Although the outcome is as predetermined as a prix-fixe menu, the storytelling is as smooth as goose-liver pate through a pastry nozzle.

The CGI effects are a familiar sort and so is the heroic-quest motif. The principal virtue in this modest entertainment is that the young characters act like real teenagers.

It's not that anything is terribly wrong with Muppets From Space. It just could have been better had the humans been funnier or the story more sharply conceived. Suffice it to say, Jim Henson, you are deeply missed. [14 July 1999, p.E3]

It's a credit to the cast and to the worthiness of the idea that this overlong movie works at all. But those of us who already know that racism is bad could use a little more challenge and a little less help.

The zombie scenes are startling, but only PG-13 horrifying. That will probably be just fine with most Jane Austen fans.

Despite its many shortcomings and periods of ridiculousness, it's a fast-paced, often humorous, entertaining piece of work. [13 Dec 1991, p.3G]

Strange hybrid of science lesson and Saturday-morning cartoon.

ALTHOUGH deranged baby sitters have become standard suspense thriller fodder, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle offers a few chills despite its hard-to-swallow premise and tedious, predictable ending. [9 Jan 1992, p.5E]

Not all of it makes sense, but for disaster movie fans, Into the Storm has enough destruction to go around.

A flawed but intriguing new chapter in animation.

I can't imagine a true ''Rocky & Bullwinkle'' devotee who won't enjoy ''Boris and Natasha.'' [17 Apr 1992, p.9F]

As cop comedies go, Ride Along 2 gets the job done.

While Green is force-feeding us this hard-boiled hokum, he doesn’t distract us with many memorable images, as he did in his earliest films.

The best excuse for watching The Gunman is Penn. His first mainstream leading role in a decade is worthy of comparisons to Matt Damon in the “Bourne” movies; yet it’s also disappointingly shorn of the humor and humanity of which this great actor is capable.

It's a breezy piece of fluff that moves along rapidly and has a few good twists, the kind of comedy that would have been called a summer movie not too many years ago. It also has Paulina Porizkova, who adds a lot of charm, a winning smile and an adequate delivery in a role that is so implausible as to be ridiculous. But if you look at the actress and don't try to make sense of her actions or her lines, that's enough suspension of disbelief to make Her Alib' almost work. [3 Feb 1989, p.3G]

Hit and Run isn't a catastrophe, but it leaves loose ends and a more adventurous map by the side of the winding road.

The father-daughter chemistry between Pullman and Ricci seems good. And the ghosts - who look sort of like the result of 24 double exposures a second - are engaging, courtesy of the computer and animation wizards at Industrial Light and Magic. [26 May 1995, p.7C]

The difference between McKay and Efron is like the difference between a Broadway spectacular and a high school musical.

The real disappointment is that director Carroll Ballard delivers such powerful racing scenes and seascapes that you wish he could have done better on dry land. But you can't argue that Ballard doesn't deliver an original, often breathtaking, view of nature. [17 Sep 1992, p.4E]

The Arrival is no Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it does provide a solid second choice at the multiplex. [31 May 1996, p.5E]

With a deadly slow beginning and an unnecessary overload of special effects, this sequel is incredibly average, doubling the number of explosions and cinematic tricks, but cutting back on story, plot and characters. [24 May 2000, p.E4]

Like the first movie The Purge: Anarchy, is trash masking as social commentary, and its depiction of unrelenting, sanctioned violence can be hard to stomach.

This topsy-turvy flick is fitfully funny, but more often it's just odd, like the first draft of a "Twilight Zone" episode that's missing its moral.

The plot is murky, the acting is melodramatic and the movie is way too long, but the target audience will salivate over the inventively choreographed set-pieces.

Working from a screenplay by Jason Fuchs, director Joe Wright seems overwhelmed by the material, and he fails to make us care about any of the characters.

A colorful indictment of corporate infestation, but it's missing a prescription.

Taken as low comedy, Army of Darkness is fairly successful. The violence, although there is plenty of it, seems even more cartoonish and less gory than in the earlier movies. I have a feeling boys of about 11 or 12, with their normal penchant for bad puns and gross-out tactics, would be the most likely audience for this silliness, which often has the feel of an old "Tales From the Crypt" comic book. [19 Feb 1993, p.3G]

If you'd pay to see a film called "Hotel Rwanda: Maniac Manager," you might be receptive to this mixed-message movie, but skeptics should keep one eye on the exit.

With its seductive images and smart dialogue, The City of Your Final Destination has the setting and circumstances for a ripe family drama or a literary love story, yet it never awakens from its siesta.

