Brando's performance is so idiosyncratic -- the nasal delivery, the muffled diction and, of course, the screaming, ''Stel- lahh!'' -- that it's easy to forget its technical brilliance. But from Brando's first scene he exudes menace, even while talking calmly. His eyes always on the lookout for some slight, Stanley is ready to lash out every second he is on screen. He's impossible not to watch -- he's too odd, too dangerous. [Director's Cut; 11 Feb 1994, p.C3]

Quite simply, one of the best movies of the year so far.

It shouldn't be missed. This is a fact-based story of the French resistance who had to fight not only the Germans but their own people. The title comes from the term in a propaganda poster that the Germans and occupied French government used to label the fighters as terrorists.

Remarkable rockumentary.

Directed with a touch both delicate and muscular by the great Delmer Daves, it's truly a Western for those who don't like Westerns, and will be treasured by those that do. [02 Jun 2013, p.Q21]

Durham’s direction is sensitive and assured, and he does a great job mixing his location work with archival footage to create an authentic sense of what San Francisco was like during those times. This is not one of those movies that shoots in the city for two days then absconds to Vancouver for the rest of the shoot. This is a Bay Area movie through and through.

It’s right up there with the best rock documentaries. That is, if you can call it a documentary.

This one's so much fun, it's worth taking the whole family.

So much for caveats. What's more important is that "The Cook" is a bracingly intelligent and often beautiful work -- a chilling black comedy that tells its heartless story in a virtuoso style marked by visual elegance and dark, ironic wit. Anyone able to stomach its graphic imagery will find it an unsettling but unforgettable movie. [6 Apr 1990, p.E3]

The visuals pop, the fish emote and the ocean comes alive. That's in the first two minutes. After that, they do some really cool stuff.

Neville’s portrayal is gripping, emotional and therapeutic, but fans looking for clear-cut answers won’t find them.

The best scenes are filmed inside the cruiser, dashboard shots that face inward instead of out, catching Gyllenhaal and Peña in moments so playful and true they make all other buddy cops look bogus by comparison.

It would have been enough for The Other Dream Team to simply pay tribute to the tie-dyed underdogs, but the filmmakers strived for more. Adding detailed historical context, the quirky feel-good story becomes a tragedy and a lesson. And that makes the victories resonate even more.

There's nothing like a good story, and The Galapagos Affair: Satan Comes to Eden has a great one that grabs viewers from the first minute and holds on for two solid hours.

An entirely unconventional, hypnotic, meandering film.

It’s smart and funny and makes great effort to capture not just a time and place, but the specific feelings of being on the verge of adulthood and thinking the world is against you.

A quite interesting and irresistible movie, a sort of cross between Paul Schrader’s recent film of spiritual crisis, “First Reformed,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Catch Me If You Can.” An impostor as anguished priest.

Mischievous, singular and profound.

If there were any justice in the world — there often isn’t — Alice Guy-Blaché would be remembered alongside D.W. Griffith as one of the great pioneers of the early screen. The good news is that she is becoming better known, but as the new documentary, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché makes clear, not nearly as much as she deserves, nor for the right reasons.

Won the Golden Spire Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival a few years back, and now, finally, the documentary is being released into theaters. It's a film with distinct virtues: It tells a fascinating story.

It's a very funny movie, perfectly paced. [15 Apr 1994, p.C1]

Technically rough and ragged, Paris nonetheless does an excellent job of digesting a rich, multilayered subculture, and breaking it down for a general audience without oversimplification. [09 Aug 1991, p.F1]

As Marguerite, Frot is a completely open vessel, ready to receive the muse that cannot come. She has a childlike quality here, but she also seems (and this is both funny and sad) very much the mature artist.

One of the most hauntingly beautiful mysteries ever created on film.

Woody Allen's strongest and most mordantly funny movie in years, even if it is also his bleakest.

Stagecoach both revived and elevated the Western.

Let It Rain touches on class issues, feminism, immigration and the particular challenges facing a single, driven career woman in her 40s. But it's graceful in presenting its ideas, and what emerges is not a polemic but a kind of snapshot of modern-day concerns.

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the comedy game.