Bob Thomas

The latter stages of "Moreau" prove chaotic and confusing, negating what showed promise as a "Planet of the Apes" thriller...Any appearance by Marlon Brando is an event, if only to witness his latest transformation. He seems to have entered his Sydney Greenstreet period. Looking huge and sinister, he affects an upper-class English accent with lines such as, "I'm simply going to perish from the heat." He even sports a monocle in one scene...At times, Brando conveys a demented menace, but mostly his performance seems a mockery, of the film and himself...And Kilmer makes the most of his ambiguous role. [22 Aug 1996]

CUTTER AND BONE can't decide whether to be a buddy movie, a menage-a-trois drama, or a murder movie, and hence fails at all three. Too bad, because Czech-born Ivan Passer has an obvious talent for creating mood and atmosphere.

A cerebral approach to espionage and defection, often suspenseful but sometimes dull. [26 Jan 1980]

Roland Joffe has directed an earnest and well-meaning film but the crushing inevitability of the climax makes it a less than rewarding experience. [17 Dec 1986]

Light of Day flounders because of Schrader's simplistic symbolism: the rebellious children, the unhearing mother, the lifeless father. The story limps from one predictable scene to the next. [17 Mar 1987]

It is mainly the characters who have suffered in Jewel of the Nile. The bouncy relationship between Turner and Douglas has been lost; she appears mindlessly headstrong, he devotes his time to extricating her from trouble. A superior comic, DeVito has a one-note role of constant choler. [16 Dec 1985]

Roger Young's direction is crisply paced, but the script shortchanges the women. Lauren Hutton is unconvincing as the murderous counterspy, and Jane Seymour does little more than wait for Lassiter to come home. [28 Feb 1984]

Romeo Is Bleeding continues the trend of modern manifestations of the film noir. It has the basic elements: crooked cop, lethal female, vicious gang boss, tawdry locales, bloody corpses. Everything, in fact, but style. [14 Feb 1994]

Power fails, not because it is badly done; Lumet and an exceptional cast do their best to bring it to life. But they are ultimately defeated by an overplotted script that offers few surprises and no real revelations about today's politics. [17 Feb 1986]

Director Rob Cohen gets the most out of the buddy relationship between Bowen and Draco. Cohen also provides imaginative battle sequences, especially a pursuit through a forest. But the script, credited to Charles Edward Pogue from a story by Pogue and Patrick Read Johnson, sometimes veers into the obscure. [28 May 1996]

First-time director Ben Bolt, son of writer Robert Bolt, evokes excitement with the gambling scenes, but the climactic shooting is poorly staged, and the epilogue is a letdown. [21 Oct 1987]

Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson suffer admirably as the farm couple, but their roles have no real dimension. [15 Jan 1985]

The creators of Superman III give us a picture puzzle of assorted plots that never meld coherently. [13 June 1983]

Besides the muddled story, the script is burdened with some of the clunkiest dialogue for a major film in recent memory. [3 Aug 1996]

Except for two or three explosive moments, the film plods along to the expectable, heartwarming climax, never achieving the potential of a new star in a time-proven role. [27 May 1985]

Buzz Kulik has directed some slam-bang chases, but their effectiveness is blunted by a script that meanders between the bounty hunter's missions and a boring relationship with his housemate (Kathryn Harrold), who is heavy with child. [12 Aug 1980]