Foster (“Hell or High Water”), who is best known for portraying unhinged and dangerous characters, is intriguingly enigmatic as Will. And Harcourt McKenzie turns in a hauntingly memorable performance.

The King's Speech is the epitome of prestige cinema, an impeccably crafted and emotionally compelling drama that deserves the many laurels it surely will receive.

The year’s most exhilarating film.

Believe the hype: Black Panther transcends its comic-book origins, achieving a mythic grandeur that’s nothing short of exhilarating.

If you think they don’t make movies like they used to, Brooklyn is glorious proof to the contrary.

Beauty comes to us unexpectedly. That's the message of Poetry, a Korean movie about an aging housemaid that turns out to be one of the best films of the year.

Lots of films claim to be different. Birdman is.

The film is interesting, although it does become a bit monotonous in its endless shots of the seedy side of Paris. [23 Nov 1962, p.48]

Films often fail to capture the turmoil of being a teenager — but not this one.

For his complex portrayal, Day-Lewis is likely to have roses thrown at his feet, but for the dreadful film in which he's enslaved, emancipated onlookers will reach for the grapes of wrath.

This very male and methodical movie is like the anti-“Gravity,” as the un-moored hero is quietly in control of his options and at peace with his possible failure.

The film’s true scene-stealer is Bennett, who brilliantly portrays Sir James as a case study in cluelessness.

The first 10 or 15 minutes of The Fugitive are so skillfully assembled they should be taught in film school. [6 Aug 1993, p.3E]

This is a film that's not always easy to watch, but just about impossible to forget.

A strange but compelling documentary. [08 Nov 1996, p.4E]

Directed by Steve James, whose “Hoop Dreams” Ebert hailed as the best film of the 1990s, it’s the kind of documentary the dying man wanted — honest, humane and inclusive.

One of the best films of the year.

Although you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy it, Moneyball is one of the best baseball movies imaginable.

Director John Boorman (Deliverance, Hope and Glory) stretched the limits of 1960s cinematic storytelling with his nonlinear plot construction, experimental camera angles and psychedelic flashbacks. While some of it seems a bit trite by today's standards, it was rather innovative at the time. [05 Jul 2005, p.D1]

Although the story of Sin-Dee and Alexandra might have benefited from a bit more structure, it’s a window into a world of which many people are unaware — but a world that has its share of dreamers.

With visual and psychological precision, Abrahamson brilliantly evokes the experience of living outside of everyday reality. And he does so without resorting to either creepiness or sentimentality.

A co-star deserving special mention is Nebraska itself, which Payne films in black-and-white to mirror the austerity of life on the de-populated prairie. These corners of the Cornhusker State are as empty as the promise of a sweepstakes prize. In this land of ghosts, one old pioneer tries to grab his stake before he becomes another windblown husk.

Arau gives the northern Mexican landscape a strange beauty, and the acting is sensual and effective, though there are periods when the dialogue becomes heavy-handed and the pace too slow. [07 May 1993, p.3G]

A breathlessly beautiful achievement not just in animation but also comic book movie storytelling, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is willing to shred the lore from top to bottom and weave it back together again in new, surprising and wildly entertaining ways. It’s simply spectacular.

Richard III is a movie, and a marvelously entertaining one. McKellen calls it a "translation." It is also a homage to Shakespeare, and to the enduring power and universality of his unrivaled genius. [02 Feb 1996, p.1E]

The Kids Are All Right probably could have used a few more scenes to come to an even more satisfying conclusion. But it's a terrific film anyway.

Imagine an opulent movie palace that was 30,000 years old, with posters preserved on the curving walls and the bones of the Stone Age patrons peacefully sleeping in the fairy dust. That's essentially what archeologists found in a French canyon in 1994 and what Werner Herzog brings back to life in the extraordinary documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

There are no false Hollywood dramatics, no musical cues telling us how we should feel about this boy's battle for dignity and a place in the world. The director lets complex emotions flow naturally out of believable action and dialogue in this very faithful adaptation of a fascinating memoir. [20 August 1993, p.3F]