The movie won't stand up to much analysis, but it delivers a fair amount of electricity, and Gere plays his nasty character with a great deal of relish. Internal Affairs is fun, in a rather perverse way. [11 Jan 1990, p.3E]

Like an acquaintance couple's baby pictures, Friends With Kids induces coos but isn't as cute as they think.

This true story fills a needed niche, spotlighting women's basketball in the era before Title IX promoted equal treatment.

Penn has created a colorful tour guide, but in This Must Be the Place, there's no there there.

Happy, Happy has the makings of a Norwegian "Ice Storm," but it goes out with a whimper.

There's little that's new, revealing or stylish about this basic-black horror story, but if you've got a Goth sensibility, it might suit you.

With such a strong cast, the film has the right ingredients but it doesn’t quite make a perfect meal.

If you haven't seen a wasting disease in real life, you might think Restless is romantic. If you have, you might diagnose it as terminally cute.

Toast is lovely to look at, evoking both the gray-green milieu of Midlands life and the sensuality of good food, but it's like a whipped topping with no base.

Canadian director Denis Villaneuve knows how to stoke a hot debate about the legacy of violence. But in this case, where there's smoke, there's not enough air.

A SURPRISING number of good, long, serious, thought-provoking movies have opened in the past few weeks. This isn't one of them. But if you're looking for a break from heavy fare, this fluffy serving of junk food might be just right. [12 Nov 1993]

Don't let anyone off the hook. That's a basic rule of good satire, and on the whole Amos & Andrew follows it. The result is a generally amusing, occasionally hilarious send-up of racial posturing in America. [05 Mar 1993, p.3G]

Compared to other Marvel characters, Thor is a difficult sell.

Although the film begins promisingly, it proves to be little more than a soap opera.

It's a compelling tale of surf and survival.

Easy to watch but hard to pin down, like a creature with eight legs going in different directions.

There’s a lot of comic and fantasy potential here, but much of it gets squandered.

The Bay is better than a shallow exercise, but crabby horror fans may have preferred that Levinson took a real plunge.

This true-ish story adds a romantic subplot to the prosecution of Japanese war criminals by American general Douglas MacArthur, but neither the love nor the war are completely baked.

Though the situation is far from realistic, the dynamically directed and swiftly paced Marry Me remains emotionally grounded, which is crucial to the execution.

Good but not-good-enough schlocker.

THE WAR ROOM would have been a great motion picture if either James Carville or George Stephanopoulos had been elected president - or if there were more involvement of Bill Clinton. Although none of those occurred, the documentary on the 1992 campaign, from the Democratic side, is interesting, sometimes amusing and always has a sense of immediacy.[14 Jan 1994, p.7F]

Christopher Nolan's "Memento" was a movie-lover's dream come true, a puzzle that was engaging both intellectually and emotionally. But his Inception is a wake-up call, a blaring reminder that cheap tricks can't compensate for personal investment.

Home delivers like a mailman on Valentine’s Day. But when we scratch beneath the sugary surface, there’s something tart inside that’s difficult to digest.

Like a newborn planet, Melancholia is magnetically beautiful, but it's also an unformed mass of hot air.

The moral lesson that this movie feeds us smells fishy - because it's not in the book. But the backbone story about a guy who inherits some penguins is enough to tickle the kids.

Non-Stop: It is what it is.

On that vicarious-pleasure level, the movie version delivers. Yet for anyone with a sense of irony or social justice, it’s also frustratingly soft around the edges, with no real sense of the drugs-and-violence underside of show business or the spiritual cost of failure.

This is a movie that Holden would have skipped.

It's hard to imagine a better movie about corporate-sanctioned sex trafficking than The Whistleblower. But whether you're ready to confront this true story is a trickier question.

Taken as mindless entertainment, "Chain Reaction" is a cut or two below "Independence Day" and a couple of cuts above "Fled." It's a little better than "Eraser," not as good as "The Rock." [2 Aug 1996, p.3E]

Based loosely on a 2013 children’s book by Marla Frazee, Boss Baby has a convoluted plot, but young viewers will be amused by the slapstick humor, the action-packed chase scenes and the sheer ridiculousness of a cute baby barking out commands.

Moves along well until the characters and situations become too ridiculous to be believed.

A stylish but empty spy flick, redeemed only by well-executed action sequences.

Killer Joe is one of the most repugnant parodies of small-town stupidity that you will ever see, and Friedkin amplifies the shrill obscenities with blaring cartoon and kung-fu footage from his art director's fever dreams.

There are a few good jabs at fame, advertising and sexuality along the way. But don't worry, nothing gets too serious in this silly, on-target movie. [15 Apr 1996, p.5D]

Fuqua is a proficient action director, and the boxing scenes deliver plenty of whomp. But the music-saturated scenes involving the media, the law and a turncoat friend played by Curtis (“50 Cent”) Jackson are trying to appeal to fans of “Empire,” not “Raging Bull.”

