Without offering more than dialogue, Women Talking has difficulty sustaining itself for 104 minutes.

As a family film, Fly Away Home has something for members of every temperament and age group: adventure, pathos, technical detail about the design of the aircraft, cute animals, and human drama.

It's those moments and others and the way they are tied together by Shepherd's tongue-in-cheek narration that cements A Christmas Story as one of those rare must-see holiday movies, even for those who don't celebrate Christmas.

Despite being filmed far from where it is set, the authenticity of the situations and emotions is unmistakable.

The teaser scene is phenomenal. It depicts the escalating tensions that accompany being one of the men in the final chain that leads to a nuclear launch. In this case, it's just a drill, but the men (played by Michael Madsen and John Spencer) don't know that. They must confront the morality of obeying an order that could lead to a worldwide holocaust. It's a taut scene that is suffused with verisimilitude.

It has been said that a Monty Python movie is only successful if it offends everyone in the audience at least once. By that measuring stick as well as nearly any other, The Life of Brian is an unqualified triumph. It makes us confront our foibles and laugh at them.

With its underworld violence and straightforward narrative, Shanghai Triad may be Zhang's most accessible film to date. It is not, however, his best work, having neither the epic scope of To Live nor the quiet emotional power of Raise the Red Lantern. Yet there is still much to like about Shanghai Triad, not the least of which is the production's gorgeous look (credit the director and his cinematographer, Li Xiao). Shanghai Triad overflows with memorable imagery and atmosphere. And, as this film verifies, a weak entry by Zhang is often far more engrossing than a strong entry by many other directors.

It starts out small and reaches its crescendo 90 minutes later with an incredible sequence that generates more suspense from a series of text messages than I would have dreamed possible.

As is usually the case with a well made sports movie, you don't have to appreciate the particular sport in order to enjoy the movie. 8 Mile has not been made solely with fans of hip-hop music in mind.

Once Were Warriors works, to some degree, on three levels: the visceral, the emotional, and the intellectual, and it is the amalgamation of these that makes this a memorable film.

As with most political thrillers, The Ghost Writer emphasizes plot development and atmosphere over action. It's an "adult" thriller as opposed to one designed for viewers suffering from ADD.

Well-made and deserves recognition as one of the year’s best family offerings (thus far).

Baumbach is 45 (roughly the same age as Josh) so he writes from personal experience. He knows what these characters are feeling which is the reason why the human elements resonate with authenticity - a quality that fades when While We're Young wanders off on the tangent about what constitutes a legitimate documentary.

Regardless of who sees or doesn't see Dallas Buyers Club, however, the movie does what it sets out to do by providing a striking portrait of a remarkable character and offering a history lesson to those too young to remember how things were for AIDS sufferers during the dark ages of the 1980s.

Gracey’s bracing style, which invites some interesting observations (such as whether sex scenes featuring Williams-as-a-chimp should be considered bestiality), gives the movie an edge that it never loses even after we have gotten used to the substitution.

One of the problems with Unlovable is the uneven manner in which the tone shifts.

A Single Man tells us about love, isolation, and sorrow, but never makes us feel any of those things.

The Color of Money plays better when not under the shadow of The Hustler, which is ultimately a better and more compelling tale.

More substantive than the average thriller/road movie.

Kekexili is about how human beings, when passionate about something, can put everything, including their lives, at risk for a cause.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is a straightforward action/adventure film, filled to the brim with over-the-top chases and stunts.

I, Tonya holds our interest by exposing the falseness and commercialism of Olympic-level skating competitions and illustrating how the perseverance shown by Tonya is perceived not as an asset but a character flaw. The film’s strength is that it does more than simply make us laugh.

The result is a film that runs far too long and rarely generates enough tension or genuine horror to justify its runtime—or, indeed, its very existence.

The highest compliment I can offer Ulee's Gold is that it plays more like real life than a movie.

The kind of movie where it's necessary to put aside pretensions and enjoy the product on its terms, with all the sexiness, violence, gore, and camp as part of the parcel. This is three-plus hours of gleeful-but-guilty escapism.

Although not as openly crowd-pleasing as Cooper’s A Star Is Born remake, there are enough interesting touches in the film – both in its aesthetic and some of the individual scenes – to demonstrate Cooper’s evolution as a filmmaker.

Magic on celluloid -- fresh, funny, romantic, and upbeat. You'll leave the theater with a smile on your face and perhaps a tear in your eye.

Project Hail Mary is more about the wonder of the unknown and the satisfaction of finding new friends.