It's a coy, cautious film about a frank, fearless writer.

Before it runs off track--it does have some spectacular moments.

Danny Deckchair offers some welcome cinematic comfort food in a summer filled with bloated special-effects movies and bad teen comedies.

Never gets near the soul of today's pop music.

Julia Ormond, the British beauty from "Legends of the Fall," has enough class and intelligence to carry it off. She's not a terrific actress, but her cool, patrician looks and her gorgeous voice -- more similar to Grace Kelly's than Hepburn's -- are well matched to the part of a gawky tomboy-turned-Cinderella.

It's a strong, lean piece of writing that moves quickly. Nothing is wasted, and nothing happens the way you'd expect.

Ritchie is a director with no instinct for the audience, and he can’t hold things together for an entire film. He seems at a loss, from moment to moment, as to what he should emphasize.

Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard are incredibly compelling and hold your attention despite Jordan's deliberately slow pacing.

What's Christmas Day without a good serial killer movie?

An uplifting documentary.

Miss Julie has almost everything — good actors, impeccable sets and direction rich in emotional detail — but it lacks madness and passion, and without those elements, it becomes a mere intellectual exercise.

The bottom line is that the filmmakers are working with nothing here — no characters to speak of, no interpersonal relationships, no story with any suspense or capacity to engage, and no script with any humor or wit. What can they do?

For all its hip, rat-a-tat dialogue and a sharp photographic look that give Wall Street a feeling that something exciting is happening, the movie's a bankrupt deal. [11 Dec 1987, p.E1]

If you can get past the ridiculousness of the setup - easy to do, because the posters make it clear this isn't a Woody Allen movie - it's pretty much impossible not to have fun.

Offers some memorable stories, but it simply tries too hard.

Neeson has a way of getting upset - a frantic purposefulness - that fills viewers with both empathy and anticipation: He's so miserable that we care.

That the movie is leisurely and unconventional is all part of its charm, too - until it isn't anymore. The movie is a tale of corruption, but then it's not. It's a love story, but no, not quite. Later, it flirts with becoming a great journalism tale, or at least a whimsical journalism tale, but that vein leads nowhere, too. Nor is it much of anything else.

Another innocuous film about another unusual girl.

The story, like the protagonist, floats along in a noodly sort of way, intelligent, benign and ineffectual.

An old-fashioned and family-friendly comedy.

Guaranteed to inspire, antagonize and divide his (Lee's) audience.

He (Connery) hasn’t made a film for the ages, but it’s on par with other decent historical sports dramas.

Doc Hollywood has its moments, including some nice comic turns by Barnard Hughes as a curmudgeonly doctor, Bridget Fonda as the local coquette and David Ogden Stiers as Grady's folksy mayor. And Julie Warner is certainly hot stuff. But Caton-Jones' approach is too facile, and his use of Southern-cracker cliches too offensive, to capture my vote. [02 Aug 1991, p.D1]

What's much more fascinating and enriching is Eastwood's Olympian vision, the sympathetic and all-encompassing understanding of the pain and grandeur of life on earth.

So there’s a lot going on here, and director Joel Crawford and his teams efficiently keep the story moving along. There’s a wonderful “Flintstones” versus “Jetsons” vibe, the characters are, as usual, appealing.

Death Becomes Her may be crude and tasteless, but it's also irresistibly funny and very well played by Streep, Hawn and Willis -- each of whom suffered career disappointments of late, and each of whom shines in a role that casts them against type. [31 July 1992, p.D1]

A half-baked disappointment...never flies, never comes close to meeting its own expectations.

The film deserves some kind of honor for its campy originality, smart and funny dialogue, and provocative yet sensitive look at the making of a film circa 1969.

Charming family story.

Gooding can't will this well-meaning film into life.

The result is a movie that combines a seriousness of purpose with an impish delight in craft, in a way Hitchcock would have appreciated.

A caustic comedy of Hollywood manners.

The film never settles into an assured rhythm, and instead the actors always seem to be pushing, putting the hard sell on an audience that, however distracted by the strenuousness of the sales pitch, still isn't buying.

All Hollywood and no Homer, but within its limits, it's a vigorous, entertaining movie.

It's a delicate, intelligent movie about modern parenthood and the pressures that children face, and it features a cast of talented actors who were clearly committed to the movie's message.

