question: Uncompromisingly bold and hauntingly beautiful, Bela Tarr's bleak parable tells a simple story with weighty conviction.

numbered reviews: 1. Tarr, who is only 56, claims The Turin Horse as his last film, and it's hard to imagine a follow-up.
2. Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr's final work, an historical tale that's both particular and universal, bears his unmistakable aesthetic signature.
3. Astonishingly powerful on its own uncompromising terms.
4. Alas, there's some risibly bad stuff here, too -- mainly contentwise -- that even Tarr's passionate fans will balk at.
5. mesmerizing
6. If ... one has a need to cleanse their palate of even indie fare that seems familiar and cookie-cutter, this immersive, contemplative, black-and-white film may, in its way, be invigorating.
7. Displays Mr. Tarr's uncompromising, atavistic commitment to darkness, difficulty and lapidary pictorial sublimity.
8. The Turin Horse is an absolute vision, masterly and enveloping in a way that less personal, more conventional movies are not. The film doesn't seduce; it commands.
9. It's a visually arresting and original work that Tarr's small legion of fans will likely enjoy.
10. A sumptuous masterpiece by one of the greatest moviemakers of all time.


question: Asger Leth risked his life to bring audiences this rare and gritty glimpse at Haitian gangs, poverty and politics.

numbered reviews: 1. Consistently riveting thanks to the sense of sheer terror that infuses its best moments.
2. Fascinating stuff, but this portrait of these scary 'altar boys' is probably the last thing that Haiti's Board of Tourism wants to see in circulation.
3. Gripping, powerful documentary with a terrific soundtrack and a compelling narrative that resonates on both a personal and political level.
4. The tone of the movie is excessively in thrall to its admittedly charismatic subjects.
5. Raw authenticity makes this a strong contender for a Haitian City of God, but it seems too staged and narrow in its focus to properly convince as a documentary.
6. Leth's gritty, haphazardly edited film plays like a music video, with jagged rap sequences interlaced with urgent handheld Super 8-style footage and a stonking shanty-blues soundtrack.
7. When it comes to depicting hell on Earth, Ghosts of Cite Soleil burns right through the eyeballs and straight into the soul.
8. Arguably the film romanticises its morally challenged protagonists, but there's little hint of rose-tint in the fear, peril and hopelessness that seem to soak every frame like a cold sweat.
9. Cité Soleil is the scariest and most captivating ghost story you'll see this year.
10. An expressionistic portrait of a society in violent chaos, the film blends cinĂ (C)ma vĂ (C)ritĂ (C) and newsreel footage to capture a modern-day tragedy with Shakespearean overtones.


question: This family holiday dramedy features fine performances but awkward shifts of tone.

numbered reviews: 1. Busts your holiday sweets-stuffed gut with farcical laughter.
2. a rare family comedy for grown-ups that's worth your time.
3. If this movie doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, you're either dead...or Jewish.
4. Yet another of those dysfunctional-family-at-the-holidays movies that aim to elicit smiles of recognition but are more likely to make you wince in pain.
5. What's striking and, to my bloodshot eye, welcome about this year's edition, The Family Stone, is the rather chic urbanity with which writer-director Thomas Bezucha serves up the old genre standby.
6. The plot is motored more by convenience than credible character behavior and for much of the time, the cockles of our hearts remain unwarmed.
7. Almost everything about The Family Stone is so schematic and prefabricated that it should come with its own easy-to-follow blueprint.
8. A potentially interesting tale flailing haplessly in the quicksand of holiday-movie formula, this domestic dramedy from writer-director Thomas Bezucha is most potently read in reverse of its intentions.
9. Sarah Jessica Parker's nimble performance is reason alone to see this creaky fairy tale about a Manhattan executive marrying into an unhappy family.
10. I love it dearly. I have seen it twice. I will see it again. If there is any hope for the longevity of movies, it will become an annual holiday classic.


question: James L. Brooks and Jack Nicholson, doing what they do best, combine smart dialogue and flawless acting to squeeze fresh entertainment value out of the romantic-comedy genre.

numbered reviews:
1. Not only one of the best romantic comedies of the year, but one of the best films in ages.
2. The trouble lies in the rambling narrative, Brooks' cautious direction and the cosy tone which renders the whole thing reminiscent of an extended sitcom.
3. Both funny and sad, the comedy was in the vein of Brooks' Terms of Endearment, except it was more eccentric and nuttier and in moments genuinely touching due to strong chemistry between Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.
4. An inflated TV show by a sitcom creator.
5. Funny, but not a light comedy for youngsters.
6. The greatest pleasures come from the acting.
7. The movie's too long, and the direction is sometimes slack -- but the script is crammed with withering ripostes, ably delivered by Nicholson and Hunt.
8. A sporadically funny romantic comedy with all the dramatic plausibility and tonal consistency of a TV variety show.
9. The character is written as the most unlikable person one could ever meet. Despite this fact, Jack manages to make the character sympathetic.
10. The unpredictable and fresh 'As Good As It Gets' is peppered with memorable Brooks lines and physical schtick.