As writer/director, he manages to make both Morrison and the period seem real without being self-conscious, an observed milieu rather than a film set. [01 Mar 1991]

Unfortunately, the precision and presence Hurt brings to the table aren't enough to carry this warmed-over Southern melodrama.

Mullan makes the journey more than worthwhile, but don't go in expecting profundity.

Seraphim isn't totally satisfying, even if you're prepared for an arty Western. It's pokey and odd in a distant, slightly self-conscious way.

The film moves too slowly and dispassionately to resonate as it should.

Exciting, gory, funny and, like much of anime, a bit cheesy.

Finding Forrester achieves a distinct success few Hollywood movies can even dream of: It overwhelms and inspires with understatement.

It's an agreeable, sometimes hilarious picture that looks at the world of comedy from many vantage points, chiefly the apex.

Ends up being one of those heartbreaking movies that gets off to a promising start but never quite creaks to life, despite everyone's obvious best efforts.

C.S.A. has a love-it-or-hate-it bite that probably will lead to a few passionate post-screening discussions.

If you've been wondering what Billy Elliot would look like all grown up, naked or in a fetching frock, here's your chance.

It's just a shame that the search for the missing formula ends up feeling so formulaic.

All you could hope for from a summer movie: dazzling action, jaw-dropping effects, cool clothes, steamy romance and more of the nifty "Matrix" mythology introduced in the 1999 original.

It's a stylish work, seeping with brilliant animation and potentially interesting characters that didn't need so much time to establish themselves. It's worthwhile, but it's a good thing there's a television show to refer to.

Ted may not be profound or deft, but when it hits the sweet-sour spot, which it does regularly, it can win you over.

The sort of movie that makes you feel like a heel for not liking it: Independently made and heartfelt, it also happens to have been shot in Portland. Nonetheless, the accumulation of cliches big and small manage to erase whatever goodwill its other features have engendered.

Baghead has a nearly documentary quality that infuses it with a sense of heightened stakes and real peril. In a characteristically offhanded way, it's cunningly skillful.

To my thinking, this splendid low-key bummer of a ghost story was eventually undermined by the film's increasing reliance on shock-scares, in which something suddenly and noisily jumps into the frame, over and over and over.

It's splendid period filmmaking, grown-up and luxurious and gossipy without ever feeling fussy.

Despite the whiplike pace of events and the compelling realism of the martial effects, the film is dead in the water whenever it pauses to make a human gesture or consider, heaven help us, an idea.

A mean-spirited exercise in hypocrisy.

So funny and sweet and observant - and so much warmer than other family films that feign hipness through product placement and pop culture references - you won't mind that the steps feel familiar.

A sort of anti-date movie, a smart but deeply cynical study in failure, with our sense of loss growing in direct proportion to the characters' romantic hopes.

Comedy means different things to different people, but I'm pretty sure that most everyone agrees that it's best when it's quick and funny. The Five-Year Engagement is neither.

Empire of the Sun is such a grand, successful blend of epic filmmaking and personal drama, it's hard to believe Steven Spielberg made it. [11 Dec 1987, p.G15]

Clever but, alas, largely forgettable.

Hilarious parody of rap subculture and attitudes, packed with in-jokes but accessible to viewers not steeped in the genre. The profanity-intolerant will want to steer clear, however. [15 Jul 1994, p.AE24]

In addition to being a funny movie about the movie business, it's a cheeky, ingenious motion picture puzzle.