Despite the drawbacks of the Silkwood screenplay, written by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen, this is a directorial triumph for a filmmaker who has artistically matured during his absence from the screen these past several years.

Isn't glossy, but it has a thought-provoking mix of skepticism, hopefulness, and respect for all but its most scurrilous characters. Hollywood could learn from its canny blending of psychological and multicultural insights.

Peter Greenaway's unorthodox drama treats the movie screen less as an entertainment device than a postmodern canvas upon which he writes, photographs, and records an intricate multicultural collage. [06 Jun 1997]

Estevez directs with ease and assurance but, both internally and externally, not enough happens to these people.

Some will dislike its shaggy-dog screenplay and restless camera work, and others may find its finale too postfeminist for comfort.

May not make you laugh out loud - it's too sly and subtle for that - but it will have you smiling every minute, and often grinning widely at its weirded-out charm. Nerdiness will never seem the same.

Crass and soulless.

Akerman is among the most imaginative filmmakers in her native Belgium or anywhere else, but here she doesn't get very far beneath the surface of her subject.

Destined to become this year's love-it-or-hate-it movie. Is it OK to say I merely liked it a lot?

Almost a textbook example of how to do more with less. It's about aimless people who suddenly find their aim.

Gavron’s conventional approach to the material compares unfavorably to the newsreels and stills of the actual suffragettes that close out the film. The harsh reality comes through in that footage in a way that the film as a whole only approaches in bits and pieces.

The back-and-forth between the performers is tensely choreographed, and Buscemi does a good job opening up the action, which mostly takes place in a Manhattan loft.

It's all something of a stunt - "Speed" on a shoestring - but very well done.

Too much of Sunshine is like a cross between a middling "Alien" movie and "Solaris" (the woozy Steven Soderbergh version).

A former gang member, his ten-year-old son, and Los Angeles street life are the main concerns of this uneven story, which isn't convincing enough as drama to achieve the consciousness-raising effect that appears to be its goal. [26 Oct 1992, p.12]

The filmmakers are more interested in spinning an entertaining yarn than probing the spiritual dimensions of their important subject.

Its best moments are as exuberant and insightful as anything the screen has given us this season, and its passionate concern for believable characters in a recognizably real world offers a refreshing change from the current spate of feel-good fantasies.

A better movie would not have hinged its thesis so closely on Anna’s innocence. The film doesn’t fully allow for the fact that the issue of Anna’s veracity, or lack of it, is essentially a sideshow.

The subject is compelling but the story is very, very slow.

The secret to enjoying 8 Women is to check your analytical mind at the popcorn counter and settle back for almost two hours of cinematic mischief.

Almost entirely devoted to combat violence and sentimental interludes.

The depression drama is undermined by lumpy directing and by a flat performance from Steve Martin, who never approaches the dramatic eloquence he obviously has in mind. [24 Dec 1981, p.22]

Violence in the movies, no matter how many CGI effects are utilized, can't help but be far more luridly realistic. And, in the case of Wanted, to what end?

James Mangold follows up the promise of his excellent "Heavy" with this smartly written, superbly acted melodrama.

The screen-play was derived from long sessions of improvised acting, and some scenes are more like acting-class workshops than fully developed dramatic episodes. But the material is powerful and most of the performances are excellent. [13 Sep 1996, p.13]

Eric Eason's script is sometimes unduly contrived and derivative, but we are always aware that something larger is being played out.

Gretchen Mol is unrelentingly charming in the role and she almost - almost - makes you believe that someone as unclouded as this could actually exist. This film would go well on a double bill with "The Stepford Wives."

Wang's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers gives the impression of a director reborn, or at least a director who has his mojo back.

The gentle story, told via old-fashioned "flat" animation, is perfect for the very youngest viewers.

What damps down the psychological power of One Hour Photo is director Mark Romanek's reluctance to let the film become as idiosyncratically unnerving as its main character.

The movie elegantly mingles drama, comedy, and low-key spiritual resonance. It also has a splendid cast.

Like most of Sokurov's movies, this oblique parable is mysterious, elliptical, irresistible.

