(Kusturica) celebrates its gaudy humanity in a joyous picture that is his most lighthearted and amusing work to date.

Surprisingly charming and even witty match for the best of Hollywood's comic-book adaptations.

The John Wick action series doesn’t get bogged down in such silly trivialities as character development, plot, dialogue, morals or any of the usual rubrics most films follow. Instead, these fun flicks are just loosely connected, extremely violent fight scenes starring Neo from “The Matrix.” And why the hell not?

The action is brutal, bloody and virtually nonstop in this adrenaline-packed riff on "Assault on Precinct 13.''

The violence in the existential gangster poem Sonatine is as flat and matter-of-fact as the antihero's face. Kitano, the Japanese Harvey Keitel, is a bullplug of a man whose very presence has gravity. [10 Apr 1998, p.048]

Sweet isn't a word often used to describe movies these days, but it's one that applies to The Cave of the Yellow Dog.

Johnny Depp puts in a cameo declaring that "most Americans believe the clichés about Gypsies." Unfortunately, the well-intentioned film never gets beyond clichés itself.

Davies’ quiet, painterly film largely eschews musical cues that would heighten its emotional impact, but as it is, Sunset Song is captivating in its sincerity.

Writer-director Erik Van Looy keeps the action moving briskly. Danny Elsen's cinematography is stylish and the acting top-notch.

Based on the many delightful samples on the soundtrack, it's an exemplary goal.

Part sitcom, part comedy of manners - but it lacks the courage to deal honestly with class and ethnicity.

The teary-eyed sincerity of the music-industry drama Beyond the Lights is at times too much, but despite its cliche elements, the film at least has the feel of a passion project.

It's like animation come to three-dimensional life, and f/x addicts as well as sci-fi fans will not want to miss a split-second.

Anything following that spectacular sequence is bound to be something of a letdown - especially when it ends up playing like standard-issue Hollywood melodrama.

The very effectiveness of After the Life's depiction of its main characters makes its immediate predecessor seem that much more of a waste.

Working from an unfinished script by the late, great Krzysztof Kieslowski, Stuhr directs in a laid-back, deadpan style that, at times, recalls Fellini.

This satisfying adaptation of a popular novel is mostly an artistic reflection on youthful loss of innocence.

An amusing McGimmick.

Enthralling performances are given by Tadanobu Asano (Miike's "Ichi the Killer") as Kenji and first-timer Sinitta Boonyasak as the pot-smoking Noi.

A South Korean romantic comedy by Hong Sang-soo, who has been likened in style to France's venerable Eric Rohmer.

The movie itself is a powerful cocktail of not just sex and love but race, poverty, colonialism and jealousy.

Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan are superb as the couple, who use the occasion to drop bombs on each other.

A grabber from start to finish that should win new fans for cult-favorite To.

Director Daniel Chong’s original movie is terribly funny, and often in an unfamiliar, warped way for the cerebral and mushy studio.

An exquisitely crafted Civil War epic that combines the epic romantic sweep of "Gone With the Wind" with a more intimate voice that speaks eloquently to the war-weary nation of today.

The narrative easily goes back and forth in time; despite its Oedipal subtext, it avoids exploitation. Stellar performances by Rottiers and Cattani help keep the movie on track.

Scene for scene, it's like a gorgeous painting come to life, magically illuminated with a warm, orange glow. Unfortunately, those very sets and costumes take priority over a plot that - at best - is glacially paced. [06 Oct 1998, p.070]

Me and Orson Welles is, in effect, a sequel to Tim Robbins' star-filled, self-important film about "Cradle," but it's far lighter on its feet.

To his credit, Blitz throws in an unexpected twist that delivers a more ambivalent ending than your typical sports movie.

The moral alertness of the film is of the level normally confined, in military pictures, to talky courtroom scenes, yet Eastwood skillfully works dilemmas into propulsive and suspenseful action.

The biggest thrill for this mild-mannered crew isn't plundering or plank-walking, but Ham Night.

Another Harlan work, "Kolberg" (1945), inspired the film within the film in "Inglourious Basterds."

