Nicholson has at least three magnificent moments in Hour 2. The best is a wedding toast that comes after another that will painfully remind you of every banal wedding toast you've ever heard.

So original that it'll be years before a major filmmaker attempts another one. We're talking black-belt cult-movie status here. [30 Mar 1988]

Wildly witty, but also inventive, audacious and poignant.

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.

This grade-A sleeper sends you out with an unexpected smile. [25 Nov 1992]

The suspense becomes so unbearable that it's easy to overlook questions about whether anyone in such circumstances would continue filming.

One of the most challenging movies in years.

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

An easy movie to pick apart, but it lives, breathes and switches moods from humor to despair better than any American release this year.

Though less than the sum of its brilliant parts, the Coens' latest will still be must viewing in 32 years. [21 Aug 1991]

The big story here is Kristin Scott Thomas' captivating performance.

Damon convincingly matches Williams recrimination for recrimination in this portrayal of mutual tough love, even with the latter giving what may be the best performance of his career.

A movie that rudely flings feces at the breakfast table isn't for everyone.

Funny... and the payoff is the most provocative Hollywood concoction in a while.

The "Age of Innocence" oozes anthropological dazzle, but Dazed and Confused may some day rate its own Smithsonian showings for clinically re-creating the High School Experience 1976. [20 Sept 1993]

The rap sequences are shot and edited with the excitement of a crisply broadcast sporting event, which in a way they are.

As for the breathless 45-minute climax, no screen fantasy adventure in memory can match the showmanship.

In a possible breakthrough role, Law would seem to be the big winner.

To see someone even attempt bittersweet treatment of this subject is surprising, but to largely pull it off is a major feat.

Blisteringly fast, Bourne also has a strong or striking supporting actor around every corner: Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles and Clive Owen in roles that range from meaty to amazingly small.

It is at once warmly humanistic and boldly innovative, raising philosophical questions but not answering them.

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.

This genre-busting movie has the appearance of a love story but morphs into a thriller, told cleverly in a nonlinear style. Think "Sliding Doors" crossed with "The Sixth Sense," with a little "Memento" thrown in.

This is one movie in which you don't feel the long-ish running time, in part because there always seems to be a surprise (as well as a new street guerrilla) around every corner.

Spielberg's must-see is so wondrous at depicting things that go crunch in the night that its human characterizations and pokey exposition seem astonishingly halfhearted… On a "people" level, Park isn't “Jaws,” but on a jolt level - oh, yes, it is. [11 June 1993, Life, p.1D]

Babe, a live-action fable about a valiant pig who conquers prejudice like a barnyard Jackie Robinson, is in a league of its own when it comes to enchantment.

What remains is a great Vangelis score, astonishing production design, Hauer's career role -- and a movie that deserves its cult reputation despite an unloving heart. [11 Sept 1992]

It's also as good as "Out of Africa."

This is one inspiring movie despite extremely tricky subject matter -- better than "Shine" and among the most affecting ever made about co-existing with mental demons.

It's a clever, multitiered affair built around the title rituals, frosted with delicious characterizations and tasty repartee. [11 March 1994, Life, p.4D]

Some of the movie's best scenes -- knockouts, in fact -- involve musical interludes.

It's great to see an action-adventure family film with heart as well as humor, whimsy alongside wisdom, and a compelling narrative.

The filmmaker keeps upping the ante with surprises until the plot-twist beaut that concludes the picture - a shocker that, upon reflection, is probably the one ending that wouldn't have fallen a little flat.

This is a rare twisted crowd-pleaser for longtime fans as well as novices -- or for those that don't know an arachnid from an insect.

Despite its title, Punch-Drunk Love is never heavy-handed. The jabs it employs are short, carefully placed and dead-center.

The juxtaposition between the fast-paced plays on the soccer field and the color-drenched, music-infused wedding party is a highlight of this captivating film.

If Martin Scorsese's staggeringly ambitious one-of-a-kind finally has too many flaws to be great, it has as much greatness in it as any movie this year.

Ghost World draws super, natural performances.

An irreverent and witty comedy in which the events aren't predictable but are well paced.

The most gorgeous of all the Pixar films — which include "Toy Story" 1 and 2, "A Bug's Life" and "Monsters, Inc." —Nemo treats family audiences to a sweet, resonant story and breathtaking visuals.

Doesn't sound like a very prepossessing title, but prepare to be taken aback by "what's in a name." [6 July 1994, Life, p.1D]

Has the unanticipated craft and artfully ambiguous appeal of last year's "Croupier," a movie whose art-house word-of-mouth success could be duplicated here.

