Kevin Thomas

At times awkward and under-inspired, creating a question as to whether so gloomy and repugnant a tale was worth telling simply for its own sake.

Maybe if "Fluke," which might have been better as an animated feature, weren't such a lavish, big-deal production and closer to the modest level of the recent -- and pleasant little -- pig movie "Gordy," it wouldn't seem so overwhelmingly, at times even laughably, foolish. [02 Jun 1995, p.F6]

A hopelessly callow, leaden-paced attempt at film noir, is of interest only because it was directed and co-written by Francis Coppola's nephew, Christopher, and because it has a far more stellar cast than is usual for low-budget B pictures. [28 Feb 1994, p.F8]

This starry ensemble dazzles, but the film never comes fully alive until its climactic 20 minutes, which are deeply moving.

The whole point of this anemic venture is to get down and party, but it comes across as a pale passe carbon of "Animal House" that's not half as much fun.

[Figgis's] most venturesome, most personal - and least accessible film to date. If you open your mind and trust him completely, it's possible to experience the wrenching impact of this ravishingly beautiful and highly distinctive film.

It has a lively start and finish, but the middle could use less talk and more action--which is not to say it couldn't do with a much lower body count as well. Indeed, were it not for a big dollop of gratuitous violence, it would be more diverting and better crafted than most of the stuff filling up the screen in anticipation of the rest of the summer blockbusters.

Likely to cast its spell primarily on adolescent girls, while their elders might well find it more than a little tedious in its familiarity and artificiality.

Inspired by the Parker Brothers board game of the same name, Clue is more frenetic than funny, more strained than suspenseful or scary. In fact, it's not the least bit scary or suspenseful but instead quickly grows tedious. The more you struggle to keep track of the constantly multiplying plot developments, the harder it gets to care who did it. [13 Dec 1985, p.6]

Not quite the sum of its occasionally interesting parts. Most of its cast makes strong impressions, but the plot and motivation don't quite jell, resulting in a minor item that shows its star Troy Garity to good advantage.

Consistently entertaining and offers some sharp observations of the Latino experience.

Crocodile Dundee II is almost as much fun the second time around. As an adventure it's nothing special, yet it's an inspired and good-humored presentation of one of the freshest, most likable screen personalities to emerge in the past decade. [25 May 1988, p.1]

Director Bill Condon has a sense of style but a heavy hand with actors -- you can all but hear them telling themselves to hit their marks and punch out their lines. [20 Mar 1995, p.F2]

A fine mood piece with lots of atmosphere and boasts terrific performances from its stars.

Works well enough. It has a decided plus in its appealing young star, Amanda Bynes, last seen opposite Frankie Muniz in "Big Fat Liar."

A terrific action picture, fast-moving, studded with great stunts and smart enough not to take itself too seriously. Amid a plethora of high-minded, big-deal, year-end Oscar contenders, it offers a welcome contrast (and respite).

Intent on offering viewers a good time yet manages to sneak in considerable substance in a disarming, even old-fashioned manner.

An exceptionally touching and provocative love story. [15 January 1999, Calendar, p. F-4]

A rousing example of Bollywood-style pure escapist entertainment.

This is a demanding, intelligent film of considerable complexity and of sufficient seriousness to justify its 128-minute running time.

Wickedly funny and subversive.

Iron Eagle has an unintended hilarity that builds and builds. But don't take this as one of those so-bad-it's-good endorsements: The film is a total waste of time.

While it's entertaining, it's not as persuasive as it needs to be to succeed fully.

Ready for a singing and dancing "Reservoir Dogs"?

It is amazing how writer-director Neil Turitz, a seasoned journalist, has taken the familiar ingredients of the spiky New York dating game movie and made them seem so fresh and original, filled with individuals acutely detailed and compassionately observed.

A clever and lively action-adventure with a warm sense of humor and smart dialogue that allows for an affectionate and fleet-footed satire of the classic elements of the Bond franchise.

Ritter, Dawber and Jones are skilled comedians, and director Peter Hyams typically handles large-scale entertainments with aplomb. But it’s hard to see how anyone could have made anything out of something as flat as Stay Tuned.

This Orion release has the usual quota of violence for urban exploitation pictures, but its people have been drawn with exceptional dimension. Amid the mayhem, wit and emotion develops; "The Substitute," handsomely photographed by Bruce Surtees, actually has more on its mind than just bone-crunching. [19 Apr 1996, p.F8]

At once corny and precious, its humor seems too heavily ethnic to travel well.

Village of the Damned is a good-looking, well-wrought film with some knockout special effects, some dark humor and crisp portrayals.

Handsome but overly studied. [09 Mar 1986, p.5]

The bleak absurdity of its predicaments cries out for a tone of pitch-dark comedy to stave off the unintended laughter that it is virtually certain to elicit.

Unfunny rather than outrageous as intended.

A dense, faithful and absorbing adaptation of the Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel. [08 Nov 1996]

If you have the feeling you've already seen Surviving the Game you may very well have, for it's basically the same story as Hard Target. That film may not have been top-drawer John Woo, but alongside Surviving the Game, it's a masterpiece. [18 Apr 1994, p.F3]

A well-crafted film, and it must be said that its actresses, in being prepared to come close to baring all for art, reveal stunning figures and perform scorching routines.

