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.