Each conversation has at least one memorable line, and it's always delivered in such a casual manner that it blends right in.

There's nothing especially original about Unstrung Heroes, but the story is told with intelligence and sensitivity.

Colossal is 2/3 of a great movie and 1/3 of a mess. Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo is tremendous when it comes to setup and the majority of his narrative but he can’t stick the ending.

As good as the lead actor is, he's not enough to save this picture from landing on the scrap-heap of uninspired, derivative, and grotesquely distasteful character studies. Ferrara is definitely no Martin Scorsese.

This is a rare, "feel good" motion picture that doesn't insult our intelligence while making its play for our emotions.

Monkey Man may be a silly-sounding title but the story it tells is anything but silly.

The core of honesty that distinguishes the production remains unchanged by time, ensuring that, no matter how many years have passed, About Last Night... still works on an emotional level.

Structured as a comedy, albeit a dark one.

Ant-Man and the Wasp offers nothing close to what we have come to expect from entries into the MCU. Plodding, repetitive, replete with technobabble nonsense and lifeless action, this is easily the worst-written of any of the 20 MCU offerings and may be the worst all-around film featuring a Marvel superhero since Sony rebooted Spider-Man.

Grease works as a musical, a comedy, a light romance, and a gentle satire of teenage life during the '50s. In part because of its persistent high spirits, it's a delight to watch, even 20 years after it first appeared on the screen.

It tells its own story and, unlike with "Thor 2" and "Iron Man 3," we don't feel the absence of the rest of the team.

Joe Klein's novel -- is a cynical satire of life on the campaign trail. It's harsh, blistering, and possesses an edge that the film, a warmhearted comedy/drama, lacks.

What sets this apart from its many competitors for teen dollars is that not only does the movie feature a surprisingly edgy and intelligent script, but it offers a group of characters capable of holding an audience's interest for more than 90 minutes.

A smart movie that does not simplify or candy-coat the rigors of the teenage years.

The acting is uniformly excellent, with Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuza Balk in particular deserving to be singled out for praise.

Motion picture cotton candy - sweet while it lasts, easily disposed of, and insubstantial.

It makes for a fascinating exploration of the human experience.

While the movie will play as well at home as in a theater, it offers the kind of heart-warming, thoughtful, and occasionally amusing story that’s badly needed in troubled times.

Because of the potential of the idea and Cronenberg's reputation as a film maker, it's a real disappointment to watch eXistenZ fall apart the way it does.

Director Zhang Yimou's ambitious attempt to blend martial arts action with Shakespearean melodrama. It's not a perfect marriage but it offers two hours of solidly over-the-top entertainment featuring incredible visuals and powerful performances by international icons Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat.

There are times when musical/comedy elements and the darker, serious drama of the love triangle war with each other. This is one of the great romantic tragedies of all time, and the film falls short of doing it justice.

An enjoyable experience.

What "Eternal Sunshine" did with magic and whimsy, The Science of Sleep accomplishes with confusion and pretentiousness.

The film embraces the value of pursuing one’s dreams while extolling the virtues of haute couture. My guess is that it will appeal strongly to the Downton Abbey faithful.

An intellectually and emotionally exhausting and engrossing experience. It is drama of the highest caliber.

Carrey is forced to confine his antics to the needs of Liar Liar's unimaginative screenplay, and the results are mixed.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is about the most fun you can have with three guys who like to dress up as women.

Soul Food stays a cut above the average melodrama by keeping the characters grounded and the situations from becoming too ripe.

The darkness isn’t skin-deep; it permeates the material. Nightmare Alley may not be the feel-good film of 2021 but it leaves a lasting impression.

As a movie, The Hoax isn't a fraud but it's not the real deal, either.

Sweet and light. It's a celebration of cultural diversity and an affirmation that, despite differences in race, religion, and societal norms, people are essentially the same.

A stunning kaleidoscope of a motion picture - a mosaic of images that gradually resolves itself into a powerful tale of tragedy and redemption.

It's refreshing for a romantic comedy not to follow the formula by rote. I only wish I could be as enthusiastic about the amount of screen time accorded to certain characters who are more tedious than endearing.

It is fair to argue that, at least in the case of Rampart, Woody Harrelson is better than the material in which he appears.

As was true for "In the Company of Men," LaBute doesn't care if viewers are offended. Supported by a fine group of actors, he tells the story without compromises, and that gives us a refreshing alternative to multiplex fare.

