In its way, the film is more concerned with the love between friends than the sex between strangers.

If some of the animation overdoes it, a lot of it is downright gorgeous. Few images this year have followed me home like the Ghost of Christmas Past, here imagined as a bright-flamed candle with the face of a child. It flickers. It whispers. It flies.

Search for some independent inspiration, and you'll be looking for a long time.

An amusing melodrama.

Mostly unbearable.

Fennell (“Promising Young Woman,” “Saltburn”) is a skilled filmmaker who can put over her ideas. The problem is that all her ideas here are bad — self-defeating, enervating and, in several places, unintentionally hilarious.

In the end, this is not really a World War II movie. It’s just a pretty good action film that borrows the plot from about three or four “Fast and Furious” movies, while stealing riffs from Tarantino.

Almost Christmas would have been less clunky if it had focused more on the family’s loss of its matriarch, and allowed the comic elements to naturally arise as the characters struggle with the new family dynamic. Instead, we get too many slapstick set pieces and extraneous subplots that bog down the proceedings.

Its weaknesses are clumsy plotting and a less-than-satisfying ending.

Terrific.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be there - to actually be there, man - this movie gets it.

An earthy, sexy mystery.

Sizemore ("Heat") and Miller, though saddled with a lot of scientific DNA jargon, are really the only lively people in this dense, gruesome film that stubbornly refuses to break out of its contrived atmosphere.

Through it all, Tatum tries like crazy to Act. His eyes pinch. His brow scrunches. Most of all, he clenches his jaw, little creases of muscle flexing below his ears as he labors to emote.

The Eye of the Storm is performed with zest by a fine cast and offers some nicely biting moments but, in the end, falls short of its large ambitions.

This is kid stuff, but such well acted, well made stuff that inside 15 minutes you're sitting there like a teenager yourself wondering which girl Keith will wind up with. [27 Feb 1987]

The Devil All the Time is really a portrait of a place, told through the lives of several people across a span of about a dozen years, and the thing that makes it interesting — from start to finish — is that this place is so brutal and appalling and unexpected in its various cruelties that we cannot stop watching.

Emotionally, The Brothers Bloom hasn't a trace of detachment or cynicism. Even if you don't quite comprehend the ending (there seem to be 12 of them), you'll still feel the wallop of its consequences.

Despite some weaknesses, a sense gradually emerges in this film- not just an idea, but a strong feeling mixed with an idea - about the dance of good and evil over time.

Clifford the Big Red Dog brings a warm feeling every time I think of it, and I’m really glad I saw it.

Hitchcock isn't ambitious or complicated. It's simple, does what it sets out to do, and gets out before anyone even thinks about checking the time. More movies should be made in its image.

JT Leroy is on safer ground when Albert and Knoop are matching wits, mainly because it’s a pleasure to watch the perfectly cast Dern and Stewart on the screen. It’s easy to understand what attracted these fine actors to these roles, but the script allows them to only scratch the surface of this maze-of-mirrors story, where the truth remains deliciously elusive.

It's the complexity of Lurie's moral universe that makes it linger in the mind.

The only way Bill Murray could seem less like Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson is if the movie showed him winning a marathon.

IAm Eleven is ultimately a satisfying film because the kids are so compelling. But Bailey’s motivations color the authenticity of a well-meaning “documentary” that borders on nostalgic self-indulgence and wishful thinking.

Yet as ridiculous as Hefner's life sometimes seems, he has been an exemplary citizen, as this documentary by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Brigitte Berman spells out.

Old is, at times, clumsy and obvious, but it’s different and weird, and it taps into something essential. It might be a distant second to The Sixth Sense, but it’s the second-best movie Shyamalan has made.

As it speeds toward conclusion, “Supremes” also stops subverting its more maudlin aspects, allowing a descent into soap operatic moments.

There are times, not too many, when the movie drags. But when you consider all the pitfalls avoided, and all the laughs and pleasures it provides along the way, Dark Shadows is a satisfying and skillful effort.

Fresh music and silly dialogue - those aspects of Purple Rain haven't changed over the years. [Review of re-release]

So politics and social commentary aside, we are left with a crime film. One that isn’t very suspenseful or particularly clever.

