If Soto’s film is loose and gritty, its satire is remarkably precise. This is a farce of creative life where the only pure artistic intention is a joke.

If there’s a critique to be made about the film, it’s that the satire and caricatures are a bit heavy-handed, with most of the male characters being not-so-subtle misogynists. But that overkill is part of what makes it so much fun.

Apollo 11 might not tell you anything you don’t already know about the moon landing. But it will make you feel it, and see it, anew.

A first-class thriller that will strike a terrifying note with anyone who's ever met the roommate from hell. [12 Aug 1992]

Missing, building off the related film “Searching” from 2018, manages to make a film about small screens feel electric on a big one.

It’s a story brilliantly adapted and directed by Sam Esmail, showrunner of “Mr. Robot,” who has made Leave the World Behind into a homage of Alfred Hitchcock, complete with the image of a man trying to outrun a crashing plane and using the master’s discordant loud music.

It’s a testament to the actors and director that it remains riveting throughout.

It is simply terrific — an understated but smartly told crowd-pleaser about the legendary comedy duo in their last act, with wonderful production value, a sharp and surprisingly poignant script and brilliant performances from John C. Reilly, as Oliver Hardy, and Steve Coogan, as Stan Laurel.

There is a wonderful feeling in “Between the Temples” that anything can happen at any moment.

If there is a big studio movie that’s more generally crowd-pleasing than Green Book this season, I have yet to find it.

It contains three superlative performances and ranks among the best work by John Huston. [10 July 1984]

In the bleak, everyday struggles the Dardennes dramatize, they are always, thank god, keenly on the lookout for grace.

Zhao, co-writing with O’Farrell, goes straight for the tear ducts, with crucial help from a superb cast led by Buckley — who, like her character, seems to have an extraordinary ability to dispense with artifice and access a wildness simmering beneath the surface.

Director Peter Yates brings vitality to Steve Tesich's endearing script, avoiding any temptation for cheap shots. The cast is mostly unknown and awfully good, especially Dennis Christopher as a Hoosier turned Italian and Paul Dooley as his exasperated parent. [16 July 1979]

Much of The Favourite is caustically clever but it’s Colman who elevates it to something magnificent.

Gray does a wonderful job painting a portrait of a moment of cultural upheaval through these two boys, their opportunities, their support systems (or lack thereof) and how it was an origin of sorts for the rot that festers today.

It is charming, genuinely funny and a breeze to watch.

The interweaving of the characters is a masterpiece of invention. Husbands and Wives ranks with Allen's best, as mature but darker than "Hannah and Her Sisters." The laughs come not as readily, and snickers of recognition will be epidemic. But whatever happens in the courts, Allen remains the screen's best social commentator. [14 Sept 1992]

Bones and All can be both brutal and beautiful. You have the sense of seeing a movie that in shape and style reminds you of countless others. But, well, cannibalism just has a way of throwing things off balance. The result is something that feels both archetypal and otherworldly.

Joy is not all joy. There is frustration and loss and tears along the way, but it is a triumphant film about the way humans can make the world better and how a baby’s cry can be a priceless gift.

In this remarkably fully formed debut, the moments that matter are the funny and tender ones that persist amid crueler experiences.

It should be required viewing for anyone who cares about free speech and democracy.

With a terrific ensemble, You Hurt My Feelings digs into the half-truths that keep self-doubt at bay in all of these characters.

As with the best of memoirs, the film bears the verisimilitude of true art. It is a movie filled with small marvels, a welcome addition to the prestige films of fall. [02 Oct 1984]

Somehow, amid all the lighthearted anarchy, “Hoppers” manages to pull a few emotional strings too. After the heavy-handed “Elio” misfire, “Hoppers” might still feel fairly distant from the heights of peak Pixar; It’s also a big, joyful leap in the right direction.

Casarosa’s film comes and goes like a soft summer breeze, but that doesn’t stop it from being utterly charming and, by the time of its magnificent final shot, a little devastating, too.

In very ’80s environs, Baumbach’s film always remains — purposefully, I think — a self-conscious work of literature adaptation, juggling big themes and highly literate dialogue with a screwball touch. It makes for a heady concoction too constantly interesting to ever be boring.

Writer-director Florian Zeller’s second installment in his trilogy examining mental health is an emotional wrecking ball almost exquisite in its destructive power.