By the halfway mark, even the most devoted Gibson and Foster fans will start wondering when the movie will do something beyond superficially showing off its stars. It's not until the end that you realize that's all Maverick has to offer -- and it's not enough. [20 May 1994, p.G4]

For everyone? Clearly not. Greenaway is an acquired taste. Once acquired, he's a pure original, not to be forgotten. X marks the spot. [6 Apr 1990, p.G5]

This cold, generally soulless movie does feel like it was made by people who are taking themselves way too seriously. Remember the delicious anticipation you felt when The Empire Strikes Back was over? You won't feel that way when The Matrix Reloaded reaches its cliffhanger finale. You'll just feel relief.

Ted is more of an idea than a movie, a string of jokes and homages starring a cartoon and some game actors whose performances are destined to be enjoyed in chunks, rarely from start to finish, during momentary breaks of channel surfing on late-night TV.

Baghead will disappoint gore hounds or anyone looking for an extreme horror experience -- this is more of a comedy-drama than anything else.

In his first starring role post-Harry Potter, Radcliffe must carry the movie with little dialogue and practically nothing to play other than fear, constantly reacting to creepy toys that suddenly spring to life and reflections in windows that shriek unexpectedly at him.

Certainly diverting and, in Thurman, it also has a knockout of a performance.

It''s loud and flashy and fun to look at, but you''ll grow tired of it very quickly.

The problem with Saved!, which is often bright and likable, is that its central point -- extremism, religious or otherwise, is bad -- is too obvious for a satire.

It makes you laugh and eagerly wish for a happy ending without any preachy soul-searching. As a bonus, it's got a Van Morrison-friendly soundtrack, and the trailers haven't revealed the best parts.

Empire of the Sun seems to end a half-dozen times -- always a bad sign. Its merits notwithstanding -- and Spielberg probably can't make a bad film -- in its own way this movie is as ego-heavy and ponderous as Ishtar. It's literary, all right. Empire of the Sun is a weighty tome indeed. [11 Dec 1987, p.D1]

Micmacs is a wan fizzle of a fantasy, a spirited, imaginative spectacle that never quite takes flight.

It's not that Fear of a Black Hat isn't funny: It is, on occasion. It's just that much of this rap music spoof, done in the style of a mock Spinal Tap documentary, feels woefully out of date. Two years ago, it might have been a hip, must-see comedy: Today, it plays like a warmed-over rerun. [24 Jun 1994, p.G6]

The movie is bloody and gruesome and quite harmless, just the way they made them "in the good old days." [02 Aug 1985, p.C7]

The Help will make you laugh, yes, but it can also break your heart. In the dog days of August moviegoing, that's a powerful recommendation.

It's more fun than you'd figure, this sendup aimed at two distinct generations, only one of which ever took Annette or Frankie seriously. You wind up, by the end, thinking of them both as awful good sports. [08 Aug 1987, p.B1]

It's all in the telling, and Loggerheads practically aches with its own heal-the-world earnestness.

Neurotic New Yorkers, messed up relationships, inept analysts, infidelity -- Ira & Abby has them all, and it's anything but refreshing to trudge through this well-worn territory again.

Suffers from an episodic script and an overly long running time plagued by too many dull, laugh-free patches.

Don't try to figure Emilia's family out. Just sit back and let this family scrapbook move along.

Hanks is pleasant doing his standard playboy schtick. Aykroyd is even better, showing his ability for mimicry while revealing true feeling as an actor. He can't help it, though, that Friday's stridency grows tiresome. And that's Dragnet's main problem. As funny as the movie is, the excesses weigh it down the longer it runs. [26 June 1987, p.D1]

Bug has an uncompromising, anything-goes daring: Friedkin, 71, has nothing to lose at this point, and he has made this low-budget, brazenly over-the-top picture strictly on his own terms.

Dream Lover ends with a devious last-minute twist that will delight some and infuriate others into cries of "Is that all there is?" But the surprise ending fits the rest of Dream Lover perfectly, a movie that wholeheartedly embraces its genre's cliches -- yet still keeps you riveted. [20 May 1994, p.5]

A little like a secular, more sophisticated "Touched by an Angel" episode.

As absorbing as much of it is, Unbreakable winds up as a mild disappointment. But it leaves no question the hype around Shyamalan is well-deserved: This guy has a huge career ahead of him.

Vardalos made the Portokaloses so funny they'll make your own family seem tame.

The movie still feels strangely inert; it's an adventure in which nothing ever really seems to happen.

Schepisi and his writers don't get what they should have from the business of traumatic culture shock; they spend too much time on twaddle. [13 Apr 1984, p.D1]