At its best, it's a gentle meditation on mortality. But at weaker moments it feels meandering and strangely empty.

This movie is more wistful and winking, though it's obvious Mario is still working out emotional baggage with his tyrannically driven old man.

There's a lot thrown in here for two hours, and Apatow could easily have lost about 30 minutes of high jinks and gotten the point across that everybody has their somebody. Yet with Schumer driving the action, Trainwreck may be his most impactful ride yet.

About a Boy is a rarity in many ways. It's a well-written, witty film whose memorable characters grapple with the nature of family, love, friendship and despair. Even its soundtrack, by Badly Drawn Boy, is perfectly pitched.

There is no question that the organization is a riveting subject for a film.

Huston's movie seems to disappoint some who've read the novel, but the forlorn humanity that triumphs over the depravity and poverty is unforgettably affecting. [13 Dec 1996, p.1D]

Filmed for the cost of about two Snickers bars and given a bizarre voice-over narration in the second person, this seductively weird pioneer independent feature is the ultimate in grimy period atmospherics. [25 Apr 2008, p.5E]

Even with an administration full of smart, capable people, no one is properly prepared when nuclear weaponry is triggered, and “A House of Dynamite” puts an extremely human spin on that particular no-win situation.

Though ultimately gratifying, the ambitious Okja struggles throughout with its pinballing tonal structure, beginning as a family-friendly adventure then shifting to screwball farce and later to an emotional drama involving animal cruelty and slaughterhouse horror.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation doubles as a two-hour celebrity episode of American Ninja Warrior for Tom Cruise.

Wonderfully enchanting wintry fare.

Serves up an irresistible helping of delicious fun with writing that is tart and sharp and a story infused with sweetness.

Flashily nihilistic Killers is easier to admire than love, but credit Stone for putting it on the line with a yarn tailor-made for his hopped-up vision of media-engendered white-trash immortality. [26 Aug 1994, p.1D]

Deftly juggling humor and heartache while always exuding a lovable quirkiness, the excellent art-house comedy/drama showcases three teenagers who pop off the screen with originality and, unlike a lot of the current coming-of-age ilk, just the right amount of unpredictability.

The granddaddy of prison pics opens with a lecture on overcrowding and ends with a high mortality rate, in which Chester Morris, a bald Wallace Beery and stoolie Robert Montgomery (Elizabeth's father) are players. [24 Jun 1994, p.3D]

Highly entertaining and informative.

What A Bigger Splash does have in its favor is standout acting by Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton, who gets to channel her inner Ziggy Stardust.

Who would have thought that one of the most provocative and affecting films made about the fallout from 21st century divorce would have emanated from a 19th century novel?

Frankenweenie is a love story between a boy and his dog. It is also a beautifully crafted homage to classic horror films, a study of grief and a commentary on the mysteries of science and those who narrow-mindedly fear its advances.

Black Hawk turns nightmare into great cinema.

A touching story of hope, vitality and art rising from the bleakest conditions.

Add in a plethora of memorable lines ready-made to repeat with friends and a movie-stealing turn from Lynch, and Bottoms is the kind of go-for-broke, satisfying cult treat that can totally beat up your favorite teen classic.

Translating solitary musings, raw despondency and personal enlightenment into arresting visuals is a substantial feat and novelist/screenwriter Nick Hornby was the perfect choice to convert the fascinating book into a lively script.

The film wrestles with tonal inconsistencies but features fantastic action scenes to go with a touching underlying narrative about the power of trust.

Eddie Albert's Oscar-nominated slow burn as the loathing father in The Heartbreak Kid is the funniest portrayal of Midwestern WASP-ism in movie history. [08 Feb 2002]

A monumentally moving experience, from the powerful acting by Javier Bardem to the evocative music, composed by the director, Alejandro Amenábar.

Kidman gets kudos for giving the enterprise a touch of class, while the film gives the studio's library a rare pedigreed addition.

This year's wittiest animated adventure saga.

De Niro's widely praised performance is like the rest of the film: competent, a product of hard work and borderline mechanical. I like much of Awakenings, including several supporting performances - but like Big, it left me just a little cold. [20 Dec 1990, p.5D]

The film is easier to admire than to fully grasp or be moved by it. Still, it's worth surrendering to the dream.

The dialogue, delivered mostly in Southern accents, is intended to be funny and fresh, but much of this Western-influenced sci-fi adventure story feels reheated.

