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There is a lethal sentimental softness about this movie. The theme song is repeated to death. The two stars have not enough chemistry to fill a test tube. It's hard to believe the same director did Whiplash. This is not a musical film; it doesn't revive an old genre--it kills it forever.

Apparently, women in Montana lead desperately boring lives and have difficulty communicating. Hence, there's a good deal of silence in the film. I did feel sorry for them and even sorrier that I had chosen to see the fil,/

This study of an alienated academic philosopher doesn't become a murder story until half way through, and it never becomes much of one (any number of possible twists are overlooked). But the performances are full of wit and invention (Emma Stone and Parker Posey hit career highs and Joaquin Phoenix is dead right in a difficult role), and the jazz piano (especially the Ramsey Lewis Trio) is great.

This film lives up to the acclaim it has received. I was not a Beach Boys fan, but this story of Brian Wilson's trying to walk the line between pop and serious music, slipping into mental illness, and finally healing with the help of a courageous woman is compelling and moving. The direction is sure handed, the camera work inventive, and the performances by Dano, Cusack, and Ms. Banks are superb. She is a revelation.

This movie is a small miracle. I do not like films that can be easily dismissed as chick flix or rom coms. This transcends the genre--it is funny, tough minded and moving. Blythe Danner gives the performance of her life, and the supporting cast is uniformly faultless. The movie is funny and moving and affirms life without slipping into the sentimental. If you're open to films whose only special effect is intelligence and honesty, see it.

This will be a controversial film because of its style and pacing. The characters are never quite sure what they want to say and thus reveal. The result is a deliberate slowness that may seem, to some, slackness. And although it is a psychological study, it never psychologizes--it's up to the viewer to name or explain the strangeness of these characters. The result is a film that's very American in its story and very European in its film making. But I found it hypnotic and suggestive. Steve Carell is amazing and Channing Tatum is a revelation--lantern jawed, brooding, never comfortable with his brother or his benefactor.

Some people are resisting this film because they fear it is more about a disease than a man. Somehow this extraordinary film avoids this; instead of Hawking's suffering, you see his brilliance, his courage, his humor, his honesty, and oddly his normalcy. At the end of the film, I felt not that I'd seen the story of a hero or a victim but of a man--lucky to have a superior mind, unlucky to have a stricken body. Eddie Redmayne's performance is beyond praise. He doesn't rely on a contorted body or slurred speech; his eyes tell the story of his ambition, wit, and brilliance. Bravo to all--especially to him.

What emerges powerfully in this film is that Alan Turing is quarantined as much by his genius as by his homosexuality. Both in the writing and in Cumberbatch's amazing performance, the character is as much defined by the power of his mind as by his sexual preferences. Under the genteel surface of this very British looking and sounding film, there is the roiling inner tension between a brilliant mind and a tortured soul. Highest recommdendation.

This is a mixture of backstage comedy and science fiction; they don't mix. All About Eve and Batman must forever remain strangers. The result is a miserable hash that has nothing to say about creativity, fantasy, or indeed anything else. The cast tends to mumble, and that may be a mercy. Profoundly awful.

This is a knockout--the intensity is sustained through brilliant writing, remarkable acting, and stunning camera work. What it suggests about contemporary media and technology is scary. The most remarkable element, however, is Jake Gyllenhall--the contrast between his Medici prince face and his amoral, sociopathic ambition is overwhelming and should make him an early favorite for an Oscar.

This is one of the best American films ever. You don't have to be interested in big band jazz (although it helps) to be bowled over by it. It shows a teaching situation unmatched in its intensity and posing the question in one's mind (not in the dialogue) of how far a teacher can go to inspire a student. Brilliant script, performances, direction, editing. A grand slam!

Noir has to be believable at some level, and darkness should not extend to near invisibility. The film wears its trashiness like a caste mark--let's show the middle classes what gore and sex is all about. And then the film suddenly thinks it's saying something about marriage, society, human nature. Hitchcock--are you kidding?! The master had finesse--this just has pretension and gall.

This is a tough, tight movie, well acted, directed, and shot with an ending that few will "see coming." It's moving to see Gandolfini at the top of his very considerable form, and Hardy is terrific in the leading role. It's adapted from a Dennis Lehane story, but it's tighter and less pretentious than "Mystic River" which also came from the same source. If you like "film noir" I think you'll be satisfied.

