An anti-Independence Day, a cousin of Close Encounters, but most of all, a well-modulated, dread-laden, faith-based mystery.

Every time you see a comedic eye-gouging or an errant board swinging around and catching someone in the face, it's a passed torch that was held for decades by the Three Stooges.

Watchable only for its star power and scarce caffeine kicks...awfully predictable.

The mysteriously titled project might just as well have been called "9/11: The Thrill Ride," so thoroughly does it trade on our emotions of that disaster.

An audacious comic-book movie on steroids...cinematic junk food, but even a dieter deserves to cheat once in a while.

Seinfeld's pleasingly idiosyncratic comic voice comes through in the haphazard, slaphappy storyline.

This is your action movie on drugs—any questions?

Full-blown 'Jack'—his face a spectacular special effect of full-blown energy—remains an irresistible act.

It may not be fashionable to like Twister, but darn if it isn't an entertaining electro-shock of action cinema.

The time is right to reappraise the revamp: yes, it's a shadow of the original series, but it has its high points.

Though Adamson lacks Lewis' storytelling confidence...The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe still comes across as a quirkily diverting children's entertainment.

Approached with an open mind, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles offers an intriguing angle on one of the greatest characters in modern cinema.

The eventual arrival of towering screen presence Sean Connery as Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. alongside Harrison Ford as Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. allows for what may be adventure cinema's most potent pairing.

If it was a sign of the times for Indiana Jones to take on more of a comic-book aspect, the film's accomodation of darker themes and explicit imagery came as something of a shock to many.

The postmodern heir to North By Northwest...like any deathless classic, Raiders is a perfect marriage of star and material.

A quintessentially American play, revisited...this one has towering performances from Rashad and McDonald.

A series of serviceable creep-outs and jolts...the pretzel-shaped resolution feels like too little too late.

The script includes a verbal motif that reminds us of what binds the film's four central talents together: 'I want to show you something.'

A blend of penetrating psychodrama and gripping incident seasoned with lighthearted humor.

Bette Davis was the grande dame Hollywood diva to end them all: physically striking, hugely talented, imperious, and mercurial.

Like its hero, extraordinary in every way.

Pleasingly evokes the days when Roddy McDowall frolicked with Flicka and Lassie, [but] it must be said that a CGI pet is not quite so easy to love as a flesh-and-blood performer, animal or human.

Avuncular in the manner of an eccentric uncle, Snyder was a comfortingly familiar and warm TV personality--modern but never post-modern.

A bona fide landmark in American film, Bonnie and Clyde stands the test of time the same way its protagonists did: by breaking all the rules.

Downright hokey...a billboard for a Batman-Superman team-up movie...will elicit more gasps from the fanboys than anything else.

The film teeters on the balance until arriving at its genuinely moving and depressingly honest final act.

This brand of unfailing comic timing and expressive physicality is rare, and it's why Pegg, in particular, is a star.

That the picture walks and sometimes crosses the line into the products it parodies is a measure of its zealous thoroughness and also its central pitfall.

Ripe for reappraisal...the storytelling integrity and thoughtful themes of a good novel.

While there's little doubt that Man From Plains amounts to hagiography on Demme's part, it's also surprisingly gripping viewing for over two hours.

With The Wire now off the air, Battlestar Galactica can make a strong case for being the best show on TV.

A sort of teenage Fight Club, complete with daddy issues, Never Back Down is a slight refinement of the sort of picture that was ascendant in the '80s...

The structure and layered storytelling make Gone Baby Gone richly satisfying.

A big, bold Hollywood movie that won't be winning any awards for subtlety but can't be denied its popcorn appeal.

A resonant Pacino...though ultimately a misfire, suggests that there are worse things to call a movie than 'a curiosity.'

Pacino at the top of his game...[but] the film's lack of faith in its audience is glaringly apparent.

In and of itself, the story offers rich dramatic material that Haggis exploits well, but the writer-director's unsubtle condescension to his audience represents small thinking.

Markovics expertly projects every craven instinct and heartfelt yearning of the complex protagonist, making The Counterfeiters an experience as satisfying emotionally as intellectually.

A sort of cinematic comfort food: it's the mac and cheese of the cineplex.