The Olsens' precociousness and sitcom-style mugging grate at first, but I found myself warming to their movie in its last half - thanks mostly to Alley, a crackerjack physical comic who's incapable of a flat or colorless note.

Theater Camp, a mockumentary about a summer workshop for thespian adolescents, offers plenty of theater and plenty of camp, to the point that it often plays like one, big inside joke. But the film offsets its drama class insularity with a rousing message that the stage will always be a magical place for children to dream — and to discover themselves.

The movie is never much more than fluff. But, like director Donald Petrie's previous film, "Grumpy Old Men," it has an honest core that enables it to keep its balance. [29 Apr 1994]

Has a made-for-television style.

A stupid movie -- but a deliriously stupid movie, which gives it a certain grandeur.

An odd duck, a Southern melodrama that aspires to be a sensitive coming-of-age story, with some humor mixed in. Sometimes it doesn’t soar the way it should, though it remains engaging most of the way.

The narratively challenged film seems conflicted: It critiques our obsession with models and beauty and style, even as it obsesses about those very same things. There is a lot of flash, but little substance.

It's a sumptuously mounted melodrama that aims to make a big statement about big themes, but a stilted quality in the filmmaking drags it down.

Don't fault Thirlby, who does as much as she can with the material. Krasinski is pretty good, and DeWitt and Ennenga are outstanding. The direction is decent, and the film is handsome. But it's finally frustrating, enigmatic in a way that suggests emptiness more than mystery.

It’s amusing to see what Ozon is up to, but the central character and her problems remain simply matters of curiosity mixed with indifference.

Lacks, a story that makes it feel personal.

Mayron, who directed a remake of the Disney comedy Freaky Friday for TV, took on a lot with The Baby-Sitters Club, and the strain shows. She's got too many characters to establish -- several adults besides the girls -- and her movie feels under-rehearsed, as if she hadn't been given the benefit of preparation and wasn't allowed to get as many takes as she needed of most scenes.

If you can get past the impossibilities it is a fun time at the movies.

Qualifies as a mild success. It's an easy picture to like, even if it's not exactly satisfying.

Infused with a dark charm that will appeal to some girls, A Little Princess, based on the classic novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is as near to a mannered, lushly photographed Merchant/Ivory-style film as you'll get in a kids' movie.

That's a lot of talent and star power at play here, made all the more conspicuous in that they don't really get much to work with. Not only is the movie just so-so, but the parts themselves aren't much.

Despite its many virtues, Interstellar feels as if it doesn’t quite hit the target.

It presents a compelling situation, genuinely touching moments and pockets of strong acting ... and dialogue that has people in the audience turning to each other and laughing because it’s so absurd.

Unabashedly sentimental, it's meant to touch our hearts in profound and important ways, but misses the mark by drawing too deeply from a pool of schmaltz.

This novelty film is little more than a strung-together product reel of animation pieces put to the 3-D and IMAX test.

Even at 82 minutes, Stoked gets repetitious, with too much time spent on the rise and not enough on the fall.

Once the believability drops, the seams start to show, whether it’s some extras who seem aware of the camera, bad edits, comic-timing misfires or songs written for Thorne that aren’t quite as good as everyone onscreen says they are.

Before it degenerates into a complete mess, it's an entertaining mess, and something about its willingness to please maintains the audience's goodwill throughout.

A good-hearted 'tween comedy hampered by uneven direction and a misguided plot twist.

Has the strengths and weaknesses of a one-man show.

If Idlewild had something beyond OutKast's songwriting, it would make a swell musical.

As a movie, Escape From Tomorrow is at best pretty good, but the way it was made makes it something unique, possibly memorable.

It's mostly entertaining, and has some strong moments, but it lacks the special magic that a musical needs, that sense of its inhabiting a parallel universe where any wonderful thing can happen at any moment, including music suddenly arising from nowhere. [10 Apr 1992]

Had a chance to be not just OK, not just fluff, but something special, and it's a shame that the people making it either didn't realize it or didn't have the guts to take this movie where it wanted to go.

Self-consciously bleak.