Dust is a bust, a big bad movie of the scope, ambition and bravura that could be made only by a talented filmmaker run amok.

Even if it lingers a bit too long, White Chicks represents a solid accomplishment for the crowd-pleasing Wayans brothers.

No effort has been stinted in polishing this painfully derivative picture as if it were a diamond instead of strictly paste. Director Thomas Carter keeps things moving, Fred Murphy's camera work gleams, but at three minutes short of two hours, "Metro" seems drawn-out and wearying. Well, here's something, at least: It does leave you mildly curious as to why the bad guy is called Michael Korda--the very name of a noted author and editor in his own right.

There are moments in Kaena that are absorbing, but too much of the time it simply becomes tedious.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie brings the popular TV series to the screen with a barrage of spectacular special effects, a slew of fantastic monsters, a ferociously funny villain--and, most important, a refreshing lack of pretentiousness.

Michael S. Ojeda's film is so relentlessly shallow and excessive that it hardly matters whether Lana is eventually able to turn the tables on Darko. When it rains in Lana's Rain, it pours -- and what comes out is trash.

Ichaso moves easily between a black-and-white past and a full-color present, maintaining a pace as buoyant and rhythmic as the beat of the infectious Latin music that accompanies the film.

It's handsome, large-scale escapist fare - and has as its costar the formidable, versatile Kristin Scott Thomas.

There's a genuine attempt in Gleaming the Cube to deal with the impact the loss of a brother has upon a likable, footloose teen-ager. Unfortunately, the conventions of the action-adventure/youth-flick genres prevail. The result is an exploitation picture with a little something extra--lots of awesome skateboard wizardry, culminating in a speed-of-lightning chase sequence, in which skateboards are pitted against cars.

Dazzling visually but is flattened by corny dialogue better suited to the 1936 "Flash Gordon" serial, a needlessly hard to follow plot and heavy-handed exposition clotted with pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo.

Lawrence is a no-holds-barred stand-up comedian who gets away with the strongest, most graphic language because he is so funny and because he makes himself the object of so much of his humor.

A skilled heart-tugger from Australia that verges on rock opera.

Grand fantasy, in which Brendan Fraser and stylish design and energetic special effects play off one another for maximum fun.

An elegant tale of romantic obsession weighed down by a needlessly convoluted plot that yields far more confusion than psychological suspense.

Paris 36 has a beguilingly authentic sound and offers a blend of impassioned sentiment and harsh, even brutal grit

A dreary title for an even drearier picture.

While her latest, It's a Wonderful Afterlife, is affectionate and energetic, its comic premise seems too silly, and at times, too tedious, to hope for much cross-cultural appeal, despite a fine, committed cast.

Nick Nolte and Martin Short make a frequently hilarious odd couple, but the film itself is shamelessly sentimental and often slapdash.

She has something to say to everyone, and one can only hope that she is preaching to more than her choir of devoted fans.

Has a charming, skittish quality, and Lewis finds pathos and humor in his characters' often painful search for love.

Lacks freshness and vitality.

Double Impact offers two Jean-Claude Van Dammes for the price of one, and for fans of the Belgian-born martial arts star, it delivers the goods. It’s a solid, fast-moving action-adventure set largely in Hong Kong, which is dynamically photographed by Richard Kline.

There's probably sufficient energy and violence in RoboCop 3 to satisfy undemanding action fans, but it's as mechanical as its cyborg hero.

A clever and adroit B picture with A virtues, starting with its ensemble cast.

Highly problematical. The trouble with "Trouble" is one of temperament. Denis' formality and seriousness make the horror genre a risky business for her, especially when sex is combined with outrageous gore.

As an exploitation picture, Das Experiment is mindlessly potent; subtitles are no guarantee of sophistication and subtlety.

This Gramercy release, expertly aimed at youthful audiences, is another instance of an exceedingly elementary plot played against production design and special effects of awe-inspiring imagination and sophistication.

Suspenseful and ultimately unpredictable, with a sterling ensemble cast.

A potent mixture of sentiment and grit, and it showcases the talents of its young principals.

First-time writer-director Renée Chabria's sincerity and commitment to Sueño are so complete they override its sentimental streak and some overly familiar plotting.

Certainly sexy, entertaining and provocative -- in several senses of the word -- but it's also tiresome as only a French film can be when everyone in it has only sex and amour on his or her mind and is deadly serious about both.

Adds up to a carefully crafted romantic drama of considerable insight and emotional impact that provides Lopez an acting challenge she meets with ease.

The martial-arts sequences are zesty, a description that applies to this well-crafted movie as a whole.

Except for that music and a bit of the acting, Swing Kids is unsatisfactory from just about every point of view. [05 Mar 1993]

Under Tierney's admirably low-key, unexploitative direction all his actors are memorable and never seem to be acting. Twist is decidedly dark but consistently engaging.

