John Hartl

An ordinary house cat and a basement spider become ferocious adversaries of tiny Grant Williams in director Jack Arnold's vision of an upside-down world. [31 Oct 2010, p.H6]

The logistics of this outdoor adventure may not be entirely convincing, but the characters usually are. That's a rarity in this kind of picture, and Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin rise to the challenge with some of the best work they've done in a long time. [26 Sep 1997]

One of the least classifiable, most fascinating horror films of the past decade. [07 Dec 1990, p.28]

The pace is swift, archival clips are well-chosen and conspiracy theories pile up in a way that seems intentionally funny.

Kaufman can't raise the script far above the pulp material on which it's based, but it's a more intelligent adaptation than this summer's blockbuster movie of Crichton's "Jurassic Park." It's also a more interesting consideration of racial-cultural conflicts than such major-studio gaffes as "Mr. Baseball" and "Falling Down." [30 July 1993, p.D3]

On a visual level, Lumet states this case so well that he doesn't need to hammer it home verbally. [27 Apr 1990, p.3]

The first-time director and co-writer, John Dahl, has a veteran's assurance. He knows exactly what he wants from the actors, how to stage the tricky action, how to keep the plot comprehensible, how to use the Nevada/Arizona locations to suggest the aridness of the characters' lives. He doesn't break any new ground with Kill Me Again, but he does establish himself as a filmmaker to watch. [04 May 1990, p.3]

It's so downbeat that it's not likely to make a dime. Nevertheless, Rush is the most harrowing love story about a couple of drug addicts since the near-classic Panic in Needle Park. [10 Jan 1992, p.21]

With only a few lapses during its opening scenes, it's a modest, intelligent exploration of the differences that can threaten a genuine attraction between two people. It doesn't soft-pedal the problems, particularly for a young man who already is set in his ways, or an older woman who never will fit in with the social and cultural pretensions of his extended family. [19 Oct 1990, p.31]

One of the movie's chief charms is Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour's lyrical score, which almost suggests an anti-"Lion King" approach. The music isn't in a hurry to dramatize its story or make epic statements. The same might be said of writer-director Michel Ocelot's delicate animation style and his handling of small moments. [30 Jun 2000]

The movie's larger-than-life tone is mostly justified by the quality of the performances and the theatricality of the settings. [29 Oct 1993, p.D24]

"There's nothing about this place worth filming," insists one character, but Kiarostami always comes up with something: a Tati-like scene in which a canister rolls down a street, all but waiting to be kicked, and several exotic glimpses of urban life, including a turkey salesman who carries a couple of unplucked birds through the Tehran streets. [26 Feb 1999]

Watching Phoenix in his last film, I couldn't help thinking of James Dean's final performance, as the cranky loner, Jett Rink, in "Giant." [12 Nov 1993, p.D3]

Most of Alison Chernick’s sweetly reverential new documentary, Itzhak, suggests a contemporary day in the life of a world-famous musician.

Slick and raunchy when it might have been grindingly realistic, Viva is finally all heart.

If you can take it for what it is, however, City Slickers does deliver the goods, especially during its sprightly first half. [7 June 1991, p.22]

Haneke carefully and ingeniously presents the boy's point of view without sympathizing with him. He then does the same with his horrified but protective parents. [18 Nov 1994, p.G35]

I.F. Stone, an underground journalist who died in1989, left a rich legacy that is celebrated in a timely new documentary, All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone.

It never feels like a history lesson about the social-political changes wrought by the Restoration, although it could be argued that it's exactly that. Even when it's taking itself seriously, it neatly avoids pomposity. [02 Feb 1996, p.F1]

It's wry and stylish and perfectly cast, and only occasionally does it fall into the trap of taking itself as seriously as its characters sometimes do. [05 Oct 1990, p.26]

The best of several film versions of Jack London's story about a Nazi-like sea captain (Edward G. Robinson in top form), this Warner Bros. production co-stars Ida Lupino and John Garfield and was directed by Michael Curtiz, shortly before he made "Casablanca." [26 Dec 1991, p.E1]

The first-time director, Frank Marshall, has said that he modeled the film on The Birds, and the structure of Arachnophobia does follow the pattern set up by Hitchcock. But it's definitely a Disney/Spielberg movie, smooth and neatly packaged and more interested in the gimmicks than the central enigma of Hitchcock's movie. [18 July 1990, p.E1]

Buscemi gets such fine ensemble work out of his actors that you never doubt that Tommy and his friends, family and ex-friends are united by one thing. They've spent far too much time together. [25 Oct 1996, p.F6]

Engaging and constantly surprising.

The House of Seven Gables probably has the strongest reputation as a film, thanks mostly to the casting of George Sanders and Vincent Price, Lester Cole's serviceable script, Milton Krasner's moody cinematography and Frank Skinner's Oscar-nominated score. [21 May 1988]

The darkly comic tone is often just right, and the casting occasionally pays off.

Best of all is a Halloween party where the Falls are complimented on their "costume," then outed.

Technically, Titanic is a marvel.

This might have been a very good movie if it had lost about one of its three hours.

It's not a profound film, but it is heartfelt, and Burns has done his best to keep it clear and emotionally direct.

A movie that keeps you wondering about its characters' true feelings and motives long after you've left the theater.

A sweet, funny exercise in nostalgia, though it's also self-congratulatory and awfully calculating.