Finally, there's a big-budget popcorn movie that delivers what moviegoers hunger for: humor, action, thrills and charismatic characters. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the summer blockbuster we've been waiting for.

Caro gives the fablesque story -- based on a 1,000-year-old Maori legend -- both a contemporary and timeless quality, anchored by newcomer Castle-Hughes' powerful and haunting performance.

Like the first half of "Best in Show," the movie is so deadpan that sometimes you have to pinch yourself to realize how potently satirical it is.

Romantic comedies with two low-key leads can be asking for trouble, but one senses that the actors must have clicked on some fundamental level.

It plays even more like a bent version of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" for the new millennium. Slinging a line of bull but displaying genuine affection for the youngsters he's bamboozling.

River ranks with the best movies Eastwood has directed: "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Unforgiven" and "The Bridges of Madison County." But this time, the work is strong without his own on-screen presence -- a significant achievement.

Bill re-establishes that Tarantino ranks with "Boogie Nights'" Paul Thomas Anderson as one of the few Hollywood filmmakers of the past 25 years with the stuff to win a lifetime achievement award.

You get the sense that there's probably more to the story than you get here. But the movie's moral will soon be indelible: You just can't fake it in the Internet age.

And novel insights notwithstanding, this is a plain old good movie, too.

Touching, but not cloying, uplifting and hopeful but never sappy and also just plain funny. There is not a false note among the five core performances, nor a false word in Sheridan's script.

This is a filmmaker who instinctively knows that a shot of Santa sitting at a bar as Ricky Nelson sings Jingle Bells will be no-frills funny.

Has enough tasty bait to satisfy an array of moviegoers: Burton fans, Albert Finney fans, fans of tall tales well spun by experts and fans of movies that don't look like any other.

But let's not mislead about acting gold: Without Nicholson and Keaton, the movie would be fair. With them, it's one of the few good romantic comedies this year. What we gotta give is thanks.

The clash over the house quickly escalates into a modern-day tragedy. It is a fascinating film, handsomely adapted from the book and well directed.

Watching this movie, it seems to be the next level down from great -- maybe too episodic. But it burns in the memory weeks after you see it.

A smooth mix of humanism and keen filmmaking instincts.

A Hitchcockian chase...A crowd-pleasing airport-pursuit pic. [27 Dec 1995, p.D1]

This is a very funny picture, though it's never burlesqued and is, in fact, occasionally poignant.

In just three months, Wincer has gone from one of the worst IMAX movies ever (The Young Black Stallion) to one of the best. This time, and in all ways, he has more horsepower.

Sheer power, moral and otherwise. It possesses a massively majestic hero. [10 Dec 1997, p.D1]

It is by turns comic, dark and surprisingly tender. If one must reduce it to simple description, call it a love story with a twist. Or a twisted love story.

Worth seeing not only because it's a highly effective thriller, but also because it's a finely tuned evocation of innocence at the mercy of adult cynicism.

Bout No. 2 is among the best closed-quarters screen fights ever, as good as (and longer than) Frank Sinatra vs. Henry Silva in The Manchurian Candidate. And Hannah does more for an eyepatch than anyone since the late Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan.

Riveting and darkly comic Super Size Me is a whip-smart documentary.

Who would think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban could be an art film? Thanks to director Alfonso Cuaron, a dazzling storyteller with a keen eye for whimsical detail, the third film in the Potter franchise is a visual delight.

A rousing state-of-the-art cartoon capped by an aerial-combat climax that, to its credit, isn't anti-climactic. [2 July 1996, p.D1]

A summer crowd-pleaser worthy of its wind.

The documentary's scathing attack on the war in Iraq and George W. Bush's presidency is informative, provocative, frightening, compelling, funny, manipulative and, most of all, entertaining.

Gracefully acted, and the story packs a powerful punch straight to the gut.

A super cast injects it with Teddy Roosevelt vitality. [17 Nov 1995, p.D1]

Taut, tightly paced and thrilling, with some of the best chase sequences -- whether by foot, taxi or Jeep -- in recent memory.

Shake it all up and you get Collateral, a movie with only one conceivable flaw: its disinclination to break new ground, though no one held that against "The Fugitive" more than a decade of Augusts ago.

A revelation. One rarely sees American-made movies that are so unafraid to explore emotional cruelty and portray the consequences without positing easy answers or attaching happy endings.

More coming-of-age story than biopic, this Guevara odyssey is a transformative adventure well worth watching.

One of the best football movies ever, Nights in the end celebrates the game.

Ray could not have been made without star Jamie Foxx.

Linney is a match for Neeson, and the only thing that might keep Lithgow from getting a supporting-Oscar nomination is the brevity of the part.