Peled was harassed at every turn by Chinese officials, but he managed to get this shocking film made. That's just one reason China Blue is worthy of praise.

A suspenseful work using nonprofessional actors and co-written with an Albanian filmmaker, shows Marston is no one-hit wonder.

Compelling.

France's Declaration of War has it all: comedy, romance, fantasy, musical interludes and a child with a brain tumor. Wait - what?

Swift, confident, and exceptionally nasty, this Argentine film bears roughly the same relationship to the Martin Scorsese of “Goodfellas” that Brian De Palma does to, well, all of Hitchcock.

Doesn't shy from the ugly side, though it's far from the no-holds-barred exposé being touted in the ads.

Well worth seeing for Walters, whose comic and dramatic gifts are showcased to very entertaining effect.

Flat dialogue and stiff performances (especially by the street kids, like Ballesteros, turned into actors by Schroeder) don't help.

A sweet, lushly photographed but occasionally slow film.

Expertly directed, acted and written crowd-pleaser.

Depicts the bleak suburban milieu in a manner that avoids exploitation.

Delivers its provocative message in the measured tones of a college professor -- yet there's no danger of falling asleep in this lecture.

Here’s a franchise you’d think had been done to death (wasn’t the last webslinger reboot, like, two years ago?), and yet Spider-Man: Homecoming feels fresh and new, an endearingly awkward kid brother to the glamorous “Wonder Woman.”

An uneasy mix of Richard Linklater and Abbott and Costello, Prince Avalanche is an oddment, but one that brings some small, peculiar pleasures.

Yes, it’s your typical Macguffin, with everybody chasing down a trinket, but a fairly creative one with a lot of good jokes. The comic-book-style action sequences also set co-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado’s movie apart from the litter. The No. 1 reason to watch, though, is Banderas’ top-notch voice performance. If only more A-listers treated their animated film roles as more than a pet project.

Wong extracts magnetic performances from his two stars, and Philippe Le Sourd delivers gorgeous cinematography.

The oft-told story of lust and deception isn't the reason to see Untold Scandal -- Rather, it's the look -- stunning costumes and art direction, lush landscapes, and beautifully framed and lighted sequences -- that make this worth seeking out.

A poignant moment occurs in Election when a young boy sees his father brutally beat another mobster to death.

It's also a terrific, career-capping role for Eastwood, who claims he's now retired as an actor. He shows off his comic chops more fully than in any film since "Bronco Billy" more than a quarter-century ago.

You’ll never look at Shia LaBeouf the same way after seeing Honey Boy, the affecting movie that’s inspired by his own life. If you run into him on the street, you’ll want to give the poor guy a hug.

The movie can be mildly amusing. But I couldn’t figure out which of the three principals I least wanted to know.

Cars leaves the animated competition in the dust, even if it is a tad slower and more predictable than Pixar at full throttle.

The kind of stand-up-and-cheer movie Hollywood is supposed to have forgotten how to make.

Zombieland is still the funniest broad comedy since "The Hangover." Its yowling, marching, munching corpses are as scary as grad students and as hilarious as the plot of "G.I. Joe."

Despite a contrived ending that brings together all the film's characters, Alias Betty is inventive filmmaking.

A sensual performance from Abbass buoys the flimsy story.

The film, admittedly, does not rev up as fast as a Ferrari. The director initially prefers a relaxed pace and almost sepia color scheme that make us unsure, sometimes in frustration, of what the vibe of the story is supposed to be.

Combines the sweet strangeness of "Fargo" with the existential panic of "Memento" and some Elmore Leonard tough talk. It all creates a cinematic tummy ache.

Hanks and Zengel, a 12-year-old German actress, form a believable, loving bond.

Glawogger doesn't make any moral judgments, but you can't help but feel sorry for the "girls'' and their johns.

Gentle, simply told love stories are as rare in documentaries these days as they are in narrative film. That alone makes Yi Seung-jun's Planet of Snail a standout.

Raunchy frat comedies are as hard to pull off as any other kind because they have to keep surprising the audience, and The Hangover does with a bizarre series of uproarious situations with explanations that just about stay within the bounds of plausibility.

