Much of The BFG, perhaps a little too much, is devoted to watching Sophie madly scurry away from the giants; it’s a beautifully rendered chase but still just a chase. When the movie slows down to allow Rylance and Barnhill to converse, it finds its magic.

Eddie Redmayne’s performance in “The Danish Girl” feels like it’s in soft focus; like the movie, it’s gentle and blurry and not quite there.

The movie relies rather too heavily on McAdams’ charm, sort of like a limp cheeseburger that’s saved by some really good bacon. But hey, sometimes a fast-food cheeseburger satisfies, more or less.

With only a few lapses during its opening scenes, it's a modest, intelligent exploration of the differences that can threaten a genuine attraction between two people. It doesn't soft-pedal the problems, particularly for a young man who already is set in his ways, or an older woman who never will fit in with the social and cultural pretensions of his extended family. [19 Oct 1990, p.31]

What’s most appealing about Zellweger’s portrayal is the brightness that peeps out from the clouds: her deep love for her children, her sly wit.

It never feels like a history lesson about the social-political changes wrought by the Restoration, although it could be argued that it's exactly that. Even when it's taking itself seriously, it neatly avoids pomposity. [02 Feb 1996, p.F1]

Wonka is the kind of movie that’s full of moments of enchantment.

The role is built for a tour-de-force performance, and Curtis delivers. [17 Sep 2000]

Through a deft combination of physical comedy, teenage angst and small-scale exploration of a fascinating premise, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” remains smartly committed to the emotional lives of its characters and their intermingled fates.

Strange Days presents itself as an original vision, yet many of its ideas about the perils of virtual reality were more intriguingly explored in several early-1980s thrillers, among them David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" and Douglas Trumbull's "Brainstorm." [13 Oct 1995, p.F1]

The logistics of this outdoor adventure may not be entirely convincing, but the characters usually are. That's a rarity in this kind of picture, and Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin rise to the challenge with some of the best work they've done in a long time. [26 Sep 1997]

While it is a work that can only hold a candle to the enduring piece of literature written all those decades ago, there is still something oddly spectacular about it.

King of New York may have its moments. But with the standard in gangster films so high right now ("GoodFellas," "The Krays," "Miller's Crossing"), there's no real way to recommend it. [12 Jan 1991, p.C3]

We may know how this strange saga ends, but Dumb Money will make you feel something, too. Whether that’s jubilation for the Davids or rage at the Goliaths, well, isn’t that kind of the point?

A haunting and lovely documentary.

Although the film is a beautiful tribute to Pavarotti, the less-inspired approach Howard took to the film plus a slower editing beat (the running time is 114 minutes) compared to his examination of the Beatles makes the project seem like a small step backward.

The film is an achievement in authentic world-building, but you can’t shake the feeling that what Mid90s does say isn’t perhaps what Hill intended it to.

In any future compendium of film clips from anti-Hollywood satires, Swimming With Sharks will surely be included. Several scenes are so incisive and well-written that they stand out as classics of their kind. [09 June 1995, p.H32]

Marshall is a handsome, old-fashioned film about a real-life hero, with a message of equality and justice that always bears repeating.

Harriet is a handsome and surprisingly quiet film, taking the time to honor the main character’s deep religious faith.

Ball takes his time presenting Noa’s world in detail. Too much time, frankly. There is no real sense of urgency here. Everything is carefully worked out. The visuals are handsome but unremarkable. Consequently, the picture feels dutiful and oddly bloodless.

The script by sports-movie veteran Ron Shelton is an understandable but rather monotonous attempt to deal with the differences between hard truth and media-created mirages.

There’s room for improvement in the “Fantastic Beasts” universe; perhaps we’ll see it in the next installment or two. Meanwhile — even if you, like me, are a bit Pottered out and wish Rowling would devote herself instead to her marvelous Cormoran Strike detective-novel series (magic comes in many forms) — it’s still a pleasure to revisit the author’s world.

This gem of a film manages to draw together our questions about the universe and ourselves into one single adventure story that hits every emotional beat. It’s what Pixar does best, and “Elio” is another knockout, a quiet but determined shooting star that earns its place in the galaxy.

