Depictions of an aide talking about her hospital vigil and her words of comfort to a distraught Laura Bush are creepy and exploitative -- and borderline disgusting.

The result is that most of the picture plays out as a series of scenes in which our hero sits there, gets angry and loses all his money.

Something kicks in about two thirds in, and Far and Away becomes exhilarating. [22 May 1992]

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

The results are comical and unexpected -- and just a bit eerie.

Blanchett's performance is Soderbergh's biggest mistake. He either encourages or permits her to play Lena as a Greta Garbo caricature, which is mildly amusing if you're interested in Garbo, but if you're interested in Lena and The Good German, you're out of luck.

A better- than-average children's film, dolled up with some high-priced art direction and extraordinary special effects.

Henry's Crime has three charismatic actors - Reeves, Vera Farmiga and James Caan - in search of a decent script, and what they find, instead, are a handful of good scenes and lots of room to build their respective characters.

A curiously downbeat, rather cold work without much passion or science that portrays a woman whose life was brimming with both.

There’s nothing wrong with stretching audience credibility, but, to quote another movie that dabbles in the highly improbable, these things must be done delicately.

There's something to be said for a formula picture done almost to perfection. In 2012, Emmerich gives you everything you expect, but gives it to you bigger.

Sure, some of the window dressing and plot peculiarities are different this time, but there are no real surprises.

Scores big as a study of small-town life where characters collide and are forced to get along for the good of the community.

Dreary.

Celebrates the craft of acting both in its story and in fine performances.

The filmmakers throw in an extended flatulence routine and enough graphic references to female anatomy to make "The Vagina Monologues" blush.

Whatever their differences, love is this family’s language, and that’s undeniable throughout “Road Between Us.”

Out to Sea has an emotional pull that is much stronger because it is so unexpected. You come for the laughs and find yourself wiping away tears.

Don’t Look Up might be the funniest movie of 2021. It’s the most depressing too, and that odd combination makes for a one-of-a-kind experience. Writer-director Adam McKay gives you over two hours of laughs while convincing you that the world is coming to an end.

A documentary in search of a story.

Though it's only 72 minutes, by the time it's over, you'll be ready for it to end. Still, as a glimpse of the Arab world right before the Arab Spring, this documentary may be of some lasting interest.

Raymond & Ray aims for the kind of gentle, offbeat wistfulness of a “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Sunshine Cleaning,” but with uncomfortable awkwardness instead of eccentric ingenuity.

The 3-D 1D movie is aimless, seemingly deceptive and spreads a poor message: that it's OK to act extremely immature, as long as you have millions of blind followers who think it's cute.

A mess of a movie, veering constantly toward the laughable when it isn't being offensive. Its only claim to fame is that it's the last movie featuring the late Tupac Shakur.

Pleasant, light-hearted fun that's soft, not edgy, but lest you think it's a Spanish "Birdcage," consider that Forque's nymphomaniac, who gives way to her urges "in the worst moments, and with the least appropriate people," seduces her son's fiancee by "accident."

An unexpected pleasure that’s heartfelt at times and humorous throughout. Yes, the plot is ridiculous and often coarse. Yes, the story is predictable. Yes, a condom stuck to a women’s jacket is played for laughs. But it’s a very steep uphill climb from there.

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.

One of those go-out-for-coffee-afterward-and-talk-about-it movies, and those are always welcome.