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.