Sufficiently original and engaging to be called merely "Havana Nights" but will no doubt get a boost by the reference to the popular 1987 "Dirty Dancing."

A breezy, well-paced diversion, amusing rather than scintillating yet clearly personal.

Dr. Giggles is one horror comedy that actually is laugh-out-loud funny, a fast and frequently hilarious collision of gore and gags, and a tour de force of smart, sophisticated exploitation filmmaking. It’s an exciting feature directorial debut for Manny Coto.

Writer Mark Saltzman and director Charles T. Kanganis do a fine job of keeping things happening and moving in an easy yet highly kinetic fashion. Although aimed at children, this smart-looking TriStar release is actually more inventive and better-paced than many a comedy for adults.

An L.A. neo-noir raised to an insufferable degree of artiness.

A broad and stale British crime comedy that wastes the considerable talent and presence of Minnie Driver.

Virtuosity is a sleek, brutal techno-thriller that generates nonstop action, but for at least some of us the fun is spoiled by its numbing body count and murky story line.

The film is perhaps best enjoyed as a minor work with some major pluses, notably in the characterizations and in their adroit portrayals.

Creepshow 2 is a cut-rate sequel from those two popular masters of horror, Stephen King and George Romero, that plays like leftovers. Fans of both deserve better. The second--and the only one of the three stories that King has published--is the best. This vignette is effective because it's simple and suspenseful, but it's not enough to carry the whole movie.

Not since The Heretic tried to follow up The Exorcist has there been so dismal a sequel as Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.

A terrific theatrical feature debut for television veterans Glen Morgan and James Wong.

A routine, mildly funny service comedy. [01 Mar 1996, p.F6]

Zany, exuberantly irreverent animated space adventure.

Misfires badly as both an entertainment and a message movie.

Works against its goals.

A picture with possibilities and an attractive star performance from James Garner that's among his best, but Marvin J. Chomsky's blunt, straight-on direction flattens out the film as surely as if it had been run over by the Sherman tank of its title. [28 Aug 1988, p.5]

Eating Out 2 is sweet-natured, but like the first edition, lame and way too talky.

A clever teen thriller with intricate plotting, deft characterizations, sharp ensemble performances and a darkly ironic twist at the end.

It's a persuasive spiritual journey, sentimental at times but never hopelessly cloying.

A tiresome addiction drama.

An unalloyed delight, bright and breezy escapist fare that's pure entertainment, filled with romance, adventure, humor, action, suspense, beautiful scenery and beautiful people.

Unlike pornography, it takes place in a recognizably real world. It is a much better film than "9 1/2 Weeks," which King wrote and produced. [2 May 1988, p.5]

It's a laff riot that also contains a torrent of scathing social satire that couldn't be more timely in light of the dismantling of affirmative action.

Gwynne is the anchoring presence as a classically dry, laconic New Englander who seems to know some terrible secret. Elliot Goldenthal has composed a helpfully ominous score, as moody as vintage Bernard Herrmann, and Peter Stein's cinematography is superbly varied, from the bright hues of a glossy magazine to the dark shadows of the charnel house. No question about it, Pet Sematary is a handsomely produced film.

Director Nora Ephron and her co-writers, sister Delia plus Pete Dexter and Jim Quinlan (the latter two wrote the original story), bring a smart contemporary sensibility to the hokum, hilarity and heart-tugging that have made for many a classic Hollywood entertainment.

In regard to Franc. Reyes' engrossing and utterly uncompromising Empire let it be said right at the top that the protean John Leguizamo, last seen as Toulouse-Lautrec in "Moulin Rouge," gives one of the best performances of the year in a lead role in an American movie.

Despite its dollops of good-natured humor and sentiment, Blow Dry is likely to play better on the tube as a likable-enough diversion.

A work of such charm and imagination it should enchant, as the old circus phrase goes, "children of all ages."

Morbid, silly and ultra-violent, Stephen King's Sleepwalkers is pure trash from the popular horrormeister. It is so bad that surely the only way that it could have been made was to have King's name on it.

A gentle film yet develops increasing dramatic tension beneath its easygoing, fair-minded surface.

As a thriller it has its moments, as a romance it's sometimes touching, but as a comedy it's too often a bust.

It was shrewdly written by Forrest Smith and directed crisply by Paul Abascal (Gibson's onetime hairdresser) for maximum visceral impact upon the susceptible.

Over the years the movies have made precious little use of the distinctive talents of Eartha Kitt, but adults who accompany children to Ernest Scared Stupid, Disney's silly Halloween kiddie horror comedy, can be grateful for her stylish, witty presence.

A lame, tedious comedy.

A moderately diverting thriller that builds suspense and entertains effectively... strongest selling point is Charlize Theron.

Reback's script has real substance and perception, with Alex and Isabel emerging as individuals of depth and dimension, and their story is told with humor, passion and wit.

Chan defies time and gravity with remarkable energy, ease and resourcefulness, not to mention charm and humor. He even gets away with a nude scene, not bad for man who turns 50 in April.

The number of characters makes Rugrats Go Wild somewhat bulkier than its less complicated predecessors, but fans are not likely to mind.