The Club offers plenty of stifling, agonized atmosphere, but it’s all penitence and no redemption.

Chabrol, who is often called the French Hitchcock because of his intricate thrillers, is approaching the big 8-0, yet he continues to do quality work, as shown by A Girl Cut in Two.

Some of the film's flourishes are ill-judged.

It’s a feel-good film with a somewhat curdled legacy: You could clip just about any piece of sexist dialogue here, label it 2017 and pass it off as plausible.

The film also wastes the coiled intensity of Jeremy Renner, as the newest member of the IMF team with a none-too-compelling past. Bird does keep audiences guessing whether Renner is the only leading actor in Hollywood who's even shorter than Cruise.

Has its sluggish stretches, but the superb level of acting is more than ample compensation.

Campbell is a sweet presence and a capable dancer, featured in a theatrical pas de deux on an open-air stage during a wild thunderstorm that is one of the film's visual highlights.

Contains large helpings of Hollywood schmaltz, stereotype and clich‚, but it's also pretty impossible to resist.

This is a smart, vivid, thrillingly real gangster picture that nevertheless resembles many others.

Moving at a leisurely pace, Cavalacade is primarily of historical interest for everyone except Coward completists and hard-core Anglophiles.

It may be impossible to make an uninteresting documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, but is it unfair to ask Gonzo for more Hunter and less Jimmy Carter?

One of the season's most delightful surprises.

This is powerful filmmaking for discerning viewers.

What’s best and most consistent about “2” is how flippin’ funny it is.

Bowfinger's terrific set-pieces... more than make up for the odd weak moment or thin performance.

This lavish coffee-table-book of a movie gradually reveals itself as an uninvolving, crashing bore.

A calculating crowd-pleaser aimed squarely at the under-25 crowd, who can feel free to add a star or two to my rating.

A Royal Affair is basically a good-looking set of historical Cliffs Notes. There, is however, one excellent reason to see it: Folsgaard, who by the end has made his betrayed and bereft Christian into a figure of genuine tragedy.

Bhalla’s advocacy gets its force above all from the oddly similar personalities of the two main subjects — Wallace and Sumell — zealous reformers possessed of astonishing optimism, even as Bhalla closes by noting that there are 80,000 prisoners in solitary in the US.

In his fourth outing with the director, cinematographer Andreas Sinanos produces stunning scene after stunning scene, almost as if each frame were a small painting.

Mirikitani is a colorful character and talented artist, and his story tugs at the heart. Problem is, Hattendorf insists on inserting herself in what seems like every other scene, a device that dilutes Jimmy's story.

Combines a wise script with funky performances, especially by Aselton, who could give Jennifer Aniston a run for her money.

Unashamedly vulgar and exuberantly politically incorrect.

This is a beautifully acted chamber piece --especially by the magnificent Blake, who is married to Norris in real life.

The sheer loathesomeness of protagonist Stephen Glass as portrayed by Hayden Christensen makes Shattered Glass hard to watch.

It'll make you want to dig out your Whitesnake T-shirt. It might even convince Tipper Gore that heavy metal thunder is all in good fun.

Riding Alone features a moving performance by Takakura (often called the Asian Clint Eastwood), as well as pretty cinematography. But the mushy script, co-written by Zhang, never rises above that of a TV soap opera.

Now that this technically impressive - but seriously flawed and self-referential - remake is finally in theaters to swell the July 4 weekend box office, conversation will doubtless shift to the lamest ending yet to a Steven Spielberg movie.

You'll have to look elsewhere than this love letter to the Great White Way to explain why "Wicked" and "Avenue Q" became huge hits, and why "Caroline, or Change" joined "Taboo" as a costly flop.

Strong cast is defeated by a labored, screenplay in this overlong, clunky love story.

Arguably the year's most entertaining art-house film.

It’s an intimate film that moves at the deliberate, careful pace of an excavation and, in so doing, uncovers a few gems along the way.

Perry - who also produced, wrote and lensed - was able to talk Fujimori into letting her interview him on camera in Japan. He puts on a great show.

An original head trip definitely not recommended for kiddies.