Jojo Moyes adapted her own best-selling book, which helps give Me Before You a singular inviting vibe instead of feeling like "The Fault in Our Stars 2."

Overflows with pretensions and absurdity.

It’s an all-star swing that doesn’t totally connect, and is not even the most interesting variation on a theme here. Fortunately, the movie’s fresh-faced protagonist is likable enough to forgive its bumps and bruises.

It's gratifying to see a comedy can have no redeeming social value yet be full of hearty laughs.

Ben Affleck brings needed nuance to old-fashioned brains and brawn as an action hero with high-functioning autism in The Accountant.

While not quite as subversive and refreshing as the first “Trolls,” “World Tour” offers endless cuteness, an impressive voice cast and just enough depth for grownups and children alike to chew on.

Often ponderous, sometimes pretentious and mostly clichéd, this contrived meditation on longing and loss feels like a missed opportunity.

White Bird in a Blizzard is blank, pale and flat when it needs to be probing and suspenseful.

Let the killjoys squawk. Lucas has proved he has the Naboos to pull it off again. And again. And again.

A kernel of cleverness lurks in Popcorn. But it's the kind that sticks in your throat. [01 Feb 1991, p.5D]

Alice Braga plays an Army sniper uniquely familiar with jungle fighting. She is the only one of the crew who does any soul-searching to figure out why this particular group was chosen as prey.

Between the dogged efforts of the kids to save strays and the antics of the dogs, it's hard to resist this lively, though predictable, family movie.

Even within the most formulaic of genres, this Cinderella tale is uncommonly predictable.

The documentary is enjoyable, though it could have been edited more tightly. The ending, in which three of the contest participants write and perform a catchy pop song, is buoyantly fun.

There isn't any kind of dance you can compare to Robert Duvall's latest as an actor/director, though a slo-mo minuet might come close.

Most Ender's fans, of course, won't care about comparisons and consider the film adaptation a long-awaited victory in itself. Those fresh to the tale — or at least expecting something fresh from it — may wonder what the fuss was about.

An instant merit barometer of any farce this contrived is the creativity in and conviction of the exposition. It takes an empty half-hour just to get Goldberg into the convent, and even then the payoff is mild. [29 May 1992, p.5D]

The Expendables 2 is corny, barbaric and sometimes visually murky. But humor and self-deprecating macho charm make this male pattern badness crowd-pleasing fun.

As spent screen series go, Star Trek: Nemesis is even more suggestive of a 65th class reunion mixer where only eight surviving members show up -- and there's nothing to drink.

Birth presents an intriguing premise about death and the possibility of rebirth in an elegant, melancholy and deliberate fashion.

The action starts with a bang, but deteriorates and grows more absurd as the story strays farther from the LAPD call center.

As it is, this uneven movie is more a compilation of contemporary images and concerns peppered with derivative raucous scenarios, à la Judd Apatow movies, than an involving romantic comedy.

Leave it to a wimpy kid to show Hollywood how to make a family movie with live people in it.

This unconventional psychological drama weaves a fascinating tale, and Collette and Williams give two of the summer's best performances.

Lovelace is a lackluster, skin-deep biopic.

The events of those days would have been better covered in greater depth in a miniseries, rather than a 90-minute movie.

Though the project, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel "A Princess of Mars," is ambitious, it's also bloated, dreary and humorless.

Taken does have a few things going for it. At the top of that short list is Liam Neeson in the starring role.

Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva are terrific. But the performances by the older actors are largely forgettable.

America loves dysfunctional families, but haven't we seen enough middle-aged losers who haven't grown up?

Ifans is convincingly world-weary as the earl who prefers writing sonnets to the pageantry of court life. Anonymous aims to be epic but is closer to stately soap opera.

Despite a terrific cast, Jack Reacher comes up empty-handed.

Though there are scenes in Always (both intimate and spectacular) I love, the film does seem a bit asking-for-it-weightless following an Indiana Jones sequel. Yet if, as I suspect, many reviewers elect to carve up Always, the film will pick up its devotees - now or down the road. [22 Dec. 1989, p.1D]

It's a run-of-the-mill cop thriller but also a gripping family drama. It is in the moments spent untangling the threads of troubled relationships that the movie is at its best.

