Ultimately is less a horror film than a valentine, from a daughter to a father, and a sweet portrait of a man going gently into that good night.

An excellent film noir.

The crack in the pretty picture of America goes a lot deeper than we thought, thanks to Ray's brooding vision.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that conveyed with such vividness and precision the helplessness of childhood.

Far superior to its companion piece, "Flags of Our Fathers," released earlier this year, "Letters" is a grim and humane film that has to be counted among the director's better efforts.

Anomalisa may simply be a brilliant one-off, but it’s pointing a new direction for animation, if anyone cares to follow it.

The 1931 version, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, is the standout, featuring two great performances, one by Fredric March (who won the Academy Award for the title role) and the other by Miriam Hopkins, as Ivy, the lovable trollop. [28 Dec 2003]

A famous French actor using his art to work through the loss of his wife and daughter in a car accident. The strategy works, at least for a while.

Twenty-five years after its release, "Diva" is still an excellent model on how a crime thriller should be done.

Visually, Bi is already a master. There are amazing shots that recall Tarkovsky (especially “Stalker,” an acknowledged influence), or early Wong Kar-Wai.

If it all sounds rather heady for a Disney movie, well, it is. And it is one of the curious delights of The Lion King that a moralistic patriarchal drama can be played out in a Darwinian setting and still emerge shining in a dream coat of Hollywood entertainment values. [24 June 1994, p.C1]

4 Little Girls brilliantly captures a moment in American history and tells an achingly painful story of injustice and family loss.

Hawkins, Bonneville and voice actor Ben Whishaw — who makes Paddington sound like the Geico gecko minus the attitude — give the film a strong base of kindness.

The movie is funny, definitely funny. But underlying the humor is a vision so bleak, so despairing and so utterly hopeless as to make "No Country for Old Men" almost look cheerful.

A triumph that goes well beyond Hoffman's tour de force performance.

A unique and hilarious British comedy.

A tender, unforgettable comedy about a vanishing way of life.

Hard Truths lacks subplots, or, come to think of it, a plot. Good thing, then, that it features one of the best lead performances of the movie awards season. Pansy might remain a bit of a mystery, but Jean-Baptiste is clearly a revelation.

The movie represents a leap forward for writer-director Martin McDonagh. Three Billboards is as clever and imaginative as McDonagh’s “In Bruges,” in terms of how it makes characters collide in delightful and unexpected ways.

A moving, quite amazing documentary.

Overlord is an ambitious, important experiment that has come to light after three decades of neglect.

A history lesson about the Holocaust well worth teaching.

Hardly a riveting experience. It has slow patches, but it has a cumulative effect, thanks equally to Hansen-Love and Huppert. We come away feeling enriched and expanded, without exactly knowing how or why.

That perception of Fiennes and Gustave is central to the whole enterprise. Without it, the movie just breaks off and flies away. But with it, The Grand Budapest Hotel becomes something wonderful.

Macy is the MVP here, delivering a detailed and very moving portrayal of Granier’s cohort on the job, an explosives specialist and natural-born environmentalist.

There is plenty that’s wrong with it, and there’s plenty that’s right with it. But the truth is, in the moment, no one is balancing pros and cons. I just loved it. It’s a film that combines an overall feeling of modernity and relevance with the glow of old-time glamour.

And there lies the greatest flaw with Citzenfour and Snowden himself. Despite the film’s virtues, we’re no closer to understanding Snowden than we were a year ago when this saga began.

"Human Resources" was a good, straightforward tale, but Time Out is better. It's haunting. It's like a poem.