Harper Barnes

Great works of literature seldom become great movies, as witness the competent but plodding recent screen adaptation of Wharton's "Ethan Frome." The Age of Innocence is a brilliant exception. [17 Sept 1993, p.3F]

Without question. Vertigo is one of the best movies ever made by one of the best directors. [Restored version; 7 Dec 1996, p.41]

This wonderfully wry, painfully funny comedy about a middle-aged boy and his mother is Albert Brooks' most accessible movie. [17 Jan 1997, p.03E]

Remarkable...For All Mankind is a lovely film. Brian Eno's soundtrack is majestic without being overly sentimental, and Reinert's choice of images ranges skillfully from the ironically ordinary - astronauts eating, listening to country music and teasing one another about personal quirks - to the awe inspiring. [2 Feb 1990, p.3F]

WITH Jungle Fever, a shattering movie that focuses on interracial love andracial hatred but that also confronts a dozen other incendiary topics, Spike Lee confirms his position as the leading American director of his generation. [7 June 1991, p.3F]

Simultaneously enigmatic and painfully direct, melodramatic yet subtle, playful yet tragic, Au Hasard Balthazar is a deeply moving portrait of the sins and mercies of mankind as seen and suffered by an ass. [30 Jul 2004, p.E03]

Richard III is a movie, and a marvelously entertaining one. McKellen calls it a "translation." It is also a homage to Shakespeare, and to the enduring power and universality of his unrivaled genius. [02 Feb 1996, p.1E]

Thanks in great part to a couple of dozen wonderful soul songs from the 1960s, and a very engaging and talented group of young Dubliners, The Commitments is a thorough delight - warm, funny and deeply human. [13 Sep 1991, p.3F]

Reitman's movie is triumphant and actually deserves being mentioned in the same breath with those great comedies of 50 years ago. [07 May 1993, p.3G]

Finally, in Strange Days, written by ex-husband James Cameron and Jay Cocks, she has a script that is worthy of her intense and intensely personal visual style. The result is a mind-blowing visionary thriller set on the last day of the 20th century in smoldering Los Angeles, a kind of "Blade Runner" for the millennium. [13 Oct 1995, p.3E]