A bit icky yet full of charm, the engaging documentary Rodents of Unusual Size introduces us to the nutria, a furry antihero that’s a cross between a huge rat and a beaver — and that has been damaging Louisiana’s delicate wetlands for decades. The film serves as both an environmental cautionary tale for other states (including California) and an interesting slice of Cajun life.

On its own terms, the movie succeeds. Like a fable, its meanings are unspecific but haunting.

Goes nowhere.

A film with no theatrical core and no integrity in the writing, acting or storytelling.

Darkman is big, stupid and wonderful -- an absurd, grand-scale adventure and a vicious comedy rolled into one nasty, unpleasant, hard-to-resist mess. [24 Aug. 1990, p.E1]

The heart and the luminous intelligence of Vincent van Gogh are deadened in Robert Altman's coolly distanced Vincent and Theo. [16 Nov 1990, p.E13]

A grounded and unusually matter-of-fact adaptation.

An honest, fair and quite voyeuristic look into avatars and the real-life humans who control them in Second Life.

This makes Hostiles something of a slog, but a movie-literate slog containing some impressive scenes.

It’s cute and easy to watch, though we can’t overcome the feeling that it’s an unambitious film about an ambitious topic.

Because he made "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), there will always be high expectations for a new film by Michel Gondry. But while his new movie The We and the I, is intriguing in fits and starts, it isn't in the same league.

Sharper works like a machine, and so it seems unfair to complain that, by the end, it feels too mechanical. It’s fun. It should have been more fun, but take the fun where you can get it.

An audacious, messy and sometimes inspired look at an out-of-work poet struggling to find his way in post-Communist Russia, plays like a metaphysical Moscow version of "Mad Men" - on acid.

This laugh-out-loud comedy is set in the world of daytime television and is reminiscent of the sex farces that were popular in the early and mid-'60s -- except that Soapdish, unhampered by a desire to be perceived as sophisticated, is actually more sophisticated and much funnier than the movies that were around then. [31 May 1991, p.E1]

Rylance is always good, but director Craig Roberts, to use a golf term, lays up instead of going for the pin. In other words, he plays it safe.

[Harris's] craft is shaky, and the actors she's assembled, with the exception of Johnson and Ebony Jerido as Chantel's best friend, are one step above Amateur Hour. Just Another Girl looks and feels like a first-time effort. [02 Apr 1993, p.C5]

Still, those who meet the movie on its own terms and don't expect a masterpiece may appreciate the commitment of Wright and the actors. Blanchett goes out of her way, for example, to be repellent here.

If this is the best we can do in terms of movies - if something like this can speak to the soul of audiences - maybe we should just turn over the cameras and the equipment to the alien dinosaurs and see what they come up with.

Suffers from some of the deficiencies common to first features. It is sincere and earnest but the product of an assumption that the milieu itself is compelling enough to command an audience's attention.

Because there’s nary a situation that seems reality-based and uncontrived in this movie that has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, filled with over-the-top cardboard characters that seem sneered upon by their creator. If Mirabella-Davis doesn’t believe in his characters, why should we?

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

Does a beautiful job of capturing that mood -- the exuberance and wistfulness of one man's last year of youthful irresponsibility before joining the rat race.

One of the best war movies of the past 20 years.

This one is a long, archetypal journey that screeches to a halt a few stops short of its destination.

When the action is extreme, GoldenEye is supercharged with spectacular, thundering, brain-numbing fun.

Nostalgia, as mentioned, is a factor. But the key to its success is its focus on family and hope.

Though each of the plotlines in “June Zero” stir up ethical questions, its primary approach is to look at people living their lives while an extraordinary event comes to its climax. That leaves the movie open to multiple, marvelous interpretations, as a decades-later coda suggests history will do anyway.

If this movie were a human being, it would be intelligent and sincere but so depressed as to be unable to get out of bed without a forklift.

In the end, it's really just a thriller, slower than most, with pockets of dead time but with a few extra flourishes, too, thanks to Norton.

Parker recreates the hate-and-fear-filled atmosphere in that small Southern town with broad brush strokes. But in the end, all of his spectacular fires send out a lot more heat than light. [13 Jan 1989, p.E1]

The film about violence and retribution is a tough piece of work, subtle in some ways, obvious in others, viscerally affecting throughout.

