Credit goes to Richard Lester, who is much more than an action director and whose erratic brilliance occasionally transcends this material, and to Reeve, who has manfully refused to let on that he is tired of the part (as opposed to the Jedi principals, who phoned theirs in). [17 June 1983, p.D1]

Looks exquisite, but don't bother digging deeper.

For the farce it so desperately wants to be, the film often feels slack and too reliant on so-so punch lines for laughs.

Killer Elite is too formulaic to overcome a been-there, done-that feel.

Wilson's plot compulsively leaps from paper-thin to near-incoherent.

In an era when cynicism so often passes for insight, a movie as decent, well-intentioned and good-hearted as A Piece of Eden can't easily be dismissed.

At least LaBeouf makes for a likable hero. He's got the same kind of easy, natural charisma as Will Smith -- who, come to think of it, starred in another techno-paranoia thriller, "Enemy of the State," that Eagle Eye strongly resembles.

The sequel is a shameless exercise in creative pilfering. Expect the same gags (more VCR-programming tips on horseback) and annoying catch phrases (Crystal's nasal "Hellloooooo") as in the original Western spoof. [10 June 1994, p.G5]

This is one of those what-were-they-thinking flicks, a movie so inane you can't imagine how anyone thought they'd created something watchable. [02 Nov 1996, p.5G]

It's really just a dance movie, interrupted sporadically for PG-13 romance, bad acting, ridiculous dialogue and earnest "let's put on a show to save our homes!" spirit.

While intimate scenes of male bonding among Kirk, Spock and "Bones" McCoy are particularly delightful, the film's overall themes -- God, creation, friendships as family -- are never tied together or amply explained. Star Trek V is a lot like a dinner party where the appetizers are delicious, the main course stale and cold. [9 June 1989, p.5]

This is pure Disaster 101 formula, although distilled to the minimum amount of dialogue and characters possible.

The Last American Virgin has been advertised with the tagline, "See it or be it." In this connection, maybe "the new celibacy" we keep reading about isn't such a bad idea. [14 Sept 1982, p.B4]

So superficial and formulaic that even Garner's mega-watt grin can't completely save it.

In a move reminiscent of Gus Van Sant's "Psycho," some shots are lifted directly from the original and much of the screenplay is identical.

The director spends nearly two hours groping for a message, but never finds it, mostly because his conflicts rise and fall in 30-minute segments -- like a Family Ties episode. [27 Oct 1989, p.G5]

A good story, but its potential is never realized.

Surprisingly enjoyable.

It's an unabashedly square picture, and proud of it. It is also a warm, funny, earnest movie, a stand-up exercise in a kind of Hollywood melodrama -- the feel-good weepie -- that has long been out of fashion.

All its freewheeling makes for a really "moving" movie, one in which the big chase scene involves, predictably, a car and a bike. But there's not much else to it. [21 Feb 1986, p.6]

The filmmakers obviously had something to say, but Dogs in Space is wretched. The photography is fine, and some of the performers do well, but sitting through this film is headache- inducing. [4 Dec 1987, p.D5]

Considering the talent involved, Fathers' Day comes off as a whopping disappointment. Williams and Crystal are a good team: You just wouldn't know it by watching them here. [9 May 1997, p.4G]

The good news is, The Vow is not excruciating.

For connoisseurs of stupidity, Hot Rod is that perfect delicacy: A silly movie about ridiculous characters that's also actually funny. Hilarious, even.

Chain Reaction has the unenviable hurdle of following up a summer load of action flicks, but this one would have felt like a dog in May. When Lily sees Eddie wrestling with the controls of an airboat and asks "What are you doing?" he yells back "The best I can!" Keanu, you could have done a lot better. [2 Aug 1996, p.5G]

This is precisely the type of moviegoing experience engineered for those who still get a laugh when the Baha Men hit "Who Let the Dogs Out?" accompanies a doggie mayhem montage.

The protagonists of Light It Up seem strangely tender and vulnerable, and the movie, if heavy-handed at times, does a remarkable job of making their plight moving.

Doesn't make much sense on a story level, and it has a cheap, slapdash look that indicates no one behind the camera was interested in anything other than another fat payday.

Always a joy to look at -- and even if the story isn't half as profound as the filmmakers think it is.

A pastiche so derivative and pointless, it leaves you wishing Allen had not bothered.

Medicine Man is an adventure story with a message: We must save the Amazon rain forest. It's certainly a noble cause, filmmakers forgot to make their movie any fun. [08 Feb 1992, p.E6]

Even the most ardent fans of Braff’s first feature film, the charming Garden State, will struggle to warm up to this self-indulgent, uninvolving drama about an immature, almost-middle-aged guy trying to find himself with questions he should have had answers to long ago.

