Even if you don't give a shiitake mushroom about food, there's much to savor in this lively comedy with dramatic aftertastes.

The Martian is never less than engaging, and often much more than that.

Exhilarating, exuberant and drolly funny.

Client 9 speaks plenty of truth - about politics, power, human nature - even if you don't buy into the hit-job hypothesis.

Elkabetz, alternately resigned and raging, stoic and sad, bitter humor in her eyes, is riveting. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem takes its time to unfold, but like its star, the film presents its case in powerful, persuasive ways.

Redmayne should be getting a lot of notice for his performance; it's palpable, it's poignant. Jones, too, is terrific. And Marsh, who won the documentary Academy Award for his Philippe Petit Twin Towers caper Man on Wire, brings a keen artistry to The Theory of Everything.

L'Enfant begins with the birth of a child, but its real concern is the moral rebirth of a man.

Cronenberg's movie is eerily compelling and darkly humorous. And chilling - to the bone.

We're in the company of a great character here, with a lot on his mind, a lot to say.

Bale is extraordinary, grinning like a kid, displaying wily intelligence, sinewy resolve and spirit - and a bit of craziness, too.

Rare, too, is the way The Broken Circle Breakdown incorporates music into its narrative. The songs - traditional bluegrass and country, and a clutch of new ones rooted in same - are as integral to the characters and their relationships as the dialogue.

There's no quick fix for a culture "addicted to debt," as one wag puts it in the film. But watching I.O.U.S.A. is a good place to start.

Paddington is perfect for today's audiences, so long overfed on comic-book fodder. The bear's impeccable manners, perfect diction, and earnestness make him the ultimate anti-Bart Simpson.

A likably energetic star vehicle for English sports god Vinnie Jones.

Baker gets great, sly, unforced performances from his two leads, but it's not all a rollicking good time: There are moments of quietude, inquietude, moments when a sense of wariness and loneliness settles over the women.

Like its heroine, the film's glib - and sometimes sidesplittingly funny - patter at first diverts viewers from its poignant insights. Happily, as Juno grows in experience and maturity, so does the film.

A meditation on art, life, loneliness and the links between friends and strangers, the movie has a grace and humor that's wonderfully inviting.

Whether or not Street Fight wins the Academy Award Sunday night, Curry's picture is must-see fare for any and every observer of the curious world of American politics.

It's the old cliche, but (like most cliches) it's true: It's impossible to imagine this picture without this actor.

In the end, The Last Kiss holds less a cynical view of the matrimonial state than one of considered irony.

The Witch is a stressful movie to watch, and that's meant as the highest praise.

There's humanity here, on all sides, and a gentle wisdom beneath the raging rhetoric.

It is social criticism written with tears. [15 Feb 1995, p.E01]

McConaughey's performance isn't just about the weight loss. It's about gaining compassion, even wisdom, and it's awesome.

We can't but enjoy the movie and its oddball characters - which makes us somehow complicit in their crimes.

It's more of a character study, insightful and nuanced, about a man grappling with a profound sense of inadequacy, questioning himself. In many ways, We Have a Pope recalls last year's Oscar winner, "The King's Speech": Someone who doesn't feel up to the job fate has handed him, and then struggling to come to terms with it.

Never mind a few misguided casting choices; Lincoln is exceptionally good, elevated by a preternatural star turn, and by the energy and invention its director displays in telling a story that doesn't rely on action and special effects.

Thoughtfulness and artistry ...raise this small, quiet picture to moments of pure epiphany.