Half a howler but not nearly funny enough.

A comedy without much zing but with an occasional zing-er that enables the film to pick up . . . well, if not nine yards, maybe an inch or two on the gridiron.

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.

The movie's exploration of obsession and a sliding scale of what’s right vs. what’s wrong is among the aspects that Little Things does well. And there’s always some positive with Washington in a thriller like this.

The movie throws in a little murder mystery and an alien-invasion angle with its coming-of-age themes, features a host of up-and-coming stars (including Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp), and rockets to some interesting places when it comes to science and what makes us us. What undermines all that, however, is when the film shifts into being an intergalactic Lord of the Flies as the kids turn on each other and go tribal.

As in "Arachnophobia", director Frank Marshall can't decide whether he's making a thriller or a laff-it-up lark. [09 Jun 1995, Pg.03.D]

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.

Though Bond may never die, this time he's on life support. [19 Dec 1997, p.3D]

This overly sentimental, unduly earnest journey based on Richard McGuire's graphic novel is more gimmick than substance, one overflowing with moments and characters that proves ultimately unfulfilling.

Out of Time seems out of another time and place. Remember "Presumed Innocent?"

Though it's meant to be pulse-pounding, After Earth is a lethargic slog.

Though it's no fiasco -- there's nothing mythic about its disjointed story -- it is a failure.

For novelty value, you can do worse than seeing Sean Penn in a rare chance to don evening-wear on screen, but this isn't a sight to sustain a two-hour haul.

Almost by himself, Jackson transforms the film's final chapter into a serviceable view -- faint praise, perhaps, but a crumb to savor, given what has come before. [11 June 1999, Life, p. 6E]

Aniston's portrayal feels honest, but the film doesn't rise to the level of her performance.

Even if audiences can get by the tasteless shock title, it's tough to figure who will ever watch this movie - even when it's on cable.

Newell's rendering of the iconic novel is dull and creatively off-kilter, lacking the surreal magic and robust passion of Márquez's signature magical realism style and never fully engaging the viewer.

But even by the dull standards of movies so far this year, it seems mighty piffling.

While the attractive cast is willing, the translation into '90s teen culture is weak -- like a clueless adult's notion of cool.

Disappointing. [6 Mar 1991, Life, p.9D]

Fast & Furious 6 might have just as easily been called "Planes, Tanks and Automobiles."

The story isn't a grabber.

Philandering pilot Cliff Robertson overprotects sister Jane Fonda's virginity in a comedy as queasily dated as Ask Any Girl, Shirley MacLaine's 1959 office politics primer. It probably rates a few points for skewering the sexual double standard, and the era's New York locales are still as attractive as Mel Torme's title tune. [04 Oct 1996]

Some books are not meant to be adapted to the big screen. Alice Sebold's best-selling The Lovely Bones falls into that category.

The biggest mystery in this wannabe thriller is why such topnotch actors would sign on for such a dreary movie that amounts to a mediocre soap opera.

The First Wives Club has a femme casting coup for the ages, and sometimes it only takes the right performers interacting to give sprightly fluff indispensable showmanship. [20 Sep 1996 Pg.01.D]

Copycat, despite two tough-babe leads to kill for, flies in more directions than scattered kitty litter. [27 Oct 1995, pg.02D]

Only a few charming tidbits are nestled snugly in this over-stuffed Christmas stocking.