In HIGH AND LOW Kurosawa succeeds in developing a highly visual structural style within the wide-screen format.

There's lots to recommend this shoestring picture, not the least of which is Baron's acting ability.

The film's greatest asset is its performances.

Sleeper is a highly inventive science fiction parody that is typical of Allen's tight, well-edited movies. Costumes by Joel Schumacher are excellent.

A darkly comic trifle that follows in the footsteps of such films as Catherine Breillat's "Romance" (2000), "The Brown Bunny" (2003) and Michael Winterbottom's "9 Songs" (2004) by incorporating hard-core sex into a nonpornographic narrative.

Burton seems to waver between rooting for the scary guys and the cuddly ones, and his indecision makes it hard for us to respond on an emotional level. The result, though refreshingly different from mainstream animated fare, is ultimately more trick than treat.

Director Joan Freeman, who cowrote the screenplay with her husband, Robert Alden, shows a remarkable talent for capturing the sights and sounds of this seamy world. Freeman works a gritty realism into the formula story, creating an always-fascinating tale from an ugly subject.

Weighty and downbeat though that sounds, Delpy's film is delightfully light, especially when it's parsing the infinite variety of horrible French cabbies.

Not just another charming film about growing up, but an expertly directed tale that takes a small, simple subject and colors it with invention and inspiration.

Though extensively fictionalized -- Sorowitch is loosely based on the notorious, larger-than-life forger Salomon Smolianoff; Herzog on SS officer Bernhard Krueger, after whom the operation was named.

Working from a screenplay that drew on scriptwriter Fusco's experience as an itinerant young blues man, Hill and cinematographer Bailey perfectly capture the look and feel of the Mississippi Delta, heretofore little seen on film.

A triumph of style over substance.

Nothing much happens on the surface, but worlds of hope, hurt and determination lie right behind the characters' eyes, waiting to be discovered.

Made on a tight budget, the special effects are never very convincing, but the performances are all good. If you're willing to suspend disbelief, this is a neat thriller that's enjoyable from start to finish.

Scorsese's canny use of archival footage makes it more than a mere concert film.

This is a well-made, observant documentary, with attitude to spare and plenty of justifiable laughs at the expense of its subjects. Focusing in on every aspect of this subculture--from the fascinating, to the absurd, to the downright depressing--this would make the perfect double bill with This Is Spinal Tap.

An exceedingly beautiful film, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK seems to aspire to be an existential thriller of some sort. At times the film seems to tread in BLACK NARCISSUS territory with its depiction of barely controlled sexual hysteria and its eccentric lyrical quality. It's all pretty overheated and underexplained but this arty, vague, and possibly supernatural movie lingers on in the memory.

Adapted from the play by Noel Coward, this dissection of the prejudices of English country artistocrats shows Alfred Hitchcock in fine early form.

Despite the low budget, the film is handsomely designed and well acted.

Apatow's clever comedy is a romance in reverse, and it works.

Although an impressive technical achievement, the film itself is a rather overblown and overhyped affair--which, for all its expensive excess, fails to recapture the spirit of the original.

Fuller has taken a basic Agatha Christie-type plot and bathed it in social issues; A Soldier's Story is an insightful period drama as well as a totally engaging character study. The picture does become a trifle talky at times, thus betraying its stage origin, but Fuller's words are almost always interesting and powerful and make worthwhile listening.

A solid performance by the often underrated Judith Light lends considerable weight to this melodrama's controversial subject.

With his deadpan delivery and snide quips, Murray more than holds his own amid the myriad state-of-the-art special effects.

Levy and Guest train a glaring spotlight on the self-absorption, vanity, delusions and histrionics of the movie community, but clearly love them even at their silliest.

Shrewder than you'd think and not half as dumb as it looks.

Deraspe's film begins as a mystery and becomes a razor-sharp dissection of the self-promotion, pretension and deeply cynical inner workings of the art world. But her greatest achievement is painting the business of art as venal, corrupt, mendacious and built on false surfaces without suggesting that art itself is a form of glorious deception.

A great one for the kids.

The fine acting and sexy chemistry between Bonham Carter and Eckhart make it work.

DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK is directed with a quick pace by Baker, the Taradash script is as tight as a sardine can, and all the principals do well with their roles, especially lovely Marilyn Monroe.

Eerie, surreal and a welcome respite from Disney-style animation, this French sci-fi allegory may not offer any mind-blowing insights (genocide is bad isn't exactly a new thought), but it's a trip.

This well-done Hammer horror film features a thoughtful screenplay that finally injects some compassion and intelligence into the monster. One of director Fisher's best.

