Few pictures that start this well go so bad so fast. [7 March 1992, p.C3]

A premise so rock-solid, so guaranteed to please, that it almost doesn't matter that the movie is otherwise a routine slasher, and not a particularly scary one.

Could hardly be called a success -- it's rather a likable disaster.

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

200 Cigarettes doesn't have a bad scene or a false note. The picture is a succession of pointed little moments, nicely written by Shana Larsen and acted with comic assurance and sensitivity.

Really, The Expendables 3 has only one thing going for it, beyond the unremarkable novelty of seeing lots of celebrities in a lousy movie. It has Mel Gibson, who is at his grim, tormented and quirky best here, playing someone who has crossed a moral line and has no regrets.

Every instance when Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie feels like the worst movie ever made, some goofy little screechy moment involving the villainess, Divatox, saves it. So it winds up being nearly the worst movie ever made.

One of the downsides of living in a free society is that every so often someone like Myles Berkowitz gets hold of a camera.

So any "Nightmare" movie has a built-in handicap going in, but the better ones find ways to compensate, by casting appealing young actors (they're always young), by having imaginative dream sequences and - most important of all - by keeping the dreams short. By that standard, this new "Nightmare" is a fairly decent effort.

Even if the idea of The Desperate Hour makes you uneasy, you will be engrossed by it.

In every kids' picture, there are going to be sections that only kids will enjoy. Fortunately, 102 Dalmatians has enough for the adults, too.

A dull film with unsympathetic characters brought together by a gimmicky premise that's handled with no imagination and a pristine fraudulence of emotion. Aside from that, it's great.

The movie appears to be a contrived, poorly produced attempt to sell more of the author's books.

Kraven the Hunter will sate fans with Taylor-Johnson’s action bona fides and its fine cast. But those same fans may be less-than enthusiastic about the idea that, with no Spider-Man and no franchise to move forward, this one essentially has nowhere to go.

She's hopeless, he's hopeless, and this movie is just ghastly.

Has all kinds of good intentions, but the comedy is too broad and the pacing is clumsy. And then there's the Andy Griffith sex scene.

Not a spectacular movie, but the action scenes are well shot, there's no shortage of R-rated gore and the plot moves along quickly enough to mask the fact that the whole endeavor is completely ridiculous.

Scream 7 is anything but cutting edge.

Take the worst things about independent movies - the wallowing in an unpleasantness, the narrative unsteadiness, the next-to-no story. Then combine those with a hefty dose of light comedy. The result: the big, fat tonal mess that is Happy Tears, a charmless film about two sisters who come together to care for their demented father.

Loser is just as it sounds.

The jokes are sophomoric, stereotypes are sprinkled everywhere and the acting ranges from bad to bodacious.

Ghost Rider has everything you don't want from your superhero movie, including lack of logic, boring action scenes, bad acting in the supporting performances, a brutally slow 114-minute running time and cringe-worthy dialogue.

This is a cute movie, a kid's movie, and a rather good one.

If the writing and direction carry Sphere most of the way, the actors manage to bring it home.

Does its conclusion make up for the gluten overload that was most of “Rebel Moon”? Well, the series’ not-at-all-original theme is redemption, so that depends on whether you’re in a forgiving mood or sufficiently wowed.

It isn't terrible. It's far from a milestone in Japanese animation, and not an especially memorable entertainment. Yet it doesn't try to be either of those things.

A loose, lighthearted romp that's a notch above the usual buddy comedies.

Respect is not something viewers will find much of in The Wedding Ringer, nor propriety, nor any of those things that make for respectable family viewing. It’s just a funny, impolite, very not-for-kids romp that goes there.

Applegate gets by without a false moment in a role that's more serious and has more angles than the airhead she plays on television. I want to see the movies she'll be making in about five years. [07 June 1991, p.E6]

It's a gallant battle against flawed material, and Hirschbiegel fights it to a draw.

Hannibal Rising isn't a classic, but it's entertaining and a surprisingly fitting addition to the franchise.

