Mike Clark

Occasionally very funny, the picture tends to coast on its cosmetics. A first-rate script might have made it a twisted masterpiece.

The best fictional movie about skiing. [27 Nov 2009, p.13D]

Every movie year has one, and now it's Britain's Mike Leigh who's conjured up the professional reviewer's worst nightmare: the picture so original, well-acted and witty that it must be given its ample due - despite being heavy on components guaranteed to bum out all but the most frequent moviegoers. [23 Dec. 1993, p.5D]

Who, though, would assume rambunctious humor would be served up as well? Dickens meets the Beverly Hillbillies, and the movie is handsome, too. [10 May 1996, p.4D]

In a possible breakthrough role, Law would seem to be the big winner.

This giggle does for dog shows what Rob Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" (in which Guest plays Nigel Tufnel) did for heavy metal.

Thompson has had the good sense and sensitivity to get Austen right, while letting Winslet steal the show.

The result is almost enough to make an audience levitate.

Robert Altman's first movie after M*A*S*H introduced Shelley Duvall and was among the director's personal favorites. All kinds of icons are satirically skewered, from Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz to Steve McQueen's sweater-clad Bullitt character. [04 Jan 2008, p.11D]

Some of the movie's best scenes -- knockouts, in fact -- involve musical interludes.

Set in mid-1944 France, it's a contest of wills between a Resistance railway inspector and a smooth Nazi general (Quiz Show's Paul Scofield) over purloined French art treasures. Filmed on location, often in inhumanly cold weather, the film eschewed the use of railcar models - running real trains into each other and off the track when the script frequently calls for it. [30 Sep 1994, p.3D]

Lumet (who also wrote the script) seems to feed on lousy cop-precinct furniture, political showboating and confrontations between street-savvy adversaries played by synergic actors. [16May1997 Pg.01.D]

Eddie Albert's Oscar-nominated slow burn as the loathing father in The Heartbreak Kid is the funniest portrayal of Midwestern WASP-ism in movie history. [08 Feb 2002]

Too lingeringly creepy to ignore. [23 Oct 1992]

Unfaithful doesn't push the melodrama the way "Attraction" did, but it lingers in the mind as much.

A movie that is easily likable.

The plan in A Simple Plan grows exponentially complex once the first dollar is purloined, an act that makes this unpretentious parable one of the season's better 'what's-going-to-happen-next?' movies.

Hard Candy, a highly original psychological thriller/revenge fantasy, can be bitterly hard to take and uncomfortably intense, but it's well worth consuming.

It's also as good as "Out of Africa."

Inside Deep Throat, an NC-17 documentary that deftly chronicles the fallout -- with about 15 seconds of hard-core footage -- has some surprise credits.

It's the actor/director's best movie - and the best Western by anybody in over 20 years. [7 Aug 1992]

A Hitchcockian chase...A crowd-pleasing airport-pursuit pic. [27 Dec 1995, p.D1]

Some will think this film silly; my guess is that Kaufman has himself an upscale cult movie, a la Women in Love or his own Unbearable Lightness. [05 Oct 1990, p.4D]

These swashbuckling romps are packed with the kind of slapstick and throwaway asides you may not expect before noting both were directed by Richard Lester, the man who molded the Beatles on screen. [01 May 1998]

It's a tough entry into the tough black-comic genre; don't be surprised if it becomes a classic. [31 March 1989]

And novel insights notwithstanding, this is a plain old good movie, too.

No movie this year has covered a larger canvas than director Chen Kaige's 2 1/2-hour spectacle. [29 Oct 1993, p.4D]

Drivers congest highways, while many of their cars inevitably end up as twisted scrap. The final Monsieur Hulot comedy from France's Jacques Tati couldn't possibly be more topical. [18 Jul 2008, p.13D]

Though less than the sum of its brilliant parts, the Coens' latest will still be must viewing in 32 years. [21 Aug 1991]

Fury, I Am a Fugitive, Wild Boys of the Road and Emperor of the North come immediately to mind as definitive Depression movies. This little gem, which may get overlooked, deserves to be on the same list. [20 August 1993, p.5D]

A comic-fantasy nightmare of the wickedest kind. [22 Jul 1992, p.4D

This cult movie for the ages suggests a Twilight Zone episode taken to gruesome extremes. [09 May 1997, p.3D]

Despite the unsexy title, it's one unusually well told. [11 Aug 1993, p.1D]

Fast and slick, it recalls The Buddy Holly Story - perhaps the last pop bio that was this much fun to watch. [7 May 1993, p.4D]

Rock actually rocks out as one of the year's most purely entertaining movies (just keep thinking: Bill Murray as a ventriloquist).

The one movie families search for every Christmas for an outing, the way "Something's Gotta Give" was last year and "Jerry Maguire" was in 1996.

