Moncrieff's story remains fresh despite the familiarity of its general outline. This is mostly due to the skilled performances she elicits; even when the unfolding events have been seen many times before, watching human beings react realistically never gets old.

A unique and masterful film, filled with surprises and felicities and moments of transporting visual power.

For a picture about a stalker, Chuck and Buck is rather sweet, funny and winning.

An altogether astounding testimony to the band's longevity, vitality and verve.

Without passing moral judgments on either group, Cartel Land provides a vivid illustration of the dangers inherent whenever a government fails to meet its citizens' needs to the extent that they take matters into their own hands.

It's best seen as a breezy entertainment and a reminder of how potent some of these performers -- many of whom are dead -- were in their primes.

Today, Randi's stooped, gnomish gait and expansive white beard give him the appearance of a Tolkien wizard, but the man's passion for rationality and for exposing fraud and misbelief are stronger than ever. An Honest Liar is a fitting tribute to a figure whose stamina and wit only appear to be magical.

For all its cleverness and moments of power, What's Love Got to Do With It is missing more than the question mark at the end of the title. [18 Jun 1993, p.18]

There's a breeziness to Soul Kitchen, good performances by Moritz Bleibtreu as Zinos' slippery brother and Birol Unel as his fanatical new chef, and a peppy soundtrack.

He's an engaging, profane interview subject, and a complex guy, self-described as both a "pervert" and a "romantic," sexually omnivorous, a Goldwater Republican before being drafted and sent to Vietnam, a McCarthyite peacenik afterward.

These three central performances, and a solid script by Anders Thomas Jensen and director Susanne Bier, ground a potentially overwrought story in genuine feeling.

Giamatti, in fact, makes off with a few scenes as the literally mustache-twirling antagonist, providing some welcome moments of over-the-top levity.

I just wish the movie wasn't also so monologue-choked, muted to a fault and fond of oversimplifying financial lingo to the point of meaninglessness.

A brilliantly flinty movie about writers angry at the world for failing to live up to their standards and recognize their genius.

Genuinely breathtaking.

The film does a lovely job of balancing emotional clarity, formal trickery, pop sweetness, and heartfelt narrative. It is, yes, cute, and it is, yes, quirky. And it is entirely justified, estimable and loveable in being those things.

Refreshing and disorienting movie.

Campbell Scott and Hope Davis, both of whom work with such subtlety and depth, rescue the film from Rudolph's seemingly native inability to keep it steadily on course.

It is full of the farcical, irresponsible, sometimes outrageous things kids can do -- especially in a raunchy comedy. At the same time, House Party is an uncompromising, un-footnoted slice of black American life. In a way it is like "The Godfather," so immersed in the ethnic world it depicts that it is almost a foreign film. [23 Mar 1990, p.R11]

Politics aside, Obvious Child hinges on Slate's performance, which is endearing and real.

It may not be a great movie, but the acting in it is amazing.

It would've been nice to hear Robinson or Wonder reciprocate the affection of the band, and it would've been even more interesting to hear Gordy try to defend himself -- as if he could.

The result is both a captivating history lesson and a tense intellectual thriller that dares to ask big questions about creativity and technology.

Director Donald Siegel of ``Dirty Harry'' fame produces a suspenseful, fast-paced suspenser, film, providing numerous offbeat twists and turns along the way. [08 Nov 1996, p.37]

Spoofing the pernicious effects of television, especially the so-called reality genre, doesn't require pinpoint aim, and at times Luciano seems as much a target of ridicule as the superficial, oversexed entertainment served up on the tube.

The languid, observational style of director Julia Loktev will frustrate those expecting stuff to, like, happen more, but it has its real rewards.

Superbly acted in Cassavetes-style naturalism; but only for those who can take strong stuff. [06 Mar 1998, p.26]

The tone -- deadpan, wistful, silly but never stupid -- is just right and puts What We Do in the Shadows next to "This Is Spinal Tap" as a mockumentary that shows its subjects as human -- in this case, inhuman -- in their hopes and fears.