The narrative is highly episodic and only intermittently engaging, but Gilliam's wildly inventive mise en scene, ably assisted by production designer Dante Ferretti, is extraordinary.

Filled with unique special effects and delightful music.

The result is very much worth the wait, bringing to life the mysticism of Mexico with a superb script by Guy Gallo, exquisite photography, and the unparalleled performance by Finney.

Harry and Tonto is a sweet, sentimental road movie that draws force and relevance from Carney's touching and subtle performance.

An impressive parade of scientists, meteorologists and grassroots activists assert that humanity is capable of adapting to a changing climate, building sustainable communities without sacrificing modern-day comforts and even reversing some of the damage already done.

It's a hugely entertaining slice of sunbaked Gothic.

Beautifully acted and emotionally devastating.

Cook and Moore brilliantly shift from character to character with just a change of voice (not unlike Peter Sellers), and the movie never flags.

The vestiges of Woo's achingly romantic style play badly in this can-do context, while the mayhem is never more -- and occasionally less -- than competent.

Al Pacino gives an urgent, bravura performance as the title character.

Based on one of the best of Ian Fleming's Bond novels, On Her Majesty's Secret Service benefited from an extremely well-written script that finally revealed a bit more of Bond's character. Lazenby, however, had no previous acting experience, and his lackadaisical performance limits the whole production, yet it still manages to remain one of the more entertaining Bond films.

This is one of the most charming low-budget films in years, a freewheeling, light-hearted farce that gives some new twists to old plot devices.

Aside from the overbearing soundtrack, the film is mercifully unsentimental and Ami himself can be quite droll.

Brutally gorgeous and seething with incendiary images.

Crtainly worthy of serious attention and filled with revealing moments.

Although it tends to rely heavily on slapstick in the second half, the movie provides plenty of laughs and is one of director Landis's best efforts.

A thrilling pseudo-expose on the corrupt inner workings of covert organizations.

Like most Trek movies, it's a bit talky and a bit thin, unless you come to it with an extensive background gleaned from the series. But then, who but a fan would be going anyway?

For all its contrivances, the film is cheerfully rude and surprisingly generous to the mothers, most of whom find sizzling new romances at an age when their American counterparts are reduced to sexless dithering or played as humiliating punch lines to jokes about horny old hags.

Peculiar but oddly winsome fable.

Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman imbue screenwriter Angela Pell's characters with a quiet authenticity that's surprisingly moving.

Where this film towers above the first one is in the music, written by Disney stalwarts Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman.

The entire cast give standout performances, but Herbie steals the show in this well-directed, funny picture.

Though silly and predictable, this animated comedy has stunning visuals, a catchy soundtrack and charming characters that are family-friendly crowd-pleasers.

A relatively minor work in the Disney oeuvre, but it's still quite entertaining, and it also marks the last time that Walt Disney himself would provide the voice of Mickey Mouse.

Andrew Neel's fascinating but troubling documentary about his famous grandmother is more than a mere biography of an important 20th-century artist: It's also an intimate portrait of a family member that questions whether or not "great artist" and "good parent" can ever be combined in the same person.

An example of how star power can compensate plot, this is the least electric of the Bogart-Bacall pairings; luckily, there's Agnes Moorehead, the screen's best hornet, to intervene whenever the going gets too lackadasical.

Its vivid sense of place and time make it compulsively watchable, even at a running time of two and a half hours.

A well-done remake of They Live By Night that's slightly long but unusually free of Altman's customary indulgences.

This wild and unexpected ride should delight younger children with its bright colors and constant chaos, while adults are likely to be charmed by the witty banter, subtle one-liners and a sweet father-son relationship that highlights the need for good communication.

This sequel to 1994's surprise blockbuster is shamelessly stupid, willfully juvenile and generally just plain gross -- which is, after all, the point.

This good-natured genre piece gets the job done while sneaking in a couple of pointed observations about contemporary Latino immigrant life.

Director John Crowley and screenwriter Mark O'Rowe's follow-up to their feature film debut "Intermission" may follow an all-too schematic flashback structure, but the film is too brilliantly acted for that to really matter much.

This simplified Romeo and Juliet tale was written and performed with such heart and care that it is impossible to dislike. The cast is wonderful, headed by the engaging couple of Cage and Foreman and wittily directed by Coolidge.

It's a solid depiction of a relatable story, and it's absolutely modest about all of it, especially stylistically, where things stay remarkably reeled in.

Some movies strive to give you that warm, fuzzy feeling, and some strive to make you bawl your eyes out, but Observe and Report strives to make you feel ambivalent, confused, and a little bit dirty, and whether or not you find that enjoyable, it's not something you likely feel very often.

