There is wit and melancholy in every corner of every frame of Todd Haynes' homage to the Douglas Sirk-style movies and tone of the 1950s. Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid play shining examples of the perfection of suburban life, but under the veneer everything is breaking down. Using the same tools of an era that was steeped in subtext, Haynes shows how an entire lifestyle — the clothing, the dialogue, even the expectations — was an elaborate coded cover for pain and confusion.
--Jami Bernard, New York Daily News

Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze succeed splendidly in creating a film about absolutely everything. Their tall tale of an insecure screenwriter is a spot-on rendering of artist self-loathing, and through cryptic philosophizing becomes a universal story on adapting to life. Nicolas Cage is at his best since Leaving Las Vegas, with great support from Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper.
--David Germain, AP

"The movie musical, reborn in Baz Luhrmann's hyperdrive Moulin Rouge, slows down to kick-turn perfection in this re-imagining of the stage musical. Director Rob Marshall has eliminated the clunky book by hiding it in the song and dance numbers, which are like nothing you've seen since Cabaret -- and this movie is better than that. If Marshall and the electrifying Renée Zellweger are nominated for Oscars, as the song says, they had it comin'."
--Bruce Newman, SJ Mercury News

"What makes The Pianist authentically Polanskian is the absurdist detachment of the artist who keeps practicing his art even when the world is crumbling around him. Mr. Polanski is in his element here: alone, abandoned, but still consoled by his art, which is more than he has ever revealed before about the source of his spiritual survival."
--Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

"A landmark film from Martin Scorsese, who turns a tale of immigrant gangs in the 1860s into a hot-blooded epic for the ages. Ignore the love fluff with Cameron Diaz; Leonardo DiCaprio and a stupendous Daniel Day-Lewis bring history to raw life. No one dares more than Scorsese. Watch him fly."
--Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Pass the smelling salts: I'm actually praising an Adam Sandler movie. But it's really a Paul Thomas Anderson film, with all the maddening — and marvellous — quirks that implies. Sandler still acts stupid, punches people and gets the girl, but it's the path Anderson takes him on that makes all the difference. It also happens to be the best movie ever with chocolate pudding as a major plot point."
--Peter Howell, Toronto Star