Exotica seems to be about lust for the flesh, but it ends up as something much more tender -- and deeper. [24 Mar 1995, p.4G]

Narco Cultura isn’t a documentary about runaway crime: Its actual subject is far stranger.

What makes Exit Through the Gift Shop so fascinating -- and it is riveting, regardless of your interest in the art world -- is the eloquent way in which it illustrates how beauty and meaning really are in the eye of the beholder and how that eternal phrase still holds true: There's a sucker born every minute.

The most remarkable aspect of Charles Ferguson's lacerating documentary about the U.S. invasion of Iraq is that the film contains virtually no new information, and yet its message is as compelling as if we were hearing it for the first time.

American Splendor reminds you that sometimes, simply getting out of bed each morning can be the most heroic of acts.

Delivers all the expected moments of high suspense --that is worthy of Hitchcock

Leaves you in a state of stunned, exhilarated awe, both for what it shows and how it shows it.

The touch of sharp and edgy storytelling has returned to French master Claude Chabrol.

Doesn't feel so much like a movie as a glimpse into the extraordinarily messed-up life of a young man about to make the simple yet life-changing realization that actions have consequences, and that other people matter, too.

The movie puts Jasira -- and the audience -- through the wringer, but it also makes the ride worth it.

Prelude To a Kiss, which has a lot to say about romantic illusion and reality, weds a writer's captivating imagination to an array of rich performances. And it is sometimes so moving that you might find Baldwin's aren't the only moist eyes in the house. [10 Jul 1992, p.G5]

Puts you on edge about what goes on behind the closed doors of the White House. Even if the case against Kissinger is not fully convincing, the documentary keeps you glued to your seat and thinking long after you've left the theater.

This is a long, impeccably detailed, richly textured movie about a most unusual life, and although it's far from perfect, the sum of it achieves what Fincher set out to do in the first place: Make you blubber like a 6-year-old who just found his pet turtle lying belly-up.

Birdman takes advantage of every facet of Keaton’s talent, from his knack for absurdist comedy to his seemingly effortless ability to tap into graceful profundity without making a big show of it.

With a film this funny, exciting and visually stimulating, who cares if you know exactly what's going to happen next, and when.

The wait for a great action movie is finally over. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is pure popcorn of the highest, most flavorful order, and it's good for you, too.

At two hours, the movie is probably 15 minutes too long -- the final half-hour in particular could have used some trimming -- but complaining about having too much of a good thing makes one sound like a grouch.

The film’s true subject, though, is innate talent — for music, writing, painting, sculpture, plumbing — and the superhuman lengths we sometimes have to go to in order to wring it out of ourselves.

Great, multilayered family film.

Within the confines of this minimalist picture, there are sequences so vital, timely and of-the-moment, so powerful and well-observed and precise, the effect can be emotionally overwhelming.

The rapturous power of music has rarely been captured as purely and joyously as it is in Calle 54.

A unique bond still develops between the two outcasts, leading to an unexpected resolution that ends this subtle, deeply humane movie on an ambiguous, but unmistakably hopeful, note.

Most prison movies are about escape or survival. A Prophet (Un Prophete) is about the creation of a consciousness. This one, too, could have been called “An Education.”

Jaglom isn't the first to suggest that food is at least as powerful as sex when it comes to enhancing life, or screwing it up. But he's the first to bring his giddy blend of documentary and farce to bear on the subject. Mmm-mmm, good. [08 Feb 1991, p.G12]

Trouble in Mind is an earthbound fantasy to match the soaring nightmares of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. It's one man's dream of romance, melodrama, life by street lamp. One surrenders on Rudolph's terms. Surrender is sweet. [21 March 1986, p.D6]

Like most epics, it's vast, preposterously ambitious and destined for greatness -- a sort of Chinese Gone With the Wind. [29 Oct 1993, p.G5]

In a film overstuffed with tragedy, the most painful one might be the gradual transformation of Fernando's moral and intellectual indignation into a weary, cynical detachment.

There are times when a B-movie is made so carefully and performed so robustly that the audience wants it to work and goes with it, roots for it; those are the times that directors grope for, even with A-material. The Verdict may be only a B-movie in a three-piece suit, but this is one of those times, and everybody's going to like it. [21 Dec 1982, p.C7]