To say that the many parts of In the Fade are held together by Kruger would be an understatement. As a cocktail of grief, fury and regret, she’s a remarkably original protagonist — a chain-smoking, tattooed mother who, in her trauma, is always a breath away from drowning.

Bursts of intense violence are punctuated with sometimes tedious blocks of speeches and silence, but Hostiles, despite its posture of brutal amorality, has a goodness at its core, of understanding and empathy. It also has something that so many sequel and franchise-hungry studios today wouldn’t dare show — an actual ending.

Collet-Serra’s genre mechanics, stylized and sober, are efficient. His trains run on time, even if — especially in The Commuter — a rush-hour’s worth of implausibility eventually wrecks the thrill.

By breaking down some of the old mythology, Johnson has staked out new territory. For the first time in a long time, a “Star Wars” film feels forward-moving.

Is this horror as comedy or comedy as horror? Neither. It's wasted Hollywood talent as tragedy - another lamentable example of a beautiful, multimillion-dollar movie that is breathtaking but so poorly executed that it's forgotten the moment it ends. [21 July 1999]

Actually, Muppets From Space doesn't offer much for adults, either. The normally smart, endearing characters can't save this movie, which begins with a flimsy premise. [12 July 1999]

The biggest problem of My Favorite Martian: It lacks an edge. Its promising approach - sort of a Three Stooges meets Close Encounters - never gets off the ground. It tries to bite occasionally, but is so concerned with remaining a kid-friendly movie that it keeps sinking into pablum. [11 Feb 1999]

A letdown, another comedy that's strange for the sake of being strange. This one's a riff on detective movies. It has nothing to say but does take a long time to say it...the film plays like a bad inside joke. [2 March 1998]

One Fine Day erases any doubt that George Clooney could make the leap from the operating rooms of "ER" to stardom in films. He has it all: a slick, sardonic manner, calm assurance, commanding presence, great looks and, most importantly, a distinctive voice...Not much can be said about Michelle Pfeiffer except that she is perfection - knockout looks, without bragging about it, and a strong sense of comedy, including the roughhouse kind. [17 Dec 1996]

Forty years ago, The Crucible was a cautionary tale cloaked in thumpingly good entertainment. It remains that now, and Miller and Hytner deliver the material with the ferocity it deserves.

Hopkins has combined a tightly written script, two superior actors and stunning African vistas into a film that is breathtaking in its beauty and thrilling with suspense. [10 Oct 1996]

Even though Extreme Measures starts to get thin and predictable toward the end, it's a movie that does a great job giving the villains real depth their motives are far more complex and multidimensional than usual.

The latter stages of "Moreau" prove chaotic and confusing, negating what showed promise as a "Planet of the Apes" thriller...Any appearance by Marlon Brando is an event, if only to witness his latest transformation. He seems to have entered his Sydney Greenstreet period. Looking huge and sinister, he affects an upper-class English accent with lines such as, "I'm simply going to perish from the heat." He even sports a monocle in one scene...At times, Brando conveys a demented menace, but mostly his performance seems a mockery, of the film and himself...And Kilmer makes the most of his ambiguous role. [22 Aug 1996]

Besides the muddled story, the script is burdened with some of the clunkiest dialogue for a major film in recent memory. [3 Aug 1996]

Director Rob Cohen gets the most out of the buddy relationship between Bowen and Draco. Cohen also provides imaginative battle sequences, especially a pursuit through a forest. But the script, credited to Charles Edward Pogue from a story by Pogue and Patrick Read Johnson, sometimes veers into the obscure. [28 May 1996]

Despite a respectable budget, a well-known cast, even a bona fide supermodel, "If Lucy Fell" is boring, depressing and unfunny. [7 March 1996]

A dynamic political drama with superior acting and wide significance. The competing forces of city governance have rarely been portrayed with such immediacy and incisiveness. [17 Feb 1996]

Now and Then will be deeply felt by women, and there's no earthly reason why men shouldn't enjoy it, too. [19 Oct 1995]

Director Simon Wincer, who made the first Free Willy, knows a thing or two about gigantic mammals that fly through the air, and he does a nice job here. If only his editing team had been more ruthless in trimming from the film's second half. [27 Jul 1995]

Ham-fisted and simplistically drawn. [11 July 1995]

The plot is incoherent and jumpy and the dialogue weak. Scriptwriter Tedi Sarafian makes the same mistake his brother Doran made in his movie "Gunmen." It's all effects and nonstop action, as if that can cover for one-dimensional characters. [30 March 1995]

An intelligent and riveting courtroom thriller. [16 Feb 1995]

Director Daniel Petrie keeps the whimsy under control most of the time, and he draws evenhanded work from the actors. The script by Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein, based on Neil Tolkin's story, rarely rises above the level of comic-strip balloons, but that's as it should be. [23 Dec 1994]

Robert Redford's intricately woven and brilliant movie Quiz Show paints a witty but poignant portrait of that tainted time on television, when Eisenhower's America lost its innocence. [15 Sept 1994]

But there is nothing erotic in the coupling between Willis and March, who repeatedly took off her clothes in 1992's "The Lover" to much greater effect. The movie is tepid as a thriller, too, since it's not hard to guess the killer's identity and motive. What's worse is that you don't really care about either, though it is fun to see Willis menaced several times by a red - get it? [18 Aug 1994]

A mystical, thrilling and breathtaking coming-of-age movie. [14 June 1994]

A high-voltage joy ride of journalistic fun. [16 March 1994]

Clumsily derivative, completely predictable and leadenly directed by the star himself. [23 Feb 1994]