If you are willing to forgive it a lot -- and on a sunny, winter-spring day, my capacity for forgiveness was immense -- Chances Are can be an entertaining little trifle. [17 March 1989, p.3F]

A comic-book flick that’s as thrilling and enthralling as it is pretentious and preposterous. The story is just an excuse for the action sequences, and the Marvel strategy remains intact: When in doubt, blow stuff up.

It's a tart trifle, but in the madding crowd of year-end movies, Tamara Drewe rocks.

Mainstream audiences will note that Hudson has never been better and that the tearjerking taps into something universal. For audiences seeking shelter from superhero carnage, Wish I Was Here is a lovely place to be.

Although Ready Player One is nowhere near as memorable as “Jaws” or “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” it demonstrates that the director is fully capable of adapting to the times. What the film lacks in substance, it makes up for in style.

While Walt and El Grupo is less than a penetrating analysis, it's more than a Mickey Mouse advertisement.

Because the movie captures the period so well and argues so convincingly that the Runaways' very existence was revolutionary, it doesn't have to exaggerate the highs and lows to create a more salable story.

An ideal showcase for Tomlin, who brings to the film a winning blend of contrariness and effervescence.

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.

Turturro, who previously directed a musical called "Romance and Cigarettes," lingers on the sensual movements of the performers and the character faces of the onlookers.

It's a comedic dramatization with a looming shadow of the surreal.

This documentary reconstructing the life of the ultimate cult author is like a three-act thriller, and the character at the center of the story is a mute man of mystery. Salinger would have recognized the irony, even as he hated the film for invading his privacy.

Just when you've decided it's just another queasy thriller about a woman-hating serial killer, and you're beginning to wonder if Hollywood isn't making too many of these nasty little things, Malice winds up and delivers a terrific curveball. [01 Oct 1993, p.3EV]

The film is directed with dark stylishness by Katt Shea Ruben from a screenplay she wrote with the film's producer, Andy Ruben. [29 May 1992, p.3F]

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.

Sorry, partisans, but there’s nothing obvious about Obvious Child.

A film that aims for the stars and may have found one here on earth.

Despite playing with a stacked deck, The Judge is guilty of exceeding expectations.

Stays too low to the ground to become an animated classic, but if there's a fairer midwinter's tale, wherefore art thou?

Even if they don't provide much lift, these boots were made for amusement.

Some of the themes and the hallucinatory special effects are reminiscent of Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch,” and there are cheeky allusions to “Dawn of the Dead” and even “Eyes Wide Shut,” but a viewer with an open mind might say that this midnight-style movie is more enjoyable than any of them.

One one level, Pride is as fake as a lip-sync revue, yet the emotions it arouses are real.

Offers an inside look at Iran in all its cultural complexity.

While the chronological details and social significance of the story Webb reported get shortchanged, Kill the Messenger is a vital reminder that a free press must be free to press the powerful for answers.

Margin Call has a spectacular cast, and the 24-hour cycle of events gives the movie the compressed dramatic effect of a fine play.

The several allusions to Thomas Mann’s forbidden-love novel “Death in Venice” are apt, but Yossi is also a standalone film and an extraordinary sequel.

Unfortunately, Garcia can't quite resist sentimentality, giving us an ending that's a bit too emotionally neat. Still, Mother and Child is a thoughtful and provocative film about the way we live now.

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.