question: Lantana is an intricately plotted character study that quietly shines with authenticity.

numbered reviews: 1. A psychological thriller that emphasizes the psychology over the thrills. It's a smart, heart-twisting picture.
2. I grew to resent the way the storylines began to collide and converge -- it isn't a small world, it's microscopic.
3. Characters and situations that are compelling on their own get shoved together in ways that feel forced and fake, as if there are only a dozen people in Sydney and they all know each other.
4. Lawrence tweaks the stereotypes and creates rich character studies that speak volumes about how we live now as well as what constitutes the basis of happiness.
5. Lawrence's storytelling skills don't seem to have eroded -- if anything, they may have gotten even stronger.
6. Has a refreshingly keen ability to see everything from multiple angles.
7. The film is as dense as its namesake, and it reminds us how few contemporary thrillers are adult.
8. Lantana, as coiled and thorny as its title suggests, gets its chilling energy from LaPaglia's quiet intensity.
9. If some of the connections stretch credulity, an exquisite ensemble cast ... inhabit their characters with a subtle authenticity.
10. Even in its quiet moments, the movie is possessed by a moody, tenebrous aura that reflects the characters' state of mind.


question: While it arrives in a glut of similarly themed documentaries, Inequality for All distinguishes itself with a compelling presentation of an important message, as well as much-needed splashes of wit.

numbered reviews: 1. It's unseemly, I know, to praise a movie like this for the stand-up-comic affability of its host. But Reich's engagingness also gives credence to the seriousness of his message.
2. Filmmaker Kornbluth personalizes this story by using Reich's warmth and humor to win us over and keep his presentation from becoming a dry recitation of facts.
3. Any politician hoping to redistribute America's wealth should screen it before every stump speech.
4. Reich manages to infuse this enlightening/infuriating documentary on extreme income disparity in the United States, and the corollary marginalization of the middle class, with an optimistic spirit. One that may or may not be justified.
5. A cinematic listicle of misleading economic talking points.
6. Reich is funny, poignant, passionate.
7. Reich is no condescending intellectual. He has no contempt for people of the opposite point of view. He even has nice things to say about Bill O'Reilly.
8. [Reich is] a great, charismatic movie hero, and he makes you feel you're in safe hands.
9. Mr. Reich ties together his talking points with a reasonable-sounding analysis and an unassuming warmth sometimes absent from documentaries charting America's economic woes.
10. If you like your movie stars to be smart, engaging, well-spoken, self-deprecating and Danny DeVito-size, you couldn't do much better than this leading authority on economics who served under presidents Ford, Carter and Clinton.


question: It may not boast the depth of his classic films, but the sweetly sentimental Midnight in Paris is funny and charming enough to satisfy Woody Allen fans.

numbered reviews: 1. Woody's last picture, 2010's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, managed to sneak onto my year-end "10 Worst" list, so color me stunned that Midnight in Paris exudes both charm and cleverness in equal measure.
2. This comedic masterpiece by one of America's legendary filmmaking geniuses is a fitting companion to "Paris, Je T'Aime" and like a fine wine should be savored by Allen's legion of loyal cinephiles.
3. Ao abordar a insatisfaзгo do protagonista com o presente em funзгo de seu romantismo irrecuperбvel, o veterano diretor garante o sucesso temбtico de Meia-Noite em Paris.
4. 'Midnight in Paris' is rewarding if not fully satisfying and indicates that, now closer to 80 than 70, the writer-director has found peace with life as he finds it.
5. Allen in top form with Midnight in Paris.
6. Woody Allen's most entertaining comedy in years...
7. Paris: C'est magnifique
8. Woody's most inspired comedy in years. Charming, and very enjoyable- even if you're not normally a Woody Allen fan.
9. This isn't a good Woody Allen movie. No, this is one of the great Woody Allen films.
10. Let's face it, Woody Allen makes some bad movies or at least only slightly entertaining movies. He might have been great in the past but that day has long gone.


question: The initial set-up is unbelievable, the plotting is predictable and stale, and the comedy depends on repetitive pratfalls that soon get old.

numbered reviews:
1. True to its Nickelodeon roots, each scene oozes with sight gags, oddly astute pets, and gallons of goo. For adults, the films offers a bloated Brady Bunch covered in slop.
2. Needless remake of a tepid original.
3. It's terrible.
4. [A] shrill family comedy.
5. ... it loses a good deal of humour along with its social relevance.
6. He's got eight kids, she's got 10 and Yours, Mine & Ours is completely by the numbers.
7. The script is not nearly clever or original enough and Gosnell's direction goes into panic mode each time he stages the chaos.
8. The director, Raja Gosnell, is the auteur responsible for the Scooby-Doo movies, Big Momma's House and Home Alone 3. Enough said.
9. Watching Dennis Quaid falling face down into vats of goop, getting kissed by a pig and talking baby talk in Yours, Mine and Ours is one of those experiences that causes you to question your faith in Hollywood's motives.
10. The remake of the 1968 hit comedy 'Yours, Mine & Ours' is pretty much the same movie as the 2003 remake of 'Cheaper by the Dozen,' with Dennis Quaid taking Steve Martin's place as the family patriarch and butt of several painfully unfunny, slapstick gags.