Tricky thriller relies on its smoothly unrippled surface, leisurely pacing and slightly awkward performances to create a false sense of security that sets up viewers for a shock when it takes an abrupt turn into Patricia Highsmith territory.

Affectionate, melancholy and anchored by a well thought-out performance from Sean Penn.

Like a delicious pasta salad, ruined with intermittent slabs of Velveeta cheese.

This film wants to be bleak, nihilistic, and darkly hilarious but Catch-22 emerges as an exercise in frustration for those unprepared for Nichols's episodic, detached, and surreal treatment of the novel. Like a nightmare, the film shifts from one bizarre episode to another, with Alan Arkin's dazed Yossarian reacting to the madness that surrounds him, but second only to the viewer.

A moving, brilliantly photographed picture that portrays the legendary eccentric folksinger Woody Guthrie in a trip across Depression-era America.

ALFIE is a surprisingly successful exercise in dramatic irony: the title character, a charming mediocrity who fancies himself a ladykiller, delivers a running commentary on his tawdry sexual conquests and penny-ante criminal ambitions, cheerfully oblivious to an audience that knows more about him than he will ever know himself.

Homey but not especially interesting trips down the Ellis and Cheney family lanes.

Another mindless exercise in unexciting, unmotivated action sequences punctuated by moments of stupid, redneck, good-ol'-boy humor.

Starman is a wonderful film that combines science fiction, road movies, and romance into an engaging, very entertaining whole.

But the movie is long and didactic, undermined by the faintly pious air of an educational slide show.

There's a terrific movie buried in Woody Allen's tale of two American girls broadening their horizons in Barcelona, and every once in a while tantalizing glimpses penetrate the twee narration and mannered performances.

For people who loved "Heat," this is a tour de force.

Powerful crime drama does more than just expose the criminal underbelly of South African township life.

If you have the stomach - or the Dramamine - it's a touching, humorous take on Jewish life in contemporary Argentina.

Though the film is overlong, the story is movingly told, the production values are high, and Ernest Gold's Oscar-nominated score is considered a classic.

A smart, funny pseudo-documentary.

Unlike most mainstream filmmakers, Ratnam doesn't try to include something for everyone, but he does deliver several handsome production numbers.

The picture is filled with one sight gag after another, many familiar to anyone old enough to remember the glory days of silent comedy.

Dowdy and thin.

Buoyed by Morton's sensitive performance, the film proceeds as a series of vignettes, some of them unforgettable.

One of MGM's biggest box-office hits, the epic QUO VADIS offers a spectacular cast to match its overwhelming production; there's plenty to enjoy, but don't look for greatness. Over it all looms a loony Ustinov as Emperor Nero, despite director LeRoy's best efforts to keep him from chewing the scenery as he enjoyably steals the show.

Brimming with intriguing concepts and brilliant visual effects, making it a stimulating treat for both the eyes and the intellect.

Kusama's impressive feature debut is an affecting coming-of-age drama whose story is familiar without being hackneyed.

Jiang draws a great deal of humor from the situation, but the film inevitably explodes in terrible violence.

Ironically, it's most engaging when the focus shifts to Hurt's matter-of-factly amoral enabler, whose glistening suits and jewel-colored shirt-and-tie combinations suggest a particularly poisonous tropical reptile.

De Mello's dedication is inspiring enough to speak for itself.

Pretty to look at but contrived and somewhat stagy.

A fiercely powerful film... An inspiring film, it is constructed like a thriller; but instead of reaching for thrills, it leaves them in the background and concentrates on the complexities of its characters.