Has all the usual virtues of a good action suspense drama, but it lacks that extra something - that context, that vital interchange - that made the original "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" such a memorable experience in 1974.

A snapshot of the festival, one that radiates good cheer and offers moments of true, godly goodness.

A Korean film that takes an American genre and gets fancy with it.

It's a grueling 70-minute march toward the end credits.

The dialogue, heavy on sarcasm and puncturing insults, never captures the World War II period but sounds ridiculously anachronistic.

Another of those summer movies that want to pluck at our heartstrings. If it would just stop plucking for a second, it might be enjoyable.

There's a lot to appreciate in Street Kings, a tight, propulsive action thriller, but there's one thing to marvel at, and that's James Ellroy's command of story.

In a way it’s just another well-made thriller, but there are things here — currents captured, ideas frozen in time — that might make it more interesting as the years pass. For the time being, it’s good entertainment and deserves to be seen now.

One thing Yesterday does is rather miraculous. It forces us to hear these Beatles songs as if for the first time.

There’s enough variation and suspense, enough complication in the form of other characters with other concerns, that Ambulance stays fresh until the finish.

There’s not a lot of nuance or sense in the third “Purge” movie. But it still manages to coast on a combination of self-awareness, crowd-pleasing carnage and a plot that ties perfectly into current events.

Pitt isn't a bad actor, but he's way out of his depth and never disappears into the character -- a selfish rogue who gets a jolt of enlightenment at the feet of the Dalai Lama -- the way a superior actor like Daniel Day-Lewis might have.

While it plays with familiar themes, The Boogeyman is a step up from many modern mainstream horror titles. It’s a thoughtful, organic piece of filmmaking that just happens to have a monster in the middle.

Devoid of thrills, and with nothing even vaguely frightening to distract moviegoers, it becomes clear that the story wasn't worth telling in the first place.

The film will have to settle for a bogey rather than a par. Still, some hyperbole is warranted, like "Safest Movie to Take the Entire Family To."

The young actresses are superb, and they make an appealing, believable group of friends.

Hellion is so sincere and so dull that some might mistake it for a true work of art.

Told from a different angle than any other Holocaust film I've seen.

A sometimes interesting remake that doesn't compare to the brilliant original.

An arresting portrait of a fascinating and somewhat mysterious personality.

Goes disappointingly soft despite two dynamite lead performances.

Rao avoids high drama, and while there is humor, the film's tone is one of melancholy.

The only way to enjoy Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy is to savor the performances and behavior quirks, and release the notion that plot is essential.

It's marred by loaded language and a propagandistic tone that undercuts rather than promotes its purposes.

It's a complete mess, the spectacle of filmmakers blowing up their movie and everything in it, because they can't think of anything else to do.

To take such a subject and render it without focus, interest, or joy—to make a long, dull movie from it — qualified as some perverse sort of achievement.

Pretentious drama.

The self-consciousness that made the director's "Love Actually" a love-it-or-hate-it film is dialed way down. About Time is more of a love-it-or-like-it proposition.

The film is glossy, but awful. Frenetic, but awful. Expensive, but awful. ... And awful.

This is a handsome, conventional biopic, as fluent and polished as its subject matter.

None of this bears much or any resemblance to the real world, but the violence crunches, the editing snaps and the humorous one-liners pop at well-timed junctures.

Shyamalan doesn’t reach “The Sixth Sense” or “Unbreakable” heights, but his scriptwriting is livelier than we’ve seen in years, and there’s a sense of humor that was missing in even his best work. At times, he seems to be poking good-natured fun at his own reputation.

Exhilarating and enchanting family picture. It's the best I've seen this year and highly recommended for girls and for boys, too.

The result is that this is one of those rare movies that gets better as it goes along.

A loving if fawning documentary.

Aquaman continues to revel in the outdated 1970s superhero ideal that mankind is unquestionably worth saving. Add to that some awkward dialogue, a poorly conceived visual effects palette, and a soul-crushing and bladder-crushing 139-minute run time, and you have another disappointing entry in the DC Comics cinematic universe.

