It is so propulsive so much of the time, it almost looks as if it's going to go the distance. If Washington & Co. don't quite manage to bring it home, the getting there sure is something.

Spinney owns the character, down to the last feather.

Thoroughly entertaining.

Bouncy, informative and funny documentary.

Director Sammi Cohen takes an attention-deficit disorder approach to storytelling, in which every feeling and plot twist is punctuated by a current pop song, and any hint of emotion or thoughtfulness is interrupted by a needle drop.

You can watch 100 movies and never see such joyless joy as in Blinded by the Light.

This is a funny and moving crowd-pleaser — a South by Southwest and Sundance selection, it won the audience award at the Napa Valley Film Festival and was an opening night film at S.F. IndieFest — and it goes down easy.

When Pollack admits that he is not a documentary filmmaker and that he knows nothing about architecture, Gehry says that makes him perfect for this project. But the joke does not redeem the frustration Pollack creates by the choppy, restless views he gives us of Gehry's buildings.

It's dark fun, in the spirit of "Gremlins."

The best part of the film is early on, when Innis Dagg’s story is enlivened by beautiful color 16mm footage she took in the 1950s and ’60s.

Raunchy coming-of-age comedies that satirize religious hypocrisy don’t usually leave you going, “Aw, that was so sweet and innocent.” But director Karen Maine’s first feature, Yes, God, Yes, pulls off that neat trick in a surprising yet natural way.

When one performance in a movie is exceptional, you can credit the actor. But when everyone is great, it has to have at least something to do with the director. That’s the case with “Bob Trevino Like It,” which has three standout performances.

A picture so infectious it almost seems original.

Hawke is the movie's revelation.

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.

Lucky Grandma isn’t a feel-good comedy at all, but has a parched-dry dark comic approach, keeping Grandma Wong at an emotional remove.

Girls Trip balances sincere sentiment and boisterous comedy with honesty and skill, and for people who like their comedy a little nasty, this one’s a blast.

Burton has trouble sustaining the briskness of the first half. But the brilliance of many individual scenes, and the extraordinary performance by Landau, are more than enough to justify this goofy, tender ode to eccentricity. [7 October 1994, Daily Notebook, p.C1]

First-time director Tony Goldwyn (scion of the family that started MGM) brings a freshness to an old story.

What Happened Was . . . isn't always easy to watch. Like a Beckett play, it doesn't spare its characters, but strips bare their insecurities, their fear of rejection, their essential isolation and foolishness. [07 Oct 1994, p.C3]

It’s mildly amusing when it should be funny, sentimental when it should be deep and all too easy when it should be unsettling. It’s still some kind of success, but a modest one.

Patterson's verite style is bettered by the work of cinematographer Eric Koretz, who surrounds the bleak characters with beauty and color.

A powerful cinematic essay.

The Space Race is an illuminating, absorbing film about an underreported storyline in our astronaut programs.

This is a special movie. For almost 20 minutes, Drinking Buddies does almost nothing to indicate where the story is going or whether there is even going to be a story. And yet everything onscreen is interesting, because of the truth of the emotion and the specificity of detail.

Just in physical terms, Eddie Redmayne transformation’s into Stephen Hawking is something remarkable.

Marshall takes a modest budget and a concept that isn't all that original and produces a frightening, intelligent and sexy thriller.

A bittersweet film that tells the story of Palestinian life as eloquently as anything ever done.