Director Brad Furman (“The Lincoln Lawyer”) does a serviceable job of keeping the narrative elements in play but has trouble making us care.

The campus comedy Pitch Perfect harmonizes high-end performance with low-brow spoofery. It's like a National Lampoon parody where the targets write the jokes.

Sea of Love is a tough, sexy thriller, one of the most exciting suspense movies of the year, and undoubtedly the funniest. Al Pacino and John Goodman are terrific as detectives teamed up to catch a serial killer who apparently is choosing victims from personal ads in a New York weekly. [17 Sep 1989, p.11F]

Do yourself and your kids a favor. On the way to multiplex to see "The Avengers," tell them The Fairy is about an all-powerful superheroine. Someday, they'll find the words to thank you.

In the context of confounded expectations, director Maxime Giroux may have intended the what’s-next ending to be ironic.

Succeeds as both advocacy and entertainment by focusing on the family.

Targeted toward horror-film junkies looking for a terror throwback, You’re Next mixes gore and dark humor with yet another home invasion plot line.

This melodrama about spousal abuse and honor killings might be too grim to bear, but Kekilli keeps it centered.

This time around, the story seems old and tired as well. The result is a routine space opera, an only moderately entertaining finale to a series that has had some great moments. [6 Dec. 1991, p.3D]

People over 60 are as sexual and complicated as their grandchildren, and there ought to be more movies about them, but only an audience as constipated as these characters could mistake this lukewarm stream of pablum for a hard nugget of truth.

Nev and the filmmakers prove to be charismatic, and at times hilarious, investigators of the unfolding mystery.

A solid remake of Victor Hugo's classic about a man who steals a loaf of bread and the police inspector who hounds him for years because of it, with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush. Director Bille August's focus on the love-story angles blurs the epic messages about freedom, honor and justice. [07 Jun 1998, p.C6]

Rogue One spins “Star Wars” into a whole new orbit.

Cinema often shines a light on stories that might have been lost to history, and that’s certainly true of A United Kingdom.

With its excellent, offbeat cast, its sprightly pacing and its goofy tone, Tremors is the kind of movie that propels you out of the theater with a grin on your face. [26 Jan 1990, p.3F]

As in his previous film, the game action is secondary to the zany characters, and there certainly are a lot of them. In fact, they bring such charm that White Men Can't Jump, a truly dumb movie, is a very funny movie. [27 Mar 1992, p.3F]

Obviously a labor love, and its very existence in a godforsaken marketplace is a minor miracle.

Timed for the Halloween season, Ouija: Origin of Evil should have horror fans clutching their seats.

With Whitaker, Daniels and screenwriter Danny Strong pulling the strings, The Butler can take a bow.

In such a bleak story, the redemptive ending seems rushed and unconvincing, but director Oliver Schmitz has sent us a timely dispatch from a forgotten corner of the world that is honest above all.

This animated feature is not a perfect movie, but it's an enjoyable one. Like the animated TV series it is based on, it strikes a balance between the adult darkness of the recent Tim Burton movies and the childish silliness of the old TV show. More than anything, this version of Batman recalls the original Bob Kane comic books of the 1940s: dark with light touches, cartoony yet realistic. [31 Dec 1993, p.3F]

The Debt eventually settles into a predictable groove that slightly undercuts its impact. Still, it's a film of ambition and substance.

A genuinely touching and occasionally powerful film, not least because the boys are so disinclined to pity themselves.

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

Even if they don't provide much lift, these boots were made for amusement.

Bill and Ted bouncing through time means the narratives of these films are merely loose assortments of kooky bits and cameos, and “Face the Music” doesn’t stray from that. While it doesn’t quite gel cohesively, in this casual kickback with a pair of old pals, it’s the dudes who remain excellent.

Liman and Cruise previously worked together on the brilliant but overlooked science-fiction flick “Edge of Tomorrow.” Their latest collaboration, which boasts one of Cruise’s best and most charismatic performances, deserves to be a hit.

A refreshingly down-to-earth comedy-drama about family, ambition and the liberating power of music.