Problem: 1. Allen waxes snide, and, despite the huge cast, there's not much going on.
2. Hannah is a masterpiece, a triumph of aesthetic balances like nothing the writer-director achieved previously or since, and a pinnacle of American moviemaking.
3. The film lives and breathes. It's a masterwork.
4. This movie feels real, the people seem real and the situations all ring true.
5. A film of great tenderness and humanity.
6. One of Woody Allen's great films. Indeed, he makes nary a misstep from beginning to end in charting the amorous affiliations of three sisters and their men over a two-year period.
7. Achieves the kind of perfect balance that comes along maybe once in a filmmaker's career.
8. Filled with tart observations and clever asides on the warps of contemporary culture.
9. It is an articulate, literate film, full of humanity and perception about its sometimes less-than-loveable characters.
10. Ranks among Allen's masterpieces.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: Smart, tender, and funny in equal measure, Hannah and Her Sisters is one of Woody Allen's finest films.


Problem: 1. A very capable nailbiter.
2. Sharply-written opening yields to predictable melodrama.
3. It was an okay movie with okay acting, an okay story and an okay premise...
4. Robinson handles it all with a swift precision and an intense, jet-powered stride.
5. Ben Affleck is more than a stand-in for Harrison Ford.
6. Sum's world is a moron-friendly version of Thirteen Days posing as current events, one where the Middle East is barely given a passing glance.
7. Can you be entertained by a fictional tale of nuclear terrorism right now? Doubtless plenty of people ... [will] find The Sum of All Fears chillingly effective. Others ... will just find it harrowing and pointlessly painful.
8. The story alone could force you to scratch a hole in your head.
9. The Sum of All Fears may not be super-smart, but it's rock-solid.
10. A middlebrow hybrid that should satisfy most fans of spy movies without blowing them away.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: A slick and well-made thriller that takes on new weight due to the current political climate.


Problem: 1. Scorsese brilliantly juxtaposes scenes of family greatness with those of bleak criminal action. The performances are superb examples of action, delivery, and nuance.
2. Goodfellas is a tour de force that brilliantly evokes both the seductive glamour and moral degradation of organised crime.
3. It is, in a word, brilliant.
4. It is not a coincidence that Scorsese's three masterpieces all star Robert De Niro.
5. Compared to less nitpicky gangster fare, GoodFellas still falters.
6. The performances by everyone are stunning, standout.
7. This cinematic gem deserves its rightful place among the best films of 1990s.
8. GoodFellas is an appalling masterpiece of the kind that, along with New York's current well-publicized troubles, is likely to give pause to anyone planning to make a trip to the city.
9. This is the best mob movie ever made.
10. An expert blend of narration, period music, and dynamic tableaux creating an energetic, darkly funny, and unforgettable portrait of life among the Mob's bottom feeders
What is the consensus?
****
Answer:
Hard-hitting and stylish, GoodFellas is a gangster classic -- and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career.