If you love the “Fast & Furious” franchise, you will like Fast X. If you merely like the series, the new movie will leave you indifferent. And if you’ve never seen a “Fast & Furious” movie, Fast X is not the place to start. It’s a middling installment, a big step down from the stupid-wonderful “F9: The Fast Saga,” but with just enough of the crazy stunts and chases that you can’t find anywhere else.

Maleficent imparts a feeling of enchantment. Here is a world that's strange and beautiful.

One Fine Day is no great shakes, but it avoids being tiresome thanks to the attractiveness of the stars and to a few twists that screenwriters Terrell Seltzer and Ellen Simon offer to differentiate this from other bickering-adversaries-fall-in-love comedies. Both stars also have adorable kids who figure prominently in the plot.

It's a light-hearted comedy about faith, transcendence and American-brand exploitation, and addresses those issues in such goofy, indirect, unhurried fashion that you could easily miss what Schrader has to say.

This schlocky period piece doesn't do the pioneering Northern Californians justice. The script is overwritten to the point of parody.

The main problem with "Pretty in Pink" today is simply that the entire section involving Jon Cryer, as Ringwald's pompadour-wearing best friend, is excruciating to watch. It must have been equally excruciating to perform. Basically, any time Cryer is onscreen, the story ceases to advance. He is there as comic relief only - or comic filler - but there's nothing funny about either the role or the performance. Still, there's a really good, perceptive 50-minute teenage story buried in this 96-minute movie. And a pretty good time capsule, besides.

It’s nothing groundbreaking, just good-humored bloody action directed at a frenetic pace, clocking in at about an hour and a half. Sometimes you need a little bit of fun, and Boss Level delivers.

Oversaturated with sweetness and light.

The new movie shrieks of motherhood - raising hot-button issues like biological clocks running down, the rights of birth mothers and whether to adopt or give artificial insemination a shot.

While pacing and believability issues in The Pale Blue Eye cannot be overlooked, this finely made period mystery’s virtues should still be savored.

Esrick spent 10 years on the film, and the result is a comprehensive portrait.

At least we get Pacino and Hunter. We may not understand why this story appealed to them, except for the fact that it gave them a chance to work together.

Math buffs will appreciate the inclusion of a brief and witty anecdote they may already know involving Ramanujan and the number 1,729. Well done.

The best thing in the movie is Peter MacNicol as Dana's boss at the museum, a slippery character with an incomprehensible accent. [16 Jun 1989, p. E1]

It’s hard to make a two-plus-hour chase movie like this compelling, but Wright gives it a go by peppering the cast with brief appearances by characters far more interesting who help Ben along his way.

Hard to hate, but if you actually want to love it, you've got to force yourself. [27 Nov 1991, p.E1]

Dinner for Schmucks is lumbering, inconsistent and about 20 minutes too long, but it's funny. It's funny from the beginning, and it stays funny, even as it beats scenes to death and overstays its welcome.

A labyrinthine brain twister.

For all the eyepopping splendor and in-your-face reality, this film leaves the viewer unsatisfied and feeling a little cheated out of compelling drama.

There's something in Ned Kelly' that's lost in the translation from Australia to America, and the overly emotional film score is just a symptom.

The Cable Guy doesn't know when to pull the plug. Much of the film plays like a personal boob tube with Carrey trapped inside, determined to act his way out in a mugging freak show. He's a disturbing mixture of psychopath and pathetically misguided lonely soul.

Although the film doesn't live up to complexities of the human issues -- nor the awesome tragedy -- that must have been faced in real life, what you feel watching it is a mixture of horror, moral self-examination, a tinge of inspiration, and -- let's face it on these winter nights -- you feel cold. [15 Jan 1993, p.C1]

2 Days in the Valley is skillfully made. The beginning introduces a handful of disparate characters. It juggles their stories and then deftly starts bringing them together through some surprising and unexpected turns.

Joy never completely loses its way. But it almost does, and it never quite arrives.

It's just not enough to say that The Three Stooges is the death of comedy. Rather, it's the death, burial, putrefaction and decomposition of comedy. It is where comedy, once alive, ends up as dust blowing in the wind, like something out of a really bad Kansas song.

The main appeal of Summerland, a considerable one, is that it allows Gemma Arterton to hold the screen for a nearly unbroken 90 minutes. It showcases her in a variety of modes and moods and provide some huge acting moments that make us recognize that, somewhere along the line, Arterton has become a powerhouse.

The result is a well-intentioned mess -- a dishonest fantasy that begins with promise and gets more frustrating with every scene.

For Kline's performance alone, The Extra Man is well worth seeing.

