Because Gyllenhaal is a more complicated actor than Swayze, and more comically adept, the new “Road House” has more humor and more attention to the peculiarities of the central character.

About American anti-Semitism, but it's not a typical genteel "cause" movie.

This is a small -- if rough -- gem of a film.

A good, strong movie, but never threatens to be great. One salivates at the adventurous directions the film could have explored.

Extremely amusing.

An unusual look at love and how it can unexpectedly develop. Those for whom the concept of an arranged marriage is foreign will get a little history lesson on the immigrant experience watching this sweetly engrossing film.

One of those quirky little movies that you marvel ever got made.

By the time it ends, Mendes has built within the audience an intense desire to see the men’s message successfully delivered, and like a true dramatist, Mendes milks it for every drop of tension. He does not blow his big finish.

Pretentious but absorbing.

I might be tempted to vote DiCaprio best actor — or at least to propose a new category be inaugurated, the acting equivalent of the Purple Heart.

A film one can admire, but it is not "likable," per se, nor does its director wish it to be.

A funny and twisted movie from beginning to end, closing with an emotional payoff.

1 Angry Black Man is a more thoughtful and intellectual exercise than its prosaic and incendiary title at first suggests.

Director Hiner Saleem has created a magical movie that veers, even within scenes, from love story to tragedy to comic relief.

Kilmer dons 12 disguises in all, polishes them with impeccable accents and pliable postures and gives a performance that's far and away the best aspect of the diverting The Saint.

Has a lot going for it -- but too much going against it to be a clear-cut winner.

Varda's subject matter is surprisingly rich, but it's her own energetic, curious nature that gives the film its snap.

Can be enjoyed if you don't mind a little manipulation.

Jane is lopsided, thoroughly exploring her early career but encapsulating later decades too neatly.

It's dreary and self-indulgent but has its crystalline moments.

To see Perfect Stranger is to wish for a more sophisticated vehicle for a film actress this good, but actors -- and audiences -- take what they can get. This is better than most.

A particularly strong family drama, and the Icelandic setting helps, adding a touch of the exotic.

Leaf applies a documentarian’s dispassion to the telling of this fictional story, and to a large extent that works. One of the virtues of documentaries is also a virtue of this narrative feature — it depicts a kind of person who usually doesn’t get movies made about her and tells the world her story with respect and empathy.

Morro is a great character, and for the most part, the film is animal friendly and environmentally serious. In the end, Irving turns out to be a reliable narrator.

This is Baumbach's best yet.

If you widen your eyes and turn off your brain, it all adds up to cracking good fun.

This is the most realistic film about teaching that you're ever likely to see.

An extremely good picture that, with a little tweaking, might have been a great one.

If anything is better about the sequel than the original, it's Leslie Nielsen, as deadpan as ever, but looking more relaxed than before, mugging and playing up his jokes with the subtlety and timing of an accomplished comedian -- which, at this point, I suppose he is. [28 June 1991, p.F1]

An ideal vehicle for Aubrey Plaza, in that it taps into everything we know she can do and challenges her to do other things that she hasn’t done before.

You need not be a believer to appreciate its humor and humanity.

The original Ghostbusters was a singular experience that will never be replicated. But Afterlife does take us back into a beloved world and offers the opportunity to hang out with old friends we thought we’d never see again.

If this documentary never quite makes the case for the deeper artistic or cultural imprint of the Ballets Russes, it does convey its enduring presence in these dancers' lives.

Taken as a whole, Bandits is a success, a two-hour entertainment that floats along, stumbling into various genres, discovering its moments.

A handsome, entertaining twist on the King Arthur legend.

Human Flow is often like seeing a travelogue of the world, juxtaposed with a desperate sea of humanity in search of a better — and safer — life.

Uncharted isn’t a classic, but for an action movie coming out in the doldrums of February, it’s practically Citizen Kane.

Earns its emotional moments, and it takes the audience along.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One may not be a great movie, but it’s a special movie deserving of its own kind of event and worth appreciating. Only Tom Cruise makes movies like this, and you either understand why this is pretty wonderful or you should give yourself the chance to find out why.

An appealing Hollywood satire.

It's original and poetic, and if you see it you will probably remember scenes from it a year from now, because it's not really like anything else. It's very much its own thing.

In his thrilling feature debut, Madame Sata, Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz doesn't glorify dos Santos but examines the hot, reckless fever of his life in all its thorny complexity.

All Hollywood and no Homer, but within its limits, it's a vigorous, entertaining movie.

With any other actor, All of Us Strangers was bound to be an emotional film, but Scott has a way of going down to the nerve endings. He makes the movie into something raw and deep.

Both halves of the film are exquisitely acted and written, both are emotionally true, and yet they don't quite fit together.

A risky, foolish, intelligent comedy.

An unusual and imaginative romantic comedy that takes the central idea of “Groundhog Day” and builds on it.

Oh, Hi! is that rare case, a movie that’s engaging and interesting moment by moment, but everything else is wrong with it.

A rare reminder from movies that the grand emotions are not only for the young and the middle-aged. They're the sweetness and torment of life until the last light goes out.

The more an audience member sees the beauty left in the Buddhist leader’s wake, the more it becomes clear that his influence has the power to continue generations beyond his passing.

It’s fascinating to return to this movie after many years. [2024 Restored Version]

The Trip to Spain, perhaps isn’t quite up to the series’ opener (“The Trip,” 2010), it’s certainly a healthy cut above the second film (“The Trip to Italy,” 2014).

