A simple story is lost in the film's complex structure, and only when O'Neal and Julia are on screen together does this directorial debut of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel come to life.

An exuberant and supremely unselfconscious first film about five Melbourne college students and the various crises that befall them during one momentous day. The movie is in the best sense of the word artless (there's not an hommage insight), and its occasional missteps -- like a ham-fisted parody of partisan film students -- do little to undermine its charms.

Monica Cervera's fearless performance as the homely Marieta, whose movie-made dreams of glamour will never come true, is mesmerizing.

The script, the direction and finally, Fonda's acting choices capture nothing of what made Hellman a true piss-and-vinegar original.

Director Thomas Schlamme's unsure handling of scenes and indiscriminate use of unappealing close-ups of actors emoting at full steam only emphasize the material's weakness.

The most impressive thing about it is that the actors manage to sound so earnest while mouthing the most shameless cliches imaginable.

A thoughtful, atmospheric thriller.

While far from being one of Harryhausen's best films (the quality of which had little to do with his abilities), the movie has superb effects that are worth a look for his fans.

In the end, GERONIMO is a welcome contribution to a revitalized genre, filled with interesting representations of both the Apache and the pursuing army.

Slight, genial documentary portrait of a man and his dream.

A fine Disney product scripted by cartoonist Key, who is also credited with Gus and The $1,000,000 Duck.

A great premise which doesn't quite deliver what it promises but it's fun anyway.

The film's greatest asset, however, is its unusually authentic use of Manhattan locations: Younger clearly knows New York much better than the topography of the human heart.

It's an action junkie's angry fix -- 130 minutes of sound and fury, signifying nothing but big bucks and boundless contempt for viewer intelligence.

Visually dazzling, touching and funny.

For all its crime-story elements, this richly colored, beautifully shot film is really a story of the friendship between Singer and the kid he calls ZigZag, a relationship made all the more poignant by the fact that Singer is very sick.

While this cheerful film has nothing particularly new to say about the ties that hold family members together even when they're driving each other crazy, it's a pleasure to watch such a talented ensemble at work.

As a document of the ever-mutable musician's signature persona, a wraithlike androgyne with a head full of apocalyptic dreams, it's fascinating.

The storytelling is jerky (perhaps in part because the running time was trimmed from 185 to 142 minutes for U.S. release) and character development takes a backseat to a breathless rush through battles, assassinations and dynastic plotting.

In the end, you're left to pick your moral: Money changes everything or money isn't everything or both.

Edward Klosinski's staid cinematography lends the film a feeling of late summer languor, a deceptive calm before a terrible storm. The spare, evocative piano soundtrack is by John Cale.

Occasionally overrated as a writer but consistently underrated as a director, Towne does a marvelous job resurrecting all the seedy jumble of the long-gone Bunker Hill neighborhood.

Hardcore Bond fans may be dismayed by some of the changes, but no one can deny that the action scenes staged by director John Glen are some of the most spectacular of the entire series and well worth the price of admission.

Fergus' thriller benefits from Pearce's high-strung performance and the stark New Mexico landscapes, but the story is familiar and the pacing much too measured for a slight tale of ineluctable fate.

The real trouble is that the filmmakers consistently choose gags over character.

Reynolds' attempt to emulate Cary Grant (or Tony Curtis doing Cary Grant, as he says in the picture) falls flat, though the picture is entertaining in spots, especially those with Niven.

The film is basically a two-character piece featuring Woodward and Cobb and probably would have made a very good play. Cinematically, it's lacking on several levels.

The real surprise here is Lewis, who seems to have finally hit on a role that balances her usual flakiness with smarts and an offbeat poignancy, and she delivers the strongest work of her adult career.

Peter Weir's talent, so evident in his Australian work, remained dormant here, but Depardieu's lively performance is a redeeming factor.

The alien costumes are clever and show some real imagination in their design. Yet the filmmakers have forgotten a key element. Without an interesting story or characters, special effects aren't enough to sustain a feature film.

A blockbuster hit in Korea, Park's feature debut is a beguiling mix of the generic and the unfamiliar, and it ends on a shot that's nothing short of heartbreaking.

Another in a surprisingly good series of romantic comedies starring Doris Day from producers Ross Hunter and Martin Melcher.

A fun and moving family film with a subtly dark feel rarely seen in kids' movies since the '80s, City of Ember succeeds despite its shortcomings, not only because of its fun and inspiring story, but because most of its flaws are things kids won't notice anyway.

