Gene Siskel

A good third of this overblown movie consists of stunt-filled action sequences that turn a human story into something akin to Cannonball Run. That's too bad, because Goldberg's character is a terrible thing to waste.

Soapdish runs on longer than necessary, and not every scene is as funny as one would like, but it's funny enough to recommend. [31 May 1991, p.C]

The River is nothing more than a conventional, albeit pretty, melodrama. [11 Jan 1985, p.4N]

I heard some sniffling among some audience members, but the story goes for one situation that is guaranteed to produce sympathy. Aside from that, we never accept Midler in her relationship with John Heard. Only her occasional singing redeems an otherwise emotional roller coaster that travels in slow motion. Barbara Hershey is wasted in a boring role.

For its first hour is as exciting an action picture as the Die Hard films. The tension and humor level tail off a bit toward the conclusion, but Steven Seagal and Chicago director Andy Davis clearly declare themselves as top-flight talent.

I think what I like most about Executive Decision is that director Baird constantly tries to top himself. A more experienced director would have ended the film a few crises earlier. But Baird goes for broke in his directing debut, and the result is a most entertaining movie.

Rachael Leigh Cook, as Laney, the plain Jane object of the makeover, is forced to demonstrate the biggest emotional range as a character, and she is equal to the assignment. I look forward to seeing her in her next picture. [29 Jan 1999, p.A]

What`s lacking is a clear conception on Jewison`s part as to what this film is about.

But the biggest surprise is that Sinise steals scene after scene from Malkovich who has the flashier role. His work also has a quiet power, a tribute to the minimalist acting style that knows the camera can function as an X-ray if the characterization is true. [2 Oct 1992, p.C]

Dafoe manages to draw us into the mystery, anguish and joy of the holy life. This is anything but another one of those boring biblical costume epics. There is genuine challenge and hope in this movie. [12 Aug 1988, p.A]

Days of Thunder, the latest Tom Cruise movie, which is a flimsy but nonetheless compelling story of a hot-shot amateur race car driver who wants to make it in the big-time world of championship stock car racing. Good writing by Robert Towne and a host of strong supporting performances complement the on-the-track visuals of director Tony Scott in giving us a sense of the leap of faith that is required by drivers at this level. [29 Jun 1990, p.C]

A thoroughly enjoyable Raiders of the Lost Ark inspired adventure film, set in the present and starring Michael Douglas as an American hustler in Columbia who helps uptight romance novelist Kathleen Turner search for buried treasure. [22 June 1984, p.12]

The excellence of Red Rock West goes beyond the intricate plotting by brothers John and Rick Dahl. The casting couldn't be better.

At Close Range is impeccably photographed, and its other technical credits are fine, too. But this excellence serves a dubious, confused cause, and on that basis the film cannot be recommended.

The movie could reasonably be rated S for slow because director Alan Parker seems more concerned with style and with hiding the film's big mystery than with pacing. We develop no empathy for the Rourke character, and so watching the movie, as attractive as it is physically, is like riding on a slow conveyor belt. [06 Mar 1987, p.A]

John Badham's exciting thriller about an L.A. detective (Roy Scheider) who battles against the government creeps who have created a monstrous helicopter to be used for 1984-style crowd control. Great action in a David-versus-Goliath story. [22 July 1983, p.10]

It's a clever premise that is fully realized with old songs, old TV performers and new ones, too. This could become as big a cult movie as Pee- wee's Big Adventure. It certainly is more entertaining than that film and even more fun than Grease.

We could do without the film's leather sex scenes, but otherwise From Beyond is a decent enough low- budget horror film that delivers what audiences have every reason to expect--a funny, horrific grossout. [24 Oct 1986, p.A]

One of the most original, appealing offbeat American films in recent years.

This is a movie that redefines the concept of a family picture. Families should see it together because there will be plenty to talk about regardless of how new your crowd is to this country. [19 Oct 1990, p.C]

Guilty by Suspicion isn't a bad movie, but it isn't compelling entertainment either. [15 Mar 1991, p.C]

Whereas Stallone with "Rambo" is messing around with real places and real events, in Rocky IV we all know that this is pure Hollywood, pure fantasy. And very well made Hollywood fantasy, indeed.

A heavy, effective dramatization of the effects of the Soweto Uprising of 1976 on a white South African teacher (Donald Sutherland) whose black gardener is murdered by police. This film is unblinking in its depiction of the most violent side of apartheid. Marlon Brando lightens the drama with a colorful cameo as the lawyer hired by Sutherland to combat the state.

