Hal Boedeker

Tyson rose to the challenges of this demanding role with perceptive, luminous work. It remains the peak of her long, distinguished career. [22 Feb 2009, p.10]

A family film to treasure. [02 Mar 1990, p.G41]

It's a fine mix of suspense and character study. [02 Mar 1990, p.G41]

Hiding Out is a pleasant bit of fluff; it's Back to the Future without the fantasy. It's no breakthrough in movie- making, but it's not dumb either. There are enough funny lines and enough winning performances to forgive the implausibilities and the ridiculous action scene at the end. [06 Nov 1987, p.D5]

Worst of all, though, is Huppert. This fine actress, who has been so effective in European films, walks through her part. Her last American film was Heaven's Gate. For her own sake, she should stay away from Hollywood. [16 Jan 1987, p.D5]

Funny Farm adds up to enjoyable but uneven summer entertainment that seconds the Green Acres credo: "Farm livin' is the life for me." [3 June 1988, p.D5]

Midler has emerged as the best funny woman on the screen. As Sandy, she makes abrasiveness appealing. But her work here can't compare with what she did in Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Ruthless People. Neither can Outrageous Fortune. [30 Jan 1987, p.D1]

Poitier is Poitier, and that, after such a dry spell, is reason enough to see the movie. [12 Feb 1988, p.C5]

Benji the Hunted is better-than-average family entertainment with some flaws. An irritating musical score undercuts the beauty of the nature scenes. The human performances are regrettable and look downright amateurish next to the animal. Benji is good. Just look into his haunting eyes, and you know why this doggie is a star.

Slamdance has an unusual problem: It's too creative. Director Wayne Wang throws in so many artsy shots and technical tricks that the drama, an intricate murder mystery, is muddled. After the lights come up, you're left wondering exactly what you witnessed. [6 Nov 1987, p.D7]

Lightness' greatest contribution will be to send people to Kundera's book. As a film, it is thoughtful and well-meaning but long and uneven. The filmmakers' love for their subject recalls a line from Kundera's book: "His love for Tereza was beautiful, but it was also tiring." That's what sitting through Lightness is like. [26 Feb 1988, p.C1]

The production values are downright dowdy. Creepshow looks more like Cheapshow. Yet the strong writing offsets the film's weaknesses. Creepshow 2 may not have the major-league excitement of The Exorcist or Aliens, but in its own right, it succeeds. The persistent screams from the audience tell you that. [13 May 1987, p.D7]

The best performance in Three Men and a Baby is given by the baby, played by twins Lisa and Michelle Blair. They are wonderful. The movie is not. [25 Nov 1987, p.D8]

For Keeps is schizoid entertainment. It begins as a comedy, shifts briefly into social commentary and winds up in soap opera land, with Ringwald acting nobly and self-sacrificing. The movie has been heralded as a sign of Hollywood's new maturity, because the kids face up to their situation. That is applaudable, but For Keeps is old-fashioned and obvious. It is to teen pregnancy what My Three Sons was to family life. [15 Jan 1988, p.C5]

Junk, but amusing junk. [17 Mar 1987, p.B5]

Lethal Weapon is neither a good film nor good entertainment, but it will be a big hit. It takes two popular stories, scrambles them together and delivers something truly bizarre. It's The Cosby Show meets Rambo. [06 Mar 1987, p.D5]

A combination rock-and-roll tearjerker and domestic drama. It is gloomy, boring and sentimental. [06 Feb 1987, p.C5]

You know a movie's in trouble when the characters babble on about long ago. In The Presidio, they have to. What's happening on-screen is dull and predictable. The movie's highlights, car chases up and down the San Francisco inclines, pale in comparison to those in Bullitt. [10 June 1988, p.D5]

The Great Outdoors isn't great. The Dopey Outdoors would be more like it. It's wildly uneven, yet consistently dumb. [17 June 1988, p.C5]

The occult thriller boasts snazzy photography, passionate acting and considerable suspense. But like Marathon Man, it is empty. This pulp never rises above being pulp. [10 Jun 1987, p.D7]

A handsome but empty romantic thriller with the most passionless love triangle you may ever see. [9 Oct 1987, p.D1]

Elaborate special effects ruin the whimsy of this haunted house movie. The filmmakers parcel out the horrific gags so tirelessly they lose sight of the tale they're telling. This is one ghost story that needed an exorcism. [30 March 1988, p.C8]

The latest work from director-producer-writer John Hughes is a muddle. Hughes has packed the movie, the story of a young couple's marriage, with amusing sight gags and jokes. What he has failed to offer are palatable characters, original insights or smooth storytelling. Worst of all, he has tacked on a deplorable teary finale. [5 Feb 1988, p.C4]

The movie puts us back in Poltergeist territory, but it cannot approach that film's shock value. The plot is too simple. Watch the children pulverize the demons. Watch the demons terrorize the children. You get the idea. [22 May 1987, p.D5]

Splashy, uneven version of the musical, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve). Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra seem miscast, but Jean Simmons is delightful as the Salvation Army woman Brando falls for. [04 Aug 1989, p.G37]

Hanks is pleasant doing his standard playboy schtick. Aykroyd is even better, showing his ability for mimicry while revealing true feeling as an actor. He can't help it, though, that Friday's stridency grows tiresome. And that's Dragnet's main problem. As funny as the movie is, the excesses weigh it down the longer it runs. [26 June 1987, p.D1]

Director Moshe Mizrahi, who did the Academy Award-winning Madame Rosa, cannot decide whether he has a light comedy or a heavy drama, and the film wavers between the two. [26 Nov 1986, p.D5]

Innerspace suffers from a problem afflicting many of this summer's movies: excess. First, it's too long. Then director Joe Dante (Gremlins) piles on the gadgetry and the inside-the-body special effects, and the movie buckles. [1 July 1987, p.D1]