Plays as if Tillman studied the works of director Michael Mann ("Heat"), but got a C on the final exam.

A true story of animal rescue, and it even stars the sea creature to whom it happened. But it's the humans who do the cutesy tricks that make it a mixed blessing.

Winona Ryder, rather than Cher, is the real star of Mermaids, and her fine performance as a hormone-stunned teen-ager is the main reason to see this otherwise mildly entertaining, somewhat muddled comic melodrama. [14 Dec 1990, p.3F]

This long, ludicrous soap opera is also a mighty spectacle, a new standard in disengaged destruction.

Although the characters are three-dimensional, the simultaneous crises and last-act resolutions are a little too neat for a movie about the messiness of life.

You would expect an epic with brains and hearts. Instead we settle for sturdy craft, with a stellar cast struggling to breathe life into the cold material.

After some overly talky revelations, the cornered writer/directors are forced to shatter their absurd shell game with a final act of violence that spoils the breezy, capering mood that prevailed for much of the movie.

It's deliberately difficult to untangle the crossed allegiances of the people that Kelly interviews, and it's melodramatic that he tries to smuggle Ming and a surrendered assassin onto a plane bound for the United States. But dramatizing such a complex situation is a necessary evil.

The Woman in Gold works, largely because of the odd-couple chemistry between Mirren and Reynolds. It just goes to show that broad strokes are appealing when they’re in the right frame.

The Hefner we meet here is the likable rogue we already know.

If you can channel your inner grade-schooler and appreciate a villain named Professor Poopypants, you’ll giggle at the irreverent world of Captain Underpants.

With its references to other properties in the Marvel universe and to classic tales of redemption, this no-surprises summer movie might appeal to those who've been bitten by radioactive spiders or the Shakespeare bug.

It's intellectual snack food, satisfying for a little while but always leaving you hungry for more.

Fulfills its mission, which is to be a crowd-pleasing tearjerker.

Gadot proves she is worthy of Wonder Woman’s tiara, but the superhero deserves a great film, not one that’s just better than the others.

Finally the film tips its hand and becomes a bet-the-house warning about climate change.

It flows, but it never gets tense, and the climax just sort of passes unnoticed. The movie reaches too hard to push messages about human nature that are really right on the surface. Complicating things is the casting of Brando and Kilmer, who as usual, are not in the same movie as the rest of the cast. [23 Aug 1996, p.3E]

Nothing in the film is particularly memorable either, including the music that changes Bodi’s life.

Like the politicians it tries to pull into the big picture, Killing Them Softly promises more than it delivers.

Unfolds like a fable instead of a believable slice of life. Mexican TV and film star Bichir gives a poignant performance, but he's distinctly more European than the cholos and Chicano laborers on the sketchy edges of the hero's plight.

On the whole, director Phil Joanou and writer Dennis McIntyre have done a first-rate job of giving us believable characters acting believably in a believable (if horrific) situation. [05 Oct 1990, p.3F]

Without the kindling of character development, Planes: Fire and Rescue is no smoldering success, but if Disney’s flight plan is to share Pixar’s airspace, it’s getting warmer.

The animation is not as sharp as Disney's efforts and the songs are only average, but kids will enjoy it. [07 Jun 1998, p.C6]

It all makes for an appealing blend of flavors and influences, and despite its minor flaws, “Blue Beetle” combines family, history and culture with an upbeat tone to introduce a character who offers an exciting new direction for DC.

On a minute-to-minute level, it's an engaging mystery, the kind that rewards our participation with eye candy and adrenaline shots. But when we pull back for an overview, we see that it's flat and that pieces are missing.

Although Besson, the director of “La Femme Nikita” and the producer of “Taken,” indulges in some operatic violence, the film is more spacey than pacey.

Michael as a character is defined almost solely by his helplessness and gratitude. He's as lovable as a lost puppy, but a more perceptive movie than The Blind Side would have let us see him from another angle.

Despite some gruesome images and the psychotic fervor of Rakes, it's a frustratingly slow boil.