Admirers of their MTV series will find a few laughs in this animated odyssey. Others will find it as repetitious as it is vulgar.

What gives the movie its poignancy – what turns it into something more than a polite entertainment – is Smith's role. Or, to be more exact, her performance, in tandem with Courtenay's.

Ridley Scott has made two iconic sci-fi films, "Alien" (1979) and "Blade Runner" (1982). Trying for a hat trick with Prometheus, he comes up short. I'll say this much for it – it's not boring.

Earnest, if not as informative as it might have been.

The film’s title is derived from a magical black stone of Persian lore that reputedly absorbs the burdens of those who speak to it until it crumbles – freeing the speaker of her troubles.

Janeane Garofalo and Uma Thurman make a bright-eyed comedy team in this romance.

Renoir at least looks like a great movie. If you want a full-scale immersion in this material, I recommend “Renoir, My Father,” Jean Renoir’s wonderful 1958 biography. This book is the touchstone for all matters Renoir, both père and fils.

It's almost impossible to watch this movie and not, on some level beyond reason, succumb. The Pursuit of Happyness is an expert piece of calculation: a male weepie engineered for the whole family.

Witty, contemplative, and sublimely beautiful.

An actress named Moon Bloodgood, who started out as a hip-hop dancer and Laker Girl before getting into movie and TV work, plays a bush pilot and sometime girlfriend of Jerry's. The role is bland but that name is great.

The implicit question overhanging the film: Is the political impetus to present only “positive” imagery of black people an injustice to the fullest range of their experience?

Has touches of quirky style to match its slightly edgy content.

Makhmalbaf continues her rise as Iran's most promising young female filmmaker, and Iranian cinema extends its reign as one of the world's most exciting cultural phenomena.

The story's rambling, meandering style is just right for the melancholy subject being explored, and all the acting is excellent.

The thriller's best and worst features all stem from a highly unusual plot structure that builds to a genuinely startling conclusion.

The multicultural cast gives a shred of substance to what's otherwise a standard adolescent gross-out flick.

Moving and informative.

Although Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che may have an epic running time of almost 4-1/2 hours, its scope is surprisingly narrow.

Cloud 9 may not be my idea of a great movie, but it doesn't pretend that old folks are, by definition, sexless. In the movie business, this qualifies as a revolution.

Sorrentino’s magic is all smoke and mirrors. People calling this movie a visual feast must be awfully famished.

The best parts of the movie are its occasional animated sequences.

It’s a strange, unsatisfying, fragmented movie, but at its best it belongs in the same unconventional continuum as Todd Haynes’s “I’m Not There” (about Bob Dylan) and “Love and Mercy” (about Brian Wilson).

Adams has a good camera eye and a fine feeling for the regional mores of the South, where she's from. Judd, who for a change isn't being terrorized in a thriller, is more nuanced and intense than she's ever been.

With its good intentions and likable demeanor, The Electric Horseman is an engaging but minor movie. It makes another amiable and thoughtful vehicle for two of our most charismatic stars, while never quite entering the world of action and ideas that hover just beyond the horsey humor and tumbling tumbleweeds of the story.

The best part of the movie is when the few who make it through are introduced to their new owners. It’s love at first touch.

In the end there's more nasty behavior than constructive insight.

Baye gives a stunning performance in the central role, backed by a first-rate supporting cast.

Just loopy enough to be tantalizing, involving, and fun.

A standard-issue slasher movie, stylishly shot, but with little to distinguish it from a long line of "Psycho"-spawned gorefests.

The result is a lively, insightful look at multiple levels of self-delusion among people who truly believe their Halloween funhouse is making our fallen world a better place.

It's surprising that so much material, so many moods, and such an interesting cast end up making such a small, unmemorable splash.

The net effect is a barrage of jokes that strain to be outrageous - just as the marionette gimmick strives to be different - but wind up canceling each other out.

Grand Canyon finds Kasdan in firm control of a restrained and intelligent style. Eliciting first-rate performances from a well-chosen cast, he brings these to the screen with graceful eloquence - giving words as much weight as actions.

