question: The utterly gorgeous special effects frequently overshadow the fact that The Abyss is also a totally gripping, claustrophobic thriller, complete with an interesting crew of characters.

numbered reviews: 1. Suffers due to its incredible length and slow pace, but intriguing, nonetheless.
2. Brilliant at sustaining tension and interest.
3. For God's sake, make sure you have the director's cut. The theatrical cut was an abomination.
4. Click to read review
5. A remarkable film...the vfx are super!
6. A gorgeous and fascinating underwater adventure.
7. What was once a well-made, well-acted mess is now a very poignant and satisfying sci-fi adventure.
8. This overlong concoction is scuppered by dire dialogue, histrionic performances and maudlin sentimentality.
9. A classic.
10. Pretty great underwater adventure.


question: In this funny, touching character study, Nicholson gives one of the best performances of his career.

numbered reviews: 1. Payne and Taylor have taken another giant step forward with a mature, adult piece of work that takes a rare and unvarnished look at life as it is.
2. Nicholson's acting sets a new gold standard, making Schmidt a movie you won't forget.
3. While About Schmidt features Jack Nicholson's most impressively controlled performance in many years, the film's mix of bleakness and cheap laughs has to be seen as a disappointment after the sharp satire and moral complexity of Election.
4. I just loved every minute of this film.
5. About Schmidt is about perfect. It has heart, humor and a healthy appreciation for the frailties of human nature.
6. It's an astonishing piece of acting and a really interesting film.
7. On balance, I recommend the movie both for Nicholson's performance and for the opportunity to spend some time with the kind of man that we often meet in real life, but rarely see on screen.
8. This road movie gives you emotional whiplash, and you'll be glad you went along for the ride.
9. More touching and thoughtful than Kathy Bates' fat hoo-hoo, full frontal shot would suggest. But don't worry, ladies: You get to see Jack's naked backside, too.
10. Ultimately this is a frustrating patchwork: an uneasy marriage of Louis Begley's source novel (About Schmidt) and an old Payne screenplay.


question: 3D transports the viewer to an intimate seat at a U2 performance, for an exhilarating musical experience at the price of a movie ticket.

numbered reviews: 1. U2 3D is the perfect synergy of music, technology and magic.
2. Represents what is far and away the most impressive use of 3-D I've ever seen.
3. U2 3D doesn't make you feel like you're there in the crowd. It makes you feel like you're floating above the fans and riding their energy wave like a surfer during hurricane season.
4. U2 3D is an isle of style and sense in a sea of mediocrity.
5. On the IMAX screen, these Irish rockers really rattle and hum.
6. If you are a die hard U2 fan, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this! A very cool experience!
7. By the time Bono turns to the camera, reaching out to his audience in a typically theatrical plea for peace, love and understanding, one half expects his outstretched hand to surge through the screen and seize one of your own.
8. When Bono reaches into the camera and out of the screen, there are few cinematic moments more intimate.
9. It is a band apart, both in terms of music and message.
10. Not better than the real thing, but close.


question: Days of Thunder has Tom Cruise and plenty of flash going for it, but they aren't enough to compensate for the stock plot, two-dimensional characters, and poorly written dialogue.

numbered reviews:
1. Days of Heaven is a compelling adventure story and a riveting meditation on the soulscape of America.
2. Don Simpson. Jerry Bruckheimer. Bad Movie.
3. Fun racing movie. Cruise in top melodramatic form with Duvall as an anchor.
4. It's one thing to market a film solely on the strength of its star. It's quite another to go ahead and make the film that way.
5. Gentlemen, start your clichés.
6. In Days of Thunder, Tom Cruise tries to do for NASCAR racing what he did for bartending in Cocktail. Which is to say: Nothing.
7. An entertainment of great skill but predictable construction.
8. Cars. Cars cars cars cars. Vroom! Vroom vroom vroom! Crash! Tom and Nicole have sex! Cars cars vroom vroom! Crash! Vroom!
9. Exactly what it promises to be: Not Much -- but at dizzying speed, stripped down and free of wind-resistant subtlety. There's a certain integrity to that. A certain deafening integrity.
10. There's no sin in a movie that's just flat-out entertainment, but with some care this movie could have been much better -- instead of just aspiring to be better.