The main problem with Smart People is that it never breaks new ground. This is territory we have seen tilled to better effect by more perceptive motion pictures.

The film maintains a light tone and, although that creates a breezy, unforced approach, it also undercuts tension. (If they were trying to replicate the delicate balance achieved by Wes Craven in Scream, they haven’t completely succeeded.)

My evaluation is to wait-list Admission and catch it when it reaches the less demanding platform of home video.

I walked out of the original Shall We Dance? with a silly grin on my face. I left this one shaking my head, wondering where it had all gone wrong.

The acting in Beach House is uniformly strong and that’s one reason why the film works despite various narrative shortcomings.

Sadly, the result is a disappointment. Sure, the aerial battles are technically adept and occasionally exhilarating, but it's almost painful to sit through some of the "drama" that occurs on the ground.

The problem with Mr. and Mrs. Smith is that it's really two movies in one. The first is a sly comedy/thriller worthy of Hitchcock, and the other is a big, noisy summer action flick.

Despite Tony Scott's occasional blundering, True Romance is still a visceral roller coaster.

Although the movie disappoints late in the proceedings by pandering to cliches, few will be so bored as to leave before the curtain comes down.

Despite its flaws, The Box remains intriguing; however, as its mysteries are solved, the prevailing sense is one of frustration rather than satisfaction. That makes The Box worthy of the dubious label of "an interesting failure."

Despite the weak dialogue, there are still some laughs to be had. At the end of this long journey, we're rooting for Harry and Erica to be together. For the movie to get us to that point, regardless of its motives and methods, it can't be all bad.

There's no debating that Bad Words contains some big, politically incorrect laughs. The movie isn't awash in them but there are enough to keep the chuckles coming. The film's problem is that, despite obvious aspirations to be more than just a profane joke factory, it never fulfills its dramatic ambitions.

Without offering more than dialogue, Women Talking has difficulty sustaining itself for 104 minutes.

The film has an undeniable energy, and, at times, it works as light entertainment, but there is a problem. The central character is consistently aggravating.

As either a 007-inspired spy film or a comic book adventure, The King’s Man feels stale.

Master is something of a mixed bag but and, for those hoping to find the next Get Out, the search must go on.

The last scene of In the Valley of Elah may be the most ridiculously ham-fisted and over-the-top moment in all of 2007’s supposed prestige cinema.

For roughly the first two-thirds of its 109-minute running length, To the Stars is an effecting and effective tale of female bonding. Unfortunately, the wheels come off toward the end as melodramatic contrivances result in an unlikely climax and unsatisfying denouement.

The movie wears thin its welcome a couple of reels before Apatow has finished telling his story.

Overlong and unevenly paced, Cinderella Man hits stretches (especially between bouts) when it threatens to lose its audience.

Not a complete waste of time, but it doesn't make us FEEL the way better dramas do, and, in the end, it lacks the qualities that would make it memorable or powerful.

This isn't a bad movie; it's watchable but the direction in which the filmmakers choose to take it results in a vague sense of dissatisfaction.

Lacks the kind of forceful, attention-grabbing chemistry that elevates a movie in this genre from a passable diversion to a lasting source of entertainment.

Sylvia underwhelms.

Howard is an affectionate but unremarkable biography of Ashman that uses archived clips and new interviews to present an overview of the man’s life with a special attention on his later years.

Passably interesting, occasionally compelling, sporadically amusing, and badly lacking in focus.

This is strictly B-movie fare. It tries to do some of the same things as "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and suffers as a result of the comparison.

It is disappointing (and a little boring). The chief problem relates to structure. The film unspools more like a puzzle than a cohesive narrative.

The Good German, Steven Soderbergh's film noir homage, is nearly perfect when it comes to style and tone, but it concentrates so single-mindedly on the mechanics of the narrative that it loses sight of its characters.

A nice little mystery thriller that takes a wrong turn on the way to its climax and morphs into a slasher movie.

Ultimately, the plot (irrespective of how faithful it is to real life) isn't the problem - it's the unevenness with which co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (both making their directorial debuts) approach it that limits the film's success and mutes the experience of sitting through it.

There are moments of pure poetry in the movie but the production as a whole seems overlong and repetitive and takes a detour or two that distract from the aching beauty of the central story.

It’s as if the film’s reason to be is its aesthetic, with everything else being of secondary concern.

Vice feels like a documentary-wannabe that never achieves whatever it’s trying to do. It rehashes events and information that have long been part of the public record and, despite the abundance of acting talent at director Adam McKay’s disposal, none of the characters achieve escape velocity.

This movie isn't afraid of venturing into the realm of bad taste -- in fact, it revels in it.

