Kika is flamboyant and provocative. But the new film, which was partly inspired by the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, is ultimately quite serious.

What really holds the movie together is Rachel Ward's exceptionally moving portrayal of Fay. [07 Sep 1990, p.7]

In the final analysis, the action-picture mechanics of the film are too limiting. No Mercy barely has a subject, much less a theme. Yet moments from the picture linger in the mind. If you don't leave the theater satisfied, you may at least be moved.

You gorehounds will enjoy this one. Forty-two dead bodies. Two motor-vehicle chases with one crash-and-burn and one crash-and-plunge. Neck-snapping. Fireballs. Arm-ripping. Skull-drilling. Terminal spanking. Flaming supporting actor. Brutal push-ups. Student cut in half. Puke-a-rama. Six fistfights. Attempted rape. Kung Fu. Junkie Fu. Robot Fu. Forklift Fu. [22 Nov 1991]

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is a delightful comedy about a playboy artist who is ordered to escort a judge's impressionable teen-age sister everywhere. [16 Jan 1990, p.4]

In the final analysis, the action-picture mechanics of the film are too limiting. No Mercy barely has a subject, much less a theme. Yet moments from the picture linger in the mind. If you don't leave the theater satisfied, you may at least be moved.

This may be a dated film, one in which publishing companies were run by czars instead of corporations and a woman's worth was defined by mink coats and men. But it is also a smart, clever, funny film with a wonderful cast and some nice screwball touches by director PETER GODFREY. [23 Dec 2001, p.15]

when Mr. Jones is working, it's surprisingly enjoyable, partly because the cast is so entertaining. [9 Oct 1993]

This modern-day vampire movie is, to be sure, no masterpiece, but its suggestive narrative and dreamlike visual style are distinct improvements over those of such recent living-dead flicks as The Lost Boys and Vamp. And if Near Dark doesn't provide a complete answer to the ''necking'' question it raises, well, heck, it's an exploitation film, not an advice column.

Manhattan Murder Mystery is Allen's lightest, most inconsequential production in ages. It is, you might say, fun while it lasts but not a moment longer. [20 Aug 1993, p.17]

The film's flaws are at least as obvious as its strengths. But LaLoggia knows something of childhood's secrets, and has managed to get what he knows on the screen.

"Gattaca" director Andrew Niccol's sense of the zeitgeist is as on the money as ever with In Time, a sci-fi parable that plays like "Occupy Wall Street: The Movie."

This is still a most original take on the consequences of following your own "yellowbrickroad" when you don't know, for sure, that there's an Oz at the end of it.

The story isn't particularly organized. It's more a collection of scenes - than a coherent coming-of-age tale.

It's a sordid tale and, in Gibney's telling, a cautionary one.

This isn't "Up in the Air," and we're not dealing with this awful event on a metaphysical level. But there's truth in between the cliches.

Though A Perfect World may deserve to be attacked for its casual pacing and occasional clumsy staging, and for one or two less-than-fabulous performances, the darn thing kind of grew on me. [24 Nov 1993, p.E2]

All things considered, State of Grace is far from a must-see gangster film. But I guess it'll do until the next one comes along. [05 Oct 1990, p.8]

The Twilight Saga comes close to that sweet spot between swooning silliness and special effects slaughter with Eclipse.

There is little urgency to this spiraling disaster. Soderbergh has made a lot of noise this past year about quitting directing and taking up a less collaborative, more solitary pursuit - painting. This is an anti-social painter's movie. Millions are dying, but he doesn't care that much. So why should we?

Like a political cartoon, Bob Roberts can sometimes be so overtly political that the humor starts to fade. Toward the end, especially, the movie loses some of its force by forcing the issue too far. But Robbins shows so much energy, intelligence and audacity in his directorial debut that it isn't hard to forgive his excesses. [25 Sep 1992, p.18]

Though it only rarely reaches the level of gonzo farce that it might have been, "Diary" is still an agreeably drunken stagger through the novel Thompson based on his formative year as a writer.

Like those '70s movies it borrows from, there's a blast of tongue-in-cheek politics built around a "They messed with the WRONG Mexican" message. No, this may not go over in Arizona.

Like "Avatar," "Legacy" is a film too in love with its own good looks. And like the original "TRON," the sequel's a bit of a slog.

An intricate and daft tale of love, family and revenge.

Moon delivers the popcorn in gigantic fist-fulls of fun.

It’s filmic fool’s gold, as every scene that doesn’t sparkle is just dirt -- dank, gritty visuals, murky plotting and very bad line-readings from Troyer (Mini-Me from the Austin Powers movies).

The Brady Bunch Movie is certainly watchable, which is a lot more than I had been expecting. [17 Feb 1995, p.19]