In steering a course between the rock of rude humor and the hard place of perilous drama, How to Train Your Dragon flies high.

An evolutionary leap forward, a visually exquisite film that doesn't ignore the truths of pollution and predatory survival.

Co-directors Andrew Droz Palermo and Tracy Droz Tragos let the painful stories emerge naturally, without prodding questions or talking-head experts who place the boys’ grim lives in the larger context of the post-industrial economy.

At the end of the day, it’s still a comic-book movie, but one that actually raises serious questions about security, accountability and revenge.

If there is a criticism of this generally superb documentary, it would be that it focuses a little too much on Monk's mental condition and could have devoted more of that time to exploring his highly innovative music. But if ''Straight, No Chaser'' succeeds through its psycho-biographical focus in interesting more people in the music of this brilliant man, then I cannot really quibble with the approach. [27 Apr 1990, p.3F]

One part personal mystery and one part art-appreciation class.

The macabre comedic undertones are reminiscent of a Coen brothers film like "Blood Simple." But a more apt comparison is to an obscure Canadian bank-heist flick called "The Silent Partner," in which teller Elliot Gould pockets some loot from thief Christopher Plummer. Both movies imitate an American idiom with a provincial accent.

Sensational slanting notwithstanding, Whitney is as powerful and quintessential as it is overwhelming and grueling.

How could you not marvel at a movie that includes a revisionist explanation of the JFK assassination, a football stadium floating over the White House and the sight of Richard Nixon firing a .45 at a villain in a Christ-figure pose?

Cooke is particularly impressive, imbuing Amanda with a chilling misanthropy. Taylor-Joy plays Lily as a bit too sympathetic, but she nails the character’s cluelessness. And Yelchin, who died in 2016 at the age of 27, turns in a performance that’s as quirky as it is memorable.

Michael Keaton and Christian Bale are the best. George Clooney and Ben Affleck are among the worst. But Will Arnett is by far the funniest.

Amy Schumer is so scary-good in Trainwreck that it almost seems risky to speak her name.

Put aside any hang-ups you may have about subtitles. As action flicks go, Point Blank is right on target.

Cruise is as watchable as ever, bringing to Hunt a blend of steeliness and vulnerability.

For all its professionalism, I found it as cold as the ice rink at Rockefeller Center.

In a poignant and potentially depressing film, it’s redeeming to see that when they are with their kindred spirits, even the saddest skeletons can dance.

This deadpan police story produces unexpected chills.

A must-see — and one of the best films of the year.

Like other so-called "mumblecore" movies, including Bronstein's own "Frownland," this is an unnervingly intimate glimpse of dysfunction, with a shaky-cam aesthetic and seemingly improvised dialogue.

A Bigger Splash? More like a small trickle.

There are three sides to most love stories: his, hers and the truth. But on London's Fleet Street, the three sides are his, hers and the tabloids'.

While the big-headed, spindly puppets don't evoke enough emotion to make the movie a must-see, Burton's 3-D design team pours its heart into the monochrome surroundings, from the suburban décor to Victor's laboratory to the carnival midway.

While the wilderness vistas are starkly beautiful, there’s no tangible sense of Strayed’s ultimate goal. (Why Oregon?) And the flashbacks, which include scenes of sexual misadventure and heroin use, are too brief to provide answers.

Like "Gone, Baby, Gone," the French film Polisse succeeds by shifting the focus from the victims to the vigilant protectors.

The film's directors delicately balance the good against the evil and use humor in both song and script as a counterpoint to the darkness. [21 June 1996, p.3E]

Christopher Nolan's "Memento" was a movie-lover's dream come true, a puzzle that was engaging both intellectually and emotionally. But his Inception is a wake-up call, a blaring reminder that cheap tricks can't compensate for personal investment.

Although Tomboy is as tightly constructed as a short story and as seemingly straightforward as a documentary, the parable about a small fib that grows out of control is so rooted in the rich soil of sexual identity that it entangles us.

When the smoke clears, heady Farewell stands tall among the movies that view the Cold War at close range.

Psychological thrillers just don’t get any better than this.

Bully is a good start to a necessary conversation, but its loving voice is likely to be drowned out by haters who hide their own wounded hearts behind Internet pseudonyms and broadcast microphones.

As a documentary, “Eat That Question” is kind of raggedy. But a more polished film might not have been in keeping with Zappa’s anarchic spirit.

