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.