It's a case of actors and strong writing coming together, and it's uncommon in contemporary movies.

This tough and unsparing film feels authentic; the cops are ever-railing against the FBI, and have sickly skin tones that probably result from too many bad burgers on the run. Homicide is provocative and, in its first hour, even hilarious. Its prestigious closing slot at the just-completed New York Film Festival was deserved. [10 Oct 1991, p.4D]

One of those movies in which pacing, dialogue and the right actors enliven a familiar story.

It's gratifying to see a comedy can have no redeeming social value yet be full of hearty laughs.

T&H isn't art, but it's surprisingly good ''arf'' - and I know what I like. [28 July 1989, p.5D]

The new version has the zip of a 96-yard punt return and all the ingredients to inspire the celebratory crushing of empty beer cans.

Deliberately downbeat, it's best as a two-person character study, stumbling a bit whenever it extends its parameters.

There's a cold intelligence at work here. Though its pleasures are plentiful enough to reward a second viewing, only Nicholson has saved Warners from a wing-clip. [23 June 1989, Life, p.1D]

Rob Reiner's competent-plus wax job on William Goldman's script is keenly orchestrated manipulation. [30 Nov 1990, p.4D]

The story itself is surprisingly seamless, yet it's the individual components that linger.

More Mexican mayhem with a you-know-what in 1957's The Black Scorpion, with effects by Harryhausen's mentor, Willis O'Brien. [24 Oct 2003]

It's a sweet tale, but the movie's real subject is Zhang, the camera's muse that the lens adores.

In contrast to big-screen bummers we see every week, this movie conveys genuine sorrow.

Consistently compelling without being truly memorable.

Nil is harrowing and soul-sapping, a look into the heart of darkness of London's underclass.

Overall, this is a tart little toughie - within its limitations. Like 1987's The Bedroom Window, also directed by Curtis Hanson, it admittedly pales next to suspense classics it recalls. Yet on its own terms, it's a hefty cut above the norm. [09 Mar 1990, p.1D]

It's fast, easy on the eyes, full of funny putdowns and cast well enough to have two memorable villains.

This movie is so much the opposite of uplifting that you think Gary Oldman ought to be in it. But it's honestly made, and its second half does linger in the memory.

Pace and performances dominate, with popped salutes going to Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Bacon and especially Nicholson's smiling barracuda. [11 Dec 1992]

For a movie that earns its R-rating for drug content and violence atop language and sexuality, it leaves you with the next thing to a mellow smile.

Land has a lot of funny moments, which are no less serious for being so, especially when the script turns politically prickly.

Talk about the limitations of using the four-star rating system to assess a movie both glorious and dreadful, with the dreadful components glorious as well in their own bent way. [23 Feb 1996, p.1D]

But it does mine Murphy's gifts, and the payoff is both nutty and funny. Sometimes even touching, too. [28Jun1996 Pg.01.D]

The filmmaker's new subject, the German occupation of France, has been treated with the seriousness it deserves in countless movies over the past half-century. This treatment is light and breezy for a change, though not altogether frivolous.

This movie is more wistful and winking, though it's obvious Mario is still working out emotional baggage with his tyrannically driven old man.

One can't underestimate the appeal of any movie constructed around Sean Connery's charm.

As a successful careerist who tries purging his neuroses in a coin-operated batting cage, Crystal is funny enough to keep Ryan from all-out stealing the film. She, though, is smashing in an eye-opening performance, another tribute to Reiner's flair with actors. [12 July 1989, Life, p.1D]

Transforming Clouseau's perennial nemesis into a more urbane smoothie, Kevin Kline delivers like a pro.

Shouldn't be overrated, but it's the first film of the year - and it's mid-February already - capable of keeping a grown-up awake.

Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (who created Back to the Future), this is director Walter Hill's best movie since 48 HRS. - unless you're among the cult fans of 1989's Johnny Handsome. [07 May 1993, p.3D]

Rocket flies with comic-kaze crooks. [21 February 1996, p. D6]

Aside from the "Nutty Professor," this is the funniest Murphy comedy since the Reagan Administration.

The ambitious State of Grace is full of imposing moments, several of them among the screen's most violent since the heyday of Sam Peckinpah. [14 Sep 1990, p.4D]

The presence of "Election's" Chris Klein as the male contingent's most sensitive member only emphasizes how much smarter that high school comedy was.

His complex personality comes through in this surprisingly affecting minor pleasure, though perhaps one shouldn't be surprised when two of Hoop Dreams' key makers reunite for another smart sports pic. [24Jan1997 Pg.03.D]

A young-Turk poker player challenges an old pro the way pool shooter Paul Newman took on Jackie Gleason in The Hustler, though the result lacks its predecessor's depth. Carrying Kid is one of the best casts ever. [03 Jun 2005, p.7E]

Just a good time at the movies, but it's still a smarter two hours than most "good times" are.

