Part of the reason The Amazing Spider-Man feels so fresh and invigorating is that its story is so simple - anyone remember exactly what the deal was with Loki and that cube? - and its protagonist so relatable.

Frenetic, maddening, exhilarating, ridiculous, fascinating farce of an action-comedy-thriller-mystery-whatever.

Sometimes, love can feel like hate or annoyance — it is, as the title states, strange. But sometimes, more often than not, it can be a wonderful thing.

Burnett is probably the most interesting here, but not by much. John Ritter is fun, Marilu Henner is sexy enough to hold her own even while Nicollette Sheridan, who is lovely, colts about the stage in lingerie. Julie Hagerty, as a steadily more nervous stage manager, is the scariest and funniest; Denholm Elliott, the barely reformed boozer who chases every bottle that turns up backstage (and many, many do), is a hoot...The whole thing vibrates with its dark possibilities: Utter humiliation awaits at every turn. Bogdanovich's movie doesn't move at the speed of the live performances of Noises Off that I have seen -- I'm not sure it could, without sacrificing comprehension. But it moves fast enough. If you can't laugh at Noises Off, you're just not mean enough. [21 March 1992, p.E1]

Wright's film is visually stimulating to be sure, but he never loses sight of the raw human emotions that make Anna Karenina a classic.

Mr. Fox's old-fashioned, hand-crafted animation is one of its main attractions. Another is Anderson's whimsical, dry humor, a natural for this tale of a crafty, dapper fox.

There is little trace of tragedy in this warm, refreshing Southern comedy, which is quirky without being idiotic, original despite some familiar developments.

It is a testament to how well the movie is made that even the most hardened viewer might find himself tearing up at moments -- and you won't have to hate yourself in the morning.

A ferociously entertaining and mean little horror movie that achieves the kind of outrageous vibe best enjoyed in a crowded, noisy theater.

Serves as a beautiful and delicate reminder of the myriad ways in which life is lived on this huge planet of ours.

The film builds to a three-pronged tumultuous climax, shot in slow motion that could have been overwrought but somehow isn’t.

If Close-Up is not much to look at, it certainly enthralls the mind. [09 Feb 1996, p.16G]

Apted delivers a fine, righteous climax and packs his film with some of Britain's best character actors.

Junge had come to terms with her past. And even if you don't come to terms with her life, it's worthwhile knowing about it.

Take Shelter is paced slowly and deliberately, which is necessary to make believable whatever is tormenting Curtis.

The film is far from perfect, but it's likely to inspire more than few quests for balance -- or at least a fabulous bowl of linguine.

Fierce, profane and hilarious comedy.

A wobbly enterprise saddled by stilted dialogue and convenient contrivances. But view it as a Woody Allen film, and the plot thickens.

In the end, the highly manipulative Arachnophobia succeeds because it plays off our deepest fears and dramatizes that most common of nightmares in which man is pursued by a ravenous, largely unseen evil. [18 July 1990, p.D1]

Marley & Me gets so many of the details right, particularly in its final act, when it turns into a five-hanky weeper.

Essentially a horror movie for kids, but it is also gentle and funny and whimsical, and even in its darkest moments, Selick never forgets who his target audience is. Still, some young children might have a nightmare or two after seeing it.

The atmospherics here are impressive. There's an undertone of comic dread in most of Cox's scenes, so artfully established that you wonder where it came from. In this respect, Cox seems a more playful variant of Wim Wenders, whose Paris, Texas might have been this funny had it not taken itself so seriously. Of course, Cox isn't Wenders -- he doesn't have the narrative skills yet. But Repo Man is without qualification the most interesting film yet about people driving around and getting into trouble. And there does seem to be a metaphor in there somewhere. [4 Apr 1985, p.4]

Reveals yet another facet of this always-unpredictable filmmaker: a flair for compassionate, humane melodrama.

Wreck-It-Ralph is a gorgeously rendered story that will play just as well to children as to their parents, albeit for different reasons. Playstation and Xbox junkies will be equally pleased.

Fiery but turgid adaptation of the 1890 August Strindberg play.

Wisely, this fast-paced movie has enough colorful characters and rollicking gags to keep the tykes from getting bored. [10 Apr 1995, p.5C]

Regardless of its veracity, this portrait of a drug-addled star who just wants to express himself artistically contains implications that exceed the filmmakers' intentions.

Although Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is unmistakably a fawning love letter to an amazing performer, its subject proves to be her sharpest, bluntest critic.

Grim, tight and well acted.

This glitzy, infectious and unusually heartfelt musical doesn't always hang together as a satisfying narrative -- too many characters compete for too little screen time -- but its pleasures are numerous enough to override its flaws.