Ron Howard's first-rate dramatic comedy Parenthood, with Steve Martin headlining a first-rate cast in a most clever script about the joy and pain of being both a parent and a child. [4 Aug 1989, p.A]

Our Flick of the Week is The Bedroom Window, which begins as a gripping, Hitchcock-like thriller about an innocent man wrongly accused, but then turns into an unintentional laugh-a-minute with a preposterous conclusion. It's a shame that the film couldn't sustain its tension, because in some ways it is the best traditional thriller since "Jagged Edge." [16 Jan 1987, p.A]

This is simply marvelous entertainment that breathes life into a genre that I thought had been dead for a decade-the prison picture.

A smart, funny and hip adventure film in a summer of car wrecks and explosions. [4 July 1997]

It bears repeating that The Lion King is quite entertaining as children's fare goes these days. But Disney has established a standard so high on animated features that anything less than a classic leaves you feeling that something's missing.

The sister writing team of Perry and Randy Howze enlivens what sounds like a gimmicky story. Their last film was the delightful "Mystic Pizza," and the characters in Chances Are seem equally fresh, even though there is nothing new about the situations in which they find themselves. [10 March 1989, p.A]

The character played by Ryder is really the centerpiece of the story, and she is the best part of this slight story...The rest of the movie is a fairly standard portrait of small-town life, with characters in more pain than is typical of such films. [12 Oct 1990, p.C]

A funny, funky trip through a '50s suburban subdivision. [7 Apr 1989, p.A]

Another superb stop-action animated film from the same team responsible for Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

A riveting adaptation of Scott Turow`s novel about a prosecutor prosecuted for murder. When this film works best, which is often, everything about it seems cramped and uptight and dark.

Pale Rider may be a risk simply because westerns are not in vogue right now at the box office, but fresh and challenging westerns with Clint Eastwood always will be in vogue.

A refreshing if obvious drama. [9 June 1989, Friday, p.A]

Far and Away, a mildly old-fashioned romantic melodrama that has as many charming moments as embarrassing ones. Much of the charm is supplied by the earnest performances of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. [22 May 1992]

For many, a little of this joking will go a long way; devoted fans, however, will wish for a double-bill. Count me closer to the latter group.

And yet if Re-Animator offers only a few laughs, that still puts it smiles ahead of George Romero`s awful ''Return of the Dead,'' the third in his zombie series, which suffered from tired blood. At least director Gordon`s ghoulies drool on naked women and decapitate each other with shovels. Hoe, hoe, hoe.

Witness" is both exciting and thoughtful.... And just as important to moviegoers, Witness is a genuinely gripping thriller. [08 Feb 1985]

The film has a purposefully repellent but fascinating quality. Bogosian`s performance, based on his stage play, is spectacularly demented.

This film works so well simply because every moment of it is suffused with the joy a new baby brings into the world. Save for a needlessly mean comic shot at an Arab businessman, it couldn't be more appropriate for family viewing. [8 Dec 1995, p.D]

Although the film isn't an empty picture, it is too much of a good thing. Voight delivers a wonderful speech to Roberts about survival, but it's only one of many such monologues. Similarly, Roberts is tiring in his frantic reactions.

You might not think of this as a family film, but it is a great one. [27 May 1994, p.B]

Fans of true-life crime stories should gain special pleasure from Jagged Edge, because the film does succeed in making its ending unpredictable--even though an unresolved ending would have been better.

Though critical of the director's selfish character, the story does make a case for the macho man as someone who won't tolerate phonies. [14 Sep 1990, p.C]

The point is: When Sweet Dreams' as it is now constructed, is over, we remember and are intrigued more by Charlie Dick than by Patsy Cline, played by Jessica Lange in a performance that comes up short when necessarily compared with Sissy Spacek`s tour de force as Loretta Lynn in ''Coal Miner`s Daughter.''

