Jeff Shannon

As its title suggests, it plays not only on sight - with masterfully composed images that glisten with the timeless quality of memory - but smell, touch, taste and sound are all equally well utilized, to establish the kind of serenity that has become all but extinct in movies today. [04 Feb 1994, p.D3]

As an actor showcase it's a clash between the Duke's old school and Clift's new breed a volatile mix in a timeless classic. [26 Oct 2003]

As charted by a brilliantly incisive script by former lawyer and Washington Post film critic Paul Attanasio, the ethical crises of "Quiz Show" radiate from that anguished moment when Van Doren takes the bait. [16 Sept 1994, p.C3]

Worthy of this and future adaptations, Of Mice and Men is blessed by timeless quality. [16 Oct 1992, p.22]

It's far-fetched yet (for entertainment's sake) entirely credible, and the abundant comedy is intelligent enough to advance a serious and surprisingly sophisticated plot. [09 Sep 1992, p.F3]

Kobayashi's 1967 hit reflects the social tumult of its time by depicting a defiant swordsman amidst totalitarian excess. The film's escalation of tension is almost unbearable, and Mifune erupts with a ferocity that's as righteous as it is ultimately tragic, for Kobayashi refuses to soften the film's devastating imbalance of power. [16 Jun 2006, p.I22]

Hawks drew from his entire career to enliven this amalgam of genre traditions, once favored by Quentin Tarantino as a litmus test for potential girlfriends. [26 Oct 2003]

Drawing generously and honestly from her own experience as a single mother of two teenage girls, director Allison Anders, making her solo feature debut, has lovingly adapted Richard Peck's paperback novel "Don't Look and It Won't Hurt," crafting a delicate meditation on loves lost and found in the barren but magical truck-stop town of Laramie, N.M. [28 Aug 1992, p.24]

Unlike "The Program," the other current football movie which pales in comparison, Rudy (which spans 1972-'75) is uncompromisingly truthful to its story and characters. Graced with Anspaugh's respect for authenticity, there's not a false note from anyone in the well-chosen cast, which includes Ned Beatty as Rudy's dad, whose disapproval of Rudy's dream is a cautious act of love; Charles S. Dutton as the stadium groundskeeper who offers quiet support; and Jason Miller ("The Exorcist") as legendary coach Ara Parseghian, who rewards Rudy's tenacity with a place on the varsity practice squad.

The genre's other great star-director team James Stewart and Anthony Mann began a string of five remarkable Westerns with this engrossing, genre-reviving chronicle of a stolen rifle and its fateful role in the lives of its possessors. [26 Oct 2003]

While Holland may not have imbued the garden with the enchantment so evident in the book, she has sublimely captured the beauty of the garden itself. It offers a simple but overwhelming connection to the kind of paradise we must look harder to find.

It's trashy to the bone, but director Ernest Dickerson targets just the right tone for tension and comic relief, and keeps the whole thing rolling in Grand Guignol style. It may be disposable, but "Demon Knight" is never boring. It's consistently hilarious and just outrageous enough to make Gaines spin happily in his grave. [13 Jan 1995, p.H26]

With its ever-so-earnest desire to shed light on the complex social issues of gang influence in Los Angeles, South Central is a film that's good - or at least, easily recommendable - in spite of itself. [06 Nov 1992, p.27]

Through a deft combination of physical comedy, teenage angst and small-scale exploration of a fascinating premise, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” remains smartly committed to the emotional lives of its characters and their intermingled fates.

It may not add up in the end, but it's fun while it lasts. [01 Oct 1993, p.D14]

With the kind of dignity rarely found in movies today, Bertolucci has tried - if only with mixed success - to address the things that really matter. [27 May 1994, p.D3]

The pleasure of Bergman's style comes from the extremes that his characters must endure to arrive at that predictable point, and the new tricks that Bergman can teach to an old-dog story line. The airborne climax of "Honeymoon in Vegas" - involving those Flying Elvises (Utah Chapter!) that you've probably heard about by now - turns the ending of countless other movies into something new under the setting desert sun. [28 Aug 1992, p.3]

There are moments in Love Affair that take your breath away, sending you back to a time when class and discretion were the movie rule, and not the rarefied exception. [21 Oct 1994, p.H36]

By showing us the human side of poverty, Where the Day Takes You proves that a society is best judged by the treatment of its least fortunate members. [11 Sep 1992, p.21]

ueled by the street-wise authority of screenwriter Richard Price ("Sea of Love"), this jazzed-up remake takes a few basic cues from the '47 original, but otherwise it's a sharply updated morality play, toughened by the fact that good and evil aren't so clearly defined. [21 Apr 1995, p.H3]

By the time he's hiding at a pregnancy retreat disguised as a former female Olympic athlete, Junior has pretty much hit the bullseye. [23 Nov 1994, p.D3]

With its dream cast and a burst of cinematic endorphins, The Paper is delivered on time, its headlines written large for enjoyable mass consumption. [25 March 1994, p.D3]

By the time the real Tina Turner is seen performing the title hit at film's end, director Brian Gibson has achieved his overall goal: What's Love Got To Do With It may not bring anything new to the biopic genre, but it inspires renewed respect and appreciation for a woman who has earned every break in her amazing career.

First-time writer Tom Sierchio occasionally lapses into Love Story-style sentiment, and surprisingly Bill is willing to go along, but Untamed Heart (wisely retitled from its original Baboon Heart) is strong enough to hold up against its cornier inclinations. [12 Feb 1993, p.23]

For a film that reaches an impressive level of moral complexity, the bottom line - that all of us are potential heroes, and that all heroes have flaws - is simple, sweet and absolutely refreshing. [02 Oct 1992, p.24]

Hocus Pocus remains a delightful family comedy, spooky but never scary as it romps its merry way through the graveyard. Here's hoping it doesn't bomb.

Along with outrageous infusions of dimwit humor, Army of Darkness is a tribute to the unbridled spirit - without the unbridled expense - of pure cinematic invention. [19 Feb 1993, p.10]

A wildly controversial film that is both achingly unpleasant and gripping in its denouncement of the blindly ignorant racist and fascist mentality. [02 July 1993, p.D22]