It isn't the Bates Motel, but the Pinewood Motel has enough creepy visitors and creaky floors to make Vacancy worth checking into for 90 minutes.

One wishes producer Spike Lee had stepped in to give the dialogue some sass.

Despite many uproarious bits, it also must be called disappointing - but I'm still obliged to, uh, treat it tender. [28 Aug 1992, p.5D]

Mike Nichols may never direct another ground-breaking movie, but even with bit performers he is still Mike Midas. Leads and lesser players alike have pointed things to say in this solid, not great, entertainment; if you think this is a movie for you - it probably is. [12 Sep 1990, p.1D]

Sherlock Holmes has been reimagined with fighting skills as potent as his intellectual acumen.

The new “Girls” sticks to the script plotwise, to a slavish degree. Even Fey and Tim Meadows playing their old teacher roles seems forced and uninspired. It’s only when the movie remembers it’s a musical that it refreshingly breaks from the norm.

Zhao understands the larger assignment, as the epic sets the stage for future MCU intrigue. Her attention to detail and eye for design does wonders, even if by the end it all feels like an eternal chore.

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

It's amusing, but also rather silly - offering still more evidence that Wenders seems to have seen a few hundred Hollywood genre pics too many. [30 Dec 1993, p.4D]

Randal Kleiser (Grease) might not be everyone's first choice as director. But with the majesty of the Klondike landscape and a script packed with action, it would be hard to mess this up. [22 Jan 1991, p.5D]

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

Focus never quite comes into clear view. It's a muddled and twisting romantic caper that at times feels like Steven Soderbergh lite.

Some of the players are endearingly goofy in this good-natured comedy, particularly Rudd and Theroux. But Wanderlust trundles along unevenly, never reaching the cleverly raucous state it seeks.

Has strong performances and stirring football scenes.

What emerges is part screwball comedy, absurdist farce, social satire and earnest self-exploration. If it had the unwavering focus and clear-eyed vision of Russell's previous two features, I Heart Huckabees might have been brilliant.

The film grows on you, but more substance and less calculated quirks would have been a royal treat.

Well-acted, intermittently compelling, often incoherent but always offbeat, Inherent Vice is a twisting story about twisted California stoners. Think of it as a film that's meant to be experienced, more than fully understood.

Employing Navy troops as stars is a clever idea for an action thriller. But the soldiers' awkward line readings are glaring enough to distract from the potency of the story.

Cheesy, campy B-movie fun, thanks mostly to the cadre of cobras and their ilk and also to Jackson (probably the only actor alive who could pull off this save-the-day bad ass movie role).

Creation is a superbly creative exercise for its star, Paul Bettany, who plays Charles Darwin. But it's a subdued and meandering portrait of the conflicts underlying the development of the theory of evolution.

Visually impressive but woefully dumbed-down.

A pleasant, but forgettable, trifle.

Allen's connective scenes are slack and barely functional, and even his asides lack bite.

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.

For those who want to feel like they're 110 stories up and living in the clouds, Hollywood does its job conjuring movie magic with a breathtaking Walk to remember.

Part of the problem lies in the casting imbalance: Ferrell is so much more adept at this comedy style than Heder.

The villains are so extreme that they come off like sleazy caricatures. This accentuates the nuanced skill of the two lead performances, but it undercuts the overall effect of this well-constructed, if occasionally flat, pulp thriller.

The middling result, diverting while it lasts but too silly to recommend, is merely this week's funhouse action pic. [21 Jun 1996 Pg.01.D]