A war between a Michelin starred French restaurant and a new Indian one across the road ends in peace, love, and fusion cuisine. This is a feel good movie from Lasse Halstrom who knows how to make such a movie. I loved it, and to those who find its optimism "cheesy" I can only say the cheese here is Brillat Savarin, Chevres, St. Hubert--prime quality. The actors are all wonderful (is Helen Mirren ever anything else?), and the two young lovers are delightful--glowingly good looking and good actors to boot. Sede it in the late afternoon and treat yourself to a great dinner.

This film which I imagine will be controversial is a power house. It does not leave you and you want to talk about it with other people. It tells of a priest in an Irish village who is the target of hatred from his neighbors because of the scandals that have dogged the church recently. The fierceness of this hatred against a man who is quite clearly innocent may strike some as improbable, but the film is not asking for the credibility a naturalistic film would. This is a fable with modern Ireland a calvary, and the wrongly targeted priest a type of Christ. It is moving, well shot, directed, and acted, especially by Brendan Gleeson. It should be seen.

A remarkable project brought superbly to fruition. The auteur, Linklater, could not have known where this twelve year project would take him, and this leads to a film of remarkable spontaneity and urgency. What emerges is a portrait of a young man who has grown up seeing how his parents live and determined not to repeat their mistakes. The actors do their best film work ever. And the sense of how things change in a society you grow up in is finely observed. The whole thing has the flavor of French cinema verite at its absolute best.

Woody Allen loves to make movies even when he has nothing to say. This film is a romantic comedy without romance or comedy. Colin Firth can do no wrong as an actor, but the script keeps him from doing anything right. Emma Stone looks washed out. Eileen Atkins' crisp delivery can't quite redeem soggy lines. It is painful to see a director and actors you admire working at such a low, tired level of inspiration. Mr. Allen maybe it's time to return to Manhattan. Mr. Firth, if movie scripts are barren, do a play.

If you find stepping into dog turds or public farting automatically funny, this is your movie. Jenny Slade is not a bad actress, but her standup stuff is pathetically bad---Lenny Bruce without teeth trying to be ingratiating. The abortion at the end was heartening--this character should not reproduce.

Yes, it is as long as a six course dinner, but what a feast. The subject matter is interesting--the disasters that happen to children when they are loved too much, not enough, or when they can't compete with the complications of their parents' lives. The cinematography is superb. The actors outdo themselves. Liam Neeson and Adrien Brody are esteemed, but this is their best work. Olivia Wilde is a revelation in a very difficult role. Mila Kunis and James Franco prove more than cute, off beat personalities. The director, Paul Haggis, loves telling multiple stories that combine sometimes in terms of story, sometimes only through implication. If this is "playing God", let him play on--he has the cards.

This is an updated version of the kind of movie Hepburn and Tracy used to star in--a romantic comedy in which competition and hostility turns into love. The updating is darker, less breezy--both are wounded animals--her ability to paint compromised by rheumatoid artrhritis; his ability to write compromised by alcoholism, The movie is distinguished by a smart, literate script and stunning performances. Juliette Binoche, either carefully made up or with n o makeup at all, is a beautiful sight, and sher catches the toughness, warmth, and humor of the character to perfection. But it is Clive Owen's movie--a late scene when he apologizes to his son is a study in shame and Owen shrinks to half his size. It's the achievement of his or of anyone's career--simply remarkable work. Schepisi's direction is flawless.

The director of the film wanted to recreate the world of the teeming lower east aside of New York during the great European immigration at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. He has done this with extraordinarily evocative images. But while the actors are all marvelous. the story lacks specificity and clarity. There's too much unexplained backstory==why is a simple Catholic girl emigrating from Poland? How does she come to speak good English? Why do you find out what happened to her on the ship so late in the film? What is the basis for the mutual hatred of the two men played by Phoenix and Renner. Worth seeing, nevertheless, but oh, what it could have been with these actors and this cinematographer.

A totally absorbing fact based story about a young black woman adopted into an upper class British family. The leading actress has to play against some of the leading actors of British film, and she more than holds her own with an exquisitely modulated and deeply felt performance. The film looks wonderful and avoids both sentimentality and high minded preachiness. I am not surprised so many viewers love it.