A long movie that almost wears out its 21/4-hour welcome, yet it's full of surprises.

The one movie families search for every Christmas for an outing, the way "Something's Gotta Give" was last year and "Jerry Maguire" was in 1996.

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

Not since Tuesday Weld in "Pretty Poison" has an actress so played off her fresh-faced beauty for such pointed black-comic effect.

Thompson has had the good sense and sensitivity to get Austen right, while letting Winslet steal the show.

An enchantingly beautiful and moving film.

Buddy movies are a Hollywood staple, but Rory O'Shea Was Here puts a new and profoundly affecting spin on the tired genre.

A cool and clinical reportorial remembrance whose very title reminds us who Solanas was. [3 May 1996, p. 10D]

Inside Deep Throat, an NC-17 documentary that deftly chronicles the fallout -- with about 15 seconds of hard-core footage -- has some surprise credits.

Powerfully disturbing.

An endearing, occasionally sentimental story told with depth and substance.

Smart, satisfying and compact but so modest in scale that only true-blue fans will sense - immediately - that it's Woody Allen's best outing in many years.

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

Even for non-fans, Revenge of the Sith is engrossing, and fans of the series will likely be over the moon -- and into another galaxy -- with this film.

Clever and often enchanting.

A cinematic experience that is dazzlingly different from anything currently in theaters, March of the Penguins captivates with its straightforward but powerful story of dogged determination, survival against harsh odds and sacrifice.

Depp deserves kudos for fashioning an original and outlandish if occasionally menacing character.

Junebug has the feel of a good short story or novella.

The kind of well-acted, genuine heartwarmer that some people complain Hollywood doesn't bother making anymore. And in this case, Hollywood didn't.

This is precisely the kind of film that parents clamor for and rarely get: a substantive, stirring, Huck Finn-style saga that doesn't insult anyone's intelligence or mindlessly entertain with crass humor.

A haunting and fascinating portrait of so much that is worth exploring: the implacability of nature, the hubris of human endeavor and the line between supreme dedication and madness.

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]

It could be argued that this movie's callousness toward human life is nihilistic and nasty. But Woo takes everything so absurdly far that audiences laugh at what horrified them moments before. [27Jun1997 Pg01.D]

Features the season's most tragic heroine along with some of the liveliest dead people ever seen on film.

Lumet (who also wrote the script) seems to feed on lousy cop-precinct furniture, political showboating and confrontations between street-savvy adversaries played by synergic actors. [16May1997 Pg.01.D]

This morally ambiguous tale of dangerous liaisons and bewildering choices amounts to one of the year's most intriguing dramas.

The young actors' performances are particularly haunting.

This adorable exercise in whimsy should give "Corpse Bride" a good fight for best-animated-film Oscar.

This is the most enjoyable film of its type in recent memory.

Not for the faint-hearted.

Director Stephen Herek does an admirable balancing job, though the movie slows whenever the animals solo onscreen. [27 Nov 1996 Pg.01.D]

Some caper movies build suspense, while others tweak the genre with tongue lancing cheek. But this lesbian caper pic (how's that for a rarefied subgenre?) often pulls off both feats in the same scene, even simultaneously. [04 Oct 1996 Pg.04.D]

Filmmakers of Bernardo Bertolucci's magnitude don't often take on sexual coming-of-age movies, but judging from the pleasures of Stealing Beauty, maybe more of them should. [14 Jun 1996 Pg.04.D]

Welcome to the Dollhouse does, with accessible dark comedy and chilling honesty, reminding us right off that school-cafeteria agonies only begin with the cuisine. [24 May 1996 Pg.04.D]

A Johnny Cash biopic equally packed with music and frustrated love, Walk the Line goes from compelling to enthralling.

A gripping and fascinating tale of political intrigue that spans three continents, its focus trained on the volatile Middle East. It's a global portrait of danger, deception and disillusionment, with no dearth of human casualties.

Jackson is a visionary filmmaker who is not only a technical wizard but also a master storyteller. With Jackson at the helm, you would expect dazzling special effects and epic action sequences, but what is most surprising is how heartfelt the romance feels.

Pierce Brosnan is the anti-Bond in The Matador. And though he's anything but suave, sophisticated or debonair, he's a joy to behold.

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

Caché is unsettling and tense, even shocking. And its story of enduring tensions between an Algerian immigrant and a well-off French family is particularly timely.

Joyeux Noël is gritty and disturbing with its extended scenes of war and destruction. It also is emotional, even a touch sentimental.

