Jonathan Rosenbaum

"Both sad and darkly funny, the film is so sharply conceived and richly populated that it often registers like a Frederick Wiseman documentary, even though everything is scripted and every part played by a professional."

"It's more than a simple improvement, inverting some of the original's qualities so that the impersonal, well-crafted filmmaking remains lucid throughout. Even more unexpectedly, the piano lessons taken by the hero (Romain Duris, very fine) from a Vietnamese woman who speaks no French are more highly charged than any of the violence".  

"Superficially it’s a standard-issue revenge story set among gangsters (...) but upon closer inspection its story and characters grow more mysterious, ultimately bordering on the unfathomable."  

"There's something undeniably masterful about the film (...) it's a capacity to say as little as possible while giving the impression of saying a great deal"  

"The inventive performances (...) keep this 2002 drama interesting in spite of its puritanical framework. Watchable, but not very insightful."  

"This is well worth checking out"  

"[Yang] has been making masterful films in Taiwan for almost 20 years"  

"Sokurov's intensity insures that something is always happening, both on the screen and inside us"  

"The success of The First Wives Club rests on the way it makes the audience feel like insiders, like part of a glamorous Hollywood club."  

"I found it entertaining and absorbing, and far from heavy next to Woody Allen’s ponderous 'serious' pictures."  

"A watchable first feature by English writer-director Mike Figgis, beautifully shot by Roger Deakins (...) The actors, settings, and music manage to hold the interest"  

"Interminable western epic (originally 199 minutes, later reduced to 161) (...) John Ford reportedly lent a hand in the direction, but it’s still a long way to the final attack."  

"An immensely charming and energetic comedy (...) This provides an ideal introduction to his work"  

"A rather unthrilling but otherwise serviceable thriller (...) Reasonably well crafted, and Hackman is good as usual, although one continues to feel that he’s been slipping in his choice of projects."  

"I didn’t warm to this film, but given the quality of some of Schatzberg’s subsequent work (...) it may deserve a second look"  

"As in the fables of Aesop and La Fontaine, the hero of Fuller’s parable may be a dog, but the subject is the human race."  

"This is idiotic, but it's so good-natured I didn't mind."  

"The saddest thing about Woody Allen's effort to retool his brand of romantic comedy for the youth market isn't the absence of laughs—it's the bitterness that cuts through everything"  

"A worthy entry in the dystopian cycle launched by Blade Runner"  

"Justin Lin captures Tokyo's energy and glitter far better than Sofia Coppola.