Peter Stack

Though this film's considerable warmth derives from dalmatian puppies and other animals who take charge of their fates, Close steals the show.

The richness of characters make this movie shine. It's just that, somehow, a certain sense of fire is missing.

SubUrbia is depressing comedy -- the more so because director Richard Linklater's satirical picture of youthful alienation rings painfully true.

This wacky buddy road film... has a brilliant glow of intelligence behind the stupidness. It's easily the funniest movie of the year.

This British film also mocks the rave culture it celebrates, and it's charming in a way that is hip but surprisingly down to earth.

Muppet Treasure Island is an elaborate, juicy eyeful. The film is an impressive maze of visual scale and perspective that lets humans and puppets interact as a single species. The overall effect is a wonderful sense of the fantastical. But simplicity might have helped where the movie often stagnates with gimmicks.

Slick, glossy, overblown, implausible. [15 July 1988, Daily Notebook, p.E1]

Heart and Souls stands up beautifully as a heart- tugging testament to the importance of taking care of the sometimes complicated business of being a decent, loving person before some fateful bus crash robs you of the chance. [13 Aug 1993, p.C1]

For a big, floppy, silly movie that is in many ways the epitome of throwaway entertainment, Twins has its charms. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito make it seem they had so much fun making this flabby comedy that the fun becomes infectious.

Wonderful characters keep the movie from gagging on sweetness.

Violent, gritty and probably too intense for very young children, but for anybody between the ages, say, of 10 and 10, it's certain to be a crowd pleaser with fascinating dark tones and menacing undercurrents that are quite a contrast from Saturday cartoon fare. [30 Mar 1990, p.E1]

Using documentary-style Super 16 film and staged cutaway interviews with friends and family, James and his photographer and co-producer, Peter Gilbert, fashioned a movie with an affecting, candid look.

Achieves a rare interweaving of the darkly poetical and raspy, cockeyed comedy.

It's the kind of movie you may approach with a show-me attitude, only to be won over to its hip sense of fun and a gentle humanity that lets you walk away with a glow. [1 Oct 1993, p.C1]

Turning the comic game slightly on its ear and injecting it into a romantic Western setting, Maverick, inspired by the old TV show, plays its ace for all it's worth. Ace, in this case, is fun. [20 May 1994, p.C1]

A spirited adventure with generous romantic and comic charms.

If it all sounds rather heady for a Disney movie, well, it is. And it is one of the curious delights of The Lion King that a moralistic patriarchal drama can be played out in a Darwinian setting and still emerge shining in a dream coat of Hollywood entertainment values. [24 June 1994, p.C1]

Beautiful in both its brevity and its vision of contemporary Indian culture, the film abounds in easygoing humor.

The new film Parenthood is a challenging, funny, affecting and mostly rewarding effort - like parenthood itself. It makes good use of a large ensemble cast led by Steve Martin as a man striving to be a good dad. [2 Aug 1989, p.E1]

Exceptional, powerful new documentary.

Director Ted Demme (with a terse script by Mike Armstrong) keeps it darkly funny while exposing raw nerves in a buildup to unexpected tragedy.

Zellweger has the most interesting new face in film, and she knows how to use silences to say what the heart wants to get across.

It's a stunning, delightful image adventure like nothing done before on the big screen.

A perfect vehicle for Robin Williams. He again plays the compassionate, manic clown that has been his main character throughout his movie career. And audiences love his wild end runs.

He Got Game seems to cheer for integrity, honesty and hard work while playing up its own cheap thrills.

Not every moment of the film is as potent as the book (which is noted for passages of passion and impassioned eloquence), but Cry, the Beloved Country overcomes its own limitations to become a glorious tribute to the workings of a faith that does not blind but opens up the human spirit.

Rush is amazing throughout this absorbing, provocative film.

Adults may have more fun watching this engaging film, which cleverly paints Hollywood as a treacherously duplicitous place even though it turns out some of the most joyous entertainments on earth.