The movie is ultimately more interesting in satire than the presentation of a legitimate alternate timeline. This doesn’t invalidate C.S.A.’s approach but it limits its effectiveness as a sort of Twilight Zone look at the last 150 years.

Solid performances, an intelligent script, and sure-handed direction. The result is a movie that kept me involved from start to finish.

Ultimately, Goodbye Solo works because the screenplay, actors, and director combine to craft honest, compelling individuals.

The Night Listener is by no means an example of perfect filmmaking, but it is the kind of movie that stays with you.

Amateur is a curious mixture of high art and delicious campiness, and the result is a funny, insightful, and almost-hypnotic motion picture.

For the most part, Big Eyes works because of its restraint - something rarely claimed about one of Burton's cinematic offspring.

It's a slight-but-enjoyable effort, and it features something a little on the surprising side: an optimistic ending.

My sense is that adults will be more taken with Ponyo than their offspring.

Well paced and energetic; it's unlikely to bore anyone.

If you want daring or original, Fools Rush In isn't the movie to see. Like 90% of all romantic comedies, it follows a time-honored formula that allows little room for variation.

Rather than perpetuating racial stereotypes, Eve's Bayou defies them, creating several well-rounded characters and placing them in a deceptively complex story that builds to a forceful conclusion.

In "Rocky," it was less about beating Apollo Creed than showing grit, earning respect, and getting the girl. Fundamentally, Southpaw isn't much different.

When Interview with the Vampire works, it's as compelling and engrossing a piece of entertainment as is available on film today. When it falters, the weaknesses seem magnified.

The film is as faithful to Greek mythology as Thor is to tales of the Norse Gods, but it ultimately doesn't matter. Tarsem's goal is to give viewers an experience a little different from the norm and, to that end, he succeeds. The "wow!" factor is in full evidence.

An unconventional heist film in which a majority of the action occurs after the loot has been liberated, Triple Frontier features impeccable photography, strong acting, and well-staged action scenes that ooze tension.

Aggressive editing could have shortened Giant considerably, but the three hour twenty-one minute running time permits the tale to breathe. And, even at this length, there are times when events feel rushed or compressed... So, although Giant may not be a classic in the purest sense of the word, it's a fine example of a virtually-extinct genre.

Compelling and life-affirming.

At a time when many mystery thrillers fall apart in the final fifteen minutes, Headhunters maintains its integrity.

The movie is at its best when it feels like a Vatican riff on 12 Angry Men, a concept that is enough to keep things flowing smoothly until the frustratingly “Hollywood” events of the final 20 minutes.

The end result, however, whether pruned during the scripting stage or in the editing room, is a taut and compelling piece of cinema whose release in the wake of the 2024 election may have some viewers pondering Winston Churchill’s 1948 warning: “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

This film is an autopsy of a family that has been sundered by the death of the father and primary care-giver.

Though not unusual for animated movies to provoke tears, Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is perhaps the second animated film I would openly classify as a “tearjerker” (the first being Grave of the Fireflies).

War of the Worlds is not vintage Spielberg, and it's on the grim side for a summer action blockbuster, but it's worth the time and money invested.

As is often the case with pioneers, it is ragged around the edges, but the film's weaknesses are not enough to prevent it from being appreciated. Dracula is not scary; it's a little too campy and hokey to be so (especially by today's standards), but it is nevertheless an effective storytelling vehicle, and there are occasional moments of movie magic.

Talky and intelligent, and never takes the cheap way out. It's also something of a downer.

Does what it sets out to do: educates about a mostly unknown historical figure (without doctoring the facts too much), entertains, and uplifts.

At a time when juvenile movies often dominate theaters, this is an adult movie through-and-through, and evidence that there are filmmakers who care about entertaining a more mature audience.

Slow moving and low key, and, when the final credits roll, you feel like you have spent nearly two hours in the company of a few real people, not constructs of a writer's imagination.