Don't get me wrong: Gyllenhaal is a great actor, one who exhibits a rare blend of strength and pathos. But not even he can elevate that kind of lazy writing.

There are moments when the freak-show elements of the film threaten to overpower its message, but that message is such a fascinating one -- and the debate an important one as well -- that The Elephant in the Living Room manages to overcome them.

There's not much meat to the story. So while the picture on the menu suggests filet mignon, we really get mostly fish-and-chips stuff.

Formally, Berg's film is at its root a police procedural, albeit an exceptionally well-executed one.

It all adds up to a film that is at times interesting, and at times funny in spite of itself. But more than all that, it exudes a sense of heart-rending, chest-penetrating sadness.

Without a doubt, stupid, but it's willfully stupid, built in the comic style of "The Hangover" and "Due Date." Better yet, it also is genuinely funny, which is the point.

The result is a movie that is about as riveting as -- well, as your average Robert Novak column.

Without Hardy, The Drop would be in danger of becoming just another crime drama. With him, though, it's something else entirely -- something alive, tightly wound and irresistible.

A refreshingly original take on the comic book adaptation.

Unlike most enforcers in the movies, Jacky isn't just a brainless slab of meat.

Katniss is gritty, she's flinty, she's intimidating -- and she doesn't have to compromise one iota of her femininity for it. And Ross' movie tells her story wonderfully.

Boasting a rock-solid academic architecture, Bhutto is a film bursting at the seams with gravitas.

The engine that really makes Crazy Stupid Love go is the same one that has made Ficarra and Requa's films to this point so appealing: While they thrust their characters into outrageous situations, they always keep things grounded in real, relatable emotion.

With Deepwater Horizon, Berg strikes an unlikely but impressively delicate balance. On one hand, his film honors the men and women killed and injured in the explosion off Louisiana's coast. At the same time, it works just as well as a fast-moving and absorbing disaster drama.

The central performances are solid, and Kris Kristoffersen contributes a tantalizing turn as a smiling, dark-souled adventurer. Still, these successful elements only point up the unfocused, undeveloped nature of everything around them. Director Sayles should have been a lot tougher on screenwriter Sayles. [25 Jun 1999, p.L24]

Potiche never becomes funny enough or interesting enough.

Being a fan of the character is not a prerequisite for enjoying the film.

While Bopha's belatedly tragic story is an affecting one - and is made all the more poignant by strong performances by Woodard and Eziashi - it will not seem entirely fresh to movie-goers weaned on such superior cinematic treatments of the subject as Chris Menges' "A World Apart" and Euzhan Palcy's "A Dry White Season." [29 Oct 1993, p.L25]

Flaws aside, the journey will be largely worth it for audiences, particularly for fans of the genre.

Gorgeous production design lends to the growing sense of dread, and there are fine performances by Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce, and child actors Vidal Peterson and Shawn Carson. [28 Oct 2005, p.7]

Even if it doesn't provide all the answers, "The East" asks some pretty darn good questions.

A highly enjoyable -- and, for better or for worse, a very Tarantino -- movie.

As with everything in which he appears, Schreiber is one of the best things about the movie.

That's not to say the sobering Take This Waltz is nearly as emotionally agonizing as "Blue Valentine." Still, it's every bit as truthful in its examination of the evolution, and subsequent devolution, of love.

The result is a hoot, as Nelson breathes comic life into the proceedings with an effortless, unselfconscious joie de vivre.

Presley, though not the strongest actor in the world, deserves credit for taking a risk in playing an edgy character who is unsympathetic for much of the film. [03 Aug 2007, p.13]

John Wick makes a few feeble attempts at witty repartee, but, in the end, Leitch and Stahelski's film feels like an unintentional parody of itself.

The Way, Way Back is way, way good -- and a welcome breath of fresh air at the summertime box office.