Forest Whitaker is astoundingly multifaceted and convincing as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. In the performance of his career, he fully inhabits the part of the barbaric and charismatic ruler.

Just be glad that Hanks and Zemeckis toiled mightily to pull off at least two-thirds of a remarkable achievement.

In a season filled with dark-themed films, it stands out as an elegantly mounted, surprisingly humane but terrifying horror thriller well worth seeing.

The sci-fi epic Dune boasts a few films’ worth of giant sandworms, amazing spaceships, cosmic armies and galactic political drama, though it essentially is only half a movie.

Despite dashes of droll dialogue from screenwriter Ted Griffin, the remake aims for cool but instead gets chilly.

Droll mild amusement.

Brilliantly captures the exhilaration that comes from facing death head-on. It's also an ode to joyous rivalry.

A promising debut by young writer/director Jacob Estes, this story of a botched revenge plot still isn't likely to break out even in multiplex August dog days.

Bully forces audiences to face actions that are unthinkable, inexcusable and excruciatingly sad. It offers no solutions, only the testimony of brave youths.

Mongol is quality escapism: an exotic saga that compels, moves and envelops us with its grand and captivating story.

Stately but static. [23 December 1997, p.3D]

Pooh succeeds by embracing much of what modern films (including Potter's) have largely forgotten: old-fashioned movie pleasures.

This is a smart and often tense work whose ultimate merit isn't completely calculable now.

Director Jeff Rowe (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”) smartly casts actual teenagers as the main characters, makes them pop via a super-cool comic-book visual style and surrounds these familiar heroes in a half shell with a top-notch supporting cast. Best of all, it's the kind of zippy, 99-minute adventure bound to satisfy kids and adults alike in the cinematic doldrums of August.

Mostly avoids being cloying but flirts with being precious. Yet Boyle is enough of a stylist to make it all passable. It's one of those films for which fans and detractors can see the others' viewpoint.

After so much frenetic kicking and grunting, you may feel like you're in a stupor, too.

The distanced result, screen-adapted by playwright Christopher Hampton, never quite overwhelms you. [21 Dec 1988, Life, p.1D]

Tightly constructed and controlled.

A robust family comedy that saves its wildest moments for a climactic "get-together."

In the tautly terrific thriller In the Line of Fire , Clint Eastwood toys with his own grizzled-vet screen image like a frisky kitten with a yarn ball. [09 Jul 1993 Pg. 01.D]

The film's big breakout is Monáe, the Grammy-winning musician who impressed in a small role in Moonlight but showcases a wealth of talent as the youngest and most opinionated of the three main women.

Underrated Jerry Schatzberg directed (he later did Pacino's 1973 Scarecrow), and the script is by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, so it's smart. [22 Jun 2007, p.3D]

Chances are, the more you love classic cinema, the more you will find Gods is your cup of tea.

Farmiga never seems to strike a false note in any role, but this is perhaps her most reflective and multi-layered performance.

Though the narrative is a conventional one, the well-acted, suspenseful story deals in fascinatingly murky morality and mines intriguing material from a historic and complex city.

Middle-aged romance can be a dicey prospect. And it gets more complicated when children are in the picture. But it gets more complex still if the "child" is actually 21, and creepily meddlesome.

Ultimately grim, Liam is ripe in humanity --and even comedy.

Hanks invokes gravitas, deep introspection and even sly wit as Sullenberger, yet the one thing he can’t make up for is the distinct lack of onscreen danger in what could be considered a decently tame disaster film.

This dark comedy comes off more giddy than gritty.

While it reaches for the stars, director Christopher Nolan's Interstellar is a flawed masterpiece...The story is ever-ambitious, sometimes riveting and thought-provoking, but also plodding and hokey and not as visionary as its cutting-edge special effects.

For a movie about the power of imagination, Bridge to Terabithia is not as clever as you would hope.

It captures an authentic feel-good spirit and inspirational message that most Hollywood movies barely approximate.

Dramatically moving and good-naturedly humorous, it transmits a sharp picture of humanity that inspires both awe and laughter.

Epic in nearly every way, The Hurricane has the power to blow you away.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a purer expression of rapture in a film this year than the one that opens Billy Elliot.

It’s the kind of film where everybody will have their own favorite characters and riotous episodes but it doesn’t need A-list cameos or needle drops to make a mark – though it does boast one instantly memorable K-pop remix of a Cardi B hit.

