Provocative, intelligent but just a bit underwhelming, Our Brand Is Crisis — inspired by a 2005 documentary of the same name — plays as if the filmmakers started out with Oscar aspirations but ultimately weren’t up to the challenge.

This 19th Bond film has all of the required scenes, lines, gags and gadgets to keep Bond fans pleased - as well as a few new twists to update and energize it. [19 Dec 1997, p.E3]

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.

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.

Just when you've decided it's just another queasy thriller about a woman-hating serial killer, and you're beginning to wonder if Hollywood isn't making too many of these nasty little things, Malice winds up and delivers a terrific curveball. [01 Oct 1993, p.3EV]

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.

There aren't enough surprises to justify the title, but The Switch produces sufficient light for a late-summer diversion.

For real balance, the debate needs fiercely leftist truth-tellers in tri-corner hats, calling themselves the Organic Chai Tea Party.

Bana ("Munich") makes an effective bad guy. Hunnam portrays Jay as a hero worth rooting for. And Wilde turns in a nuanced performance as a woman in conflict with herself.

The romantic relationship between the two stars is mishandled, and neither is given sufficient funny material. [16 June 1992, p.4D]

The Women on the 6th Floor shouldn't work, but this efficient flick whisks away our cynicism.

Although Branagh delivers a film that’s reasonably watchable, the not-so-mysterious truth is that Murder on the Orient Express didn’t need to be remade.

Weighty issues such as war and divorce are mentioned, but the serious themes pass quickly. The lighthearted story always takes precedent over the special effects, but a scene involving swimming piglets will have kids flashing a sea of smiles.

A documentary that clearly aspires to the highest standards of cinematic muckraking but makes for a frustrating experience.

As biopics go, The Iron Lady is among the more intriguing ones.

A handsome movie with a handsome leading man. Christian Bale is widely considered the finest actor of his generation. Yet here he’s adrift in the bulrushes. This might be the most indifferent performance of Bale’s career.

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.

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

In short, "Fallen" hits the halfway point, it goes down and can't get up. [16 Jan 1993, p.E3]

Don't be late to this homecoming of director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson's horror series, which begins with a twisty opening sequence that's bloody fun.

The most rewarding way to watch Water for Elephants is to focus on the sideshow of costumes and craftsmanship, because the romance in the center ring smells like trained animals going through the motions.

McAvoy and Fassbender appealingly reprise their frenemy chemistry. But Lawrence has little to do but look perplexed.

It’s admirable, but Monuments Men just poses on a porous foundation like a statue.

Betsy's Wedding is what summer pictures used to be, light and sweet and brief as cotton candy. [25 Jun 1990, p.5D]

It’s Affleck, as a cop whose skills are criminally underestimated, who makes the biggest impression.

In the roll call of visually distinctive ’toons, Epic looms large.

The film is hilarious, however, and the comic bits are nearly enough to distract audiences from the illogical turns of the screenplay. [19 July 1996, p.3E]

The action is contained within a coherent dramatic structure and the puzzle-box paranoia of spy-agency protocol.