Aside from its South African setting and flavor, there isn't a lot in Tsotsi that differs from its legion of similar Hollywood counterparts. But the movie's heart, along with Hood's refusal to sugarcoat the grim reality, wins you over no matter how many times you've seen this story told.

In Spanish, the title of the film, El abrazo partido, translates into ''a broken embrace,'' a more fitting description of Ariel's feelings for his father.

In the film's most frightening sequence, Countdown to Zero imagines what would happen if someone detonated a bomb in the heart of a major city, such as New York City's Times Square.

The Nice Guys never lives up to the promise of its hilarious first 10 minutes, but Crowe and Gosling are good enough to leave you hoping for a sequel.

For all its flaws, Bob Roberts is a singular achievement, a political film in a time when moviegoers want anything but. It's a bold move. Vote Tim. [18 Sep 1992, p.G10]

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.

Gets everything right.

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]

Assayas has fundamental talent, and whatever its frivolities, Late August, Early September is lovely to look at and smacks of highbrow sensibilities. But the structure seems capricious and undernourished; the handheld camera a touch affected. It may very well be art, but in the end, not much of an impression is left. [01 Oct 1999, p.12G]

Moore's Debbie is earnest but uninteresting, which is a problem when she is playing half of the movie's focal couple. [2 July 1986, p.D10]

In House of Sand, shifting sands are not a cliché; they provide the essential emotional and visual elements that make this film memorable.

Barfly is a perfectly incorrigible comedy, a movie of unusual shape and unpredictable moves. [25 Nov 1987, p.D9]

It's as if Dante sought so hard to parrot his producer that he wound up parodying, and all involved should have known better. There's a current of menace to Dante's work that sets him apart from Spielberg, and a measure of innocence in Spielberg's quite apart from anything Dante has done. [8 June 1984, p.1]

While Circuitry has its pleasures, it's not as intelligent as "Modulations," a previous documentary on the subject, and its focus is a bit skewed.

It moves slowly, but you suspect that is the way of life in Mea Shearim, the closed quarters of a group that triggered Gitai's respect and our curiosity.

Sometimes the film feels as if it's trying too hard to include every possible horror a teenager could sample.

Thanks to myriad animators, the characters cavort, laugh and struggle against stunning backdrops, from lush jungles to cascading waterfalls. Groovy? Absolutely.

Some older movies are so terrific, so capable of touching new generations that they cry out to be updated and remade. The mildly entertaining Freaky Friday isn't one of them.

It's not very good, but there are redeeming features. [24 Apr 1987, p.D1]

The Krays is painted with such broad strokes, and the characters are so full of hot air, that the movie sags in the middle, ending up a mildly entertaining mixture of psychobabble and rat-a-tat-tat. [09 Nov 1990, p.G10]

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]

There are moments of heartbreaking beauty in it – although Dolan is still a work in progress. He'll get better – he's immensely talented – but he's not quite there yet.

In a simple, direct manner, Gunner Palace reminds you that the thousands of faceless, nameless troops in Iraq are still there after you switch off CNN.

By the end of the movie, when all your questions have been answered, you're left with the exhilarating high of having been manipulated by a gifted artist in a diabolically dark mood.

But as Western analogies go, Curse achieves an emotional fervor more in keeping with ancient Greek mythology than Elizabethan theater.

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

Black Widow lacks the deeply felt uneasiness of Five Easy Pieces or even the on-and- off rough animality of The Postman Always Rings Twice. It is a polished, professional picture, but it could use a little more heart. [6 Feb 1987, p.C5]

Makes the Columbine shootings seem both abstract yet more painful and vivid. It also gets you excited all over again about the things movies can do.