Starts out as such a deliciously savage satire of TV kiddie shows that it's a shame it swerves out of control and over the top, sliding into tedium before pulling together for a clever, if protracted, finish.

Smart, stylish and, most important, satisfying.

Synthetic, strained and noisy, Yours, Mine & Ours is a clinker that doesn't bear comparison with the original. Quaid, Russo and others deserve better.

A tedious, frenetic and sour business in which humans and Martians alike are all pretty stupid, except for the local sheriff’s pretty, peace-loving daughter (Ariana Richards). Even the special effects aren’t anything special.

Has the great sleek, dark look of its predecessors and, most important, it has Snipes.

The Specials is an unfortunate name for a film that's anything but.

The film's locales have an appealing authentic feel to them, and everything from decor to music contributes to making Looking for an Echo an appealing heart-tugger.

The horror sequel is less philosophical than the original, but it's just as intelligent.

It's fast, light and funny and not top-heavy with special effects and epic-scale destruction.

Writer-director Todd Stephens set out to make the raunchiest gay teen movie ever, which this picture most certainly is, but the result is far more frenetic than funny.

Despite its large scale, it plays like a formula TV movie. [14 Feb 1986, p.C4]

Tremendous energy, outrageous humor, dazzling technical finesse -- and a numbing amount of violence, brutality, bloodshed and all-out savagery. It is downright depressing to think about all that vigorous cinematic artistry and expertise aimed so low.

Although Travolta is as smooth as ever, the picture is a bust, a grimly unfunny comedy with no connection to reality, and worst of all, running on and on for two dismal hours.

Finally too derivative and sensational for its own sake to work.

Far from great, and this off-putting French romantic comedy is sure to test severely the indulgence of fans of "Amélie."

Laborious in the unfolding of its plot, and under Sam Weisman's brash direction the unabashed amorality of the material is crass rather than sly in tone.

The number of clearly talented individuals who committed themselves to the folly of The Living Wake were fearless too.

Opens explosively and never lets up.

The result is a deliberate conflation of fact and fiction that yields unexpected emotional impact.

Often rowdy and uproarious, the film also has surprising depth and subtext.

An ambitious and intelligent film probing that chronic contemporary phenomenon, the seemingly senseless crime, but it is ultimately unsatisfying for all its efforts and various pluses.

It is difficult to imagine anyone but Spheeris pulling off this movie, undercutting all mawkishness, bringing to it nuance and shading, not to mention wit. The result is an enjoyable family movie.

It's an all-out horror film--handsomely produced but morbid and not in the least amusing to watch.

A lightweight popcorn movie, hardly the scariest of the year but with enough jolts to be satisfying. Writer Richard Jefferies' solid script emphasizes character and psychology over plot and provides Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone with engaging, multidimensional starring roles.

Merhige understands how exciting going to the edge of credibility can be without falling off, and he has the bravura talent and imagination needed to pull off the sheer, hurtling audacity of Suspect Zero.

While “Firewalker” isn’t as elaborate or sophisticated as the Spielberg-Lucas hit, it is fun, and Norris is loosened up and laid back as never before; just like Garbo, he really can laugh. But never fear, he’s still the man to have on your side in a barroom brawl.

The disastrous new version of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau" at least affords Marlon Brando a grand entrance and a great comic portrayal. [23 Aug 1996, p.F12]

Begins as a captivating romantic comedy and then, at the very moment it's most involving, takes a wholly gratuitous and disastrous swerve and just keeps on going from bad to worse.

The heart of the movie, however, is the dancing, which is as spontaneous as it is spectacular, incorporating considerable gymnastics.

Since the humor in Moving never rises above the level of a stale sitcom, the film defeats proven comedy director Alan Metter and even its star, Richard Pryor, stuck in the squarest, most strait-jacketed role of his career.

A provocative though murky thriller from the horrormeister that's heavy on gore and laced with more irony than perhaps intended. It's far from first-rate King, but his fans probably will feel it delivers the gory goods. Best of all, it affords a big star role for Miguel Ferrer, a fine and distinctive actor.

It is an inept, inane Mafia comedy with a gay angle, all the more insufferable because director Kristen Coury and writer Joseph Triebwasser clearly think they're being wonderfully cute and clever.

There might have been a better, more involving method of telling Hoffman's story, but it is expressed with a firm sense of commitment to accuracy and authenticity.

Perfectly pleasant if slightly pokey comedy.

A trite psychological thriller -- all buildup and no payoff, a mystery that essentially offers only two alternative solutions, which diminishes the element of surprise and strings the viewer along way past caring which possibility proves to be true.

At once a sexy soap opera, at times lurid and bathetic, and also a gritty cautionary tale made by a filmmaker honest enough to have it both ways.

This documentary-like realism, alas, only underlines the preposterousness of its plot with its torrent of contrived, credibility-defying cliffhangers.

Julie Davis' story is fresh and amusing.

These characters, which Perry worked into the narrative from other stage performances, may have been entertaining in those venues, but they undermine the film.

