When it's good, it's good, and when it fails, it's still clear what Levine was trying to do.

Anyone can make a bad movie. But it takes a unique set of circumstances to make a movie so horrible that people are celebrating its badness two decades later.

Starts as a taut thriller, but loses some momentum before picking up again, and Klaussner’s fine performance keeps us on edge through most of the film, even though we know the result.

Enemy is what might happen if someone let Terrence Malick make a "Twilight Zone" episode, with a quick rewrite by David Cronenberg.

Though Hauser and Sweeney can’t exactly save the movie, they keep it from derailing.

Anyone who puts production gloss above performance, plot, dialogue and editing may thrill to Drawing Restraint 9.

In The Hero, as elsewhere, Haley really is dealing with the subject of heroism, but the kind of heroism not usually found in movies, the heroism of daily life.

Night and the City is basically a mess, but De Niro, calling up his reserves of manic energy, is entertaining in the title role. He's foolproof, really: He even shines in mediocrity. It's a shame his talent didn't rub off on Jessica Lange. Playing Helen, a tough-broad barkeep who joins Harry in his biggest scam yet, the overly mannered Lange gives her worst screen performance to date. [23 Oct 1992, p.C1]

It's an amazing story, one that would seem too far-fetched if it weren't true.

Grafted onto a true underdog story, it makes for a salvation show that could move Brother Love himself — as well as those of his who think we can resist such things.

It’s a sneaky little movie about what people are really like, and it’s impressive.

For a film about an unexpected reunion between two daughters and their long-lost mother, there is shockingly little talk about family. We have no idea what these women see in each other, let alone want from each other. This strips the film of the emotional authenticity that it ultimately craves.

Has beautiful scenery and some enjoyable moments but leaves the viewer feeling the need to find the book to get the rest of the story.

Survivors get to tell the history, but Robbie Robertson is pushing it. The guitarist does not come off as a wholly reliable narrator in his cinematic account of the illustrious career of the Band, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band.

When the screenplay sticks to the tricky business of living - trying, then screwing up, then stumbling forward anyway - it hits its mark with confidence, and the big ensemble cast responds with tight little performances of affecting vulnerability.

Cameron is such a good filmmaker that even though he seems to be out of ideas, the three-hour, 17-minute running time chugs along efficiently on pure craftsmanship. But is that enough?

The directors pull off this faux documentary.

A silly, snarling romp -- a fun (if you're in the mood for it), sometimes scary look at the life of a socially awkward man whose best friend is a white rodent he names Socrates.

Sly and very savvy.

The stuff of high romance, brought off with considerable wit, too. People are going to love it.

There are lapses in character motivation, and at times the film takes on a cartoony feeling. But if you worry about those things, you shouldn't be watching action movies. For its genre, Broken Arrow is a class act.

It’s a busy film, so it holds your attention that way. But it’s busy checking off all of the crooks and crooked cops cliches it can, leaving the project little time to experiment with much that’s new. Or worthwhile.

As moving as some parts are, it's muddled by a script that tries to pack in too much. There's sufficient material for a couple of films and a sitcom.

A movie that moves slower than it should and that keeps us detached for long periods of time. Most of the problems can be traced to the script, which does a poor job of establishing the characters and giving us a sense of how they relate to each other.

In the end, the filmmakers don't reveal a lot of new insights into Dahmer's character, or answer questions about how all these murders went unnoticed before Dahmer was apprehended. In some ways, we are left to fill in the blanks - and that can be a queasy experience.

Laughs are laughs, whether you know some of the punch lines ahead of time or not. And The Secret Life of Pets has plenty of laughs.

Yet it's very funny, a disappointment only to those who expect to see something bold and new.

Modeling his work after the old Warner Bros. gangster movies of the '30s and '40s, and using plenty of shootouts, Van Peebles still manages to instill a highly personal sense of urgency about the need to eradicate the crack trade. That passion flares through the script by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper, a former addict who coined the phrase ''new jack'' to describe the flashy style of deprived inner-city youth eager to get rich quick by any means. [8 Mar 1991, p.E3]

As good as The Motel Life is for the actors, that's how bad it is for the viewer.

A fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of the famed Spanish palace of avant-garde gastronomy that closed its doors in July. If you're passionate (and open-minded) about food, you'll be fascinated.

The watchable LX 2048 certainly gets an “A” for effort, including a creative take on Hamlet’s famous soliloquy. I’m not sure how good a movie it is, but it would be an excellent basis for a streaming series, in which its ambitious ideas would have time to develop.

