There will be opportunities to see the picture in regular 24 frames per second, but I recommend going the whole hog and sampling what Jackson has come up with - a new way to watch movies and a new take on a universe that seemed to have exhausted its narrative possibilities.

Contagion may be the most expensive public-service ad ever filmed, but it's also a surprisingly light-on-its-feet action thriller.

Return to Ithaca is a bracing and surprisingly vocal expression of angst and frustration by people torn between love for their country and the harsh letdown that resulted from their loyalty.

As a piece of storytelling, Fight Club is a bit of a dud: It's a good 15 minutes too long, and the tension doesn't build the way you wish it would.

Carrey's amazing transformation in Man on the Moon does justice to Kaufman's undefinable talents and his peculiar outlook on entertainment.

Simple and austere, The Cuckoo also draws from the mysticism of tales of gnomes and other creatures who inhabit remote Nordic lands. It is that blend of reality with allegory that delivers the film's beauty and charm.

Higher Ground is ultimately a proponent of the human spirit, of the individuality and honesty that must be claimed, even at a high price. That's a lot of substance to stuff into one little movie, but Farmiga makes it fit astonishingly well.

This is courtroom drama at is best, especially when you listen to the sublime soundtrack.

This is a comedy about imbeciles who fall blindly in love with a concept, without giving any thought to what they are doing. And although some of them eventually have a moment of self-realization, it arrives, sadly, much too late.

There's some genuine suspense in Lantana, including one unbearably tense moment that is worthy of Hitchcock. But the movie's most unnerving aspect is the way in which it suggests true happiness may be impossible to regain once you've lost it.

Pixie-like Bridget Fonda turns in a powerhouse, Rambette performance. [19 March 1993, p.5]

Get Smart turns out to be a much more entertaining movie than its tedious trailers suggest. It's not going to redefine comedy as we know it, but it's amusing and briskly paced, busy with an engaging mix of supporting actors.

Smith is an endearing, driving comedic force, one who makes the buoyant Hitch more enjoyable than it has any reason to be.

Despite its stylistic flaws, the acting and the magic of the story make Maelstrom a different kind of film.

It is as emotionally raw and wrenching as life itself.

There's a strange, bittersweet melancholy in watching the protagonists of Good Bye, Lenin! being buffeted about by change, but refusing to let go of each other.

So TRON is an adventure story, with the requisite (and understated) love triangle at its heart. But it is also a story of remarkable special effects, and this is the stuff you haven't seen before. [09 July 1982, p.C1]

Calling a comedy old-fashioned nowadays might seem like a backhanded compliment, but that's precisely what this genial, funny movie is.

One of the chief pleasures of Paris, Je T'aime -- is seeing how each filmmaker adheres to their assignment of making a movie about love in Paris but still comes up with a distinctly personal work that bears their artistic sensibilities.

Whip It is completely predictable from the first frame. It also is ridiculously, utterly entertaining.

At its core, Susanne Bier's wrenching portrayal of the shifting dynamics within a Danish family is really about survival, about how we cope in the face of shattering grief and what we'll do -- anything, really -- to save ourselves.

Running Scared is a vicious and brutal B-movie jacked up to hysterical, hallucinatory proportions -- a pulpy, violent action picture that torments the viewer as much as its characters, and I mean that as a compliment.

Quibbles aside, Ultimate X zips by speedily and is rad fun for sports fans and sedentary folks alike.

The film’s visual artistry works as an ideal counterbalance for Kaufman’s heady brand of middle-aged despair.

Combined with Guare's bountiful writing and Schepisi's ambitious style, Six Degrees of Separation approaches the sublime. [21 Jan 1994, p.G5]

Kong: Skull Island is fast, playful and ridiculous, a big-budget extravaganza with the soul of a spirited B-movie.

An unusually vicious and unforgiving study of police corruption, Narc is a stylistic throwback to such classic 1970s cop dramas as "The French Connection" and "Serpico," with a 21st century helping of the old ultra-violence.

Though there's nothing revolutionary about 17 Again, the movie is undeniably enjoyable.

