It's all very "Cuckoo's Nest," but in a glib, facile way, and it leaves K-PAX adrift in its fuzzy, New-Agey orbit.

More than just another feel-good teacher movie.

Cleaner, cuter animal antics.

The Mechanic remains singularly uninvolving - a rote exercise in a genre with characters so familiar they barely register.

When it's working Blind Date is frenzied and very funny. It's a return to form for Blake Edwards, who has made a good many bad movies over the past 10 years. And in Willis and Basinger there is the kind of team that, back in the good old days, would have launched a series -- not sitcom/sitdram, but big-screen. [27 Mar 1987, p.D1]

Avary suggests much more than he shows, but his style carries such urgency, you walk away convinced you saw every bullet hit its mark. On that level, Killing Zoe should get Avary noticed -- the long, disastrous and occasionally suspenseful heist is the best part of the movie -- but it's the stuff at the edges that shows this guy has genuine talent. [28 Oct 1994, p.G4]

One of the surprises of Spike Lee’s Oldboy is just how dark the film dares to get.

Class Act is a comedy. A deeply flawed one, too: The last half-hour is a mess, as the sly gags of the early going give way to a seemingly endless and perfectly artless chase sequence. [05 Jun 1992, p.E5]

Heartburn doesn't have enough good inside semi-fiction to be of much interest to the Washington cognoscenti, and it's not enough of a movie to stay in the memory of the outside-the-beltway crowd more than an hour or two. What it is is a chance to see our two most celebrated actors at work for a while between films. [25 July 1986, p.D1]

Only one-third of these gags are funny. [5 Dec 1989, p.C1]

You know a movie's not working when you see minotaurs, flying monkeys, "The Wizard of Oz's" Toto and Helen Mirren riding a unicorn -- all on the screen at the same time -- and you're still waiting for the thing to be over so you can go home and get on with your life.

Just may be the most entertainingly derivative movie of the millennium so far.

Shakespeare purists may scoff and wonder what the point is, but Morrissette would probably shrug and say ``Why not?''

Shares an important slice of German history that is largely unknown.

As handsome and playful as the movie often is, it's another example of the let's-further-exploit-a-hit genre.

There are some who may lament Aniston’s choice to step out of her comfortable comedy shoes and little black dresses, but the decision was sound: The best reason to see Cake — the sort of film that makes your life look pretty good in comparison — is to watch her deliver her best dramatic performance to date.

Decidedly minor Woody.

Exorcist III is as gory, convoluted -- and deafening -- as any Nightmare on Elm Street sequel. [21 Aug 1990, p.C4]

The movie isn't really about America and Japan at all; it's about set-ups for gags. [14 Mar 1986, p.D2]

Ardor is never boring, but it’s never all that engaging, either. Here is a movie that ends with a can’t-miss scenario — a siege on a farmhouse in which the heroes are vastly outnumbered and outgunned — yet still fails to ever quicken your pulse.

The performances are standard brat-pack; you could rotate the casts of anything from Risky Business to About Last Night . . . into the picture and it would stay exactly the same. [6 Nov 1987, p.D1]

Jennifer 8 is handsome, dark and menacing, as you'd figure a big-budget whodunit about a serial killer ought to be, but it's also clean out of control. It's one of those thrillers in which the real suspense is over how long it will be before you say, "Oh, come on." [6 Nov 1992, p.G5]

Survives its surface annoyances because Lynch's script also has ambition, heart and something to say other than love conquers all.

Altman seems lost here. We expect Ready to Wear to go behind the glamour of the fashion industry, uncover the pimples and scars on those flawless faces and bodies, wrinkle a few overpriced cat suits. But the movie is as superficial as its subject. [24 Dec 1994, p.G1]

There's no denying the movie's visceral impact: It's too bad, though, that Jakubowicz isn't aiming for anything other than sensation.

Never feels like anything more than a Saturday morning cartoon pumped up to big-screen dimensions.

Likable, cheerfully off-color comedy.

Only a very stony heart could resist its pull.