question: Thanks to an outstanding script, focused direction by Alan Pakula, and a riveting performance from Harrison Ford, Presumed Innocent is the kind of effective courtroom thriller most others aspire to be.

numbered reviews: 1. A ponderous adaptation of Scott Turow's cunningly plotted mystery novel.
2. Pakula keeps the suspense level high throughout and effectively brings off a series of twists at the end.
3. This could have been a great movie, but, despite being a darn good yarn well told, the essential magic is somehow missing.
4. It presents a more intriguing and certainly more complicated portrait of cinema's historic struggle with representations of female agency and sexuality.
5. Conscientiously as this movie has been made, it does not work as well as the novel did or as some of Pakula's other films have.
6. A thudding disappointment.
7. Pakula and the cast are excellent in the cut and thrust debates and the grilling of witnesses. At least on the surface, Presumed Innocent unfolds in the grand tradition of great courtroom drama. But nothing in Presumed Innocent is what it seems.
8. Never less than engrossing.
9. Presumed Innocent is a stylish, dark-toned movie with handsome photography (by Gordon Willis) and solid performances.
10. When you get right down to it, Presumed Innocent is really just an elaborate version of the standard courtroom drama -- souped-up Perry Mason. On the other hand, this is as good as Perry Mason gets.


question: With a fascinating real-life story and powerhouse performances from Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, What's Love Got to Do With It? is a can't miss biopic.

numbered reviews: 1. As a powerhouse showcase for the acting talents of Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne and as a potent portrayal of wife beating and the emotions that surround it, it's quite a show.
2. The movie makes us all want to stand up and cheer, "Shine on, Tina. Shine on."
3. Powerful, troubling and ultimately inspiring.
4. Angela Bassett does a good acting job as a person in Tina Turner's position, easily winning audience sympathy.
5. What's Love Got to Do With It is a rough-and-tumble show-biz biography that has many of the cliches inherent to this genre. But it also boasts two stunning, Oscar-worthy performances.
6. It's a story of pain and courage, uncommonly honest and unflinching, and the next time I hear Tina Turner singing I will listen to the song in a whole new way.
7. Fishburne is excellent in a very unsympathetic role. Ike Turner could so easily have been portrayed as one-dimensional, but the talented Fishburne gives this frightened wife-beater some depth.
8. Angela Bassett shakes her tail feather with aplomb and pins down the singer's gestures with amazing precision. Top honours, however, belong to Fishburne's swaggering, savage portrayal of Ike.
9. As Tina Turner, Angela Bassett gives a powerhouse well-deserved Oscar-nominated performance, but the biopic has more than its fair share of showbiz cliches.
10. A passionate personal and professional drama that hits both the high and low notes of an extraordinary career.


question: Though hard to watch, this film's disturbing exploration of freedom of expression is both seductive and thought-provoking.

numbered reviews: 1. In the end, all the violence and sexual hijinks begin to pall, like a conversation with an intelligent person who litters his speech with profanities.
2. A deep blue sea of great acting, directing, and writing. It is quite illuminating, for those of you who are not afraid to take the plunge into its murky waters.
3. Watch this one for the performances, but bring a pillow.
4. Gleaming, erotic and unsettling.
5. A gripping tale of eroticism and sexual fantasy that keeps grips with its taught atmosphere and passionate performances.
6. This over-the-top, historically based dark comedy is little more than sloganeering (from the Hollywood entertainment industry) masquerading as art.
7. Sincero homenaje al impulso creativo que todo ser humano tiene dentro de sí y un recordatorio de que el órgano sexual más poderoso es la imaginación
8. Though I admired Quills greatly, it lacks the sublime sophistication of Kaufman's earlier erotic works.
9. The most entertaining and appallingly funny anti-censorship movie since Milos Foreman's The People Vs. Larry Flynt.
10. Aside from the performances, it's a depraved, lurid flick about a depraved, lurid man and all the depraved, lurid things his stories inspire others to do.


question: Music & Lyrics is a light and pleasant romantic comedy that succeeds because of the considerable charm of its co-stars. The music segments featuring Hugh Grant are worth the price of admission.

numbered reviews:
1. Barrymore ... and Grant are both charming here, and yet there's no chemistry between them at all.
2. ...when this movie gets a moment right, it nails it. It's now you tolerate/notice the rest that will affect your experience.
3. Music and Lyrics is a nice, light, bright romantic comedy -- a demonstration of the best and the worst of modern romantic comedy in action, in fact. ...
4. Embora nada original, o roteiro é suficientemente divertido e explora muito bem as mais do que estabelecidas personas da dupla principal: o jeităo desajeitado e auto-crítico de Grant e a insegurança engraçadinha de Barrymore.
5. This movie has more witty lines in any 10 minute clip than most comedies have in the entire film.
6. Despite a copout ending that dumbs down the film's previous wit-filled 90 minutes, few mainstream audiences will be able to resist its charms.
7. Like a catchy pop song you can't stop humming, the sublime romantic melody of Music and Lyrics puts a smile on your face and love in your heart.
8. Music and Lyrics is not the most original or ambitious movie I've ever seen. However, Barrymore is well-paired with Grant in a story that is smarter than you might think. It's just all-around good fun.
9. Witty, playful, charming and satisfying -- an unpretentious confection that's just right and a little bit more.
10. This is Barrymore's burden, that she consistently resists generic business even as she makes it tolerable. The next step is to challenge the business outright.