Manages to turn an internal, solitary activity into fodder for an engaging, even exciting movie.

It's the gentlest of tales in the grittiest of surroundings. Charles Lane's remarkable feature film debut, Sidewalk Stories, merges the sensibilities of Charles Chaplin and Spike Lee, fashioning a moving examination of homelessness from eloquent silence. [29 Dec 1989, p.5G]

The Dance of Reality, which deserves a place along Amarcord as a fantastical take on coming of age, is the work of a wise and experienced old soul with the heart and curiosity of a young man in love with life.

This is a big, audacious stunt of a movie -- pointless, perhaps, but incredibly fun to play with.

For all its excitement Kung Fu Hustle is mostly a marvel of comedic ingenuity and mile-a-minute creativity run wild. You've never seen anything like it.

Wonderfully energetic.

Gibney even convinced Armstrong to sit down for one final interview in May. In it, he comes off as somewhat contrite but also victimized, as if he were being single out for something everyone does.

August: Osage County is easier to watch on screen, and maybe for that we should be grateful.

Old-fashioned isn't necessarily bad. In Lean's case it can be immensely entertaining, because he knows how to build a story. At 76, he is still quite vital a force behind the camera, and he makes A Passage to India, born a comedy of manners, into high melodrama. [11 Jan 1985, p.D1]

Lee delivers a beautiful evocation of the American Dream in its simplest, purest form.

Expertly shot and choreographed in Eastwood’s clean, unfussy style, the Iraq sequences are taut, harrowing and at times excruciatingly suspenseful, particularly a setpiece in which Kyle faces off against his Iraqi counterpart, a superb sniper who has made it his mission to take down the American sharpshooter.

This is a movie best seen cold.

The enchanting A Walk in the Clouds glows in the luminous tones of a fondly remembered tale, like an old bit of nostalgia your grandfather might have recounted on a clear-skied summer night. It's sweet and decorous and familiar -- you'll be able to map out the plot 15 minutes into it -- but even that works in the movie's favor. It gives predictability a good name. [11 Aug 1995, p.5G]

The Invisible Woman offers a compelling glimpse at a life once hidden.

A work of wonderfully sinister fantasy. Director Brad Silberling is always mindful of his kiddie audience -- the movie is never even remotely scary.

One of the freshest, nastiest comedies to come around in quite some time.

The graphic sex scenes radiate an uncommon heat, and Im can pull off a hugely effective shock when he wants to.

Matilda, one of the darkest of Dahl's typically scary children's stories, has become a stylized, mordantly funny movie thanks to DeVito, who produces, directs and stars as Matilda's crooked dad. [02 Aug 1996, p.6G]

Reveals little about the personal aspects of the deeply troubled man behind the sunglasses -- it naturally deals with none of the darker aspects of Jackson's life -- but it deftly underlines his commitment to showmanship.

Although the premise sounds gimmicky, Rob the Mob is based on a true, incredible story, and the sense of mortal danger is palpable every time Thomas goes in to score some loot (these men were not to be trifled with).

Surprisingly effective, rousing entertainment, which boasts plenty of old-school, at times jaw-dropping stunt work done the manly way.

Here is an excellent crime thriller made with grown-ups in mind: Yep, it must definitely be fall.

Though its violence is searing and brutal, the film, about four FBI agents investigating a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, shows a conscience and a brain, and if it explains things a bit simplistically at times, so much the better.

Slight but extremely effective, and its characters so engaging that even the sad finale, which is not entirely unexpected or original, manages to pack surprising power.

Screenwriter/director Tornatore is best known for his nostalgic "Cinema Paradiso," which won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1990. But The Best Offer is completely different in style and tone; it’s dark instead of light, a psychological thriller of sorts, only with Virgil’s heart and orderly life in peril instead of his life.

The writing is good and the direction rarely flabby, but the real strength of Buckaroo is in a large and enthusiastic cast, led by Peter Weller, who plays the title character with a perfect deadpan. [11 Aug 1984, p.B7]

See The Killer for its sheer, gushing exuberance -- if you think you can take it. [26 Apr 1991, p.13]

Roger and Me is a documentary about the effect of auto- plant closings on the Rust Belt city of Flint, Mich., but wait! Don't be scared. This film will not harm you, it will not bore you. In fact, it will leave you charmed and amazed. [13 Jan 1990, p.E1]

In between all the emotional seesawing, it's hard to figure the depth of these two literary figures, and even the times in which they lived. But they fascinate in their recklessness.

Poignant, funny and ultimately exhilarating.

