As long as Hollywood keeps hitting us over the head with empty spectacles like G.I. Joe: Retaliation, regular Joes will be too numb to fight back.

When a celebrity chef like Rodriguez is just going through the motions, we can smell that the grindhouse fad is way past its expiration date. It's time to put a fork in it.

Proficient director Peter Berg ("Hancock") keeps the noise so deafening we can't think about how preposterous it all is.

Eastwood also directed, in a plodding, heavy-handed style that leaves little to the imagination and less to the sense of humor. Every scene is as predictable as the chase that precedes or follows it. [07 Dec 1990, p.3F]

Good but not-good-enough schlocker.

Dare we say it? Even the acting is atrocious, with pop-eyed Pacino chewing the scenery like a geezer gumming his oatmeal.

Kevin Hart hits the vicinity of humor with a few of his drive-by wisecracks, but the movie itself has nothing under the hood.

The excellent animation makes up for a so-so plot, but it really doesn't matter. "The Squeakquel" is for kids.

To stand out in a crowded marketplace, a sequel can’t just kick ass — it has to blow minds.

Whaley has some ingenuous charm, and Connelly may have some skills, too. The script gives neither much opportunity. [2 Apr 1991, p.4D]

By the time the movie's ugly conclusion is reached, we are so numbed by the mindless degradation of it all that we couldn't care less who wins. We know we didn't. [01 Aug 1997, p.03E]

The film eventually runs out of rocket fuel, piling on the special effects but arriving at a disappointing conclusion.

The comedy waffles between nonsensically heightened and realistically grounded, often alternating between the two modes at random, never landing on a tone.

This is an extremely gory flick, with autopsy scenes to complement Schwarzenegger’s usual shoot-first sensibilities. After 30 years, it’s pointless to complain about the collateral damage in his movies, but here Schwarzenegger is taking vigilante justice to dark new levels that can only be reached via plot holes big enough for a Hummer.

Despite a solid cast and a few interesting visual moments, Surviving the Game is just a routine action picture. [21 Apr 1994, p.5G]

Despite its intriguing premise, the film amounts to little more than tedious, clichéd melodramatics.

This film fails, and for several reasons - not the least being that movies about bickering police partners who fight crime with snappy wisecracks and serious weaponry just might be the most overused plot of the last 15 years. [12 April 1995, p.3E]

In a small role as a self-absorbed film producer, Mark Wahlberg is touchingly effective.

It's supposed to be sweet, but Hop is a headache waiting to happen.

Shakespeare’s play evokes the poetry of undying love, but this Romeo and Juliet is prosaic.

If being seated at Table 19 is a drag, watching the film of the same name is worse.

IF SINCERITY were the basis on which movies were judged, The Power of One would be a great one. But real movies, like real life, have to provide satisfaction over a wider range, and this long, dry, coming-of-age tale about South Africa falls short. [29 March 1992, p.12C]

FLETCH LIVES is significantly funnier than the original ''Fletch,'' probably because it takes itself just a a little bit more seriously...While there are one-liners aplenty, there also is at least the hint of a real mystery. And this time, Chevy Chase seems to have broken loose from the Burt Reynolds syndrome, which involves trying to get laughs with a bad line by making a funny face. [22 March 1989, p.4F]

Act of Valor is a competently directed action movie, but forcing the audience to wear such narrow goggles is a dereliction of duty.

Further proof that likable actors have to take an occasional sick day.

Strick and Joanou have made this one so convoluted that interest falters, and the lack of a truly sympathetic character doesn't help. [7 Feb 1992, p.3F]

Loud, incoherent and unfunny, Here Comes the Boom is the sound of American culture imploding.

Director Graeme Clifford keeps the action going lickity-split and created a film worth a quick look. [17 Jan 1989, p.5D]