A powerful allegory.

So cleverly constructed that it's easy to be taken in and believe these twins really rocked.

Obviously, sports fans will get the most out of In Search of Greatness. But there are self-help tropes for everyone.

One of the most enjoyable pictures of the season.

So chalk Escape Plan up as a pretty good action movie given an extra edge by the intelligent use of its two main actors.

Blue Chips is in many ways like a modern Frank Capra movie, about a battle between corruption and idealism, money vs. love, the pack vs. the individual. It's an Americana story about white farm boys and black ghetto kids bringing their talents together in a pure endeavor and about the cynical forces that would pollute that. [18 Feb 1994, p.C3]

This is pure entertainment but smart entertainment, plotted and executed with invention and humor and acted by a winning cast radiating good-movie energy.

Well-made and modestly enjoyable.

Superpower, one of several documentaries about the war in Ukraine, doesn’t break any news, but Penn, a two-time Oscar-winning actor and director of several feature films, is a skilled storyteller. He and Kaufman do an excellent job of providing a contextual overview of the conflict, from its origins — the trajectory of both Russia and Ukraine in the post-Soviet era — to its political stakes, the mood of the Ukrainian people and the fascinating man who is leading them.

Joins the growing mass of excellent, disturbing and achingly sad documentaries about the Iraq conflict.

Dream Horse is full of heart and interest. Throughout, Collette makes us believe in the human-animal connection between Jan and Dream Alliance, which is touching, mysterious and deep.

There are some brief minutes when the tension drops and the story starts to sag, but Fukunaga almost always fills the frame with something worth seeing, and the story has a built-in suspense.

Suncoast is a personal and mostly quiet movie, but it has the force of a real expression, of something that somebody just needed to say.

A beautifully shot and edited film that treats its subjects fairly.

It's a resplendently basic, lovey- dovey and inside-out "King Lear."

The Astronaut Farmer's goofy quality makes it totally endearing. It's also super entertaining. Critics are fond of referring to movies as a "great ride." With this one, the words couldn't be more apt.

The Lego Batman Movie is less awesome than its predecessor, but it’s a clever, well-paced, self-aware and completely satisfying kind of less awesome.

Even if a certain glibness in the plotting deflates its impact somewhat at the finish, it remains an eerie, playful thriller and an all-around entertaining time at the movies.

A thoroughly satisfying, completely entertaining film that's also, rather surprisingly, an emotionally full experience.

The Manor establishes itself as a solid piece of paranoia horror.

It’s a chilling expansion of the franchise, with visually inventive dream sequences and Ethan Hawke returning as the villain.

Consisting mostly of talking-head interviews, the film isn't especially dynamic, but it brims with insightful, poignant memories from survivors.

By the end, “Coming 2 America” has us. It’s strange, these movies that create a warm feeling. It’s hard to say why or how. But when Murphy sits on the throne watching a bad lounge singer (also played by Murphy) perform “We Are Family,” it feels like the summation of the three decades of virtuosic silliness that Murphy has brought to the screen, and of all that has meant to us.

If one person survives and 6 million are killed, or one person gets out and 3,000 are crushed, it's not really a happy ending - or even an adequate representation of the larger event. This is precisely the challenge that The Impossible faces and never quite overcomes.

Funnier than the original.

A legit action movie.

Although this one indulges in unnecessary CGI enhancements, it's still a striking piece of character-driven horror, and it ranks among the more understated fright fests to hit the mainstream in recent memory.

Charmingly offbeat in the vein of early Woody Allen.

He (Connery) hasn’t made a film for the ages, but it’s on par with other decent historical sports dramas.

Although the picture's title and promotion might lead you to expect another "Wayne's World," Airheads is something more substantial. It's a spoof of heavy-metal culture that at the same time respects the vitality and pent-up passion behind it.

Gets better as it goes along.

A banquet for Stones aficionados, an insider’s scrapbook of memories and glimpses of an illustrious history that Wyman, without his vast collection, would be little more than a footnote to.

So fascinating and has so many implications that it balances out some real flaws in the story.

The film is much enhanced by the performance of Labed, whose work capturing Marina's moods and contradictions won the best actress award at the 67th Venice Film Festival.

