“If you want to make your giant monster movie more of a character study, more power to you, but then the pressure’s on to create some truly captivating characters.”

“The picture’s fatal flaw is its inability to give us any consistent sense of Godzilla’s size.”

“…has a nice push and pull going on, between nostalgia for a time gone by and a piercing, contemporary relevance.”

“A throw-everything-at-the-wall movie, in hopes that something – the romance, the action, a villain maybe? – might stick.”

“…at once too big for the intricate ideas it wants to explore and too small for the saga it’s taken on.”

“If you were worried about this reboot lacking the wit of the original, those fears are allayed as soon as the MGM lion opens its mouth.”

“As the years pass, RoboCop seems more prescient than ever.”

“…as nimble as a ballet dancer, even while dancing in muck.”

“Such ritualistic fawning makes for a thin cinematic experience, irrespective of how you feel about the military.”

“Just when the movie seems to be at its most plodding, it perks up to envision an element of Tolkien’s tale in a way that words could never capture.”