Jeff Shannon

Although its lofty ambitions as a "social comedy" are never fully realized, Amos & Andrew is a refreshingly intelligent, character-driven comedy that attempts to tackle a timely and serious issue - racism - and still manages to be consistently funny. [05 Mar 1993, p.24]

Once again, Philip Glass composes one of his insistent scores -- and again the effect is pretentious, considering the circumstances. Director Bill Condon has a sense of style but a heavy hand with actors -- you can all but hear them telling themselves to hit their marks and punch out their lines. [17 Mar 1995, p.H28]

It is, by any rational measure, an absolute mess....But we should all know by now that Lynch cannot be judged by "rational measures," and if you're a "Peaks" aficionado who can easily shift into Lynch's gear, Fire Walk With Me will cast an undeniable spell.

The light approach almost derails the movie; without being cheap or misleading, Mistress is a feel-good movie that could've had a sharper sting. It's less satirical and probably more realistic than The Player, but it's also more predictably diagrammed. [28 Aug 1992, p.26]

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]

Even on its own merits this new Vanishing is a washout, a classic case of Hollywood studio compromise, in which almost everything that made the original effectively chilling has been tampered with and cheapened. [05 Feb 1993, p.03]

Blank Check will get a few big laughs from kids, but that doesn't stop this vapid, morally bankrupt and wretchedly written Disney comedy from being genuinely disgusting. [11 Feb 1994, p.D28]

Saddled with a script full of lifeless, mock-clever ideas (such as having the local blacksmith make a pair of Rollerblades), Gottlieb can only do his best to mollify his audience with a few fleeting hints of the movie's untapped potential.

It's a ridiculous premise, and the film works best when Badham seems in on the joke. By the time Harvey Keitel appears as a ruthless operative assigned to clean up a botched job, the film has reached its own point of no return, tipping over the edge into rib-tickling parody. Keitel is one of the few actors alive who can make you chuckle while disposing of corpses in an acid bath. [19 March 1993, p.16]

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.

Made In America is yet another half-hour sitcom padded to accommodate a major star - in this case, the highly bankable, post-Sister Act Whoopi Goldberg - and a 110-minute running time. [28 May 1993, p.27]

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.

Alda brings admirable dimension to his small role, and once again Huston proves that she could read one word of dialogue and assume full command of the screen. [20 Aug 1993, p.D14]

If there is any problem with Wes Craven's New Nightmare, it's the fact that analyzing the film is potentially more fun than the film itself. But that's OK, because it means Craven has put enough thought into his work to make it worth thinking about. [14 Oct 1994, p.H40]

If you can find a handful of funny, original gags and TV-inspired in-jokes in this second compendium of now overly familiar Wayne-speak witticisms, consider your 100 minutes time well spent. [10 Dec 1993, p.G3]

Just as there can be fresh angles on the old story, there is a growing number of urban-survival cliches that lose their dramatic impact as they grow tiresomely familiar. Sugar Hill is a virtual catalog of these cliches - a serious, well-meaning film that offers no new insight into the crises it professes to understand. [25 Feb 1994, p.D21]

Filmed in Oregon and Montana by a first-rate crew, The River Wild puts you in the hot seat of its white-water climax, and through a combination of deft camera work, snappy editing and genuine derring-do, the stellar cast is right there with you. Even when you know it's filmmaking trickery, you'll wish you'd brought a wet suit. [30 Sep 1994, p.H3]

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]

It's an easy-going respite for the audience, thanks to the familiar and instantly likeable cast - also including "Darkman" director Sam Raimi as the camp's slow-witted handyman - who slip into their roles with effortless charm. Writer-director Mike Binder is generous to each character, and the ensemble occasionally clicks with the casual comfort of enduring friendships...But the film is ultimately too sentimental, sluggishly paced and naggingly insubstantial, with cute, jokey dialogue that betrays Binder's background as a stand-up comedian, setting up scenes that exist only to arrive at a punchline. [24 Apr 1993, p.C8]

Perfectly harmless fluff. [15 July 1994, p.D28]

Dear ol' auntie is not what she seems, and "House" turns into a horror-fantasy comedy that grows increasingly absurd as the body-count rises, provoking more laughs than fear with over-the-top scenes involving severed limbs, a ravenous piano, attacking mattresses and a cat with telekinetic powers. [27 Nov 2009, p.E16]

In the middle of their mainstream pandering, Hughes and Columbus have an uncanny knack for developing cleancut sentiment that is calculated yet sweetly sincere. The key to their success lies in having it both ways: Kevin is smarter than all the adults, but he's still just a cute, frightened little boy who wants his mom. [20 Nov 1992, p.3]

Lambert's utter lack of facial or vocal expression makes him a good low-grade hero, but it's the fine supporting cast and especially Gordon regular Jeffrey Combs ("Re-Animator") who steal the show. As a burnout case who rallies for the film's disappointing climax - where a lot of clone robots get "blowed up real good" - Combs provides the perfect reminder that this is enjoyable trash, but trash that's been recycled with care. [4 Sept 1993, p.C5]

Despite claims to the contrary, Van Peebles has no apparent desire to accurately reflect history. Instead, he caters, with an ugly lack of integrity, to a twisted perception of "popular taste," spinning an ego-trip that steals a numbing variety of Western cliches while betraying them with contemporary flavoring. [14 May 1993, p.20]

The only thing original in Dr. Giggles - about a psychotic doctor (Larry Drake) who escapes a mental institution to resume his belovedly departed father's explicitly unhealthy rampage of serial killings - is the freakish instruments that the pun-filled physician totes around in his bag of dirty tricks.

Only Omar Epps ("Juice") locates substance in his role as the freshman underachiever who must fight for his starting position, but even he's in service to the uninspired "Program." If someone wanted to make a good, exciting, serious film about the ups and downs of college football, why didn't they just make a documentary about the Huskies? [24 Sept 1983, p.D19]

If you take a strict approach to "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story," you will probably squirm at every narrative shortcut and reconstruction of "reality" for mass consumption. If you're a fanatic follower of the late martial-arts master - whose death in 1973 at age 32 was caused by cerebral swelling - the cinematic liberties could prove to be distracting. If, on the other hand, you're just out to be entertained, and neither know nor care about the exact details, you'll probably find this briskly populist biopic not only quite enjoyable, but respectful of Lee's martial-arts legacy and the vibrant spirit that has fueled his immortality. [7 May 1993, p.3]