What we have here is a solid war story with excellent performances, but a largely superficial look at Vietnam's atrocities. If Bat 21 says anything, it's that Hollywood is reluctant to release any more pure-action Vietnam pictures. However thin, there must be some message to the madness. [21 Oct 1988, p.E8]

The dance numbers grow tiresome after a while, and director/screenwriter Ramon Salazar throws in so many calculated oddities that it's impossible for anyone to become too attached to his characters.

Brothers is a collection of strong moments that don't add up to anything. The movie is all build-up.

The movie definitely belongs to the hyper-kinetic Hunter, who originated the role of Carnelle on stage. Still, no matter how many cartwheels or rifle twirls she gives us, Miss Firecracker never becomes more than a pleasant flash. [12 May 1989, p.5]

Jam-packed with plot and characters, Thunderheart nonetheless drags along from scene to scene, never building any momentum or cumulative dramatic effect. It's a dull, muddled whodunit, an exploration of the relationship between Native Americans and white Americans and a tale of soul-searching by an uninteresting character. And none of it works. [3 Apr 1992, p.G13]

Geronimo: An American Legend is noble but hopelessly bland. [10 Dec 1993, p.G4]

Prime may have its unlikely moments, but overall its heart is winningly untraditional and in exactly the right place.

A muddled fantasy revolving around a really good cruise ship piano player, doesn''t live up to its title.

Much of the charm in Tortilla Soup comes from Elizondo as Martín. He plays the devoted patriarch so alluringly.

It would seem Towne is too much in love with the book to recognize its fundamental limitations as a film.

Mildly entertaining but not terribly exciting. Agent 007 seems to have fallen victim to the foulest villainy he has yet encountered: mismanagement behind the camera. The movie cost $34 million, but you don't see it on the screen. [14 July 1989, p.4]

The story falters only at the end, but it's the ride, not the destination, that you remember and savor the most.

There will be opportunities to see the picture in regular 24 frames per second, but I recommend going the whole hog and sampling what Jackson has come up with - a new way to watch movies and a new take on a universe that seemed to have exhausted its narrative possibilities.

What does set Shrek the Third apart is the quality of its animation, which reaches a level of expressiveness in the faces that would make even Hollywood's heavily Botoxed live-action stars envious.

Explorers is good at probing the wrinkles of the 14-year-old heart and boys are always better than other-world beings.

The movie is an exceedingly slight tale whose entire second half consists primarily of special effects and wonderful set designs.

Isn't exactly memorable, and as far as its prison setting goes, it has nothing on HBO's infinitely more brutal "Oz." But as late-summer time killers go, you could do worse.

The Hollywood action genre, sliding into a lazy dependence on computer-generated fakery, needs this authentic kick to the head delivered by Jet Li.

Guaranteed to beguile anyone who can remember the joy -- and agony -- of anticipating the first time.

Even frothier and more frivolous than the first movie: It's a heist picture so laid-back and unconcerned, even the heist feels like an afterthought.

No one creates fantasy like George Lucas, and there's nothing quite like a big, cornball fantasy to start the summer. This one is the biggest yet, and it is hard to imagine anyone not being entertained by it. It is, as we used to say around the galaxy a long time ago, a tour de force. [25 May 1983, p.D1]

A brisk and lively cinematic Cliff's Notes of the 2005 nonfiction bestseller that made the lofty promise to reveal "the hidden side of everything."

Some episodes are funnier than others, but they're all underscored by a pervasive melancholy.

In Fading Gigolo, writer-director John Turturro turns what could have easily been a crass and unpleasant comedy into something soulful and substantial — with a lot of laughs, too.

Escape from Tomorrow is more of an experimental film than a traditional narrative, but intrepid viewers — or anyone who has ever visited a Disney park — will enjoy getting lost in this dark house of happy horrors.

In the end, a sports movie is only as good as the adrenalin rush it provides in the climactic match, and there, finally, Glory Road hits on all cylinders with nonstop action and a powerful emotional impact.

As it is, Gemma Bovery is as dry as day-old bread: Not inedible, but why bother with it if you can find something fresher?

We Bought a Zoo is the most formulaic movie Cameron Crowe has ever made: It is so generic, you could review it with a flow chart.

Unlike Omri's plastic toys, The Indian in the Cupboard never comes to life. [14 July 1995, p.5G]

The Search for Spock should be great fun for Trek fans; it's splendid junk when it works. But if you can't hum the theme from memory, Trek III is likely to be just another way to kill two hours. [1 June 1984, p.D1]

The problem -- aside from the fact that one of the best things about Foer's story is its irreverent, intricate, just-maybe-brilliant writing -- is what Schreiber has decided to cut.

Stone isn't the straightforward thriller it appears to be, but the alternative turns out to be dull and lifeless. At least the title is apt: Like a rock, Stone has no pulse.

Gervais' wickedly sly concept lingers quite awhile after the final chuckle. And that's the truth.

