Mike Clark

Fortunately, Games' finale is lively enough to keep viewers from cursing on the way out; there's a monsoon, a speedboat chase, a fire, explosion, the usual. Yet does it really exceed action genre expectations? Not really. Even enthusiasts may exit Red October's sequel feeling a little blue. [5 June 1992, p.4D]

Shots is intermittently funny - but never, even on its own terms, important. [31 July 1991, p.6D]

'Burbs is a messy mix of Gremlins, Neighbors, Rear Window and Arsenic and Old Lace. [17 Feb 1989, p.6D]

This breezy farce has lost just enough of its luster to seem no longer disproportionately funnier than its oft-televised Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis remake You're Never Too Young. [29 May 1998]

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]

Smith is looking more and more like a developing major talent, so it could be years until we get a handle on this movie's legacy. The film is not only defensible as a cute one-shot, but also as a positive sign for the future.

If you can imagine a relatively solemn take on this theme, RoboCop 2 is it. Though Irvin Kershner's direction is competent, there's not a whole lot of eye-twinkling in evidence. [22 June 1990, p.2D]

There are seven 13-year-old sitters in all, and Melanie Mayron (directing her first theatrical feature) doesn't always flub it when any two interact. But the film's nature and even its title peg it as an ensemble work, and Mayron's group footage looks like crude camcording of a ninth-grade picnic. [18 Aug 1995, p.11D]

There's nothing very rockin' about seeing Gene Hackman give a rare indifferent performance as a Navy admiral trying to effect a rescue for which his hands are tied.

You can have a better time title-scanning "Johnny" pics in an alphabetical video guide than you can enduring the latest Blade Runner knockoff. [26 May 1995, p.3D]

For the first time in years (even counting his excellent work in “Internal Affairs”), Richard Gere's acting gears aren't too obviously apparent; Julia Roberts, though the breadth of her emotional range remains in question, is beautiful and can act - a not-bad blueprint for continued employment. [23 Mar 1990, Life, p.4D]

A less-than-middling melodrama whose subject matter and talent never click as much as its credits portend.

There's, say, a 20-minute stretch where this slapstick works; there's also a subplot about N!Xau's lost children (cute, but shruggable), and a real pace-killer involving two rival soldiers. Uys' shots often fail to match, and the monotonic narration really grates; it drones on like a junior high science film on plant blight. [16 Apr 1990, p.9D]

JFK is provocative, a technical primer and an ensemble treat with unusually well- realized star cameos. [20 Dec 1991]

The "Age of Innocence" oozes anthropological dazzle, but Dazed and Confused may some day rate its own Smithsonian showings for clinically re-creating the High School Experience 1976. [20 Sept 1993]

Look out for everything, and listen, too, because Suspects is one of the most densely plotted mysteries in memory.

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.

Brothers never catches fire the way Gilliam's "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" did. And you almost feel during subpar special effects that sweaty stagehands are pushing the trees around.

Richard LaGravenese's flashback script craftily tones down Waller's wind, adds a germane subplot and strengthens the novella's framing device. [02 Jun 1995, p.D1]

Ultimately grim, Liam is ripe in humanity --and even comedy.

Long, lumbering, pretentious and for some a possible laff riot. [23 Dec 1994]

The film, technically deft, is about as erotic as Mona Lisa on a hardwood floor or on a water bed. [23 Dec 1992, p.8D]

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

When the cast starts wondering where the roadkill is, someone says, "Follow the smell." Good tip: That's how you'll know where Wax is playing.

Though Hour 2's heavy emphasis on physical and emotional confrontations stimulates dramatic momentum, this respectable superstar meeting is finally, of all things, ordinary. [26Mar1997 Pg04.D]

Despite haunting moments in this fabricated fling between a headstrong Native American and an English sea captain, the film isn't as chirpy or majestic as recent Disney fare. [16Jun1995 Pg. 01.D]

A hopeless if harmless boxing picture whose principals just happen to wear uniforms outside the ring, Annapolis is set in a U.S. Naval Academy where no one ever seems to attend class.

Compared with other films Costner has directed, Range isn't a folly like "The Postman," nor is it quite as over-elaborated as "Dances With Wolves."

Emperor is like Full Metal Jacket - uneven, fuzzy, imperfect, and one of the reasons the movies were invented. [20 Nov 1987, p.1D]

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]

Overall, though, the movie commands mild respect. Cinematographer Kenneth MacMillan, who also shot Rush, has an ability to keep squalid surroundings from turning into eyesores without polishing them too much. Casey Siemaszko puts his own spin on Curly, the sadistic malcontent who'd like George and Lenny fired from his father's ranch. And however futilely, Sinise and scripter Horton Foote even try to make Curly's doomed Mrs. (Sherilyn Fenn ) more than the one-dimensional sexpot she often is. Bottom line: More mouse than man - but occasionally, a mighty mouse. [2 Oct 1992, p.4D]

There's nothing super about the movie, aside from a loopiness that affords it a certain guilty-pleasure cachet.

A film dealing fully with Hoffman's final years might have had a lot more punch.

A promising debut by young writer/director Jacob Estes, this story of a botched revenge plot still isn't likely to break out even in multiplex August dog days.

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

A few chuckles will be had by both the rabble and more learned brains.

It won't be a waste of time to watch these people — on cable, and probably not too far in the future.

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

Has the unanticipated craft and artfully ambiguous appeal of last year's "Croupier," a movie whose art-house word-of-mouth success could be duplicated here.