The film raises significant questions about manhood and offers a few gripping sequences, but isn’t fully satisfying.

This is a lean, fast-moving and effective movie, with an undersea world that is as vast and lonely as outer space.

Sly and insightful fable.

A powerful new documentary that addresses the issue of "hypocritical" male politicians.

The Pillow Book sometimes seems like three different movies, each one an eyeful but together too much of a good thing.

To my eyes, the whole thing looks sad, like something people might cling to in the absence of religion - or a kind of religion in itself, minus dogma or salvation, but with lots of people standing around dressed like total goofballs.

With The Way, writer-director Emilio Estevez has made a respectable failure. What's respectable - and undeniable - is that this is a sincere effort to make a film of sensitivity and spiritual richness.

Best of all is the work of Gillian Jones, who shows up in one scene as "Grandma."

Coppola has no trouble convincing viewers that Marie Antoinette is an interesting historical subject, but there's a big distance between that and creating a fascinating personality or fashioning a compelling narrative.

Provocative, audacious.

The movie is like one of those newfangled Vegas casinos, where what appears to be open sky is really painted ceiling. What's initially dazzling becomes stifling.

Has to be enjoyed in spurts. There's no cohesive story, just a series of opportunities for the title character (Jon Heder) to strut his gawky stuff.

Naomi Kawase’s films don’t hammer toward arbitrary plot points but flow like water, so “True Mothers” doesn’t unfold like a Hollywood blockbuster, or indeed, even most arthouse films. It courses along softly and confidently, with unexpected ebbs and estuaries.

By avoiding the usual cliches of the freedom saga, Suffragette finds its way to its own, specific integrity. It’s a movie that’s easier to respect than love, but it is something to respect.

A gripping film that re-creates the fear, bewilderment and anguish felt by thousands during the anti-Communist witch hunt in Hollywood. Robert De Niro gives one of the finest and most modulated performances of his career as David Merrill, a famous director trapped in the miasma of suspicion that haunted Hollywood in the '50s and '60s. [15 Mar 1991, p.E1]

Despite the fact that both protagonists are equally appalling, the screenplay seems to have a soft spot for the woman. However, this doesn't take away from the fun of watching the two characters tear each other to pieces.

This is by no means a polished film. But it has an energy lacking in thrillers that cost hundreds times more to make. It should be viewed as a calling card from gifted and resourceful filmmakers whom I hope some Hollywood producer will have the sense to sign up immediately.

Directed by Danny Boyle, it lacks even a single moment of charm or interest.

It's the grittiest, most plausible movie depiction of the poverty-level black urban experience since Boyz N' the Hood. John Singleton showed a surer hand in directing Boyz, but Anderson displays promise and generates real emotion. [17 Oct 1992, p.C3]

An inspiring translation of biblical grandeur, turning the story of one of history's greatest heroes into an entertaining, visually dazzling cartoon.

He Got Game seems to cheer for integrity, honesty and hard work while playing up its own cheap thrills.

The foundational mistake came when someone said, “Hey, let’s make another ‘Alien’ movie.” Newsflash: The alien concept is dead. Leave it alone, and leave poor Ian Holm out of it.

At its best, and it’s mostly at its best, Frozen II has an air of enchantment.

Still, the goodwill lingers, even though Mother and Child falls down, dies and is beginning to look a little green and stiff about 15 minutes before the finish line.

One of the rare films that directly responds to and expresses modern anxieties, this debut feature from director Henry Alex Rubin interweaves the stories of three sets of people, whose lives are upended through various bad things that happen over the Internet -- including bullying and identity theft. A fascinating and riveting thriller.

Perhaps it helps to think of Goat as a horror movie. There is a genre of horror film known as torture porn — films that revel in graphic depictions of torture, violence and sadism, mostly to defenseless victims. Think of Goat as hazing porn.

MaXXXine, clearly boasting a higher budget, stands as a bloody valentine to Hollywood. It’s a cesspool, all right, but it’s our cesspool, he seems to say, and guess what? Every once in a while true art comes out of it.

If it seems to have the ingredients of an after-school special, the performances take it to another level. Gut level.

Dumb but also unrelentingly dark and ugly, thereby depriving the viewer of any camp value.

So original, so funny, so alive with drama, intrigue, mystery and colors that you want to see it again and again.