Pure delight. Funny, heartwarming, true to life. It helps to know a little about the difference between chef's food and street food, but the movie has something for everyone. I wasn't a Favreau fan, but I am now. Vergara proves she doesn't need to be a Latin bombshell to make you love her, and Leguizamo and Cannavale are perfection--my only complaint is that the latter doesn't get enough screen time. A gem.

This is a film about an aging married couple whose trip to Paris is designed to spark a declining relationship. It will disappoint those who expect a geriatric romantic comedy, but it is intelligent and superbly acted. Lindsay Duncan, long a fine stage actress, makes a stellar switch to film. And Paris looks lovely. If you have patience with people who vacation in Paris and who still ask"Is this all there is?" you may like the film a lot.

This is a foul mouthed lark on the order of Sexy Beast, but is lifted to the level of superb by the all stops out performance of Jude Law. Who would have thought Gentleman Jude had it in him? He gives the whole film a glorious manic energy. Great fun but violent and as profane as Wall Street's Wolf.

Elaine Stritch has been the actress entertainer of one's dreams for almost seven decades. This portrait is both a profile in courage and a great show. Funny, brassy, irreverent, she is the real deal. Lookout, Leroy, this is one feisty dame. If it comes anywhere near you, don't miss it.

This is in every way reminiscent of Fellini--the camera is always finding beauty in nature, in the city, in people, even in the grotesque. And its themes are equally familiar: the sweet life (la dolce vita) is also often bitter (la vita amara), and the transitory never satisfies but it is all we have. The film is beautiful and in its implications moving

Sheer magnificence in every way. The characters have all the complexity of people you know well. The revelations of the story are compelling but completely believable. The acting is faultless. And the film is more visually compelling than the director's last masterpiece, A Separation. This Iranian director has emerged as an absolute master of the film medium.

It's good to see a masterpiece once in a while. This movie with the lightest touch imaginable asks the big questions: what does it mean to be human, to love, to demand exclusivity. It is visually striking and the acting is extraordinary. Frequently funny, it is finally deeply moving. I hope to see it again and again.

This exceptional film is lifted from excellence to perfection by the note perfect work of Judi Dench and Steve Coogan. It is as much about forgiveness as it is about cruelty, but it is not sentimental. The real Philomena is apparently a woman who has humor and enthusiasm and refuses to feel sorry for herself. These qualities, perfectly caught by Dench, makes the movie buoyant.

This is an exceptional film--amusing and finally moving. It is about the author of Mary Poppins resistance to having her book disneyfied and indeed her desire to keep people at arm's length. Hence, the film is very different from the Disney movie. It is superbly done as it tells two stories--why MP was created and why she wants to retain its integrity now. The actors are superb, the direction sure, the look of it beautiful.

This is a sledgehammer of a film. Showing life in a backwater, the film powerfully makes you feel the hard choices its characters must make between working in a mill or turning to crime. Bale turns in his customarily fine work, but Casey Affleck is the real revelation of the film. The acting and direction are note perfect. It is nobody's idea of a Christmas movie and should have been released at a different time.

This film is why the term "hot mess" was coined. Its writer is more interested in his familiar theory that we are all becoming dehumanized and that the world is coming to an end. Perhaps, but could we spend our last days watching films with coherent plots, believable characters. It is risible to hear drug cartel figures spout about inevitability.

Luc Besson has no sense of genre or tone. Film noir finds humor in amorality, in contradictions, in hypocrisy--not in sadistic violence. And comic strip satire can't build suspense which the last half hour of the film tries to create. The result is a train wreck of a movie despite good performances especially by Michelle Pfeiffer.

The film tries to connect the history of race relations and the story of a family. It fails to do so. It trivializes and vulgarizes everything it touches. The cameo appearances backfire badly--Robin Williams and Alan Rickman are spectacularly miscast. Forest Whitaker is extraordinary, and his work redeems the family story but cannot do much for the political history. One critic has called The Butler more of a history lesson than a film. It utterly fails to do justice to our common and very different histories.

Baz Luhrmann turns everything he touches into Las Vegas. Fitzgerald's curtains billowing in the breeze become Salome's seven veils; Gatsby's expensive shirts are flung about like confetti. DiCaprio alone emerges with honor. Some of the supporting players seem to have come from The Addams family (Jordan Baker) or Bollywood (Meyer Wolfsheim). There's a difference between expansive and crass--it's not heeded here. Rock bottom.