Fast, wacky and bubbling with passion or dark, troubled and doomed. In the unusually titled crazy/beautiful, it's all those things at once.

It's a stand-up-and-cheer kind of movie -- hence the Rocky comparison -- with the unlikeliest of heroes. [30 Mar 1988, p.D1]

Patty Hearst is a compelling piece of work, with the bogus immediacy of old newspaper clippings. And yet it plays at times almost as satire. It's a vaudevillian's account of the end of the '60s radicalism, a murderous skit. Schrader, who loves ambiguity, has outdone himself this time. [23 Sep 1988, p.E1]

Prime may have its unlikely moments, but overall its heart is winningly untraditional and in exactly the right place.

It's an extremely raunchy hybrid of "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Serendipity's finale is a perfect crowd-pleaser, sweet and unlikely and over the top.

The movie earns its tension and suspense the old-fashioned way: By making you care about its characters.

What makes Master and Commander so bracing and transporting -- what makes the movie feel unlike any adventure film you've seen before -- is the precise detail and care with which Weir places us aboard the HMS Surprise.

Director Pablo Trapero ( Lion's Den), like so many contemporary Argentine filmmakers, reserves the bulk of his wrath for a country whose authorities and judicial systems have been so grossly corrupt there appears to be no way of correcting them.

So impressive you welcome each and every one for the film's 48 minute duration.

This third (and, I would guess, last) installment does what few sequels do. It actually extends the story into its logical destination rather than merely recycling familiar characters and situations. It's not terrifying. It is an audacious first film. It is fully as dreadful as fans might hope. Don't miss it. [22 May 1992, p.G5]

John Carter manages to be a ridiculous amount of fun, even if you are immune to the charms of Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) running around in what amounts to a stylish loincloth.

Shows us a man who not only derives great pleasure from devoting himself to his job but also, in the process, has helped shaped the greatest city in the world.

Fiendishly tricky contraption.

This British-made story of an advertising executive and the boil on his neck begins as a marketable concept comedy and turns into a combination psychological horror flick and thought- provoking parable. [10 Jul 1989, p.C5]

If your kid is a fan of Disney's "Recess," one of the hotter properties on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup, the new inspired-by-the-TV-show movie, Recess: School's Out, will be quite a hit.

Ebullient, joyous film.

A fascinating look at events mostly unknown to outsiders.

Friends With Kids cheerfully earns its R rating on language alone, but always in service of a good laugh.

"Our self-esteem is wrapped up in it,'' admits actress Tracie Thoms (who sticks with a natural curly look). "A woman's hair is her glory,'' Angelou says.

"Twilight's" Robert Pattinson gets a chance to shed his sparkly vampire persona and play a romantic lead with a pulse. The change suits him.

Penn makes all this fun. He doesn't camp, though he's not above borrowings and homages, and you can count the Hitchcocks. Penn's approach is almost elegant, even though this is little more than a bauble. We're not supposed actually to believe any of it, but merely to come along for the ride. [11 Feb 1987, p.D7]

Has the sort of richness and dimension that are the hallmarks of master storytellers at work.

War may set the stage for Strayed, but the film's real focus is something much quieter and internal: People caught in the throes of a transformation that is not of their making and struggling to adapt.

Somewhat lumbering but ultimately rewarding plot.

Big and fast and silly, but it's never dumb, and it's certainly never boring, either. The summer movie onslaught has begun on a high note.

Kids will eat it up, while solid voice work from William Shatner and Wanda Sykes should keep this borderline-feral toon from pushing adults over the edge.

Not since "To Live and Die in L.A" has there been such a raw, cynical vision of living and dying in L.A.

Satire is at the core of Mafioso, whether in establishing the by-now-stereotypical images of Sicilian peasants or the gripping arms of the Mafia.

What Bloody Sunday lacks in clarity, it makes up for with a great, fiery passion.

This is the most impressive directorial debut since"Reservoir Dogs." Being John Malkovich is weird, all right-- the best kind of weird, the kind you haven't seen before.

The film likewise lurches here and there, but for the most part its aim is true. Action accelerates nicely, a series of pointless cuts to parallel action in Moscow and London provides a false but convincing sense of urgency, and not until the final moments do the filmmakers run out of steam. They have an answer for that, too, in the film's coda. [28 Aug 1987, p.D5]

Hollywood Shuffle isn't perfect. It usually looks as cheap as it was, and some of the messages land with a thud instead of a zing. But its central point -- hold onto your dream and your dignity -- is inspiring. A promising filmmaker has been born. [12 June 1987, p.D-5]

Turns out to be amusing and astute, a smart observation on the ups and downs of female friendships.

The most extreme English-language studio release I've seen in years.

The stories touch our sensibilities, but the documentary never sugarcoats the childrens' experiences.

