Extreme Measures is far from a classic. But it begins well and sustains its suspenseful tone for about two-thirds of its length...Grant's performance is one of the best things in the movie.

Entirely too literal, but it still manages to be a literally hair-raising piece of modern-style old school Gothic horror.

Fey flirts and Carell kvetches, Walhberg goes shirtless and Liotta eats Italian. No surprises there. What really clicks is the couple at the core.

This new Sabrina stresses the material's Cinderella love story - the part, that is, that was corny and somewhat dated even in the '50s. What director Sydney Pollack and his screenwriters (Barbara Benedek and David Rayfiel) have done is a little like redesigning the Ford Pinto and keeping the unfortunate old gas tank. [15 Dec 1995, p.19]

Jackman gamely does his best, Levy keeps the kid just shy of insufferable and just this side of kid-appropriate in his behavior and language.

It's a solid, engrossing thriller, but a slack one.

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.

It's so sentimental and sweet that you can almost forgive the kids' comedy Ramona and Beezus for not being nearly funny enough.

Doc Hollywood is the rare film that actually improves as it develops. What begins as an all-too-standard fish-out-of-water comedy eventually grows into something more. [02 Aug 1991, p.4]

This Herefter, despite the odd engaging moment, is a terrible letdown, like investing in a belief system and discovering there's no "here" that you've been after all your life.

If you tried to remake a cheapie zombie flick with a big budget and an eye on the mass audience, you'd end up with something like Death Becomes Her. This new horror-comedy has to be one of the most heartless mainstream pictures ever made. [31 July 1992, p.17]

A daft pitch-black dark comedy about family dysfunction that plays out over painfully ugly family Christmas celebration.

Easily the best thing about Shag: The Movie is its soundtrack, which combines newer music with such golden oldies as ''Easier Said Than Done,'' ''Up on the Roof'' and the ever-weird ''Alley Oop.'' These tunes (some of which are performed by the 15-member Voltage Brothers) do a lot to keep the mood light and to cover the lapses in the narrative, of which, you can be sure, there are more than a few.

Most of the names in My Girl are meant to seem a little peculiar. In fact, everything in My Girl is meant to seem a little peculiar. Which, I would say, is the problem with the movie. When eccentricity becomes as insistent as it does here, it's not really eccentricity any more, it's affectation. My Girl, which opens today, is a festival of affectation. [27 Nov 1991, p.E1]

The situations are painstakingly set up and downright painful to sit through. So enjoy, or endure the appetizers, because with this Dinner, dessert is truly the topper.

Whether Carrey's fans will like it or not, the film is easily his best crafted piece of work to date. [14 June 1996, p.22]

An odd duck of a thriller. Quiet, talkative, with the occasional explosion of violence, it has ghosts and characters philosophizing, quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald or blurting insensitive non-sequiturs.

Half of a wonderful movie is nothing to sneeze at. A love affair that ends badly can still be an affair to remember. [21 Oct 1994, p.27]

Despite its faults, however, Pacific Heights does the most important thing that any thriller can do. Whether you're a landlord or a tenant, it'll get you crazy. [28 Sept 1990, p.7]

Although I would rate Part III beneath Part I, the final installment does have the blessing of closure: There's something undeniably satisfying about seeing all those loose ends tied up. [25 May 1990, p.7]

Manages to deliver a striking, nicely detailed, visceral thriller built on a corny, old-fashioned script.

If you're not on the Kids' wavelength, this could quickly become annoying. So, for that matter, could their offbeat sense of humor, which isn't just dark but gleefully dark. But if you like this sort of thing, it's fun hopping around with the troupe as their movie's geography gradually becomes clear. [21 Apr 1996, p.A2]

Chairman Mao wouldn't necessarily approve. And even today, China won't be showing Mao's Last Dancer.

Far-fetched as the premise is, I was willing to give the film the benefit of the doubt for the sake of the impressive cast. But as Flatliners rolled along, its pretentiousness became increasingly toxic.

Hobo hits the screen as a grim, visually ugly, intermittently funny-occasionally preachy piece with only the estimable Mr. Hauer to recommend it.

Two very good looking people play two offbeat and abrasively charming lovers in Love & Other Drugs. And when your screen romance is as sexual as this one, it helps if your stars are about as good looking with their clothes off as human beings get.

The actors make the most of Carroll's dialogue, which is often quite witty. [22 Jan 1999, p.17]

Fortunately, director David Carson and screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga (all of whom have served in the Star Trek universe) keep the longueurs to a minimum. Whenever you feel like beaming up (or is it out?), they switch scenes.