What Atlantis gains in chills and thrills, it loses in pure emotion.

The movie, though predictable and formulaic, is not that simple, although it might have been better off had it been so basic. It interweaves clichés from several other genres and ends up a mishmash of stories.

Never works as a gum-snapper concert movie and does provide a glimpse into instant stardom in the Twitter generation.

Feels slight and repetitive, even when there is no actual rewinding going on.

This is a slow if stylish slog through familiar terrain.

One of the most violent opening scenes in screen history…Yet given such a visually adept exercise, the rest seems transparently off-the-cuff. There are obese trailer-camp porn stars, heavenly visions, a climactic rendition of Love Me Tender and no-point references to The Wizard of Oz - all of which top this two-hour farrago like a soggy tarp. [17 Aug 1990, Life, 4D]

This very funny spoof of telenovelas and classic Mexican westerns is decidedly offbeat and absurdly daffy.

Peter Pan is the boy who wouldn't grow up, and Hook is the movie that grows unbearable once a grown-up Peter arrives in Neverland with a merciless 90 minutes to go. [11 Dec. 1991, p.1D]

The action epic 300 is so overblown, overheated and over the top that on some level, it's fun to get caught up in the operatic dizziness of it.

Mediocre family fare that's simply not that much fun.

Though there are helmets deeper than this movie, you do have to admire the level of screen showmanship .

The wrap-up feels tacked-on and too good to be true, with emotions the story really hasn't earned.

It's hard to sustain that cheeky meta humor, and the film seems to just give in and join its slasher brethren, devolving into a string of gruesome, but unoriginal, slayings.

Mildly entertaining, though the best performances come not from the stars, but the supporting players.

Director Bryan Singer made more hay with Marvel’s mighty mutant menagerie in the early 2000s, but the new film comes undone with too many characters and not enough nuance or freshness.

Genial and well-intentioned, but tepid.

Though not as action-packed as some thrillers, The International is noteworthy for its unusually scenic and architecturally dazzling locations.

Yet another Alan Alda unoriginal original. [22 Jun 1990, p.2D]

Enough is enough. Somebody should just stop remaking The Producers.

What is missing in plot and character development is made up for in silly fun.

The film's clever use of emerald-colored hummingbirds as transportation is a highlight.

A plodding, play-it-safe rendition of "The Family Feud."

Consistently compelling without being truly memorable.

Hits its silly stride early and never shifts into a higher gear.

A fun movie to sit through even when you don't always buy it.

Unexpectedly charming. It's a classic date movie, but it also will appeal to pre-dating tweens and middle-aged romantics.

Snake Eyes sports some of the most breathtaking filmmaking of De Palma's career -- and Nicolas Cage is the one actor who cannot be upstaged by it. [18 September 1998, p. 11E]

It's a mess with sporadic flashes of creativity. Someone should have gone back to the drawing board. [19 July 1996, p.13D]

Safe House has two powerful performances at its core, a hectic plot, a huge body count and a mild sense of déjà vu amid the pulse-quickening tension.

Grier plays the part of the pompous patrician with superb finesse and dry wit, easily the movie's highlight.

Labor Day feels like a belabored, sappy slog.

Considering the controversy and chaos Sony Pictures Studios is undergoing because of it, The Interview fails to live up to the hype, floundering as a rowdy comedy as it grows duller by the minute.

Moviegoers are stuck with this sci-fi thriller's bland story, murky cinematography and frenetic special effects.

Lead actor Ehrenreich conveys a spirited charm, while Englert, the object of his affections, is more blandly self-contained.

Already too long. It makes you want to start moving globs of dirt to tunnel out of the theater as the movie ends with the famous theme to "The Great Escape."

Clunkily stagebound but gorgeous to look at in VistaVision and Technicolor. [07 Oct 2005]

For someone of De Niro’s reputation, this Intern gig is a thankless job.

The first moral of the faithfully amoral remake of Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway is that Steve McQueen is irreplaceable. Second: Slavish faithfulness can be risky if the original is only middling Peckinpah to start. Third: Married co-stars sometimes reserve their sexual heat for off-camera Malibu mattresses. [11 Feb 1994, p.4D]

Based on the days and especially nights of Venice's 16th century courtesan Veronica Franco, this alternately dull, lively, sexy and silly costumer lightens the locks of brunette Braveheart dish Catherine McCormack. [27 Feb 1998]

The story feels like a less complicated companion to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Obvious logical questions are ignored. For instance, if she remains 29, does that make her immortal?

