Mike Clark

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]