The movie grows on you, lingers in the mind and may pick up a cult. Take away Heat and Dust, Howards End and The Remains of the Day, and it's as satisfying as any movie the filmmaking team's ever made. [18 Sep 1998, Pg.03.E]

Visually exhilarating, provocative and disturbing.

The razor-sharp satire Thank You for Smoking is the wittiest dark comedy of the year thus far. It has appeal to all sides of the political spectrum.

Inside Man may be a cat-and-mouse game, but it's far from predictable. What could have been a straightforward thriller is unusually clever, visually captivating and unfailingly entertaining.

Hard Candy, a highly original psychological thriller/revenge fantasy, can be bitterly hard to take and uncomfortably intense, but it's well worth consuming.

Haunting and inspiring film.

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

If it's challenges you're after, forget cracking "The Da Vinci Code." Wordplay captures the exhilaration that comes from navigating the ins and outs of complex puzzles.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend manages to do what the recent crop of crime fighters haven't: show us how much fun it might be to fly, or have super strength, or look buff in spandex.

It has been a while since we've seen such a consistently funny and entertaining road movie.

This unconventional psychological drama weaves a fascinating tale, and Collette and Williams give two of the summer's best performances.

A compelling drama that establishes Ryan Gosling as one of the finest actors of his generation.

The film's score and editing brilliantly heighten the film's energy, keeping the audience somewhat off-kilter and unsure where things are headed.

Deliver Us From Evil is so horrifying it makes "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" look like a walk in the park.

A visually stunning, startlingly clever sleight of hand that will have audiences pondering well after the lights go up.

Who, though, would assume rambunctious humor would be served up as well? Dickens meets the Beverly Hillbillies, and the movie is handsome, too. [10 May 1996, p.4D]

Borat is most gloriously funny moving picture for to make people see their stupidness.

Babel may be the most ambitious movie of the year, tackling towering communication barriers, global politics and cultural divides in a structurally complex and fascinating narrative.

This year's wittiest animated adventure saga.

Blood Diamond is a gem in a season with lots of worthy movies.

Not only a stirring history lesson and an action-packed war film, Glory is also a ferocious statement about enduring discrimination that resounds today.

The Painted Veil is a welcome addition to the slate of holiday movies, particularly for those drawn to intriguing tales of multi-dimensional characters in exotic settings.

Kids should enjoy the comic performances of the animals, and adults will appreciate the film's gentle poignancy, powerful enough to induce a lump in the throat.

Pan's Labyrinth artfully fuses a war film with a family melodrama and a fairy tale. The result is visually stunning and emotionally shattering.

A moving documentary that informs, entertains and inspires.

Despite its awkward title, Starter for 10 is a winning coming-of-age tale told with grace and charm.

This is the rare movie that blends long scenes of meticulous research with a sweeping story and sustains a feeling of riveting suspense. Zodiac grips you by the throat and doesn't let go.

This Korean-made film takes the well-worn creature-feature genre and spins it on its head thrillingly.

An engaging and moving film with a universal story about the bonds of family as told through two generations of a Bengali family.

Rarely does a first-time director make as auspicious a debut as Scott Frank has done with the haunting, engrossing and intelligent thriller The Lookout.

A hard-core war film with raw violence, intense action, graphic sexuality and a twisting plot that offers a series of surprises.

The Hoax lures you in with its captivating performances.

Instead of ladling on the Scorsese sauce, Robert De Niro's Bronx accent is on semisweet nostalgia. He presents a domestic drama spiced with humor about a boy torn between his working-stiff dad (De Niro in fine regular-fella mode) and Chazz Palminteri's easy-money ways. De Niro doesn't let arty camera angles sub for good storytelling. And he draws memorable performances from two amazing young, new actors. [01 Oct 1993, p. 8D]

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

Does the finest job of any film in painting a believable portrait of aging, capturing the sadness, confusion, anxiety and defiance of the early stages of dementia.

Once is a film for anyone who has ever been transported by the power and passion of music.

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]

What makes the movie so winning are its endearing and relatable characters who spout believable dialogue and amusing banter, steeped in clever pop-culture references and sharp observations of human nature.

Henry V emerges a first-class epic film, so entertaining that it needs no apologies for being based on a 400-year-old play. [10 Nov 1989]

News is right, completely right, until it slips just a bit at the end.By that time it hardly matters because you've seen the best of the holiday films, as well as the most all-around entertaining movie of 1987 - a bittersweet media comedy-drama that surpasses its potential. [16 Dec 1987, p.1D]

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

Highly entertaining and informative.

Like the best French cuisine, Ratatouille is ambitious and delightful.

