What results is amusing, gently entertaining and might induce a tear or two.

Jolie and Pitt project more than just body heat. They convey a multi-faceted attraction, toss off clever repartee and dazzle audiences with their seemingly natural connection. And that's worth watching.

Boaz Yakin's slick direction, marked by quick cuts, unstinting energy and a lack of sentimentality, makes the action scenes satisfying. But he's a better director than writer.

The low-budget thriller deftly mixes horror-movie moments, pure strangeness and comedy like a family-friendly David Lynch effort as it takes audiences on one really oddball trip to grandma's house.

An entertaining, diverting adventure saga that offers excitement and a relatable heroine for children, and also will remind their parents of favorite classics from their own youth.

Even with its flaws and struggles with originality, Aquaman is reminiscent of the early Marvel movies in its storytelling, best when taking wild swings instead of being an earnest superhero jam.

The movie is spotty. The short films, essentially comic sketches, were more consistently funny. The movie lags on occasion, but it also has quite a few laughs.

Love Actually is irresistible. You'd have to be Ebenezer Scrooge not to walk out smiling.

The Gambler is a hollow, overwrought and glibly cynical remake of a '70s drama about a self-destructive academic.

With good guys aplenty and a big heart, The Flash pens a love letter to DC superhero movies past, though the film runs around in circles trying to make it all work.

Babys is intellectually stimulating and emotionally stirring, a rare combination these days, though hardly unusual for writer/director John Sayles.

There may be no crying need for this movie, but we could use the laughs.

Transforms Charles Dickens into a Chuck. Ground Chuck, unfortunately. [30 January 1998, p. 7D]

All the contemporary wrapping, a dizzying array of tones (from screwball humor to cornball earnestness) and endless songs by “The Greatest Showman” duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul winds up being like tinsel distracting from what works best: Will Ferrell as a determined phantom and Ryan Reynolds as his snarky Scrooge.

Promised Land is an involving and timely tale that explores the changing nature and complex challenges of rural life.

More than anything, the striking spectacle of primordial flora and one-of-a-kind fauna makes it easy for audiences to get pleasantly lost in the adventure.

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.

Bunny is fashioned as a bawdy comedy with heart, but its reliance on formula undercuts the amusing moments.

While the ingredients are there to make a tense and compelling post-9/11 thriller, Rendition falls flat.

Like a bag of Skittles come to life, there’s more sugar and style to Trolls than substance — with the exception of a “Find your own happiness” theme — but you’d be hard-pressed to keep from smiling throughout the trippy dance sequences and clever banter in this feel-good confection.

A baseball nostalgia piece all weirded-out by flashes of supernatural horror, this early-'60s remembrance is like sitting through a double bill of Field of Dreams and The Goonies. [7 Apr 1993, p.8D]

Casting, in fact, is Rob Roy's dominant virtue, a hedge against its overlong 2 1/4-hour running time and some initial reluctance to get rolling. [7 Apr 1995, p.01.D]

Parents and kids should be heartened to see a G-rated movie that is not dumbed-down or saccharine-sweet. Rather, it's subtly inspiring.

Despite Paul Newman and Lee Marvin, a deserving flop about modern-day cattle hucksters; at times here (call the rest home), I think Newman sounds like Wally Cox. [01 Mar 1991, p.3D]

Zwick's "Once and Again" and "Thirtysomething" portrayed emotion more honestly than many TV shows of their time. But in Love and Other Drugs, he unevenly weds the satirical and the sentimental.

It's a good actors' showcase, yet not a particularly satisfying movie. [22 Jan 1999]

The movie's best moments are between Banderas and the kids. When the plot shifts to reveal the students' back stories (one has a prostitute mother, another a drunken father), the story becomes a melodramatic rehash of other movies, like "Fame" or "Rent."

Ivan Passer directs with the kind of objective integrity that's rare today, but the script doesn't jell. [14 July 1989, p.3D]