This is the definition of a crowd pleaser. A success story with interesting and likable people, good music, fine performances largely by unknowns, and sure handed, unobtrusive direction. I'm not big on girl group singers or feel good movies, which usually depress me. I loved this one.

Sometimes a film gets everything right. This film escapes every pitfall--easy inspirationalism, cheesy comic relief, melodrama. Harrison Ford has made the transition from hero to codger successfully; Christopher Melloni is a perfect Durocher, and the leads are terrific. I found it all irresistible.

This is a riveting movie. Although long, it moves at warp speed. Beautifully filmed, judiciously edited, and acted impeccably, it is as urgent and moving a film as I have ever seen. I was not a fan of either Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling or Eva Mendes--that has changed. It is the supporting players, however, who steal the film. It's a tough minded, morally complex, greatly moving fillm.

Like The Blind Side, this film manages to be relevant and touching as well as amusing. It punctures the elitism of a place like Princeton without dismissing the idea of talent and standards. Tina Fey is a wonderful combination of crispness and utter vulnerability, and Paul Rudd is smart, dense, and totally disarming. Don't expect an Apatow Laff-fest, and you may loved it.

The direction, cinematography, and editing are above reproach, and the film is riveting. But there is little for the mind here and less for the heart. Rather than a story about terrorism, it's a story about an obsessed female agent, and Ms. Chastain, however effective, is no Claire Danes.

The finest film of the year. Neither a documentary nor a fiction film, it charts the discovery of an odd relationship between a **** and a Zionist by their descendants. Gradually, it reveals what it means to live in history--what you ignore, forget, what you do to survive. It's a much more personal film than Shoah and The Sorrow and the Pity, but it's as meaningful and moving. It must be seen.

Anyone who can resist Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren at the top of their form is a better man than I. There are subplots during which the film tends to lose impact and focus, but it's not long before Hopkins and Mirren resume their master class in screen acting. Their eyes convey more than speech.

The film is a powerhouse. The emotions it portrays and arouses are raw. The pile-up of bad luck disasters might strain credulity were it not for the performances by Cotillard and Schoenarts, She will win most kudos because she must act with prosthetic limbs, but it's his work that really is remarkable. He is a man who continually disappoints and redeems himself--it's brilliant work.

It's a serious film, all right, and professional in every way--it's also a bit plodding and didactic. Daniel Day Lewis again gives the kind of performance that wins awards, but as always he seems to be standing alongside the character--thinking about him, solving acting problems, but never jumping inside his skin.

If you are avoiding this movie because it's about a man in an iron lung and a sex therapist, don't. It has everything--humor, intelligence, and universality. The writing has not one false note. And if I ever see a performance as superb as Helen Hunt's, it will probably be given by Helen Hunt.

This adaptation of Tolstoy's novel is neither literal nor reverent--it is inspired. Using stage sets (the Maryinsky Theatre in Petersburg, I think) to represent the strictures of society and bureaucracy, the film allows its characters to break out only through passion (Anna and Vronsky) or dedication (Levin and Kitty). This method allows Stoppard (script) and Wright (direction) to serve Tolstoy's genius without suppressing their own. This could seem too schematic, but the actors bring it all to life. Beautiful, brilliant, unforgettable.

This is a stunning film in two ways. As a cinematic tour de force, the computer generated work is remarkable. As human drama and narrative art, it boasts a superb performance by a young unknown actor, and tells a story of survival which can be read in two ways--for the second way, you must maintain attention to the very end. You will be rewarded.

This is real film noir--not the private eye low key lighting kind but a real dip in the nasty stew of human greed and concupiscence. Hence, not for everyone. The actors are wonderful at revealing how naivete can turn amoral and good manners mask perversity and violence--and all regarded as part of the human comedy.. The cast is pitch perfect. A special cheer for McConaughey and for Gina Gershon and Emile Hirsch.

This is a brilliantly written, directed, and acted film. I do feel sorry for people who wanted a plane crash movie and didn't get it. This is a film of depth and moral complexity for which there are no easy answers. Zemeckis direection is flawless--there's a stunning photographic moment late that is not a special effect. Denzel Washington tops all his previous work, and John Goodman and Melissa Leo are huge in small roles.