Back when anthology TV shows such as The Twilight Zone and Thriller were in their heyday, the movies, too, entertained a spate of horror/supernatural multistory features that fans still regard with affection. Director Mario Bava, whose earlier single-story satanic yarn Black Sunday picked up a wide following, turned Sabbath into one of the best. [11 Aug 2000, 8E]

A Dry White Season, despite transcendent subject matter, is arousing natural moviegoer interest as Marlon Brando's first screen outing in nine years. To his and everyone else's credit, the actor's undiminished magnetism never overwhelms a no-frills drama inspired by the 1976 uprising in Soweto, South Africa. [20 Sept 1989, p.4D]

Williams is impressively restrained as well as funny, so fans need not fret. It only means that instead of Good Morning, Preppies, we're given a bittersweet, even eerie Goodbye, Mr. Hip. [2 June 1989, Life, p.1D]

Numbers abound ('Round Midnight and Pannonica are just two), and the film addresses the mysterious psychological malady that shortened Monk's career. Has anyone ever been more fun to watch play than Monk? [26 Oct 1990, p.3D]

To its credit, the film isn't foolhardy enough to challenge the unbeatable Errol Flynn version on its own star-power turf. Gritty in most ways, broadly comic in some, and with a dose of the morbidly supernatural, this is a knowing variation at odds with quaint vintage-Hollywood reverence. [14 June 1991, p.1D]

At just 82 minutes, the film's welcome doesn't have time to wear out; especially amusing is the use of '50s pop ballads and some droll elementary-school classroom scenes. Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt are as ''right'' as the indoor production design. [30 June 1989, p.3D]

There's more terror than entertainment here, though. I've seen a lot of movies in my life I couldn't wait to see end; this may be the first good one.

You have to love any movie in which Robert Mitchum sells trains in a toy store and Janet Leigh looks the greatest she ever did on screen this side of Jet Pilot. [19 Dec 2008, p.6E]

Though dully directed and a bit prettified by Martin Ritt, James Wong Howe's outdoor Pennsylvania vistas often combine stirringly with Henry Mancini's score. [26 Jul 1996, p.3D]

This is a blueprint for mainstream moviegoing, but be forewarned that the finale is surprisingly down-and-dirty. In this case, though, the violence blisteringly redeems what has been a merely OK thriller. [8Nov1996 Pg.01.D]

Stately but static. [23 December 1997, p.3D]

More than a quarter-century ago, Redford played a young CIA employee in "Three Days of the Condor." Someday, it will make a great living-room double bill with Spy Game -- the actor then and now.

The movie has a couple of surprises, including a major plot turn at the end that leads to a memorable resolution somewhere between happy and wistful.

Beauty is about two-thirds the serious-edged romp it would like to be, which still leaves a lot of room for tony fun.

Indeed, Eve's milieu is fresh and specific enough to make even Jackson subordinate to Kasi Lemmons, the writer (and sometimes actress) who dreamed up this story for her directorial debut. [07Nov1997 Pg08.D]

This time, he (Ang Lee) has Kevin Kline, Joan Allen and Sigourney Weaver trudging through ice both emotional and literal -- an omnipresent metaphor but not one unduly sledgehammered. [26 September 1997, pg. 1 D}

Alas, what you've heard about Sofia Coppola (as Michael's daughter) is true; she swallows words and speaks “valley girl.'' What a difference Winona Ryder would have made. [24 Dec 1990, Life, p.1D]

Girls isn't fabulous, but you do feel its characters really have connected.

Between Jackson's opining and De Niro's hopeless alibis when he messes up, Jackie is good for a bundle of bloody ho-ho-hos.

The milieu here is unforgiving, which makes fighting for basic rights important. You get a sense of why Bob Dylan -- who performs on this soundtrack -- wanted to bolt this frigid part of the map.

Despite pockmarking racial humor, this is an appealing Fred MacMurray-Barbara Stanwyck companion piece to Double Indemnity and Douglas Sirk's There's Always Tomorrow. [29 Sep 1995, p.3D]

The Long Walk Home sounds as if it's going to be one of those primers in contemporary social history with made-for-TV written all over it. This is much, much better - even worthy of the big screen. [21 Dec 1990, p.5D]

Both female roles are unexpectedly meaty, so much so that the film loses something once the far more lively Stone is dispatched. Hour one (more satirical) is better all around, though the falloff isn't fatal. [1 June 1990, Life, p.2D]

A long-on-video 1993 release now restored to its original Cantonese with different music and more audio pop.

Stylish, brisk but lacking in human dimension despite an attractive cast. [22 May 1996, p. D1]