Shot through the bars of a barbed-wire topped cage and staged to a pounding soundtrack, the fight is quite a spectacle, but it's ultimately an empty one.

The story is formulaic, but this brutal, fast-paced thriller makes excellent use of Li's martial arts prowess.

Alternately sweet and raucous comedy.

The talented Bettis works her heart out, but McKee apparently directed her to play May as a quivering crazy from the start.

The constant flow of background images can be distracting, but this is nonetheless a fascinating film that offers an unexpected and valuable perspective on the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict.

It's probably not the last word in WASP angst, but it's eloquent, witty, graceful and as sharp as can be.

This lackluster sequel was surely much more fun to make than it is to watch.

Cynics may scoff, but the spirit of Woodstock -- not the 1999 debacle, but the 1969 original -- lives.

The dialogue is repetitive ("I won't give in to the dark side of the Force!" "You will!") and significant characters from earlier films -- notably bounty hunter Boba Fett and Yoda -- are dispatched without fanfare, and the whole business has a slightly rushed, perfunctory feel at the same time that it feels oddly attenuated.

Like "Juno" or "Little Miss Sunshine," Away We Go is a small film, the kind of gem that's easy to crush with hype or overpraise. But, the fact is that few movies deal with feelings this profound with as much restraint as Mendes and his crew display here.

The film's spirit is one of unbridled bawdy slapstick, which misfires as often as it hits its targets, and its attitude towards women probably won't warm many hearts in the feminist community. In short, Penthouse readers will find what they're looking for in abundance wrapped in a typically bright, fast and furious Hong Kong package that is sometimes funny and occasionally even genuinely erotic.

Lucas rarely breaks his glower to express anything other than tough determination. It's an attitude that's clearly modeled on that of storied Nicks' coach Pat Riley, who, it so happens, played for Kentucky that now legendary final game.

The only good thing about this would-be camp version of the classic 1936 serial is the impressive production design by Danilo Donati.

Lots of laughs, little sense, and pure fantasy. Produced by Fonda's company, NINE TO FIVE is an amusing way to spend 110 minutes, but hardly memorable.

Papillon was produced with consummate technical skill and offers brilliant acting by McQueen and Hoffman.

One of the more graphically violent movies ever made, Magnum Force is shatteringly effective.

Genuinely charming, this children's fantasy is the perfect antidote to Pokemon mania: Younger kids should be entranced, while their older brothers and sisters may just pick up on its gentle critique of a movie culture in which action figures and tie-in toys are all-important.

The third Star Trek film is not as good as the second, but it's reasonably entertaining fare for non-fans.

This was the feature debut of director John Hancock (who would go on to BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY and WEEDS), and he does a fairly effective job of pulling good shocks out of this somewhat familiar material. The script doesn't help his cause: it's badly underdeveloped and contains some confusing inconsistencies.

Actor-turned-first-time-filmmaker Liev Schreiber tosses out most of what made Jonathan Safran Foer's too-clever-by-half debut novel so precious, rooting out the heart of Foer's story from the precocious bombast.

Sensitively played but ultimately undone by its unconventional approach.

Kilmer and Dorff, who was also an executive producer, immerse themselves in difficult roles.

Gray doesn't condescend to his outer-borough characters and elicits pitch-perfect performances from his ensemble cast.

The film is really a timely critique of the ongoing insanity that has engulfed Israeli life.

Austrian auteur Barbara Albert uses complex mathematics, chaos theory and the music of Dutch pop sensation A-Ha to explore the connections that link a group of disparate characters.

Little works in this contrived mess, but by far the worst aspect of it is Roberts' over-the-top histrionics. The film tries hard to create a relationship similar to that of Harvey Keitel and Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, but the actors' performances are so out of sync that the effort quickly becomes hopeless.

Superior drive-in exploitation fare.

Far from a perfect movie, or even Lee's best, but it shows that he may have developed into an original and talented filmmaker.

A gentle comedy about two misfits--a schizophrenic girl and a boy whom earlier generations would have called an odd duck--who find love, Benny & Joon means well but overdoses on whimsy.

Gorgeous and menacing at the same time.

WAYNE: "No way, Professor; we just needed a story so we could string a lot of gags together without it getting too boring."