Blank Check, which was written by Blake Snyder and Colby Carr, directed by Rupert Wainwright and filmed with grace and style by cinematographer Bill Pope, is definitely a guilty pleasure, but more the latter than the former.

Although this Swedish vehicle is thoughtfully engineered and has some vivid streaks of color, it could use a jump start to escape the vanilla ice.

Little more than an old-fashioned melodrama, but for some moviegoers that will be enough.

A family flick that punches the right buttons like a trained seal.

Call it "On the Lakefront." Or "Pretty-Good Fellas."

Taylor-Johnson — who earned high praise for his performance in last year’s “Nocturnal Animals” — is riveting as a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The movie is an eyeful, especially in 3-D, but even with humans at the helms of the machines, it’s a hollow exercise in homage.

With its forked tongue planted loosely in cheek, this haunted-house flick is enjoyably retro in both style and substance.

The ingredients are in place for a potent finale, but “Catching Fire” is watered down.

With its broad strokes, this invitation to an important discussion is hard to ignore, but the blood and honey on the table is an unpalatable mix.

It's not a good film, but viewed from a cockeyed angle, it's a great guilty pleasure, and director Bill Condon is in on the joke.

It’s too cheesy and predictable to be a real miracle, but by Vegas standards, it’s a winner.

IF you loved ''Hairspray,'' you'll probably like ''Cry-Baby.'' John Waters' latest teen-age musical spoof is entertaining. But it lacks some of the satiric edge that made ''Hairspray'' rather outrageous, although it was quite tame compared to some of Waters' earlier movies. [6 Apr 1990, p.3F]

What's finest about Everybody's Fine is to watch a good fella groping hopefully toward old age.

Only a heartfelt performance by Diane Lane rescues the film from abject mediocrity.

L'amour fou means "crazy love," but we don't learn anything crazy about these devoted lovers.

Made in America is at its best when the one-liners are thick and fast, and when comedy rules. There's a lot of staring into space that substitutes for acting when the going gets tougher, and while the ending milks all possible emotion out of an audience, there still is something heartwarming about it. [28 May 1993, p.3E]

THOROUGHLY predictable "inspirational" movies like Rudy are like pop-art rituals. We know almost to the letter what is going to happen, but, if the movie is well made (which "Rudy" is), we experience at least some of the emotional catharsis that would be evoked by a truly original and compelling work of art (which "Rudy" definitely isn't). [15 Oct 1993, p.3E]

It's not quite infectious, but some of the high notes manage to drown out some of the guttural lows.

With his glorified Frisbee and good-guy smile, Evans is engaging, but “The Winter Soldier” might be stronger with a little less Captain and a little more America.

Sometimes brilliantly original, at other times dull and formulaic, Mo' Better Blues is well worth seeing - for jazz and Spike Lee fans, it's a must-see - but it often fails to engage us on a deep emotional level. [03 Aug 1990, p.3F]

Waiting for Superman raises important questions while wearing a big red heart on its chest, but inconvenient facts are its kryptonite.

A generally absorbing, sometimes harrowing look at the violent rise of twin brothers named Kray to the top of the London underworld. [09 Nov 1990, p.3F]

Two incompatible movies duke it out in Bandslam. Although it's the wimpy teen musical that prevails, it's the misfit coming-of-age story that leaves an impression.

Weaving between freshness and formula, The Boys Are Back earns a gentle pat on the head.

The crescendo of two resonant careers makes the false notes of Unfinished Song forgivable.

Presented as a stand-alone film, but without an explanation for the protagonist’s physical and emotional injuries, it’s a head-scratcher. As with Joe’s sexual compulsion, scratching can’t cure the itch.

A buddy comedy disguised as a political thriller. It’s full of malarkey, but as a campaign of shock and awe, it’s hard to resist.

The rapid dialogue is dry and mannered, like a David Mamet play, there's virtually no story and Cronenberg's visual scheme is cold and claustrophobic.

It’s just sad to see the always interesting Farmiga wasted in such a hackneyed role.

Director Philipp Stolzl worked in the same dangerous conditions as the original climbers, and we can feel the chill and peril in our bones. It's a shame, then, that the screenwriter, unlike the camera crew and the characters, was afflicted with such timidity.

Suicide Squad had the potential to be as hilariously irreverent as “Deadpool,” a surprise box-office hit about a similarly sociopathic hero. Instead, it’s just another film that relies on special effects to distract the audience from a story that’s overblown and underwhelming.