The acting is fine -- and so is the moody-blues direction -- but, given the subject matter, the movie should be blacker and more disturbing.

The plot is promising and the acting is earnest, but in the end the movie doesn't quite work.

The dialogue is sharp and so are the performances. Andrew Dominik directed this neo-noir in a low-key comic style that's alternately gritty and fancy. The gritty stuff is best.

Downsizing never quite goes where you think it’s going, and normally, I’d say that’s a plus. But confounding expectations only goes so far. You still have to get to a place worth getting to.

Larry and Andy Wachowski directed this lurid, sexually explicit thriller.

It has one big thing in its favor: Sally Hawkins’ performance as Langley. She’s perfectly cast, which, as a general rule, does not always translate into a perfect performance. Not so here.

It's a great piece of work in a movie that, whatever its failings, deserves to be seen even if you swear undying allegiance to the BBC mini-series.

Despite some occasional moments of real sadness and terror, the turmoil in this movie is decidedly on the upbeat.

It's been a while since we've had a good monster movie, and while Cloverfield probably won't give you sleepless nights, it will certainly keep you awake in the theater.

Miles Ahead is obviously a labor of love, but it falls into the trap of so many biopics about anguished artists – it confuses the anguish with the artistry.

Brad Pitt gives one of his best performances as Sgt. Don “Wardaddy” Collier, a tank commander with a passion for killing Nazis.

Erotic comedies are often attempted but rarely realized. Tamara Drewe is proof that sexy and funny need not be mutually exclusive.

This time the feelings don't build much momentum, though, and the action is generally slack. Robert Altman directed, showing his usual healthy disdain for standard storytelling styles, but never quite getting a handle on his characters or their bizarre situation. [6 Dec 1985]

Blunt and Friend strike a few flinty sparks, and Julian Fellowes’s script has its share of dry-as-dust witticisms. Most of the time, though, it’s a stiff pageant.

The novelist Cormac McCarthy was served well by the Coen Brothers' adaptation of his novel "No Country for Old Men" but comes a cropper in The Road, a lugubrious trek through postapocalyptic debris.

It would be even better if Eastwood followed his character's lead and emphasized "real issues" over "human interest" in a story that touches on important social problems without doing much to illuminate them.

Fails to score a checkmate.

While you can't fault The Dancer Upstairs for lack of ambition, its tantalizing ingredients add up to a less impressive package than I'd hoped for. Malkovich should select a more manageable subject the next time he sits in the director's chair.

Offers much food for thought.

I will never be comfortable with the concept of Bosch as charming prankster. Just one look at the paintings will cure you of that notion.

The doc is longer on historical interest than original insights or analysis.

The conceit here is that if a boy and a girl love the same music, that means they're in love. Who am I to argue with such poetic whimsy?

I wish the film had gone even further into loopiness. Like Ant-Man, the film, directed by Peyton Reed, comes in two sizes – it’s sometimes big on laughs but often small on risk-taking.

As it is, “Mockingjay,” a big bore, suffers from being the transitional event before the big showdown.

Blithely entertaining but almost completely devoid of rigor.

Throughout it all, however, I couldn't escape the feeling that this movie belonged on television instead. It has the immediacy, but also the shallowness, of an extended TV episode. Talking heads proliferate and pontificate.

Kushner's proactive stance on gay rights is prominently aired and, to a lesser extent, so are his musings on the Arab-Israeli situation. His participation in the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's controversial "Munich" did not make it into the film.

Yedaya's prizewinning debut film is acted and directed with uncommon psychological realism.

It would have been wonderful if Lee had consented to an interview for this documentary, but at least we have, among many others, her 99-year-old sister Alice, until recently a practicing lawyer in their hometown of Monroeville, Ala.

More sugary than satisfying.

A revealing, often amusing, sometimes disturbing look at the history and politics of marijuana use in American society.

The timing is slack and the jokes repetitive. But, like most Will Ferrell movies, it has enough riotous moments to carry you through the dull stretches.

Lively documentary about McGovern's disastrous run for the US presidency. The interviews with him are worth the price of admission.