If you are a thoughtful, open-minded person see this reverent exploration into the mystery of Jesus, the man.

So there’s talent on view here, but in service of a questionable proposition, with the whole thing tiptoeing toward the exploitative. It would be nice to see Mascaro try his hand at less volatile material.

Invoking the seven deadly sins and the Ten Commandments, nearly everyone has something to confess. In that sense, this new “Knives Out” isn’t just a whodunit, but a who-didn’t-do-it — spiritually speaking.

Exceptional, powerful new documentary.

Don't be too quick to jump on Hurt with complaints of old-fashioned gay stereotyping. Only with a development well into the movie will the audience realize the layers he brought to Molina's role-playing.

This wise and warm man, who died in 2002, is captured in all his glory by the remarkable documentary.

With a surgeon's precision and trenchant wit, director Patrice Leconte slices open the French upper classes of the late 18th century and reveals the black, wilting heart beneath the pomp and pretense.

A film that might have seemed faintly academic six months ago becomes an anxious expression of its historical moment.

This is a transcendent cinematic vision you can dance to. By God, it’s inspired.

While the latest “Texas Chainsaw” installment dropped on Netflix a few weeks ago, “X” owes so much in style and tone to the 1974 slasher classic it feels like more of a legitimate heir than the film bearing its name.

The movie has the simplicity and confidence of a Johnny Cash song.

The result is something rare, especially considering how fine the novel is, a film that's fuller and deeper than the book.

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.

Cagney, the film's best asset, is irrepressible. [07 May 2006, p.34]

What makes it brilliant is that it demonstrates how universal this distinctly Jewish musical has become, how it has been embraced by many cultures and how it is still influential today.

Extraordinary.

At times you may be moved as by no other foreign film this year - and then 10 minutes later be leaning forward in the seat just to stay awake.

In the end, the whole enterprise comes off as too clever for its own good, a social satire without a clear target. It’s a movie that you admire more than you like.

A mind-boggling, heart-rending, stomach-churning expose on the food industry.

A visual poem.

Artful filmmaking of the old school.

What's missing is any real menace - the signature Miyazaki freak factor that turns spirits into monsters and parents into pigs.

Wenders structures the film episodically, so characters, such as a goofy co-worker, a homeless man and a suddenly appearing relative, come and go from Hirayama’s life. Thus the story relies on Yakusho to carry this movie, and that he does.

It is full of joy and laughter, as well as tears. It is about many things, among them sisterhood, the difficulties of parenting, processing trauma in a patriarchal society, and religious extremism. But most of all, it’s filled with life, and all the triumphs and pleasure, pain and disappointments that go with it.

Fernanda Montenegro gives a landmark performance.

Nowar keeps the exposition to a minimum; there is barely a mention of the geopolitical events surrounding Theeb. Instead, this film is a cautionary tale about survival — and keeping one’s enemies in their place.

Skillfully made and offering moments of great power, the French Canadian drama Incendies nevertheless overplays its hand, piling tragedy on tragedy until we feel browbeaten with misery.

In traditional stories, it's saints, madmen and children who befriend wild animals. Mark Bittner, who pals around with feral creatures in the amiable documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, is just as much an outsider, though of a different sort.