What enlarges Giamatti’s performance, and makes it ultimately more than a glorified comic turn, is how he gradually articulates Paul’s self-awareness for us.

Although it does disappointingly go over the top on occasion, there’s just too much depth and style to The Batman for it to be anything other than a success.

To the Dardennes’ immense credit, their film is not about villains and victims. Neither is the narrative sugarcoated.

The film is decidedly hagiographic but, in a time of heightened racial unrest, it’s worth being reminded of the fighter Ali’s origins.

If Armageddon Time simply recounted Paul’s coming-of-age, complete with a hefty serving of family spats, it wouldn’t have the resonance it often exhibits at its best. The friendship between Paul and Johnny, even more than Paul’s relationship with his grandfather, is the film’s emotional core.

Understandably wanting to leave audiences with a measure of hope, Garrone in some ways falsifies what is most powerful about his movie. But there is power, too, in dramatizing the endurance of people such as Seydou. Epic stories require epic bravery.

A story of overwhelming humanitarian sacrifice.

In its own rueful way, The Automat functions as a kind of restorative to those feelings of loss. It’s a celebration of what for so many people was among the happiest of times.

Hero is a smart and funny movie and also a surprisingly complex one. [02 Oct 1002, p.12]

The film is directed by Dallas Jenkins, the creator of “The Chosen,” a long-running TV series about Jesus’ life. His tonally perfect adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s book boasts a gentle wit. He deftly conveys the movie’s message without a heavy hand.

Under Fire is not a gentle experience. But it offers more to think about than any other new Hollywood picture. [23 Nov 1983, p.42]

Turning Red hits its key points about coming of age with authenticity and without apology.

It's an imperfect movie, but a tantalizing and rewarding one.

Paddington in Peru is a worthy addition to the beloved franchise. Buoyed by strong performances and the everlasting charm of Paddington’s unflappable British manners, it’s a supremely entertaining story for Hollywood’s favorite marmalade-loving bear.

I greatly enjoyed Nouvelle Vague, but will anybody besides cinemaniacs and Breathless devotees appreciate it? I think the answer is yes. That’s because it’s not simply a movie about how a landmark maverick movie got made. Its true subject is the exhilaration that comes from being part of an artistic escapade. It’s about how art – the making of it and the appreciation of it – can free you.

At its best, the film demonstrates a showbiz truism: It takes a lot of hard work to make something look easy.

Materialists scores where it counts most. Jane Austen it’s not, but it gets at the consequences of modern romance among the moneyed classes, where self-worth is bound up in one’s market value.

Would Caro’s books have been any less great if he and Gottlieb had never met? Who knows? But as this bracingly affectionate film makes clear, it was the gift of a lifetime for both that they did.

“Wake Up” can be appreciated as an excellent example of that venerable murder mystery genre – the “impossible crime” – in which no solution to the murder seems rational. But Johnson also has a bit more on his mind than this. Without being too strenuous about it, the film also probes the nature of religious belief.

It offers a refreshing perspective on mental health that draws in new audiences while reminding the rest of us why we continue to watch the studio’s films.

The Duke is a genial British entertainment that, at its best, reminded me a bit of those wonderful postwar Ealing Studio films like “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Ladykillers.”

A lot of emotional weight is packed into this seriocomic ramble if you know where to look.

What rescues the movie from being mere flimsy fun is Rutherford’s performance. She gives Agathe’s waywardness a gravity, a hint of darkness.

It’s a reminder that yes, it is a jungle out there. But we should still hold out hope for creating a better world, and not just for the haves, but the “have nots.” While that message may arrive at a place of cynicism when it comes to adults, it finds fertile ground among the youth.

The film is very good at laying out the forensics of the case, but Triet is after something larger. I’m not sure she altogether succeeds: She wants to show how Sandra is being judged not just for the murder but, in effect, for everything – for her failures as a mother, a lover, an artist.

Spielberg and Kushner were right to bring modern attitudes to this beloved warhorse. Their movie, at its best, isn’t just a remake. It’s a rethink.

On the plus side, we get a front-row seat, often closer than that, to some of the wowiest concerts ever committed to film.

Director John Sayles mingles folklore and realism in a charming story that the whole family can treasure. [19 Jan 1996, p.14]