Hidden Figures is an admirable attempt to dramatize an overlooked aspect of American history. Working from a screenplay that he co-wrote with Allison Schroeder, director Theodore Melfi (“St. Vincent”) delivers a crowd-pleasing film that often resembles a sitcom but frankly addresses the social inequities of the period.

This film might easily have settled for mocking religion. Instead, it's a fascinating glimpse into a culture that forces some people to choose between fitting in and opting out.

The first half of the film dusts off some kitschy picket-fence footage and alarmist news reports to invoke an era when homosexual acts were illegal in 49 states, and gays were subjected to arrest, electroshock and sterilization.

Because of some sentimental backspin, Affleck doesn't quite hit it out of the park, but he may provoke the green monster of envy in lesser directors.

With his actors and crew hewing to the script, the director’s craft is impeccable. His low-light images are suitable for framing, and there’s scarcely a moment of modernity, let alone humor or loose ends, to disrupt the tragic trajectory.

Like the recent "Greenberg," Cyrus is not the jokey, polished production you would expect from its Hollywood cast and LA setting, but audiences who are comfortable with discomfort should find it "funny."

While it may not be a smorgasbord of red herrings and red meat, Flame and Citron is often chilling.

It’s hard to imagine an actor more appropriate to portray Sully than Hanks, who brings to the role a bedrock decency and soulful introspection. And Eckhart is perfect as the droll, easygoing Skiles.

Into the Abyss makes a strong case for the inhumanity of capital punishment, regardless of the crime or the criminal.

This is epic cinema that begs to be compared to "2001: A Space Odyssey." But unlike Stanley Kubrick's psychedelic joyride, this journey is powered by a human heart.

Hilariously daring, deeply moving and stereotype-busting in equal measure, Joy Ride is also the raunchiest movie to make you shed a tear.

Holland, working with a largely English cast, brings a different - European, perhaps - sensibility to the film, and I think it works. [13 Aug 1993, p.3F]

Proving that the studio should stick with fairy tales and myths instead of literature and history, Hercules is presented as a lively, animated feature with whiplash-quick one-liners and a heavenly score by the inspired team of Alan Mencken and David Zippel. [27 June 1997, p.3E]

The latest in pseudo-scientific horror films, Them!... displays some ingenuity and imagination and is guaranteed to raise a fright wig on every head for the first half, anyway. [18 Jun 1954, p.2D]

What makes it special is Eastwood's ability to artfully and concisely tell a story, and Morgan Freeman's wonderfully understated turn as South African President Nelson Mandela.

The storytelling is solid, propelled by characters that you come to care about.

As popcorn entertainment, it's right on schedule.

While Green is force-feeding us this hard-boiled hokum, he doesn’t distract us with many memorable images, as he did in his earliest films.

One of the silliest and least substantial of recent comic-book movies — a jokey, unapologetically nonsensical romp that makes “The Avengers” look like “The Godfather.”

An intense, provocative drama about religion and its impact on those who embrace it as essential to their lives.

We are reminded: War is hell. But at their best, war movies can be cool and beautiful.

A film that's all the more intriguing for being virtually impossible to categorize.

This is the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking mainstream film that’s in danger of becoming extinct. Eye in the Sky is miles above the average multiplex flick.

Although The Fight is swift and jam-packed with ups, downs, wins, losses, injunctions, stays, hearings and Trump speeches, the film is remarkably detailed and careful.

An inspiring but formulaic film about triumph over adversity.

Sinise's direction is outstanding. The pacing is well-nigh perfect, and even though the story is familiar, it often seems new, and Malkovich obviously thrives on his direction. On second thought, Sinise thrives on it, too. [16 Oct 1992, p.3F]

The rare film that will remain on your mind long after you’ve left the theater.

Arbitrage is never the nail-biting thriller that it could have been.

It's a worthy cause and an honorable film, the first full-length Disney cartoon with an African-American heroine. But without a strong story, it's a case of one step forward and two steps back.

This is the feel-bad film of the year. Recommend it to someone you hate.

Built on shaky and blood-soaked ground, but if towering technique is all you want from an action movie, then yippee-ki-yay.

Mbatha-Raw continues to be a true revelation in a role that could be not be any more different from her star turn in “Belle” this year.

Perilous incidents have riveted audiences since Pauline was tied to the railroad tracks, but in the hundred-year history of cinema, few thrillers have been as emotionally compelling as The Impossible.

This is a strange, sweet movie, one that takes awhile to unfold but eventually becomes irresistible. [4 Mar 1994, p.3F]

Thanks in great part to a couple of dozen wonderful soul songs from the 1960s, and a very engaging and talented group of young Dubliners, The Commitments is a thorough delight - warm, funny and deeply human. [13 Sep 1991, p.3F]

The difference between McKay and Efron is like the difference between a Broadway spectacular and a high school musical.

