Desmond Ryan

The muddled huddle that is Necessary Roughness is one long fumble strewn with offensive lines.

Not up to the freshness and inventiveness of its predecessors.

The kind of saccharine exercise that ought to do wonders for the cause of atheism. [15 July 1994, p.03]

Cheerful mishmash.

No one has done the journey quite like Takeshi Kitano in Kikujiro

The formula in Chain Reaction is familiar, but at least it has been entrusted to a proven technician. [2 Aug 1996, p.03]

There's nothing in Jungle 2 Jungle that hasn't been treated with more flair and imagination in dozens of other movies. [07 Mar 1997, p.03]

The $40,000 budget of The Blair Witch Project wouldn't cover a day's limousine bill for a production like The Haunting, but if you want a genuine chill on a hot summer night, that - not this - is the horror movie for you. [23 July 1999, p.03]

A thriller is only as good as its villain is bad, and this is the film's problem.

Dumber sequels to dumb horror movies, such as the Friday the 13th series, are, of course, nothing new. [17 Mar 1995, p.06]

The comedy is usually silly, and - in keeping with the fare served up at these busy counters - often tasteless. The wiry Mitchell and the chubby Thompson may physically suggest such great teams as Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello, but - at this stage of their development - the resemblance ends there. [25 July 1997, p.04]

The stiff banalities and trite dialogue of the genre hardly suit his flamboyant comic style. And whatever life Murphy manages to bring to the few moments between crashes and explosions are done in by the lifeless, if beautiful, presence of Ejogo and the completely wasted talent of Michael Rapaport as his partner. Ejogo's London accent is gratingly out of place on the streets of San Francisco. So, too, is Murphy. [17 Jan 1997, p.03]

Younger children who might buy into the fantasy are not of an age where they will recognize the family conflicts that Jack Frost is trying to raise and resolve. As the film serves up slapstick, chases and empty-headed seriousness, don't be surprised by their puzzled expressions. After all, a profoundly puzzled expression is what should have greeted the idea of Jack Frost when it was broached. [11 Dec 1998, p.03]

As full of terrible acting as it is devoid of suspense.

Repetitive and tedious.

If Blow Dry isn't a rousing triumph on the order "of The Full Monty" and "Brassed Off," Rickman, Richardson and Nighy make sure it's a winning film.

Full of macho swagger and unabashed hero-worship.

Sorely needs the injection of skepticism - a quality that would have been even more useful when Pollack was mulling over doing Random Hearts in the first place.

Some movie-goers will be more annoyed than surprised by the finale.

An entertaining mess. [19 Aug 1994, p.03]

The kind of date movie that should do a lot to promote celibacy.

Has its moments of charm, but it's ultimately a fascinating failure that surely looked better on paper than it does on the screen.

Strictly for adventurous moviegoers, a peculiar experience -- a polemic that is at once watchable and repellent.

The film, which is amiable, undemanding family holiday entertainment, is more a tribute to the astonishing skills of the dog trainers than anything else.

No fewer than seven writers were recruited to create the story and screenplay for Major Payne, a textbook demonstation of how more can produce less - in this case, a comedy that has all the brio and wit of an army training manual on personal hygiene. [27 March 1995, p.D02]

The film is based on the popular video game, and plays as a pathetically incoherent attempt to accommodate all the characters kids want to see come to life on the big screen. [26 Dec 1994, p.E05]

Arnold has a gem for the third millennium in End of Days.

Consist of little more than people arguing or clambering in and out of dusty Land Rovers.