The Gray Man gets better as it goes along, and it contains a couple of action sequences that are as imaginative and well-crafted as any that you’ll see all year. So don’t dismiss it. Netflix it.

An occasionally powerful, yet occasionally frustrating documentary.

This is a film that keeps it simple: Don’t cross a mother, or she’ll hunt you down.

Although it has its merits, Operation Finale — which recounts the 1960 extraction of Adolf Eichmann from Argentina and his delivery to Jerusalem to stand trial — fails to measure up to the deep historical impact of the events it depicts.

Ellis’ story could have used a little fleshing out, no pun intended. Instead, a terrific cast is left floundering in the dark, searching for the film’s human dimension. Cursed, indeed.

As a cop movie it's entertaining enough, but as a social commentary it comes up short, becoming self-conscious and preachy. [27 Apr 1990, p.E1]

Disjointed.

Delpy and Scott are able to put it over. She's French and deep and mysterious. He's a fresh-faced American, an open book. Liking them makes it possible to (kinda) like this otherwise routine horror movie.

This Hellboy has story problems, with too much exposition and not enough character development. “Stranger Things” actor David Harbour, seemingly a perfect choice for his ability to project melancholy and a luggish humor, isn’t given enough time to do either of those things.

Poorly written, contains too much hero worship and profiles too many events - including one that combines the high jump with motorcycles. But the documentary generates a remarkable amount of goodwill with its stunning visuals, which look breathtaking in 3-D.

There is simply too much going on, in these separate storylines, for too long. There is a literal “meanwhile, back at the farm” quality to the movie, because it becomes so involved with subplots that you only remember Max and Rooster at the farm when the action shifts back to it.

A romantic saga that dares to ask realistic questions.

Though the movie is riddled with memorable scenes of violence, its pace is slow -- too slow. It has an epic sprawl, but it's not an epic. It's more like a bloated fairy tale. [7 Aug 1992]

Although the finished product isn't great, it's more akin to a bad Steve Martin movie from the 1980s than bad Pauly Shore from the 1990s. We mean that as a compliment (sort of).

Legends of the Fall is so gorgeous that its failure to catch fire seems a piddling concern.

A thoughtful but uneven teen picture, also has too much going on.

Kung Fu Panda 3 has a moment or two for everyone, but no chance develop any character beyond a single dimension.

The result is a film of passion and ambition, but one whose success is intermittent at best.

The movie’s midsection, by far its most effective part, offers its share of heart-pounding moments.

An arty, ruminative and slow-paced film that's being marketed as a big ol' alien-invasion flick. Just don't expect an invasion flick.

By the time “Missing” reaches its truly terrible ending (which makes you wonder if the movie was all just a stealth Apple promotion), the feeling is one of programmed exhaustion rather than catharsis.

Even those who despised the original novel should not have trouble stomaching Bridges, while the novel's fans will find the film -- despite some additions -- generally true to what they perceive to be the book's spirit.

Now, thanks to A Most Wanted Man, we discover that it's really boring - practically sleep-inducing - to be an international spy.

So this film feels less like an easy paycheck and more like semi-retirement. Whatever wisdom is coming out of Redford’s mouth as Bryson, it always seems 100 percent clear he pursued the role because the shoot would be beautiful and he could pal around with an old friend.

As painstaking as a documentary but without the satisfaction of a documentary or the impact of a drama.

In the end, the best thing about The Dragon is that it will make people want to go out and rent ''Enter the Dragon.'' [7 May 1993, p.C1]

It's a bizarre hybrid: one part feminist screed, one part French art film and one part skin flick.

If anything, the fun character dynamics laid out in the first two acts make it all the more disappointing when the final third tips over into noisy excess. But on balance, this ends up being a small complaint.

If this action extravaganza represents the future of movies, it's going to be a sad, dead and awful future.

The film is too intelligent and well-crafted to dismiss and too good to hate. Some people will love it, and at worst, most people will like it a little.

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.

A coming-out comedy that mines every cliche of cloistered Italian culture. But like "Greek Wedding," Mambo has enough funny moments to save it.