Freejack is the kind of picture that you watch and scoff at, and then when it's over, you leave the theater having had a good time, only mildly aware that the good time had something to do with the quality of the movie. Freejack is convoluted, a meeting of bad writing and bad science fiction. And yet, taken as a whole, it's really not bad. [18 Jan 1982, p.C3]

In essence, everything good in Self/less was derived from “Seconds,” and everything bad the writers and the director came up with on their own.

There’s a weepy turn in the sentimental third act, and why not? Nothing else was working.

There still is no life on Mars. Red Planet is airless.

This is trash on a big budget, but trash nonetheless.

Something so sappy, no one would believe me if I told them. It has to be seen to be disbelieved.

It's funny, easily the funniest and least self-conscious movie that director Nora Ephron has made.

I laughed hysterically, but in the interest of balanced reporting, I should add that the guy parked next to me at the screening - a boyfriend who was there under duress - emitted a series of low guttural noises suggesting profound psychological anguish.

Neither funny nor exciting. It’s at best incongruous, the kind of incongruity that seems delightful on the page but not in practice.

As British comedy sometimes will, A Long Way Down has an occasional attack of the cutes, but the actors' commitment keeps the movie on the plus side.

For all it does right, there's something seriously wrong.

Extremely boring.

The only thing good to say for The Forest is that Dormer is interesting, that she creates a different vibe and essence for each sister, and that it would be nice to see her in a better movie.

Has some laughs - more than a few thanks to Michael Douglas as a dead swinger (the movie's Jacob Marley) - and some moments of tenderness, too.

It is a boilerplate action comedy.

The movie has some clumsy dialogue and awkward turns, but the picture is brisk and likable.

A cliché movie about love, orneriness and several maddening tourists.

It's an entertaining movie, which is half the game, but it's not scary, which it should be. Neither is it something to be taken seriously, though it's intended to be.

What makes Aloft better than dismissible is that it’s a sincere failure, not a cynical one, and the cinematography is arresting. In fact, for scattered seconds throughout the movie, Aloft is beautiful to look at.

Actually, there is one other thing that’s unforgivable. After building up to the great climactic confrontation for two-thirds of the movie, it’s a letdown.

There are two main obstacles to enjoying The Last Witch Hunter. One is your ability to buy Vin Diesel as an immortal slayer of evildoers plying his trade in today’s Manhattan. You also have to swallow a by-the-numbers plot buried under an avalanche of fast-and-furious but underwhelming CGI effects.

Starring Linda Blair and directed by Mark Lester, this 1979 film was made too late to cash in on the roller-skating craze that briefly swept parts of California in the 1970s. The story is inconsequential, but the camp value is high. [26 Nov 2000]

When the books are written, The War With Grandpa — the first family film to hit theaters since the pandemic — will have a special place in De Niro’s vast and varied cinematic legacy as the absolute worst movie he ever made.

The picture is more impressive as it goes along, revealing a symmetry of construction underneath the rudiments of a thriller.

Surprisingly decent.

A cynically made, painfully long comedy without a single laugh. It's a film to really make you wonder about Damon Wayans ' abilities as a comic actor.

For all the characters butting heads, all the street fights and all the explosions (there are plenty of those), Street Fighter may very well put you to sleep. [24 Dec 1994, p.E1]

It matches up two comic actors and instead of clashing or canceling each other out, they bring in the best possible result: A comedy with twice the laughs.

Vigilante movies hold a firm place in cinematic history, but for them to work, the vigilante needs to be a sympathetic anti-hero.

Ghosted is repellent without ever quite being obnoxious and worthless without ever being boring.

Black Sheep is a little comedy that succeeds in its modest aim to provide 87 minutes of harmless diversion. If you have nothing to do -- and I mean absolutely nothing -- Black Sheep, which opens today, is a must-see.

The reboot of the "Friday the 13th" series is a pretty big mess - not particularly scary or interesting or even gory by 21st century movie standards.

The flat-out awful ending, though, deflates much of the goodwill built up by the rest of the film.

For the most part, this film has the disadvantages of Chinese action films, without the advantages. That is, it overdoes the action and it’s short on character, without attaining the manic, wild heights of Hong Kong cinema of the 1980s and early ’90s. Still, it’s nice to see Chan once again in a Chinese environment.

