Important, awareness-building documentary.

An intelligent story for the kilts-and-corsets crowd.

At times it is fascinating, at other times pure Memphis cornpone.

A romantic comedy distinguished by the particular roadblocks writer/director Kevin Smith throws up in front of his characters.

There is plenty to amuse and delight here, including fine performances from Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, and Dean Stockwell.

The period detail is evocative, Watson and Etel are particularly good, and baby Crusoe -- a computer-generated image seamlessly woven into the live action -- is a slippery little star in his own right.

More gripping than anything on Court TV and unexpectedly uplifting.

A surreal, demented delight.

The material is familiar, and doesn't have anything new to say about the ways men and women wound each other.

The always charming Deschanel manages to rise above most of the film's logy pretensions, but the usually excellent Clarkson isn't so lucky.

The high-profile cast -- play their roles with just the right mix of seriousness and tongue-in-cheek self-awareness.

This breezy romantic trifle isn't nearly as clever as it imagines itself to be, but it's smart enough not to take itself too seriously.

Moviegoers expecting a conventional sci-fi fantasy will be disappointed; Haneke never explains the vague disaster, nor does he offer any definitive solution.

Razvi, once a pushcart vendor himself, is particularly good; he brings a visceral poignancy to a character who comes to represent every desperate soul who ever tried to make it in the land of plenty.

A landmark in Black filmmaking in the U.S., this angry, extravagant, loud, belligerent movie reaches a high pitch early on and stays there.

The film features a surprisingly good performance by Rock Hudson, an impeccable supporting cast and stunning cinematography by screen veteran James Wong Howe.

Cynically witty lines, top-notch characterizations (Ann Sheridan is a delight), and welcome guest appearances by Jimmy Durante (as a Harpo Marx figure) and Reginald Gardner (doing a take on Noel Coward) make for classic comedy.

Unlike, say, David Cronenberg, who manages to establish a crucial, critical distance between his audience and his schizophrenic protagonist in his adaptation of Patrick McGrath's similarly themed "Spider," Carrere re-creates the insane mind through his camera, and diffuses his point about subjective experience by inadvertently raising questions about truth and the movies.

The cumulative evidence that genocide could not have occurred without the cooperation of the German army is overwhelming.

Its real liability is on the special effects front: The sub-par digital effects — particularly in the scenes featuring poisonous lizards — detract noticeably from the overall atmosphere.

Despite some lovely performances (though, sad to say, Patricia Neal's isn't one of them) and charming moments, this meandering ensemble piece and its Tennessee Williams-ish finale is oddly out of character.

Without understanding his motives, it becomes easy to lose patience with a character so obsessively devoted to a single, largely meaningless goal. Ultimately, RUDY is an inconsequential, if moving, contribution to the sports-movie genre.

If it's all supposed to be in fun, why does it feel so much like an insult?

Eckhart is dazzling as a born phony.

Claustrophobic, gripping, and incredibly intense throughout, Monkey Shines is an extremely complicated emotional drama that taps into the dark side of family ties, friendship, dependency, nurturing, and love.

Cult New Zealand director Vincent Ward (THE NAVIGATOR) pushes perhaps a little too hard for popularity with this oddly truncated, though engrossing, epic.

Even during the most intense moments, it's hard to shake the impression that the conspicuously buff-and-polished Justine is only visiting this drab world, her miserable life an interesting career move.

A collaboration between the notoriously offbeat Coen brothers and thoroughly mainstream screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, this piquant romantic comedy is both resolutely generic and bristling with barbs that go down with a delicious fizz and leave behind a refreshing blast of tartness.

All that menace is simply decorative, and it's disappointing that Laconte never properly addresses the intriguing sexual undertones (like voyeurism, exhibitionism and sexual obsession) he uses to darken the film's palette.

It is fragmented and episodic, and many of Bukowski's best bits are oddly truncated.

Cruise is downright scary. It's the creepiest -- and most entertaining -- performance since his unforgettable appearance in that Scientology video.

The film's bleakly inevitable ending packs a wallop and its hauntingly desolate images linger long after the story is told.

This drag comedy is aimed squarely at middle America, where these cuddly queens should play very well -- just so long as nobody remembers that gay people don't just sing show tunes and cook delightful meals; they also have sex.