The Nutty Professor aims for guffaws at the lowest level -- anyone with a double-digit IQ will get every joke. Whether you laugh at them or not is often more of a matter of taste than a question of having a sense of humor.

Where About Cherry fails is in its depiction of interpersonal relationships. Nearly all of them are flat and uninspired.

The overall experience fails to satisfy on a basic level. This is one of those films it's easier to be impressed with than it is to like.

Batman is largely content to skim the surface and bask in the light of its visual style.

Despite numerous faults, Damage is still a worthwhile motion picture. It presents a stark depiction of a man on the edge who is driven to act by needs he can neither understand nor control, and the pain that such an obsession can cause. There's a lot here, just not as much as there could have been.

It is neither as clever nor as funny nor as inventive as the daring title might lead one to expect.

Captain Marvel, coming only a year after the fantastic "Black Panther," is a disappointment. The acting and special effects are solid but the writing, by co-directors Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (elevated from the indie productions where they made their mark) with an assist from Geneva Robertson-Dworet, is lazy.

It succeeds in many of the ways a sports movie should, and, by employing a slightly different viewpoint for most of the production, manages a sense of freshness.

Clash of the Titans is a flawed but mildly entertaining regurgitation of Greek mythological elements, but it's also an example of how poorly executed 3D can hamstring a would-be spectacle.

You may end up being pleasantly surprised, especially if you have a ten-year old girl in tow.

Quantumania is the best of the three Ant-Man movies, outshining the previous installment by a good bit and even edging out the first one. It can be amusing when appropriate and serious when necessary and maintains a high level of energy to go along with its eccentricity. For all its epic aspirations, however, it feels slight.

This is one of those unusual films that is capable of enthralling those under twelve while not sending older members of the audience rushing for the exit.

The problem is that the writing is too weak for me to come close to recommending it.

The pacing is uneven, the frenetic action is rarely suspenseful, the dialogue is neither witty nor intelligent, and the anticlimactic endgame drags out to an improbable conclusion.

Sadly, Madame Web fails to rise above its pedigree as a lesser superhero movie. It does nothing to convince viewers that there’s value to be found in a story not featuring a marquee comic book character.

When compared to the recent influx of musical biopics, this one sits somewhere in the middle; there is too little depth to elevate it to the top, but the soundtrack is too strong to let it sink to the bottom.

An exercise in mediocrity. It's curious how little of the TV series' charm and appeal can be found in this uneven, plodding excuse for a reunion.

Remove the musical elements and the 2024 version, directed by newcomers Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., resembles an amateurish imitation of the 2004 original. Add in the mostly-awful songs and it becomes an in-your-face assault on the senses.

There’s still quite a bit to like here, from the strong sense of atmosphere to the layers of a Hitchcockian plot, but this is not a complete movie. And when viewers are laughing at a movie rather than with it, something has gone awry.

For many adults, sitting through this will be an exercise in tedium. It offers about as much as an oversized, overlong Saturday morning cartoon and if that's where expectations are set, it probably won't disappoint. Talk about setting the bar low, though.

The "Da Vinci Code" was adequate but forgettable. "Angels & Demons" was godawful. Inferno is somewhere in between - watchable but by no means worth the money and effort necessary to see it theatrically.

Pretentious and self-indulgent -- those two words come to mind when considering CQ.

A mediocre diversion -– a movie better watched at home where the remote control can be used (if necessary) to fast forward to the film's best part: the obligatory end credit outtakes.

Legend seems like a movie Scorsese might have made if he wasn’t paying attention - the elements are present but they are clumsily assembled and the outcome underwhelms.

There's more contrived melodrama in these two hours than romance fans could reasonably hope for.

If you take The Postman at face value - that it's a straightforward, post- apocalyptic adventure tale, then it could seem like one of the worst movies of the year, if not of all time.

If ever there was a movie that could cause even the most restless sleeper to fall into a deep slumber, this is it.

The energy is missing in the remake because the techniques, which are replicated in a straightforward fashion, are stale.

What happens when movie producers cross "Three's Company" with "Masterpiece Theater?" The result would be similar to what Touchstone Pictures has provided with Casanova, a farcical romantic comedy period piece.

There is a perverse enjoyment to be had from something this cheesy, although not enough of one that I can recommend sitting through it. Still, as bad as Creature is, it can be fun, although the level of enjoyment is probably in direct proportion to the viewer's level of intoxication.

Happy Death Day 2U is a passable way to throw away 100 minutes if you’re willing to turn off your brain and pretend it’s making sense.

Half of what's going on is never explained, and what is explained, doesn't make much sense. And that's just the beginning of the problems encountered in director Paul Anderson's ("Mortal Kombat") poorly executed endeavor.

