Peter Stack

Stunning, odd, glorious, calm and sensationally absorbing.

A sexy, moody comedy that plays like a dreamy comic novel.

This is not comfortable comedy.

This moody film, set in muggy Memphis, exudes a dangerous veracity that's both exciting and poisonous.

Eric Idle--a royal among sillies--turns in a wonderfully wacky performance.

Drawn with the big-headed, big- eyed appeal that has made the TV show hot among the diaper crowd, the film has a satirical edge that won't be lost on adults but retains a sense of innocence and a joyful toddler's outlook.

A rare spectacle on the big screen.

Carrey goes boldly where no funnyman has ventured before, and it's simply amazing to watch him do it.

A deftly layered drama.

That's Entertainment! III aims mightily to please, and it's a fascinating, unpretentious journey through a garish, opulent, often breathtaking American art form. [13 May 1994, p.C3]

It's an excellent movie for kids, because it is about how amazing children can be.

Pretentious but absorbing.

Better Than Chocolate is smart, funny adult entertainment -- the sex scenes are bold and convincing -- with a love story that is touching and surprisingly cheerful.

A surprisingly handsome film whose visual appeal often shores up a predictable plot. [14 Jan 1994, p.C3]

What an attempt, and what a work of the imagination. The Fifth Element' will change the look of science fiction and will probably be imitated for years.

Although the movie goes too far, you can hardly get enough of its delicious atmosphere - and of Turner, in particular, who has never looked better on the big screen. [8 Dec 1989]

Very high on my list of good movie titles, has fascinating deep tones, surprising poignancy, and tendor humor for a movie aimed at teenage audiences. [28 Feb 1986]

The bad news is that The Paper, starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close and Marisa Tomei, is unabashedly contrived, hopelessly simplistic and overly romantic about its target subject -- the frequently desperate art of putting out a big city daily newspaper. The good news is that all of the above results in a spirited if sometimes awkward big-screen entertainment.[25 March 1994, p.C1]

The Mighty Ducks is not going to be remembered as a cinematic treasure, but for a movie that's built on a fairly shaky framework, it delivers a good feeling you can take home. [02 Oct 1992, p.C5]

Haunting in its charm, Children of Heaven opens a window on both contemporary Tehran and the hopeful heart of childhood. This lovely, amusing film deserves a big audience -- especially families. It touches on the innocence of children with tremendous affection.

Paradis, an actress and pop singer, is sensational.

Features convincing, often soaring, performances by a savvy cast that must have gotten adrenaline shots administered by Stone himself.

The film offers a fanciful, lush urban setting, unusual for Disney animated features, and a couple of good songs, Once Upon a Time in New York City performed by Huey Lewis and Perfect Isn't Easy sung by Midler.

It's a career high mark for Bacon, whose flashy smirk and stifled grimaces flesh out a character both scary and pathetic in this intimate, nostalgic film that delves into the art of the hustle.

A joyful film -- and hopefully one that will not slip away unnoticed.

Sandlot is no ''Stand By Me'' -- it lacks the dramatic, us-vs.- them power of that popular '80s film. The look is simple, direct, often gimmicky with the big dog purposely overdone as a clunky animatronic figure. The movie is also a little long. But somehow its contrived tone and style become minor charms. You walk away feeling that perhaps people aren't as mean as the movies make them out to be these days and that maybe there's hope after all. Or at least there was in 1962. [7 Apr 1993, p.C1]

Fraser and Hurley are terrifically matched for their interplay, and some of the writing is so smart it outclasses the film's cartoonish feel.

A potent reminder that these characters and the actors who brought them to life will never return again. Seeing the very end of an endlessly hyped trilogy somehow puts a lump in the throat. [Special Edition]

There's poignant drama in this brash, sometimes overstated film, and Muriel's transformation is truly touching.

This oddball comedy may be one of the brightest, funniest pieces of entertainment of the season.

Children, and adults with adventurous taste in movies, will find this among the most eye-popping big-screen experiences in ages.

For all the eyepopping splendor and in-your-face reality, this film leaves the viewer unsatisfied and feeling a little cheated out of compelling drama.

The Wanderer can turn an anxious tone to creepy and phantasmagoric. Kaufman's brilliant camera work relies on the exaggerated style of comic books, and the visual energy throughout is gritty.

The film is energized by the naturalness of its characters and the way in which it plays a game of mixed signals and double illusions.

As prim and dreamily romantic as an old Doris Day movie -- and a genuine eye-pleaser photographically -- the new romantic comedy I.Q. is one pokey little film that refuses to get up and dance. Or sing. Or do much of anything but be mildly pleasant. [23 Dec 1994, p.D1]

Fans have cause to cheer.

Bound by mother-daughter ties that are complex, touching, ultimately so powerful they yield the kind of tearful joy rarely experienced at the movies.

A solid bit of fun in the straight-arrow family entertainment genre, Richie Rich, starring Macaulay Culkin, doesn't pretend to be much more than pleasant matinee fodder.

