Although Epic isn't quite an animated masterpiece -- or as enchanting as the vastly underrated "Guardians" -- it's still a fun, sweet-hearted kid-pleaser that boasts some downright lovely animation.

A gritty spy thriller directed by relative newcomer Daniel Espinosa, and a film that -- despite the occasional misstep -- ends up being a taut, suspense-filled ride.

Unimaginative and painfully generic.

It is nothing if not a nice film. But it's little more than that.

In the context of COVID, Slingshot becomes something else, transforming from what would have been a decent but derivative sci-fi thinker into a stirring ode to the vital importance of others.

Any improvements over the original RoboCop are mere window dressing, more a superficial function of technical advances in filmmaking than of any sort of storytelling prowess or fresh narrative ideas.

Beautiful Creatures is still an unabashed imitator, hewing closely to the "Twilight" blueprint. Some might go so far as to call it a blatant ripoff, as the differences between the two are cosmetic at best.

The sheer abundance of bare bosoms and coyly choreographed hanky-panky is exceeded only by the syrupy swell of violins at every climax. [06 Mar 1998, p.L31]

While it has its moments of passable action -- ends up feeling every bit as toothless as its dinosaurs are toothy.

What we're left with is a movie that is about as nourishing as the Junior Mints and nachos available at the theater snack bar. But, then, many a Friday night dinner has been made of far less.

"Second Best" might not be second-rate, but neither is it the match of the first "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

It's hard to resist the pairing of such talented actors as Robert Downey Jr. and Zack Galifianakis - and they prove why here. They are funny guys, both of whom make the most of the material.

Because the story is neither truly clever nor totally plausible - frequently, in fact, it's barely coherent - the film fails to deliver very many scares. [28 July 1995, p.L28]

The real love story in Mighty Joe Young, however, is the one between lumbering, big-hearted Joe and his feisty blond protector, and that's a romance to which audiences of all ages will happily respond. [2 Jan 1999]

It's not only shameless, it detracts from what this movie could have been, and still is when the self-promoting Harvey shuts up.

This is the sort of movie that Charles Bronson would have made back in the day, and indeed a shot of Johnson standing in a sporting goods store, contemplating a wall of shotguns as he gets ready to get busy, could have come from any "Death Wish."

Dialogue is often stilted (and fraught with unlikely outbursts of speechifying) and the ending hardly soars, but Cook, a near-ringer for the young Winona Ryder, has a shyly appealing personality and O'Keefe makes a villainess you'll love to hiss. [29 Jan 1999, p.L24]

In this new “Grinch,” it’s hard to escape the feeling we’re being offered a serving of the same old roast beast -- and a decidedly fatty serving at that.

No, Funeral Kings isn't quite dead on arrival -- but it's not too far from needing life support.

A movie that offers exactly the kind of bittersweet drama you'd expect from something called White Irish Drinkers.

You can't just cast an appealing actress in the lead role -- in this case Queen Latifah ("Valentine's Day, " "The Secret Life of Bees") -- and expect her to do all the heavy lifting.

Pigskin fans will doubtless cheer "The Program," a new melodrama set in the high-stress world of collegiate athletics, but while this David S. Ward feature pretends to address many of the most troubling aspects of high-stakes college football, it winds up ducking just about every issue it tackles. [28 Sept 1993, p.C7]

In the final analysis, that's the real endgame here: to get people into theaters and build a film franchise. For all of their film's flaws, Hood and company do that well, as Ender's Game shapes up as a decent franchise starter -- and a film that makes it hard not to be intrigued by what will come next.

For 91 minutes of its briskly paced 94-minute running time, the film works as a tightly wound bit of pins-and-needles storytelling. Then, Anderson lets it all unravel in a three-minute stretch of cheap writing that not only betrays the characters he worked so hard to develop, but that also thumbs its nose at any audience members with a brain.

Rather than "Greased Lightning," we get a holding pattern -- which is better than a crash-landing, but still ...

Unfortunately, director Jake Szymanski's bad-boy farce from there quickly becomes a textbook example of the law of diminishing returns.

There are plenty of entertaining moments to latch onto beneath the sci-fi tropes -- and maybe even a few that will inspire a new generation of storytellers.

There's no point mincing words: My Sister's Keeper is a difficult film to watch. That's not to say it isn't well-assembled, well-cast or well-acted.