If there's any justice at all at next year's Academy Awards, we have our first can't-miss nominee for best supporting actress: Amy Adams.

A worthy, fascinating film..

The spectacle is nothing short of refreshing.

The film is a showcase for a talented ensemble of Black actors, not the least of whom is Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Doaker, an older, mellow wise man.

The aftertaste of that father-son scene is so strong, so disturbing, that the riches of Happiness -- its writing, its performances, its trenchant wit -- all seem a bit diminished in the bargain.

If you haven’t been to the movies in a while, Top Gun: Maverick is a way to get back in. It’s pretty much what “going to the movies” is all about.

For pure, uncomplicated enjoyment, it's the movie to see right now.

With its unique concerns, unerring sense of calm balance, and haunting Celtic-referencing score, “Song” is a worthy entry into the Oscar conversation.

An exceptionally well-written script, full of unexpected turns and clever reversals, and a trio of deft actors in the principal roles.

An impassioned documentary about a damaged American family, includes moments that seem to cross the line of what is emotionally acceptable to show onscreen.

It’s mostly delightful; a fun movie that successfully hits the reset button for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's a documentary that invites viewers inside its story to groove along with a genre that's changing the past, present and future of contemporary music.

It should come as no surprise that Jonathan Hensleigh's script was not originally written as a "Die Hard" film. The blend of "Die Hard" and "With a Vengeance" is sometimes smooth but never complete. It's as if "Die Hard" were wearing a rented tux.

A harsh and thoroughly unromantic examination of the scarring effects of war.

A solid piece of filmmaking, from subtle beginning to the excessive end.

Funny, heart-tugging, intermittently awesome and a loving if ambivalent homage to the heyday of martial arts cinema, writer-director Larry Yang’s film may not blend tones as seamlessly as Chan’s best work from the 1980s and ’90s did. But “Ride On” is moving and thrilling enough to be a worthy capper to the Chan canon.

For almost half of the movie, you might wonder why Nicole Kidman chose to take such a lackluster role. The answer: Just wait — and brace yourself. Kidman is never happier than when she gets to go to extremes, and by that measure, Queen Gudrun is one of her happiest roles.

Steel City makes a valiant attempt to add some new tweaks to the genre best described as life-sucks-growing-up-in-a-mill-town.

The landscape against which a mother and her son try to find each other is stunningly realized.

Not a stirring piece of drama, and it does not altogether work in the ways it was intended to. But in its own shambling, elliptical way it's an entertaining, memorable movie whose 2 1/2 hours go by without strain.

The movie is really a sexy, emotionally true portrait of a handful of people wrestling with their impulses and trying to find their way to happiness.

Comes closer than any other recent animated film to the Looney Tunes ideal. Just as Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny entertained without either condescending to kids or lobbing adult jokes over their heads.

Writing and directing her first feature, Jenkins mines her life for nug gets everyone can relate to.

A history lesson about the Holocaust well worth teaching.

A humongous animation event that ratchets up the level of the computer art that Hollywood is swooning over these days.

Part road trip, part music lesson, follows virtuoso musician Béla Fleck on a trip through Africa to reclaim the banjo's roots. It's an entertaining journey, and director Sascha Paladino injects humor and pathos into the musical sequences.

Writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore find a nice balance between the over-the-top high jinks and an emotional core, which unexpectedly crystallizes relatively late in the movie.

The film's emotional complexities don't allow for much of the canned sentiment that normally gets dished out in romantic dramas; what emerges instead, over several reels, is endearingly tender and complicated.

Till confirms Chukwu as an actor’s director and should establish Deadwyler as a major presence in movies.

Raunchy coming-of-age comedies that satirize religious hypocrisy don’t usually leave you going, “Aw, that was so sweet and innocent.” But director Karen Maine’s first feature, Yes, God, Yes, pulls off that neat trick in a surprising yet natural way.

There's nothing too small about Nolte's performance. He's the perfect companion for a rookie feature film director looking to make a good first impression.

Rocket Science has the makings of either a tragedy or a crowd-pleasing underdog story, but writer-director Jeffrey Blitz instead takes the movie on a different, and ultimately more rewarding, direction.