Some of "The Shawshank Redemption'' comes across as outrageously improbable. Yet the film keeps pulling you back with its sense of striving humanity slowly turning the tables against evil.

There's almost no violence in the film, which favors natural settings and, for weaponry, archery. Only one scene, when Rothbart appears as a bat, is strong enough to make kids shudder a little. The script chirps with funny interplay between the animals.

A teasy, cogent and funny noir spoof of dime novels and 1960s Hollywood.

A beautifully crafted, fun-filled and full-gallop action adventure. [17 Nov 1990, p.C3]

A wild ride through nonstop visual effects yet a warm wallow in the cinema of the dumbed-down.

The big screen -- with that 3-D depth charge -- captures the strange magic of the "big top" Cirque in visual gulps.

Delicately flavored as much by the inherent appeal of its classic Cinderella-like story as by its pictorial beauty, The Scent of Green Papaya is a lovely experience in the dreamily exotic.

Star Trek: Insurrection is out there where the imagination collides with roaring spaceships, exotic planets, wonderfully nutty costumes, a few choice jokes and some fascinating ideas.

A joyous first feature by director Kwyn Bader, is a charmer.

Provocative, audacious.

Mighty Joe Young is a mighty fun movie. The trick? They didn't try to out-monster those bloated King Kong and Godzilla franchises. But it's still a hoot of an adventure about an overgrown ape having trouble adjusting to life in California.

There is ultimately in Rain Man a soul that emerges. It's not the grand vision found in the great films, but it is a vision nevertheless. [16 Dec 1988]

Captures the emotions of spousal charges, countercharges, defenses and pleadings ranging from brutally sarcastic to despairing.

I'm completely unsure what else Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is about. I can tell you that 70 percent of moviegoers in their 20s and 30s will likely find this crazy production to be a barrel of fun, and frequently a barrel of laughs. A certain intelligence peeks through it all. [9 Aug 1985, p.68]

In addition to being a visual treat, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a musical whose handful of songs delivers elements of the plot in the manner of a '40s MGM musical comedy. Songs by composer-lyricist Danny Elfman (founder of the rock band Oingo Boingo) are amusingly vital throughout, and even pretty. Andrew Lloyd Webber could take some tips from this guy. [22 Oct 1993, p.C1]

It earns respect through good writing and some unexpectedly terrific performances. Viewers may walk away surprised, thinking that this film is more satisfying than it seemed at first.

The action is so fast that the viewer almost breaks out in a sweat...Ultimately vapid. Lola never does develop as a character, and the fuss seems ultimately pointless.

Some of the middle section of Bean sags, but most of the film zips along with a series of comic setups, played like skits, that emphasize Bean's klutziness, his feeble mentality, his childlike, me-too urges.

A playful, sexy piece of work -- just what the Bard might have conjured up for a movie adaptation of his beloved spring-fever comedy.

Although the reality of the America's Cup series is that it seems elitist and removed from the sweaty tumult of sports in general, Wind succeeds in turning the competition into one that is intense, pictorially compelling and intelligible in terms of basic racing maneuvers. [11 Sep 1992, p.C1]

This film is family.

Scores big as a study of small-town life where characters collide and are forced to get along for the good of the community.

The Jungle Book has been shaped into solid, not-quite-golden but effusive family-style entertainment with exotic settings, amusing animal characterizations, hair-raising adventures and a saccharine romantic theme that is played big but finally is the film's least interesting facet. [23 Dec 1994, p.D1]

Acted with almost maniacal force by Jaffrey, Mary is at once fascinating and despicable.

Though its sentiment may be lost on the very young, the movie is strictly two-hanky fare.

Solondz ("Fear, Anxiety and Depression") is almost unrelenting in his quirky fixation with the adolescent outsider and he pursues visions of everyday human injury nearly to the point of caricature. But he stops just short, and this amusingly twisted film mixes humor and heart-tugging sadness with a disturbing vitality.

Sgt. Bilko's attempts at loose-cannon nuttiness sometimes go astray, but under Jonathan Lynn's direction, the film manages to keep a lively balance between the dumbed-down antics of Bilko's platoon of young motor- pool hustlers, to whom he is mentor, and the more nuanced satire of dimwit military brass.

The result is a lovely wash of humanity, served with affection.

A little abhorrent yet strangely appealing. I found it arty and pretentious, but still couldn't turn my eyes away from its almost hypnotic coolness and fascinating psychological horrors. [23 Sept 1988]

Life With Mikey is friendly and funny and ought to renew a lot of lost affection at the movies in coming weeks -- it's solid entertainment with heart and an ever- so-gentle contemporary edge. [4 June 1993, p.C1]

Director Jacques Audiard beautifully lays out the story of a charming nobody named Albert who becomes a master of the half- smile and nonchalant gestures of deceit. But the story is also a cogent metaphor for French collaboration with the Nazis.