The remake is both more romantic and more resonant than the original. It's less of a star vehicle for its leading actor, and it sticks to its guns right down its stunningly orchestrated finish. In almost every way it's an intelligent improvement. [05 Feb 1993, p.3]

When Frankie and Johnny works, it works because of Pfeiffer, whose impact is cumulative. Pfeiffer finds her own kind of truth in the role, especially in the final scenes, when the character's looks cease to matter. [11 Oct 1991, p.3]

The original “Deadpool” caught lightning in a bottle. The sequel sparks only intermittently.

Affleck, who has struggled in real life with alcoholism and has been in and out of rehab on a number of occasions over the years, makes his character’s pain palpable and totally believable.

Though The Infiltrator breaks no new ground in its storytelling, it is nonetheless a riveting piece of work.

Mary Poppins Returns, made with palpable love for its predecessor, is glorious and gorgeous, and I adored it.

The lessons of compassion and empathy are profound, and remind us that tales of good triumphing over evil are evergreen, even when it doesn’t seem to be reflected in the world around us.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is as good as it needs to be, though like the other movies it’s probably a complete puzzlement to anyone not already familiar with the franchise, and creator/writer Julian Fellowes can’t resist having someone earnestly intone something about Things Change And We Must Change With Them every two minutes.

Bille August, the prize-winning director of "Pelle the Conqueror" and "The Best Intentions," takes on the much-filmed Victor Hugo novel in this sturdy, well-produced nonmusical treatment of the story starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush. [05 Nov 1998]

Everybody involved seems to be having a blast making this latest “SpongeBob” a funny, fast-paced pleasure.

The action sequences, both on the ground and in space, are rousingly staged. But the losses incurred in those sequences are sobering. The stakes in the “Star Wars” rebellion are high indeed.

The chemistry between the two actors is a pleasure.

Though Wright can’t quite sustain the tension through the final half-hour, Last Night in Soho is full of dark pleasures.

At its best, White Men Can't Jump gives two talented actresses a chance to shine. At worst, it's just somewhat less coherent and compelling than Shelton's previous work. [27 Mar 1992, p.19]

Oddly, the film lacks any footage of Twisted Sister’s videos or hit songs, which received heavy rotation on MTV. That may be a drawback for casual fans, but the juicy details about the band’s early days make up for it.

It's doubtful that any variation on Finney's story could be called definitive. There's an inexhaustible supply of targets; we could have a new one every year or so. But this one certainly has its creepy moments. [18 Feb 1994, p.D3]

The movie is full of tiny moments of delight.

For a horror sequel built around a foundation of genre trends, Ouija: Origin of Evil contains far more goofy-spooky fun than one might expect.

Indeed, if it didn't rely so much on brawls and shootouts to interrupt a serviceable story line, this might have been a noteworthy screen addition to the Batman legacy. But the requisite outbursts of action are only secondary to the movie's nearly fatal shortcoming: the animation itself. [28 Dec 1993, p.E1]

The charm of MST3K has always been in its self-mocking, cheap, we-just-threw-it-all-together sort of feel. It's a fun enough way to pass the time. And fans of the TV version of MST3K certainly won't be disappointed. But it would be just as much - if not more - fun watching it in your own living room with a bunch of rowdy pals.

Anime enthusiasts will enjoy The Boy and the Beast, but so will anyone who appreciates a good fantasy yarn.

Cruise and company wanted to make American Made a fun and often funny ride, but there’s something oddly joyless about the whole enterprise. Its overweening cynicism leaves a curdled aftertaste.

The film, directed by Paul McGuigan, is basically a weepie, and it doesn’t do quite enough to show contemporary audiences why Grahame was special. But its performances make it a pleasure to watch.

With its well-drawn characters (a Linklater trademark) and mood of quiet restraint, Last Flag Flying touches the heart at a deep level.

