Owing more to the sword-and-sex-play fantasies of 12-year-olds than the traditions of Old English poetry, Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf will allow adolescents to have their cheesecake - and beefcake - and eat it, too.

The Last Mimzy displays a gentle touch and the best of intentions. But the film's message never quite becomes clear; what, exactly, are young minds supposed to take away from this film?

At over two hours, Breakfast on Pluto is too much of a merely pretty and pretty good thing.

The sprawling canvas ultimately dwarfs the plucky title figure and makes him seem too small in every way.

Gordon deserves credit for at least attempting to deal with political themes, and the tension isn't bad either.

The actors here are uniformly excellent, and the story has a definite lightweight charm.

Perhaps the best thing about Better Than Chocolate is that it works as a comedy of characters, not of morals. If there's such a thing as a screwball same-sex comedy, this is it. [10 Sep 1999]

Yes, the movie asks hard questions, but it would be better - or at least more honest - if it weren't so insistent that everyone arrive at the same answer.

A quietly resonant movie about the painful alliance between single mothers and their daughters, and the complicated drama of separation.

Despite stellar work from the cast, the movie seems as emotionally distant from its audience as its characters are from each other.

A stinging elegy for lost American dreams.

Misfires by constantly tossing out liberal feel-goodisms.

The film is tense and engrossing. But it lacks exactly what the title advertises: the sense of inexplicable familiarity that should haunt you as the story unfolds and leave you all a-tingle when it ends.

The plotting is so rickety that the action hinges on suspicions roused by a character carrying a cigarette lighter and matches. Is that more rare or suspect than a man wearing a belt and suspenders?

A more honest version of "Summer of '42."

Shyamalan plows the same old ground of juiced-up surprise endings.

A smart comedy about a smart blonde -- that would be a sensation. But a dumb comedy about a smart blonde turns out to be not bad.

Moonlight Mile leavens the mood occasionally, but it cheapens things by insisting that everybody onscreen and in the audience leavethe theater smiling.

Earns few points for originality, but scads for good-hearted exuberance.

It's like a breeze so slight it doesn't leave a tickle.

Even as trick movies go, Confidence feels surfacey to a fault.

A lively, compulsively watchable but ultimately sobering film about the men who make their living off prostitution.

Dawn of the Dead may depict the end of the world as we know it, but rarely has watching doom proved such a kick.

Barbershop 2 makes you want to know what happens next. In its own way, it's the Ivory Soap of sequels: 99 and 44/100% pure.

Moves along with great speed and verve, and it's got just enough of a sci-fi sheen to make things interesting, if not provocative. Philosophers and true believers may be disappointed, but for movie fans, I, Robot mostly delivers the goods.

All three actresses are appealing, but Fisher, proving her scene-stealing turn in Wedding Crashers was no fluke, shines brightest.

Elmo graciously shares the stage with a cast of players who will not only delight youngsters but will come as sweet relief to grown-ups.

The trouble with The Ref is that it keeps running out of steam, so it seems to develop a new plot wrinkle every seven minutes. Typically, it'll run through the new idea until it runs out of steam again, then invents yet another one. One feels it continually re-imagining itself, and as the minutes flee by, the re-imaginings become thinner and thinner.