With its opening line, “Imagine you’re dead,” The Family Fang instantly invites its soon-to-be-captive audience on an absorbing, provocative, slightly fantastic path that’s like few others.

Director Ridley Scott, who knows a thing or two about how to mount sweeping historical epics (see “Gladiator”), is in his element here.

As rom-coms go, it’s pretty much everything you want, even if it’s not quite distinctive enough to linger.

This wildly overpraised Belgian mock-documentary might have been a lacerating 10-minute Swiftian satire of the media's never-ending thirst for blood. Instead, it's a 95-minute reiteration of the obvious that manages simultaneously to offend and bore. [11 June 1993, p.24]

“Jay Kelly” is a playful movie made with palpable love for cinema and its magic.

The story line is not much more creative than your average suspense thriller, but "Perfect Blue" does break new ground as an anime film and it offers a dark examination of fame. It's what would happen if Britney Spears went to hell. [01 Oct 1999]

Violent, sentimental and profane, "Tears" crosses cool, hi-tech photography with a savage realism. [08 May 1990, p.3]

The cast is a delight — Cola, between this film and “Joy Ride,” is officially the funniest best friend of summer 2023 — and the film has some thoughtful things to say about identity, attraction, ambition and moving on.

While the limitations of the budget occasionally show, the elegantly appropriate photography, quirky performances and Haynes' unique vision carry the day. He is clearly a director to watch. [14 June 1991, p.25]

It’s a raunchy comedy, with a plot that ends up hinging on a very R-rated video. And, most surprising of all, it’s also a conventional and rather sweet rom-com.

Having, presumably, run out of surfaces on the ground, the mad driving crew of Furious 7 resort to backing their cars off a plane and clutching their steering wheels while driving, er, falling through thin air. Why do they do this? Because it’s fun … to watch, that is.

“Scotty” the documentary, entertaining as it is, leaves its hero’s surface mostly unscratched; his life seems a story still not fully written.

Upgrade is a brutish, efficient and well-executed slice of cyberpunk action horror with a silly streak.

It’s a rare misstep for the usually sure-footed folks behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The co-writer and producer, Henry Bean (Internal Affairs), and the director, Bill Duke (A Rage in Harlem), punch up the story with plenty of action, some of it gratuitous and illogical. But for the most part they stick close to Fishburne's character and his increasingly difficult choices. [15 Apr 1992, p.D6]

Flanagan’s trick is simply how he imparts this eternal lesson to us: We know life will end, so how you spend the time is all that matters. It’s simple, and it may be delivered in a way that’s a bit too clever by half, but it’s still a gut punch, and a message worth absorbing now, and always.

It’s a fun, satisfying picture.

Childress has an ear for dialogue that rings true even when it's self-consciously movie-ish, and Ryder and Hawke bring crucial authenticity to their roles with effortless appeal. You'll find yourself wanting more of these characters than the movie gives you.

The first-time director, Frank Marshall, has said that he modeled the film on The Birds, and the structure of Arachnophobia does follow the pattern set up by Hitchcock. But it's definitely a Disney/Spielberg movie, smooth and neatly packaged and more interested in the gimmicks than the central enigma of Hitchcock's movie. [18 July 1990, p.E1]

The eighth entry in the movie franchise that began in 1996 (based on a television series that began in 1966), is a competent, smart, expensive and sometimes thrilling action movie; it is also a very long one, in which we are given time to wonder whether spy/superhero/very intense runner Ethan Hunt (Cruise) ever just gets up in the morning and decides to take it easy that day.

The Gospel According to André leaves you wishing you knew a little more about this complex, elegant gentleman and his lifelong love affair with style.

There’s so much that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever does right that it’s frustrating to blame it for the one flaw it can’t help. But you watch it wondering about the movie that never got made, the story that never got finished, the life cut short too soon. Maybe, in a few years, this franchise can make a truly fresh start; this movie efficiently and skillfully lays the groundwork for that. It takes time, as wise Wakandans remind us, to move on.

History almost erased Joseph Bologne; this film lets him live again.

What distinguishes “Girl” from most zombie pictures is Nanua’s appealing performance and a chilling scene toward the end.

Schepisi may not have found the perfect screen equivalent for John le Carre's world of romance and deception. But his mixed success is certainly a treat for the eye. [21 Dec 1990, p.24]

Score, directed by Matt Schrader, breaks no new ground in the art of documentary — it’s mostly talking heads — but it’s an enjoyable walk through the art and history of the film score, with dozens of contemporary composers lending their voices.

In the end, The Final Year can offer only the perspective of time and history as a consolation.

Finn brings bigger, and even more effective, jump scares than the last time, which will keep the popcorn flying. The sound design booms and rattles, the delusions are even more elaborate, and the body horror is even bloodier and more disturbing.