If you've ever been in a play, you may have a good time at Noises Off anyway. And what stage cast could top this one? Caine has rarely had a chance to display his versatility so entertainingly, Ritter always seems to blossom under Bogdanovich's direction, Elliott finds a surprising variety in his one-note part, while Hagerty makes the most of her oddly appealing brand of hysteria. [21 March 1992, p.C5]

You loved “The Conjuring” in 2013. Now here’s “2,” with more, more, more of what you adored the first time around.

It’s a detective story. It’s an insightful commentary on the state of us, which is to say us, the U.S., in this divided, disjointed, distracted age. It’s a comedy, sharp and frequently hilarious. It is, above all, consistently surprising.

Feig, who’s made a specialty of stories featuring unlikely female duos, knows exactly what he’s doing here in the classy-B-movie genre, and “The Housemaid” ticks along like oatmeal-toned clockwork — a little scary, a little silly and very popcorn-appropriate.

It's far-fetched yet (for entertainment's sake) entirely credible, and the abundant comedy is intelligent enough to advance a serious and surprisingly sophisticated plot. [09 Sep 1992, p.F3]

This is the swiftest, funniest, most lunatic comedy to date from the team that created "Top Secret," "The Naked Gun," "Ruthless People" and "Airplane!" [28 June 1991, p.23]

Aronofsky has always been an actor’s director, and even though he’s playing in the pulp sandbox with “Caught Stealing,” he lets Butler shine. There are a few choices to side-eye in the script, to be sure, but Butler, Kravitz and Libatique are unimpeachable on this wild ride.

This Beauty and the Beast had me leaving the theater feeling utterly happy; like I’d spent time with old friends who’d grown and changed, and yet remained the same at heart.

A surprisingly sweet-spirited picture about a man’s redemption and a boy’s initiation into the ways of the world.

It’s an unfinished story, which leaves Dancer slightly unsatisfying, as if we’re abandoning a book mid-chapter. But what a pleasure to wallow in the talent of a ballet rock star — and to watch a troubled young man find peace in a split-second of perfection.

You come to an “Alien” movie with certain expectations: creepy thrills, impressive production design, chest busters, acid saliva. Going back to basics, Scott delivers what we’ve come to expect in “Covenant.” And how.

Earnest, well-acted and occasionally compelling, School Ties gets an A for effort and a C-plus for achievement. At best, it's like a well-mounted, feature-length afterschool special about prep-school anti-Semitism in the mid-1950s. With hate crimes on the rise, it's unfortunately timely now, and its heart is always in the right place. At worst, it's a single-minded exploration of the subject, with too many aspects left untouched. [18 Sept 1992, p.26]

Maximally cheeky. Perversely potty-mouthed. Riotously funny. Insanely violent. Uneven as all get out. And fun, fun, fun.

Garland has yet again created something singular here, but he hasn’t cinched it.

It’s a bunch of plastic blocks that have an adventure, and it’s basically insane; not quite as pleasantly so as the first movie (the element of astonished surprise isn’t there), but hey, that’s a high bar. Everything is … oh, damn it, there I go again.

What shines through is the beauty of Guy Godfree’s cinematography — the light has a lovely, soft stillness to it, like a painting — and a remarkable performance by Hawkins, whose impossibly wide smile seems to bring the sun.

Wonderfully confident and strange, Take Me to the River marks an auspicious directing debut for Matt Sobel. There’s not a stale moment in it.

Unfortunately as festivities in the building turn violent and/or orgiastic, Wheatley keeps resorting to high-speed montages rather than slyly crafted scenes.

Proudly declaring itself "an irresponsible movie" yet pointedly aimed at politicians who have done little to address a lethal epidemic, Gregg Araki's The Living End is in fact an attempt to make a morally charged statement about the AIDS crisis. [11 Sep 1992, p.03]

“Oppy” is a salute to the best of what humans are capable when they unite in a common purpose to expand their knowledge of matters beyond the realm of the known.

In Rudolph's own scripts there's usually a foundation of whimsy that somehow balances out his acid-edged commentary on human follies. Here, there's only a standard murder-mystery plot that cheats on its ending and an East Coast locale where funny accents and hairdos are the real victims. [19 Apr 1991, p.25]

As a summer disaster movie, Twisters works well enough, though other than Powell it lacks the enjoyable goofiness of its predecessor.