Though occasionally visually inventive, Kung Fu Panda is a disappointment when it comes to matters of simple black and white: the script.

It’s breezy and hilarious yet offers enough heartfelt gravitas to give the feel-good date movie needed emotional heft.

The garden, an Edenic metaphor that gives the story its fertile power, should be as much of a living character as Maggie Smith's wonderfully brusque housekeeper - but isn't. As a result, everything that follows feels anti-climatic. Even if the plot plods a bit, there are pleasures to be plucked, especially in the performances of the children. [13 Aug 1993, p.4D]

The History Boys is an erudite, sharply written film with consummate performances, but its origins on the stage are all too obvious.

Furiously fast and fiendishly funny, Disney's 35th animated feature, Hercules outlines its musical-comedy agenda pronto. Even its villainous super-schmoozer Hades, well-ignited by the neurotic natterings of James Woods, would appreciate such get-to-the-pointedness. [13 June 1997, p.1D]

Emotionally and viscerally compelling and retains a suspenseful, edge-of-the-seat quality.

Breakdown exploits so many traditional thriller situations that any suspense fan vet can easily devote a hand to counting off the predecessors it plunders. [02May1997 Pg 12.D]

Invictus, which is Latin for "unconquered," gives the poem several meanings in the context of the film. It also applies to Eastwood, who, as one of America's greatest storytellers, finds enthralling tales and fashions them with finesse and an indomitable spirit.

The most endearing character in Disney's animated superhero animated movie is a one-man Affordable Care Act. (Make that a one-robot ACA.)

If the script were half as witty as its production design and Danny Elfman's score, the film might be a classic; instead, it recalls the “Beetlejuice” half that doesn't have Keaton. [7 Dec 1990, Life, p.4D]

Although they haven’t collaborated in a while, this teaming of old friends Lee and Washington soars once it gets cooking.

Joaquin Phoenix gives a superbly raw and excruciatingly vulnerable performance.

Occasionally very funny, the picture tends to coast on its cosmetics. A first-rate script might have made it a twisted masterpiece.

It certainly stays alive in this spare and intriguing film directed by Jonathan Demme, who has helmed two previous Young concert films.

"BOOM!” is an entertaining, heart-filling work that showcases two musical geniuses, putting a new spotlight on Larson’s musical legacy and giving Miranda another endeavor to gift us with his unparalleled artistry.

A riveting cinematic quest for journalistic truth – especially one like She Said, which tackles an issue that means so much to so many – should always be embraced, no matter the era.

A revelation: funny, fascinating and insightful.

A high-octane mind game best enjoyed by following a key character's advice: "The Source Code is a gift. Don't squander it by thinking."

Naji is an expressive actor, and so are the wonderful young non-pros who play his children.

Even tonal issues can’t upend the magic this movie taps into putting Thor and Hulk together as new best buddies, whether they’re throwing down in an arena or having a bromantic heart-to-heart.

Teacher's Pet is no "Finding Nemo," nor even "Lilo and Stitch," but it is an enjoyable family film -- particularly for younger kids -- during a time of year when such fare is lacking.

Less ambitious and more narrowly focused than the CIA saga "The Good Shepherd," Breach is a compelling, intelligent drama.

This has to be the raunchiest full-length animated feature since Fritz the Cat, which got an X rating in 1971.

The look of the film, shot on digital video, is haunting and gritty. The cleaner, prettier look of 35mm would have detracted from the immediacy and sense of foreboding created in this artful blend of sci-fi and pseudo-realism.

Captivating and multifaceted.

Definitely not for everyone. It's a very bleak story with uneven pacing and a narrative whose jumps in time are confusing and occasionally infuriating. But the post-apocalyptic mood blends well with its uniquely stylized look and surreal story.

The result can be palpably unnerving.

It's a touching story of Americana mixed with sibling rivalry, parental pressure and heart-wrenching despair, with a ripped Zac Efron in an amazing turn as the beating heart of a tight-knit yet troubled clan.

One of those movies in which pacing, dialogue and the right actors enliven a familiar story.

This tale is both redemptive and tragic, if occasionally melodramatic.

This gritty examination of physical and psychological wounds offers a superb performance by Marion Cotillard, who speaks volumes with her eyes, and a less convincing one by her lead co-star.