About one idea short of being an excellent teenage romance. As it stands it's a pleasing but routine effort.

This love letter to man's best friend will make dog fanciers roll over and do tricks. It's so warmhearted, you'll want to run out and hug the nearest big, sloppy mutt. And while you're watching it, have your handkerchief ready.

If your tolerance for Branagh's shtick and Woody's narrowness of focus is as low as mine, you can take solace in the director's joke on himself.

The film remains, clearly by design, a cold piece, mechanistic and only intermittently involving.

Probably the world's first jihad terrorist comedy, Four Lions is a daring, brilliantly conceptualized film, but like the bumbling bombers of the title, the execution tends to be hit-and-miss.

Isn't an awful movie. It's got two charismatic, albeit ill-served leads in John Cusack and Kevin Spacey, and it's got a sizzling, tear-it-up performance by The Lady Chablis, who brings such good-natured sass and suggestiveness that you hunger for more whenever she's offscreen.

Wildly uneven, with long stretches as dull as Dickie.

As entertainment, On Chesil Beach isn’t remotely satisfying, but it does deserve credit for being weird.

Small kids ought to love this entry, but die-hard Muppet fans are likely to find it tepid and uneventful -- a minor addition to the Muppet canon.

A film that's hard to watch and hard to recommend.

The Nun is certainly not a terrible horror movie – the production values are stellar, and there is a decent backstory about the abbey. But the film won’t be remembered as one of the top entries in the expanding canon of the Conjuring Universe.

Part of the appeal is that it's so bad it's good: The story is ridiculous. At other times, it's just plain good: There are ski and snowboarding scenes, plenty of them, that are beautifully filmed and exhilarating to behold.

Ultimately, The Duke tells an enjoyable real-life story.

Lacks emotional power.

Hardball works where it counts, on the emotional level.

You've heard this one before, and in an edgier way -- yet you still admire the old-fashioned storytelling.

Everybody in Admission is funny - Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn - but they're not funny in Admission.

Turns it into a 90-minute infomercial, with nary a revelation in sight.

His (George Clooney) rugged good looks spell movie star, but his body language spells Don Knotts, without the wit.

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.

Its story of intergenerational conflict between immigrant parents and increasingly Westernized children falls flat.

The new film pokes heavyhanded fun at extreme conservatives and has a "power to the people" sub-theme, but it's full of ultra-violence and is dragged down by standard scare tactics, thin characters and the absurdities of the premise.

I Origins is at its best when it's a personal story about relationships, and it has a strong first hour.

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

A listless, predictable effort, occasionally redeemed by witty lines and charismatic performers.

Difficult to recommend, without first knowing the sobriety of the viewer.

The result is 50 percent more realistic than the average sports film.

Dosunmu is an up-and-coming director; Mother of George is his second film after the much-lauded "Restless City." He's got the visual part of the job down for sure.

People who have seen fellow painter Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat" - with its star-making portrayal by Jeffrey Wright - may reasonably trust its truth as a tribute over Davis' ostensibly more factual exercise.

It does not follow the usual pattern of a Hollywood film. It goes to places that are desperate and irrevocable.

This sequel is also goofy, also eye-popping - see it in Imax 3-D if you really want to fry your optic nerve - and also weakly scripted. And yet the sheer size of the thing works against it: The effects are absolutely spectacular, but they blow the goofy-cheesy quotient straight through the roof.

Has to be enjoyed in spurts. There's no cohesive story, just a series of opportunities for the title character (Jon Heder) to strut his gawky stuff.

May provide a service by making gay issues innocuous and funny and more acceptable to a broader audience, but Rudnick's play-it-safe script and Frank Oz's antiseptic direction manage instead to trivialize the subject.

Director- writer Oliver Parker saps much of the juice from Wilde, slows the pace and directs his actors in an inappropriately naturalistic style.

I had a migraine when I started watching Larry Crowne, and by the end, it went away. None of this quite adds up to a recommendation, but it's close. Very close.

Through a stellar effort by Jennifer Garner and some well-executed revenge sequences, Peppermint just feels good to watch.