Live dies around the time Carpenter allows 10 minutes of gratuitous Piper-David eye-gouging, an apparent bone to wrestling fans. Forget the amusing premise; a full crate of magic glasses couldn't make this a bearable movie. [7 Nov 1988]

Home could have fashioned a more original story, dug deeper into a theme of cultural understanding and jettisoned the toilet humor.

The music by Outkast is great, and the rowdy, randy en masse dance sequences are riveting. The story, however, is rather thin and lacks focus.

Obviously armed with more gangster-of-love opportunities playing Pablo Picasso than he had playing Richard Nixon, Anthony Hopkins ends up opting here for wit over full-blooded passion, but it proves to be enough. [23 Sep 1996]

So much effort seems to have gone into the eye-popping production design, swooping camera work and anachronistic musical score that the result is hyper-active cacophony rather than enthralling entertainment.

The Package could be the most forgettable movie title since Michael Caine and Richard Gere did Beyond the Limit; with luck, audiences will even forget the film itself was made. And why was it? Possibly to prove that Gene Hackman, at 58, can still survive as many lousy movies as Caine. [25 Aug 1989, p.4D]

There are elements borrowed from B-movie horror flicks, crime dramas, Broadway musicals and love stories, mashed together in bold and bizarre strokes. And while imperfections exist in the violent, genre-defying romance, they don’t dim Gyllenhaal’s clear-eyed passion, grand ideas and big swings spattered on the screen.

In lieu of a toga party, one scene treats us to an octogenarian fraternity member wrestling two topless townie lookers slathered in KY Gel. Hey, there's no stopping progress.

A road movie that never really takes off.

Fans of HBO's comically explicit Tales From the Crypt will know what to expect. If not quite up to Crypt's snuff, Bags is still a gas. [06 Aug 1993, p.3D]

This is the anti-"Hurt Locker" experience: Where that Iraq War film was absorbing and deadly serious, The Men Who Stare at Goats is irreverent and lighthearted. One only wishes it were a more consistently funny film.

Higher Learning: John Singleton's ambitious potpourri of on-campus tensions - date rape, black power, white supremacy - all too quickly lapses into pandering preachiness. [17 Feb 1995, p.4D]

A pleasant, but forgettable, trifle.

There's a fine line between darkness and glumness, one that "Spider-Man" bounced off buildings to avoid. The Hulk lumbers across it.

It's neither one of Allen's best, nor among his worst. It is also not likely to win audiences over with the passion that "Midnight in Paris" did.

Has a three-way split personality, which happily includes an action-packed middle to ease the pain of its early protracted exposition and later action so slow that you'll be asking "Gotta match?" to the person next to you.

Most noteworthy for the performance of Sigourney Weaver as Linda, an autistic woman.

Though Imagine That's message is benign, its adult focus is off-base, and every move feels too familiar, formulaic and telegraphed.

By trying to combine fantasy and romance with goofy humor, globe-trotting adventure and feel-good inspiration, Stiller has made Mitty a mixed bag of clashing tones and facile redemption.

A refreshingly entertaining character study that refuses to dumb down its youthful cast or bury their concerns in service of a catchy soundtrack.

The laughs are hit and miss and the movie is ho-hummus.

When a movie is a hybrid of this sort, it can be tough to strike just the right tone. Mostly, The Hunting Party manages.

Based on the captivating novel by Myla Goldberg, Bee Season is evocative and superbly acted.

It’s far from perfect, but Life’s worth living for two freaky hours.

Leaden, non-involving and filled with mind-numbing computer-generated effects.

The over-the-top survival thriller definitely fits into the aesthetic of Hollywood’s August burn-off period, where bad (and so-bad-they’re-good) movies reign, though Elba’s charisma goes a long way in terms of enjoyability as do some hair-raising animal attacks.

Harold Ramis frequently keeps slapstick, human comedy and surreal elements jelling. [13 Apr 1995, p.6D]

True to the book's squalor but also finding honest humor where it can.