Constant shifts between past and present and between individual stories creates varying perspectives that add dimension and insight to material that might play tritely if presented in straightforward narrative form.

A decently crafted, standard Mafia blood bath with a few new wrinkles and an aura of authenticity.

For the uninitiated it is a revelation, and for the aficionado it will surely be a special treat. Its every frame is an expression of love for the music, the underground club scene, its creators and its patrons.

A lively, good-looking kiddie action comedy best left to those under 10. Although their attention may wander, parents can be grateful that there's some substance as well as fun in this Disney release, for martial arts is presented as a matter of defense rather than aggression, emphasizing that it is a matter of mind and spirit as well as body and requiring resourcefulness and discipline.

A nod to Fellini--and that "half" turns out to be a typically dark Greenaway twist. Yet this film, one of Greenaway's most amusing and accessible, actually arrives at moments of tenderness, even love, fleeting though they may be.

Unfortunately, Belly is highly uneven. Williams comes from music videos and knows all about flashy techniques. His sure sense of the visual reveals potential, but he needs to learn to tell a story far more coherently. [04 Nov 1998, p.F2]

In short, writer Robert Mark Kamen gave director Avildsen and his cast too little to work with for The Karate Kid Part III to have gone into production in the first place.

Production notes for Mark Hanlon's Buddy Boy describe it as "a dark and twisted exploration of faith, alienation and madness"--and is it ever!

A gem of a romantic crime comedy that turns out to be clever, amusing and unpredictable.

For all its decadence, it moves effectively from outrageous camp humor to stark pathos and in the process manages to be oddly touching. As for Culkin, he succeeds as an adult actor in completely unexpected ways.

Rourke and Johnson are worthy of better, as is Australian director Simon Wincer, best known for his Emmy-winning direction of the miniseries Lonesome Dove.

Director Rosser Goodman makes the crucial decisions facing Trevor suspenseful and involving -- and tinged with humor as well as pathos.

An intimate, small-scale movie in the nicest sense.

As audacious as it is compelling and as dark as it is erotic. Its sexuality is explicit, alternately teasing and brutal, and one that is ultimately a cautionary tale.

This sleek and sunny comedy is an all-too-rare example of smart and inventive Hollywood filmmaking.

Even with satisfying performances from the principal actors, Poster Boy is longer on energy than focus.

Takes us down a familiar path without discovering anything new along the way.

For all the soaring visual splendor of its past, present and future, it's hobbled by a murky plot that proves to be not all that original once it starts unraveling.

Striking Distance opens and closes with a pair of jolting high-speed chases, the first over Pittsburgh streets, the second over the rivers that encircle the city’s center. In between is a lively mystery thriller that hurtles past plot contrivances and unintended laughs to deliver the goods as a satisfying escapist diversion. Like a paperback purchased at an airport just before you board a plane, it serves well its time-killing purpose but isn’t designed to stand up under close scrutiny.

A fine example of digital filmmaking, and Weintrob and his co-writer, Andrew Osborne, manage to raise some serious issues regarding the Internet without taking themselves too seriously.

An admirably ambitious political satire but is stronger on soundtrack narration than on-camera dramatization.

Not everyone, for sure, is going to be able or willing to go the distance in this ambitious but exceedingly offbeat epic, which is great-looking and has a sweeping romantic score by Hartley himself.

Writer Neil Tolkin and director Greg Beeman, both in their theatrical feature debuts, and Haim whisk you back to that awful period in your teens when you're finishing up driver education and applying for your first license. They make you remember the shame of having to have your mother chauffeur you, dropping you off a block away from wherever you're going so nobody will know your terrible secret. [06 July 1988, p.4]

In his knockout directorial debut writer Kevin Williamson taps into such universal memories with his shrewd and energetic dark comedy.

A venturesome, beautifully realized psychological mood piece that reveals its first-time feature director's understanding of the expressive power of the camera.

Produced and directed by Mark DiSalle, an alumnus of the Van Damme movies Kickboxer and Bloodsport, The Perfect Weapon moves well, and its many action and martial sequences are crisply staged. But unless you are a die-hard martial-arts fan, be prepared to be thoroughly bored by such a strictly by-the-numbers plot.

Lacks the sharpness and sophistication necessary for it to appeal beyond Indian audiences.

Pet Sematary II, which is too gruesome for grammar school youngsters and too easily laughed off for most high schoolers, ought to be a big hit among the junior high crowd. Not nearly as scary as the 1989 original, it nonetheless expresses and attempts to resolve in bold mythological terms the anxieties of being 13.

Mildly entertaining, offering generous swaths of Mahler performed by the Bratislava Philharmonic, but it's also inescapably ponderous.

A sensitively told story of first love that could have been more affecting with a little more grit and without so mawkish a score.

Matt Dillon and Andrew McCarthy are engaging, but David Stevens’ overly conventional direction lacks the style to bring freshness and punch to Spencer Eastman’s complicated and drawn-out script.

Degrading, disgusting and depressing.

As has happened before in less extreme circumstances, filmmakers with purportedly serious intentions punish their viewers for watching their envelope-pushing depiction of sex on the screen by presenting it in the most profoundly negative context imaginable.

