Although there are insightful moments and surreal bits that pop, it’s overall a bizarre – and at nearly three hours, bloated – film that attempts to honor its subject and instead lets her down.

There's nothing very rockin' about seeing Gene Hackman give a rare indifferent performance as a Navy admiral trying to effect a rescue for which his hands are tied.

Dull and unpleasant.

Kapur's stodgy style halts the momentum of young actors who have impressed in other movies.

The beauty here is in the set-up, which offers Hugh Grant a role to match his star-making turn in "Four Weddings and a Funeral."

Though he's highly irresponsible, this Alfie is not quite a calculating heel, which makes the material go down easier while blunting the point.

Easygoing and easy to take, the movie isn't much.

Farrell is quite good, though it's hard to buy the Scottish McGregor and the Irish Farrell as brothers. But mostly, the film feels rudderless, almost as if it's been directed on autopilot.

Action fans -- particularly devotees of brainless '80s shoot-em-ups -- may find enough to like here, particularly the preposterous mayhem of the third act.

Engrosses if it doesn't fully convince. [18 October 1996, p.1D]

A succession of tired race jokes made worse by the bad comedic timing of the bland, under-talented Ashton Kutcher.

Sex Drive does not fully satisfy our comic desires.

A worthy, if flawed, piece of entertainment.

This twisted romance possesses the soul and edgy atmosphere of an independent film but not quite the conviction.

Director Frank Sinatra (on screen, he's a medic) was probably going for Kurosawa-like profundity here. Unfortunately, the other actors include Clint Walker and Tommy Sands. [05 Apr 1991, p.3D]

Though the blending of archival footage into a faux documentary is occasionally clever, ultimately it's banal and unconvincing.

Starts off promisingly, then grows as lifeless as a poker face.

The old seems old - but the result isn't unpleasant, and moviegoers just might go for it. [22 May 1992]

Some of James Wong Howe's photography is lovely, compensating for the rear-projected fish. [12 Jul 1996]

Artful it's not. But it's awfully affable. [26 March 1999, Life, p.9E]

Soderbergh's homage to film noir and wartime thrillers, is technically stunning but narratively and thematically hollow.

The movie is an undeniable visual spectacle, but just as unequivocally a cheesy, ridiculous story.

Great Balls of Fire! doesn't shake your nerves or rattle your brain; at times, though, it gets on your nerves. Even so, it's a just-tolerable junk-food chronicle of the brief era when Jerry Lee Lewis threatened to heist Elvis' ''King'' crown. [30 June 1989, p.5D]

If you drop the "c" in hockey you get a perfect description of Mystery, Alaska.

Essentially a one-gag film.

By any reckoning, director Paul McGuigan and writer Mark Mills seem mighty ground down trying to buck these medieval odds.

It's misleading to call this a documentary — fan fodder is more like it.

For those in the audience, it's best to just sit back, drink in its virtual dazzle and not ask questions. The story is beside the point in this sleek-looking reboot. It's all about the whiz-bang special effects and the return of Jeff Bridges - always the coolest guy in any space, cyber or otherwise.

Those who teach public speaking sometimes advocate telling your audience what you're going to tell them, then actually telling them, then telling them what you've told them. Sidewalks reproves this isn't a wise path for movies.

Edited like the world's most expensive car ad. The screen opens and closes like a nervous accordion, and the action shifts speeds like crazy.

Moviegoers accustomed to Hollywood action probably won't find this contemplative adventure so appealing.

Part horror film, part space thriller and all gore-fest, the movie ends up being a lot like its protagonist: a mess of a monster that stretches itself too thin to scare much.

The Fifth Estate doesn't seem to be presenting the full story. Instead, it's a fairly dull thriller about a hugely influential Internet phenomenon.

What once was spontaneous and clever now has the stench (in Conehead-speak) of rotten chicken embryos. [23 July 1993, p.5D]

An immature obsession with sex at 17 seems understandable. But at 30 it's getting cringe-inducing.

Director Clark Johnson has an energetic style of filmmaking and a facile way with stunts and chase sequences. The result is a fairly stylish action thriller. We've seen plenty of suspense films in which a seemingly good guy is framed, so it helps when a director can pull off a few cinematic tricks to keep audiences on their toes.