The Sting-like ending with its crosses and double-crosses could have been better handled, but there are plenty of other payoffs in Hoodlum. [27Aug1995 Pg02.D]

Cadillac Man has a shabby transmission, but a decent wax job - or maybe it's the other way around. In any event, it's a vaguely amiss near-miss, despite the inspired teaming of Robin Williams and Tim Robbins. [18 May 1990, p.4D]

True Story is an intrinsically fascinating and occasionally riveting tale marred by unnecessary embellishments.

While the third chapter is certainly entertaining — and quite explosive — it has definitely lost some steam.

For a computer-animated movie about dancing penguins, it's surprisingly leaden. Not even the impressive voice talent can rev up this clumsy spectacle.

Crowe's performance is the best thing about the ambitious historical drama, which takes some artistic liberties.

Even by today's horror standards, Destination has some ghastly scenes. After seeing them, parents may want to reconsider letting their daughters try gymnastics or laser eye surgery.

Directed by Nia DaCosta (“Candyman”), Marvels throws a ton of plot at viewers that too often falls back to Marvel-y familiarity – world-saving stakes, villain with a light-up doodad – yet enjoyably soars when it centers on its core trio and dares to go gonzo.

The few genuinely comic moments and deviations from cutesy rom-com formula make you wish No Strings Attached had traveled a more distinctively offbeat path.

The surprisingly entertaining Young Guns isn't really so young. The cast is uniformly convincing, especially Estevez as a deranged Billy the Kid and Kiefer Sutherland, playing against type as the gang's calm center. [12 Aug 1988, p.7D]

Not only an intelligent, well-told and deftly acted story, it provides refreshing counter-programming in a season filled with noisy, uninspired sequels and mindless action movies.

A spotty comedy with a great cast and a catchy title that falls apart in the final third.

Kimberly Elise gives the best performance as a beleaguered woman with an abusive boyfriend (Michael Ealy).

Director Stephen Herek does an admirable balancing job, though the movie slows whenever the animals solo onscreen. [27 Nov 1996 Pg.01.D]

This fun-loving genre-bender, inspired by "Smokey and the Bandit," opens languidly, then picks up the pace. Even in the midst of cars racing, it's funny and endearing.

The whole journey feels like a rich girl gone slumming. And for those of us along for the ride, it's a bit of a slog.

There's one reason to see Tim Burton's flawed, somewhat declawed but often amusing do-over of Planet of the Apes. The apes. What else?

It's fast, easy on the eyes, full of funny putdowns and cast well enough to have two memorable villains.

Wow, dudes. Pu-trid. (1989 February 20, p.4D)

Couldn't be murkier or less emotionally involving if it were "The Matrix 8," a natural observation because Keanu Reeves stars in both.

Edwards has a penchant for large spectacle movies with a big budget and a bigger message (see: “Godzilla,” “Rogue One”), and while this “Rebirth” isn’t exactly a thinking man’s “Jurassic,” there's enough B-movie craziness to keep it enjoyable.

The Hunt is definitely controversial, but it’s an equal-opportunity offender that forgoes partisanship to poke bloody, gory fun at everybody.

The romance, which commences rather gradually, is tender, but not graphic. Humor is interspersed throughout, but there also is sadness, handled seriously. Actually, it is as much a family saga as it is a romantic comedy.

The best thing Life After Beth has going for it is what star Aubrey Plaza calls its "zom-com-rom-dram" premise. And the clever wordplay of its title.

For those seeking an alternative to giant robots and flying wizards, there's an amusing Australian comedy that might be just the right panacea for blockbuster overload.

Once fresh, the story is now buried under a hoary coating.

The better-than-expected revamp strips away some of the forgettable matter – no charming princes here! Most importantly, "White" gives an inspired Rachel Zegler a different character arc and a smattering of original songs to let Snow strut as the fairest of them all.

The pace is fast, many of the performers are attractive, and even the end-credits montage is zippier than usual.

Worth stumbling into on cable not all that far into next year.

Director George Cosmatos brings nothing new to this Wyatt Earp saga except leftover bullets from previous films Cobra and Rambo: First Blood Part II. [23 Dec 1993, p.5D]

Thanks to a disproportionately superior second hour, Fat Man and Little Boy improves on its historically valid, but commercially suicidal, title. It is not, however, even the screen's second best chronicle of atomic bomb development in wartime Los Alamos, N.M. [20 Oct 1989, p.4D]

Though Walt Disney's Peter Pan once implored us never to smile at a crocodile, the Irwins' own home movie is worth a couple of chuckles. Shivers, too.