Best of all, L'Auberge Espagnol uses Barcelona as a veritable character, a picturesque, vivacious place where, as one character puts it, ''No one eats before 10 p.m."

The film is sad in a beautiful, peaceful manner, and its exploration of mortality is different from most others, since the three central protagonists are all barely in their 30s.

An engrossing psychological thriller.

The direction, by Jim Sheridan, is tough-edged. [27 Oct 1989, p.G7]

Mom (Elisabeth Shue) suffers from the fatal movie ailment of being so underwritten she's practically see-through.

The Help will make you laugh, yes, but it can also break your heart. In the dog days of August moviegoing, that's a powerful recommendation.

An involving, sweetly touching love story, buoyed by Crowe's natural, poetic dialogue and his knack for writing characters (especially women) who feel like real people instead of plot devices.

Faster, leaner and more compact than the original. Dumber, too, but that's almost always the case with remakes.

Just plain fun. Don't miss it.

It's the slum, the favela, that emerges as Orfeu's most compelling character -- criminally poor yet rich in life.

The best artists - the ones whose work endures and matters and changes the world - are often troublemakers who challenge the status quo. Out of their defiance comes art. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, director Alison Klayman's riveting documentary of the esteemed Chinese sculptor/painter/iconoclast, is practically a handbook on social rebellion.

Indian Summer could have been just that kind of angst-fest. But writer-director Mike Binder (Coupe de Ville), a former stand-up comedian, nimbly sidestepped those maudlin pitfalls and, instead, made a frank, funny, down-to-earth comedy. [23 Apr 1993, p.G4]

Has the feverish intensity of a bad dream, leavened with a subversive sense of humor that is both sophisticated and cracked.

The Bank, despite its faulty finale, is a fun and thrilling ride.

Who would have thought a German comedy could be light, charming and devoid of intellectual snobbery?

The movie is visually stunning, expansive yet intimate.

Ashes of Time Redux is primarily a sensory experience that deserves to be seen on as big a screen as possible.

There's nothing offensive about Barbershop 2, and maybe there should be. But even if the film plays it safe, it remains a cut above other mainstream comedies.

Beverly Hills Cop is an old-fashioned movie; it's a star vehicle. And the star makes it worth the price of admission. [5 Dec. 1984, p.B1]

Slacker is not always so purposefully creepy, but it's often as darkly funny; none of its characters is what you'd call normal, but the film's off-kilter view is such that they seem utterly in tune with their odd lives and odder times. [29 May 1992, p.5]

The most suspenseful sequence of any movie I've seen this year comes near the end of Waiting for Superman.

The movie humanizes Tyson and brings him down to the land of mortals, making his achievements loom larger. And if the boxer hasn't entirely made peace with his troubled soul, Tyson suggests the struggle is going his way.

Handsome Harry has some shakily staged scenes and erratic acting, but it also has wonderful moments.

Like most of le Carré’s novel, A Most Wanted Man has a veracity most spy thrillers lack, and the suspense is of the intellectual, not visceral, kind.

The more you know about the 1912 tragedy, the more you will appreciate the sights of Ghosts of the Abyss.

A fat streak of melancholy courses throughout Young Adult - who would have guessed the sight of a Kentaco Hut, one of those one-stop conglomerations of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, could be this depressing?

There's something to be said about an old story given a new ending -- and making it work.

Breathless, on the other hand, earns its style -- it uses that style against its characters, so that the film's good looks serve as background while the characters, trying to live up to the scenery, grind themselves down. 18 May 1983, p.B1]

There's a lot more at work in this raucously entertaining movie than cross-dressing clichés.

Strikes out toward freakishly original territory after all. Fans of the off-beat, your movie has arrived.

Although the movie doesn't exactly romanticize the period, the film still generates a twinge of pride in viewers who lived in South Florida during that time -- and lived to tell about it.

Surprisingly sweet and, dare we say it, old-fashioned, with an engaging sense of humor that's a definite improvement on lame, lowbrow efforts such as "Little Nicky."

There's never any question how Rescue Dawn will end, but as conventional and straightforward as the movie is, it's easy to understand why Herzog was driven to tell this story twice.

Going Shopping can make a wonderful outing for girlfriends. It's fun.

The screenplay for 7 Boxes is a beautiful example of how to craft a tense and increasingly complex thriller out of a simple scenario.

Juno comes on all wisecracking and aren't-we-clever, but don't be surprised if you find yourself getting choked up -- with happy tears -- by the end.

The movie is a goofy, ridiculous blast, and yet Raimi means business: Even the precociously cute kitty isn't safe in this one.