Don’t mistake his movie’s lack of sentimentality for callousness. Babylon is coarse, hard and wild, but its emotion is undeniable. Babylon is what movie love really looks like.

This is a solid, three-star movie, but its premise is brilliant and unforgettable. [21 May 2017, p.Q45]

The genius of “Skincare” is how it uses Los Angeles and its image- and celebrity-driven culture as a metaphor for empty lives.

Narrated by Lomborg, the movie uses lecture excerpts, clips of terrified schoolchildren and interviews with (mostly) like-minded scientists to get his points across.

Suncoast is a personal and mostly quiet movie, but it has the force of a real expression, of something that somebody just needed to say.

This good-natured comedy is set off by the high spirits of its stars.

Red Heat, the new Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, avoids most of the usual action-movie gimmicks and is better for it. It co-stars Jim Belushi and opens around town today. [17 Jun 1988, p.E1]

Broken English doesn't break any code or offer original insights on the subject. But there's a spark whenever Posey and Poupaud are together.

Lowery doesn’t stray too far outside the lines — this is still a Disney movie based on a beloved family property — but he also doesn’t shy away from mining a familiar tale for meta commentary. Far from deconstruction, it’s heartfelt and introspective.

Romper Stomper is a fist in the face, spiked knuckles tearing flesh, a kick in the groin from hobnailed boots and a riot hose turned on the complacent. [03 Sep 1993, p.C3]

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the comedy game.

The story goes nowhere...We don't understand the motivation of the characters.

A clever look at con artists and their games of deception.

Lacks emotional power.

Still, Elephant is affecting even on a small screen.

The To Do List is a romantic comedy with no romance and little comedy, but with an ugliness of spirit that's surprising and unrelenting.

The Bubble surprises us at every turn.

There are more over-the-top moments, but they never last long. And after every groan-inducing piece of footage, a spectacular near-crash or daring motorcycle chase comes along to leave the movie's shortcomings in a cloud of dust.

Hero was directed by Stephen Frears, who has made some of the better movies of the last few years (Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters), but here his direction isn't nearly as sure-handed. Watching it I got the distinct sense he wasn't liking the movie he was making, or that, at the very least, he was struggling to keep up. [02 Oct 1992, p.C1]

There should be a special category for movies, like “Dog,” that are hard to enjoy but easy to take. They’re not entertainment. They’re more like a vague form of companionship. They aspire to little but demand nothing, and, if you like, they can keep you company. You can’t call that a good movie, but you’d have to be a creep to call it a bad movie.

Freeway is rude in the way the truth is rude -- only funnier. The movie seduces with its humor, all the while presenting a realized vision of a harsh, absurd world.

Both Parsons and Aldridge surrender to the material, and we are moved as Kit and Michael come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of their love for each other.

The first measure of Arteta's shrewdness as a storyteller is in the no-fuss way he reveals the nature of the father's business.

The producers have stated that they're going after an American market that supports Spanish-language TV networks, radio stations and newspapers. This niche audience may well respond to not being required to read subtitles, for once, in a movie geared to them.

It's downbeat material and it tends to drag a bit, but Jia's performance is so unsparing and intense -- and the film so compassionate and chaste in its approach to a life lost and recovered -- that Quitting ultimately satisfies.

French director Claude Berri's exquisite, methodical Lucie Aubrac is a romantic thriller so tightly drawn it almost leaves one breathless.

Doesn't quite measure up to the extraordinary sweetness of the classic children's book by E.B. White on which it is based. But then again, how could it?

A domestic melodrama with weak dialogue and biopic cliches.

The movie never catches fire with the emotions.

The movie's promise -- to provide a balanced argument -- goes unrealized, and all we're left with is the spectacle of an idiot bullying a genius.

Visceral and strong.

This sequel goes beyond disappointment into a sublime realm of embarrassment that's beyond and yet better than merely bad, because it fascinates: What on Earth were they thinking?

Produced by the New York Times and featuring the three reporters who broke the news (Melena Ryzik, Cara Buckley and Jodi Kantor), the film resonates by telling the story behind the story, about how the victims of sexual harassment and misconduct are often blamed, especially when their harasser is famous, popular and very funny.

The Peasants is filled with sniping, fistfights, brutal violence and sexual assaults and becomes unbearable through its nearly two-hour running time. Most of these characters you wouldn’t want to spend more than five minutes with, if that.

It’s a chilling expansion of the franchise, with visually inventive dream sequences and Ethan Hawke returning as the villain.

A gorgeous piece of work. It pulls every heartstring a good romance should, yet bursts with G-rated fun, wonderfully human characters and several solid and hummable songs.

