question: Thanks to some top notch acting, the chemistry between its stars, and a witty, thoughtful script, Mrs. Brown delivers a nuanced and entertaining, if not entirely factual, account of a seldom explored historical relationship.

numbered reviews: 1. Connolly is a revelation. He is one of these rare beasts who have the ability to bring with him his strong presence and renown, but skillfully in the mix, manages to detach himself from his persona and mould himself into the character.
2. Before you know it, you're caught up in a difficult but touching friendship, and enjoying a history lesson more than you ever thought possible.
3. Explores the platonic friendship between the Queen of the British empire and a Scottish servant.
4. Unfortunately, the performances are not enough to carry this film, which feels much longer than its 83 minutes running time.
5. Judi Dench's glacial, reserved demeanour contrasts beautifully with Billy Connolly's natural, rebellious exuberance, and their resultant spark of chemistry is undeniable.
6. ''Mrs. Brown'' transcends its period setting not only with a keenly observed struggle between love and duty but also with the kind of controversy that envelops the Queen and her servant.
7. If the movie crumbles under its own stiffness at times, at least it has the two old pros' good performances to cheer us along the way.
8. Helping things greatly is the film's talented cast, which not only includes stunning performances from the leads, but a scene-stealing turn by Sher as well.
9. Assuming that rich human insight, great production values, and topnotch acting still count for something, Mrs. Brown should have no trouble finding an appreciative audience.
10. How the story resolves itself is a bit unusual and not near as tidily wrapped up as we have come to expect from our films. More like real life.


question: A short sketch's worth of jokes stretched into a full-length feature.

numbered reviews: 1. It's not that Kung Pow isn't funny some of the time -- it just isn't any funnier than bad martial arts movies are all by themselves, without all Oedekerk's impish augmentation.
2. Kung Pow is Oedekerk's realization of his childhood dream to be in a martial-arts flick, and proves that sometimes the dreams of youth should remain just that.
3. Oedekerk wrote Patch Adams, for which he should not be forgiven. Why he was given free reign over this project -- he wrote, directed, starred and produced -- is beyond me.
4. An incredibly narrow in-joke targeted to the tiniest segment of an already obscure demographic.
5. Full of flatulence jokes and mild sexual references, Kung Pow! is the kind of movie that's critic-proof, simply because it aims so low.
6. Kung Pow! is far too long, with belly laughs quickly turning into bemused grins as the novelty of kung-fu fighters saying silly things wears off.
7. This is the type of movie best enjoyed by frat boys and college kids while sucking on the bong and downing one alcoholic beverage after another.
8. Rarely do I really want to get up and leave only a few minutes into any film -- no matter how bad it might initially seem -- but this one had me itching to flee rather early on.
9. The laughs are as rare as snake foo yung.
10. Did no one on the set have a sense of humor, or did they not have the nerve to speak up?


question: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is getting soaked by many critics, who call it smug, ironic and artificial. Still, others have praised the movie's sheer uniqueness, eccentricity and whimsy.

numbered reviews: 1. The effect is often soporific.
2. Previously, Anderson's films contained so many ideas they threatened to burst at the seams; with The Life Aquatic, it appears that's happened.
3. In the hands of less capable filmmakers this quirky fish tale might have sunk itself, but Murray and Anderson manage to reel it in.
4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is another playful tribute by Wes Anderson to a wacky individualist.
5. Wes Anderson follows Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums with ... the same film for the third time.
6. This wacky, wistful, occasionally humorous satire disappoints. Eccentrics afloat, it's an offbeat ship of fools.
7. Intermittently brilliant, intermittently hilarious -- and occasionally tedious.
8. Anderson may be incapable of making a dull film -- he's certainly incapable of making a dull-looking film -- and from its fake-docu introduction to its full-circle conclusion, his movie looks interesting and unique.
9. Forgetting to give any character a smidgen of emotion (it's funny because it's straight-faced!), this ends up a series of strange vignettes that you won't soon care about, either.
10. This is a leaky vessel sailing in circles, not the wonderful Life we were expecting.


question: The blood pours freely in Argento's classic Suspiria, a giallo horror as grandiose and glossy as it is gory.

numbered reviews:
1. Throughout this nerve-wracking journey, Argento's sly gift is to strike when you least expect it.
2. As an appetizer to the thoroughly bizarre world of Italian horror, Suspiria is the perfect antipasto.
3. The beauty of this film is hypnotic. It draws the viewer in, casting a spell of its own. It is utterly bewitching.
4. Argento's skilful use of unsettling, intense colour and stunning set designs adequately obscure the film's numerous structural flaws.
5. One of the most important horror films ever made
6. A strange combination of the art house and the slaughterhouse, it may be too violent for the typical cineaste and too contrived for the typical gore-hound. Yet somehow Argento impressively straddles both worlds, offering a unique vision ...
7. an extravagantly stylised Danse Macabre... a surreally demented fairytale, and one of very few films that occupies the no-man's-land between charnel house and arthouse.
8. An eye-popping maelstrom of visual excess.
9. A direусo de arte e fotografia impecрveis, associadas Я angustiante trilha e Я direусo segura de Argento, compensam as mрs atuaушes e o roteirofraco, criando uma experiЖncia intensa e incЗmoda.
10. A movie that makes sense only to the eye (and even then . . .).