Aerial sequences are often thrilling. However, interpersonal relations are front and center in this installment.

Annaud's epic might have worked better dramatically as a smaller, more focused picture. The best scenes simply involve Law and Harris playing sneaky professional games (less cat-and-mouse than cat-and-cat) with each other.

Two constants: good acting and an old-fashioned preachiness that backfires.

So unwatchably creaky that it's hard to believe director Mitchell Leisen filmed Murder at the Vanities (with its wildly demented Sweet Marijuana production number) the same year. [04 Dec 1998]

With heavy HIV subtext and a couple of actors who have scored in other films, this La Bohème spinoff about fatal illness, drug addiction and eviction ought to be less of a slog than it is.

This too-belated reprise from the same filmmaking duo isn't any model, but it ought to amuse fans of the original. [23 July 1993, p.5D]

There’s plenty to sink your teeth into when Cage is this superbly outrageous and manically inspired while Hoult, who’s got great comedic timing, is just as batty in his own way. Everything else about Renfield needs to go back in the coffin.

Predictable, but well-intentioned fun.

For the most part, Wilde's sophisticated, sardonic dialogue has been capably adapted by screenwriter Howard Himelstein and director Mike Barker.

If you're a Rainn Wilson fan, catch a rerun of "The Office."

Talented actors are wasted in a film that induces more cringes than chuckles as women old enough to know better act like horny sailors on leave, absorb mass quantities of alcohol and drugs, and generally behave horribly.

The usually peppy troupe is simply going through the show-biz motions rather than rocketing to where no Muppet caper has gone before. [14 July 1999, p.12D]

A ceramic gnome by any other name is still a kitschy little figure.

Conjuring films are best when tapping into the Warrens’ work and making it feel all too real to audiences, and in that regard, “The Devil” tries to shake things up but ventures too far from that freaky norm.

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.

The film aims to be a Gen Z/millennial “This Is Spinal Tap” but with much less clever wit and way more vocal fry.

Has ambition and style in spades – and thankfully, a plenty sassy Ryan Reynolds in the form of a little yellow rabbit-y dude – even if the quasi-noir private-eye tale is rather uninspired on the whole.

Though the lead performances are uniformly good, the film seems hazy in its focus from the start. Many of the scenes seem to simply meander.

A didactic and humorless Western, Eli is too laborious for an action film and too brutal to be an inspirational tale.

Like the last two "Pirates" movies, Australia is ambitious more than awe-inspiring, grandiose rather than grand, full of spectacle but not spectacular.

Artful and emotionally compelling.

Within a certain narrow range, Hartnett shows some comic flair -- though not enough to carry the picture over its considerable rough spots.

George A. Romero, less Living Dead here than dying artistically, adapts Stephen King in a movie without a good half. [23 Apr 1993, p.4D]

The plot progression can be guessed early on, but the film is more about humor and heart than a clever story.

Earth to Echo is about adventure, bravery and excitement, but mostly it's about friendship— a subject that resonates with audiences of all ages.

Intermittently funny. But the movie's first 20 minutes is devoted to tediously showing how his career has taken off around the world. That might be fine if this were a documentary, or if it were done more artfully, and with humor — since we go into the movie expecting a 75-minute laugh-fest.

Though some scenes may be too intense for children, the action is slick, with robot clashes and airborne chases leaving the strongest impression.

The 15-minute squall is spectacular and the movie's partial redeemer - the minimum you'd hope for in a movie called White Squall, don't you think? [02 Feb 1996]