There are more over-the-top moments, but they never last long. And after every groan-inducing piece of footage, a spectacular near-crash or daring motorcycle chase comes along to leave the movie's shortcomings in a cloud of dust.

Hero was directed by Stephen Frears, who has made some of the better movies of the last few years (Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters), but here his direction isn't nearly as sure-handed. Watching it I got the distinct sense he wasn't liking the movie he was making, or that, at the very least, he was struggling to keep up. [02 Oct 1992, p.C1]

There should be a special category for movies, like “Dog,” that are hard to enjoy but easy to take. They’re not entertainment. They’re more like a vague form of companionship. They aspire to little but demand nothing, and, if you like, they can keep you company. You can’t call that a good movie, but you’d have to be a creep to call it a bad movie.

Freeway is rude in the way the truth is rude -- only funnier. The movie seduces with its humor, all the while presenting a realized vision of a harsh, absurd world.

Both Parsons and Aldridge surrender to the material, and we are moved as Kit and Michael come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of their love for each other.

The first measure of Arteta's shrewdness as a storyteller is in the no-fuss way he reveals the nature of the father's business.

The producers have stated that they're going after an American market that supports Spanish-language TV networks, radio stations and newspapers. This niche audience may well respond to not being required to read subtitles, for once, in a movie geared to them.

It's downbeat material and it tends to drag a bit, but Jia's performance is so unsparing and intense -- and the film so compassionate and chaste in its approach to a life lost and recovered -- that Quitting ultimately satisfies.

French director Claude Berri's exquisite, methodical Lucie Aubrac is a romantic thriller so tightly drawn it almost leaves one breathless.

Doesn't quite measure up to the extraordinary sweetness of the classic children's book by E.B. White on which it is based. But then again, how could it?

A domestic melodrama with weak dialogue and biopic cliches.

The movie never catches fire with the emotions.

The movie's promise -- to provide a balanced argument -- goes unrealized, and all we're left with is the spectacle of an idiot bullying a genius.

Visceral and strong.

This sequel goes beyond disappointment into a sublime realm of embarrassment that's beyond and yet better than merely bad, because it fascinates: What on Earth were they thinking?

Produced by the New York Times and featuring the three reporters who broke the news (Melena Ryzik, Cara Buckley and Jodi Kantor), the film resonates by telling the story behind the story, about how the victims of sexual harassment and misconduct are often blamed, especially when their harasser is famous, popular and very funny.

The Peasants is filled with sniping, fistfights, brutal violence and sexual assaults and becomes unbearable through its nearly two-hour running time. Most of these characters you wouldn’t want to spend more than five minutes with, if that.

It’s a chilling expansion of the franchise, with visually inventive dream sequences and Ethan Hawke returning as the villain.

A gorgeous piece of work. It pulls every heartstring a good romance should, yet bursts with G-rated fun, wonderfully human characters and several solid and hummable songs.

Muddled.

For all its sensitivity to the horrors of mental illness, The Soloist ends up as a fairly canned piece of work.

The material obviously had to be stretched to fill the big screen for almost two hours.

A nice surprise, surpassing the quality of the first film.

Aside from the defection scene, the only tension in The White Crow concerns whether Nureyev will achieve the renown he deserves or whether his career will be killed in the crib. That’s not nothing, but it’s small stuff to peg a two-hour movie on, especially one with an unsympathetic protagonist.

Dick Cheney deserves better than this — or worse. So does Lynn Cheney, played by Amy Adams, who strains in vain to give dimension to a script that paints Mrs. Cheney as little more than an amoral social climber.

A category of films that reward viewers who view the cinemas as an escape, rather than an arena of deep thought. If you’re coming off a super bad week, or have had a few drinks, or just happen to find a crowded theater where laughs are contagious, you’ll have a much better time. If you rent the movie and view it alone, you’ll probably laugh three times, and never watch it again.

The film is worth watching thanks to a flawless central performance by “Glee” alum Dianna Agron, solid elder annoyance shtick from Candice Bergen and Dustin Hoffman, and Bialik’s “Big Bang Theory” co-star Simon Helberg locating his pain and relishing every minute of it.

It works as an intriguingly offbeat character study while offering Nicolas Cage a chance to show why he used to be considered one of the top actors of his generation.