Most of Arkansas — Duke’s home state, by the way — just falls flat, despite individual scenes here and there that work.

With his self-deprecating demeanor and easy laugh, Glass is a congenial presence, and now and then he lets an insight drop.

Comic gold for anyone who is currently stoned, has been stoned in the past or spends a lot of time around stoned people.

Violent Night isn’t terrible, but it’s stuck between parodying something and trying to fit the genre it parodies. And it really should have been funnier.

Sam Garbarski's use of slow-motion shots is pretentious, and he paces the film too slowly. But he captures the seedy side of London, giving you a feel for Soho during the day when sunshine exposes a cheap gaudiness.

Abandons any pretext of sophistication for gloppy sentimentality, sugary pop songs and bawdy humor -- an approach that works about half the time.

Despite its fascinating and humorous moments, one can't help but be frustrated when at times it switches away to spiritual pretentiousness.

As a documentary, it is very much what it set out to be - a celebration bordering on propaganda. Yet enough slips through to keep it interesting.

Actually, Mom is the essential difference between Wahlberg and Caan. Caan has the glow of mother love on him. Wahlberg plays Jim as having made the adjustment to a lack of love, but in a twisted way. He's gambling now to see if the universe loves him.

Clown in a Cornfield will never be ranked among the classics of our time, but there are aspects of it that are worthy of admiration.

The Flash gets credit for effort, because this superhero movie isn’t trying to be stupid and convoluted. It gets there by accident.

Sly, stylishly cynical dark farce.

From watching this meandering, stilted movie, anyone unfamiliar with Charles Dickens' novel would be not only disinclined to pick it up but also clueless as to why it's considered great.

A blast of manic energy in the form of a film.

A creeping equanimity is taking over the work of John Sayles, a quality that in personal terms might be wise and coolheaded but in terms of drama is absolute death.

Funny throughout, but with a handful of really hilarious moments.

Spirited was never going to be any good, but it would have been slightly better — and a change of pace — if Reynolds and Ferrell had switched roles.

It's as if he has been trying to express something, or to make his own particular kind of good movie, for 10 whole years. Now he has.

Pure fun and worth seeing if you want to laugh.

Promised Land is a fine place to start appreciating Matt Damon, who always makes it seem as if everybody else is acting and he's just going through the movie being natural.

The result is an interesting but often frustrating effort by the director of "The Sea Inside," who proves that ambition and talent aren't enough to ensure a compelling drama.

Ultimately, this is a very predictable picture, made by the director of “The Full Monty,” Peter Cattaneo. Its formula inevitably rises up like a wave and submerges everything Thomas is trying to do. To extend the metaphor, she swims along and doesn’t drown. But unless you love this kind of movie, Military Wives will be, at best, a pleasant diversion and, at worst, a not-so-bad waste of time.

Considering the fact that a young girl is picking her nose on the movie poster, The Croods is surprisingly evolved.

A risky, foolish, intelligent comedy.

Screenwriters Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith may not have any original ideas, but they write some good lines and have a great actress to deliver them.

A maddening film, maddening in a good way, but maddening nonetheless.

Timberlake is the secret weapon, making the crankiest troll also the most appealing.

Sandlot is no ''Stand By Me'' -- it lacks the dramatic, us-vs.- them power of that popular '80s film. The look is simple, direct, often gimmicky with the big dog purposely overdone as a clunky animatronic figure. The movie is also a little long. But somehow its contrived tone and style become minor charms. You walk away feeling that perhaps people aren't as mean as the movies make them out to be these days and that maybe there's hope after all. Or at least there was in 1962. [7 Apr 1993, p.C1]

Nikolaus Leytner’s competent, watchable but uninspired adaptation of the best-selling novel by Robert Seethaler does have a few attractions, chiefly a heartwarming farewell performance as Freud, the famed psychoanalyst, by the great Bruno Ganz, who died last year not long after filming.

Like a coffee-table book, it looks inviting and teases you with sumptuous photography but leaves you cold.

A cut above most pictures of its type.