Although most of the actors beyond Bell aren't big film stars, Jamie Lee Curtis gets a few minutes of screen time, and James Franco makes a spectacularly self-deprecating cameo. Whatever they contributed to the Kickstarter campaign, it was worth every cent.

The best scenes are the ones that Fox shares with Tamala Jones, Wendy Raquel Robinson and the full-figured Monique as her sassy girlfriends. There's a ripe, crackling spontaneity when these women get together.

A little too corny to endorse fully, but no one should be discouraged from seeing it.

Come Away is an idea that never takes flight.

A pleasant enough "Crimes of the Heart" rip-off about three young women bumbling, stumbling and fumbling through life, looking for answers, smiling through tears, blah, blah, blah. [21 Oct 1988]

Shyamalan doesn’t reach “The Sixth Sense” or “Unbreakable” heights, but his scriptwriting is livelier than we’ve seen in years, and there’s a sense of humor that was missing in even his best work. At times, he seems to be poking good-natured fun at his own reputation.

Well intentioned, but only occasionally creepy.

It's difficult to ignore the fact that they've created a romantic comedy that has almost no romance and even less comedy.

Knowing what Powell is capable of, it’s not unreasonable to go into this expecting a bigger payoff.

Better than its promotional description: "A stir-fried journey of self-discovery" - but not by much.

The cluttered, surreal, claustrophobic sets and gooey alien creatures look intriguing, sometimes shocking. But the story tries so hard to be imaginative that it congeals and sinks like lead.

This is the best disappointing movie you will see all year.

For the silent masses who cherish those "Hallmark Hall of Fame" specials, but wish they had just a little more profanity, the release of Around the Bend is occasion to rejoice.

The movie makes a point, but it doesn’t build on it. And so the movie becomes as dull and depressing for us as it must be for the central character.

This dark and seedy follow-up to 2009's blockbuster comedy has a quite a retro message - suggesting that civilized men carry inside them a monster, a "demon" within, that requires constant taming.

Dark Places isn’t a disaster of a film. Instead, it’s the definition of average, and we wish it could have taken us to some more interesting places.

Uninvolving. Even the sex is boring. Are these scenes supposed to be wildly erotic? If they are, they don't work. [20 Mar 1992, Daily Notebook, p.D1]

Occasionally, this film is funny and cute. When the family's little girl narrates, it reaches a level of humor that is ironic and endearing.

The flashy skate-level camera techniques that conceal the actors' inadequacies on ice can't compare with a full-figure view of a championship-quality long program. An ''undoable'' medal-winning move that is pivotal to the plot is never clearly explained or depicted. And movie histrionics can't approximate the drama of real competition. [27 March 1992, p.D7]

Cube's attempts to wring humor out of the grim story don't always succeed, but he never resorts to trivializing his material, a la "Showgirls" or "Striptease." A little bit goes a long way, and "The Players Club" is more like an extended riff than a fully realized drama.

It’s a flat, forlorn movie with occasional sparks of life.

The fighting in the “Karate Kid” movies and its Netflix series offshoot, “Cobra Kai,” has always been quality, but in “Legends” it’s too quick-cutting and chaotic, hard to follow and over much too quickly.

John Lennon once said that because he was an artist, if you gave him a tuba, he could get something out of it. The Face of Love presents us with Annette Bening and Ed Harris playing the tuba. They get something out of it - they get everything there is to get and more - but it's not enough.

This ambitious and sometimes entertaining Brazilian feature tries to pull off a tricky maneuver but doesn't quite get it done.

The message is muddled.

The biggest mystery of all is why director Marc Rosenbush, whose background is in theater, bothered putting this story on film when it's so obviously meant for a stage.

It is a great story, but it hasn't been translated to the screen. It is never a good sign when the biographical notes have more emotional wallop than the movie.

There is a great deal of movie-backlot sleight of hand that looks fine while you’re watching, but when you think about it comes off as mostly façade. In that way, at least, Rodriguez successfully links form to content.