A deep and extraordinary film that isn't afraid to look evil in the face -- or, for that matter, to acknowledge that evil can be more complicated and even attractive than we'd want to admit. It's very, very difficult to watch, but you shouldn't miss it.

Don't go if "Star Wars" isn't your bag: You'll only resist and resent it. But if you're a fan, it's hard to see how you'd be disappointed. Me? I can't wait for May 2005. "Episode III": Hot diggity!

Has its cheesy moments but it's bolstered by interesting performances and a final scene not typical of a mainstream movie. Though no "Fatal Attraction," Unfaithful nevertheless is an interesting and worthy film.

It has all the raw materials for greatness -- a brilliant concept, a sharp cast, the jokes -- and still doesn't come together. You could do a lot worse than Hollywood Ending, but you could also do better.

It's hard to recall the last time a big-ticket summer movie delivered so fully on its promise.

It's creepy, but it's not horrifying. Still, the movie has its distorted, haunting moments that will stick with you, and it's stunning to look at.

Quiet, sexual, disturbing, often beautifully melancholic, Rain, as seen through the eyes of a precocious girl, recalls a parental split-up with sobering accuracy. It reminds us why so many teen-agers go through a sullen phase -- and sometimes never shake it off.

The Marquis de Sade makes for entertaining screen time, as the jovially subversive "Quills" proved a few years ago. For a more subdued version of the infamous writer's life, there's French director Benoit Jacquot's Sade --praised as the more "realistic" of the two and criticized for being dry and overly intellectual.

The overall effect is awe and affection -- and a strange urge to get on a board and, uh, shred, dude.

Has cheesy effects and a hoary plot, but its macabre, self-deprecating sense of humor makes up for a lot.

Along the way it provides the grand, intelligent entertainment of a superior cast playing smart people amid a compelling plot. It may not be perfect, but it's decidedly a cut above.

Watching it is like filling up on baklava: Later you may feel really guilty, but you don't exactly complain while it's going on.

Bang-bang, kiss-kiss, yawn-yawn. While dull death metal churns on the soundtrack, Johnson engages in one big brawl after another.

Starts out dark, thrilling and inventive, then, regrettably, becomes sappy, mainstream and mundane.

Limps shallowly along.

It's a gorgeous picture and features three substantial performances, but the material is chatty, forced and excessively arch.

Both deeply weird and charmingly dear.

Deeply strange, oddly shimmery movie.

The story sounds horrifying, but the film takes some unfortunate twists and never presents us with a multifaceted character in Paxton. Paxton just doesn't play the nice-but-nuts role with a modicum of terror.

Swell when it purrs, when the three top stars are in full form, but it spits and hisses and screeches too often to take full hold.

Garners only a few chuckles, becoming, even in its short running time, boring.

The parts of "Run Ronnie Run" that advance the minimal plot can be painful to sit through, but the jokes scattered along the side of the story often are hilarious. [19 Sep 2003]

Rich in detail, gorgeously shot and beautifully acted, Les Destinees is, in its quiet, epic way, daring, inventive and refreshingly unusual.

It's something we might mildly enjoy on an airplane (well, not anymore) or on a lazy Sunday TV day when nothing else is on, but in theaters, it's a clunker.

A family film, but it's a wonder if kids will really enjoy it. The picture is geared for older folks, people who'll be heartened by the message that sometimes, you can return to your passions.

Recoing's performance is chillingly low-key -- sometimes you can swear that he believes his own fictions -- and Livrozet, making his film debut, has a perfect long-in-the-tooth charm.

Daring work of genius.

Richly frightening film.