Carpenter's heart doesn't seem to be in this lackluster space adventure set in 2176. What's more, his stars -- Natasha Henstridge and Ice Cube -- don't exactly energize the proceedings.

Broken Sky is that increasing rarity, a film that is fully realized visually. Keeping dialogue at a minimum, Hernández and inspired cinematographer Alejandro Cantú create a constant interplay between light and shadow, movement and stillness, dramatic spaces of architectural grandeur and intimate enclosures to evoke the ever-shifting emotions of an all-consuming first love.

Hilarious, acutely knowing.

It is a slack and preachy business that never comes to grips with its underlying theme of homophobia.

What's wrong with Megiddo is not its good-versus-evil theme but the clunky, unpersuasive manner in which it has been expressed.

Besson's restored Big Blue proves mystical, intriguing.

Eichmann, in all its solemnity, needs to be more dynamic; the film's portentous score further weighs it down.

A light comedy, pure and simple (and hardly unfamiliar), but its makers sustain its energy through the unraveling of an intricate plot and bring to it a certain edge through a witty, sharp sense of observation.

Has lots of energy and a sensational villainess, Divatox (Hilary Shepard Turner), whose fashion tips come from Ming the Merciless and who has been given all the film's sharpest lines.

You can't help but feel that Disney has delivered a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Posey and Moore's portrayals are among their career bests, and Torn is at once comical and poignant while Ellen Barkin, as his woozy, drugged-out girlfriend embraces deglamorization with a vengeance.

Fast and raunchy, Friday After Next surely stands apart from other holiday-themed movies for its gleeful low-down humor and a raft of uninhibited characters involved in one outrageous predicament after another.

In this sleek but grisly and far-fetched thriller of the supernatural, [Resnikoff] means to terrify us but winds up leaving us merely numb, the usual effect of contrived exploitation fare. [09 Apr 1990, p.F6]

When it comes to special effects, the filmmakers have spared no expense. But when it comes to the story, audiences have been shortchanged.

So laughably awful that it begs to have stones thrown at it; it's a wonder it got made at all.

As awful as the original was inspired.

A dull, routine action-adventure in which the suspense is mechanical at best. Although there are a couple of gory moments, those expecting the jolts director Sean Cunningham brought to the original "Friday the 13th" are sure to be disappointed.

Well-paced and solidly crafted.

A fright show artfully designed for the whole family, a comedy that all but the most impressionable children will likely get a kick out of.

While Major Payne is too predictable for most adults, it's an ideal entertainment for youthful audiences that allows Damon Wayans to be at his best in a dream part.

All the ways in which the killer’s evil spreads and manifests itself are consistently dazzling. The trouble is that they show up the film’s human relationships as drab and conventional in comparison.

Quickly becomes silly and tedious.

While Black Sheep isn't as consistently funny as the Farley-Spade debut feature, "Tommy Boy," it's a crowd-pleaser directed with maximum energy and panache by Penelope Spheeris, who's just the person you need to make material funnier than it really is.

Could be a tough go for those not already Scooby-Doo fans. It has a totally artificial quality, starting with Prinze's blond wig.

Despite a capable cast and attractive Baton Rouge, La., locales photographed by Bobby Bukowski, The Ledge suffers from a seriously flawed script that's just too implausible to be taken seriously.

With Men at Work actor-writer-director Emilio Estevez has turned out a pleasant, knockabout comedy for himself and brother Charlie Sheen. While it may not be the funniest picture you'll see all year, it is fresh, inventive and has very few moments when it's not generating laughs. [27 Aug 1990, p.F10]

Surprise after surprise follows in this increasingly dark comedy, which is loaded with sharp observations and exceptionally complex characterizations.

Transfixed is a solid, engaging example of how a genre plot can illuminate a marginalized world.

A family comedy that is actually involving, even believable, and manages to be pretty funny too.

Ah, what glorious casting!

Ethan Hawke, in his feature directorial debut, has brought Nicolette Burdette's play to the screen with fluid grace and a perfect blend of dreaminess and grit, expressed in camerawork that seems to float and in Jeff Tweedy's shimmering, gently insistent score.

In her feature debut, Zeig, -- displays confidence and style aplenty.

In Just One Time, sexual fantasy gives way to a consideration of values without being heavy-handed. Janger draws winning performances from everyone.

Evokes the fear, anger and conflict that swept over the country at the time, but it doesn't offer sufficient fresh insights to justify doing so.

An elegant Merchant Ivory production, it is too slight and perhaps too precious. But it will be a witty pleasure for admirers of its grande dames: Dianne Wiest, Jane Birkin and Bulle Ogier.

A numbskull comedy about a couple of guys (Rob Morrow, Johnny Depp) on the make at a resort hotel.

However visually striking, this Australian film is ultimately as tedious as it is derivative.

Although the film's narrative line sometimes proves hard to follow, and some of the songs heard on the soundtrack seem to have little to offer beyond sheer noise, Kill Me Later is a gem, even if a little rough around the edges.