Playful, effervescent comedy.

For all its doom and gloom, Revenge of the Sith turns out to have a happy ending after all, giving Star Wars the send-off it deserves.

By film's end, we're deep into Coen brothers territory, with an extra splash of Sam Raimi-level gore.

There's no question The Invasion works in a mechanical, by-the-numbers manner. But it's what the movie leaves you with -- absolutely nothing -- that is the scariest thing about it.

Despite its humble nature, the film is downright uplifting without being vulgar, flashy or embarrassing.

Albert Nobbs is not a movie about gender politics; it's about trusting in the fundamental goodness of others and accepting one's need for companionship, and the way in which Close slowly reveals Albert's closed-off heart is poignant and often surprisingly funny, though never in a mocking way.

Love Is All You Need works despite its occasional preposterous developments.

Provides a few of the best thrills so far this summer.

If nothing else, Startup.com is a pointed reminder that mixing business and friendship never, ever works.

Cruz, who has never been able to fully show what she's capable of as an actress in an English-language film, takes to the role of the dark-haired hellcat with a sexy, bewitching fury.

If you can look past all the flesh and the thongs and the thrusting - and I admit that is an almost impossible task and probably not one you'd want to undertake anyway - what's most distinctive about Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike is its sense of fun.

Go for Sisters is minor Sayles, and the movie occasionally meanders. But the characters stay with you, particularly Bernice and Fontayne, whose relationship is beautifully transformed over the course of the film.

The movie's emotional impact is undeniable. It's a devastating portrait of smart, civilized people driven to behave in uncivilized ways, until it's too late.

The film's concept is so absurd and Hamer goes about developing it with such a regimented structure that you have to believe that the filmmaker is poking fun at himself and the world he knows well.

There are few moments when you're not totally absorbed by the film.

The wonderfully sad, exhilarating ending proves this filmmaker knew exactly where he was headed the entire time.

Heavenly Creatures uses its special effects ingeniously, and unlike Jackson's previous credits (the cult gorefests Dead Alive and Bad Taste), it's a movie with serious artistic ambitions. He immerses you in the heightened, giddy mindset of these two girls so completely, you can understand why they'd fight so ferociously to defend it. It's a strange, vivid movie, with moments that capture the texture of dreams -- and the fervor of teenage friendship and romance -- with thrilling precision. [9 Dec 1994, p.G5]

Its playful approach to chronology and voice-over narration serves to amplify its themes instead of coming off as a show-off trick.

A slight movie, and in the end you wish it said a little more, but it is also a startlingly honest production. When it's all over, you can't imagine it being any other way.

The movie has its own sweet charm, a charm as winning as Shirley herself. [15 Sept 1989, p.G5]

The Box is a mess, but it's a curiously haunting, intriguing, brain-tickling mess, and it delivers that "Donnie Darko" feeling in truckloads. Or should that be rocketloads?

The latest and loosest -- in the saucy sense of the word as well -- adaptation of (Austen's) sly comedies of uppercrust manners.

Achingly beautiful and visually transfixing, Samsara offers a transporting vacation from the usual multiplex fare. It's a movie to get lost in.

Juice has a mind, a mood and a method of its own. And what it does wrong is overshadowed by a cast and a pace that make you sit up and take notice. [17 Jan 1992, p.G5]

Engaging and enjoyable.

A haunting, poetic film, and yet it suffers two major failings. First, Murray provides too blank a slate for the audience to appreciate whatever insights a more expressive performance might have offered. Second, and far more troubling, is the way Jarmusch refuses to take his female characters seriously.

It's a simple message, and it's delivered with a grace and subtlety that's rare in would-be blockbusters.

Perhaps Rudolph is sending out a message about love, a la Rohmer, or maybe he's just having a strange kind of fun. Choose Me is just entertaining enough, in its eccentric, soap- operatic way, so that it doesn't matter. [21 Dec 1984, p.D22]

It also leaves you pondering what you would have done if you had been one of the soldiers stationed there, fighting in an increasingly loony and surreal war. There but for the grace of God, and all that.

Django Unchained is the most brutal film Quentin Tarantino has ever made. Unlike "Kill Bill" or "Inglourious Basterds," where the violence was thrilling and carried a visceral kick, the carnage here is often ugly and difficult to watch.

Schlesinger works at the story's dark heart -- the stranger within -- with elegance and a fearsome wit. It's one of those movies that starts scaring you even before anything has happened, and it's a treat. [28 Sept 1990, p.G5]