A mesmerizing film that is the most stunning, tempestuous love story in a decade or two of movie making.

It's gimmicky Saturday-morning cartoon wackiness in your face -- funny, but brain-deadening.

One of the most haunting and vital movies of the year.

Beneath the handsome production values, the steady motor of Ron Howard's direction and the solid acting of Mel Gibson as a flashy airline tycoon whose son is abducted in Central Park, Ransom is pure poison: the kind of hang-'em-high rouser that feeds off our basest impulses and prods us into cheering the hero on as he commits grisly, retributive acts of violence.

This thick, leaden production starring Bob Hoskins and Patricia Arquette - and an uncredited Robin Williams - has a sophomoric air, even though it faithfully follows the book.

Set It Off blends action and urban drama effectively, but at times isn't sure which foot to lead with.

The result is embarrassing: quick cuts and shaky, hand- held camera work, bad acting and lots of attitude.

Larger Than Life isn't as bad as it sounds, mostly because Murray is so likable and fundamentally incapable of not being funny.

Stupid yet cogent, High School High is a rapid-fire gag machine that's dopey enough to get belly laughs and smart enough to earn a C-plus as engaging entertainment.

On a deeper level -- and this is where When We Were Kings exceeds its expectations and becomes a great film -- Gast examines African American pride.

Particularly impressive is the film's success at making an actor of average weight look emaciated. His cheekbones are built up so his cheeks appear to sink.

It's no masterpiece, but it's real.

A visual masterpiece that powerfully explores male cruelty, too.

Jude is knockout Hardy, filled with stormy visual poetry and accompanied by a gorgeous yet simple score.

By tossing out all these voices and opinions, Lee and screenwriter Reggie Rock Blythewood have created both a time capsule and a movie audiences will talk about.

The Chamber has nowhere to go and it goes there slowly, flirting in all directions.

Viewers may feel let down because the depth promised by the movie's visual artistry is never quite delivered.

A "nonstop thriller" that is also a nonstop dud. Underline the word "long" in the title.

Buscemi eschews the conventional and ends "Trees Lounge" on a stranger, more tantalizing note.

The Ghost and the Darkness could have been an effective film about the virtues of courage for its own sake. But the picture is too lightweight, too posturing and too self-important to go in an introspective direction.

An extraordinary entertainment that personalizes the world of insects and other invertebrates and leaves audiences with an itching conviction of the poetry of nature.

It's a complex, satisfying piece of entertainment, a succession of unexpected, outrageous scenes.

The picture... is well- made and entertaining, but it holds a special interest in what it says about Hanks.

The movie keeps a snappy pace and the suspense pot boiling. The snippy interplay between the two cops adds enjoyable twists of comic chemistry. Constant rain and slick streets, though a cliche, set a moody tone. [07 Oct 1996, p.D2]

Leigh goes right to the core of his character's lives and mines the place where we're weakest, most alone and sometimes the cruelest.

2 Days in the Valley is skillfully made. The beginning introduces a handful of disparate characters. It juggles their stories and then deftly starts bringing them together through some surprising and unexpected turns.

Extreme Measures has disturbing moments, and poignant ones, too. It plays a good game of paranoia with its unlikely hero. Once the story gets past Luthan's implausible firing on trumped-up drug charges, it places him alone in a hostile world. Relying only on a determination to solve the medical puzzle, he goes on a desperate expedition into the bowels of the subway system. It's a grim, scary sequence, and Grant seems a million miles away from his stammering comedic style -- an extreme that is surprisingly engaging.

Both a delightful story and a great food movie that ranks with "Like Water for Chocolate'' or "Babette's Feast.''