The new Total Recall fails on the most basic levels: Its characters are dull, and its action is duller.

Often feels choppy, as if chunks of connecting narrative had been lopped off in the editing room.

What's lacking is any sense of Beverly's brightness. She's supposedly smart, but she never displays a shred of intelligence.

Although the picture is nominally the story of a man with a murderous temper, it is less a thriller than a metaphor for the plight of illegal immigrants.

Disney's half-baked recipe for box-office success. Hocus Pocus is a pretty lackluster affair, owing to excess characters and a choppy, wandering script. [16 July 1993, p.G7]

Johnston fails to make a story set in 1891 England relevant to contemporary audiences.

There's an audience for old-fashioned romance, and Dear John will please most of it.

Most certainly a personal work -- so personal, in fact, that I can't imagine anyone but Coppola being able to sit through it.

The production has a Disney-ish, well-scrubbed feel to it, and were it not for a sprinkling of obscenities would be G- rated. But Russkies is never quite right, even as pap. [06 Nov 1987, p.D5]

Disney's latest incarnation parries and feints somewhere between the "serious" melodramas of vintage Hollywood and the frisky cavortings of Richard Lester's mid-'70s send-ups. [13 Nov 1993, p.G3]

Though even Blake Edwards, the director behind the Panthers, could not make the connective material in this film work well, there is so much joy in the vintage Sellers that Trail of the Pink Panther rates as one of the funniest films of this year. Sellers' outtakes are funnier than most of the new material on film today. We shall not see the like of him again soon. [21 Dec 1982, p.C7]

A slight, not entirely engaging mystery with slight overtones about the dangers of racial profiling that, unlike "Clockers," treats its urban-plight theme as a backdrop, instead of its main subject.

A welcome antidote to the depressing, feel-bad sadism of recent horror hits like Hostel and Saw II, Final Destination 3 puts the fun back in watching stupid people die Rube Goldberg-elaborate, ridiculously gory deaths.

The screenplay by W.D. Richter (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) turns Needful Things into a pitch-black comedy -- a rather lifeless one, unfortunately. There are more laughs than scares, though the movie still carries a creepy undercurrent of nastiness that pops up periodically, to great effect. [27 Aug 1993, p.G5]

Sometimes less truly is more, and Love in the Time of Cholera is proof.

Exactly the formulaic, by-the-numbers movie it appears to be. These Tigers deserved better.

The real love affair in For Love of the Game is between Costner and himself.

Best of all, though, is Seann William Scott as the profoundly annoying, profoundly vulgar Stifler.

With it's buxom, raven-haired star, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark skips a chance to spoof B-movies and instead shatters the all-time record for breast jokes in one movie. There's at least one every three minutes, and a tassel- twirling ending that stretches the limits of this PG-13 picture. But the real immorality here is that a quirky character -- yes, Elvira has her moments -- is played like an unfunny bimbo with one-liners that die quick deaths. [04 Oct 1988, p.C4]

The first Hollywood horror flick I've seen that seems like it was made specifically for 12-year-olds.

The finished film has been tinkered with and tweaked so thoroughly that it borders on the incomprehensible.

I'd have thought you'd get more for $3 million. The dialogue here is among the worst in modern big-budget memory; even the cliches are lame. [20 Mar 1992, p.G5]

A film that's funny and entertaining for kids and adults.

Skin Deep works best when the director delivers his stock in trade -- slapstick and sight gags. [3 March 1989, p.6]

Never gives us a single reason to care about any of these people. It's a druggy, sordid spectacle.

Still of the Night is a restful thriller, soft and dreamy and largely undisturbing. Like the wee hours themselves, the movie seems to stretch its time beyond the normal frame of minutes; here, 90 of them go by at the pace of an entire evening. [17 Dec 1982, p.D14]

The ending of The Forgotten leaves you feeling the same way, wondering just how much -- if anything -- of what came before actually happened.

Missing in Action is thus never especially compelling, even as a B-movie, because it is never remotely believable. Nonetheless, Norris' appeal is so quiet and uncomplicated that, although the film exploits the issue of MIAs as thoroughly as any movie has to date, Missing in Action is never offensive. [20 Nov 1984, p.D1]

The film makes coupling look less like bliss and more like an exhausting series of skirmishes that can send one party scurrying into infidelity or out the door in search of something better.

The players are game. Too bad they don't have much of a coach or a plan.

By turning Brooklyn's Finest into a morality tale, Fuqua lets the movie slip right through his undeniably talented fingers.

