It says something that during a scene in which nude chorines are turned into a fleshy backdrop, you spend as much time looking at your watch as what's on screen.

The cartoonish mayhem in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For aims for a film noir sensibility, but too frequently the script simply resorts to anachronistic scenes of Jessica Alba twerking.

De Niro's widely praised performance is like the rest of the film: competent, a product of hard work and borderline mechanical. I like much of Awakenings, including several supporting performances - but like Big, it left me just a little cold. [20 Dec 1990, p.5D]

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.

An ambitious hodgepodge that is all bang and bluster.

Shepherd and O'Neal have six Peter Bogdanovich films between them- but criss-cross for the first time here under Emile Ardolino's (Dirty Dancing) comatose direction. They're pleasing (as are their co-leads) but don't quite deliver the salvage job a good cast performed on Mystic Pizza. [10 March 1989, p.5D]

Portentous and dull, the film features one of the worst over-the-top performances by Dennis Hopper, who plays an abusive father.

What was blandly charming on stage — characters addressing the audience, ultra-broad jokes and showbiz patter — feels contrived, cheesy and cliched onscreen.

The story is corny and predictable, but Carlyle's subtle, nuanced performance saves the movie from drowning in sentimentality.

Sports-satire misfire. [31 July 1998, p. 2E]

Victoria Tennant's iciness has been well-utilized on screen occasionally, but not this time. [8 Feb 1991, p.D4]

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

The movie shoots for the moon with an intriguing dual-role conceit but wildly misses the mark. Hackneyed dialogue, a thin and silly plot fumbling the ambition of the concept, and a mixed bag of visual effects all leave this one just for the Smith completists.

By its conclusion the story has worked so hard to be twisting and clever that it runs out of steam and becomes outlandish, marked by a surplus of violence — too often casual and gratuitous — for what essentially is a buddy cop movie.

It's an odd blend - a sentimental story in a futuristic world of brutal machine-maneuvered fights. There are some ringside thrills, but it's not a seamless mesh.

The movie feels more like a slightly longer episode of Disney's old "Winnie the Pooh" television series.

No abomination but forgettably mediocre. [19 March 1999, Life, p. 13E]

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

There's evidence of his talent in some lyrical flying scenes, but the movie is so addled you'd think it was conceived by Michael J. Pollard, who shares a one-on-one scene with Lewis here (the mind boggles). [24 March 1995, p.3D]

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

Legend of the Sword’s overemphasis on the supernatural and the visually spectacular mortally wounds an often-rollicking adventure.

It's still the same sick story. Even the small touches seem stale.

In this second round of so-so kung-foolery, three brothers once again strain credibility and make sushi out of new foes. [06 May 1994, p.5D]

One-dimensional characters play second fiddle to the main event. Given the large cast of faceless players, it's hard to care when a few get sucked into oblivion.

Rather than being clever like the original movie, a horror-tinged sci-fi satire/parental cautionary tale, sequel "M3GAN 2.0" is the type of combo goofy comedy/undercooked action flick that would earn an epic sick burn from M3GAN herself.

The huge contingent of girls -- and women with girlish fantasies -- who liked the first two movies will doubtless enjoy Eclipse. But this third go-round won't make Twihard converts of the rest of us.

The "nonsequel" that regathers the inspired loonies who scaled the heights of giddy anarchy in 1988's "A Fish Called Wanda," is a different comic species. [24 January 1997, p. 3D]

Though occasionally visually inventive, Kung Fu Panda is a disappointment when it comes to matters of simple black and white: the script.