Xiaoshuai isn't really interested in glamorizing or even exploring the gangster lifestyle; nor is he interested in conventional dramatic arcs.

Aerves up so much visual wizardry and thought-provoking ideas that even the inevitable Silver touch -- a finale with more bullets than the opening of "Saving Private Ryan" -- can't destroy the magic.

Like it or hate it, Titanic lives and breathes as a piece of pure cinema.

At its core is a feminine realm (the beauty parlor) through which modern issues of alienation and casual-sex-as-a-drug are coupled with timeless questions about the natures of love and desire.

This might have been a very good movie if it had lost about one of its three hours.

Well worth the price of admission.

If you're in the mood for fairy tales, you've come to the right place.

I'm not even sure the movie makes sense at times, yet Campion's offbeat rhythms and eye for startling images always made me happy to be looking at the screen.

The great power of the film lies in its simplicity, in the slow-building tension and psychological melt-downs that are the result of stark, bare-bones film-making.

It goes without saying that the film is worth seeing simply for Bill Murray's Polonius.

A funny, frenetic and surprising comedy.

The jokes fly so furiously that it'd be impossible for a single weak performance (Graham) to unravel this very funny film.

A movie that keeps you wondering about its characters' true feelings and motives long after you've left the theater.

The kind of minor work that may very well speak greater volumes about (Stone's) thoughts and feelings right now than another masterpiece would.

A sweet, funny exercise in nostalgia, though it's also self-congratulatory and awfully calculating.

Nothing less than stunning: a slapstick ballet of choreographed buffoonery.

If it is never really as profound as it seems to think it is, American Beauty is consistently entertaining, and it earns points simply for acknowledging that all may not be perfect in the current boom years.

Blanchett projects a wounded dignity that anchors her character even when the film slips into silly hokum; she's never less than fantastic, and as such manages to keep the film on course.

An often affecting, if standard-issue, Hollywood biopic.

LL Cool J... is downright scary -- a mix of coiled charm and underlying menace.

A nice enough reminder that as time goes forward, we have to as well.

Closer to "M*A*S*H" than "Dr. Strangelove," which in itself wouldn't be a bad thing. But for all its engaging qualities, Three Kings doesn't seem to know what kind of beast it is.

Scott Thomas and Penn finally develop a bit of unlikely chemistry, aided by the Hitchcockian atmosphere. I found myself rooting for these foolish, pampered, naïve people, and rooting for the movie as well.

Best of all are the supporting players. Everett (who played the Prince of Wales in "The Madness of King George") is smartly urbane, giving a polished refinement to the stereotypical "gay best buddy'' role.

Beyond the fantastic contrivances of Gods and Monsters, these performances are startlingly human.

A small, scruffy, but agreeably energized comedy.