question: A slapstick skewering of industrialized America, Modern Times is as politically incisive as it is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

numbered reviews: 1. A great movie, a funny movie, an important movie.
2. An artist with vision swimming against a tide we know will eventually win.
3. It's the coldest of [Chaplin's] major features, though no less brilliant for it.
4. The opening sequence in Chaplin's second Depression masterpiece, of the Tramp on the assembly line, is possibly his greatest slapstick encounter with the 20th century.
5. One of the many remarkable things about Charlie Chaplin is that his films continue to hold up, to attract and delight audiences.
6. The picture is grand fun and sound entertainment, though silent. It's the old Chaplin at his best, looking at his best -- young, pathetic and a very funny guy.
7. What we have is not just a story about a funny little man, but a morality fable, or cautionary tale, about people on the chuckholed road to the American Dream.
8. Do you have to be reminded that Chaplin is a master of pantomime? Time has not changed his genius.
9. Certainly one of Chaplin's greatest...a true comedy classic.
10. Chaplin's political and philosophical naivety now seems as remarkable as his gift for pantomime.


question: Though shot through with bitterness and sorrow, Robert Redford's directorial debut is absorbing and well-acted.

numbered reviews: 1. An uncomfortable film, one that leaves you aching for its characters. Expect a bit of a funk afterward.
2. Directed by Robert Redford (who won an Oscar, as did the film itself), in his dazzling directorial debut, Ordinary People is at once stuck in the late 1970s and impeccably timeless.
3. Redford never has topped his directorial debut.
4. ...an uncommonly rich and rewarding cinematic experience.
5. A moving, intelligent and funny film about disasters that are commonplace to everyone except the people who experience them.
6. A sensitive portrait about a young man struggling to regain equilibrium after his brother's death that helps us gain a fresh perspective on adolescence and adulthood.
7. The 1980 drama hasn't aged well.
8. It is Redford's ability to let the movie breathe...that forces the viewer to experience the film on a visceral level.
9. An intelligent, perceptive, and deeply moving film.
10. It works fairly on the screen, but holds none of the effectiveness of Guest's novel.


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: Wonderful adaptation of the stage play.

numbered reviews:
1. Spacey is a delight to behold in this kind of slyly aggressive role.
2. Despite my reservations about Spacey's performance, the film is generally very well acted.
3. If we've all got something to sell, what parts do character and integrity play in our occupational goals? ** Interviews **
4. Spacey comes across as a live wire charged by alternating currents of cynicism and desperation, turning from sardonic wit to savage fury in the space of an anxious heartbeat.
5. Yet as much as we may resist, The Big Kahuna closes the sale.
6. Seems trapped between theatre and cinema, with nobody around to chew its leg off.
7. What you will find are standout performances from each actor and subject matter that will evoke debate long after the movie has ended.
8. Sometimes good, or even almost-great acting, isn't enough.
9. The destination is well worth the sometimes baffling and tedious journey.
10. Kahuna falters in its attempts at profundity or dynamic social commentary.