The whole thing whizzes by in such a panicked rush that there's no time for anything so immaterial as character, but what little we do learn about Chev works against the film.

A rambling revisionist western whose episodic nature was only marginally successful and which didn't come close to BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID on any level.

Zakarin's semiautobiographical screenplay hits all the sitcom beats.

This is one of Lewis' lesser efforts, with his appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show drawing the only real laughs.

Polished but oddly lifeless heist thriller.

The story's message is less than profound, but it's vividly delivered.

A good story and some good effects, but it's a subject that could stand a better, more defined script and more attention to the issues involved.

The nonstop pace may eventually numb viewers to the thrills, although Spielberg must be congratulated for adding some shades of character to his archetypal action hero this time around.

Malkovich pulls out all the gaudy stops.

Winslet and Keitel are perfectly matched, go-for-broke actors handed dramatic license to do a psychic striptease.

While there's no denying that the film's animation is technically impressive and is sometimes quite clever, its inventiveness is frequently at the service of gags so distasteful that gag is the operative word.

A frighteningly good horror movie with enough solid scares to freeze the blood of ardent fans and newcomers alike.

Not just an engaging melodrama that explores the class conflict and sexual mores of feudal Japan, but a work of extraordinary beauty; you could literally hang any random frame on the wall and call it art. No doubt the master would have been pleased.

It's hard to tell whether Attal means the fictional Yvan to be such an colossal jerk. His abrasive obnoxiousness undermines the film's generally light tone, and seriously deflects sympathy away from his character's dilemma.

Although an extremely violent movie, THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN benefits from skillful pacing, a literate script, and fine performances by Walter Matthau and Bruce Dern.

With its fades to blinding white and its atmosphere of testosterone-fueled paranoia, Carpenter's remake hews more closely to the source material — John W. Campbell, Jr.'s 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" — than THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD and is a masterful exercise in claustrophobic suspense.

A free-wheeling, uninhibited all-star romp, Ocean's Eleven set the pace for the "caper" films of the 1960s and 1970s.

Bond spends an awful lot of time being rescued from peril by supporting characters.

Ultimately, the film relies too heavily on consensual acceptance of baseball iconography as some kind of symbolic shorthand for all kinds of American values. These days, most of us prefer the NBA.

Ambitious, but only sporadically engaging.

Mayer knows how to tug at the heartstrings, and his admirably restrained cast keeps the family drama from becoming too sugary.

Francis Ford Coppola's lavish version of Bram Stoker's classic novel is a visual cornucopia, overstuffed with images of both beauty and grotesque horror.

A must-see for martial arts enthusiasts.

Both enjoyably lighthearted and proof that even the most stridently purist approach to filmmaking can produce a cliched romantic comedy.

Overall it's a harmless disappointment, hampered by the thin story and a surprisingly dreary looking video-game setting, heavy on the floating platforms, cartoony future-cityscapes and goofy gadgetry.

The result is often quite funny, without ever managing to say anything especially new or perceptive about fame and the culture of celebrity.

This cautionary tale, complete with the swank cars, cool clothes and depraved babes that inevitably accompany degradation Hollywood style, is based on former sitcom scribe Jerry Stahl's lurid tell-all memoir of his descent into heroin addiction. Under the witty surface, the moral seems to be "The devil made me do it." Even by sitcom standards, that's old.

A fairly clever sendup of both heavy-metal music and the paranoid parental-action groups that want it banned.

The crisply photographed and edited Body of Lies reveals some ambition, for while it certainly works as pure entertainment, this tale of a good man trying to extract himself from an impossible situation offers some commentary on America's feelings about being in Iraq.

The movie belongs to the fifth-billed Bishil, a truly gutsy young actress who captures the essence of young female desire in all its adolescent confusion.

The film's mix of cheap gags, macabre coming-of-age story, social satire and Cronenbergian body horror is apparently meant to gel into black comedy, but it never quite does.

The technical razzle-dazzle that lets Jordan dribble on the cartoon court and inserts Bugs and Daffy into the "real" world is, sad to say, less than dazzling: This is no WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Can we go now, please?

Leguizamo deserves real kudos for making what he does of T.C., who is the film's walking lesson in how to undermine elitist clichés about working-class Long Island.

Thanks to a landmark performance by Al Pacino, SCENT OF A WOMAN is an agreeably watchable film. If they'd made it half an hour shorter and re-written the ending, it could have been a great one.