It has humor and a touch of charm, but plainly needed more love, more passion, more Shakespeare.

The pleasures of Welcome to the Rileys are in the simplest human message of all. Take an interest in somebody who needs help and the life you save may be your own.

A ditzy film that offers more evidence that good actors, good action and one-liners don’t solve the one thing missing in every movie video game adaptation – a story that makes sense.

That it lacks the snap, crackle and kapow of the summer's better comic book blockbusters isn't surprising. With all this effort riding on a big, expensive and rushed studio summer picture, the real miracle is that any of them come to life.

Between dragon scenes, Dragonheart falls apart. [31 May 1996, p.17]

This tiny Catholic school for women dominated the sport at a turning point in history, and this plucky, old-fashioned sports drama sets the scene and tells the tale with a lot of heart and a dash of wit.

There are theme park attractions with stronger plots and more compelling characters. [26 May 1995, p.17]

Basically, the film is a vehicle for the talent on board. And though the ship is creaky, it does stay afloat. [02 July 1997, p.E2]

Like its fallen star, Gang Related may not be perfect. But there's a lot going on here, just beneath the surface. [8 Oct 1997]

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.

It's an infuriatingly static picture - actors walking around when they should be running, ruminating when they should be panicking, generally failing to convey fear and pick up the pace.

In a film that could have been called Grumpy Old Prexies, Garner makes a decent replacement for Walter Matthau. Garner and Lemmon, game troopers both, do what they can to wring laughs out of material that went out with the Eisenhower administration.

As in the sketches, the Coneheads are humorously outrageous, but somehow they don't seem quite as humorously outrageous as they did 20 years ago. [23 July 1993, p.6]

Director Donald Petrie (Grumpy Old Men) and his screenwriters have nimbly constructed a movie around young Culkin in such a way as to almost conceal the boy's shortcomings - or, at least, to divert us from them for surprisingly long stretches of time. [21 Dec 1994, p.E1]

By all fair standards, Marked for Death should be the worst film of the year. It has a lame plot, horrible acting and some of the worst dialogue to come off a scriptwriter's page. The strange thing is, well, darn it, the film is entertaining - its action scenes lifting it from the pathetic to the passable. [12 Oct 1990, p.12]

Terminator Salvation is one of the most visually impressive films in the series. The action is non-stop and the look borders on dazzling.... But ironically for a series that's supposed to be about an embattled humanity struggling against those who lack it, there isn't an emotional moment in this.

Ricochet is the sort of super-violent exploitation picture that I'm often inclined to dismiss out-of-hand. So I have to admit to being surprised that I didn't find it repellent. As a matter of fact, parts of the movie are nightmarishly fascinating - and I don't mean that as a put-down. [07 Oct 1991, p.D1]

Though light enough in tone, packed with good messages and delivering a couple of lovely, touching moments, "Mars" still has that plastic look that made you wish you were seeing the REAL Tom Hanks in "Polar Express" or the REAL Jim Carrey in "A Christmas Carol."

Where The Last Picture Show was emotionally involving and dramatically episodic, Texasville is sprawling, badly paced and remote. [29 Oct 1990, p.C1]

Director Richard Benjamin and screenwriter Holly Goldberg Sloan use a single comic device throughout the entire movie. In scene after scene, two things are made to happen simultaneously with supposedly hilarious results. [11 Jun 1993, p.22]

This new film version of Lord of the Flies is far from a disgrace. It may not hit a home run, but it doesn't strike out, either. [16 Mar 1990, p.5]

The best monster movie to come slithering out of the muck since Jurassic Park. Species is an exploitation picture while Jurassic Park was mainstream, but the new one is lots of fun if you're in the mood for B-movie thrills. [07 July 1995, p.19]

There's too much cheese, but there are still enough amusing action beats and funny one-liners to let one say, 30 Minutes or Less delivers, more or less on time.

It's a modestly effective but jaw-droppingly violent picture.

So while we can appreciate the decent effects, the bang-up settings and a good cast, we can only hope they got some sight-seeing in on their days off. Whatever magic there was on this shoot is probably in their home movies.

This one's a thousand times better than the weenie Exorcist II: The Heretic they made in 1977. [28 Sep 1990, p.6]

Malkovich temporarily brings the movie to life, but, finally, it's too little, too late. Amusing though it is, his brief performance probably won't be enough to keep "Jennifer Eight Is Enough" off the ballot. [6 Nov 1992, p.23]

Altman's method is risky, but when inspiration strikes the result can be wonderful. When it doesn't, the result can be, well, Ready to Wear.