If the arrival of The Crow - a visually dazzling and hyperkinetic action movie - is an occasion to mourn the loss of Lee, it is also ample reason to celebrate the protean gifts of its director, Alex Proyas.

Bacon's portrait chills to the bone.

McQueen finds the exquisite tension between the brother wanting to disconnect and the sister longing for connection. To paraphrase a line of Sissy's, it's a good movie that comes from a bad place.

In its final act, Akeelah is as exciting as any Final Four matchup. What it may lack in cinematic art it compensates for in abecedarian adrenaline guaranteed to pump the pulse and the spirits of viewers from 10 to 90.

Alas, Brick, from writer-director Rian Johnson, isn't as clever as its conceit.

The film is surprisingly engaging. It’s fun.

Feels downright ancient.

A heart-grabbing, awe-inspiring work that needs no embellishment.

A darkly comic, piercing, and occasionally painful study of a young woman's quest for identity.

Develops microclimates of mood without fully developing the same shadings of character.

It's a bright and breezy piece, and a refreshing alternative to the gross-out Hollywood comedies.

Add Mostly Martha to the list of great mouth-watering food flicks - "Eat Drink Man Woman," "Big Night," "Babette's Feast" -- but don't stop there. Add it to another list: movies that get at the heart of what family, and love, is all about.

It's a celebration of the good times and bad times shared by a man and woman who found each other in the middle of some historic craziness, and it rocks.

Deserves to be considered on its own merits, and while not a masterpiece, it is beautiful, nonetheless.

It is painful, it is funny, and it marks the remarkable debut of Wysocki.

Whether it's simply the change of locale, or a change in Allen's psyche, something is up in Match Point. With a dark view of humankind, and of the vagaries of chance - bad luck, good luck, dumb luck - the filmmaker has crafted a wicked, winning gem.

Moore is nominated this year, and whether she wins or not, her performance deserves attention. It is one of this very fine actress' defining roles. And it resonates with humanity and heartbreak.

Pray has a great story here, but it's much more than just "The Brady Bunch's Endless Summer."

When it's not making the argument that Surfing = Peace, Step Into Liquid can be diverting.

Short, sweet-and-sour, and amusing rather than funny, Despicable Me can't help but be likable.

Kiss of Death can't keep its tangled web of a plot together. The film loses momentum, it falls back on surprisingly hackneyed generic devices, and the editing gets jumpy, abrupt. In the end, the film is a lot less satisfying than its early scenes promised. [21 Apr 1995, p.10]

A beautiful, head-spinning mystery that requires keen attention - and rewards it with a tricky and poetic payoff - The Double Hour is a topflight Euro thriller right up there with "Tell No One."

Undefeated is undeniably inspirational stuff.

Standouts are Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, Harry's sly father-surrogate, and Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge.

Paradise Now plays like Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," but with explosives.

Oddly enough, though Land of the Dead is more clever and grand than Romero's early classics, it is not as haunting.

Though one gets a sense there is part of the story Marks isn't telling, we do pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

It's a good story, a sad story, a story of triumph and prejudice and terrible hypocrisy. And Cumberbatch aces it all - another smartly realized but deeply soulful performance from an actor who seemingly can do no wrong.