It's harmless, but bloodless - hardly a movie to get your juices jumping. [28 Aug 1992, p.5D]

Donen (previously Hepburn's director in Funny Face and Charade) gets everything out of a brainstorm romantic teaming that didn't - and doesn't - spring automatically to mind. [05 Nov 1993, p.3D]

Though dialogue is kept to a minimum, the deeply felt, complex performance by Mia Wasikowska and the assured direction of John Curran render the film — based on a true story — a riveting adventure, as well as a dreamy meditative saga.

The most imperfect of the year's best movies, Magnolia's flaws are easily forgiven because they are the result of go-for-broke ambition.

It’s always nice to see someone’s passion project come to fruition. Especially so when it’s this darn good.

The film is a bit long because Brest wants to give you time to believe Walsh and Mardukas' inevitable friendship. We do. And Run adds poignancy without detracting from the action. [20 July 1988]

What makes the vivid film such an astounding effort – and one of the year's best movies – is that it’s edited seamlessly as one continuous real-time take, following a couple of Brits through rat-infested trenches, sniper-filled towns and even empty battlefields where the Grim Reaper’s been busy yet danger still looms.

With his coolly objective moon's-eye view serving a story that's bizarre by even his long-established career standards, the great documentarian Errol Morris examines the perils of vanity - though others will understandably make more sinister interpretations.

Seemingly fueled by Mountain Dew and Hostess pies, the delightfully berzerk Logan Lucky is a love letter to backwoods ingenuity and, at a time with a deep divide between red and blue states, a universal dose of hillbilly hilarity.

James is a stunner with a breathtaking array of eye-teasers. [12 Apr 1996]

Visually sumptuous and surprisingly sensual, "Nosferatu" isn’t as wonderfully original (or bonkers) as Eggers' top-notch flicks “The Witch” and “The Northman,” but great turns from Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård sell its disturbing, otherworldly beauty-and-the-beast tale.

Hustle's approach to a simple good-vs.-evil plot is eccentrically exuberant.

"The Right Stuff" will endure as the more ambitious movie, but this book-faithful, 2-hour team effort shrewdly keeps its eye on the ball.

Truth is, Idaho is nothing but set pieces; tossed into a mix whose meaning is almost certainly private. [27 Sept 1991]

Despite the film's sporadic lulls, both director and star are on full beam. The first and third hours of this 20th-century epic are as dazzling as big-scale movies get.

With "Nope," Peele showcases a new sense of blockbuster flair while maintaining his signature gift for twisted modern relevance.

While the animation is still top-notch and a slew of new waterlogged personalities buoy the story, it doesn’t have nearly the same sense of heart, wonder and awe as Nemo.

This is all about escape. And as prison-break movies go, Rescue ranks among the best.

The dazzling animation, catchy songs and Broadway-worthy dance numbers give the film even broader appeal.

Pacino cans the showboating bluster and gives a gently nuanced portrait of a simple man in decline.

A film that wins on 'Courage' of its convictions. {12 July 1996, p. D1]

Ahead of its time in its attitude toward unwed motherhood, director Otto Preminger's psychological drama has always gotten the same pro/con reaction that typifies Preminger's career. On the chilly side, it also has a great understated Olivier performance, an effective Paul Glass score and some of the era's best widescreen black-and-white photography. [28 Jan 2005, p.4D]

Whishaw, Hawkins and Downton Abbey's Bonneville strike just the right notes. Imaginative production design, which occasionally brings to mind Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom," adds to the story's appeal.

In contrast to big-screen bummers we see every week, this movie conveys genuine sorrow.

An untreacly family film is a true rare bird. [13 Sep 1996]

The movie falls short of achieving its apparent goal: being the "Raging Bull" of the art world.

Shanghai Triad concludes the sublime seven-movie collaboration of Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li with a bang worthy of the most jubilant New Year's Eve.

If Hairspray is clean and sweet, don't cry sellout. Taken as a pointed burlesque of a serious racial issue, this is what Spike Lee's School Daze should have been. It's also a PG (for "Pretty Darn Good'') simply on its own.