Lisa Alspector

The characters have been designed to make fun of themselves, disguising the craft of writer Neil Cuthbert and director Kinka Usher in getting us to laugh at them.

Wastes most of its 110 minutes making impotent jokes about male sexual behavior and the repugnance of old women.

Slow, arty thriller.

The more pathetic the role, the more evident Robin Williams's conscientiousness--but his professionalism doesn't make this fantasy worthwhile.

Though the climax of the story is a little forced and sloppy, with both lovers behaving way out of character, this movie is aware enough of the conventions it's using that it's more moving than cloying.

Full of meaningless tragedies left unjustified by the absurdly optimistic ending .. (an) intolerable story.

Adam Sandler displays no virtuosity and stirs no pathos in this special-effects comedy.

Though the jokey lines seem out of place, the somber tone of this 1998 action movie makes the political subtext -- nearly obscured by the expected double crosses, extravagant destruction, and incongruous-buddies shtick -- more sincere and less grandiose than usual.

The running joke about coffee enemas will date this innocuous, crowd-pleasing adventure comedy.

The acting--especially Dreyfuss's ability to roll with the mood swings--is impressive if not redemptive.

The actors' serious faces are out of place in this hopelessly silly action conspiracy.

All this is accompanied by a too-emphatic pop sound track that turns almost every scene into a bad music video.

Beautifully regenerates the Jay Ward TV show its characters were based on.

A judicious mix of the lightly gory, the generously cartoonish, and the unexpectedly atmospheric makes for action that's scary yet unintimidating.

A better disaster movie than it is a thriller.

Plotted densely enough to make the lulls forgivable, this movie concerns a contract killer (Bruce Willis) who employs several small-business owners to craft his super-high-tech weapons and the many accessories that enable him to assume multiple identities.

Writer-director Peter Greenaway never uses narrative lightly...references to the act of filmmaking exhaust their impact pretty quickly.

It’s not the convoluted yet obvious plot of this 1998 drama about the domestic lives and criminal careers of two childhood friends (DMX and Nas) that draws you in—it’s the splendid visuals. Set mainly in New York City and Omaha, where these drug dealers do business according to their different ambitions, the movie is an image opera that deftly turns visual gimmicks into potent symbols.

Strives for comprehensive coverage of its theme of forbidden love.

The story is painfully slow.

Writer-director Mark Brown ruptures and restores the realism in this romantic comedy with ease, dispensing earnest wisdom with a little tongue in cheek instead of undermining it with a lot of irony.

Director Bruce Beresford -- not intending to be funny but succeeding wildly.

This realist fairy tale of impossible love has a fair amount of nuance and charm.

Its ponderous explanations about why there are vampires in Arizona in the new millennium (blah, blah, blah).

Sappy.

With minimalist and universal fantasies as their points of departure, the superheroic deeds evolve only incrementally beyond the realistic -- a deeply satisfying process.

The elaborate climax set in a Paris bakery is the least boring part of this trained-animal movie.

Intriguing but poorly executed ideas are the basis of this not entirely unappealing romantic comedy.