and an unforeseen stroke of good fortune.

A messy but nonetheless compelling movie.

A unique portrait of modern crime and punishment, gives us terror without filters, a tragic event captured in all its initial immediacy and anguished aftermath.

Weisz and the sharpest supporting players lift My Cousin Rachel to a higher plane. Holliday Granger as Philip's smitten family friend; Simon Russell Beale, a truly great actor, as the skeptical family solicitor; Tim Barlow, tottering around as the sublimely crusty servant: These are choice turns.

A stylish, violent thriller about a sexually frustrated woman (Angie Dickinson), whose fantasies lead to a murder mystery. Directed by Brian De Palma ("Carrie"). Effective, but not for the kids. [1 Aug 1980, p.4-10]

An odd little movie and a good one, worthy for what it is and potentially groundbreaking for how it's being made available.

It has a good director, snazzy visuals and some really funny animals, and that's at least half the battle.

There's genuine suspense and a lot of humor.

Blaze is a high-spirited, though slightly botched follow-up to Shelton's appealing Bull Durham of 1988, drawing on the same combination of enthusiastic heterosexuality and cozy male bonding. Politics here takes the place of baseball in the earlier film: another all-American team sport, with its veterans and rookies, official rules and unspoken scams, high idealism and casual corruption. [13 Dec 1989, p.1C]