This legal procedural remains strangely flat, despite its star power and a gripping central performance from Tahar Rahim as Slahi. An unimpeachably well-intentioned treatment of a dark chapter in American justice, it's methodical and serious-minded to a fault.

A B-movie that would benefit immensely from some wit in the script and charisma in the cast, it’s not as aggressively hacky as P.W.S.A.’s oeuvre, but it runs into problems he didn’t face in 1995: Namely, the bar has been raised quite a bit for movies in which teams of superpowered young people have fights to save the universe.

Ultimately, none of the storylines offers a surprise or tells us anything we don't already know, this many years into America's opioid ordeal. And arriving at a moment when Crisis could refer to so many other calamities, its failure to illuminate anything makes it feel like a distraction.

Super Mario Bros. is a jumbled mess that is somewhat likeable in spite of itself. There are so many wrong turns taken by this film that even when we end up where we started, we still don't know where the heck we are. [1 June 1993]

The film exudes empathy, as you'd expect, but struggles to find a compelling point of view.

The admirable efficiency of Skyfire means that you don't have to waste a lot of time sitting through endless exposition.

If it uses romance and hijinks as a way of suggesting to teens that the unthinkable might not really kill them, that's a worthy goal. (Insert your own remarks about surviving 2020 here.) But adding fewer spoonfuls of sugar to this kind of medicine might be good for everyone.

Exciting in its big game scenes but excessively dreary in the undercoached dramatics, the seasonal offering will score some quick points at the boxoffice and then fade quickly. [24 Sept 1993]

At this point, Cage's movies don't have to be reviewed, but rather stamped with official certificates of weirdness. This effort directed by Kevin Lewis certainly qualifies.

The mangy humor provides a steady stream of laughs, but Look Who's Talking Now won't be confused with the better breeds of film comedy. [3 Nov 1993]

It’s the kind of movie that needs a feather-light touch or plenty of humor to avoid feeling overly parental. Moxie has neither.

Though the movie is never unengaging, ultimately, it doesn't quite deliver.

Ultimately, it all feels less like a romance than a curiosity.

It's pleasant enough, but lacks the vitality to be more than mildly funny as comedy as well as the insight to build emotional heft as drama.

Vague and unsastisfying, but not as immediately dismissable as Propaganda's 1993 shocker dud "Kalifornia," "Dream Lover" has going for it the lure of Spader and Amick going for broke and a plot that will bring on post-screening discussions. Either masterfully restrained or badly out of whack, depending on how one interprets the conclusion, "Dream Lover" is problematic enough to earn only passing notice in the marketplace. [11 Apr 1994]

In terms of rollicking wacky gorefests, "Freaked" has nothing on "Dead Alive," the superior New Zealand cult hit from earlier this year. Still, the uniqueness of the project will ensure a number of die-hard fans. [4 Oct 1993]

Just identifying the references is a feast for film buffs, but the comedy here is so specifically film-oriented that the laughs, with rare exception, have no deeper resonance. The gags, both sight and verbal, come fast and furious, and more than a few connect. But the ultimate result is wearying, as if one were forced to sit through an endless succession of "Carol Burnett Show" parodies. Another problem is that the films parodied are often less than stellar; "Sleeping With the Enemy," for instance, was already a tired thriller rehash. [19 Oct 1993]

There is plenty to admire technically in his drama . . . But its substance is a mashup of ill-fitting parts, indebted to both Romeo and Juliet and Douglas Sirk.

While Van Damme's cyborgian performance in the classic Western role should satisfy the thespic demands of action fans, it will blunt a mainstream crossover. [18 Jan 1993]

Of course, ravishing Malick-esque visuals cannot quite excuse muddled plotting, portentous dialogue and wobbly performances. But In Full Bloom is still an impressively polished debut feature, admirably ambitious and elegantly crafted.

This well-intentioned if somewhat heavy-handed historical affair is anchored by Coogan’s solid lead turn, with support from Andrea Riseborough as a hard-hitting state prosecutor and promising newcomer Garion Dowds as an executioner who could wind up facing the gallows.

While visually lush and inviting, this insular, self-absorbed film is more a violation than a celebration of the lives of two of literatures foremost sensualists, Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. Little of Miller’s boisterous, anarchic spirit makes its way into this film. Nor is its superficial handling of Nin’s theme of a woman’s self-realization likely to satisfy her admirers.

The conflicts feel just a tad too routine and the characters too thinly drawn to get the blood flowing.

Here the burn can be too slow to handle at times, as if the gas had been forever left at medium-low heat. You're ultimately left wanting more from a movie that tries to drift away from the usual policier template, even though shots are fired and bodies drop.

The finale is telegraphed far in advance, yet when it comes the drama is so down-played it doesn’t register in its full horror.

Admirers of old-fashioned British war drama should find this passably entertaining, and the dazzling green Welsh countryside and seafront locations that stand in for England's Southeast coast are certainly pleasing to the eye. But handsome production values can't disguise shaky storytelling that relies almost entirely on composer Marc Streitenfeld's agitated orchestral score to stoke suspense.

After an intriguing setup that takes its time building atmosphere and characters, declining to rush the first death, the film becomes progressively more overwrought and hokey. It also loads up on derivative tropes that worked better everywhere from Ringu through The Conjuring Universe.

The documentary is just as notable for the cultural and social analysis that it lacks as it is for its contents.