There is an elemental majesty to sailing that Ballard and his daring crew have magically transferred to the screen, and the consummate skills of the racing crews are a marvel to behold. Still, it's clear that the magic of Wind is in the wind itself, and not always in the movie that blows around it. [11 Sep 1992, p.22]

By film's end, the husband's reasons and rationalizations seem all but incomprehensible. That doesn't, however, prevent this from being a thoroughly engrossing tale. [11 Jan 1991, p.24]

The whole may be less than its parts, but the parts are pretty impressive.

The Intervention feels confident and accomplished: The cast immediately seems to bond as a group, with each playing a distinctive, recognizable character. And as the camera becomes a discreet ninth guest, you quickly find that you care about these people.

The result is the kind of competent, earnest, well-made but unexciting film that could just as easily have been produced for television. [20 Dec 1996]

Savoca's light directorial touch - specifically, her ability to make overstatement on the page look like understatement on-screen - disguises some of the script's flaws. [04 Oct 1991, p.22]

Crude as it sometimes is, this sequel should please plenty of Bradyphiles. But No. 3 might be overkill. [23 Aug 1996, p.F5]

After having been made and remade for the screen and converted into a long-running hit Broadway show, it might have seemed like “The Lion King” was a played-out property. “Mufasa,” under Jenkins’ poised and creative direction, proves there is still plenty of life left in the long-reining “King.”

Kids will love all the silliness, but oddly the greatest resonance of the Wayback Machine plot will be felt by the kids’ grandparents (if any find themselves in attendance) who were around in those bygone days.

Unfortunately, Kevin Anderson, the former Steppenwolf actor who was so impressive re-creating his stage role in Alan Pakula's film of "Orphans" and impersonating Bobby Kennedy in "Hoffa," can do absolutely nothing with the braying, sexist yuppie who rents the apartment out to Broderick and Sciorra. [1 May 1993, p.C9]

Kaufman can't raise the script far above the pulp material on which it's based, but it's a more intelligent adaptation than this summer's blockbuster movie of Crichton's "Jurassic Park." It's also a more interesting consideration of racial-cultural conflicts than such major-studio gaffes as "Mr. Baseball" and "Falling Down." [30 July 1993, p.D3]

[Neeson's] impressive physicality, (a tower among men), his rumbly basso-profundo voice and his impressive demeanor give him a natural gravity that allows him to rise above the most absurd material. And he does exactly that in The Commuter.

Combining rowdy concert footage and revealing offstage interactions of the band members, Mad Tiger is a well-executed portrait of a band coming apart at the seams.

Woodley and Claflin make an attractive pair, but they’re not particularly convincing playing people deeply, deeply in love. There’s something lacking in the conviction department there.

The cast is a likable bunch, and I can see how Tag might go down nicely with a couple of beers beforehand; it’s definitely funny in spots, in a we’re-making-this-up-as-we-go-along sort of way.

At times, Heart and Souls seems seriously interested in the kinds of ideas explored in "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder's fascinating attempt to account for why five people happened to meet their deaths in the same seemingly random circumstances. But any pretensions along those lines are quickly drowned by the cutesy special effects and Marc Shaiman's shamelessly overwrought score. [13 Aug 1993, p.D14]

It’s all big action. Big colorful visuals. Outsized vocal performances.

For Here or to Go? offers an insightful group portrait but lacks imagination in a romantic subplot and (except for a requisite Bollywood-style dance number) is visually dreary.

Despite claims to the contrary, Van Peebles has no apparent desire to accurately reflect history. Instead, he caters, with an ugly lack of integrity, to a twisted perception of "popular taste," spinning an ego-trip that steals a numbing variety of Western cliches while betraying them with contemporary flavoring. [14 May 1993, p.20]

Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12”) can’t quite find that magical balance that Walls hits, and tilts the story too far toward sentiment.

The series shows no signs of stopping (there are not one but two postcredits teasers), and with each iteration, there are diminishing returns on this character and formula, but as long as they keep up the silly, fourth-wall breaking humor, and earnest messages of teamwork and unity, the Sonic franchise just might have some legs.

You wish Perkins would have shown up with his red pencil during the screenwriting stage, when he might have done some good.

Given the time-tested durability of a decent boy-and-his-dog adventure, Iron Will can't steer too far off course. [14 Jan 1994, p.D20]

What the picture lacks is a certain spark. It’s a workmanlike effort that diligently covers a lot of bases...but never achieves a transcendence that befits a figure like Owens.

Unrelentingly bleak, somewhat pretentious and rather too long, Sean Penn's feature debut as writer-director nevertheless shows some promise. [04 Oct 1991, p.28]

The film is an absolute triumph for Adams, who attacks her role like — yes, sorry — a dog with a bone.

Deadpool & Wolverine is the ultimate love letter to Marvel fans: The cameos and references are aplenty and brilliant (the audience at the press screening gasped more than once), the source material is treated with respect and, best of all, it’s pure, unadulterated fun. It finally looks like Marvel is back in fighting shape. (P.S. Yes, the equally sweet and crude credits are worth sticking around for.)

It's sweet and funny one moment, melodramatic and contrived the next. Blending the moods, and often holding the film together through sheer force of personality, Ryder gives her most affecting performance to date. [14 Dec 1990, p.26]