Audiences will talk about how satisfying this movie is.

Pure fun and worth seeing if you want to laugh.

Deeply affecting, "Blade'' portrays an oddly elegant way of life that will soon be like the era in that other movie, "Gone With the Wind."

Because of age and illness, Varda is losing her sight, and Faces Places, which she co-directed, could be her last film. If so, she’s going out on a high note.

So here’s the case of a movie that is, in every way, nothing special — except for the way it’s made and how it’s done.

He was so good at his job he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the British and the Iron Cross II by the Nazis. Talk about playing both sides!

The time spent establishing Jane’s and Corinne’s bond pays off by always keeping their scenes on the heartfelt side of maudlin.

A breezy account of a man whose obsession began early.

In general the film is so impressive that we can't leave the theater without wanting more.

Basically, The Gunman is a movie that asks audiences to sympathize with the equivalent of Lee Harvey Oswald — that is, an Oswald who definitely did it. Oddly enough, it succeeds, partly because the moral climate it presents seems so confused, but mainly because of Penn’s particular aura of irascible integrity. He’s the most irritated action hero since Harrison Ford.

With this film, we see the Zinn who has changed thousands of lives with his work.

The most compelling reason to see this movie is the profile we get of the horrors of war.

A superior sports movie, dealing honestly with a great American story.

200 Cigarettes doesn't have a bad scene or a false note. The picture is a succession of pointed little moments, nicely written by Shana Larsen and acted with comic assurance and sensitivity.

Get Shorty is exquisitely cast, with droll, well-nuanced performances.

Has a smart mix of things going for it, including a self-effacing sense of humor.

Klayman has already shown us Ai challenging the authorities on various fronts, most grippingly in a confrontation with the Chengdu police officer who had given him a potentially fatal head injury.

Sex is a persistent theme in the movie, and it’s handled forthrightly.

A film that's sad and poignant but not without humorous moments.

Despite its outlandish conceits, it is grounded in sisterhood. As bloody as it is, the pain the girls dish out to each other is nothing compared to the trauma they’ve experienced.

It’s not a movie that will make you tired, but lack of ambition can sometimes be a strength. This is a comedy-thriller made simply to please in the moment, and it does, for almost every minute of its 100-minute running time.

It's that constant weirdness, coupled with Nicolas Cage's best performance in pretty much forever, that makes this depraved, sexually charged, over-the-top drama so much fun to watch.

The Green Knight is a strange film — so out of step with current trends, so original in its conception, so willing to take its time and follow its own course — that it must be counted among the better films of 2021.

“Stories of Surrender” makes no pretense of telling the full Bono story. But it picks its spots with artful precision and with keen cinematic instincts.

CODA is lovely. If you want to see a movie that will make you feel good, this is it.

The Lady is a portrait in moral and physical courage, a sort of analysis of what constitutes greatness.

Sexy, peculiar and always entertaining.

Though Hauser and Sweeney can’t exactly save the movie, they keep it from derailing.

My main quibble is that the ending is a bit softer than I might have hoped for, but don't let that dissuade you. Headhunters is a well-oiled, nasty machine.

Beguiling.

It's a compelling minimalist drama about spiritual evolution, with strong performances and exotic locations.

The Bay Area filmmaker’s Sundance Prize-winning film achieves much on a relatively meager budget (it has an impressive futuristic visual design), and the last half hour is so irresistibly creepy that it’s sure to invoke discussion after the screening.

It's no masterpiece. In fact, it's not even all that good. But it has that great character in it -- Falstaff, or in this case, a thinly veiled Vito Corleone -- so it's something to see. [27 July 1990, p.E1]

The movie turns lighter and less morose as it rolls along, which is good for viewers who prefer a bit of honey to offset the bitter taste of hormones.

For a little while The Client seems as though it's going to be a battle of wits between the two lawyers played by Sarandon and Jones. The interplay between the two is the best thing about the movie. [20 July 1994, p.E1]

Ultimately, the film works because the doctor's relationship with the general - and both of their relationships with the doctor's young boy - is just as complicated as the action-packed coup.

The look of the film is first class, with muted colors but deep textures, the opposite of historical kitsch.

In a way, the new Carrie is almost too easy to enjoy. Everything discordant and all the nagging weirdness and strange feelings surrounding the original have been smoothed down, and what we're left with is a well-made, highly satisfying and not particularly deep high school revenge movie.

While Dark Blue may not be easy to watch, it's exceptionally well made.

Amour is also unforgettable and one of a kind, two hours of torment that, in the end, you will probably not regret.

Young Hearts is a film that doesn’t traffic in big plot twists or dramatic reveals. It’s a film that treasures fragile thoughts and feelings, rare in a film these days.

It has nothing going for it but a terrific story and an amazing performance by Judith Ivey, who plays an enigmatic Good Samaritan.

Field is at her best, downtrodden and determined as ever, and Sheila Rosenthal as Mahtob, Betty and Moody's little daughter, is adorable. [11 Jan 1991, p.E1]

Neither too “oy vey” nor “Weekend at Bernie’s” but steeped in the best aspects of both Jewish and black comedy, Bad Shabbos is a treat any night of the week.

L’Attesa — also known as “The Wait” — is atmospheric and moody, serious and full of portent; and if it weren’t so good, it would probably be unbearable.

Better Than Chocolate is smart, funny adult entertainment -- the sex scenes are bold and convincing -- with a love story that is touching and surprisingly cheerful.