The acting is top-notch and some scenes are authentically well-observed.

The film's most fully realized performance is Chris Cooper's.

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.

After nearly a decade of duds, Wes Craven reasserts his claim to being a master of suspense with this solid little airborne thriller.

Peter Askin's powerful documentary serves as an important reminder of our First Amendment rights, and a tribute to one man who fought to preserve them in the face of Congressional intimidation.

Writer-director Sayles has fashioned a convincing account of the scandal, underlaid with an unconventional (by Hollywood standards) workers-vs.-owners critique.

Offbeat and ravishingly beautiful.

The Thunderdome sequence is an amazing display of imagination and technical skill, but the film falls apart with the climactic chase scene.

Whether this measured exercise in romantic melancholy moves you to tears or bores you to them is probably a matter of personal susceptibility to the sting of bitter regret for love lost.

There's a hilarious performance of a "de-fascisized" version of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," and the soundtrack prominently features an Italian version of the crypto-fascist girl-group classic "I Will Follow Him," a joke Kenneth Anger first made in "Scorpio Rising" that's still funny today.

Low-key comedy detailing a day in the life of an L.A. car wash, featuring an ensemble cast of superb performers.

You don't have to be a chem-lab wonk to be seduced by the seven scientists who discuss their work and lives in this engaging film.

The plot isn't what makes this movie worth watching anyway -- it's the performances and the ambiance.

An effectively macabre and fiendishly entertaining tale of lust, unrequited love and the fine art of taxidermy.

Narrated by Lily Tomlin and featuring a bevy of in-the-know interviews, this exceptionally entertaining documentary from filmmaker Craig Highberger shines the footlights on Jackie Curtis, an Andy Warhol superstar who transcended the Factory scene and proved to be rather exceptional himself.

Make sure you catch this spooky and strangely moving portrait of this highly unusual artist while you can.

This film is one of the most effective tearjerkers ever made and is given sophistication and style by its consummate lead actors.

It's so bright (even when it means to be serious) and bubbly that it seems mean to point out that it isn't really about anything -- except how cool sharkskin suits and Capri pants are.

This stunningly photographed documentary captures extraordinary images of ocean-based life.

The only thing that enlivens Beauvois' anti-thriller is Baye's beautiful performance.

Birdy is one of those rare movies that successfully brings a psychological novel to the screen without sacrificing its saliency or complexity.

Postcards is a mixed bag. There are a number of entertaining moments; however, potentially rich characters and situations wither from lack of development for the sake of the central relationship, which is never wholly convincing.

PERSONAL BEST offers a detailed, believable insider's portrait of the world of track and field. This very different sports film isn't for everyone, but patient viewers should find many small pleasures in it.

SINGLES is funny and well-observed and, most notably, plays to its audience's intelligence rather than its libido.

Short on action but heavy on ambiance, and the cumulative effect packs a whopper if you're willing to stop and think about it. Penn, never one to opt for action over thought, clearly expects that his audience will.

With its dream cast, standard story and heaps of class, this is the kind of sophisticated heist flick that could be just as easily at home in 1951 as it is in 2001.

A sweet-natured coming-of-age/raising-of-consciousness drama.

The result is an interesting, if slightly unbalanced, hybrid: a social problem film with the warm heart of a deeply felt love story.

On the whole, it all goes down rather smoothly. Those left wanting more are referred to the RSC's monumental production, now available on DVD, or better yet, to Dickens's original novel.

Broomfield's film is typically self-aggrandizing but filled with unsettling moments.

Shot in the same campy style that characterized the TV show, all the cast members look like they are having a great time chewing up the scenery. Meredith as the Penguin and Gorshin as the Riddler are the villainous standouts.

Suspenseful throughout most of its running time and exceedingly well shot, ROAD GAMES collapses at the end. The confrontation between Keach and the killer is a let-down. Although director Franklin has definitely studied his Hitchcock (he would go on to direct PSYCHO II), his film lacks the psychological depth of the master's work. Keach, however, is very engaging as the eccentric hero.