The beautifully told but predictable story of two athletes who competed in the 100-meter dash for England in the 1924 Olympics...The film has received choruses of praise prior to its nationwide opening this week. Although it is extremely well made, I frankly don't understand what the shouting is about. Good, yes; great, no. [25 Dec 1981, p.56]

Coppola has raised the stakes, promising the definitive version of the vampire story. What he has created, however, is fresh and original yet boring, an exercise more in art direction than storytelling. [13 Nov 1992, p. C]

The late Mr. Cassavetes directed a film called A Woman Under the Influence. This is a powerful variation on that theme -- a woman tossed every which-way, physically and emotionally. [29 Aug 1997, p.A]

There's really nothing wrong with the movie; it delivers exactly what Arnold's audience wants, but I'm not part of that crowd. I'm tired of jungle fights and creatures with weird fangs. [12 June 1987, p.A]

A sometimes very funny comedy. [28 Aug 1992, p.C]

Our rooting interest is not for any macho act by Batman to save the city but for each character to achive some sort of emotional peace. That makes for a strange but refreshing action story.

It is played out in such a special, gentle way that you will want to anticipate and savor it for yourself. [31 Jan 1986, p.30N]

The story is not sensationalistic, although its love scene could not be more emotional. It`s a gentle story of someone being brought in from the cold.

A sometimes silly, occasionally hilarious, and often sophomoric spoof of airline disaster films in which a passenger tries to land a disabled plane. Some of the jokes are tasteless, but there is a general air of good cheer as the script laughs most of all at the already laughable "Airport" movie series. [11 July 1980, p.3-8]

The major problem with the sequel therefore is really the script, which was not written by Diane Thomas and which, coincidentally, did not meet with immediate approval by Turner. And so instead of surprising us in the rapid-fire manner of the original, ''The Jewel of the Nile'' takes people we know and runs them ragged through a new but unappealing location--the Arab desert--as they get caught in the middle of a holy war that doesn`t have much entertainment value given the recent number of incidents involving real-life terrorism in the area.

An exceptional comedy...Car wrecks and blues-related music galore in the best movie ever made in Chicago. [11 July 1980, p.3-8]

A thoroughly engaging version of country singer Loretta Lynn's autobiography. Sissy Spacek excels as Lynn and is assisted by two superior performances. Certain to be one of the year's best films.

The year`s funniest movie to date.

Marlon Brando returns to the movies with one of his funniest performances as, in essence, Don Corleone with a screw loose.

Though the film resorts to a hackneyed ending, what goes on before is modest but effective terror. [07 Apr 1989, p.A]

But the bottom line is that The Naked Gun 2 1/2 is very funny about such plastic themes as a Barbara Bush look-alike taking a pratfall at a dinner table. [28 June 1991]

Nearly everything that is right about Smooth Talk would have been impossible to obtain by conventional Hollywood film- manufacture. The film's appeal, including that of the performances, is in nuance and intermediate shades. That appeal is considerable, another reminder of the possibilities of the American independent film. [9 May 1986, p.43]

The story is an uneasy mix of adult dreams of immortality and adolescent anguish. [3 March 1989, p.A]

Novie lovers will want more of Winger and more Redford, both separately and together. If they had more scenes, their romance might seem more credible, rather than being simply the movie convention of ''star loves star.'' It`s a close call on Legal Eagles. It`s not a total waste of time.

The film doesn't have the pace or the scale of Back to the Future, but it does have the same sweet moment when a child declares his love for his parents because he's seen them in a different light. Joey Cramer is quite winning as David.

Ruthless People contains some of the biggest laughs of 1986.

Caddyshack has a low-budget look that warmly welcomes the all-important teenage audience. It looks like a film they could have made. And everyone associated with the film—in front of and behind the camera—is aware that he or she is making a frivolous film...That's why Rodney Dangerfield's cornball jokes and spritzing barbs are so perfectly right for the film. These are throwaway jokes for a most disposable motion picture, the kind of film that drive-ins were designed to play.

A high school version of A Chorus Line, following a half-dozen talented students at New York High School for the performing arts as they try to become show-biz stars. When the kids perform, the movie sings, but their fictionalized personal stories are melodramatic drivel. [11 July 1980, p.8]

Save for a questionable ending, it's one of the year's best films. [16 Oct 1987, p.A-N]

All of the performances are first-rate; Pesci stands out, though, with his seemingly unscripted manner. GoodFellas is easily one of the year's best films. [21 September 1990, Friday, p.C]

The beautiful title song, performed poignantly by the richly textured voice of Angela Lansbury, makes the case for all lovers to look past their partners' faults and into their hearts.

