Politics and humanism find an engrossing balance in this ambitious drama based on the life of Reinaldo Arenas, a gay Cuban poet who was persecuted by the homophobic Castro regime.

Wharton's old-school compassion and Davies's taste for artfully wrought melodrama make an unusual but ultimately successful combination.

Hanks's extraordinary acting keeps the adventure involving even though the beginning is predictable, the middle is uneven, and the finale slips into Zemeckis's patented brand of "Forrest Gump" fuzziness.

For all its ambitions, though, the Coens' odyssey is a scattershot affair with too many tricks and twists for its own good.

The action of this South Korean melodrama is fast and furious, but its emotions and ideas don't manage to keep up.

Mamet's screenplay is full of savvy satire and the cast couldn't be better.

The drama is likably low-key but builds little excitement, and Bowie's star billing says more about the power of his agent than the number of scenes he appears in.

The premise is more interesting than the movie, which takes several wrong turns on its way to an unconvincing conclusion.

There's too much hokum and too little suspense in the screenplay by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.

The dialogue isn't quite as sparkling and the plot twists aren't quite as snappy as you want them to be. And the story keeps rambling on after its oomph runs wearisomely thin.

The film's touches of unconventional style interfere with its emotional effectiveness at times.

The movie is enriched by its fine acting and by its creative respect for an innovator whose influence still permeates contemporary art.

More sugary than satisfying.

The movie has moments of breathtaking suspense, at least until it lapses into cartoonish implausibility in the second half. With good acting and good dialogue it might actually have been a good picture.

A wide range of concert and media clips lend vigor and variety to the documentary.

The film may be too talky for action-minded viewers and too fantastic for more serious spectators, but it brings appealing twists - including a feminist sensibility - to the venerable martial-arts genre.

The movie's seven scenes were filmed in real time (as opposed to condensed editing-room time) over the course of a year, giving the drama an extra touch of realism and humanity.

Dieckmann's debut film is skillfully acted, and builds a sense of true menace.

The acting is passionate, but the film would be more effective if it presented a more thoroughgoing lesson in the raging horrors that swept through European culture during the era of the French Revolution.

The story grows sillier as it goes along, culminating in a final switcheroo that's about as deep as the comic-book ideas that inspired the plot.

The acting is solid, but Tony Pierce-Roberts's unimaginative camera work falls short of his highest standard.

Carrey is excellent, making the most of his comic gifts even in a cumbersome Grinch outfit, and the eye-spinning color scheme is dazzling to behold.

The movie is well acted, deeply moving, and unlike some love stories, it doesn't feel forced or contrived.

Good acting and understated filmmaking turn off-putting material into a mildly engrossing drama, if not a particularly compelling one.

The fine cast helps an old-fashioned screenplay seem reasonably fresh most of the time.

This sexually explicit South Korean drama aims more to jolt than to illuminate, but it illustrates an aspect of Asian cinema that globally minded moviegoers should know about as films from that region take on more international prominence.

A pungent pleasure from start to finish.

Stoner jokes, awful gags, and just stupid stuff equate to one bad movie.