Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is supposed to promote healing, but as they say in New York: close, but no cigar.

A tamer tale of supernatural shenanigans that is far more appropriate for young children than the sometimes too-scary scenes from J.K. Rowling's stories.

Beaches is worth seeing simply for the production number in which Midler puts her bosom to good use, and watching the buck-toothed, flamingo-haired Mayim Bialik perform as Midler at 11 is so realistic one wonders if magic mirrors have been used.[15 Jan 1989, p.6C]

For anyone expecting the second coming of Clouseau, Johnny English Reborn is a karmic catastrophe.

The film makes a few starts in many directions but doesn't go very far in any, and that's disappointing to those of us who thought so much of Soderbergh's previous effort. Oh, well, everyone's entitled to a clunker now and then. [7 Feb. 1992, p.3F]

If all you want from a movie are generous doses of laughs and some tender moments, She's Out Of My League should be right up your alley.

Alba is a showstopper in a fringed cowgirl outfit. But nine years wiser, we know that pretty things aren’t always worth killing for.

A bit slow to get started, and it's nowhere near as funny as "The Hangover." But it'll make you smile.

The settings and supporting roles suggest that If I Stay started out as someone’s passion project, but the final product only requires its star to sleepwalk through buckets of schlock.

The movie version of Fifty Shades is better than the book. It's still awful, but when a filmmaker starts with stupid source material, he's handcuffed.

This is a movie that Holden would have skipped.

THIS odd, anachronistic movie is the story of a couple of white guys (Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas) messing around in 19th-century Africa, and a couple of lions who want to eat them. I kept rooting for the lions. The Ghost and The Darkness is not a bad movie, and the scenes with the lions are fearsome. But it is so old-fashioned in its view of British Colonial Africa that you keep expecting Stewart Granger to wander in out of "King Solomon's Mines" (1950). [11 Oct 1996, p.3E]

An action comedy that works. But it’s also a surprisingly poignant romance. This is the summer flick you’ve been waiting for.

With its nonsensical, confounding story, it might not be for anyone, even if its heart is in the right place.

This droll, leisurely paced movie might alternately be titled "The Only Good Man in Africa." [09 Sep 1994, p.3F]

Unfortunately, not only was I disappointed with the lackluster animation, but I was also bored with the flatness of the characters and story. And if that wasn't enough to throw cold water on warm cartoon memories, screenwriter Dennis Marks forces the audience to listen to a bunch of forgettable, bubble gum tunes by Tiffany, who plays the voice of the Jetsons' daughter, Judy. [12 July 1990, p.6E]

Decent performances from Emilio Estevez and Denis Leary can't rescue this movie from its weak screenplay and predictable story. [21 Oct 1993, p.7G]

Working from a screenplay that he co-wrote with McCarthy, director Ben Falcone (who happens to be her husband) keeps things moving but without much of a spark.

As phony as a poodle-skirted waitress at a mall diner, yet it's as sweet as a malt. A vanilla one.

For sheer waste of talent, if not money, The Burbs deserves to be ranked with Ishtar. A routine slapstick comedy with no cutting edge, and not nearly enough laughs. [21 Feb 1989, p.6D]

In telling a true story about hapless thugs who are the embodiment of Michael Bay fans, the director has made the most fiendishly enjoyable movie of his career.

Kids between the ages of 5 and 10 probably will enjoy this one, and there isn't much (some mild bathroom humor) that parents will find terribly objectionable, except its stupidity. [12 Aug 1994, p.3H]

More damaging is Lurie's conspicuous "red state" rant, as he makes sure that every prominent guy in this film - save for the screenwriter and the black sheriff - fits all of the Southern stereotypes. That doesn't make it a bad movie, just one that is something less than Peckinpah's original.

A textured and unexpectedly entertaining drama about the human toll when racial assumptions crash.

JOE VERSUS the Volcano starts out like a house afire and simmers along quite adequately until about two-thirds of the way through, when it begins running out of fuel. From there, it sputters fitfully and dies at the end. Despite the problems in the third act, this comic fable is, on the whole, quite enjoyable. [9 Mar 1990, p.3F]

There's nothing cinematic about this turgid tearjerker except the slumming presence of movie star Harrison Ford.

The Good Son is cheaply manipulative in a way that can make you angry. [24 Sep 1993, p.3EV]

This is a generic, uninspired and mind-bogglingly boring comic-book movie that’s out to steal your money and time.