Yankovic understands and takes to heart the maxim of never letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

Nothing, no matter how outrageous, is beyond Smith, and his willingness to flaunt cinematic taboos is one of the reasons why Clerks is such a unqualified success.

Despite its flashy production design and big budget, it's shallow and unsatisfying and primarily interesting for what it says about the views of society when it was made.

The Old Guard blends the intelligence of a well-written dramatic sci-fi/fantasy tale with the action/adventure of a big budget motion picture.

Contagion is the best movie made to date about an epidemic/pandemic.

This is a film to be enjoyed on a psychological level for its keen understanding of the contradictory impulses that drive sexual and social intercourse.

Despite its themes of terminal illness, dysfunctional families, and the need to heal old wounds, the film spends more time provoking laughter than tears.

It has two modes: dark and darker, and dares to do some things with the Christmas motif that haven't been done since Norman Rene's "Reckless."

District B13 is action porn. It's a series of amazingly choreographed, kinetic action sequences tied together by a laughably bad script and worse acting.

Cronos is more concerned with ideas and atmosphere than people.

Double Lover may not represent Ozon in peak form but it’s too weirdly entertaining to dismiss out-of-hand.

The Day Shall Come is an angry film – funny at times but with an acidic underpinning.

I found Materialists to be overlong but not unpleasant but there’s a lack of balance in the way the secondary characters and side-plots are more engaging than the bland central romantic triangle.

For those who enjoy Anderson’s patented quirkiness, The Phoenician Scheme doesn’t disappoint. Assembled with the abettance of longtime friend and collaborator Roman Coppola, Anderson has almost completely dispensed with a conventional storyline in service of a movie that delights in parodying seemingly anything and everything.

Nothing if not versatile. And, although perhaps not as funny as one might expect given the setup, it successfully grows the main characters beyond their stereotype roots.

Ted Geoghegan’s Mohawk is taut, bloody, and uncompromising – all with a dollop of social commentary thrown in for good measure.

While "quirky" is a good descriptor for the production, Lars and the Real Girl isn't so bizarre that mainstream movie goers will reject it. This is an offbeat independent production that could become one of those big little fall surprises.

Thumbsucker is true to its nature, and that makes Justin's eventual transformation all the more rewarding.

Because of the dominance of the central figure and the way in which The Cruise has been assembled, it functions more as a character study than a travelogue, and that makes for an engaging time in a darkened theater.

With Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino has made his best movie since "Pulp Fiction." He has also made what could arguably be considered the most audacious World War II movie of all-time.

Those expecting Dragon to offer a probing examination of Bruce Lee's life will be disappointed. This is not a "tell all" expose or a hard-hitting biography. Instead, it's a celebration of the first international Chinese-American movie star. As such, the film accomplishes what it set out to do while keeping its audience involved for its full running time.

It is an accepted truth that adapting a sublime novel does not always result in a sublime movie. To an extent, this is the problem with Never Let Me Go.

Batman is largely content to skim the surface and bask in the light of its visual style.

Its complex (yet not mystifying) storytelling, forceful character development, and superb cinematography make this a candidate for one of 2006's best offerings.

Comparisons to the original Bad Lieutenant are unnecessary; Port of Call New Orleans can stand - and fall - on its own merits, inconsistent though they may be.

a 95-minute thrill ride from director Tony Scott, delivers the right level of adrenaline.

The end result is something that feels like it was put together from a jumble of Disney clichés tacked onto the skeleton of "Beauty and the Beast."

Seems breezier and less self-conscious than the Mike Myers franchise.

Revolutionary Road is a fine motion picture, but it's not a good choice to lighten a burden or brighten a night. It rewards in the ways that only tragedies can.

Take away Bruce Willis and this is straight-to-video material.

Palo Alto may not be the most exciting film about high school life to come along in the past few years, but it is among the most honest and words like "pandering" and "insulting" don't apply.

The kind of daring feature that doesn't open every Friday at the local multiplex; its frank, sometimes politically incorrect approach towards the act and politics of sex is refreshing.

For those who expect a tightly-written mixture of the detective and science fiction genres, Time After Time is bound to be a disappointment. It's more of a lighthearted fantasy/romance with a few thriller elements thrown in.

By turns sad, frightening, and inspirational, the movie is impeded only by the difficulty of bridging the 25-year span between segments and accepting the older lead (Dev Patel) as a replacement for his younger self (Sunny Pawar).

