Pacino still gets a blast out of acting. His performance in this film about a blocked performer is gloriously unblocked – a valentine to vanity.

There is a dearth of good children's films right now, at least of the nonanimated variety, and undoubtedly The Last Mimzy will fill a vacuum for some families. But it's a default choice, not a prime pick.

Cillian Murphy plays a hyper-feminine transvestite who spends much of the movie traipsing about an increasingly violent landscape in search of his long lost mother. His whirligig encounters, political and sexual, rarely soar.

Far from a flop, and I'm sure the Spider-maniacs will eat it up. For me, it's a buffet without much aftertaste.

Woo's patented pyrotechnics - intricate editing, acrobatic camera movements, slow-motion mayhem - lend intermittent sparks to the violent action sequences, but the two-dimensional characters have little personality.

A gripping documentary, although we learn too little of the relationship between the filmmaker and his subjects.

Zamperini’s life story is genuinely inspirational, but the movie seems fashioned as a standard-issue profile in courage, with Zamperini, after a troubled youth, transformed into an almost saintlike figure. He would have been every bit as inspirational, even more so, without the halo.

The story isn't as funny as it tries to be, but it grows increasingly winning as it goes along.

Bond is impersonated by 007 newcomer Timothy Dalton, who does little that's identifiable as acting, although he looks the part. Come back, Sean, all is forgiven!

The story's emphasis is on action, but there are some sensitive moments and interesting ideas along the way.

Offbeat tale, which tackles weighty themes. But sentimentality overtakes intelligence.

Glover and Bassett play the title characters with great energy, and Berry has invested the movie with the moral conscience that underpinned his entire career.

Energetic acting and directing make it a less exasperating experience than it might have been.

At its best, A Home at the End of the World has great emotional strength. But it's not the towering achievement it might have been if Cunningham had stayed truer to his original inspiration.

Although their responses too often seem rehearsed, their innocence is touching and redemptive.

If this film turns out to be a big success, malls everywhere may want to hire more security.

It's fun to watch the gifted Marisa Tomei and the lively Rosie Perez, but Christian Slater is less engaging as the waif of the story, and the screenplay is loaded with sentimentality. [26 Feb 1993, p.14]

The story wants to be a sort of "Last Tango in Paris" redux, but it falls into mere melodrama after a brilliant beginning.

Fans of ultraviolent sword-and-sorcery nonsense will have a good time; others will head for the exit. [19 Feb 1993, Arts, p.10]

Given the impossibility of crafting William Shakespeare into a believable human being, the film is an honorable try.

The story is a sort of "Stella Dallas Meets Slums of Beverly Hills," helped by heartfelt acting from its talented stars.

The movie has magical moments, but it's too contrived to gather much comic or dramatic power.

As quietly dazzling as a small, very precious stone.

The dialogue is often silly but Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn deliver it with enough crackerjack energy to keep audiences laughing.

Superbly acted.

Smart and engrossing, if too heavy on the symbolism at times.

Must-see viewing if you're not quite sure the sun really set over the British Empire.

In all, it's “Diner,'' female style. Directed by Donald Petrie from a blatantly manipulative screenplay that took four people to cook up. [24 Oct 1988]