Elvis Mitchell

The towering, lost dreaminess at the heart of the film is an unmistakable obsession of this director.

Their comedy gives audiences that have never seen anything like it a hilarious window on a new world.

There is no denying that Amélie is, to paraphrase its title, fabulous.

The playful spookiness of Mr. Jackson's direction provides a lively, light touch, a gesture that doesn't normally come to mind when Tolkien's name is mentioned.

We see the movie levitate when Ali and Brown chant, "Float like a butterfly," the slogan that takes on a different meaning in each context, starting off as hopeful and spry, finally becoming rueful and pointed. When the film pulls off moments like these, it's breathtaking -- a near great movie.

A heartbreakingly thoughtful minor classic, the work of a genuine and singular artist.

This angular and intelligent romantic comedy isn't entirely consistent. Even as you laugh, it's a movie you admire more than love.

Though he can still deliver an amazing scare, Mr. Spielberg's interest now leans more toward exposition rather than the anticipatory. He is explaining the fun away.

Mr. Weerasethakul's film is like a piece of chamber music slowly, deftly expanding into a full symphonic movement; to watch it is to enter a fugue state that has the music and rhythms of another culture.

Such an accurate depiction of cramped spirits, small-mindedness and men unable to make changes in their lives takes its toll. Distant feels as if it's going nowhere in no particular hurry, and finally leaves us distant from its characters.