A Kid in King Arthur's Court, which has a zesty, lilting score by J.A.C. Redford, is enlivened by solid portrayals all around, headed by the likable Nicholas and the veteran Ackland, whose imposing presence and majestic voice make both a credible yet wistful and vulnerable Arthur. [11 Aug 1995, p.F4]

A swift and amusing martial-action, adventure-horror picture with a bold, larger-than-life comic-book sensibility and richly atmospheric production design.

A heart-tugging comedy-adventure that's in the spirit of the holiday season.

Hilary Duff can't rise above an overbearing script with underdeveloped roles.

A giddy, slight Latina-lib comedy.

Tthe film is all of a piece, a handsome, thoughtfully crafted production that generates a mounting terror securely anchored by assured performances, consistent psychological persuasiveness and believable dialogue. What's most chilling about The Stepfather is that it was inspired by an actual incident in New Jersey in 1971.

Landon's sardonic view of human nature and deft filmmaking skills - plus a raft of sharp portrayals - keep the viewer from pondering the preposterousness of certain situations and instead encourages going along with the fun.

A film that takes a steadfastly gentle look at some of life's harshest moments while not overlooking its joys, House of D deserves a chance to find an audience.

Gene Hackman, bristling with wit and energy, is at his amusing best in the robust comedy.

The film is loud and labored--its sense of adventure kicking in so late that it scarcely matters. [12 Feb 1999, p.F15]

Warrick finds subliminal messaging in political campaigns, military operations and even in the music played in big box stores. Warrick is also rightly concerned by the power of media conglomerates to manipulate the news.

Melts swiftly...don't expect a shred of credibility.

The most you can say for Police Academy 3: Back in Training is that it's no worse than "Police Academy 2" -- which was awful. [24 Mar 1986, p.Cal-7]

Although you could certainly wish that Seagal and his writers, Ed Horowitz and Robin U. Russin, could have found less preachy ways to express themselves, On Deadly Ground is otherwise lively entertainment for action fans.

Starts encouragingly and finishes strongly with a twist, but the middle is weighed down by too much discourse when it should be visually evoking its ideas and developing its mood of unease.

Let It Ride looks good in a low-key way, and Giorgio Moroder's eclectic, funky mood-setting score is crucial in helping maintain tone as well as pace. [21 Aug 1989]

The film is a terrific scare show, fast and furious, made with a lot of style and energy, packing plenty of jolts yet never lingering morbidly over horrific images. It is anchored in strong characterizations, and its plot develops with chilling psychological suspense. It's such a skillfully made entertainment that its plunge into the supernatural is persuasive even for the skeptical.

It's too labored and ponderous to qualify as a so-bad-it's-good amusement. Original Sin is merely an old-fashioned bore.

Despite strong portrayals by Guttenberg and his co-star, Lombardo Boyar, and sequences that attempt to open the play up, it remains too much a filmed play, and worse, one that has not been effectively paced. As a result, it doesn't come alive until it's drawing to a close that's unexpectedly touching, if more than a little sentimental, but too late to redeem the preceding tedium.

Uptown Girls is more downer than upper.

Likely to be best appreciated by dedicated sci-fi fans, admirers of Dick in particular. It hasn't the stupendous razzle-dazzle of a mega-budget picture like "A.I. Artificial Intelligence."

Turns out to be a thudding dud, crammed with clunky dialogue, bad acting and gruesome but unpersuasive gore. Mindhunters will pass muster with only the most undemanding horror fans.

All the ingredients of a success--a stellar cast, a promising premise, a strong production team--but nothing comes together in satisfying fashion.

Familiar but winningly funny and good-hearted.

By the time this astute and entirely distinctive film is over, the folly of America's love affair with guns, past and present, is laid bare with the same inescapable force with which Gregg Araki exposed the horror of child molestation in "Mysterious Skin," a similarly poetic and deceptively affectless film.

The picture is never less than pleasant -- but it's not more than that often enough.

You may want to take a chance on this new Out-of-Towners because of its stars, but keep in mind that while its characters take chances, the picture itself plays it awfully safe. [2 April 1999, Calendar, p.F-12]

Class of 1999 swiftly short-circuits on unspeakable, incessant brutality and bloodshed.

Moves smoothly amid a near-perfect period evocation, captured in an array of shifting moods.

A skillfully made teen comedy with such an endearing sensibility that it's fun even for those old enough to be the grandparents of its stars.

At a time when crassness and dumbing down pervade popular entertainment, especially movies aimed at youthful audiences, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen dares to be smart.

Garmento has nothing going for it. First-time writer-director Michele Maher spent three years working in Manhattan's fashion industry...her attempts at satire are feeble and trite, and her stereotypical characters are without interest.

A wonderfully entertaining, raunchy, hilarious and savage foray into the lives of a couple of beat-up middle-weight boxers who get a second chance.

Sweet-natured but hopelessly confused. [3 March 1989, p.6-10]

A big fast bust.

The look of the film is great, the soundtrack glorious, but more often than not the dialogue is atrocious, featuring a lot of long-winded gobbledygook.

