So it is an especial triumph that Quiz Show, directed by Robert Redford and written by Paul Attanasio, turns that footnote of television history into a thoughtful, absorbing drama about moral ambiguity and the affability of evil. Sticking moderately close to the facts and using real names whenever possible, it succeeds by pulling back and looking at the situation through an unexpectedly subtle and wide-ranging lens.

The thinking person's caper flick, with its endlessly clever plotting revealing character under the utmost pressure.

This splendid film is no mere polemic, for Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, often called the first lady of Iranian cinema, is above all an accomplished storyteller and dramatist who understands the evocative power of sound and image.

It's an exasperating, irresistible, must-see mess of a movie about life in the modern world and so very good that even when its story finally crashes and burns the filmmaking remains unscathed.

A bold and unqualified triumph, nifty trick and treat for Halloween that is, arguably, Hancock's best film ever, surpassing even his potent heart-tugger, the 1973 baseball drama "Bang the Drum Slowly."

Has everything a period romance should have, including a score by Michael Nyman and passionate performances by stars Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore.

You could say a lot about the very satisfying The Man Who Wasn't There, but what's for sure is that no one but the deadpan, dead-on Coen brothers could have turned it out.

Demands the utmost concentration, for to look away from the screen for even a brief moment is to risk losing a plot line or a crucial bit of information, but its cumulative, transporting impact makes it worth the effort. Above all, it has an overwhelming sense of reality atypical of the American cinema.

A delightful, effervescent morality tale for children conveyed with such wit and sophistication that adults are likely to be enchanted as well.

A film of stunning impact.

A triumph for all concerned, it is especially so for the multitalented Chereau.

In his knockout directorial debut writer Kevin Williamson taps into such universal memories with his shrewd and energetic dark comedy.

Halloween: H20 is as stylish and scary as it is ultra-violent. It's a work of superior craftsmanship in all aspects.

The combined intensity of these two performances (Jones and Blanchett) obliterates objections and raises the stakes in what might otherwise have been a standard western.

A wild at heart, anarchic comedy that believes in living dangerously.

Remains a timeless, major work of a master.

A delicious and delicately funny look at the residents of a Copenhagen neighborhood coping with the befuddling complications life tosses at them.

This is an intelligent epic told without special pleading, a film able to cut deep enough to reveal a keen specificity of experience.

A handsomely mounted, graceful production that is well-played across the board.

It's just that when a movie is this close, with so much of the sports flavor (co-producer Thom Mount is co-owner of the real Durham Bulls), you like to see it perfect. [15 June 1988]

We may have seen it all before, but when it's done up like this, experiencing it all over again is a pleasure. [16 June 1999, Calendar, p.F-1]

Aside from superb ensemble work from an 18-member cast, "Together's sense of human potential is its greatest pleasure.

Charming, disarming and in some ways humbling film.

Boldly structured, intensely focused and briskly paced, Alice and Martin has a tremendous emotional density that places the utmost demands upon its actors--and asks a lot of audiences, too.

A wholly unexpected film, as heady and surprising in its humor as in its emotional texture.

As the film, with its haunting score and inspired use of popular music, builds flawlessly to its resounding conclusion, it is accompanied by a pitch-dark humor that grows out of the sheer absurdity of the city's daily body count.

It is such a grand, romantic entertainment that it sweeps the viewer along in its swiftly escalating suspense.

An expertly designed theme park ride of a movie that packs nonstop thrills.