Its discussions don't go very deep, and moviegoers with strong religious values may wonder why it comes down for humanism over spirituality.

Debrauwer brings crisp conviction to what might have been an overly sentimental tale, filming it with a straightforward style and good-natured sincerity that ring consistently true.

If you’ve ever fantasized about busting up somebody’s nuptials, this movie is for you.

Without her (Kelly Macdonald), the generally well-acted The Merry Gentleman would descend into terminal lugubriousness.

The parallel stories don't always dovetail with each other smoothly, but the acting is strong and the atmosphere is powerful.

Watts is wonderful, and the story's forsaken-child theme still has plenty of horrific power.

Her social activism often left her children, some of whom are interviewed, in the lurch. It’s a contradiction the film could have more sharply explored.

The entire enterprise ultimately seems designed to turn Austen into a self-help guru.

Like its subject, the movie is a tad overzealous, but often fascinating and revealing.

The saving grace of Queen and Country is that its nostalgia is not laced with sentimentality. Even working in this conventional mode, Boorman doesn’t try to strong-arm us into blubberiness.

Best performance, minute for minute, comes from Adriane Lenox, whose cameo as Michael's drug-addled mother is the film's standout.

Smart and engrossing, if too heavy on the symbolism at times.

Carrell has stated in interviews that his accent "falls someplace between Bela Lugosi and Ricardo Montalban," and that's about right.

Suspenseful and psychologically rich.

It captures their magic with a freewheeling spontaneity that became a model for later pop-music movies.

The veteran rock musician Nick Cave wrote the screenplay and John Hillcoat directed, both somewhat in thrall to Sam Peckinpah. The bonds of family are the centerpiece of this highly uneven, hyperviolent film.

While Jaoui's film is interesting to watch, it dawdles enough to lose its storytelling grip.

Emmerich's screenplay gains emotional punch from its sincere concern for family values, but science-fiction fans may be disappointed by the limited exploration of its fascinating time-travel premise.

Whenever Jones is on screen, the film's energy level kicks up several notches, an indication, I think, that Spielberg otherwise overdoses on directorial decorum.

Best when it recreates the cultural and political ferment of the era, capturing the idealism that made youths push against the social boundaries imposed on them by elders.

Without question, the bold Jeanne Dielman deserves to be seen by those curious about new directions in cinema or about the vigorous Belgian film scene of which Akerman is an important member. But it's a long shot that so challenging and demanding a work will have much widespread appeal. [31 Mar 1983, p.17]

Haneke brings his usual dark sensibility to bear on the multifaceted story, expressing the fractured quality of modern city life through scenes that wander through a labyrinth of missing links and lost connections.

The farce is energetically written, breezily acted, and never quite as dumb as the lunkheads it's about.

The first half drags a bit, but the adventure scenes are exciting and the visual effects are as dazzling as Hollywood's most advanced technology can make them. Focusing as much on time and memory as on danger and disaster, it's an epic with a heart.

Divine Intervention is the "Dr. Strangelove" of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, bringing barely acknowledged fears to the surface so they can be understood.

The plot switches gears every time it threatens to run out of energy, which keeps the show as lively as it is preposterous.

Davison gives one of his many bravura performances in this 1977 adaptation of Miguel Pinero's hard-hitting play.

At least Erik/Magneto, as played by Michael Fassbender, is, well, magnetic.