Mehta says it all so articulately and with such good humor.

A vivid telling of a familiar story -- the rise and fall of a street criminal -- bolstered by exceptional performances and a clear-eyed take on the economics of dealing and the pathology of ghetto fabulousness.

The plot is simple, allowing Polanski great freedom to play with his characters and to give his audience rousing fight scenes. Although the film is a bit slow and talky in spots, it fills the long-ignored gap in Hollywood-style swashbuckling pictures.

Slight but affecting.

Although some of the humor falls flat in this Allen comedy, his satire of revolutions and revolutionaries is perpetually topical.

Romero paints a bleak picture of a bureaucracy that has nothing but contempt for the lives of private citizens, zealously harbors secrets, and gives unbelievable power to a basically incompetent military.

If it's not an entirely wholesome portrait of the immigrant experience, it's certainly an entertaining one.

It's a lightweight piece with not much of a plot but plenty of amusing lines in the middle of familiar situations.

Excessively gory, FORBIDDEN WORLD nonetheless has several well-directed suspense scenes, and its special effects are impressive for a low-budget effort.

Solidly entertaining and surprisingly free of the Mamet-isms that can suck the life right out of the most tightly crafted story.

Packed with more information than can possibly be digested in a single viewing, the film will be a bracing eye-opener to anyone who hasn't considered the full implications of recent Congressional debates advocating further media deregulation.

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.

It's enjoyable poppycock.

The cast — a felicitous blend of character actors and up-and-comers — work together like a street-smart machine, and Hoffman's scummy turn as porn-peddler and all-around creep King is a reminder of just how sleazily funny he can be.

Unfortunately, the script leaves something to be desired--namely, dramatic impetus. Yet Hard Times is still an enjoyable film, and the depression-era settings are painstakingly captured.

Has an interesting look, several sensational performances (notably from Kyle MacLachlan and Liev Schreiber) and in general works far better than it has any right to.

Runge's coolly photographed, intricately plotted feature is always interesting in its execution, but disappointingly pat in its resolution.

A gentle and effective heart-tugger, Cocoon tries to make its audience feel good, but you can't help but feel uneasy about the vision of old age that director Ron Howard depicts--one in which the young cannot accept the notion of getting old. The derivative special effects feel like leftovers from the infinitely superior Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The performances are uniformly excellent.

Not unlike her first film, True Love, director Nancy Savoca's big-studio follow-up is more an actor's piece than a fully formed film, its subject yet another rambling contemplation of the rocky relations between the sexes. But it's also no less enjoyable and no less deeply felt.

Charming.

The long section during which Kennedy and crew (including Ty Hardin, Robert Culp, and James Gregory) get to know each other is slow going, but the action scenes are generally worth the wait.

No, there's nothing intelligent here--just a couple of likable fellows trying to stop mad Brewmeister Smith (Max von Sydow) from gaining control of the world.

The film's most memorable character is the perpetually stoned surfer played by Sean Penn. His confrontations with Mr. Hand (Walston), a draconian history teacher, provide the film's finest moments.

Despite an intelligent title performance by Ben Kingsley and impressive cinematography in the manner of David Lean, this huge, clunky biopic offers less than meets the eye. Director Attenborough seeks not to understand but to canonize his subject; as a result, both Gandhi's teachings and the complexities of Indian political history are distorted and trivialized.

About as subtle as a hammer blow to the skull and marred by a heedless mixture of fact and fiction.

The story's not much, but this dark comedy contains moments of unexpected wit.

It's straightforwardly entertaining and a genuine nail-biter.