The special effects continue to be masterful, but villains are given a new twist, and Order of the Phoenix is all the more fun because of it.

The good news is that this is not merely a few episodes cobbled together: It's a real movie.

If one were to fuse the literary sensibility of Jane Austen with the fanciful imaginative license of "Shakespeare in Love," what would emerge would likely be the charming tale Becoming Jane.

The lack of propriety and solemnity is precisely what makes this comic farce so uproariously funny.

One small documentary for a filmmaker and one giant leap in inspiration for audiences.

A rare blend of emotional content and intelligent material that makes it simultaneously gut-wrenching and thought-provoking.

Captivating and multifaceted.

There is a compelling ethical question raised skillfully that will haunt viewers. The poignant conclusion probably will incite debate.

One bad idea can unravel and ruin lives in unimaginably horrific ways.That's the concept underlying the riveting Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, a sharply acted and highly entertaining morality play.

At a time when romantic comedies seem to have exhausted unique ideas, along comes Lars, an original, amusing and heartfelt tale sharply written by Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under).

The movie, based on a true story, takes surprising twists and turns right up to its chilling ending and is probably the best gangster crime drama of the year.

The Coen brothers have fashioned a wry and riveting hybrid of a drama, Western, crime thriller and action film that is as powerful and thought-provoking as it is genre-bending.

We are slowly and mightily drawn into this intimate story, which is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally moving.

While the film is heart-wrenchingly sad, it also is mordantly funny, uncomfortably prickly and above all, unflinching in its depiction of a believable sibling relationship.

True to its title, Elegy is a spare, meditative and melancholy film. It is a deeply affecting and profoundly observed saga about love, art, beauty and, especially, mortality.

Well-told fanciful tales aimed at children but appreciated by adults are a rarity, and The Water Horse should be savored for the exuberantly entertaining ride it offers.

A searingly intense and artful tale that grabs hold of the viewer from its jarring and wordless opening scenes and doesn't let go.

Mesmerizing and highly entertaining.

Depressing and gut-wrenching, but always powerful and gripping.

Sharply written, superbly acted, funny and even occasionally touching.

The look of the story is an undeniable treat, and the message it weaves is both funny and sweet. Horton Hears a Who! is razzle-dazzling and artful, and it builds on Seuss' words by the clever cart-full.

The genius of Scorsese's film, which is being shown in IMAX in 93 theaters, is that it reveals the Stones' mortality while celebrating all that makes them more than mere mortals.

A heartening and poignant affirmation of the transformative power of music.

It is one of the year's most intriguing dramas, with a quartet of powerful performances.

It may be the most disturbing film you'll see in a long time.

With its almost stream-of-consciousness style, Reprise offers a fresh and compelling look at the vagaries of friendship and creativity.

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

The laughs -- mostly crude, profane and drug-addled -- are almost non-stop.

A mesmerizing look at the mythic quality and anarchic spirit of the irreverent and rabble-rousing journalist.

A Sundance hit that is both absorbing and bleak, Frozen River is anchored by powerful performances, believable scenarios and excellent writing.

One of the series's best, with spectacular effects, nuanced performances and witty dialogue.

As exhilarating, captivating and enjoyable as a summer romance in an exotic city.

Though the movie rambles in the middle, it gets back on track when Nick and Norah have a sweet encounter in an unexpected place. The soundtrack is an excellent counterpoint to the film's quirky scenarios.

It is that rare film that is equal parts entertaining, life-affirming and thought-provoking.

Viewers should know that the film's resolution, though admirably restrained and unsentimental, is devastatingly sad. Parents should take this into account. This beautifully rendered family film is told in a classic and old-fashioned style, in the best sense, providing poignant and powerful teachable moments.

Penn's Oscar-caliber transformation is breathtaking, and the saga of one man's fight for human rights is engrossing.

An evocative film with a believable and subtly enthralling lead performance that gets deeply under your skin.

By eloquently probing the state of uncertainty and its accompanying discomfort and confusion, Doubt compels viewers to examine their own assumptions as they become caught up in this fascinating tale.

The Class is a deeply moving film about the challenges of educating children in a complex and often turbulent world.

So with its smart writing delivered by an in-synch quartet, savor Duplicity as the ideal spring gift.

The Brothers Bloom has it all: charming romance, jaunty adventure story, witty dialogue, gorgeous cinematography and superb performances.

A bit of a throwback, a nostalgic, easygoing Capra-esque comedy that should appeal to both youthful and older audiences.

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

Neil Young once said: It's better to burn out than it is to rust. But moviegoers are lucky Anvil didn't take Young's advice. Who knew heavy metal could seem like fine art when it rusts?