Again like Chabrol, Fontaine has a way of making you laugh, on and off, for 90 minutes, before leaving you feeling a little queasy from too much truth.

A loose, amiable documentary tracking several decades in the life of this most unusual farmer.

The Well Digger's Daughter is old-fashioned in the best sense, almost cozy in its conventions.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age saga that will make you laugh and cry, maybe at the same time.

A spellbinding Australian Western.

A surprisingly handsome film whose visual appeal often shores up a predictable plot. [14 Jan 1994, p.C3]

This is an extremely violent movie, with one long gory scene that's particularly hard to stomach. The great majority of Triad Election is about political maneuvering, but when the conversations end, the blood flows mightily.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League may not be a great film, but it has the madness, strangeness and obsessiveness of a real work of art.

It works well as a film and a lesson about, as one open-minded preacher puts it, what the Bible "reads" about what it supposedly "says" about homosexuality.

The soul of the film is the relationship between mountain-obsessed Mallory and his wife, Ruth, who corresponded in beautifully written letters brought to life by Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson.

Has some great movie moments but also boring stretches.

An intriguing exploration of New York theater at the height of its glory.

Funny how there are fans of Jennifer Lawrence who will never see her in Serena. It’s not her best film, but it contains one of her best performances, in a role that challenges her more than any other.

Succeeds anyway, by putting a poignant human face on the struggle for equal rights.

It’s not a combination most of us would’ve thought of, but Stewart and Binoche bring out the best in each other.

Taylor's film is never boring, and it has some beautiful, thought-provoking moments. In a genre in which preaching to the choir seems to be the norm, this film is a welcome entry.

Delivers on the promise of its title. It shows us the world's most famous living painter, who turned 80 in February, at work with greater intimacy than any other film portrait of a contemporary artist provides.

Wicked Little Letters is for people who like British comedy, but also for people who think British comedies are too refined for their taste. This one isn’t. It’s crude and outrageous enough to appeal to modern American audiences.

André Øvredal's dry horror-comedy Trollhunter is successful on multiple levels, with a brisk pace, excellent location work and a strong lead performance by Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen.

An interesting film, and while it is not entirely successful (and at times most puzzling), it achieves a certain poignancy.

I don't want to damn Holofcener's efforts with faint praise, but the best way to describe Walking and Talking is to say that it's pleasant and charming.

It’s a school shooting movie for this particular moment and plays like a dispatch from the front lines. It’s past trying to figure out what these tragedies mean. It just wants to explore how a person might assimilate such a trauma and go forward in life.

There's no attempt at greatness here, just a fabulously successful attempt at a good crime movie. The Oscar-bait self-consciousness of "Gangs of New York" and "The Aviator" is gone. In its place is a buoyancy, an impish delight in telling a harsh urban story in the most effective terms possible.

Powerful and moving.

With his self-deprecating demeanor and easy laugh, Glass is a congenial presence, and now and then he lets an insight drop.

Would you like a side of erotic revenge this evening? How about a nightcap of noir? If you have a taste for the savage, you might easily split the difference with Fair Play.

Like the best love stories, funny or otherwise, this movie also recognizes that being in love is an education, and that, if people are lucky, they choose the right teacher.

Coco Chanel is not the most lovable of heroines, but it's a strength of the film that director Anne Fontaine allows Tautou to make Coco as cold and ungiving as she does.

First-time feature director Rashid has made a piece of eye candy that's irresistible. The point of this film may be to embrace reality, but frankly, who needs it?

Most of life is melodramatic — emotional, involving and lacking the dignity of straight drama. 3 Hearts is life as felt from the inside.

The film is a fascinating look at how a true event can become a media event — and how courting the media can have good and bad results so mixed up that it’s hard to know where the good influence stops and the corrupting influence starts.

The result is a worthy woman's film and Jolie's best showcase to date.

It's difficult to remember a recent movie that soared so high, before plummeting with a series of bad story choices. But the end result is still a strong piece of cinema, a failure only if you dwell on what might have been.

In At Eternity’s Gate, Dafoe often works in silence, but tells us everything we need to know with his face and eyes.

