A new restoration takes a flawed bit of monster camp and turns it back into a strong, serious-minded and occasionally moving science-fiction film.

Summertime is the first movie ever like Summertime, and on that basis alone, we should appreciate it.

The Ornithologist has its pleasures. Perhaps one day Rodrigues will turn his considerable talent and unique approach to a portrait of the real-life St. Anthony, in the way that Roberto Rossellini paid tribute to his hero in “The Flowers of St. Francis.”

It’s a moving meditation about our unwavering need for creativity, and finding ways to express it.

It’s scattered and messy and startling and electric and fun.

The screenplay by Payne and Jim Taylor, based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, sees the lives of these suburban students and teachers through a prism of absurdity that refracts more truth than any straightforward telling.

A thoughtful, satisfying action thriller.

Told from a different angle than any other Holocaust film I've seen.

Deerskin is funny, weird and original; it features two charismatic stars, and it does everything it needs to do in only 77 minutes.

Whores' Glory, is as sad a film as you can possibly see. To experience it is to be haunted by the bleakness and ugliness of prostitution, the hopeless trap of it, and the defeat of love that it represents.

The animation is rich and densely detailed, the characters well defined.

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.

Though its sentiment may be lost on the very young, the movie is strictly two-hanky fare.

Gains depth from subtle dark humor and a few genuinely emotional moments

The movie has a saving grace in that it breaks formula. Its concerns are not the usual movie concerns, and it takes what might have been a standard plot in some unexpected directions.

Strange, moody film.

While the film adopts a sometimes jaunty tone, the fact is that gerrymandering is bad news, assuming you believe that elections should mean something.

This much is certain: The cover-up was grotesque.

Beyond question, the results are overstated, outrageous and wildly juvenile. But they're also a hoot to watch.

Perhaps the idea of watching Jeff Bridges as a drunken, broken-down, down-on-his luck country music singer in Crazy Heart doesn't automatically sound appealing. But think this: "The Wrestler." With good songs.

A whole lot of plot ensues - an entertaining mix of buddy movie, road trip, "Clash of the Titans," archetypal quest and a coming-of-age tale about misfits making their way despite, or because of, absent parents.

Even filmgoers who aren't into dance will find this story captivating because, as much as anything, Sokvannara wants to please his audience, whether in the concert hall or the movie theater. The kid is a natural.

Stephen King's Sleepwalkers represents the first time the author has ever written a story directly for the screen. The result is a nicely paced picture that unfolds gradually, with shocks and surprises throughout. [11 Apr 1992, p. C3]

Funny and disturbing in the best way, the comedy-drama Austin Found captures something beyond its story of a woman’s obsession with making her little daughter a beauty pageant winner.

Written and directed by Riley Stearns, The Art of Self-Defense brings out a particularly skillful performance from Eisenberg, whose job is to harmonize the film’s odd shifts in tone and make something real and heartfelt of the central character’s journey.

Might be said to have pleasant echoes of "Garden State" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" -- except that they aren't echoes; this 1999 indie film was made long before those other two hits, and frankly, is just about as good.

The style is documentary-like, in that it feels like life and that anything might happen. There is also a nice sense of being in the midst of the action and right there in the room with the characters.

Somehow, it all works -- even if Miller relies on a plot that meanders a bit and loses some of its luster.