The movie is harsh, nasty and vulgar like you wouldn't believe. And often, it's hilarious.

An artful look at religious hypocrisy, interfamily dynamics and the way people wrestle with personal history long after the original events are over.

Robots never stays in the same gear for long, and the abrupt shifts in tone kill the movie's chances of becoming a classic.

Dangerous Minds doesn't drop the sentimental conventions of the good-teacher Hollywood drama but reconstitutes them with strong performances, sensitive direction by Canadian film maker John N. Smith ("The Boys of St. Vincent") and a firm belief that teachers can and will make a difference in a person's life.

The tone is balanced, reflective and reasonable. Avni is a major star in Israel, and he is an actor with world-class charm.

A nasty little picture with a lot of wit and impudence.

An elegant study in perversity.

The story’s eventual move into brutality is all the more devastating because of well-observed intimacy that preceded it.

Van Houten, a veteran of European TV, is in almost every scene, and her energetic performance keeps Black Book percolating despite an overstuffed plot that strains credibility and often tips over into melodrama.

It's a simple story, reminiscent of the Iranian film "The Wind Will Carry Us."

Arizona Dream is an inspired, erratic goulash that ignores standard movie- making formulas.

As a Nicolas Cage movie — not just as a movie, but as a vehicle for what a specific actor can do onscreen — this is the most interesting thing Cage has done since “Face/Off.”

It's a monster of a movie, and it gets unwieldy.

Like all Shelton's movies, Hollywood Homicide rambles and shambles, and like most of them, it ultimately settles into its own appealing rhythm.

The film jumps back and forth to Shirin’s unraveling relationship with her girlfriend, but what stands out are the funny, awkward, sometimes painful moments with her family and with various hook-ups — topped off by a delicate, nuanced and satisfying final scene.

He Got Game seems to cheer for integrity, honesty and hard work while playing up its own cheap thrills.

It would probably be a mistake to emphasize the relationship aspect of The Tomorrow War too much. At its core, this is just a really good monster movie. All the same, there’s a touch of beauty to it.

By the end, it is clear just how much in control Sayles has been all along. The resolution, though typically restrained, forcefully puts over the movie's point, that we're all more connected than we think.

Something of an elegy to modernism.

A fine, fun remake of a movie that updates, transplants and reimagines the original without sacrificing its heart or goofy charm.

A gutsy movie, in that Leigh says something about life that nobody really wants to believe, and he says it forcefully: There is such a thing as "too late."

Enemy is what might happen if someone let Terrence Malick make a "Twilight Zone" episode, with a quick rewrite by David Cronenberg.

At times, State of Grace, which was written by the late playwright Dennis McIntyre and rewritten by David Rabe, is a little too writerly, a little too calculated to impress. Still the dialogue is good; the momentum builds, and some of the simplest scenes, such as a few between Penn and Wright, have real power. [05 Oct 1990, p.E1]

A bit of a soap opera, but still compulsive watching. [22 Aug 1999]

The battle in Battle: Los Angeles is grab-the-armrest tense until the last seconds.

A heartwarming, inspirational tale.

The stuff of high romance, brought off with considerable wit, too. People are going to love it.

Rules Don’t Apply feels unbalanced in terms of story, and it has a big sag in the middle. But the good things in it are so good that they make it a fairly worthwhile experience.