Peter O'Toole's tour-de-force performance makes Venus a movie not to be missed.

While this movie is sometimes overbaked, it is the first major studio release in a while to engross wall-to-wall.

As one might say in Oz, “Wicked” is thrillifying in its melodiousness even if overlongical and ponderrific.

If you want to escape all the deadly serious fare of this pre-awards season, run to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.Why? Cox rocks. This rowdy spoof of music biopics is silly fun and often hilarious.

Generally unheralded, this is one of the really good Douglas performances, smoothly matched by Fonda's. [12 Jan 2007, p.6E]

Snake Eyes sports some of the most breathtaking filmmaking of De Palma's career -- and Nicolas Cage is the one actor who cannot be upstaged by it. [18 September 1998, p. 11E]

Beguiling Victoriana. [18 July 1997, p.4D]

A breath of fresh air amid the superheroes, aliens and bombastic explosions of summer.

Even without the surprise of seeing Spader going for laughs and getting them, Secretary is just too original to be ignored.

Caramel is a sweeter and more believable version of "Steel Magnolias," Middle Eastern style.

While genre tropes are very much in play, there's a certain magic in this “Big”-meets-Superman affair where an ancient wizard transforms a troubled teenager into a buff, god-like guy with a light-up suit.

Fans will appreciate not only that the film is predictably solid and surprisingly sharp but that parts of it are just plain bad.

The 5th Wave finds a way to make the most of Moretz’s talents, with the emotionality she showed in If I Stay and the utter physical chutzpah of her Kick-Ass films.

Wright gives the title character a complexity and emotional shading often missing in this kind of ensemble comedy/drama. Pippa has the feel of a heroine in literature, rather than on the big screen.

While Face the Music is best when you don’t think about it too hard, it's also a movie that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t bother to have an insincere moment.

While tonally jumbled and at times violently jarring, the movie delivers strange vibes and extremely strong performances from Jesse Plemons at his oddball finest and Emma Stone, who may or may not be from our planet.

Watching Rudd bring dimension to what could have been a clownish caricature is the best reason to see this good-natured family comedy.

With near-Swiss precision, director/producer Jay Roach and his writers make sure familiarity breeds hilarity.

Arnie is Arnie. He has all the cute lines ("No problemo," "Hasta la vista, baby''). And he does more with a squint than anyone since Popeye. [3 July 1991, Life, p.1D]

A potent psychological thriller bolstered by strong performances and an offbeat sense of humor. What renders it an unsettling cut above many thrillers is the casting of Johnny Depp in the lead.

The infamous clown is plenty freaky, though it’s the youngsters, bursting with hormones and one-liners, who make It one of the better Stephen King adaptations.

A movie of moments whose ultimate legacy may be to get Carrey out of formula comedies forever.

The film itself is dark and chilling, if occasionally plodding, but worth seeing for the absorbing potency of its main performances.

Those with a taste for irreverent humor and clear-eyed analysis will find it funny, enlightening and disturbing.

A fun movie to sit through even when you don't always buy it.

Endearing and believable, the two actors playing Ellis and Neckbone are pitch-perfect.

A much better version and one of the most popular 3-D movies. [03 May 2005]

Directed once again by Christopher McQuarrie, the seventh “M:I” is chock-full of gloriously bonkers stunt sequences, fresh and familiar faces alike, and Cruise running (usually literally) from one international locale to the next.