The only thing the movie lacks is a pulse.

Fails to capture the anguish and struggles of an ultra-Orthodox Jew adapting to a more secular world as did Amos Gitai's Kadosh, a film this one sometimes brings to mind.

There are some funny lines in The Pope of Greenwich Village. Once the eye knows the characters and the ear gets accustomed to the filthy (and somehow quaint) street slang, Rosenberg keeps the pace entertaining. [22 June 1984, p.D8]

Inside Benny and Joon, a love story that celebrates dysfunction and the cutes, though not necessarily in that order, there's a character drama whispering to be let out, but that's no help. Long before you get around to liking this little movie, you'll hate it. And that's always a problem. [16 Apr 1993, p.G5]

You watch it in stunned disbelief, wondering how a movie that started so strongly devolved into something so absurd.

Director Scott Marshall and screenwriter Mark Zakarin pander to Jewish viewers the way Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" panders to Cuban Americans.

The heist in Flawless comes at the film's midpoint, but although Radford wrings some nice suspense from the sequence, the theft isn't his primary focus here. It's what happens next.

What Spielberg does is use the Lucas tricks to propel an old-fashioned fantasy, played broadly enough so that the laughs come as easily as the thrills. [23 May 1984, p.B1]

British satire loses something when it's handled by Americans: You miss the perspective that a foreign culture brings, so instead of wit and humor, you end up trafficking in self-congratulatory clichés and sentiment.

In a movie packed with broad humor, the best jokes are so small they're easy to overlook.

Classy voice work (intriguingly, the hero, heroine and villain are all voiced by black actors -- Chris Rock, Brandy and Laurence Fishburne)

It's an understatement to say that The Ring is not your ordinary horror film. And never forget to rewind.

Light as the film may be, My Wife Is An Actress is not devoid of charm. It's like a summer book: quick, enjoyable and, mostly, easily forgotten.

Carpenter creates an atmosphere in Thing; it's a weird one, an odd landscape and clearly alien territory, but it's entertaining nonetheless. And for those who have not been to a creep show in the last couple of years, The Thing has some very nasty surprises. [25 June 1982, p.D1]

You can't beat a Bond film for adventure on a grand scale.

You never really get the sense Zhang is taking the movie seriously, so you can't either. A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop proves that American filmmakers aren't the only ones who can bungle remakes of foreign movies.

The film paints a fairly realistic portrait of four people bound by blood but -- like all of us -- all too capable of underestimating each other.

Easily the slightest and most frenetic entry in the trilogy. But it might also turn out to be the fan favorite, because the movie is nothing but eye candy and visual sensation.

There is nothing in this surprisingly funny, exciting film that feels like homework, and Branagh even dares to end the film on, if not quite a cliffhanger, then a daring "To Be Continued" note.

The premise is marvelous, the music more than adequate (assuming you're a metal fan), the performances appropriately dumb. And it's seasonally funny. [28 Oct 1986, p.D5]

It's a generic, clunky title. The movie isn't quite as disposable, but it's not exactly memorable, either.

The movie puts Jasira -- and the audience -- through the wringer, but it also makes the ride worth it.

The saddest part about this whole affair is that it took Bugs and Co. 60 years to make their feature debut -- and this is what they get. At one point, Daffy Duck is discussing merchandising royalties and says, "We gotta get new agents -- we're getting screwed." In Space Jam , even the cartoons are in it only for the money. [15 Nov 1996, p.5G]

With Little Buddha, Bertolucci moves from political themes to religious phenomena. But despite his obvious care and moments of great visceral beauty, Little Buddha never quite captivates your imagination. It's a pretty but hollow bauble. [25 May 1994, p.E2]

For all its pretension, Powaqqatsi is a confused work -- both a compeling analysis of underdeveloped nations and a self-indulgent exercise in cinematic drudgery. [24 Jun 1988, p.C5]

Romantic comedy that softens your date into giving you that first kiss. It's not much more than that -- it's flawed and somewhat unfocused.

Garner may be a study in butt-kicking intensity on TV's Alias, but here, she's an engaging comic performer who more than carries her share of what is essentially an unoriginal, mostly average film.

It aims -- successfully -- to make you think and feel.

Fey is a good fit with the material, and her co-stars are all solid, including Billy Bob Thornton as a laconic general; Martin Freeman as a boozy, charming Scottish journalist; Alfred Molina as a local politician with a crush on Kim; and Christopher Abbott (Girls) as Kim’s fixer and translator (he tries to keep her out of trouble).

The trouble with Kinky Boots is that director Julian Jarrold doesn't seem to know whether his movie would play better to young hipsters or the blue-haired old lady crowd.

