Despite the derivative nature and low production values of Super, there are laughs in the at-times ragged script.

Life with Mikey is seldom the stuff of belly laughs. But Vidal is a minor find as the cheeky street urchin, Cyndi Lauper contributes off-the-wall support as the Chapmans' ditzy secretary, and Fox's low-key presence is as amiable as ever. [4 June 1993, p.L21]

If nothing else, True Story is the kind of movie that will spark spirited discussion among moviegoers prone to digging and searching for the truth -- whatever that might be.

The hard, cold truth is that the hard, cold For Colored Girls is just plain difficult to fall in love with, regardless of the amount of passion Perry poured into it or how much meaning he's freighted it with.

Hit and Run achieves its chief goal: to put the pedal to the metal for some good, goofy fun, squealing the tires as often as possible along the way.

I've got a fourth verb to add to the comma-challenged title of Julia Roberts' how-to-be-happy travelogue, Eat Pray Love. How about "edit"?

Warner Bros.' entry in the feature animation lists is fast paced and action filled, and makes at least a half-gesture toward letting a girl in on the derring-do. The pop-style songs and comedy relief are blandly pleasant. [15 May 1998, p.L23]

Fuqua's storytelling here isn't as expert and efficient as McCall is when he's forced into action, but it's good enough. Bottom line: He and The Equalizer 2 still deliver on their promise of a badass Denzel doing badass things for all the right reasons.

An underwhelming cop yarn - a suspense tale whose occasionally arresting characters are far more satisfying than its workaday plot. [20 Apr 1993, p.D7]

What we end up with is a film that contains many fine moments -- the young Bolden's discovery of rhythm, an imagined discussion on musical improvisation between Bolden and clarinetist George Baquet, a look at racial politics of the day -- but those moments don't quite coalesce into a consistently satisfying whole.

Even though it's a strictly no-frills, straight-forwardly shot affair, it feels overdue.

A predictable but painless pastiche of high school drama clichés that will give its intended tween audience a lot to squeal about -- and leave their parents reminiscing quietly about how good films from '80s icon John Hughes were.

As a collective thing, though, those moments add up to a messy, all-over-the-map movie that toys with big, existential thoughts, but it doesn't have a coherent enough story with which to drive them home.

While Nourizadeh's just-for-fun head trip is no more ambitious than its long-haired pothead of a main character, it delivers on its sole goal: to entertain and to surprise.

A humor-laced, richly produced adventure benefiting greatly from the charisma and rapport of its lead actors, it's built in the mold of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which was also based on a theme park attraction.

It is a reasonably clever, fairly high-concept 'toon that boasts a satisfying emotional component.

No, it's not a perfect movie, given how dangerously close it comes to running out of quality third-act punchlines before you're liable to have run out of Sno-caps and Raisinettes. Also, some of the biggest names in the supporting cast -- John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd, specifically -- are all but wasted.

The Lottery Ticket doesn't hit the comedy jackpot, but it doesn't roll snake eyes, either. In my book, that's a winner.

Without the fantastic performances from Gandolfini, Stewart and Leo, it wouldn't hold together nearly as well as it does.

A sleight-of-hand heist film that feels like a cross between David Blaine and "Ocean's Eleven," with a little Robin Hood thrown in, it's a ripping bit of fun. If, that is, you let it be.

A surprisingly entertaining movie on its own, a strap-yourself-in, suspend-your-disbelief summer popcorn adventure.

Cooper's writing can be overwrought at times; a few of his scenes don't come off as he'd evidently hoped. And Ichaso's direction has a tendency to get fussy. Yet overall Sugar Hill is an ably realized drama, well worth seeing for its candid and sympathetic insights into the mindsets of African-American men. [04 Mar 1994, p.L27]

A film that is neither great nor horrible. Favreau does enough things right in Cowboys & Aliens to churn out a mostly enjoyable bit of mindless summertime action, just not enough to come close to rivaling his 2008 crowd-pleaser "Iron Man."

It's neither a good movie nor a bad movie. It's just a movie.

It's more than a little ironic, then, that the one thing missing from director Craig Robinson's often-amusing, frequently episodic film is just that: a resonant emotional core.

It won't stick to your ribs in the way, say, a shank will -- but it probably won't leave you looking for a way to escape the theater, either.

It feels very much like part of a big-screen franchise. Couple it with such films as "Donnie Darko" and "Nightcrawler," and you've got a series that collectively could be titled "Inside Jake Gyllenhaal's Head."

For all of its faults, ends up being relentlessly watchable as well, a summertime popcorn spectacle plopped down in the middle of the fall movie season.