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.