This is a smart film, told in a minor key, that augurs well for Whaley's directing career.

Suffers from its enthusiasm, so fueled by anger and emotion that storytelling grows clouded. Irreverence gives way to polemic, then to an orgy of violence.

The saving grace of this French film is that it's anything but a sentimental story.

An intense, powerful film.

Jake finally looks like a catch, of all things, and you can hear half the audience whispering that they’ll have what Lainey’s having.

Either a go-for-broke action movie or a sick, sick movie for a sick, sick public.

In a way the faults of New Nightmare are the faults of the horror genre as it now exists. Once you get the set-up, the rest of the film is just incidents leading up to the big confrontation. The problem is not in knowing what will happen, but in waiting for it to happen. [14 Oct 1994, p.C3]

Enola Holmes films are too concerned with chases, romance and flattering their target audience to even consider challenging anyone’s puzzle-solving abilities.

Adoration, despite a family resemblance to some of his finest work ("The Sweet Hereafter," "Ararat"), is Egoyan at his worst. The movie is slow and airless, with a script so weak one wonders why Egoyan bothered to film it.

Haakon VII is a hero in Norway, and The King’s Choice tells us why.

In the end this is Hoffman's movie, and it's refreshing, finally, to see him not as an oddball or eccentric but as a decent, capable guy who is ultimately a lot more intense than most people.

An unforgiving little thriller with a conscience and irony to burn (and boy, do they burn), Your Lucky Day is one of the last chances to see beloved Oakland native Angus Cloud onscreen.

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

A shrewd satire about stardom and the cult of celebrity.

Cop Land isn't a perfect piece, but it's sober, wise and adult.

This is the movie for anyone who has ever sat around with friends and thought, "Someone should make a movie about this," a film that captures the tenderness and quick humor of hanging out. It's not an easy task. We may find our own friends delightful, but watching other people's friends is a dreary prospect.

Pitt’s all-in performance and an impressive supporting cast supply enough roughhouse wit and Brooklyn grit to hold up scenes that might have otherwise gone down for the count.

Let’s get the bad news over with quickly: Captain Marvel is no “Wonder Woman.”

Even with the conflict overkill, most of the small moments ring true. Dolphin Tale has more in common with "The Swiss Family Robinson" than most modern live-action family movies, where slapstick and cheap laughs feed short attention spans.

A Better Life isn't an instant classic, but it tells its story with a simplicity and compassion that other urban dramas would be wise to emulate.

People who go into Hot Shots! Part Deux knowing what to expect will not be disappointed, and people who stumble in unawares won't be too sorry. At its best, ''Part Deux'' is very funny, and at its worst, it's a complete waste of time -- with the balance about even between the strong and the weak sections. [21 May 1993, p.C1]

It’s as if the film itself is suffering from a pandemic hangover and can’t believe there’s a reason to feel better, even when describing one of the greatest scientific and manufacturing achievements in human history.

Floats on the charm and the labors of its lead actress, Gretchen Mol, who single-handedly makes the picture worth seeing.

It wears its heart on its sleeve and is a bit too sentimental, but it is sweet and pleasing.

Jerome and Lopez build an undeniable chemistry that powers the movie, and it wouldn’t work at all unless Jerome wasn’t excellent as well. He is.

Has a jangly, improvisational tone, with nuanced moments of humor and pathos.

On the surface, it's a mystery in which someone is going around stealing personal items, and the women are suspected -- and suspect each other. In a larger sense it's about how corporate culture is not only antithetical to individuality and human kindness but also hostile toward these things.

Will have anyone over the age of eight squirming in their seats.

Berlin is still a subject very much worth exploring on film, and his observations as an aged man are even more fascinating than the statements he made as an artist in his prime.

Numbing and inert.

The thinking part of this thriller needs work. It's not nearly as intelligent, thoughtful or penetrating as it promises to be.

Passes by like a dream.

Has some funny moments, and if you're a Beavis and Butt-head fan, you'll enjoy the movie.

Quartet is buoyed by the Scottish charm of Billy Connolly, as a lovable flirt and extrovert - he is a delight and also a locus of truth in every scene he's in.

Try as it might, the movie is hardly profound, and the murky atmosphere and the leaden pace drag things down.

A compelling mess.

A larger-than-life resonance.