Two predictable disappointments here (among many): As usual, these high school kids appear in fact to be played by folks who have left college well behind them; and, sadder, Just One of the Guys was directed by a woman -- women filmmakers being a worthy cause under almost any circumstances -- yet betrays no higher consciousness regarding kids and sex roles than Porky's 3. [30 Apr 1985, p.B3]

No ears for dialogue around here, either: Several characters observe that the invention "blew my socks off," an expression so odd that we expect it to lead to a comic payoff. But there is none, and there's not much to the movie, either. [30 Sept 1983, p.D1]

Smart People tastes as fake as a Wal-Mart corn dog. Besides, it doesn't even know the work is Faerie Queen, not ''Fairie.'' Somewhere, Edmund Spenser is turning in his grave. You don't even have to be smart to know that.

Spooky and intricately detailed. [10 Nov 1993, p.E1]

The Forbidden Kingdom may be nothing but disposable fun, but it is a great, heaping, overflowing helping of fun. If you're 10, it may also seem like "Citizen Kane."

Albert Nobbs is not a movie about gender politics; it's about trusting in the fundamental goodness of others and accepting one's need for companionship, and the way in which Close slowly reveals Albert's closed-off heart is poignant and often surprisingly funny, though never in a mocking way.

Lives or dies by your ability to buy the sight of Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman snuggling in bed and enjoying hot, torrid sex. This may seem like a superficial approach to such a lofty, serious movie, but it is an insurmountable problem.

Rocky III looks good -- a lean film with a bit of muscle. Stallone makes it eminently watchable. And that's probably more than we should have expected. [28 May 1982, p.C1]

Writer-director Stephane Robelin's frothy comedy is much more "Golden Girls" hijinks than "On Golden Pond."

Emotes mightily but says precious little.

The story may be slim, but Carpenter deserves some credit. He makes more of the car-as-villain than one might expect, largely by filming the Plymouth in high style. [10 Dec 1983, p.B5]

The Best of Times will make points with football fans, and it might even score with believers in the human comedy. But, oh, what a disappointing first half. [1 Feb 1986, p.C4]

Depending on your age, Limelight could make you nostalgic for those bad old days - and sort of glad you'll never be able to relive them.

The movie has been smartly built to satisfy hardcore fashionistas and red-carpet gawkers in equal measure.

Evil Dead is just a well-made gross-out, and it's kind of a bummer.

Often feels like a cartoon that wishes it were live action.

Although the unrelenting pursuit of making the Vatican listen becomes a bit tiresome, the portrayals of the two men by Tukur and Kassovitz are engaging.

It's best to just enjoy Hannibal for what it is: A decadent, elegant waltz about evil's seductive bloom. As sequels go, you could do a lot worse.

Sweet and moving, and occasionally irritating, but it's never embarrassing.

This is more of an exercise in experiential cinema, as well as a blistering critique of a society that drives its poorest to unimaginable acts for mere survival.

The main problem with Iron Man 2 lies in the script.

A blatant sell-out, a wink-nudge pander to Hollywood, disguised as satire.

A brisk, undemanding adventure aimed squarely at the family market, Journey is completely passable in 2-D. But viewing it through 3-D glasses not only quadruples the movie's entertainment value, it also explains why characters are constantly thrusting things at the camera.

Despite funny moments, its attempt at baseball-as-metaphor-for-life ultimately whiffs. [29 Jun 1994, p.E4]

The aggressively over-the-top plot is sloppy and totally irrelevant. What counts are the jokes that fly so fast they're easy to miss.

Uncle Fester, missing for 25 years, has mysteriously returned -- isn't enough to drive the picture. It's all one note, really. Lovely note. But just the one. [22 Nov 1991, p.G10]

As with many Hollywood epics, the movie glosses over inconvenient details and takes more than a few creative liberties. Yet First Knight dazzles. The spectacle of Connery charging into battle or Camelot glimmering in the distance makes it a most satisfying romp. [07 Jul 1995, p.5G]

In Snow White and the Huntsman, this talented but woefully miscast actress (Stewart) is expected to rally an entire army of soldiers, even though she usually looks like she forgot the combination to her locker.

Descended from a long and healthy line of high school-sports and academic-achievement films, a hip-hop "Hoosiers" bolstered by a generous helping of "Stand and Deliver" and "Lean On Me."

The People Under the Stairs is about nooks, crannies and crevices, and there's allegory everywhere: comments on the horror of our cities, the Ron and Nancy-esque landlords. [07 Nov 1991, p.F7]

Someone apparently forgot to tell Harrison Ford he was starring in a comedy when he was cast in Morning Glory.

When it comes to exploring our peculiar blindness as to what's important in our lives, the film is a disturbing but accurate road map.

A refined, tasteful film about pure, hard lust.

Has an elegant feel, with beautiful shots on the beach and engaging camera work. If only Philip Jayson Lasker's writing could match that.

Ballard made The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf, and he's good with spectacle;: His second-unit crew this time found ways to shoot the controlled violence of big sails in good wind that take the breath away. But the rest of Wind is just out there flapping. What a mess. [14 Sep 1992, p.C5]