The likability of Lydia and Emily helps, but writer-director Ben Falcone’s tendency to milk emotion that isn’t there drags down the movie and some of the comic bits feel obvious and pushed.

Year One has one joke, but it's a good one, played for many variations over the course of an often very funny comedy.

The movie's narrative tension hinges on, well, nothing.

Instead of concealing it, I'll just come out and say that I find it difficult to be enthusiastic about this well-acted and gracefully directed movie, but for reasons that might be called philosophical.

With almost nothing else going for it, the sequel will likely be a disappointment to everyone except 10-year-old barf joke aficionados and a few stoned adults.

Like most movies based on games, this film appears to have been quite literally doomed from the start.

So Orwell it’s not. But “Mercy” is a cinematic feat of a different kind, even if it begins to fade soon after leaving the theater.

There's so much torture and suffering in this movie, it starts to feel like "Zero Dark Smurfy."

If you see Alice Through the Looking Glass, prepare to lean forward in your seat just to stay awake.

As a 110-minute diversion, as a source of some laughs, as an opportunity for two funny guys to be funny — and to be funny with each other — what’s not to like? Just go in not expecting much.

Jingle wants to warm our hearts and establish Schwarzenegger as a family man -- but devotes so much time to goony violence and broad physical comedy that the last-reel schmaltz feels hollow and tacked-on.

The absurdity of seeing these two young actors impersonating garbage men, combined with a script that's so clumsy it's remarkable, makes the first 10 minutes or so of Men at Work perversely entertaining. But the fun of laughing at the movie fades quickly. [25 Aug 1990, p.C3]

As it stands,The Fourth Kind boasts a creepy kind of joke - and a confusing kind of horror.

If it seems like a stupid idea, well, it is. This is one of those romantic comedies that rely on wild coincidences and misunderstandings that could be cleared up with a simple cell phone call, but then, that wouldn't help the "plot" along.

Not a campy film, but it revels in extremes, and has the same sort of appeal.

Heavy on the eye candy, light on plot and logic.

A few amusing moments mixed in with the painful ones.

The strange thing is that for all of Fonda's whining, Pullman's wary squinting and muttering, the bad dialogue, the cheesy effects, the severed toes, the severed heads, the severed bodies and the cliched directorial choices, Lake Placid adds up to a halfway enjoyable time at the movies.

Jean-Claude Van Damme is the best part of every movie he's in. Then again, when you consider the pictures he's been in, maybe that's not saying enough. [15 Sep 1990, p.C3]

What garbage. Seriously. What absolute, bereft, witless, unoriginal, unrewarding, soulless garbage that’s 40 years past scaring anybody. The only power this formula retains is the power to make you feel a little sad — at the ugliness, at the cynicism, and at the pathetic waste of your own mind as you watch it.

It's a gorefest, a borefest and a snorefest.

Every key plot turn is telegraphed at least twice, just in case you missed it the first time. Every emotional moment in the movie is foreshadowed a few beats in advance by the manipulative musical score.

Leaves an unintentional unpleasant aftertaste.

With most movies that fail, the fault can be ascribed to carelessness or lack or inspiration or cynicism. But Chelsea Walls, directed by actor Ethan Hawke, is clearly a labor of love.

Just not worth revisiting, unless one wants to tie one's brain into a knot for no discernible reward.

Excess Baggage falls down as a showcase for Silverstone, who made a big splash in "Clueless" and whose production company is releasing this film. She comes across as unappealing and unseasoned in ways that go beyond the role.

There's no attempt at humor in Dead Silence, but the biggest sin in the film is the lack of scares.

The result is an incredibly disorganized movie with a few funny scenes -- most of which are revealed in the commercials.

Almost every moment has flashes and explosions and a pulsing, relentless soundtrack. It's like being trapped inside a video game.

Completely ridiculous, but fun to look at.

Sometimes unapologetically stupid and joyously crass, it’s often brilliant in its absurdity, one of those rare comedies where the audience sits there dumbstruck, wondering what crazy thing will happen next. It takes really smart people to make a movie this silly.

There are lots of cameos, as well, too many to count. However, it is worth mentioning that singer Taylor Swift shows up in a couple of scenes, playing a vapid Valley girl, and she's very funny.

Numbingly dull and repetitive.