Problem: 1. Flabby and trite.
2. The Rock has its moments, but ultimately overshoots the target.
3. As relentlessly dumb and implausible as the Die Hard movies but even more entertaining, this loud and violent action film profits greatly from the galvanizing presence of Connery.
4. Neither as cartoonish as Con Air, nor as sentimental as Armageddon, this most satisfying of blockbuster movies deserves further kudos for establishing Nicolas Cage as one of Hollywood's unlikeliest action heroes.
5. For action-adventure fans, it just doesn't get any better than The Rock.
6. You might need to take Dramamine before entering a Michael Bay movie. The one-time music-video director has an annoying habit of finding the tightest shots, editing the heck out of them and scoring the works to loud music.
7. If it's not the most awful thing I've ever seen, it's close enough to make me wince.
8. Since the plot is ridiculous, The Rock works best when it's most light-hearted.
9. Connery and Cage are a compelling team and redeem the film from ruin despite the mechanical plot, an excessive body count and a miraculous recovery (you'll know it when you see it).
10. The Rock is far from the worst movie that Bay's made, but given its roster of impressive performers and promising opening hour, it might just the ADD-afflicted filmmaker's most disappointing.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: For visceral thrills, it can't be beat. Just don't expect The Rock to engage your brain.


Problem: 1. ...extraordinarily dull...
2. It doesn't matter if these ideals are right or wrong; von Trier is a master of challenging an audience... he reminds us how to use that piece of meat found within our skull.
3. Manderlay isn't as powerful or as intense as Dogville, but it is still an intriguing and entertaining film, thanks to Bryce Dallas Howard's performance and John Hurt's hugely enjoyable narration.
4. A slow-burning, deeply disturbing fable that needs to be seen and discussed
5. Lesser than Dogville (then again, what isn't?), but still one of the best films of the year.
6. tastes like cough syrup; we may not like what we see but we really need to see it
7. [von Trier's] most streamlined and subversive provocation to date... Be wary of any critic who attacks the filmmaker instead of addressing the film itself.
8. With "Manderlay," Lars von Trier has finally lost me. He has made an avid fan feel tired and abused.
9. A victim of its own coolly artificial aesthetic.
10. [Von Trier] has imbued the material with enough dramatic power and relevance that despite its many flaws, it is still essential viewing.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer: Manderlay may work better as a political statement than as a film, making its points at the expense of telling a compelling story.


Problem: 1. What makes this wildly imaginative setup so much fun is the contrast between the deadpan gruffness of Jones and Torn, and the spectacularly strange environment in which they work.
2. Men In Black deserves credit for supplementing its special effects with a breezy script and genuinely charismatic performances by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
3. Men in Black is the wryest, sharpest, most entertaining special effects film in recent memory, a simultaneous participant and mocking parody of the more-bang-for-your-buck behemoth genre.
4. [Director Barry Sonnenfeld] establishes the premise in the wildly entertaining first 45 minutes and then glides along for the rest of the film on the strength of a poker-faced comic sensibility.
5. Its attitude is poised somewhere between the deadpan ghoulishness of the Coen brothers and a Letterman-like sense of the absurdity of life in New York's rich ethnic stew.
6. Men in Black is moderately amusing, well-constructed and mercifully short, but it fails to deliver on the zaniness of its first half.
7. Men in Black, running a breezy 98 minutes, is a showpiece of laconic economy. It's quick, eccentric and deadly funny and for many young movie-goers it's likely to be a close encounter they'll want to see a second and third time.
8. A lean, punchy, fast paced, and extremely endearing sci-fi action comedy.
9. Great special effects, inventive alien designs and Smith and Jones's hip, hilarious double act make director Barry Sonnenfeld's Lethal Weapon-style buddy picture a fast-paced pleasure.
10. The plot, trifling as it is, doesn't much matter. What makes the movie such a hoot are the clever gags, imaginative special effects, and the snappy byplay between the well-matched Jones and Smith.
What is the consensus?
****
Answer:
Thanks to a smart script, spectacular set pieces, and charismatic performances from its leads, Men in Black is an entirely satisfying summer blockbuster hit.