question: Transgressive in the best possible way, Wadjda presents a startlingly assured new voice from a corner of the globe where cinema has been all but silenced.

numbered reviews: 1. An expertly crafted piece of filmmaking...Wadjda is an object of stark beauty, an oasis of free-spirited cinema emerging from the desert.
2. Drawbacks and all, it's heartening to have "Wadjda" around.
3. There's lots of crowd-pleasing triumph at the end of Wadjda's gauntlet, but it's the implied tragedy of her future that cuts like a knife to the heart.
4. This resonant film, detailing struggles in a far-flung place, represents world cinema in the classic sense.
5. A simple, solid, deeply affecting film, Wadjda is something rare: the work of a female Saudi filmmaker, Haifaa Al Mansour, and a feature from a country that has long outlawed cinemas.
6. Rarely underlining her points when a subtle observation can be made instead, writer-director Haifaa Al-Mansour deftly shows us a Saudi Arabia in flux.
7. It doesn't play like reality, but like boilerplate filmic fantasy, and its novel setting and inception struggles seem positioned as a beard--or veil, if you will--to mask its mediocrity.
8. Thanks to this wonderful film, we may now understand a little better what those girls are up against, and how even a modest step forward-like riding a bike-should be celebrated.
9. Wadjda is a well-crafted, liberal and humane message film that will fascinate westerners with its glimpses into the lives of Saudi Arabian women behind closed domestic doors, and stir debate on womens' issues inside and outside the Middle East.
10. A courageous and creative little girl in the oppressive and patriarchal Saudi Arabian society expresses her rebelliousness and tries to fulfill her dreams.


question: Ring Two serves up horror cliches, and not even Hideo Nakata, the director of the movies from which this one is based, can save the movie from a dull screenplay full of absurdities.

numbered reviews: 1. The best advice for experiencing The Ring 2 is to emulate Watts' involvement. She will tell you she enjoyed making it, but she probably hasn't thought too much about it since.
2. Nothing but a by-the-numbers horror film with little to offer in the ways of originality or excitement.
3. Arty, semiscary sequel delivers a few shocks but doesn't rival the first film.
4. A sketchy horror plot slips from episode to episode with no particular momentum. As far as I can tell, Kruger made a list of scares, and Nakata ticked them off.
5. There's really nowhere left to go.
6. An imperfect circle comes complete...
7. dips into the same well too many times to be of much interest.
8. Horror movies have long exploited the anxieties associated with birth and child-rearing, but 'The Ring Two' may be the first to credit its hauntings to postpartum depression.
9. barely so-so... demonstrates that after only two movies this series is already flirting with self-parody.
10. Get through the first hour and a half and then wait to be creepily enthralled. It's a nice climactic scene and Watts delivers a line that would make Schwarzenegger proud.


question: Harmlessly hokey yet never much more than mediocre, Hocus Pocus is a muddled family-friendly effort that fails to live up to the talents of its impressive cast.

numbered reviews: 1. Still an underrated Disney gem to this day.
2. It strictly remains more "trick" than "treat."
3. Hocus Pocus remains a delightful family comedy, spooky but never scary as it romps its merry way through the graveyard.
4. Perhaps I underestimate the power of its generational hold, yet considering the potential of a broad Disney witch romp, Hocus Pocus is an incredibly mediocre movie.
5. For an 11-year-old boy (in 1993) already in love with horror movies, Halloween and Thora Birch, Hocus Pocus was my dream movie sprung to life.
6. Goofy witches and things that bump all over the place, incliuding Midler...fair family fun.
7. Rollicking Halloween fun for tweens and up.
8. With Bette Midler and her onscreen sisters shamelessly hamming things up, it looks as if those involved in making this inoffensive flight of fantasy had more fun than anyone over 12 will have watching it.
9. [Midler, Najimy and Parker] perform a show-stopping version of 'I Put a Spell on You' at a Halloween party, but otherwise it's slim pickings.
10. Modern audiences will probably enjoy watching a bizarre Sarah Jessica Parker ham it up as one of a trio of Salem-era witches reincarnated in the 1990s (they ride vacuum cleaners!) and after the children of the town. Too bad the story is so disposable.


question: You'll either find the The Last Kiss to be a phony bore or a refreshing take about young 20-somethings at the crossroads between their carefree lifestyle and responsibility. Zach Braff and the rest of the appealing cast make the case for the latter.

numbered reviews:
1. ... improves on the original in just about every way, thanks to just about everybody involved, starting with director Tony Goldwyn, and a cast headed by Zach Braff and the ubiquitous Jacinda Barrett
2. ... a considerable improvement on the conclusion of the original Italian film.
3. ... an affair that's simply best to forget.
4. ... The Last Kiss is a simple movie, but it should spark a great many conversations between couples leading to potentially dangerous territory.
5. If hysterical women is your idea of a good time, then you'll love The Last Kiss.
6. ... credible resolutions aren't [Haggis'] strongest suit.
7. ... feels terminally generic and tone-deaf.
8. I found it trite, loud and overheated, although not without insight into how that generation behaves.
9. Braff is an absolutely charming screen presence, and redeems a should-be hateable character...
10. ... when it comes to exploring our peculiar blindness as to what's important in our lives, the film is a disturbing but accurate road map.