Only when the camera is on Vikander does the film transcend its artifice. In one of the year’s best performances, she imbues Gerda with such poignancy and grace that Redmayne all but fades into the background.

Gordon-Levitt is a victim of his own success here. He plays such a convincing cad that we don’t believe or invest in his redemption.

A highly sensual but not very believable love story between a 43-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, and not much else. [19 Oct 1990, p.3F]

Although there are gentle detour discussions about advertising in classrooms and school buses, Spurlock's ironic approach can't convince us that ads are toxic. Indeed, when he visits sprawling Sao Paolo, Brazil, where all outdoor advertising has been banned, it seems as sterile as Stalingrad.

Fred Schepisi directs smoothly, from a script by Andy Breckman that has some clever lines and notions but could have used a little tinkering. [23 Dec 1994, p.3F]

Ice-T delivers a love letter to hip-hop with Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.

A very unsettling black comedy....although by the end, you might feel as if you have been assaulted by a combination of ''Blue Velvet'' and ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'' This is a very impressive directorial debut for Bob Balaban, working from a chilling (and eventually cutting and slashing) script by Christopher Hawthorne. [28 Apr 1989, p.6F]

The film combines a pinch of morality with a healthy dose of humor to produce a movie that's entertaining for everyone.

The beauty of October Country, beside its artful images, is how it compresses the windblown fortunes of working-class America into the fallen leaves of one forlorn family.

Finally, in Strange Days, written by ex-husband James Cameron and Jay Cocks, she has a script that is worthy of her intense and intensely personal visual style. The result is a mind-blowing visionary thriller set on the last day of the 20th century in smoldering Los Angeles, a kind of "Blade Runner" for the millennium. [13 Oct 1995, p.3E]

Sean Penn is excellent as a lawyer who gets in way over his modish curls, but the movie belongs to Pacino, who gives a remarkably controlled performance as a Wise Guy desperately trying to get smart. It's one of Pacino's best roles. [12 Nov 1993, p.3G]

It's a good if formulaic adventure film that's lifted above the routine by Hopkins and Bart. [26 Sep 1997, p.E03]

It's a fascinating look under some of the rocks that dot the current landscape... A gripping - sometimes frightening - motion picture. [13 Jan 1989, p.3G]

It's got a grown-up artfulness, but Winter in Wartime could become a lot of boys' favorite movie.

Maybe I enjoyed the similarly themed Kick-Ass because it took me back to that innocent time. Or maybe it's because this is the most brazenly funny bloodbath unleashed on the public since "Pulp Fiction."

It takes awhile for the contemporary moviegoer to adapt to the deliberate pace and the lack of dialogue, but ''Sidewalk Stories'' becomes harder and harder to resist as it goes along, and the ending in a small park filled with homeless people is quite effective. [11 Jan 1990, p.3E]

Perhaps the larger issue is that we just expect better from the company that gave us so much more originality and smarts in movies such as “WALL-E,” “Toy Story” and “Inside Out.” Enjoy it for what it is.

We were promised desolation, but “The Hobbit” just keeps dragon on.

This is another one of those phony movies in which a character burrows into someone else's life without telling them she's an axe murderer, a man or a vampire. Not only that, we're supposed to hope that they get it on. I was hoping that everyone involved would get hit by an asteroid.

Not just a reboot - it's a rejuvenation. From the first image of sensory awakening to the final acceptance of adult responsibility, it pulses with the warm blood of a very human hero.

The delivery pouch for Premium Rush promises a white-hot thriller from the bike-messenger subculture. But what's inside the package seems like a lukewarm action-comedy from the pile of scripts that Matthew Broderick rejected after "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

One of the freshest and most entertaining films of the year.

Moves along well until the characters and situations become too ridiculous to be believed.

You would expect an epic with brains and hearts. Instead we settle for sturdy craft, with a stellar cast struggling to breathe life into the cold material.

Shares the magical appeal of the “Harry Potter” movies, which should come as no surprise.

Paul Simon and a Parisian orangutan tell us the same thing: It's all happening at the zoo.

Two incompatible movies duke it out in Bandslam. Although it's the wimpy teen musical that prevails, it's the misfit coming-of-age story that leaves an impression.

The rich performances from Foster and Gere and the steady direction from Jon Amiel ensure that love is all you need. [09 Feb 1993, p.4D]