Friedkin still has it: The car chase is the best thing in the movie, though so unconnected to the plot it could have been added without changing Eszterhas' script a whit. But, that excitement over, the movie ultimately self-destructs in the matter of its own ending. [13 Oct 1995]

Here's hoping your own dreams of Africa are more interesting -- and better acted -- than this movie.

New York Minute isn't High Art, but it is highly entertaining, especially if you're a member of its target audience.

There's a dollop of charm and a deluge of formula in Sleepover.

This is a strange and indeed foolish film. [29 Apr 1994]

The Punisher punishes. That's what he does, and that's all this movie does.

There's nothing about The Wedding Date that isn't forced or labored; there's only a stubborn determination to embrace every cliche and make sure the stars photograph well.

By the end, it doesn't even have the courage of its political incorrectness.

Its effects don't linger long enough to seriously detract from the raunchy good time had by all.

Formless, feckless, mindless, directionless and at times stunningly humorless.

Benefits from an amiable chemistry between Harrelson and Banderas, and Davidovich always makes a good tough-as-nails dame with more smarts than any man will give her credit for.

Since that gifted, attractive performer is Hayden Panettiere, who has already won a wide following for "Heroes," it's a wonder that the studio hasn't been more heavily promoting her appearance in this decent, genial youth comedy. After all, she does play, ah, Beth Cooper.

Too bad this movie is more tepid than the average Snipes potboiler and even rustier than his mindless Blade pictures.

Beyond Borders keeps angling for a peace prize; it might have won more hearts and minds if it came together as a movie.

Scrambled space-time comedy that's as light and silly as it is erratic.

A souped-up roadster of a film, a relentless action flick that looks great and moves with more grace and speed than seems possible.

Alex & Emma is a literary-minded romantic comedy that barely passes English, and flunks chemistry.

This chick flick never should have made it out of the incubator.

Lane gives the film her best shot; she's pretty much the only reason to see it. There's an intelligence mixed with ferocity that makes her performance compelling, far-more-so than anything else in the film.

The best thing about Black Knight is when it finally says goodnight.

Humorous but much too predictable send-up of reality TV and the sheer banality of it all.

What kills Max Payne is that the characters think and feel in slow motion. Half the time, mentally, they're just running in place.

At least The Honeymooners is not one of those remakes that looks bad compared to the original. It's just bad, period.

Ephron's attempt at dark humor isn't a complete payoff overall in Lucky Numbers, but it doesn't fail either.

Instead of heightening the intrigue in this psychological thriller, the labored twists and out-of-leftfield turns will leave audiences more weary than wary.

The strong young cast keeps the film from being a total waste.

By the end, Pootie Tang feels as long as Kevin Costner's "Wyatt Earp."

Culkin is -- well, Culkin is Culkin, cute and malleable, absolutely empty, absolutely precious, absolutely irritating. [17 Jun 1994]

Quirky and enjoyable.

Jane Fonda coming back to the screen after a decade-and-a-half absence in Monster-in-Law is like Brando returning from the dead to star in a Police Academy movie.

To top it off, the ending is a clumsy cheat. Of course, I was rooting for the news gal to expire and the film to die a quick death.

Bomback's script is the worst thing a thriller can be - a flip-flopper, using quick character changes for plot twists. And Langenegger's direction rarely sustains a mood or tone, only a sleek veneer of luxury and knowingness.

Cheerful and unpretentious.

Fails to meld suspense and farce or to bring even the wildest pursuits and smash-ups any visual sense of comedy.

A modest comedy that does indeed stir a few chuckles out of its knuckleheaded trio of bad boys, it grows almost shockingly disturbing when it portrays armed robbery as amusing and the implicit death threat of the firearm as a joke. In this respect, it's the ugliest movie of the year. Or, no: It's merely the stupidest. [02 Dec 1994]

It's like an Indiana Jones movie without rhythm, wit or personality, just a desperate, headlong pace.

All Alexander proves in Punisher: War Movie is that a martial-arts-trained woman can make a film just as stupid, coarse and numbing as any muscle man.

Should make comic modern-day fanboys happy, what with its dark undertones, its beat-it-to-a-pulp action and its sly winks at comic greats past and present. Everyone else, including fans of Will Eisner's original Spirit, may find themselves wondering what all the fuss is about.

The two guys are potentially amusing but the screenplay is so naked in its manipulation of emotion that it feels infantile.

A hopeless pastiche of timeworn plotlines, hackneyed dialogue and stultifying direction; to call it amateurish is a slap in the face to amateurs everywhere.

Pious, high-minded and bad history.

How does an embarrassment of riches turn into mere embarrassment?

To his (Snipes) credit, there are few other stars who could breathe a degree of credibility into a film like The Art of War.

This kind of fiasco turns movie critics into so many Night Stalkers.

Dramatically, it's a ghoul's parade of grieving folk finding solace and then danger through a tenuous connection to the after-life.

Congratulations, Renny Harlin. You've successfully exorcised all the horror out of The Exorcist.

The movie goes awry from the opening shots.

Surprisingly funny, a deep-down-good-hearted take on that oldest of comedy conventions, the ill-prepared rube caught up in a situation that somehow never gets the best of him.