There's a movie here, and there's a gimmick. The gimmick undermines the movie and the gimmick is attached to the wrong part of the movie. Other than that, Clue offers a few big laughs early on followed by a lot of characters running around on a treadmill to nowhere. [13 Dec 1985, p.38]

It is precisely that interplay between tenderness and ruthlessness that is the special excitement of Mona Lisa, one of the year's most spellbinding films. [2 July 1986, p.C3]

An okay kids' picture about a bunch of misfit hockey players who are brought together to play in the Big Game by a cynical, Yuppie coach (Emilio Estevez) doing community service. [02 Oct 1992, p.C]

My only quibble with the film is that the character of the Frenchman is too precious to be believed. But that's no reason to stay away from this lesiurely but powerful story of not a man and his music, but a music and one of its men. [24 Oct 1986, p.A]

The essential problem with The Black Cauldron is that the central human character in the story is a complete drip, making it difficult to root for his success at saving the world from ruination.

The film is violent and a little gross in one or two scenes, but there is an intelligence in its writing by Bob Hunt and direction by Jack Sholder that makes everything worthwhile. [30 Oct 1987, p.41C]

It so often is a joy to look at and so often a pain to listen to.

Enchanting film.

There is one hilarious sight gag involving prophylactics, and one can't argue with the film's sobering message, but otherwise Ritter's character is mostly a bore. [3 March 1989, p.A]

As it is, Betsy's Wedding is pleasant fluff when Alda isn't on the screen. [22 Jun 1990, p.C2]

The film's strength is director Jim McBride's seemingly easy way of presenting us with a New Orleans that is more malevolent and intoxicating than the tourist trap that some think it to be.

[Cage] cracks wise throughout the third act and is almost entertaining enough to make this absurdly energetic movie recommendable.

A visual delight and a dramatic letdown. [10 Jun 1990, p.4C]

So what we have in the middle of Back to the Future, this seeming kids' movie full of screeching cars, special effects and lightning storms, is nothing less than an adult reverie. And if families could be persuaded to see this film together, it might touch off a long night of sharing between parents and children. [03 July 1985]

The physical scale of Ran is overwhelming. It's almost as if Kurosawa is saying to all the cassette buyers of America, in a play on Clint Eastwood`s phrase, "Go ahead, ruin your night"--wait to see my film on a small screen and cheat yourself out of what a movie can be.

By the time Mikey and Nicky reaches its conclusion, the film stands by itself as one of the few pictures to approximate the sloppiness, the randomness, the serendipity of life. [26 Apr 1985, p.A]

Byrne is a major musical artist, as he was shown to be in his rock concert film Stop Making Sense, but as a filmmaker he has barely stretched his muscles. [31 Oct 1986, p.A]

What's so funny about Down and Out In Beverly Hills is not its moral imperative to appreciate life's simple, enduring pleasures. True, we get that message, and we appreciate it, but we already know that motto even if we don't live by it. No, what's funny is director Mazursky's extraordinarily fine eye and ear for capturing the way the wealthy residents of Beverly Hills walk, talk, dress and think.

A joy to behold, a complex film that never loses either its sense of purpose or sense of humor. [7 February 1986, Friday, p.33]

Gary Busey, Robbie Robertson, and Jodi Foster star in a romantic triangle about some carnival sharpies and a runaway girl. A beautiful portrait of the carnival as an American institution. [18 July 1980, p.8]

Dave has been directed by Ivan Reitman in a refreshingly restrained fashion-there are plenty of quiet passages, rare for American movies these days-which compliments Kevin Kline's wonderful work as well.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is, in fact, about as entertaining as a commercial movie can be. What is it? An adventure film that plays like an old-time 12-part serial that you see all at once, instead of Saturday-to-Saturday. It's a modern "Thief of Baghdad." It's the kind of movie that first got you excited about movies when you were a kid.

A problem with Schrader's script is that he too slavishly follows the Taxi Driver outline, needlessly giving a violent conclusion to Light Sleeper. We sit there noting the resemblance to the 1975 movie more than being absorbed into the drama. Nonetheless, Light Sleeper is emblematic of an era, and is recommended on that basis and on the excellent quality of it acting. We remember the character more than we believe the machinations they've run through.

Director Ken Russell is at his kinky best in this horror story that is adult in its thrills, humor and sexuality. Figuring out who is the worm in the movie is quite easy. But the particulars of Russell's imagination are delightfully outrageous. [11 Nov 1988, p.A]

It looks like director Parker, who can be quite ambitious (Mississippi Burning, Come See the Paradise), is coasting this time, merely reworking his big hit, Fame.

Silverado is a completely successful physical attempt at reviving the western, but its script would need a complete rewrite for it to become more than just a small step in a full-scale western revival. [10 Jul 1985, p.5]