If your kid is a fan of Disney's "Recess," one of the hotter properties on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup, the new inspired-by-the-TV-show movie, Recess: School's Out, will be quite a hit.

Another joyless, brain-numbing adventure through lackluster Indiana Jones territory.

If Andrews oozes regal poise and Hathaway radiates movie star allure -- and they do -- credit the actresses, not this flimsy fairy tale.

Taxes the patience of even the most willing viewer with its sheer nonsense: It's distractingly illogical.

Kids will probably be entranced by Flipper's antics, even if he is played by three dolphins and an animatronic robo- Flipper. But for baby boomers who remember the squeaky clean, black-and-white TV series, the new Flipper will seem like a farce. [17 May 1996, p.5G]

A movie about lunatics with chainsaws that is neither funny nor frightening. [25 Aug 1986, p.C5]

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan moves slowly, languidly; its art direction is often lovely, and despite their truncated screen time Lily and Snow Flower do make you care about their fates. But you would have cared more without all the distraction.

The result is almost suffocating: a movie that has been tinkered and fussed with until there is no spontaneity left -- no warmth or life or messiness.

My Father, the Hero is an entertaining coming-of-age comedy. [4 Feb 1994, p.G4]

Director Ernest Dickerson uses elegant visuals, suspenseful editing and lighting to give Bones its edge.

Most of Wells' details are there, and so is the basic premise, but the soul of the thing -- the point -- is missing.

Sidesteps from the premise of "It's a Wonderful Life" far enough to avoid copyright charges, but not far enough to avoid unfavorable comparisons

That it manages a certain air of likability is due solely to the considerable charms of Grenier.

Mostly, though, The Big Bounce isn't offensive, or even terrible. It's just lazy, relying on numb moviegoers to fork over cash thinking they'll see the next "Get Shorty" or "Out of Sight."

The best scenes in the movie belong to James Belushi.

Unfortunately, Insurgent can’t quite live up to its intriguing set up. Even if you’re curious about it, the movie is often plodding and frequently nonsensical, with action that never feels novel or exciting.

The bigger problem with the film, which is genuinely unnerving at times, is what happens when the cavers are not in immediate peril, because they talk.

In the end, Phantasm II is a bland mixture of the horror movies its predecessor spawned. [8 July 1988, p.C5]

Nothing wrong with a movie having a point of view, but watching people spout jargon or exposition doesn't really make for riveting entertainment.

For all its ambition, Daredevil can't overcome the fact that at its colorful center lies a perfect blank in a bad suit.

Even with sex, Big Top Pee-wee seems dry and juiceless. [22 Jul 1988, p.C7]

Transcendence is "Her" for dummies.

Trade's wake-up call needs to be heeded, but its missteps detract from its devastating message.

Nothing here for the time capsule, make no mistake. But the Boz seems to have found a calling. [21 May 1991, p.C1]

Director Agnieszka Holland (Europa, Europa) re-creates 19th-Century Paris beautifully, and poetry scholars might find the movie worthwhile strictly for its subject matter, but Total Eclipse comes off as a big downer that confuses dreariness with substance. [03 Nov 1995, p.6G]

No more than a mild diversion. [21 March 1983, p.C6]

So thunderously unfunny...There is no reason for an 82-minute movie to feel so very, very long.

Does King's tale play a part in the film at all? Kind of; half of it is there, but they've left out the really scary images from the story. The only thing The Lawnmower Man accomplishes is to remind you how boring it is to watch someone else play a video game. If they ever start marketing this virtual reality stuff, however, someone's going to get very rich. [9 Mar 1992, p.C4]

The film is cold, and despite the principals' considerable thrashings, utterly uninvolving. The overarching theme, gunplay notwithstanding, is tedium. [02 Jun 1989, p.5]

A grand, eye-popping film, a beautifully photographed epic with the depth of a Bugs Bunny Cartoon.

While there is archival value in permanently recording this work on celluloid, the best way to really enjoy it remains live on stage.

A romantic comedy need not be original to work. It just needs, you know, romance. Something to swoon over. What Two Weeks Notice provides, however, is a lot more messy.

As much as I laughed throughout the movie, I cannot mount a cogent defense of the film as entertainment, or even performance art, although the movie does leave you marveling at these guys' superhuman capacity to withstand pain. Compared to these jackasses, Vin Diesel is a big, overpaid wuss.

The whole enterprise sags and wheezes like the tired, we're-in-this-strictly-for-the-money sequel it really is.

The lack of imagination in Stargate is distressing. Who would agree to fund such an expensive project based on such a perfunctory and dull script? All the creativity here has been spent on nice costumes and some cool morphing Anubis headgear. The story is so cliched it's laughable. [28 Oct 1994, p.G6]