F. X. Feeney

Not only one of the best films of the year, it's one of the best films of the decade.

It is one of the most beautifully staged American movies in a very long time.

Remains the most popularly successful film ever to render the inner life of an artist.

One of the best films of the year thus far.

No parent who's been roped into leading the troops to a matinee need fear being bored: gags are, Simpsons-like, conceived to tickle several generations at once.

The Godfather traces the arc of this doomed idealism with a beauty that is still fresh.

Part poem, part jungle blossom, all brilliance.

The Japanese title means chaos, and that is what is let loose when a powerful king foolishly tries to release the reins of power, in the hopes of enjoying a peaceful old age.

It's an exhilarating display of filmic artistry.

I've not stopped thinking about it -- weighing might-have-beens and alternative courses of action, as though remembering an actual event rather than a nimble, superbly-realized fantasy. That's a first-rate achievement.