Bayona remains a director whose work should be anticipated, and A Monster Calls is a solid fantasy drama.

The documentary shows Buck over the course of a year, as he travels and teaches. Along the way, Robert Redford is interviewed about Buck's contribution to "The Horse Whisperer" (1998). Redford likes him, so he can't be a phony.

Remarkably fresh and inventive.

This was obviously a labor of love for Soderbergh, and a fitting memorial to the artist.

A charming and thoughtful movie, about people making a charming and thoughtful movie.

It's hard to get swept away when you're struggling to figure out who's doing what to whom and why.

A mystical masterpiece about a lonely man who helps a widower perform last rites for his wife, is an astonishing, haunting, sensual, lyrical, bleak and ultimately beautiful road-trip movie.

To's smooth, balletic style, noirish lighting schemes and compositions are made for the big screen, and because his work is (sadly) not distributed well in the United States, take this opportunity to see it in a theater.

For a thoroughly fascinating, true glimpse into the horrors that vanity and self-delusion can wreak, take some time to see The Baader Meinhof Complex.

Indeed, without Hudson's magic, without that extra feeling that comes from seeing the launch of something extraordinary, Dreamgirls might have been a break-even affair. The film has strong roles, good actors and a compelling story that takes place over the course of 10 or 15 years. But it has, with only a couple of exceptions, a pedestrian score that sounds like generic show-music schlock and lyrics that are not distinctive.

Exhilarating but blatantly biased.

There are dull stretches — interrupted by moments of terror — but that’s not really a complaint for a movie such as this. “All Quiet on the Western” is only partly a narrative. It’s also an immersive experience, an invitation to walk in someone else’s shoes, albeit from the safe side of a screen.

The plane crash in Flight must go down as one of the strongest single scenes of 2012: It's extended, detailed, technically and emotionally realistic, and beyond that, it reveals character.

Comfortable, cleanly styled, easy to handle, uninventive, lacking Preston Tucker's maverick spirit. [12 Aug 1988]

Starts slowly, builds slowly, resolves slowly and ends slowly, if indeed it can be said to end at all.

Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, the subject brings out everything that’s good about Sorkin’s writing — not just the clever banter, which is a constant delight, but his way of conveying who the good and bad guys are without succumbing to hero worship or moral posturing.

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.

The Lunchbox is better as an experience than as a memory. When you're watching it, you can still believe it might actually be heading somewhere.

That’s a strength in this documentary. It becomes clear that it’ll take a strongman to bring down a strongman, at least in this case.

I liked Dave -- bits and pieces of it, that is -- but I think it would have worked better as a dark and fearless farce -- reckless, nervy, a little bit mean. American politics deserve it. [07 May 1993, p.C1]

An exhilarating documentary.

Has its awkward and rough edges, but there's a purity here, a goodness of intention and a commitment to justice.

The movie's biggest weakness is in the presentation of Caine's grandparents.... The attempt, it seems, is to show a potentially positive influence in Caine's life. But the grandparents come across as canned characters, corny and concocted. [26 May 1993, Daily Notebook, p.E1]

It becomes stronger and more honest than most character studies on film.

A smooth, elegiac mood piece.

This is a film without a single false note. From the rain-streaked windshield to the unaffected line readings from a stellar cast, there is not a shot in Blue Car that doesn't ring true.

Insightful but unfocused.

Hauntingly tells a story older than the Odyssey and as timely as today's body count from Iraq.