The uneasy marriage of clunky psychodrama and overwrought special effects along with the fact that none of these characters are particularly likable make Strange World a chore to sit through.

Mann, as he showed two years ago in "The Insider," is a wonderfully idiosyncratic storyteller, sketching out a plot line with quick scenes, jumping into the middle of a story and letting us figure out who's who.

Alice, Darling is a bit of a slow burn, despite what its trailers would have you believe.

Drop gets the job done, and even throws in an excellent cocktail-piano rendition of “Baby Shark.” Go see it on a first date, if you’re brave.

In the midst of all the mayhem it’s sometimes hard to stay awake.

The script by Liu Zhenyun becomes ponderous and redundant, kept on oxygen by its lead actress’s complex performance as a child-woman with enigmatic wisdom.

Filmed in harsh grays and cruel light, interspersed with warm home movies of the family in a happier time, it’s a terribly sad and often mesmerizing story.

There are no safe places in his pictures. And Eddington is dense with multiple levels that stoke the ever-present unease.

Great acting is a con game, of the highest order, and it’s a pleasure to be Moore’s mark.

An all-star farce about backstage melodramatics at a long-running daytime soap opera, Soapdish has some hysterically funny moments. Unfortunately, its creators don't always sustain the big laughs, or make the most of such supporting players as Whoopi Goldberg and Robert Downey Jr., whose proven comic gifts are mostly hidden this time. [31 May 1991, p.25]

The picture itself is more workmanlike than transcendent. It marches along but doesn’t soar.

It’s heartfelt, action-packed and just plain fun (and comes with an intriguing mid-credit scene you don’t want to miss). Fantastic indeed.

Directors Rob Cannan and Ross Adam have made a picture that’s technically rough-edged but absorbing.

The wedding of strong actors with a solid script is what makes Plus One worthy of saying “I do” to enjoying it.

This sturdy, solid thriller underscores that at their core, survival stories are always stories of humanity’s best, and the impossible things we can achieve when we work together.

The movie bristles with an insider's knowledge of the film world. It's wry, intelligent, impassioned. [15 Mar 1991, p.22]

By showing us the human side of poverty, Where the Day Takes You proves that a society is best judged by the treatment of its least fortunate members. [11 Sep 1992, p.21]

With its ever-so-earnest desire to shed light on the complex social issues of gang influence in Los Angeles, South Central is a film that's good - or at least, easily recommendable - in spite of itself. [06 Nov 1992, p.27]

The movie’s unrelenting sensory onslaught is exhausting. It’s torture to sit through.

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (the latter also wrote the screenplay, both directed the original), it’s gorgeous-looking. It’s briskly paced. And it’s tuneful. Uh, about those tunes: They’re blaringly, oppressively, crushingly LOUD! With “Frozen” we got the rousing Oscar-winning “Let It Go.” With Frozen II, someone should have told the songwriters to tone it down.

If there is any problem with Wes Craven's New Nightmare, it's the fact that analyzing the film is potentially more fun than the film itself. But that's OK, because it means Craven has put enough thought into his work to make it worth thinking about. [14 Oct 1994, p.H40]

In other words: yes, it’s fun.

As usual, the majority of gags are strictly hit or miss, but they don't stop until the movie's completely over, so here's a fair warning: If you're one of the few who still doesn't know secret of "The Crying Game," don't watch the "Part Deux" end credits. [21 May 1993, p.23]

In channeling his creative resources toward the sound of “Undertone,” Tuason conjures a lot out of a simple concept — a girl in a house. The marriage of this sound design to thoughtful, carefully placed camera movements makes for a horror film that’s a suspenseful slow burn.

The film is over quickly, before I’d seen quite enough of Westwood’s fanciful clothing, or heard quite enough of her voice.

The Bad Guys 2 is not as fun or slick as it thinks it is — especially in its emotionally underwhelming yet visually dazzling third act — but it still carries just enough charm to warrant a trip to the theater.

Ultimately, the film’s unwillingness to go deeper makes it fall flat.

You don’t really watch Suspiria, you endure it.