The strength of the performances, along with the good will generated by these flawed but likable characters, carry the movie through.

Sreams its devotion to style over substance with slick action sequences, fast cars and breathtaking stunts.

Assassination Tango offers little heat. In dancing with death, Duvall stumbles a few too many times.

Wins you over with this bright sense of humor and its gentle, welcome message of tolerance and acceptance.

Indian Summer could have been just that kind of angst-fest. But writer-director Mike Binder (Coupe de Ville), a former stand-up comedian, nimbly sidestepped those maudlin pitfalls and, instead, made a frank, funny, down-to-earth comedy. [23 Apr 1993, p.G4]

A crowd-pleasing comedy that makes up for its formulaic, sitcom-ready premise with likable performances and an inviting sense of humor.

Fasten your seat belts and prepare to kiss reality goodbye, folks, because from here the movie launches into silly mob vs. nun chase scenes, an appearance by a Pope John Paul II look- alike and gobs of sentimental, syrupy goo -- the signature of director Emile Ardolino (Three Men and a Little Lady, Dirty Dancing). But don't be ashamed to laugh -- it's still a rollicking good time. [29 May 1992, p.G5]

Chuck Norris is also in this movie, although you should know that he gets roughly five minutes of screen time, half of those devoted to his telling of a Chuck Norris joke. That is as funny as the movie's self-aware humor gets.

If anyone tries to tell you how this one ends, blast 'em with a phaser. Set on stun, of course.

The dialogue is sparse but well used -- it's refreshing to see a movie where people don't feel compelled to talk all the time.

The technically well-made movie simply can't replicate the live experience of a Cirque show, and at just over 90 minutes, Worlds Away still feels long.

The charms of Lucía, Lucía rely heavily on the charismatic Roth, who is funny and warm and a lot of fun to watch as she embraces her new life.

There are not enough synonyms for ''bad'' to describe the pretension and utter banality of the masturbatory The Brown Bunny, a film so exhaustively awful even its creator Vincent Gallo once disavowed it.

Giles Walker's direction is TV-slick and the performances predictably smooth. But there is nothing here you haven't seen many, many times before. [12 Nov 1993, p.G18]

Campfire looks a bit drab, perhaps to show the dullness of Zionist life in the 1980s. But this doesn't take away from the poignancy of the film.

The film is not so much suspenseful as intriguing.

Lovelace is a timid gloss over on a hardcore subject — a movie that takes a wild true story and shoehorns it into a formulaic mold.

Parkland is wildly uneven, although compulsively watchable.

John Carter manages to be a ridiculous amount of fun, even if you are immune to the charms of Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) running around in what amounts to a stylish loincloth.

When Mulholland Falls should reverberate with complexity, it simply echoes other movies. It's a glossy tribute to film noir, not a memorable entry in the genre. It's too simple-minded, yet it leaves a heap of questions unanswered. [26 Apr 1996, p.5G]

Taken is nonsense, but it's terrifically entertaining nonsense.

You might call My Sister's Keeper manipulative, and you would not be inaccurate.

It's a testament to their performances -- and the spirit of this surprisingly raunchy, decidedly R-rated comedy -- that by the end credits, you've grown to like them a little bit. You just wouldn't want to live with them.

The script remains the big problem, however -- all its roots are showing, and they are very old. In Lucy's day, a story like this would end with restoration of the comfy stereotypes -- Dad would get his job back at the plant, enhanced by his new appreciation for what Mom has gone through, and Mom would forsake her business success, more sure than ever that her place is at the sink. That's just what happens in Mr. Mom. In Hollywood, time stands still. [27 Aug 1983, p.5]

The cast is impressive, and the story even soapier than "The Tudors," if you like that sort of thing.

Certainly, Lassiter is painless and periodically amusing. And it's so much bigger than TV. [22 Feb 1984, p.B6]

Reacher is so good at everything he does, and Cruise plays him in such a robotic manner, that the movie becomes a bit of a bore: The hero is practically omnipotent.

But Romeo Is Bleeding ultimately belongs to Olin. When she and Oldman finally begin to go at it, no holds barred, in the last 20 minutes, the film becomes an audacious free-for-all, a bloody battle of the sexes that reaches a frantic fever pitch that will leave you giddy. It is film noir at its funniest -- and darkest. [4 Feb 1994, p.5]