Bell does a fantastic job of telling a thoroughly feminist story without being strident or didactic.

A film this heartfelt and intelligent about social justice will never be unimportant, but it feels especially relevant today.

The black-and-white cinematography and silent-film feel are haunting and nostalgic, and Aurora's story encapsulates a broader, bittersweet truth about the perils of tinted memory.

The length and delay of the project is evident from Brian Eno's participation. He composed and produced the subtle, evocative musical score for the film. [31 March 1990, p.C08]

The apes and the special effects team are the real stars of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Searing, intense and unrelenting, Affliction moves to the deepest centers of experience and desire and brings its characters to unflinching life.

It's a moderately compelling historical record, but of far more interest as an artifact than a film.

It proves the power of a good story, both to entertain us and to allow us to process unpleasant truths.

The film moves with strange, creepy energy and is populated by characters who delicately walk a line between charm and grotesquerie. It's a treat.

The clichés at its core make Metalhead something less than a full-bore, head-banging triumph. But it does perform the service of reminding us that even Judas Priest is capable of saving souls, and any film that features a cross-generational dance-off to Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" can't be all bad.

To follow up his superb "The Host," director Joon-ho Bong has crafted a remarkable film about love, faith, determination, guilt, and honor, a full-blooded, constantly inventive movie that enthralls, entertains, horrifies and never lets go its grip.

That rarest of movie biographies: a warts-and-all exploration of the life and times of its subject.

A vibrant, multicharacter film that entertains, disorients and enlightens.

It doesn't break ground like "Seven" or "Fight Club"; it's not a thrill ride like "Panic Room." But it's a mature, thoughtful and full-bodied movie that compensates for the demands it makes with the rewards of craftsmanship, rigor, skill and art.

This much is guaranteed: You won't leave thinking you've seen the like before.

Whether your tastes are delicate or coarse, whether you prefer the ballet or horror movies, there is plenty in the film for you.

A drab, gloomy drama that doesn't provide any real enlightenment about why something so awful could happen.

There seems to be less acting going on and more being, which not only makes this an enormously affecting penultimate performance (Gandolfini’s final film, “Animal Rescue,” will be released next year), but reinforces the brilliance of the darker work for which he will no doubt remain best known.

I give the slight edge to the first movie because I prefer Boyle's craft to Fresnadillo's, but the action is more intense here, and I greeted the thought of a third film -- virtually assured in the closing shots -- with a little yip of "Yes!" Likely you will, too.

About as good a movie as you could have hoped for. Really good. Hole-in-one good.

Anderson, possessed of an eerily Edwardian aspect, is superb, luminous and knowing and convincingly proud and desperate as the situation requires.

Can a movie about such a fellow and such a fate be lovely? And can it uplift? Control is and, in its artfulness, does.

The film and characters aren't really down on men. They're in a desert. Almost everything that's good or useful is somewhere else. What is in the desert in ``Gas Food'' is a fractured family that is a great experience for the viewer. [9 Oct 1992, p.AE15]

Fact is, Starting Out is pretty dry stuff as a movie, even as it's enlivened by vivid acting.

Intense, well-acted love story.

The action is fast, tough, energetic and extravagant. It is smoothly and stylishly made but more inscrutable than intended. [28 June 1989, p.D05

Pennebaker, a veteran documentarian who has filmed concerts (``Monterey Pop''), Bob Dylan on tour (``Don't Look Back'') and political showdowns (``Crisis,'' about the battle between John F. Kennedy and George Wallace over desegregation at the University of Alabama), works in purist cinema-verite style. Camera and sound record what happens, the film is edited, music is added, and that's it. There's no Voice of God narrator, and not much in the way of context. When this technique really works, it can be as raw as life. When the filmmakers aren't so lucky, it comes off as sketchy, focused more on sensations than information. [6 Feb 1994, p.B01]

Precious can’t be endorsed as entertainment: the circumstances and incidents and emotions in the film are far too dark and painful. But there is exhilaration in its daring, in its craft and in the powerhouse work of its principal actresses.