The movie captures something that we missed on this side of the Atlantic. The British public’s obsession with Diana was unrelenting. Every move she made became occasion for analysis — most of it idiotic — on the endless string of talk shows they have over there.

Self-indulgent and admirable.

Visually, Bi is already a master. There are amazing shots that recall Tarkovsky (especially “Stalker,” an acknowledged influence), or early Wong Kar-Wai.

It matches up two comic actors and instead of clashing or canceling each other out, they bring in the best possible result: A comedy with twice the laughs.

Private Parts is witty and fast-paced and makes Stern's raunchy, breast-obsessed, lesbian-fetishizing, big-penis-envying, arrested-adolescent outlook seem like harmless fun.

If anyone steals the air-show with his deadpan, it's Lloyd Bridges as Admiral (Tug) Benson, a total maladroit whose body has been wounded in every major battle since the Little Big Horn massacre and who has flown 21 missions without ever landing his airplane (he was shot down every time). Bridges gets away with some wonderfully corny lines and sight gags. [31 July 1991, p.E1]

Robin’s Wish, of course, can’t lessen the tragedy of Williams’ death, but it helps us better reconcile the suicide of such a joyous, irrepressible soul.

If it doesn't always come off, enough headlong energy develops to carry it through.

A snapshot of a fabled career that's of little interest to anyone outside Young's fans.

A complicated and stylish Korean thriller that will make viewers' skin crawl.

The details feel authentic: The empty Paris streets, the profanation of German anti-aircraft guns atop belle epoque buildings. And Devaivre's adventures provide high tension.

Uncut Gems remains, from start to finish, a tale told about an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. By the time it’s all over, nothing is exactly what you might feel. But Sandler and Fox give it the humanity the Safdies wanted there. The movie needed it and got it from the actors.

Though The Concert swerves and skids, it never goes off the road, and when the moment counts, when things really make a difference, the film comes through beautifully.

The lively setting helps, but the main attration here is the familiar story, which has been around forever and yet never gets old.

Maggie Q has been in good movies before, but The Protégé is the first movie that’s good because she’s in it.

A sci-fi movie that actually has intelligent things to say about science — that’s all too rare. It’s what we get in Ex Machina.

Schrader’s characters are haunted (please see “First Reformed” if you haven’t). They’re also deeply moral, not in a dime-store virtue kind of way but in the sense that they struggle mightily to do the right thing. In the end they’re painfully human, which is why they keep resonating after the lights go up.

Sad yet offering glimpses of hope.

The Social Dilemma should be mandatory viewing for everyone who has a social media account. After seeing it, you may look at your phone differently, as something that isn’t really your friend.

Phantom Boy has a cute, comic-book vibe to it, a visually pleasing style and a fast pace. It’s fun, for sure.

The result is an unconventional and layered portrait of a complicated talent.

Biting and incisive.

Greenwald is fine at creating the texture of early mountain life but loses her footing by embracing several plot points at once.

The film is dazzling and bewildering in equal measure.

Rarely has a movie ever captured the importance of a writer’s having unbroken concentration in order to work.

It's a movie filled with surprises, including one outright kick in the head that qualifies as one of the biggest movie moments of 1992. [18 Dec 1992]

The right mix of humor and horror and with not even a shred of sentimentality.

The film is notable as the first English-language role of Peter Lorre, who is creepily appealing as the leader of the conspiracy. [03 Feb 2013, p.Q19]

By the way, Danny Collins is inspired by the true story of Steve Tilston, a British musician who received a 1971 letter from John Lennon some 30 years after it was written. The gist of the letter was about the same, but all the characters and circumstances are creations of the filmmaker.

This is a tour-de-force performance, delivered by an actor at the top of his game, and it's a shame that K-Pax, instead of engaging our imaginations as it promises to, devolves into such a conventional, paint-by- numbers disappointment.

A slow seduction.

Family Business has star power going for it, and all three names above the title get the job done. [15 Dec 1989, p.E1]

At times, Harriet is a little too romantic — never quite schmaltzy — but it feels like a movie perhaps a bit more than it should. Still, it’s effective and, at times, moving, and it has a major asset in Erivo.

