Art isn't always supposed to be user-friendly. But it should at least be provocative, making you contemplate a piece on several levels. This, at least, is where Irma Vep is successful. [25 July 1997, p.28]

A charming little film built of bits of music, romance, cultural conflict and the simple human need to connect.

Only in the slightly overlong last act, as the family's misfortunes become truly existential, does director Kiyoshi Kurosawa take things to another level. Whether this is an extension of the film's social criticism, a comment on the absurdity of melodrama or straightforward audience manipulation, is anyone's guess.

Coogan makes tremendous sport of himself, taking on a role as an adulterous, vain, anxiety-riddled, alcoholic and truly comic creep. Brydon is exquisitely droll as the straight man to this ugly comedian act.

An unusual and absorbing, if somewhat preachy film.

When it all comes to a head, what seems ordinary blossoms into something deeply complex and emotional.

This was a story that made front pages in its day but has been largely lost to history, and now is brought bracingly and compellingly back to life.

Among the Dardennes' more accessible films, despite a drawn-out finale that still doesn't quite satisfy.

The easy chemistry between Binoche and Stewart is reason enough to see Clouds of Sils Maria.

For its sheer visual gusto alone, Coraline is a wonder.

A painful, funny and fresh comedy.

West of Memphis does nothing to displace its predecessor films as masterpieces of investigative filmmaking, but complements them as a riveting capstone to an epic and tragic tale.

Some aspects of Siddhartha seem terribly dated: the '60s-ish nude sequences, the wispy music, the big-eyed earnest acting. But it is a lushly beautiful film. Shooting largely in natural light, Nykvist creates a poetry more beautiful than Hesse's prose and as profound as the author's message.

Not a masterpiece, but still fabulous.

The result is a totally absorbing and entertaining film, one of the best historical dramas from Hollywood in many years.

After seeing Eat Drink Man Woman, it's a toss-up whether you'll want to reach for tissues or for General Tso's chicken. [19 Aug 1994, p.AE17]

In some ways, Senna is as pure and clean as the man's sport: as actor/racer Paul Newman liked to say, the winners of auto races are determined, unlike movies, by objective criteria. And although it's a subjective judgment, it's hard to see how anyone wouldn't be absorbed by this fascinating film about a formidable driver and man.

Daring work of genius.

It's a good movie, mind you, with great bits in it, but it still falls short of rapture.

Beyond the Hills is an undeniably difficult (not to mention lengthy) film to endure. But for those with the fortitude, there is grace and enlightenment hidden in this harsh Romanian winter tale.

John Hawkes has, until now, been known primarily as the skilled character actor who brought an earthy authenticity to roles on TV's "Deadwood" and the Oscar-nominated "Winter's Bone." With The Sessions, he makes his mark as a bona fide member of screen acting's elite. And he does it while barely moving a muscle.

The film that results from Jacquet's application is gorgeous and even inspiring, a tale of loyalty hard-tested and hard-earned, a sumptuous travelogue, and a reminder that some of the critters with whom we share the planet are, in ways, as complex in their feelings as any human being.

A riveting and impeccably researched documentary.

A tender and affirmative movie, if never a transporting one.

An exhilarating slap in the face, bracing and sexy, smart and visceral, stylish and raw -- the advent of a fabulously exciting new moviemaking talent.

It's a tiny story, told on an intimate scale, and it is rich in emotion, specificity and care.

Pride should leave audiences smiling and inspired. But it would have been a much more groundbreaking film if it had been released 30 years ago.

Cheadle's performance elevates Hotel Rwanda, making it a film that does justice to the tragedy it commemorates.