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.