Overlong and unevenly paced, Cinderella Man hits stretches (especially between bouts) when it threatens to lose its audience.

Overall, however, Rocketman works because it isn’t constrained by the beats of a traditional bio-pic. Although the movie will be rightfully and enthusiastically embraced by the singer’s fans, it has something to offer those with no more than a casual recognition and appreciation of the man’s music.

The best part of the film, unsurprisingly, is William H. Macy's low-key portrayal of Bernie.

Gallo's script is quirky and filled with a number of hilariously strange comic moments.

A lot takes place during The Painted Veil's two-hour running length, but most of what happens occurs within the hearts and minds of the leads.

At any rate, Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise take on the Deadite universe is better than Alvarez’s but remains considerably below that of Sam Raimi, who helmed the original trilogy.

One reason why It works is that it doesn’t rely solely on jump-scares and gore to startle audiences. Yes, there are some of both, but It is more about building tension than cheap gimmicks.

The chief pleasure to be derived from watching Cold Souls is that it's a journey into the unexpected.

Relies on uncomfortable black humor and moments of sincere drama to involve viewers. But everything is encased in artifice and the movie becomes a chore to take in.

This is as anti-Hollywood a film as I have seen in recent months, one which takes conventional plot ideas and uses them not to season a melodrama, but to enrich fully three-dimensional characters and create a forceful motion picture.

Although the movie’s foremost goal is to deliver big laughs, it gets points for taking seriously the trauma of parents who, after nurturing and caring for their children over an 18-year period, are forced to let go.

Green Book avoids sanctimoniousness in presenting this heartfelt, if sometimes familiar, story of mismatched strangers who learn to overlook boundaries of race, sexual orientation, and class as circumstances force them to rely on one another.

The passage of years have shown Out of Africa to be a nice, pleasant (if padded) motion picture that's long on visual and audio poetry and short on substance. It tells a grand love story in less-than-grand fashion but is nevertheless worth seeing because of all the other things it does right.

The actors, especially an uncharacteristically low-key Russell Crowe, are effective in bringing the personalities to life and director Joel Edgerton (who adapted the source material and also acts) avoids the kind of extreme melodrama that could unbalance a project like this.

The Avengers kicks ass.

Damn, is it good to watch a movie that expects the audience to pay attention and that doesn’t pander to the least common denominator.

[The film] occasionally had me convulsed with laughter.

In terms of the balance between narrative, mystery, and razor-sharp dialogue, I was reminded of Knives Out. Very different films in some ways but not that different in their ability to engage, entertain, and not overstay their welcomes.

With impeccable period details, top-notch performances, and the text of one of the 20th century’s most lauded plays, The Piano Lesson represents one of Netflix’s stronger unsung late-2024 drops.

Isn't the best coming-of-age story to hit the big screen, but it skirts new territory, and does so with a flare that earns it a recommendation.

The cast is comprised of unfamiliar faces, which enhances the pseudo-reality of the milieu. The principals - Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael B. Jordan - are professional actors with credits (many on television) to their names. But they are not "known" stars and that allows them to be accepted with ease into these roles.

When it comes to Christmas movies, although most are quickly forgotten, a select few go on to become touchstones, beloved and re-watched by families year after year after year. Arthur Christmas may have what it takes to join the latter category.

Into the Woods left me out in the cold. The long-gestating cinematic adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's fairy tale-infused Broadway musical, Into the Woods can claim a clever screenplay and a few enjoyable performances but little else.

Although some of the production's technical aspects remain impressive, the dramatic elements come across as trite and many of the musical numbers are dated. Clocking in at more than three hours, The Great Ziegfeld at times tries the modern viewer's patience.

The movie is fresh, fun, and breezy.

Predestination is science fiction for a thoughtful crowd. This isn't an action oriented film nor should it be mistaken for a blockbuster.

In terms of power and effect, Eyes Wide Shut approaches (but does not surpass) Kubrick's vintage work - it is thought-provoking and unsettling.

The strengths of The Underneath -- its atmosphere and character-centered basis -- are also its weaknesses.

The film contains some of Nolan’s most ambitious action sequences to-date but one wonders whether the plot density – a not inconsiderable obstacle for some who prefer not to devote their undivided attention for 2 ½ hours – might prove to be problematic.