Like Rami Malek’s Freddie Mercury in “Rhapsody,” Ackie’s own voice is heard at times though mainly she’s performing to Houston’s own signature vocals. And the actress does an exceptional job capturing the pop singer’s mannerisms and performance style in those moments. It’s everything else in between that’s the real problem.

Dolly lost a fortune and helped to all but kill the genre, yet this famed musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker is more fun than its rep indicates. [15 Nov 2005, p.8D]

A John Hughes movie is 15 minutes of material stretched into a 90-minute feature by a rec-room rack from the Karloff estate; the only question is whether the 15 have their comic compensations. Uncle Buck has a few, though they're typically compromised by the cut-and-paste nature of the rest. [16 Aug 1989, p.4D]

Disappoints with its lack of character development and convoluted storytelling.

To its credit, the film isn't foolhardy enough to challenge the unbeatable Errol Flynn version on its own star-power turf. Gritty in most ways, broadly comic in some, and with a dose of the morbidly supernatural, this is a knowing variation at odds with quaint vintage-Hollywood reverence. [14 June 1991, p.1D]

Has all the requisite rampaging dinos, dizzying action scenes and, sure, a few flesh-and-blood heroes running around saving the day. But there’s just not enough underneath that well-trod surface — an intriguing ethical conundrum bears heady fruit at times, yet is just as quickly shelved in favor of roaring lava or unleashed reptiles.

John Singleton's bizarre but viewable Boyz N the Hood follow-up is surprisingly gooey going. [23 Jul 1993]

Because snowboarding is younger than skateboarding and surfing, Descent lacks the poignancy of past surfer/skateboarder portraits that have shown participants reaching middle age.

It’s a bizarrely off-kilter affair that’s forcibly heartfelt and sentimental in one scene and overly mean-spirited in the next, and not even a few choice moments and some enjoyable surrounding weirdos can help two A-listers in way over their heads.

For the first time in years (even counting his excellent work in “Internal Affairs”), Richard Gere's acting gears aren't too obviously apparent; Julia Roberts, though the breadth of her emotional range remains in question, is beautiful and can act - a not-bad blueprint for continued employment. [23 Mar 1990, Life, p.4D]

Capably made and certainly impresses by carrying its length, but it doesn't expand 60 years of World War II screen literature by very much.

Inspired and inspiring, this documentary about 7- and 8-year-olds competing for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship is too fawning to be consistently gifted, but it manages to be occasionally, perhaps accidentally, profound.

Characters only exist as empty archetypal vessels and some of the wackier elements are laughably campy, but Refn’s sumptuous visuals and disco-synth score help give Neon Demon undeniably sinister style.

Contraband has a few moments of tension, but it adheres to a predictable heist formula hardly worth trafficking in.

Brothers never catches fire the way Gilliam's "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" did. And you almost feel during subpar special effects that sweaty stagehands are pushing the trees around.

Enlivened by a strong cast, Cesar Chavez is a straightforward and inspiring account of a noble man.

As underwater adventure, Leviathan is so much like already forgotten DeepStar Six that they are crusted with the same brine. By the time they come to almost identical conclusions, you'll wish both were swimming with the fishies. [17 Mar 1989, p.4D]

More like a serving of lukewarm treacle than savory tikka masala.

I hated the original, but like this easygoing sequel. And unlike Home Alone, the filmmakers don't have to wreck real estate to earn some holiday- movie smiles. [21 Nov 1990, p.2D]

The story teeters on the edge of soap opera and emotional manipulation, but director Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer) pulls back in the nick of time. What results is an involving and often poignant examination of love and loss.

Slight and only sporadically amusing.

It's easier to take Hi-Heel Sneakers by Tommy Tucker- more seriously. [20 Dec 1991]

More a matter of chemistry than deadlines.

Ryder's commitment is impressive. If her movie only had her courage.

With admirable techno-savvy, the film upgrades the paranoia-propelled thriller and downloads it into the '90s. Reminiscent of a slew of films, including The Pelican Brief and The Fugitive, The Net - ploddingly directed by Irwin Winkler - is frustratingly average in almost every other respect, however. [28 July 1995, p.5D]

Glorious picture-postcard photography. [10 July 1998, p.8E]

RZA's directorial debut is heavy on bloody kung fu action...and light on just about everything else.