The movie is reasonably entertaining, though it helps to be 6 years old.

Only intermittently funny.

In the end, W. makes up in immediacy what it lacks in objectivity.

The message is muddled.

A silly, freewheeling, candy-colored lollapalooza, but also heartfelt.

Along with the awkward romantic exchanges that always seem to find their way into Smith's movies, there's also a sweetness that you don't often see in films that average multiple f-words per minute.

Twilight has a few gory plot turns - mostly offscreen - and one near-sex scene that may offend a few Amish people, but the rest is maybe 33 percent less wholesome than "High School Musical." It's almost certainly less risque than what you were watching when you were 14. (Cue the soundtrack to "Risky Business.")

An intelligent film with a sophisticated understanding of art and the significance it played in Hitler's psychology.

Hard, ugly and nasty yet a stylistically vigorous and often insightful piece of work.

Asks a lot of the viewer, but it gives something back, though I'm not sure exactly what. It's an amusing and exasperating catnip dream about the adventures of a 1-year-old cartoon kitten.

Writer-director Peter Landesman has a fascinating and appalling story to tell here, and that cuts through the layers of corniness.

I don't see Edge of Darkness as a great movie, or a particularly exalted one, but I do see it as one made by people who know where the buttons are - and who know how to press them. Hard.

A movie that doesn't quite have enough romance, thriller or revenge-fantasy elements to qualify for any of those genres. More than anything, it's a celebration of uncomfortable silences. The awkward moments in this movie far outweigh the joyful or tragic ones.

Dom Hemingway isn't about story. It's about Jude Law as a force of nature, and that turns out to be a very entertaining diversion.

Often fascinating and provocative, although, as a film, it feels a bit long and somewhat repetitive.

Exuding glamour, health and prosperity, real-life spouses Beatty and Bening are so radiant that they run the risk of seeming superhuman and thereby losing our sympathy as screen characters.

If there’s one thing interesting about “Spaceman,” it’s how it demonstrates how a great actress’ essence — just the essence, not even the performance — can elevate a nothing part.

The movie also allows Chan to demonstrate that he can act. In between setting traps, blowing things up and rendering people unconscious, Chan plays grief in The Foreigner, and his face contains all the sadness of the world.

The actors perform as though this were a first-class effort, and at times almost make you believe it. Matthew Modine is boyish and explosive, and Melanie Griffith further establishes herself as an interesting and original actress. Her line readings are odd, yet strangely right. [28 Sept 1990, p.E1]

A case of ho-hum humping leading to boring betrayal. The ingredients are predictable and the snail's pace is punishing. [26 Oct 1990, Daily Datebook, p.E3]

Using documentary-style Super 16 film and staged cutaway interviews with friends and family, James and his photographer and co-producer, Peter Gilbert, fashioned a movie with an affecting, candid look.

[Pedro Almodovar] gives it a nice try, but his approach turns out to be completely wrong for the material he's working with here. [25 May 1990]

The new Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, produced by husband-and-wife team Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, paints a picture of naked opportunism that shattered Ross’ legacy. It’s the story of how a man became an industry, and how his family was gradually, systematically left out in the cold.

A Tale of Love and Darkness is a dead film, an eminently worthy corpse.

The production values are first rate. But you will wait in vain to hear a good reason for this movie's existence.

The series suddenly springs back to life. It's delightful and exciting, with good jokes and fun characters. While it might lack the freshness of the first installment, the formula isn't stale, just familiar. And familiar in a cozy and pleasant way. [25 May 1990, p.E1]

Sexy, peculiar and always entertaining.

Uses loneliness and alienation as the primary emotional colors on a surprisingly expressive canvas.

Pretty and vague, the kind of film that might play on a loop at a county fair's Americana exhibit.

This gory parody hits television where it hurts -- and draws blood. It will bring joy to the heart of anyone who hates TV.

I liked every minute in it. Other films are like empty containers; this one's full. It's full of invention, full of moments, full of business, full of the nuances of human interaction, full of feeling.

Through a simple story line, dramatic acting and National Geographic-like shots of the city's rough and pristine edges -- creates cinematic magic.

Good chemistry between the lead actors and nice supporting performances help Friends With Kids survive a formulaic story and just-OK filmmaking.

Quid Pro Quo, billed as a "neo-noir" about a paraplegic journalist drawn into a shadowy world of disability fetishists, is choked by allegory and pretension. It's an O. Henry tale gone wrong.