Tells an increasingly outlandish story with very funny (and often gross) moments. But about an hour in, it grows derivative and disappointing.

Passenger 57 already has been labeled Die Hard on a plane. Die Lite is more like it. [06 Nov 1992, p.2D]

Here's a by-the-playbook movie if ever there was one.

Audiences deserve a resounding "mea culpa" for the embarrassing dreck, masquerading as comedy, in The Guilt Trip.

Despite overlength, this acceptable outing has its moments, most of them in the second half. [17 Nov 1989]

A lot Bourne and a little bong, the action comedy...is too earnest to be a stoner movie and too quirky to be an action flick. Therein lies the beauty of director Nima Nourizadeh’s Ultra: It exists to entertain in its own oddball universe, munchies optional.

McConaughey will never be an actor who lets you into his soul, but he's credible as a good ole boy.

While those parents who grew up with Indy and Romancing the Stone might have seen a lot of this stuff before, it’s right in the wheelhouse for movie-loving youngsters not quite ready to watch Nazis’ faces melt in "Raiders." For those kiddos, Johnson’s big lug and Blunt’s eager explorer offer an enjoyable welcome to the “Jungle.”

It's a sweetly strange yet uneven comedy, with a charming lead performance by Steve Zahn offset by a lackluster one from Jennifer Aniston.

This year's warm and fuzzy Christmas movie. It's a generally winning diversion, thanks mostly to its likeable ensemble cast.

The result is two or three cuts above genre standard.

The pirate ship has hit foul waters, and even the sharp wit and charm of everyone's favorite buccaneer can't save it.

A timely story, given the political upheaval in Iran, it is emotionally explosive. It also is profoundly compelling.

Though sometimes boldly captivating, the movie is also occasionally pretentious and lurid simply for shock value.

"It's a mess" is the campaign slogan of Marty Huggins, played by Galifianakis. He's referring to the state of government. But he might as well be describing the movie in which he co-stars.

One doesn't put Roberts and Clooney together on screen without conjuring at least a little magic. But dusting off an old copy of her "America's Sweethearts" or his "One Fine Day" is more likely to scratch that rom-com itch.

Like it or not (it's hard to dislike), it's less a movie than a concept searching for one. [9 Dec 1988, p.6D]

It's a chick flick with a likable premise.

This frenzied fiesta of firepower is about cloning people for spare parts, but the movie is a clone itself. Possessing no new ideas, it reworks and borrows from such films as "Blade Runner," "The Matrix" and "Logan's Run."

Lottery Ticket is no prize.

Blast feels positively timely if not downright positive about the human race's ability to endure. Forget radiation. Fraser and folks actually survive three decades-plus of Perry Como music. [12 February 1999, Life, p.8E]

My Super Ex-Girlfriend manages to do what the recent crop of crime fighters haven't: show us how much fun it might be to fly, or have super strength, or look buff in spandex.

Step Up 2 is one long, clichéd exercise in predictability with a couple of vibrant dance sequences and some unintentionally hilarious bad acting.

Only two-thirds of this unlikely trio comes close to capturing the complexity of anguish and pain.

There's nothing super about the movie, aside from a loopiness that affords it a certain guilty-pleasure cachet.

The visual effects are lovely to behold, and the songs by Bonnie Raitt, Tim McGraw and k.d. lang are fairly catchy.

Poseidon is a sodden saga, with a script that is awash in clichés. It nearly drowns under the weight of its own soggy tedium.

It's mostly smoke and mirrors. After Freeman's snooze became a YouTube fixture, the actor jokingly dismissed the nap, saying he was using "Google eyelids" to check his Facebook account. You may find yourself attempting the same feat, because Now has little up its sleeve.

Director Hugh Wilson and co-writer Peter Torokvei allow this Driving Miss Daisy with attitude to fully steep, like a cup of fine tea spiked with lemon. [11Mar1994 Pg. 01.D]

Can't quite figure out what it wants to be. At times it strains to be a stately period drama about 16th-century political intrigue. Then it devolves into soap opera muck and emerges as a rather tame bodice ripper.

It's not the grand scale action-adventure it aspires to be, but this faux epic does offer family-friendly entertainment.

Directed with care by Leon Ichaso and written by New Jack's Barry Michael Cooper, snazzy-looking Hill also covers familiar terrain. [25 Feb 1994, p.4D]