Kate Hardie

Even while wearing the poker face that is an occupational necessity for his juicy title role in Mike Hodges's film ''Croupier,'' Clive Owen conveys a sharp, cynical intelligence that rolls off the screen in waves whenever he widens his glittering blue eyes. Mr. Owen's character, Jack Manfred, spends much of the movie dealing cards and raking in

The white swan flying through the dream sequence that opens Peter Medak's spooky and transfixing new film, "The Krays," appears predatory and gray. And in a later scene, children in a schoolyard are made to resemble an insect swarm. By comparison, the twin gangsters who are the film's central characters could not look more innocent or pristine. A