If Guncrazy ultimately fails to be quite as wild and bleak as the 1949 Gun Crazy, or as zeitgeist-distinctive as Badlands and Bonnie and Clyde, it's still a most promising first effort. Davis' black-comedy touches, her careful casting and her confident handling of actors all suggest a filmmaker to watch. [20 Feb 1993, p.C5]

Based on the Leon Uris bestseller, the movie itself remains a leisurely, unevenly acted yet fascinating history lesson that helps put recent Middle East events in perspective. [01 Oct 1992, p.G3]

You come to an “Alien” movie with certain expectations: creepy thrills, impressive production design, chest busters, acid saliva. Going back to basics, Scott delivers what we’ve come to expect in “Covenant.” And how.

Wicked: For Good could have been better, but it’s still a glorious journey to Oz.

Are we alone, or is there more than we know? Personal Shopper is less interested in the answer than in, hauntingly, posing the question.

A cheerily uneven but enjoyable adaptation of Agatha Christie’s blockbuster novel.

Batra has assembled a strong cast, a thoughtful screenplay (by Nick Payne), a meticulous attention to detail — all of which make The Sense of an Ending a pleasure to watch. But the book ever-so-subtly slams you in the heart; the movie, just as subtly, only walks near it.

An odd combination of space adventure, psychological thriller and moody tone poem, it stops just short of dazzlement; instead Ad Astra, like an astronaut lost in space, slowly and majestically floats away.

The movie zips along quickly, full of popcorn-worthy moments.

The fat suit is in a sense a distraction in that you wonder how Fraser was able to act within it. But the fact that he does so and so effectively makes The Whale a searing, moving experience.

On the whole, “Spies” is a very nice trifle turning up just in time for the holidays for families seeking a kinder, gentler alternative to “Star Wars.”

Although the film is a beautiful tribute to Pavarotti, the less-inspired approach Howard took to the film plus a slower editing beat (the running time is 114 minutes) compared to his examination of the Beatles makes the project seem like a small step backward.

Anderson, who may well have been waiting her entire career for a role this rich, finds something sweet and haunting in Shelly, whose whispery voice sounds like a shadow and who sees art and value where Hannah sees tacky exploitation.

Sing Street reminds us of being young and lost in a song, realizing with a jolt that someone else had the same feelings we did.

This isn’t really a movie, but a delicious wallow, and regular movie rules don’t apply.

Visually a macabre knockout, this 75-minute fantasy boasts some of the wittiest, most vigorous stop-motion animation effects in the history of the process.

There is fragility in the beauty we see. The picture drives home the need to safeguard it. It is, after all, our home.

A harrowing spectacle that makes one forget to breathe.

Bullock and Tatum take hold of the material and turn it into an enchanted screwball.

Though Dough is often in danger of running off the rails with improbable and unnecessary plot twists, it is always essentially entertaining and warm in its observations of hope rekindled through simple relationships.

It’s a small film that touches on large issues: the world of work, and how it defines us. You leave it feeling you’ve met someone, and wishing him well.

While it suffers from the limited facial animation of so many Japanese cartoons, the backgrounds, characterizations and story are consistently pleasing. [03 Sep 1998, p.D6]

The first-time director, Cesar Augusto Acevida, composes his frames carefully, using closing doorways to suggest alienation, as John Ford did in “The Searchers.” The harvesting and crop fire scenes recall Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven.”

As it is, Elvis is a gorgeous tragedy, a movie mixtape with a sonorous performance at its core, maybe Luhrmann’s best since “Romeo + Juliet” (1996) and perhaps his most postcard-perfect movie ever. But it has a rubberized script, a turgid length and a key issue that affects many musical biopics: It’s not really sure what it thinks or wants to say about Presley.

It’s fun to watch Samantha playing her sources like a teenager plays a video game — expertly, offhandedly — and fascinating to witness the machinations between Naomi and Erin, neither of whom ever tells the other what she’s thinking.

Hocus Pocus remains a delightful family comedy, spooky but never scary as it romps its merry way through the graveyard. Here's hoping it doesn't bomb.

The prime attraction of this movie, and its predecessor, is that it envelopes the audience in the Mario world. Every square inch of the screen, from top to bottom, corner to corner, is packed with images derived from the game. Easter eggs abound. Watching it is akin being inside the 2007 Super Mario Galaxy game itself. Which is why it needs to be seen on the big screen. Seeing it on a phone or a laptop wouldn’t do it justice.

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.