This well-executed sequel is sneaky. While it distracts us with Chinese backdrops and buffoonish humor, it sucker punches us with a message about belonging.

Ultimately a movie that could have been a little jewel is unpolished.

Manny and Lo is a significant achievement for Krueger, who has shown herself on this first outing to be a smart, sure and strong director. [23 Aug 1996, p.6E]

Nocturnal Animals is far less imaginative than even your most banal nightmare.

The Well-Digger's Daughter is perhaps a bit too sentimental. But the performances are so heartfelt that its occasional excesses are easily forgiven. In a movie summer too often obsessed with things that go boom, this film is all about romance.

A one-joke movie, but it’s a joke whose recurring rimshots grow as loud as our laughter.

Denham impressively captures Peter's flintiness, rendering him sympathetic yet not quite likable, and Vicius is just right as the wary Lorna.

Die Hard 2, which is far and away the best of the big summer action pictures, is an almost perfect blend of suspense, thrills, human drama and, perhaps most important, comedy. [6 July 1990, p.3F]

Blaze is essentially a farce with moral overtones. Newman appropriately plays Long for laughs, but he also shows us a complex man with some admirable characteristics and much sadness inside. [15 Dec 1989, p.3F]

On a moral-justice level, we’d like to see this worm squirm a little more over his treatment of ex-colleagues before we let him off the hook to say that everyone else was cheating too.

It would be a disservice to describe "Perfect Blue" as a well-made cartoon. It is simply one of the richest and most suspenseful films of the year. [03 Aug 2001, p.E2]

If you want to see a great movie about a political campaign, starring the smartest heartthrob of his era, rent "The Candidate." If you want see a very good one, buy a ticket for The Ides of March.

Too modest to become a worldwide phenomenon, but sensitive teens and their older kin who pine for the '90s may want to take it for a spin on the dance floor.

Draining most of the blood, sweat and tears from a true story, this music-minded movie capably covers a song we’ve heard a hundred times before.

A minor revelation.

This stylish film reminds us that great images endure after bodies and buildings crumble.

If you don’t crave the taste of motor oil on your popcorn, Furious 7 can’t end fast enough.

Pratt is engagingly rascally as Quill, and Saldana brings a sassy charisma to the no-nonsense Gamora. But as might be expected, Baby Groot steals the film.

Richly photographed and featuring an attractive cast, Farewell, My Queen is a layer cake of royal pleasures, rote protocols and revolutionary politics. For skeptics who thought this story had grown stale, let them eat their words.

Fishburne gets the last word, however, in the midst of more flip-flops than a lake full of frogs, and while much of the movie is shoot-'em-up and fast action, the work of the actors and of Duke give it a nice cohesion. [18 Apr 1992, p.4D]

Ultimately, what saves this movie is its sense of humor, not to mention its good humor, which is not the same thing. You find yourself rooting for these characters, although at times you wouldn't mind giving them a little slap up side the head. [18 Feb 1994, p.3F]

Bernal (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”), an actor of Mexican heritage, brings to the role a charismatic resolve. It’s an impressive and impassioned performance.

If you're interested in a drama about a few days in the life of an American abroad, you may find Cairo Time engaging. But for some viewers, it all may be just too subtle.

Damsels in Distress is shockingly tone-deaf. Stillman is still capable of a few amusing quips, but his storytelling is sophomoric.

Nowhere Boy is too astutely written and directed to go to predictably melodramatic extremes.

The efforts to stay true to the spirit of Schulz are worth a happy dance for kids and adults alike.

Barney's Version has episodes instead of plot, outbursts instead of wit and alibis instead of growth.

On its own terms and against all odds, "Outrage" is adequately entertaining, with more than enough cringe-inducing violence and cruel humor to please the average American moviegoer. But true Kitano fans will find its title sadly ironic.