The film's story line is a clever and perceptive story, superbly told.

This is a crude, shapeless talkie, a technically unsophisticated film in which the sound is static and the camera immobile, with the comedians leaping into the set scenes. Yet the boys are there in all their frenetic glory.

It's a handsome production, and a pleasure to watch. With a shadowy palette and a set design reminiscent of Edward Hopper's nocturnes, a soundtrack hearkening back to the sounds of vintage rock 'n' roll, and a cast of characters straight out of a James M. Cain novel.

Director John Dahl keeps a firm hand on Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's razor-sharp hit-man-in-rehab comedy, which mines the same dark vein as "Gross Pointe Blank"(1997) and "Matador"(2005), and the payoff is both slily funny and startlingly fresh.

The screenplay, which differs significantly from the novel, is uneven, but the distorted mirror it holds up to the present is disturbingly clear.

Mad Dog and Glory is an edgy romantic drama that never quite jells, but has enough moments of humor and/or charm to make it worth seeing.

To see the two of them on screen together, even past their primes, is a delight.

Even in this early effort the whimsical, odd world of Fellini comes dancing forth.

Overall, it's an enjoyable film, thankfully free of the computerized look of later Disney cartoons, but it really can't compare to the real Disney classics (which appealed equally to both kids and adults).

This very effective thriller features a chilling performance by Hauer as the emotionless killing machine. Stallone and Williams are also credible, and the film makes good use of its New York locations.

Frothy, sentimental and thoroughly good-natured, Malcolm D. Lee's tale of coming-of-age at the roller disco doesn't have an original bone in its body, but it's as energetic, eager to please and endearing as a sloppy, wriggling puppy.

Cliffhanger offers us breathtaking mountain scenery, some occasionally gripping action sequences, and a lot of gags--mostly unintentional and mostly courtesy of Sylvester Stallone.

This jovially sinister, middle-class morality tale-cum-horror show is predictable, implausible and fiendishly entertaining.

An undeniably effective adaptation of the Shirley Jackson novel and one of the best haunted-house movies.

While not entirely successful, Mortal Thoughts is surprisingly compelling. Headly and Moore go all-out with their working-girl mannerisms, but their friendship rings true and their ill-considered decisions are made strangely believable by their desperation.

Linear storytelling was never Herzog's strong suit even under the best of conditions. His strength lies in capturing lucid lunacy on film, and Manoel da Silva's descent into the jaws of madness is a straight shot into the heart of darkness, a place familiar to both Herzog and Kinski.

The spirit of the book is captured here as the rabbits, faced with problems of ecology, are forced to find a new home. Their trek is filled with surprises and adventures, as well as bloodshed. The job of personifying the rabbits is nicely achieved due to expert readings by the cast.

The film's climax, which cuts back and forth between the 16-year-old Dongo (Silas Radies, whose younger brother plays Dongo as a ten year old) making his dangerous debut with the fly-by-night Aurora Circus and the 2002 competition that takes him back to Hungary for the first time in years is nothing short of riveting.

Little more than a shaggy-dog tale about two hit men killing time in the picturesque, medieval Belgian city of the title, goosed with crackling dialogue and generous dollops of gore.

Though its emotions are big, the performances are so nicely nuanced that sentiment never overwhelms the story's emotional realism.

Working from a script by TV actor Dylan Haggerty, Araki manages to capture what he's been trying to say all along about the lives of the stoned and indifferent with the kind of effortlessness those earlier attempts sorely lacked.

After slowly introducing the characters, the film accelerates pace. Directer Zemeckis handles comedy well.

Director Robert Benton effectively re-creates depression-era Texas in this moving tale that landed the second Oscar for Field.

Rescued from its inclination to smug, celebrity-testimonial-driven hagiography by Gehry's own considerable charm and infectious enthusiasm.

Well written and subtly directed, The Last American Hero concentrates on the human elements of the story without becoming overly sentimental.

The comedy is strictly from the hit-or-miss school, but director Hiller keeps things moving so fast there isn't time to ponder over the failed bits.

It's an undisguised star vehicle for the likeable Chan and his incredible acrobatic skills, and even viewers who couldn't care less about which fighting style the combatants are using will enjoy watching him be put through his paces.

Shot in the Italian Alps, the cinematography is striking.

A truly adventuresome, action-filled film that is played more for thrills than for conveying a story, The Professionals offers a field day for Lancaster, Ryan, Marvin, and Strode.

Law-abiding Americans who hand off a solid chunk of their salaries to the IRS might be interested in what filmmaker Aaron Russo has to say on the subject of income tax.