If nothing else, though, the stylish and slick thriller brings sass to the secret-agent genre, and there are worse things than watching an evil Chris Evans try to murder Ryan Gosling for two hours.

If you're not a stickler for consistency, this is an effective pastiche and tribute to one of the world's most enticing cities.

The movie's soap opera quality undermines its efforts to tell a family saga with much believability.

Wright gives the title character a complexity and emotional shading often missing in this kind of ensemble comedy/drama. Pippa has the feel of a heroine in literature, rather than on the big screen.

Violent thrills and massive blood spills are the essence of the absurdly over-the-top action flick that is Shoot 'Em Up.

In action-thrillers, the destination counts less than the trip, and with Seagal you're guaranteed a breakneck ride. [08 Oct 1990, p.4D]

It tries to be a moody thriller, but cliched dialogue and too many coincidences make for a predictable and hackneyed film.

Gives new meaning to the phrase "not for the squeamish."

No new ground is dug up in Good Boy, but the story is well-paced, sweet and lively, filling a void for very young filmgoers.

Falls flat, enlivened only by the performances of its two charismatic lead dogs. The story is heavy-handed, and the human performances are, at their worst, caricatured.

At least the horror premise here has a hook - a house can spread its curse like a plague to adversely affect all who enter.

The predictable story feels as if it were written by a computer program labeled "sequel."

A soulless spectacle.

As it turns out, “Bohemian Rhapsody” the song is a sonic masterpiece and Bohemian Rhapsody the movie is just a conventional rock flick, one all too ordinary for a man and a band that exemplified the extraordinary.

Much of the action in Ice Age: Continental Drift takes place on an iceberg fashioned into a seagoing vessel. No one seems to be piloting the boat, which is an apt metaphor for the film.

The director is Rowdy Herrington , whose penchant for the silly in Patrick Swayze's Road House will serve as able cross-reference. Among the capable actors wasted are Dennehy, Robert Loggia, Ossie Davis and Cuba Gooding Jr. from Boyz N the Hood. Soft-spoken Heard is supposedly an ace traveling salesman, but won't be doing Music Man revivals soon. [6 March 1992, p.4D]

Might have been more appropriately titled "Hodgepodge." What starts out with a sense of quirky fun loses direction and devolves into a mishmash of story lines.

Antichrist is probably the most disturbing, bleak and self-indulgent film ever made.

Given its premise and title, you’d expect a zippy movie with some momentum, yet too many flashbacks and a surprising amount of chattiness in the overlong film slows everything down – at least until a crazy albeit satisfying finale where Leitch pretty much cuts the brakes and lets chaos take the wheel.

Preposterous yet solidly entertaining.

While the entire premise of Sleuth is a gimmick, having Michael Caine and Jude Law remake the 1972 adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play heightens the gimmick quotient.

Although entertaining throughout, it suffers from a certain lack of focus – bouncing from screwball humor to war-movie gravitas – before settling into a buoyant conspiracy thriller with real-life historical relevance and a satisfying exploration of friendship and kindness.

Inventing the Abbotts would be a lot more fun were it a trashy Troy Donahue-Diane McBain vehicle ground out by Warner Bros. in 1960, the year this hormonally motivated high school-college romance mercifully concludes. [4 April 1997, p. 4D]

Instead of Hitchcockian flair, there's Silver-ian excess: Women treated like meat, maimings in close-up, plot craters. [07 Oct 1991, p.4D]

The movie has more charm when it's earthbound. Cusack and Green's mother-son repartee has sharp comic timing. Once the story veers off to space, it goes downhill.

Director Dominic Sena appears more enamored of peeping-Tom camerawork than plot logic. [03 Sep 1993]

There's no real dazzle in Bedazzled.

As far-fetched as it sometimes seems, the film resonates in the wake of the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

A thoughtful film about ideas — creativity, the power of language and the eloquence of visuals — it features two impeccable performances full of vitality.

Too langorously European for slasher fans, and too dopey for others, Vanishing 2 may fall between the cracks. See it to savor Bridges playing a heavy. [05 Feb 1993, p.5D]

Director Richard Rush, who later made the classic The Stunt Man, overindulges the arty bike footage. But this is certainly an artifact of an age, photographed by Leslie (later Laszlo) Kovacs, who became one of Hollywood's best cinematographers. [02 Jan 2004, p.4E]

James Franco is a gorgeous, smoldering lover in Tristan & Isolde, but you can't help being reminded of Ben Stiller's "Zoolander" character.