Great Balls of Fire makes the most of this abundant raw material by keeping its focus tight (barely two years in a career that has spanned 30), its characters outrageous and the conflict between Lewis and his self-righteous cousin Jimmy Swaggart unresolved. [30 June 1989, p.H5]

Williams is wonderful. But though you can see Williams straining and heaving at the traces, working against the confines of a script he could have rewritten between scenes, he makes a character out of it anyway. [18 May 1990, p.G5]

Something is missing in Roxanne. The greatness of Rostand's play was that it touched, underneath Cyrano's panache, a place of deep yearning, a heartwarming truth about human loving. Martin and Schepisi are satisfied with the shine. [19 June 1987, p.D1]

It's even better as a love story that just happens to make you laugh.

The charm of Jimmy Neutron is that it's both futuristic enough to intrigue kids and retro enough to hook their parents.

A hoot.

A hard and hilariously ironic look at the bottom line. As it turns out, love was not all you needed; hard cash came in handy, too.

Heavy-handed and manipulative, it also proves formidably engrossing.

Concise and intriguing.

Its social consciousness aside, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is really a simple love story between men set in the American West, although unlike "Brokeback Mountain," this love is purely platonic -- nothing more than the bond of brotherhood between two dear friends, a classic Western theme.

The Family is the rare breed of pitch-black comedy that effectively uses violence for laughs or gasps, depending on the situation.

A late-summer delight, a sleek, handsomely made bauble buoyed by a cast much stronger than the flimsy material deserves.

It's best to just enjoy Hannibal for what it is: A decadent, elegant waltz about evil's seductive bloom. As sequels go, you could do a lot worse.

One thing nearly all the anecdotes in The Hunting Ground have in common is their resolution: A lack of justice.

Sad confusions and emotional disconnections are what the story is all about.

This is a love letter to lunacy (and an unspoken tribute to the iconic towers) that lets you feel what it’s like to tread where only gods dare.

It's a B-movie with A-list aspirations, and it's at its best when it's not trying to be something it isn't.

Eastern Boys explores whether these lost boys are damaged beyond repair or are still capable of being saved.

The movie is enchanting yet strangely menacing, and it becomes clear that Pawlikowski is no mere love fool.

An unapologetically stupid and implausible movie, but in the best possible way -- it's so sure of itself, it wins you over.

It aims -- successfully -- to make you think and feel.

This mostly upbeat crowd-pleaser soothes the audience with glistening harmonies and familiar songs and doesn’t always handle the ugly past simmering just below its surface gracefully.

Green’s movies rarely play out in conventional ways, and Joe, too, surprises in the end.

The Queen taps into the universal curiosity the world shares toward royal families -- an element of the movie that Frears wisely mines for gentle humor.

Even the torrent of verbal abuse is rewarding in this warm, evocative comedy with a heart made not of tin, but of gold. [13 Mar 1987, p.D7]

The film is filled with scenes about scrappy, cut-and-paste filmmaking, and the movie-within-a-movie that drives the plot also ends up as the centerpiece of the hugely affecting final scenes.

Doesn't have the depth and resonance of a classic, but the picture's modesty is refreshing, and its artistry is awe-inspiring.

Sweet, amusing little film.

Near Dark never drags. When it is funny, it can be wonderfully dark, and when it's scary it is wonderfully mean. Bigelow has a rough-trade sensibility that shows through just often enough. None of the romance of the vampire legend for her and Red; just blood and guts and weird trouble from that odd family down the road. The ensemble cast (three of whom, Henriksen, Paxton and Goldstein are veterans of Aliens) treats it all like red-blooded fun, the effects are swell, and Bigelow is just mean enough to bear watching. [9 Oct 1987, p.D1]

After a leisurely first half, The Devil's Backbone becomes utterly spellbinding, its tension mounting in steady increments, its story taking one dark turn after another, and its bittersweet resolution destined to haunt you long after you've left the theater.

Raunchy, provocative and often very funny.

Still, though it's crude and juvenile in ways that makes you vaguely ashamed at laughing so much, The Campaign is versatile enough to sneak in a good shot or two at the American political system.

This is a rare breed of crowd-pleaser: a big-hearted, generous movie that never patronizes the audience.

A glittering, beautifully made goof, and the bulk of its fun comes in watching so many talented people chasing after such trivial, disposable pleasures on such a large, big-budget scale.

The Monster Squad is schoolyard-clever and cut to the rhythms of Saturday morning TV, within which limitations it's actually a lot of fun. It's a swell movie for kids under 13. [20 Aug 1987, p.C8]

Gingerly paced and meditative, Shanghai Triad isn't as lyrical as some of Zhang's other films, but its hauntingly tragic ending and the bittersweet relationship at its core are as powerful as anything in this director's impressive body of work. [16 Feb 1996, p.7G]

Often, the movie leaves you wishing Briski had found a way to document more of her subjects' day-to-day lives.