Not for those with limited attention spans, though there's never a dull moment.

Secret of this 'Ballot' lies in its humor, charm and universality.

For those in the 3 to 5 bracket, Elmo doesn't often aim wrong.

Saura's storytelling style draws us deep into Goya's world, a disturbing but bittersweet place that can look hauntingly modern.

Nothing about Leap Year plays out exactly like you expect, and Rowe prefers to send you home with enigmatic questions instead of clear-cut answers. You may not fully understand Laura, but chances are you won't be able to forget her.

Writer-director Stephane Robelin's frothy comedy is much more "Golden Girls" hijinks than "On Golden Pond."

Even for a sport already filled with horrific accidents and tales of unlikely survival, the mountain-climbing nightmare told in Touching the Void is astonishing.

The movie's power sneaks up on you, reminiscent of something screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond once famously described as "the Billy Wilder touch": A combination of the sweet and the sour, because even funny people, like you and I, aren't always being funny.

In some ways, Misery is the ultimate writer's inside joke -- the author as slave to a single, maniacal editor. This is not a great film, but it's good enough to invest the word deadline with a whole new meaning. [30 Nov 1990, p.G5]

Beastly, for all its potential pitfalls, works better than it has any right to. Credit Barnz, who keeps his young characters contemporary in a world of text messaging and status updates and yet also gives them depth.

Don't try to figure Emilia's family out. Just sit back and let this family scrapbook move along.

Unfortunately, Life After Beth starts feeling more conventional the wilder and darker it gets, and the laughs become more sparse as the movie winds to its bizarre and but unsatisfying conclusion.

The humor is mostly gentle in nature; The Guilt Trip is clearly targeted at older audiences less than receptive to the crude jokes that made Rogen famous in movies like "Knocked Up" and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno."

Streep is simply amazing to behold, an actress who invests every fiber of her being -- every gesture, every inflection, every strand of hair -- into her performance.

Hearing Wilde's pithy lines in her mouth -- ''London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years'' -- is worth the ticket price. In the end it's Dench who reminds us of the importance of enjoying Oscar Wilde.

G-rated material with the snap of a good story and animated artwork that often sparkles. [01 Dec 1982, p.D6]

Where Traffic stumbles is in its inability to engage the heart with the same fervor it engages the intellect.

McGrath has managed to turn Dickens into a cozy date movie. When was the last time anybody could make that claim?

Compromising Positions is not a big movie in any way, and it has its share of rough spots, particularly toward the end. But it's a late-summer concession to grown-up tastes after a season of intergalactic kids. And it's hard to hate a movie that contains this sentiment, again delivered deadpan: "God, I'd love to kill a dentist." [30 Aug 1985, p.D15]

Cynics may roll their eyes at Hardball's earnestness, but the movie proves even the most conventional stories can move and engage you, provided they're told well.

The film isn't much of a character study; too many of its secondary characters are stereotypes, and it never fully engages our emotions the way "Schindler's List" or "The Pianist" did.

Director James Ponsoldt, who co-wrote the script with Susan Burke (inspired in part by her own experiences), opts for realism and modesty instead of sensation.

But there is so much information to process in The Big Short that only hedge fund managers and stock brokers will be able to track every nuance and shading of this complicated story.

Considering the seedy nature of the adult film industry and the sad fates of many of its stars, Inside Deep Throat is surprisingly light on tragedy.

The aggressively over-the-top plot is sloppy and totally irrelevant. What counts are the jokes that fly so fast they're easy to miss.

An ensemble cast brimming with great theater actors and movie stars tears into a collection of meaty, moving, funny roles, with largely vibrant results.

Cusack, of course, is the perfect Anti-Schmaltz. His rapid-fire delivery makes everything he says sound like it's just pouring from his brain to his mouth, so that even the sappiest dialogue is rendered sincere.

But for all the duplicitous minds playing games with each other on the screen, Nine Queens' best con artist turns out to be Bielinsky himself -- and his target is the audience.

Literature lasts, but sometimes, The Last Station suggests, the ties that bind last, too.

It's not nearly as good as you figure it will be, but it is a full-bore, flat-out fantasy, and outside of the Disney animated jungle, we don't find many of those anymore. [18 Dec 1992, p.G5]

While it embraces many of the conventions of the movie- musical, Absolute Beginners overcomes the ready cliches with the crackling energy of jazz and youth. Both Kensit and O'Connell catch the rhythm of their personas early on, riding Temple's roller-coaster tale with care thrown to the wind. They careen off the brainless characters and the hard-knocks facts of life with a "who cares" resilience, never missing a beat in their quest for experience. [4 June 1986, p.D5]

There's too much caution and not enough lust.