question: Unflinching, uncompromising, vivid and vital, Steve McQueen's challenging debut is not for the faint hearted, but it's still a richly rewarding retelling of troubled times.

numbered reviews: 1. This is strong stuff, a tour of hell on Earth presented in scenes of unbearable tension and pulse-spiking violence. Hunger ends as something else, though, in a vision of transcendence and grace.
2. Hunger is an intense movie-going experience, one that will leave you both drained and uplifted.
3. Relying on images more than words, it's a plea for humanity in times of insanity.
4. Hunger is an upsetting, vivid film about going to the ultimate extreme in defense of one's beliefs.
5. McQueen has taken the raw materials of filmmaking and committed an act of great art.
6. In the end, it is not Bobby Sands but Michael Fassbender we are looking at, and this realization takes us out of the movie just as surely as (for me) De Niro's fattening up did in Raging Bull.
7. You don't need to understand the entirety of Hunger's backstory to appreciate the filmmaking.
8. It's horrific. But Hunger displays uncommon intelligence and visual panache, transcending the goal of making the situation seem real. It feels more than real. It's art.
9. Although a fictional documentary of a story that has been covered extensively there is nothing like seeing the on-screen portrayal of a man slowly dying for a cause.
10. McQueen shows Sand's skin and bones then his blurred view of the ceiling, always striking a balance between static, distant observation and the taste of abraded knuckles.


question: Potent and sobering, United 93 is even more gut-wrenching because the outcome is already known. While difficult to watch, director Paul Greengrass' film has been made with skill and treats the subject matter with respect, never resorting to the aggrandizement of which Hollywood has sometimes been accused. Especially effective is the cast of mostly unknown actors, who portray the passengers of the doomed flight as ordinary people who respond with bravery to extraordinary circumstances.

numbered reviews: 1. As you would expect, this is not an easy film to watch. It is intensely sad and it brings up powerful emotions. At the same time, I did not leave the theater emotionally wrecked. United 93 is ultimately a healing experience.
2. It is a movie that takes us where we don't want to go but need to.
3. A sober, humanistic portrait.
4. It's one thing to say we'll never forget; United 93 asks us to sit down and try to remember.
5. Emotionally devastating and yet strangely empty.
6. A brilliant and harrowing document of human beings facing unanticipated terrors with a steadfastness that is all the more moving for being completely believable.
7. A powerful and moving drama.
8. A respectful documentation of the flight that fought back
9. A visceral reminder of the gut-churning mundanity of the hijackings . . . shows that the blind war on terror . . . has been about bombast, symbolism and zealous overreaction.
10. It's a harrowing and beautiful movie, brilliantly executed, and does justice to its subject. I hope you will reward writer/director Paul Greengrass for his efforts. Not at all exploitative.


question: Building on the first two installments in Richard Linklater's well-crafted Before trilogy, Before Midnight offers intelligent, powerfully acted perspectives on love, marriage, and long-term commitment.

numbered reviews: 1. So much better written than contemporary novels, this film is a literary as well as cinematic achievement to cherish. For grown-ups.
2. As before, it's often very funny, with Jesse and Celine swapping Woody Allen-esque one-liners - nicely snarky, appealingly abrasive.
3. The 'Before' trilogy is a vacation for me. I am taken away, and it is never for long enough. I genuinely feel lucky to have these movies.
4. I'm not sure this is the end of Richard Linklater's 'Before' trilogy. It's perfection just as it is, but then again, Linklater has nine more years to work on the sequel.
5. What lifts Linklater's trilogy above your average dialogue-heavy indie is not just the intelligence of the conversation but its frankness and humor.
6. There's not a hint of melodrama or falsity in the Before series.
7. Like the first two films, it reflects the real world in a way that seems almost preternatural. It's just that, here, the real world is a harsher, more disappointing place.
8. The duo, clearly so comfortable in their characters' skin, indulge in intelligent banter, sharp humour and emotional truths.
9. Loving words mix with personal attacks, the magic moments with the unintended slights, as we witness the occasional desperation of imperfect people doing the best they can when life moves beyond meet-cute and courtship. That's authentic.
10. Linklater and his players bring an end to the fantasy and welcome the thrilling ups and bitter downs of reality to this love story.


question: Grease 2 is undeniably stocked with solid songs and well-choreographed dance sequences, but there's no getting around the fact that it's a blatant retread of its far more entertaining predecessor.

numbered reviews:
1. Sheer energy, a handful of good tunes (including a great theme song from the Four Tops), and some very funny one-liners save the day.
2. Grease 2 is dizzy and slight, with an even more negligible plot than its predecessor had. This time the story can't even masquerade as an excuse for stringing the songs together.
3. Grease 2 is a bad movie that really doesn't deserve much of a defense. There are moments in it that are so cringeworthy, one might think they were the reason fast-forward buttons were included on VCRs.
4. As far as '50s-styled cornball tributes to heavy-petting go, Grease 2 has got nothing on Prince's "Jack U Off."
5. Several performers from the original Grease return for the sequel, but not the important ones. Most conspicuously absent is John Travolta, replaced here by Maxwell Caulfield, who can't lift the original greaser's comb.
6. Without a doubt the greatest sequel to a Stockard Channing musical starring Adrian Zmed!
7. Where this film has a decided edge on its predecessor is in the staging and cutting of the musical sequences.
8. A gloriously unpretentious gem just waiting to be discovered. That the film hasn't yet received the full respect it deserves only adds to its charm.
9. As a sequel to "Grease" it's terrible, and as a musical on its own merits, it's absolutely abysmal.
10. Rizzo says "no" to this hacky sequel.