Engrossing documentary.

It's a delicate, intelligent movie about modern parenthood and the pressures that children face, and it features a cast of talented actors who were clearly committed to the movie's message.

Centuries ago, the heath lands of Denmark were rough-hewn, expansive and notoriously unforgiving. In the new Danish film “The Promised Land,” those words could also describe the face of its star, Mads Mikkelsen. One of the great visages in movies, it has a landscape all its own.

It is, in fact, good: a simple, well told story, about an impossible love decades ago, and the collateral damage that results.

It's sober, never flashy or exciting but always engrossing.

Prada just feels authentic, from its glossy look to the specific and sometimes curious behavior of the secondary and tertiary characters. To watch it is like being entertained while getting an anthropological crash course.

Any director who sees Short Term 12 will want to cast Larson in something. This movie puts her on the map.

If there is a beef to be had, it is that Tran seems to have tried so hard to make a movie of importance that his characters often resemble archetypes as opposed to people; the game cast appears straitjacketed at times. Still, it's a story that needed to be told.

Joy Ride feels like it easily could have been better, but it’s certainly good enough, and it might be remembered as an early milestone in some significant careers.

It's entertaining and inoffensive.

Be warned: This is not a movie for a first date. Or a second date. Or perhaps any date.

I could have done without the clips from the old "Superman" TV show - strictly sugar to make the medicine go down, and a sign that the director doesn't fully trust his audience.

A fun bit of escapism that's even tender in spots.

The offbeat drama The Seagull's Laughter is the kind of movie I appreciate because it never announces where it's headed.

Silent House feels relentless, suffocatingly tense and almost unbearable. And that's a very good thing.

It's almost a great movie. For half of its running time, Anderson maintains a distinct and arresting tone of vague absurdity, and then he loses control and the film begins to dip into silliness. Individual scenes become labored. Yet even at its worst, The Life Aquatic is always interesting -- there's really nothing else like it.

A very funny romantic comedy that nicely combines Adam Sandler's acerbic sweetness with Aniston's down-to-earth warmth.

Very entertaining.

David Lowery has made a movie that is as outside the pattern of our current popular filmmaking as can be possibly imagined. That takes more than vision alone. It takes courage.

Angel Eyes is the rare film that presents a family dynamic as demented as ones we know from life.

By now, fans of the studied loveliness of Merchant Ivory films savor that they aren't pat, slick or especially action-packed. A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries is a fine example -- themes percolate and evolve into poignancy.

This is a special movie. For almost 20 minutes, Drinking Buddies does almost nothing to indicate where the story is going or whether there is even going to be a story. And yet everything onscreen is interesting, because of the truth of the emotion and the specificity of detail.

While “Fresh” is intentionally not for every taste, it’s an uncompromising feminist horror/thriller with a fantastic lonely girl/victim/heroine for Edgar-Jones to play.

You won't see another film like Fay Grim this year, and we should give Hartley credit for making it work on his own terms.

It will seem unbearable to many, but the film unflinchingly mirrors what Selby observed from the depths of his own alcoholic and drug-addicted youth in Brooklyn. [23 May 1990, p.E1]

The visuals are splendid. Even close-ups of face and hair are something to marvel at.

Based on the litany of deep cuts and the intrinsic understanding of the concept in “Mutant Mayhem,” it’s clear Rogen and Goldberg bring a particular love for the franchise to the screen.

As always in Carney’s films, the music is emotional and lovely, with instruments played by its actors. The songs feel like they’re improvised on the spot, and Dublin is as inviting of a setting as usual.

A nice surprise, surpassing the quality of the first film.

For Friday night this will do just fine. It's definitely a good matchup -- Stone's cynical bravado versus Berry's resilient spunkiness in a world-class cat fight.

Neeson is a delight and seems to be having as much fun as the audience. But the surprise here is Anderson, who was sad and plaintive in “The Last Showgirl” and now reveals herself a skilled and self-aware comedienne. Anderson is having a moment right now, and I’d like to see it continue.

Never fails to be engrossing. That's because Soldini brings us vivid characters, and gets all the details right.