At the end of the day, though, thanks to the moral complications expressed by the abortion doctors and patients, this movie gives us more than enough room to help weigh these issues on our own terms.

Wonderfully giddy meditation on the nature of fame.

This is a brave film, a unique way of exploring a taboo topic. The animation works on many levels, but at the end of the day, it’s about how art helps Signe overcome her madness. That’s a heartfelt message — and here it feels genuine.

As entertaining an action movie as you're going to find. [13 Apr 1991, p.C3]

Under the subdued, dignified surface, this movie - about the 24 hours after a one-night stand - churns with a filmmaker's fascination and wonder, sadness and longing.

An engaging romantic comedy that's deeper, smarter and more pessimistic than it appears at first glance, a film with shrewd insight into the mysteries of human attraction.

A well-oiled, loudly revving summer action vehicle that does all that's required, and then some, within the confines of PG-13: It cracks genitalia jokes, messes around with toys and blows stuff up.

As in “The Wrestler,” Aronofsky presents us with a protagonist whose physical appearance is forbidding, and then shows us their delicacy of spirit. He films Charlie’s home with just a hint of the macabre, which serves as a counterbalance to any whiff of sentimentality in the script. The Whale doesn’t make a lunge for your emotions. It earns them.

So this is a very worthy movie, not that this will hold any sway with illness-phobes, who’d rather stare at the wall for 105 minutes than see a good movie about sickness.

Ultimately, while Gleason can be tough to watch, it has a strong message about the value of relationships and how to spend a life doing meaningful work against great odds.

Green Border has the directness and truth of a documentary and the emotional immediacy of a narrative feature.

It's a likable action picture that's fun and entertaining even when it's a bit silly. [16 Mar 1990, p.E1]

This movie knows how to entertain.

Equally fascinating, sad and scary.

A British costume film that's funny but not at all fusty.

Charlotte Rampling goes for broke as a sexually rapacious older woman. So does Ally Sheedy as a rich woman. They're memorable, and yet equally satisfying is Ciaran Hinds' sadness and restraint as a paroled sex offender with deviancy in the blood.

Directed with style and wit by London filmmaker Richard Kwietniowski, who makes his feature debut here, Love and Death is an off-kilter romantic comedy.

Ultimately, the film is what Freeman aspires to be: Not a big person making his mark on the world, but a small part of something very big.

An understated story of coping with emotional blows that offers a compelling portrait of a decent man.

What an attempt, and what a work of the imagination. The Fifth Element' will change the look of science fiction and will probably be imitated for years.

The film may work best as a supplement to the underwhelming three-hour-plus extravaganza broadcast in February to celebrate “SNL’s” 40th anniversary.

Still, I Am Woman, while it doesn’t roar, effectively tells Reddy’s story and speaks strongly about the women’s movement and the struggle that continues.

A good French film that was inspired by an American classic.

Lights Out presents actual characters that are interesting, that have rough edges, that act like real people, not victims in waiting.

Brower's legacy, however, is beyond question. Historian Starr calls him "an American hero," and though Brower was a prickly sort and a zealot, that judgment sounds right.

Although the movie goes too far, you can hardly get enough of its delicious atmosphere - and of Turner, in particular, who has never looked better on the big screen. [8 Dec 1989]

From time to time, there are the requisite cutesy boy-and-his-wolf moments, but for the most part, the film is harrowing, suspenseful and gritty — and a perfect vehicle for impressive 3-D effects that bring to life an exquisitely beautiful but unforgiving land.

Offers a brew of wondrous chimera combined with the wonders of human nature.

Produced by the New York Times and featuring the three reporters who broke the news (Melena Ryzik, Cara Buckley and Jodi Kantor), the film resonates by telling the story behind the story, about how the victims of sexual harassment and misconduct are often blamed, especially when their harasser is famous, popular and very funny.

Midnight Traveler gets the bulk of its humanity from little Zahra and Nargis. The resilience of children is often amazing, and near the end of the film, when they play in the snow for the first time, you get a glimpse of hope for their futures.

Very high on my list of good movie titles, has fascinating deep tones, surprising poignancy, and tendor humor for a movie aimed at teenage audiences. [28 Feb 1986]