Broken Toys is beyond repair [18 Dec 1992, p.6D]

Whether we're talking this go-round, the original or the second sequel the finale seems to promise, I'd rather try standing drunk on a see-saw (though maybe not over dirty syringes) than see Saw.

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.

If it's conventional, it's also competent. Thanks to director Charles Stone III (of the famed "Whassuup?!" Budweiser spots), the clichés at least have a good beat.

The movie's success with viewers will depend on whether they think Vaughn is funny or tiresome.

This definitive "life goes on" movie does what Altman does best: juggle 22 characters, deftly switch moods, and offer a comlex warts-and-all characters whose lives seem to extend beyond the screen. Few movies attempt this; Fewer succeed. [1 Oct 1993]

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

The movie, though, is more of the same: another current comedy with want-to-see elements that fails to deliver the goods. [01 Jul 1992]

Suspense takes a vacation in sequel. [13 November 1998, p. 6E]

Consistently compelling without being truly memorable.

The film does what it can to dramatize the bond, but Richter has a disproportionate acting load because his co-star's emoting is below the water line. Happily, he carries it. [16 Jul 1993 Pg. 08.D]

This movie is a howler as well -- possibly even intentionally -- but if it is a black comedy, the joke is overextended by far too many arms and legs. [19 March 1999, Life, p. 13E]

At least a more satisfying basketball saga than last year's "Coach Carter."

Jumbo budget and the same talent notwithstanding, the element of surprise is missing. And ghostbusters, it seems, need that every bit as much as their targets. [16 Jun 1989, p.1D]

Almost everyone in this has done better, and those who haven't, like young Ms. Panettiere, have plenty of time to do so.

The movie's opening half-hour is merely dull, but the final hour is brain-damaging. [11 Dec 1998]

Don't put yourself through this hell.

Like it or not (it's hard to dislike), it's less a movie than a concept searching for one. [9 Dec 1988, p.6D]

It's asking a lot of audiences to spend nearly two hours with characters as screen-unfriendly as the ones played by Biggs and Ricci, though both actors (and especially Ricci) do what they're asked to do.

Designed to be a date movie, Rules could have stronger male appeal than many comedies of its ilk.

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.

It's one bad apple.

Yet because this adaptation of Franz Lidz's childhood memoir is odd enough and even stylish enough to attract a small following, you might want to weigh my ingrained dyspepsia before electing not to see it. [15 Sep 1995]

The crucifixion is the strongest such scene of all time. [26 Aug 1988]

This cliche primer is a bit more than bearable - even when it's literally and figuratively off the track. It's no Cocktail, but it's no Dom Perignon, either. [27 Jun 1990, p.1D]

This is a great movie, but it needs a sales job because it's in Mandarin.

Though the movie is more mediocre than abysmal, Ryan's recently banged-up filmography (remember In the Cut) could use what every fighter needs at ringside: a good cut man to stop the bleeding.

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]

You can feel the movie going wrong in the first scene.

The relaxed and confident Crusade is the first Jones outing to benefit from actual characterizations. [24 May 1989, Life, p.1D]

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.

Director Francis Ford Coppola's revamping of his Vietnam epic, Apocalypse Now, with 49 added minutes, has significantly improved the troubled blockbuster. The film now seems both mellowed and — thanks in part to the most vibrant-looking prints in its 22-year history — revitalized.

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

Jaded samurai Toshiro Mifune shows younger warriors the ropes, just as John Wayne used to toughen up tenderfoots on the range. [21 Apr 1995, p.3D]

Director James Foley deftly juggles expressionistic actor closeups with drab widescreen shots that convey abject seediness. [30 Sep 1992, p.1D]

Eastwood gutsily stages the extended opening slowly and methodically... [But u]nintentional yuks litter an otherwise somber political thriller adapted from David Baldacci's novel.

The result is a foot-stomping rouser. Where else can you get a cop in his underwear boogalooing with skyscraper terrorists? [15 July 1988, Life, p.4D]

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]

Even in the classiest movie summer of the decade, Mob is destined to demand respect for Pfeiffer. [19 Aug 1988]

A premier boxing movie and a forceful Depression remembrance for the socially conscious, Cinderella Man also ices it for stargazers that Russell Crowe is the dominant screen actor working today.

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

The most imperfect of the year's best movies, Magnolia's flaws are easily forgiven because they are the result of go-for-broke ambition.

The cycle thrills here are everything: flips, collisions, a chase across the top of a fast-moving train and even a zoom down the aisle of one of the train's cars as the passengers take it in stride.

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.

Ten minutes into the picture, you're searching the screen for life-support machines.

This unearthed cheapie and fast-forwarder's delight is redeemed by the dubbed- in cathedral tones (they're vintage gladiator pic) coming from our hero's larnyx. [20 Dec 1991, p.3D]

Like the first half of "Best in Show," the movie is so deadpan that sometimes you have to pinch yourself to realize how potently satirical it is.

It'll be 30 years this Thanksgiving since Elvis starred in Blue Hawaii. Polynesian kissy-face has been going downhill on screens ever since. [02 Aug 1991, p.5D]

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

As son Tom Joad, Henry Fonda gave the screen performance of his career. [09 Apr 2004, p.10E]

Sissy Spacek goes vengefully telekinetic in one of director Brian De Palma's best movies, and her scenes with mom Piper Laurie (both actresses were Oscar-nominated) release a lot of energy themselves. [29 Jun 2004]

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]

The movie is so aggressively ingratiating that it's probably not to be fully trusted, yet it works suprisingly well on its own limited terms[14 May 1999, p. 8E]