So, here's the problem with The Butterfly Effect: It's silly.

Malkovich acts as if he's doing Shakespeare, pontificating, enunciating and generally overreaching.

The story of the triumphant underdog is irresistible, even when every single plot point comes marching down Main Street.

If it weren't for a few genuine Chan novelties and the presence of the goofy Jennifer Love Hewitt, this much-delayed and re-edited mess would be a total loss.

A mess, but it means well.

A film made by people with more heart than skill.

As scary Halloween movies go, Thirteen Ghosts' "Oh, please" factor is pretty darn high.

Even in a world where stupidity mixed with cliche is all too often mistaken for humor, this movie barely meets expectations.

Bullock is so good, working hard to pull off the transition from grief-stricken wife and mother to reluctant time traveler, you want to pull for her. So it's possible - not easy, but possible - to overlook the script's inconsistencies.

Sttrictly movie-of-the-week stuff. And not very good stuff, at that.

Lame.

As a comic fable for hard times, New in Town is irredeemably moronic.

Timeline lacks potency, drive, wit and personality -- all the things that make escapism worthwhile.

What we have here is a film where the first 20 minutes are repeated again and again until everything comes to an absolutely predictable end.

A hackneyed psycho-sexual thriller with enough awkwardly executed Hitchcock references to qualify as a bad DePalma knock-off.

Method Man and Redman just don't have the comic timing to pull off 90 minutes at front-and-center.

Turns into an amusing showcase for two of Hollywood's most appealing young actors.

Here's my nomination for future grindhouse double-bill from hell: Pathfinder and "Apocalypto."

The material has a definite "haven't-we-been over-this-before?" feel.

Engaging though flimsy, lively though occasionally tone-deaf, it's a movie that thrives on the strength of its affable co-stars and a sense of adventure that provides just enough brio to get audiences through some energy-sapping rough spots.

All this might be forgivable if Just My Luck had a little more substance, but it never moves beyond the single joke of its premise.

The vocal canines appear for about 30 humorous seconds, in a dream sequence, and are then never seen again. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the rest of the film, which runs an additional 98.5 excruciating minutes.

The film is so busy that every minute is exhausting. It's as if the filmmakers were idealistic teen-agers afflicted with a group case of Attention Deficit Disorder.

Busy, over-stylized mess of a movie.

The movie is occasionally cutesy. That's the worst of it. You can't call it gross, but it is cutesy.

Ghost Ship would have been so much better if they'd just let the ship do more of the acting.

Anyway, the movie turns out to be hyperslick, quite well made in the technical sense (beautifully photographed and designed) and somewhat shallow, another exploration of that perennial and passionate teen theme, fitting in.

Will keep kids happy and parents mildly entertained.

But The Ugly Truth can't escape its own ugly truth, that the central characters are written to extremes both ludicrous and tiring.

There isn't an earned moment of uplift or laughter in the movie. Everything in it is prefab.

Brimming with values that should serve its young audience well: altruism, friendship, self-sacrifice, responsibility.

When the women are onscreen and their relationship is on display, Head Over Heels trips merrily along. But every time the focus shifts to Prinze, the film suffers from a bad case of fallen arches.

This movie makes it official: No matter how awful, even the networks and basic cable are now officially hipper than the studios.

A tired piece of hackery, made only slightly less distasteful by a couple of inspired moments from supporting player Alan Cumming.

Garfield the comic strip stopped being funny about 10 years ago. Garfield the Movie makes it to about the 10-minute mark before tedium sets in.

Will have most audiences asking, "Can we leave now?"

Go see Crossroads if you want to hear Britney sing or see her wear next-to-nothing. But otherwise, avoid this train wreck at all costs.

The indisputably gifted Jim Carrey shows the side of him that just wants to be loved - the Riddler on Ritalin, the Mask unmasked. And it turns out to be stultifying.

Catwoman is a mess, there's really no other way to describe it... It doesn't work as high art, and it's too ponderous to be truly high camp. As a fashion shoot for the pin-up crowd, however, it's the cat's meow.

Wild Hogs puts the "ick" into City Slickers.

Doesn't display a single deep thought, or even a middlingly profound one.

This Women doesn't take place in reality or even in a glamorous urban fantasyland. It's strictly TV Land.

It never seriously establishes the ground rules of the principle of transference or the relationship between the two of them, and so what follows is gibberish. [14 Jul 1992]

Taxi's only saving grace is an inexplicable, though delightful, turn by Ann-Margret as Andy's ever-tipsy mom. She's a stitch, and about 100 times better than her surrounding material.

Now we get a lazy Eddie in Norbit, a lackluster attempt to make a gross-out romantic comedy. When I say lazy Eddie, I mean imaginatively lazy.

Twisted is an unusual forensic crime film because it's witty and sophisticated as well as taut and creepy.

At least "White Chicks" had a point behind the humor.

Watching this movie, with Diane Keaton cast as the ne plus ultra of irritating, overbearing mothers, is roughly the equivalent of listening to fingernails on a chalkboard for nearly two hours.

A very funny movie ... in some alternate universe, maybe.

It's turned Stone's Catherine Tramell from a warning sign for the dangers of wanton sex into the last thing you'd figure - a bore.