Bogdanovich, again adapting Larry McMurtry, can't find the tone to replace Show's wistful nostalgia; given our lack of nostalgia for 1984's Texas-oil bust, he opts for gallows-humor that's beyond him. [28 Sep 1990, p.9D]

Flies II improves as it progresses, especially in the surreal, fireswept climax. But overall, it seems like an afterthought. [16 Mar 1990, p.4D]

Veggie Tales is a faith-based franchise that uses a blend of a religious/moral message and humor to teach about honesty and forgiveness. But Pirates lacks the humor of the videos and "A Veggie Tales Movie."

The movie, full of wan gags and tedious situations, is directed blandly by Rock.

Move along, there's nothing to see and no one to root for in this murky franchise reboot.

Don't blame an aptly chosen cast headed by cute newcomer Mason Gamble, but this film isn't for viewers old enough to fantasize about chaining Barney the dinosaur to a freeway U-Haul. Its mental-age cutoff point is maybe Pampers-plus-5; grown-ups are cautioned to bring along alternate entertainment - even a Walkman tape of old Dennis Day ballads. [25 June 1993, p.2D]

Large budget notwithstanding, the movie is such a blip on the year's radar screen that it's tempting just to go with it for the ride. But this time, the old MIB label stands for Milder Isn't Better.

Just going through the motions here (and mild ones at that), both Chan and the movie should have stayed at home.

Martin, Keaton and cinematographer William A. Fraker put this retro fluff over better than expected early on, but hour 2 is only for those who don't want their equilibriums rattled by surprises. [8 Dec 1995, p.1D]

We never get the scenes we really want to see, like the teacher-initiated slander trial or their snotty accuser's comeuppance. Instead, we get too many strained conversations. [21 Dec 1990, p.3D]

The Black Dahlia captivates with its dark style. But as with the particulars of the yet-unsolved case, the movie is frustratingly convoluted. What it accomplishes with its stunning cinematography and set design is undercut by a lack of coherence.

By the time the prey turns hunter, however, the tale becomes overly predictable. And it never taps Kingsley's potential as a ruthless father figure to the beauteous, almost-sympathetic creature. Still, Species is a kick to the finish, groaner ending and all. If anyone could make E.T. forget all about phoning home, it's Sil. [07 July 1995, p.12D]

Poignant and well-acted, it offers heartfelt moments leavened by subtle humor.

“Killing” clumsily flits between wry humor and serious drama for much of the runtime before finally finding its satirical bite.

A year ago next week, Debra Messing's "The Wedding Date" arrived DOA. And now this. In terms of movies that matter, it looks as if the wedding-funeral motif will continue.

Sometimes the most compelling real-life stories make better documentaries than dramas. Such would seem to be the case with The Children of Huang Shi.

Though better than most of Perry's broad comedies, The Family That Preys still suffers from excessive predictability and mawkish sentiment, which detracts from the story's believability.

It's not dumb-good. It's dumb-stupid.

With only momentary grandmaster flashes of brainless fun, too much of CB4 belongs in the hip-hopper. [12 Mar 1993, p.8D]

We'd all like to live in an Italian movie. So says a character in Nine, and it's probably the best line in this musical misfire.

30 Minutes or Less is "Pineapple Express" gone sour.

The material doesn't consistently do justice to their talents, but the movie is worth seeing for their chemistry and for the Motown-infused soundtrack.

Sharon Stone rides into a Western dust hole bent on revenge. Gene Hackman, virtually reprising his Unforgiven heavy, gives this goofy genre-bender some authenticity. [17 Feb 1995, p.4D]

As impressive as Kevin Spacey ordinarily is, this isn't the best vehicle for his considerable talents.

Though the plot ends up taking some potentially compelling twists, its telling always feels manipulative.

It does survive its 40-minute test drive before turning into a lemon.

It's the kind of material that is either going to make your day or not.

Brisk, brutal and unconcerned with collateral damage, The Mechanic doesn't pave much of anything new in the assassin-for-hire genre. But when it kills, it does so with style.

The corny love story is all the more disappointing given the pedigree of the octogenarian actors.

While McConaughey does his part, there’s just not enough treasure here in Gold to dig.