Vivid visuals are the key to this handsome and moderately entertaining adventure. And the tone is more fairy-tale appropriate than video-game friendly, though the effects-laden swashbuckling sometimes obscures efforts at light whimsy.

The only death at this funeral was that of a good movie.

An authentic-looking Jeff Bridges goes for the grit in an incoherently arty rendering (full of fuzzy-focus black-and-white flashbacks) filmed by action veteran Walter Hill. [01 Dec 1995, p.13D]

The actress may get an Oscar nomination for the wrong movie -- "Moulin Rouge" over "The Others" -- but it would be a double misfortune for audiences to overlook a performance that boosts its movie from moderate to memorable.

A tasty bonbon, initially appealing but not terribly satisfying.

Mulroney is a drip with not a milliliter of chemistry with either woman. Roberts doesn't really seem to care about him so much as the fact that life is passing her by. Though, that may be the point.

Until its dopey coda, the film never all-out stumbles, but always exudes Pakula's trademark chilliness. [17 Dec 1993 Pg. 01.D]

The good-natured silliness is contagious. When Streep runs singing through a Greek village, it's like a spirited homage to "The Sound of Music."

Even though Think Like a Man espouses something akin to the philosophy in Beyoncé's Single Ladies(Put a Ring on It), it makes manipulation more fun than it ought to be.

Thank the wizardry of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, well-choreographed martial-arts fights and sharp direction by video whiz Steve Barron (he did Michael Jackson's Billie Jean) for keeping these comic-book heroes from going amok like Howard the Duck. [30 Mar 1990, p.1D]

In its focus on an ordinary family facing a nightmarish scenario, Snitch is a terrifying but relatable story.

What starts as a bright and bouncy time-waster that at least borrows from the best of its genre-defining ilk -- "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "Clueless", "Carrie", "The Breakfast Club" -- eventually stumbles into sappy message-movie territory. [29 Jan 1999, p. 09E]

Despite corny one-liners and plot developments that don't always hold water, Aquamarine rises above the flotsam filling theaters this time of year with a likable tale of friendship and charming performances.

By the end of the movie, all we want is for Barrymore to give him the time of day.

It's a maudlin, superficial exercise in obsession masquerading as a heartfelt romance and study of grief, and character development is sorely lacking.

A sweet, inspirational movie that doesn't offer any surprises, but entertains youthful audiences in a gentle, almost old-fashioned way.

There's, say, a 20-minute stretch where this slapstick works; there's also a subplot about N!Xau's lost children (cute, but shruggable), and a real pace-killer involving two rival soldiers. Uys' shots often fail to match, and the monotonic narration really grates; it drones on like a junior high science film on plant blight. [16 Apr 1990, p.9D]

To cut Noe a break, it does become evident that he has a viable narrative concept. Told backward, á la "Memento."

Somehow Statham comes out of this improbable thriller with his dignity intact.

The kind of well-acted, genuine heartwarmer that some people complain Hollywood doesn't bother making anymore. And in this case, Hollywood didn't.

His (Myers) affection for the era and its gaudy, bawdy movies inject this bit of fluff with giddy energy.

This is one Road whose gold apparently got paved over.

This film highlights some of the best, and raunchiest, of his humor.

Never reaches much beyond the surface, and what lies there is all too predictable.

Broderick has the film's most clever lines, but Snow is quite funny and is convincing as an innocent lured by the promise of easy money.

A visually sumptuous effort with wondrous sights, though its character development falls short of those same heights.

At times it feels like a good thing but way too often reminds you that you’re trapped for an hour and a half.

The jokes often are corny or labored, and the story is predictable. However, Atkinson raises the movie to the level of good fun by the force of his outrageous persona and skill at physical comedy.

Vaughn could have used an editor, but Wild West still is a romp with a likable bunch.

Savage Grace is a thoroughly disturbing story, told in a detached style rendering the overall experience an unsettling blend of lurid and vacuous.

Creation is a superbly creative exercise for its star, Paul Bettany, who plays Charles Darwin. But it's a subdued and meandering portrait of the conflicts underlying the development of the theory of evolution.