Sure, much of it follows ground already trodden in the first film, but it finds that same sweet balance of tears and laughter.

Connery's Robin and Audrey Hepburn's Marian are so appealing - and physically and temperamentally so right - that they gloss over the fact that Goldman's script tends to be coy and anachronistic. [09 Aug 1991, p.23]

The Fall Guy isn’t a perfect movie; it’s longer and a bit more self-aware than it needs to be, and not every joke lands. But it has that rare quality in a big-studio film: a sense of fun.

You can see clearly in the final scenes where “Creed IV” might be headed; you can also see that Jordan as a director shows promise well beyond this film. “Creed III” works as well as it needs to, and for the umpteenth film in a franchise, that’s more than enough.

This magic musical seems made for film, full of gloriously elaborate sets — can I please move into that dorm room, or at least borrow a few pieces from Glinda’s mountain of pink luggage? — and action sequences that a stage production can’t duplicate.

So compelling is writer-director Joel Potrykus’ unnerving scenario — with its largely ambiguous tone of horror dramatically offset at times by explicit frights — that a viewer isn’t necessarily bothered by a lack of basic story information about who, what, when, where and why.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a gentle treat, sure to leave any book-loving viewer happy.

It’s the kind of movie that you watch with two simultaneous emotions: fascination, and the desire to leave immediately. I’m glad, mostly, that I didn’t give in to the second, but I’m still pondering exactly how Lanthimos pulled off the first.

You have undoubtedly seen many films that cover, generally, about the same territory as Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River.... But you probably haven’t seen one quite like “Wind River,” a movie less interested in examining the crime than in uncovering the icicle of grief at its core.

The style is busy, Affleck laying a heavy hand on the ’80s references and music cues, Robert Richardson’s cinematography mimicking the amateurish style of someone with a brand-new camcorder. But the pace flies, and the actors make the film wildly engaging.

It’s all pretty silly, but the way “Parabellum” keeps topping itself and then topping the toppings makes the picture eminently watchable. It’s a guilty summertime-movie pleasure for sure.

Though it never reaches the fever pitch of American gangster films, Sonatine is nonetheless louder than Fireworks, with a little less pathos. It may lack the blind-siding explosiveness of Fireworks, but it still delivers a great emotional punch. [11 Sep 1998]

The young writer-director, Greg Mottola, deals forthrightly with trust and betrayal and the destructive tensions in family relationships, whether they're well-worn or freshly hurtful. But he never loses his sense of perspective or humor, and neither does his cast. [04 Apr 1997]

What keeps Hoppers from drifting into Pollyanna-ish sensibility is its charming spikiness, and embrace of the weird, wacky and witty as it unfurls a high-tech action thriller about a strange, if brief, merging of the human and animal worlds.

Parker uses such broad strokes that he can't tease the necessary charm out of his actor. The band's backstage spats are too extreme to be convincing and as a joke they get old fast. [13 Sep 1991, p.24]

The special-effects sequences are up to the usual high standards of Marvel excellence, but by far the best elements of “Homecoming” are the writing, which brims with humor, and the performances.

The Man in the Moon isn't likely to replace Mockingbird in the eyes of any of its fans, but it's far superior to such recent Mulligan mistakes as Clara's Heart and Kiss Me Goodbye. It's the most careful, sensitive work he's done since the 1970s. [04 Oct 1991, p.23]

The Killer is both disappointing and satisfying, with pleasure and competence to be had.

An enjoyably lighthearted crowd-pleaser with a serious message at its core.

An ordinary house cat and a basement spider become ferocious adversaries of tiny Grant Williams in director Jack Arnold's vision of an upside-down world. [31 Oct 2010, p.H6]

The best of several film versions of Jack London's story about a Nazi-like sea captain (Edward G. Robinson in top form), this Warner Bros. production co-stars Ida Lupino and John Garfield and was directed by Michael Curtiz, shortly before he made "Casablanca." [26 Dec 1991, p.E1]

Suspense is the key element in The Long Walk Home. That may seem like a frivolous thing to say about a fictionalized but scrupulously authentic account of the 1955 civil rights bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala. Yet it's what holds this movie together, gives it distinction and makes it considerably more than a TV-movie-style docudrama. That, and the richly imagined performances of Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg. [15 Feb 1991, p.24]

Executed and performed with precision, the focus is on the relationships, but not breaking the system itself. The message of The Long Walk is muddled, at once hopeful and despairing.

The sweetness in the original is absent in the sequel. The players, including Judy and Nick, have an edge to them. Maybe that’s to be expected in that the main characters are now more settled in their parts, but there’s a sharpness in tone that makes them hard to warm up to.

Ruffalo, as a character more polished and reserved than he usually plays, is compelling as ever; he’s able to convey the sense of time passing, with the case weighing down on him more heavily as years slip by.

Moving 1965 love story with the late Elizabeth Hartman giving an excellent performance as a tormented blind girl who falls in love with the only person who treats her kindly (Sidney Poiter). It was Hartman's debut, and she and director Guy Green succeed in keeping it from becoming overly sentimental. [23 Aug 1990, p.F5]

If you want a quick diversion, take a trip to Fire Island — but don’t go looking for something that will last.

Where is Kyra? is a small story — there’s much about its main character that we’ll never know — and a terribly sad one. But it’s a remarkable showcase for Pfeiffer, who’ll break your heart in every scene.