An exploration of how fear and mob rule can poison even the purest of souls.

OK, Mr. Jackson, you proved your point by landing the finish. Now please, no more Middle-earth, ever.

What makes Young@Heart such an ingratiating experience goes far deeper than the novelty of seeing old people singing hard rock tunes.

The main thing to keep in mind while watching Steven Soderbergh’s thriller Side Effects is not to take the movie too seriously or else you’ll feel betrayed by the end.

A mesmerizing documentary about the rise and fall of a drug lord, perhaps the biggest there ever was.

A breath of fresh air in this musty spring movie season.

Bradshaw, who is funnier than you might suspect, also turns out to be the most fearless of performers.

There's a streak of compassion in Dark Horse, a sincere empathy for a thoroughly detestable man, that is as surprising as anything in Solondz's earlier, more transgressive work.

Despite the film's sloppy structure, it feels weirdly good to hang out with these losers again.

The rare sort of movie that gives predictability a good name.

This is speculative, heady stuff, far removed from traditional Hollywood summer entertainment, which alone will earn A.I. a devoted following.

Paradise: Hope plays better if you’ve seen the previous two movies, so you can savor the reach and scope of Seidl’s trilogy. But the film stands alone as a tender portrait of adolescence at its most vulnerable and how we manage to survive it, even when surrounded by predators and wolves.

The lead roles are played by Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. They're the reasons this movie works. Despite itself. [11 Oct 1991, p.G5]

If Inside Out doesn’t stack up with the best Pixar movies (Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Toy Story), that’s because there’s less plot here than usual, and even at a lean 95 minutes, the movie starts to drag a bit just before it ends.

The movie's politics may miss their mark, but its thrills are dead-on.

A Shock to the System has wit, a cool classy charm and a hero you root for even after he rigs his house's faulty wiring so his nagging wife unwittingly electrocutes herself while he's out of town on business. [23 Mar 1990, p.G5]

The Lady in the Van doesn’t give in to platitudes. It’s unnervingly honest about its subject.

The movie is slightly more sappy, and the characters are necessarily less fleshed out than they are in Audrey Niffenegger's dazzling novel, but neither shortcoming detracts from the film's appeal.

Greenberg is a comedy (a scene in which Roger attends a boisterous college party and pitches a fit over the music is marvelously funny), but it's a sad, rueful comedy about disappointment.

Descended from a long and healthy line of high school-sports and academic-achievement films, a hip-hop "Hoosiers" bolstered by a generous helping of "Stand and Deliver" and "Lean On Me."

It's not always an easy movie to watch, but its characters are unforgettable.

Best of all, the film never makes its characters into stoic or tragic heroes, choosing instead to highlight what makes them human — their hopes, their fears, their anger, the way they learn to live with knowing they’re going to die.

Predictable but amusing. The painfully awkward, stubby Gervais as romantic lead is a funny enough concept, but the actor's ongoing banter with Kinnear is engaging, and their styles mesh entertainingly.

Even in the 21st century, public discussions of homosexuality still make a lot of people awfully jittery. With passion and candor, Outrage argues that everyone needs to just get over it.

For all its tumult, The Clay Bird mostly concentrates on its likable characters, all acted with the kind of understatement that makes a good film better.

It's a dreamy Southern gothic, a la "Night of the Hunter," with an emphasis on the dreamy.

It's a good, solid family film.

Wild Grass, which employs a wry, self-deprecating voice-over narrator and some highly stylish camerawork, feels like a comic thriller building into a kind of strange romance.

Gaghan is attempting to cover so much ground in Syriana that the movie at times feels a little suffocating.

Despite the fact that the film is not graphic, you won't want to watch Darfur Now over dinner with your family. But you probably should anyway.

The real genius, if that is what it is, behind Sacha Baron Cohen's crude, shocking and explosively funny Brüno is the fact that the filmmakers actually found enough gullible human targets.

Pirate Radio does what it sets out to do. It rocks.

Les Voleurs requires undivided attention and a willingness to let the storyteller tell the tale his way. But Techine proves he's worthy of your trust. [31 Jan 1997, p.4G]