Muddled.

For all its sensitivity to the horrors of mental illness, The Soloist ends up as a fairly canned piece of work.

The material obviously had to be stretched to fill the big screen for almost two hours.

A nice surprise, surpassing the quality of the first film.

Aside from the defection scene, the only tension in The White Crow concerns whether Nureyev will achieve the renown he deserves or whether his career will be killed in the crib. That’s not nothing, but it’s small stuff to peg a two-hour movie on, especially one with an unsympathetic protagonist.

Dick Cheney deserves better than this — or worse. So does Lynn Cheney, played by Amy Adams, who strains in vain to give dimension to a script that paints Mrs. Cheney as little more than an amoral social climber.

A category of films that reward viewers who view the cinemas as an escape, rather than an arena of deep thought. If you’re coming off a super bad week, or have had a few drinks, or just happen to find a crowded theater where laughs are contagious, you’ll have a much better time. If you rent the movie and view it alone, you’ll probably laugh three times, and never watch it again.

The film is worth watching thanks to a flawless central performance by “Glee” alum Dianna Agron, solid elder annoyance shtick from Candice Bergen and Dustin Hoffman, and Bialik’s “Big Bang Theory” co-star Simon Helberg locating his pain and relishing every minute of it.

It works as an intriguingly offbeat character study while offering Nicolas Cage a chance to show why he used to be considered one of the top actors of his generation.

Respect has everything you could hope for in a musical biopic. It has a good story and great songs and, best of all, it has someone in the lead role who can put those songs over.

If anyone steals the air-show with his deadpan, it's Lloyd Bridges as Admiral (Tug) Benson, a total maladroit whose body has been wounded in every major battle since the Little Big Horn massacre and who has flown 21 missions without ever landing his airplane (he was shot down every time). Bridges gets away with some wonderfully corny lines and sight gags. [31 July 1991, p.E1]

Blackthorn imagines a scenario for Butch's later years and gives us a different kind of Western - somber, reflective and set in the elevated plains and salt flats of Bolivia.

Addams Family Values is so much better than the first film -- partly because Sonnenfeld, who made his directing debut with the first film, has refined his directing chops, but mostly because Rudnick has contributed a delightful, mock- macabre script. [19 Nov 1993, p.C1]

The film is stylishly shot, although the current action-movie look might be dated in a few years.

Let us recall that the first film was, in its blithely vulgar way, hilarious. And let us demand a moratorium on coked-out-baby jokes, which seriously kill the buzz.

By the standards of most IMAX films, this is a bizarre entry, a documentary about bugs that was produced by Terminix, the pest control company.

Ultimately lacks the narrative muscle that could have made it great. But it does have McDormand, who is great in this, her best showcase since "Fargo."

Blue Gate Crossing is 85 minutes of wistful gloom.

Just one big wipeout.

Moderately engaging tale.

An awkward hybrid of Asian and American film techniques. It's also an uninvolving story that casts Chan in the role of a fish out of water and gives him little opportunity to show his exuberant personality.

The film is merciless in showing the obstacles faced by a down-and-out couple in strip-mall Florida, but there's a modicum of hope in the genuine love the characters share.

Maybe the film works best as nostalgia for Baby Boomers who recall the picture from their childhood.

No matter where you stand, there's no denying "Capitalism" is flat-out polemic wizardry.

In Secretariat, the fictionalized bits are simple exaggerations - broad, Disneyish adjustments in races and other realities.

Considering that most movies, even today, don't present a woman's romantic or sexual behavior in anything other than a spirit of judgment, She's So Lovely has to be regarded as something unique.

There are phony movies made every week, but this is in a different category - a phony movie that seems a distortion of something real, a phony movie offered in place of the real movie von Trier could have made, but it would have cost him something. Some blood, some truth, some soul. What we're left with instead is an empty gesture.

To label the parents in Wah-Wah dysfunctional doesn't adequately describe their wildly inappropriate behavior.

It's stupid but glorious -- Dominic (Vin Diesel) and his crew of high-spirited street racers are hired by an FBI agent to hunt down an international terrorist in London. Ridiculous and entertaining from start to finish.

Lilting works because of the superb performances from its two leads, especially Whishaw, whose tortured gloom offers a striking contrast to the cool, unflappable “Q” role he presented in “Skyfall.”

Worst of all, in promoting its hero's eccentric journey as a voyage of healing, the movie replaces emotional precision and intellectual honesty with syrupy sincerity and insistence. It turns boring and cute and begs us to love it.