Taking potshots at American Sniper is like shooting fish in a barrel. So why should war-weary Americans see it? Because Eastwood remains a masterful action director, and this may be his last hurrah. Because Cooper is one of our best young actors, and he poured a lifetime of craft into stilling his character’s heartbeat.

The movie is missing the zippy chases and lovable characters of Aardman studio's previous films ("Arthur Christmas," "Chicken Run").

What's lacking is a galvanizing performance comparable to that of the Oscar-nominated Catalina Sandino Moreno in "Maria Full of Grace." Still, The Forgiveness of Blood is a memorable portrait of a society and the demands it makes on those caught up in it.

The tonal shifts, the "Amelie"-style voiceover and the punk-retro soundtrack may jar some viewers who expect uninterrupted violins, but Declaration of War is alternative therapy that really works.

Cue the folky music and the two eccentric locals who are the only other characters, and Prince Avalanche is a molehill that dreams it’s a mountain when it’s really, really stoned.

Wingfield's attempts to bring the movie to a smooth conclusion fail completely, and the weakness of the story undermines the smooth, careful direction of Robert Mulligan, a veteran with 40 years of movies like To Kill a Mockingbird to his credit. [15 Nov 1991, p.3G]

Whereas many kung-fu movies are a feast that leaves us weary with sensations, the tastefully bittersweet “Grandmaster” puts us in the mood for more.

The secret in this case is the jokes, which are ferocious. Marrying a monster flick with an adolescent romance has produced a merry mutant.

Suarez and Ugarte complement each other beautifully, lending Julieta a multidimensional gravitas. And Grandinetti is fine as a man who has no choice but to go with her flow.

The movie is not great, but it is sincere and has enough powerful segments and raw energy to keep it exciting and provocative. [13 Dec 1998, p.D8]

The world-class mechanic is Brad Bird, who applies the pacing and spatial freedom of a 'toon to a live-action thriller.

Cold in July has all the qualifications of a midnight movie in the making.

Not many science-fiction films can accurately be described as poignant, especially those from the kitschy 1950s. But The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) definitely qualifies. [26 Jun 2008, p.4]

Although the brazen lovers, bellicose ministers and backstabbing handmaidens are familiar elements, the film is so handsomely mounted that we happily endure the ride until the turning of the screws in the tragic last act.

Directed by and starring Mathieu Amalric, it’s a deceptively low-key riff on a Hitchcock whodunit. It’s both sexy and inscrutable, a cold-blooded puzzler to the very end.

It's one of the funniest and most perceptive films of the year.

It's guilty of some sleight-of-hand hokum, but in pulling the rug from under the norm, Magic Mike turns a trick.

Credit goes to smart casting of unknowns in the leads, who click uniformly; a packed script that manages not to feel overly long and social commentary that is timeless.

Written and directed by Matt Ross — who is perhaps best known for his role as Alby on the HBO series “Big Love” — the film raises questions not only about what it means to be a responsible parent but also about what constitutes a meaningful life.

An absorbing drama that represents director Ridley Scott (“The Martian”) at his best.

Moviegoers looking for a thrill should go into The Cabin in the Woods knowing as little as possible about the film.

A generally entertaining movie. Given the material, however, it probably should have been better - somehow, few of the scenes in the movie stick in the memory the way they do in Willeford's book. [20 Apr 1990, p.3F]

Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller told me that Gould's music is as divisive today as it was 50 years ago, when the pianist publicly clashed with conductor Leonard Bernstein over the tempo of a performance.

This thriller is both skillfully familiar and chillingly strange.

Exotica is a little hard to believe, but if it catches you, it holds on tight. [24 Mar 1995, p.3E]

The jump-scares in the fun, funny thrill ride that is “M3GAN” elicit more giggles than groans, but there are also intriguing connections being made on “M3GAN’s” motherboard, behind the glossy surface.

An art film in the classic sense — ambitious, provocative and hard to shake off.

Rock misses the boat in deciding not to relate Good Hair to non African-Americans more.

A rare summer movie that is both exciting and thought-provoking. [27 July 1990, p.3F]

A lot like video games and candy: light entertainment but fun while it lasts.

It's not warm and fuzzy, but for kids who comprehended "Coraline" and babysitters who savored "The Corpse Bride," this stop-motion marvel from some of the same animators is like an early Halloween treat.