Closer to "M*A*S*H" than "Dr. Strangelove," which in itself wouldn't be a bad thing. But for all its engaging qualities, Three Kings doesn't seem to know what kind of beast it is.

Before it finally twists itself into a pretzel in the third act, this paranoid thriller creates a scary mood and allows its leading actors to go all the way with it.

Its honesty and insights are refreshing.

Gorgeous and troubling.

For all the cynicism on the soundtrack and the occasional lapses in tone, this is a remarkably generous comedy.

The story moves beyond the limitations of its setting, transforming itself into an affecting parable about the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children from trauma, cruelty and knowledge of evil.

Warm and fuzzy and amusing enough to be slightly more than an innocuous baby-sitter for the kids.

(Morris) sees Leuchter's story as more personal, more about one individual's self-absorption and folly, than an indictment of a particular system.

Norton's performance, which is every bit as varied as his Oscar-nominated work in Primal Fear, once more demonstrates that he's one of the most remarkable chameleons working in film.

The graphic battles may grow repetitious toward the end, the final scenes are almost sadistically drawn out, and the script often lacks humor. But this movie moves.

A tasty/tacky treat.

A very romantic picture.

There's an almost natty precision about this picture that's so rare these days in American movies that it provides satisfaction in itself.

So campy that it almost plays like a sendup of the series. It is to Alien what "The Bride of Frankenstein" was to other 1930s Frankenstein movies, and it even shares some of the same themes.

Even as you question the central premise, Brooks makes you want to buy into it.

There's too much feedback and some of the numbers are allowed to go on, Grateful Dead style, but the movie means to invoke a trance, and often it succeeds. [29 Oct 1997, p.C1]

At times, Heart and Souls seems seriously interested in the kinds of ideas explored in "The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder's fascinating attempt to account for why five people happened to meet their deaths in the same seemingly random circumstances. But any pretensions along those lines are quickly drowned by the cutesy special effects and Marc Shaiman's shamelessly overwrought score. [13 Aug 1993, p.D14]

As playfully time-oriented as its title, Becoming Who I Was makes reincarnation a central part of its story about a journey through more than one life.

It has its value as a vigorous variation on a theme.

Today it seems remote and overblown, with Bergman, Young's score and Ray Rennahan's muted color photography the chief compensating factors. [03 Dec 1998]

The script’s first half is vigorous enough.... But the movie needs the audacity of a “Trainspotting” to lift it above the norm.

The results are uneven. Almost any scene with Hawkes is alive and satisfyingly showy. You feel his absence when he isn’t there, though Joanna Cassidy, Crystal Reed and Robert Forster all have their moments.

Great dragon, dumb script. And pity the poor actors who have to deal with that situation. [31 May 1996]

Eric Clapton, who wrote the blues-heavy score, told Oldman that the film was "like you throwing up over everyone." He meant that as a compliment. Whether you respond to this gritty, punishingly long and plotless film will depend largely on whether you agree. [13 Mar 1998]

Cross occasionally lets their more promising moments go slack. The staging of a few scenes suggests home-movie limitations. But enthusiasm counts for a great deal in a project as ambitious and strange as Second Nature.

Watching Avalon is like leafing through someone else's family album. It undoubtedly means a great deal more to Levinson, because he can make the associations we can't. [19 Oct 1990, p.28]

What’s most memorable about Kedi are the individual, self-contained moments.

Gaup deftly keeps track of the major betrayals without making them seem too obvious.

A civilized summer entertainment that never quite transcends its genre. [7 Aug 1992, p.24]

In the end, it’s all about that little girl and how she responds to the lavish song-and-dance epic designed to praise Korea’s leader, the late Kim Jong-II. Under the Sun may seem slow and hollow at times, but her emotions appear to be quite spontaneous.

The animation is smooth and occasionally quite expressive, the character voices are well-chosen, and the pacing (songs aside) is confident. For young moviegoers unfamiliar with the Camelot story, this could be an option. [15 May 1998]

In any future compendium of film clips from anti-Hollywood satires, Swimming With Sharks will surely be included. Several scenes are so incisive and well-written that they stand out as classics of their kind. [09 June 1995, p.H32]

But they all end up spinning their wheels under Deran Sarafian, whose action-movie credentials include Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Death Warrant." He tries to establish a tongue-in-cheek attitude that seems as borrowed and clueless as Stephen Sommers' script. [4 Feb 1994, p.D28]

It's all over the place, trying to cover every base as it delivers its neon-style message: Nothing is more important than friendship. Indeed, it's so busy pushing buttons that it rarely has time to settle down to establish even one relationship that rings true - by and large, we have to take the actors' word for it - yet fans of this cast probably won't mind too much.

She's So Lovely works best as an actors' showcase. The ordinarily reserved Robin Wright Penn goes through a transformation not unlike Mia Farrow's complete makeover in Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose; she's never been brassier or funnier. [29 Aug 1997]

The characterizations now seem a tad thin, but Ives still impresses, and so does Charlton Heston as the most conflicted character, caught in the middle of this Cold War allegory about two feuding families and an outsider (Gregory Peck) with pacifist leanings. [29 Feb 1996, p.D3]

A perplexing movie. Wonderful to look at, delightful to behold, but when the plot breaks open the insides turn out be mold. [14 May 1993, p.21]

The only trouble with all these parodies is that Hot Shots begins to seem chaotic rather than clever. Too many of the send-ups turn out to be unnecessary detours. [31 July 1991, p.E5]