While many of the jokes don't pay off, it's still funny enough to merit your attention. Mancini's score adds pace and flow. This spectacle is almost totally uncontrolled, and therein lies much of its charm.

There may have been better songs and even better performances in other musicals, but for effervescent energy nothing has yet come close to the joyous, influential On The Town.

It's all good fun, and Ustinov is very amusing as Blackbeard.

If anyone else but Williams had written this stage play, it might have been hailed by everyone.

Director William Asher, whose previous credits include various episodes of I Love Lucy and several beach party movies--most notably, BEACH BLANKET BINGO and HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI--keeps the action rolling at a brisk pace, while Tyrrell turns in one of her best performances as the psychopathic aunt.

The story works, in that everything fits together, but the film feels hollow and unfinished, like a run-through for a movie rather than the movie itself.

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.

Although there are some slow sections, RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO! provides a number of good laughs and also more than a few empathetic winces.

The genial humor is occasionally marred by an overall sexist tone and some downright nasty homophobic and racist attempts at humor.

It's rendered in shiny, state-of-the-art CG animation, not the charming pen-and-ink drawings with which Seuss illustrated his own books or the hand-drawn artistry Chuck Jones brought to the 1970 Horton Hears a Who! short. But considering the messes that came before, that's a minor quibble.

And if you never learn much about the man behind the mask, well, that's as Nomi would have wanted it.

An engaging bit of entertainment.

Anderson pulls it off, thanks in large part to his witty writing, punchy editing and a likable supporting cast.

At just under 80 minutes, Gluck's film would make a perfect double bill with "Trembling Before G-d," Sandi Simcha DuBowski's acclaimed documentary about gay Orthodox Jews who, like Gluck, have found themselves caught between their love for their religious heritage and all the secular possibilities they could no longer ignore.

Rarely has the argument against the death penalty been made so articulately, or so poignantly.

For the first time anywhere, filmmaking brothers Craig and Damon Foster capture this rare event as it happens, and it's something to see.

A deft blend of comedy, action, and romance.

His (Ross) sophisticated handling -- and the efforts of his able cast, notably the stellar Joan Allen -- produces a surprisingly accomplished cumulative effect.

Moodily filmed in an effectively Germanic style, with a neat supporting turn by Calthrop and fine set pieces such as the chase through the British Museum, BLACKMAIL still plays well, and is a suitable precursor to the master director's later work.

Aronofsky has given us a well-acted, gorgeously overwrought and luridly entertaining exploitation flick -- a midnight movie for future generations.

If there's pleasure to be derived from the misfortunes of others, then Julian Fellowes' wickedly entertaining adaptation of Nigel Balchin's nearly forgotten 1951 novel is a barrel of fun.

Even Wong's detractors, who consider him more stylist than auteur, will have a tough time dismissing the extraordinary emotional depth he achieves here.

Sumptuous historical melodrama.

A creepy, clever, film buff's delight of a fantasy.

The film becomes a complex tissue of intersecting lives, but Gleize handles each developing story with amazing ease, and the fabulist touches are the icing on a very tasty cake.

Godard's third feature film and his first in color, A Woman is a Woman is one of the most enjoyable of all the master's works.

A slow and pensive tone, but for all its lyrical pretensions it lacks real poetry.

Forgoing any voice-over commentary, these now-familiar images regain their original power to shock with the sheer enormity of the event.

This film's rhythms suggest nothing so much as a weirdly macho telenovela, full of family drama, isn't-it-ironic humor and maudlin twists of cruel fate.

It's essentially an urban variation on "The Hitcher" (1986) with nothing much going on underneath.

Perleman has little control over his characters; they simply go to pieces in the most ludicrous ways. He has even less control over Kingsley, who soon slips into full-blown Yul Brynner mode.

Bolstered by a beautifully shaded performance by Karanovic as a woman attempting to escape the torments of her past while securing a future for her daughter, Zbanic's film begs a pretty complex question: Is a love story possible in the aftermath of torture and genocide? The answer appears to be a tentative yes, both on the levels of the film and filmmaking, but it isn't easy.

Technically, The Tenant is superb, with stunning camerawork by Sven Nykvist, an eerie score by Philippe Sarde, and thoroughly convincing performances from the entire cast. (Review of original release)