A surprisingly clever lunatic comedy that may prompt some sniping from liberal fussbudgets, but has undeniable comic vitality. [15 Oct 1993, p.C1]

It's an amazing actor who can carry a movie by simply sitting calmly in a chair. That's what Christopher Walken does in the comedy-thriller Suicide Kings. He's so good, one hardly blinks.

Though the dialogue is laced with the colloquial, the film has an inviting tone that even stuffiest of old fogies may find refreshing. Everybody gets put down, but with affection.

Gentle, wacky, down-to-earth and romantic.

The characters are beautifully drawn in this bittersweet melodrama written and directed by Mark Herman.

A skillful exposition of the pain of pro wrestling, and the high price participants pay in terms of physical and ego injuries.

The glimpses of religious life bumping into secular passion are touching and warmly comic.

A humongous animation event that ratchets up the level of the computer art that Hollywood is swooning over these days.

By now, fans of the studied loveliness of Merchant Ivory films savor that they aren't pat, slick or especially action-packed. A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries is a fine example -- themes percolate and evolve into poignancy.

For fans of Westerns, the film may have particular appeal. Its period gear and garb and galloping horses are major attractions

They fractured Greek myth but slapped mountains of comic muscle on the hunky hero in Hercules. What fun! The great old Greek is turned into a '90s-style athlete who gets endorsements, sandals named after him and a chance to stand tall among nymphs and muses after whipping the villainous lord of the underworld, Hades, personified as a Hollywood movie mogul type.

Sappiness and romance always are fine with me, and Big is a good example of a movie that effortlessly blends sweetness and fun - it feels a little like stumbling on a picnic of smiles. [3 Jun 1988, p.E1]

Can make a person sick in two ways at once -- through its lowdown raunch and through the spasms of laughter that use stomach muscles one might not have known existed.

This is a funny novelty, no denying it.

Even if it's too self-conscious, "Going All the Way," set in 1950s Indianapolis, nevertheless has a mix of the sweet and the forlorn that somehow works.

When the action is extreme, GoldenEye is supercharged with spectacular, thundering, brain-numbing fun.

A brilliant performance (Walken).

The film, with Newman's riveting performance, is an exceptional portrait of an oddball politician who is equal parts scoundrel and folk hero, wielding power with a quirky, almost cantankerous charm, while also pulling strings in a loyal and powerful Southern political machine. [13 Dec 1989, p.E1]

The movie keeps a snappy pace and the suspense pot boiling. The snippy interplay between the two cops adds enjoyable twists of comic chemistry. Constant rain and slick streets, though a cliche, set a moody tone. [07 Oct 1996, p.D2]

Ghosts of the Mississippi doesn't glorify in happy endings. That's because it haunts with the reminder that racism remains an unhealed wound.

It's a feel-good deal you can take the whole family to, or even better, a date. And this almost cuddly film, built on a farfetched case of mistaken identity, delivers plenty of fun.

Both a delightful story and a great food movie that ranks with "Like Water for Chocolate'' or "Babette's Feast.''

The plotless Dennis the Menace is nonsensical and playful and, in its way, creates a pretty dreamworld that is a foundation of good escapist entertainment. In addition, Walter Matthau takes good-natured grumpiness to new heights as legendary curmudgeon Mr. Wilson, opposite a kid named Mason Gamble, as Dennis, who (another minority opinion) acts circles around Macauley what's-his-name. [25 June 1993, p.C1]

The crack in the pretty picture of America goes a lot deeper than we thought, thanks to Ray's brooding vision.

The darker this visionary film gets -- and it gets very dark -- the less comic and the more chilling it becomes. At the same time, it grows more brilliant as a view of modern society poisoned by a battering incivility or cruel exploitation that, in Leigh's view, is played out most profoundly in gender conflict. When ''Naked'' isn't beaning your brain, it's twisting a screwdriver between the wires of your nerves. [28 Jan. 1994, p.C1]

Director Breathnach is in no hurry to pump up the action in this easygoing, episodic on-the-road adventure, and the slow pace may wear thin for some viewers. More than anything, I Went Down is a cleverly observed character study of two losers who find they suddenly stand a chance at winning.

Narrow Margin has a couple of moments of unabashed hokeyness and some predictable turns of plot, but considering that it's designed to do nothing more than provide escapist fare for 97 minutes, and that there are a dozen surprise twists, it hardly seems to matter. Like a train ride itself, you get into the swaying swing of things, and to hell with credibility. [21 Sep 1990, p.E3]

Director Manuel Poirier (Antonio's Girlfriend) is easygoing in the way he uses Paco and Nino to poke through veneers of machismo.

Forgiving its moments of melodrama, Philadelphia makes emotional power punches out of every smile, embrace and tear in its story of a regular guy contracting AIDS and getting booted out of the law firm that once lifted him to glory. [14 Jan 1994, p.C1]