A script that, at its best, is inconsistent, and, at its worst, is laughably implausible and riddled with obvious flaws.

In a way, it’s almost worth recommending Men for the first 70 minutes. At that point, a quick exit would preserve the illusion that this is some sort of modern horror classic. For those who stick around, however, the final assessment isn’t likely to be nearly as favorable.

Another Simple Favor feels lazy and overplotted, and it definitely overstays its welcome.

The narrative is simplistic and lacking in energy, and the characters are sketched instead of fully formed.

At its best, Bad Santa 2 feels like an echo of its predecessor. At its worst, it’s unfunny, crass, and uncomfortable (not in a good way).

Insultingly, Frankenheimer concludes the movie with a short sermon about the fine line that separates man from beast. If the director actually wanted to get this point across, he should have worked it into the film rather than tacking it on as an afterthought. It is, after all, an integral aspect of the source material. That it has been so thoroughly excised from the main plot isn't The Island of Dr. Moreau's only problem, but it's symptomatic of the flawed mindset that went into planning this occasionally incoherent and ultimately disappointing motion picture.

Are you weary of the high-octane, CGI-heavy action offered by the Fast and Furious series? If so, then it would be hard to find any reason to recommend the film.

The level of quality is such that this does not deserve a theatrical distribution and will only find appeal among pre-teen kids or those who have been fans of the games since their inception more than a decade ago.

Chernobyl Diaries is afflicted with a fatal flaw that damages many horror films: after a better-than-average setup and a promising first half, everything falls apart.

This isn't a family-friendly film - anyone over the age of about 8 will immediately recognize that significant chunks of the story don't make sense.

Here Comes the Boom is stale and vanilla. We know we're in trouble early when the first joke fails.

Sluggish, conventional, and almost completely lacking in energy.

I'll be among the first to admit that Timothy Dalton is a fine actor. But giving a solid performance has little to do with being a good James Bond, and, as accomplished as Dalton is, he's a failure as 007 in The Living Daylights.

It's not so much a bad film as it is a disappointing one. A very disappointing one.

When a movie wants to be sold as a spectacle, it had better deliver something more spectacular than this.

The problem lies in the screenplay which latches on to the few clever and/or funny elements in the film and runs them into the ground via repetition.

It isn't difficult to identify those who will and won't like this film. There's plenty of violence, lots of fights and explosions, and the miniatures special effects work is impressive. A sizable portion of the Seagal crowd will likely be annoyed by the environmental message and the Eskimo religious practices because they interfere with On Deadly Ground's pacing. In the end, however, there's probably enough bang to overcome these flaws for Seagal's fans, if not anyone else.

This movie isn't bad just because it follows a formula slavishly but because it does so without verve or passion.

Despite a slow start, the movie eventually slips into a congenial flow. Unfortunately, Guarding Tess ends up derailing because of a ill-conceived ending that has something to do with a silly kidnapping subplot.

The quality of the writing is more than a notch below that of our show. Most of the jokes aren't as witty, and the laughs come less frequently. Maybe it's because so many of the things they do in the movie are lifted directly from the show, but a lot of stuff seems stale.

The film is preposterous to the point of distraction, where the necessary level of suspension of disbelief exceeds the capacity of a normal, thinking person.

Skincare feels like it wants to be a screwball caper movie but the comedy gets lost along the way.

By aiming his film at children, director David Mickey Evans strips the movie of all potentially interesting elements, leaving behind material likely to appeal to only the least discriminating viewers.

"28 Days Later," while not terribly original, was suspenseful and involving. 28 Weeks Later is neither. The characters aren't as sympathetic or interesting.

Okay, there are worse movies out there, but I'm hard-pressed to figure out why I'd waste my time and money watching something that's a half-baked retread of better movies I can stream from Netflix.

For a while, the movie looks like it’s going to go dark but then chickens out and leaves the viewer with a palpable sense of dissatisfaction.

There are good things to be said about The Spirit, but not enough of them to outweigh the bad.

The film occasionally pokes fun at itself, although not nearly as often as it should. I don't recommend it for anything more significant than a bottom-of-the-barrel rental or a desperation cable choice, but it delivers what it advertises, and I suppose that could be considered a virtue.

Carrie is just a bad movie, with only Spacek's performance making significant portions of it watchable. And the film has not improved with age. It looks just as cheap, cheesy, and ineptly made today as it did when it was first released.

Aside from some cosmetic changes, little of what this Fright Night offers elevates it above the classification of "unnecessary."

Fred Claus is less enchanting than the 2003 fairy tale, "Elf" (which was directed by Vaughn's good buddy, Jon Favreau), but no worse than the inexplicably popular Tim Allen series.