The Flowers of War is the latest movie focused on the Nanking atrocities. Lu Chuan's "City of Life and Death'' was released in the United States last year and presented a far greater, grimmer, and more punishing re-creation of the sacking.

Judy and Nick’s unlikely-buddies routine is amusing, but their exploits and interplay occasionally neglect the youngest demographic.

Less than memorable.

The best scenes come when the family gathers under tense circumstances that give Ian Bannen (as the MP's father) and Miranda Richardson (as his wife) the chance to unleash some civilized ferocity that's genial in his case and icy in hers. Her spurned-wife scene toward the end is the film's most powerful, and still would be even if the stilted sex scenes were volcanic. [22 Jan 1993, p.25]

There's an honest, unfiltered quality to what you see and hear.

If there’s one popcorn movie so far this summer that actually makes us fear for — and care for — its protagonist, this is it.

The movie will please those looking for easy physical comedy.

The music is the occasion, and it’s stirring. What linger, though, are the images — and the ideals and emotions they convey.

Think Like a Man Too vastly surpasses the septic “The Hangover Part III.” If Story and company keep thinking like filmmakers, maybe three will be the charm.

Throughout the mayhem, Marcus and Mike bicker like an old married couple. While this interplay has always been the best element of the “Bad Boys” universe, Smith and Lawrence look disinterested this time. It’s as if they’re getting too old for this [expletive], to use a phrase from a much better buddy-cop movie series.

Rules and regulations, which the military is very good at, are about behavior. Law is about justice. The Invisible War makes all too clear that the military isn't very good at justice.

It's slambang in pacing, bald in exposition, and offers cast-of-hundreds spectacle.

This formula comedy could have been a disaster, but during their short-lived career as a comedy team, Kid 'N Play seemed to have picked up a few pointers. They're not Abbott and Costello, but that's not what's called for here - what's called for is a fresh face on the formula, a young and easygoing team that really believes what it's doing is funny. [05 Jun 1992, p.29]

To have been the film it could have been, crazy/beautiful needed to be messier.

As a tale of adolescent sexuality warped by passion, though, Bad Company is less compelling and more exploitative than its makers think.

When it works, W. can take your breath away. When it doesn't, you can feel Stone still working out his feelings toward the man.

For answers, prepare to sit through two hours of complications, though you will probably figure it out before the spectacular ending.

Ridiculous even by superhero standards, it remains more or less coherent.

Engrossing and occasionally moving, it doesn’t electrify like that other film about the press taking on a chief executive, Alan Pakula’s “All the President’s Men” (1976).

A watchably absurd popcorn flick about a man who can see two minutes into the future.

The attempts to supply heart are never more than synthetic, but Schwarzenegger, as the good guy with the good genes, and his goofy sweetness lift Twins into the win column. [9 Dec 1988, p.33]

Watching Eagle vs Shark is like sitting next to a terminally awkward first date at a restaurant. You cringe and feel protective toward the poor, sweet dweebs at the same time.

A gentle collection of scenes that work and scenes that don't.

If you've seen "Paris, je t'aime" or "New York Stories," you know the rate of return on these urban omnibuses is variable, and so it is here. Go in expecting minor pleasures and you'll be fine.

The clichéd dialogue, stereotypical characters (except for Toby Jones, who distinguishes himself as the wryly incompetent company cook), and the constrained setting (it takes place almost entirely in the officers’ dugout) deadens the suspense and diminishes the mood of dread endured by those awaiting their doom.

Unusually compelling, even if it's treacly enough to be "The Chorus" in goose step.

The new movie's a visual achievement and a narrative muddle: A color-drenched story of lust, love, and infidelity, it suffers from a vagueness that may be the point but that feels accidental.

It epitomizes the kind of high-profile bloodshed we now expect to herald the hazy, lazy, blockbuster-fixated days of summer.