First of all, it has no music. That aside, it doesn't have any wit, joy, or drive. Children who haven't had the pleasure of seeing The Wizard of Oz might enjoy this film, but it will also frighten them. There are some fine, Oscar-nominated special effects, but the excitement just isn't there.

A gentle and effective heart-tugger, Cocoon tries to make its audience feel good, but you can't help but feel uneasy about the vision of old age that director Ron Howard depicts--one in which the young cannot accept the notion of getting old. The derivative special effects feel like leftovers from the infinitely superior Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The film is a mess from start to finish with several main characters who appear and disappear throughout. No character development, no thematic development, no narrative development. No life. No force. No dice.

This was the penultimate film from the ailing great director. It is also one of his best.

This cross between theatrical farce and teen sex comedy is a moronic package that liberally insults the intelligence of both its viewing audience and the hapless adult actors locked into career low points.

Though obviously aimed at a younger audience, The Goonies is packed with four-letter words. Sure kids speak like that, but writer Chris Columbus and director Richard Donner rely on obscenities as a substitution for clever punch lines, tossing in a few sex jokes and a touch of racist humor as well.

Fast-paced and witty, this is Chase's best solo venture to date, and will hold almost anyone's attention for its well-edited 98 minutes. Chase underplays his wackier moments to great effect, though he isn't always quite as funny as he thinks he is. (He also isn't the next Cary Grant, which he seems to believe as well.)

Directed by John Glen (For Your Eyes Only), this movie has all the standard Bond components--beautiful women, picturesque locales, thrilling chases--but the time-tested formula is more than a little threadbare here. Moreover, Walken doesn't have the lines, the strength, the presence, or the dastardliness required to be a top-notch Bond adversary.

All in all, it's a pretty offensive movie, especially to the Americans who fought in Vietnam.

Normally, this situation comedy would provide its own built-in laughs, but here the situations are dominated by Pryor's forced, manic behavior, which removes him from empathy and offers the subservient story nothing more than casual interest.

Directed by Charles Band, the son of Italian trash-master Albert Band and the head of Empire Pictures, Trancers is on the same subgutter, grade-school-mentality level as the rest of Empire's output.

Gotcha is a hopelessly shallow film, serving up a good deal of hokum in the ridiculous plot. It's a contrived idea to start with, and the script goes through predictable twist after twist until the inevitable conclusion.

There's nothing very new or original in this dull sex comedy.

Judged against other martial arts pictures, GYMKATA is technically superior and more intelligently written and directed, but that still doesn't make it worthwhile viewing. The film has only a minimum of credibility or intelligence, but since these qualities have little or no place in the genre, that becomes irrelevant, leaving pure action--kicking, punching, and the snapping sounds of breaking bones--as the main draw.

Allen has done better than this, but The Purple Rose of Cairo is a sweet little film and an interesting diversion for his legion of followers.

Of course, most of the male-female situations Terry finds herself in are played for laughs, and the film eventually sinks into an all too typical conclusion, but the observations regarding the nature of sexuality are interesting and well handled.

The picture is dull and the pacing abrupt rather than quick. STICK might have been a good movie about 20 years ago, before people became sophisticated and demanded depth in characterization.

Jam-packed with car smash-ups, predictable situations, and a few stock characters, Moving Violations is nothing more than the cinematic equivalent of a connect-the-dots puzzle.

The most innovative, intelligent, and visually sumptuous horror film of recent years.

A rather tepid anthology film, CAT'S EYE is a pastiche of leftover Stephen King notions, connected by a ubiquitous cat that ominously appears to set off each tale.

This is one of the most charming low-budget films in years, a freewheeling, light-hearted farce that gives some new twists to old plot devices.

The plot is mindless and only an excuse for lots of music video-styled dance sequences.

Only Michael Winslow, repeating his uncanny ability as a sort of human sound-effects machine, is able to give any life to this, but his efforts are like reviving a beached carp. They don't come any worse than this.

Given the track records of its writer, Neil Simon, and director, Hal Ashby, THE SLUGGER'S WIFE should at least have been entertaining. It isn't. Instead, it is one of the most disappointing, least credible films about baseball in recent memory.

THE CARE BEARS MOVIE, like other animated children's films of its ilk, is a double-edged sword. On one hand, this is perfect viewing for three- to six-year-olds, while at the same time it is little more than a 75-minute advertisement for the vast array of Care Bears toys and products.

The performances in the film are excellent, and its look is entirely appropriate and mesmerizing--but only for a while. The film's basic flaw is that it's just too painful, too depressing, and too slow to watch.

Mask is a good movie that could have been a great one with a little more restraint.

To make up for the lack of blood, the film provided more gratuitous nudity than had been seen in the previous installments of the series.