Numbers abound ('Round Midnight and Pannonica are just two), and the film addresses the mysterious psychological malady that shortened Monk's career. Has anyone ever been more fun to watch play than Monk? [26 Oct 1990, p.3D]

It’s a bigger, showier follow-up, from the A-list cast to the twistier twists, even if it doesn’t have the same witty punch as the original. The script is taut and surprising, though, and Daniel Craig's return as super-sleuth Benoit Blanc is a Southern-fried godsend.

Fascinating, visionary filmmaking. With its amber-tinged palette and its distinctively dystopian view of life, it may be the most unique-looking film we've seen in ages...[but] defies logic and makes frightening and unexpected leaps.

Director Joe Cornish grounded the alien-invasion genre with clever plotting and entertaining English youngsters with 2011's “Attack the Block” and does the same with epic fantasy with this clever “Kid.”

The soundtrack is mostly Elvis tunes, and Stitch even does an adorable impersonation of the King. As Elvis might put it, you can't help falling in love with Lilo & Stitch.

The satisfying adventure features side players from past projects like “Black Widow” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” coming into their own, plus skillfully juggles bleak darkness and inspired humor in a surprisingly moving exploration of mental health.

Given the story's focus on religion and the intolerance that still rages in today's world, The Merchant of Venice remains deeply meaningful.

The film is entertaining if contrived. It is not as cleverly structured as Roos' best ensemble comedy, "The Opposite of Sex," which also co-starred Kudrow. But it does have humorous moments.

Soderbergh does a fine job creating a moody atmosphere of pervasive anxiety. The ending can be interpreted a few different ways and should ignite debate about its meaning.

The story is told gently and simply without excess sentimentality. It is a welcome departure from more contrived holiday fare.

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]

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?

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.

But this telling of the story filmed on location in the now democratic South Africa is especially heart-rending thanks to superb performances by James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. [1 Jan 2000]

Rude, wrong and laugh-till-you-snort funny, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa not only stands as the best installment (by bounds) of Johnny Knoxville's hidden-camera franchise; it's one of the sharpest comedies of the year.

As funny and bitingly satirical as one would expect from his Key & Peele sketches.

Impassioned, informative and entertaining, if sometimes repetitive.

At just 82 minutes, the film's welcome doesn't have time to wear out; especially amusing is the use of '50s pop ballads and some droll elementary-school classroom scenes. Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt are as ''right'' as the indoor production design. [30 June 1989, p.3D]

A must-see for animation fans.

Does “Sleepless in Seattle” slathered in supernatural madness sound like a good time? Then dive into “The Gorge," a Whitman’s Sampler of film genres with a delightfully sweet center that belies its freaky packaging.

Uneven, amateurish and borderline misogynistic. But it's also very funny, and it never loses its cool.

There's more terror than entertainment here, though. I've seen a lot of movies in my life I couldn't wait to see end; this may be the first good one.

Mother and Child is as tangled as the emotions that link parents and children.

The film's most engaging character is not actually human: It's Manhattan, of course, a point made repeatedly over that protracted dinner by the voluble lovebirds.

It’s an irresistibly arresting “Beverly Hills Cop” that knows when to play the hits.

You have to love any movie in which Robert Mitchum sells trains in a toy store and Janet Leigh looks the greatest she ever did on screen this side of Jet Pilot. [19 Dec 2008, p.6E]

While it focuses more on character moments than absolute Bayhem, Bad Boys for Life does feel a bit long and there is a late out-of-nowhere plot twist that feels a little far-fetched even for these movies. Thankfully, neither detracts from the delightful spectacle that comes with Smith and Lawrence fist-bumping and insult-slinging just like it was 1995 again.

A well-crafted affair by debuting director Dan Trachtenberg that mixes elements of an intimate stage play with the white-knuckled tension of a cracking good Twilight Zone episode.