One conclusion is inescapable. You have really seen something you don't see every day.

This quietly gripping film is both universal and particular.

Merits watching if only because it's a bracing corrective to the deeply entrenched image of Europe's Jews plodding, sheep-like, to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps.

If the idea of playing Scrabble conjures up dreary images of dull evenings with aged family relatives, you haven't met the subjects of Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo's irresistible documentary.

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.

This short, gentle film is surprisingly involving.

On the surface, nothing really happens, but to call it a nonevent would be to miss the point entirely.

For all its emphasis on working-class integrity, The Commitments is really Fame wrapped in streetwise packaging.

At 155 minutes, this screen adaptation of Shakespeare's most celebrated play bears scars from deep cuts in the text.

Dialogue is kept to a bare minimum, but the film's complex underlying sound mix -- a subtle symphony of faintly heard voices and the muted sounds of cars -- adds a haunting texture to what could have been the slightest of stories about a woman's ephemeral victory over emotional numbness.

It's vulgar, to be sure, but it's also brash and invigorating.

It's sweet-natured, soothing and there's a behind-the-scenes/blooper reel at the end that will reassure anyone worried about the animals' treatment during filming.

A creepy, atmospheric little film that uses a great cast to its best advantage. Worth seeing.

That director and co-writer Gurinder Chadha transforms this sitcom material into a lively and charming film about the melting pot at full boil probably owes something to the fact that her own multicultural bona fides are firmly in order.

It's a conspiracy theory worthy of "The X-Files."

The film may be lighter in tone than Imamura's more recent work, but it still has a number of serious things to say about life in contemporary Japan.

It should come as no surprise that there's an American remake in the works, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon and directed by Martin Scorsese.

Richly atmospheric but a little thin in the character department: It feels oddly truncated, despite nicely textured performances.

The material is inherently compelling and anchored by Washington's performance.

Writer-producer-director Dale Launer's breezy comedy LOVE POTION NO. 9 is the perfect date movie. It's light and fast-paced, with several funny moments and a predictably happy ending. Don't look for anything beyond that.

It may seem mean-spirited to complain that in the end Burton's spectacle is a bit hollow. But his genius has always resided in his ability to give depth and a curious, dark richness to the ephemeral fluff of his pop-culture memories -- this is all sparkly surface.

Written and directed in a campy, tongue-in-cheek style, it's a loving homage to those wild imports from Hong Kong--kung-fu movies.

Director-writer Jarmusch's characters are insignificant antiheroes adrift in an America that is both sad and beautiful. Jarmusch has a powerful visual sense, but he is weaker in the realm of content. The jazzy relationship between Lurie and Waits never quite clicks. As a result Down By Law merely reiterates the ideas about people and American life that Jarmusch had already stated more richly in Stranger Than Paradise.

Disco gets its due in this lightweight but entertaining look at the underground dance culture that flourished in New York City throughout the 1970s.

An effective, tightly constructed thriller that packs an emotional punch in the end, when even its politics are compelling.

Resembles the giggly teen romances that saturate the Japanese market with a coolly alienated French twist.

Slight and whimsical.

The manic energy of the lively and outrageous opening sequence sets a tone and pace the film can't maintain.