December 7, 2001 | There is a chilly precision to way writer-director Patrick Stettner establishes a vaguely but unmistakably ominous mood during the opening scenes of The Business of Strangers, a mesmerizing…

January 23, 2004 |  As a Twilight Zone type of time-bending, destiny-altering thriller, The Butterfly Effect has a lot going for it: An intriguing premise, intelligently tricky plot twists, sympathetic supporting…

April 11, 1996 | Sitting through Bruno Barreto's Carried Away is a bit like watching someone defuse a bomb. A great deal of your appreciation for what you're seeing is informed…

November 30, 1995 | Martin Scorsese is a hard act to follow -- even, apparently, if you're Martin Scorsese. Casino, Scorsese's sensationally stylish drama of a mobsters' paradise lost, is a…

November 21, 2003 |  Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat , a surreally rambunctious farce inspired by the popular children's book, is…

July 4, 2001 | The most extraordinary thing about Cats & Dogs is how ordinary it seems. Don’t misunderstand: I’m not saying this raucously anthropomorphic comedy isn’t funny. Quite the contrary. …

March 2, 2001 | We expect a certain degree of paranoia from any detective we encounter in cinema or literature. And not just because of genre conventions. Simple common sense would…

April 12, 2002 | It's a classic example of bait and switch in reverse: The ads for Changing Lanes promise a routine blood-and-thunder vengeance flick, complete with car wrecks and…

January 9, 2004 |  Chasing Liberty , the latest custom-made star vehicle for perky pop star Mandy Moore, is a light but likable romantic comedy that may remind some moviegoers…

June 7, 2002 | In Cherish, a captivatingly quirky hybrid of character portrait, romantic comedy and beat-the-clock thriller, San Francisco-born writer-director Finn Taylor (Dream With the Fishes) playfully and persuasively…