Deeply felt but flat and unimaginative.

As ingenious and lively as the original film.

An expertly designed theme park ride of a movie that packs nonstop thrills.

Moving from tragedy to tragedy, the film teeters along unsteadily, showing events we've seen countless times before and then imploding under the weight of its ridiculous ending.

Smart, amiable and well-paced, and director Tony Goldwyn brings to it an all-too-rare buoyancy and breeziness.

The "crime" was that it was made in the first place and the "punishment" is having to watch it.

Pirates has its sly, funny moments, but ironically ends up a work by a sophisticated film maker that may be best left to the least demanding audiences.

A modest pleasure that accomplishes its goals with ease and confidence.

It has more hilarious throwaway lines than most comedies offer up as their best jokes, and it is consistently inspired, energetic and, most important, light on its feet.

From frame one Showtime displays an ingenuity, cleverness and briskness that never flags.

Whitney takes having it both ways to new heights -- depths is perhaps more like it. He satirizes reality TV while showing total nudity and at times carrying sex to the verge of soft-core porn. As titillating and energetic as the film is, it is also rather sad because it reveals what aspiring actors will endure for what they apparently regard as an opportunity.

What ensues is so glum and disjointed that the film becomes an even bigger mess.

The ending is a little too neat and smacks of wishful thinking, but Paige has created an engaging and insightful entertainment with considerably more substance than most small-budget, independent gay films.

A painfully anemic variation on John Landis' 1981 winner, "An American Werewolf in London." While the original had both wit and poignancy--and an affectionate and knowing tip-of-the-hat to werewolf movies past--this slapdash, silly new edition is so cut-rate it has Luxembourg and Amsterdam standing in for the City of Light.

Not exactly terrible, merely stale and pointless.

Even more feeble than the 1987 original.

While clunky in pacing -- and in periodic attempts at humor -- Green Card Fever has been well-photographed by Scott Spears and makes some provocative points.

Clever and diverting dark comedy.

The endless gore and violence make the experience torturous -- and not just for the victims in the movie.

They never generates any real fear until its last minutes, by which time it is too late to redeem the dull events that preceded them.

No place for literalists, but Ferrera fans should be pleased with this tale.

A total waste of time.

It is ultimately more routine than provocative, despite the timeliness and seriousness of the issues it raises.

Although competently acted and directed, lacks a fresh point of view and its people lack individuality.

Amiably glossy if naggingly old-fashioned.

Stirring, often tragic yet hopeful, In Search of Peace benefits from its eloquent narrator Michael Douglas, and from the voices of Edward Asner, Anne Bancroft, Richard Dreyfuss, Miriam Margolyes and Michael York.

A small picture of many satisfactions.

The day-to-day realities, especially economic, of Sonny and Jewel's lives could have been more fully detailed to good effect, and Cage might have also have risked setting off the tenderness of his storytelling with an edgier style. Even so, few films take the viewer by surprise with such emotional impact as Sonny.

A funny, raucous action comedy, effectively teams Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn in a film that's both laugh out loud funny and surprisingly subtle.

It holds its audience hostage for an unconscionable 111 minutes with a rambling, unfunny, thickly sentimental comedy that plays like third-rate Frank Capra. [02 Dec 1994, p.F6]

It makes clearer much that was so vague in the original; it even jokes about how confusing its premise is. In short, audiences who made the first film successful enough to warrant a second will be getting a bit more for their money.

The result is a movie that's hard to laugh at when its hero would surely be either in jail or perhaps even a mental institution were he to behave the way he does on screen in real life.

To consider Harry and Max as being about incestuous feelings would be shortchanging it, because the film is really about the evolving nature of love and the need to define it.

It's increasingly hard to work up a fright on the screen these days, but even if The Cave doesn't exactly terrify, it's fun and looks great.

It unflinchingly illuminates the toll exacted by the Iraq War in a raw, deeply personal and completely compelling manner.

Has sufficient mayhem to please Diesel's action fans while allowing the star to reach out to family audiences.

Maxwell has populated his film with paragons rather than people. Worse, they talk and talk and talk; this film is in danger of talking itself to death before the Union and the Confederacy are able to decimate each other.

Filmmaker Peter Rodger does a fairly comprehensive job of traversing the globe in 98 minutes, posing the age-old question, "What is God?"

It's no thigh-slapper like the Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School," but it's exceptionally good-natured and perceptive, and Harmon, in his first starring screen role, is a real charmer. [22 July 1987]

The only way the film could have had a prayer of working--and thereby tapping its stars' considerable strengths--is by taking a much harder edge and going for dark, even bleak humor.

Although awesome in its fantasy splendor, Legend has even less substance than Scott's last film, "Blade Runner." And whereas that detective thriller of the future offered a truly original vision, the look of Legend, as gorgeous as it is, seems a distillation of all the illustrations for all the fairy tales ever read to a child. [18 Apr 1986, p.C4]

An all-stops-out rabble-rouser that hurls a broadside at America's medical insurance crisis.

Always a welcome presence in any film, Howard, as a simple-minded hick, gives Blackwoods whatever humor and life it has.