Peter Stack

Everything comes up forced and predictable in the nostalgic overload of bongs, Top 40 rock and boys' bluster about sex.

If you ask too many questions about Jacob's Ladder, you're likely to burst the bubble. For all its emotional sizzle and spit, it leaves you hanging. Yet the ride to Lyne's middle-of-nowhere is almost worth it. [2 Nov 1990, p.E1]

A gorgeously rendered and gritty film version of the classic adventure story by Jack London. It is a must-see for anyone with an interest in outdoor adventures, particularly as invented by Jack London. [18 Jan 1991, p.E3]

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.

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.

I would not take very young children to see The Goonies - too intense. I would also discourage any adults who are borderline in their liking of children from seeing this film. The Goonies could easily turn a lot of otherwise tolerant grownups against children, and I'm assuming that would be a terrible thing. [7 Jun 1985, p.75]

Delightfully comic - and the funniest moments are rich in meaning - A Man of No Importance is laced with memorable scenes.

A wildly funny sex farce that smartly combines big-time silliness with sophisticated wit.

So wonderfully odd, even spiritual, that audiences won't be able to do anything but smile.

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

Every instance when Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie feels like the worst movie ever made, some goofy little screechy moment involving the villainess, Divatox, saves it. So it winds up being nearly the worst movie ever made.

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the comedy game.

French director Claude Berri's exquisite, methodical Lucie Aubrac is a romantic thriller so tightly drawn it almost leaves one breathless.

Doesn't quite measure up to the extraordinary sweetness of the classic children's book by E.B. White on which it is based. But then again, how could it?

A gorgeous piece of work. It pulls every heartstring a good romance should, yet bursts with G-rated fun, wonderfully human characters and several solid and hummable songs.

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

Accomplishes the impossible, maybe the unimaginable -- it makes golf entertaining.

Director Sidney Lumet takes another shot at New York City police corruption in his new film, but despite some solid performances, Night Falls on Manhattan fails to deliver the passion of such Lumet classics as "Serpico" and "Prince of the City."

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

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]

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

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.

The new comedy is screechingly inane and skitters in nine directions at once.

Disney's 33rd animated feature, and its first with characters based on real people, is a stunning movie with clever twists, vivid characterizations, insightful songs and a surprising harvest of revisionist history that manages to ring smartly as pure entertainment.

Mr. Holland's Opus is a glowing tribute to the unsung heroics of those rare, gifted teachers who make a difference in life. Richard Dreyfuss, in a performance that both touches and inspires, plays music teacher Glenn Holland.

Viewers may feel let down because the depth promised by the movie's visual artistry is never quite delivered.

Full of that wonderful junky, clunky, huggable smartness that has made "Sesame Street'' an enduring phenomenon.

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.

This is an intimate, lyrical yet incendiary film, and it will please fans of both Young and Jarmusch, a filmmaker drawn to the intersection of American popular culture and a profound sense of loneliness.

What we get with Geronimo, is very good action long on Western flavor and not especially compelling in the historical sense. [01 Apr 1994, p.C16]

A raucous, in-your-face, commando-style action thriller that makes provocative use of Alcatraz as a lunatic's lair and San Francisco as a sitting duck.

When all is fretted and done, there's little dramatic payoff in this moody first feature by Bart Freundlich. But cinematographer Stephen Kazmierski's images are appealing, and the mood is on target -- Thanksgiving as hell.

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]

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.

This movie reverie has an almost laughable '80s tone - a yuppified style and even language - that practically buries Costner. [21 Apr 1989, Daily Datebook, p.E1]

A vital, sexy and touching movie that goes to the heart of what human caring is all about.

Ben Stiller seems the perfect actor to play Hollywood writer- turned-junkie Jerry Stahl in Permanent Midnight. He's got that bitter humor, the intense eyes betraying an inner life of pain. And he comes off as pathetic. The trouble is that it's hard to care -- even though the film is well-acted, artfully shot and at times haunting in its bleakness.

It's gimmicky Saturday-morning cartoon wackiness in your face -- funny, but brain-deadening.

Does have a certain classy charm because of its upscale setting. One could wait for the video.

Director Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused") should have taken a cue from the music -- the film needs a lot more snap.

The film's constrained style keeps the drama from reaching a full boil.

It's not always clear what this film is driving at, but Shiota makes the weirdness visually arresting.

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]

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

This is a funny novelty, no denying it.

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]

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

A lot more than the sum of its delicately balanced parts.

Extreme Measures has disturbing moments, and poignant ones, too. It plays a good game of paranoia with its unlikely hero. Once the story gets past Luthan's implausible firing on trumped-up drug charges, it places him alone in a hostile world. Relying only on a determination to solve the medical puzzle, he goes on a desperate expedition into the bowels of the subway system. It's a grim, scary sequence, and Grant seems a million miles away from his stammering comedic style -- an extreme that is surprisingly engaging.

For all its hip, rat-a-tat dialogue and a sharp photographic look that give Wall Street a feeling that something exciting is happening, the movie's a bankrupt deal. [11 Dec 1987, p.E1]

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]

Overall, A Goofy Movie is an incoherent mess that jumps from one unlikely, brainless, crash-bang situation to another, with each element of a protracted father-son bonding story increasingly out of synch with the others.

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 Cable Guy doesn't know when to pull the plug. Much of the film plays like a personal boob tube with Carrey trapped inside, determined to act his way out in a mugging freak show. He's a disturbing mixture of psychopath and pathetically misguided lonely soul.

Although the film doesn't live up to complexities of the human issues -- nor the awesome tragedy -- that must have been faced in real life, what you feel watching it is a mixture of horror, moral self-examination, a tinge of inspiration, and -- let's face it on these winter nights -- you feel cold. [15 Jan 1993, p.C1]

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.

An earthy, sexy mystery.

Sizemore ("Heat") and Miller, though saddled with a lot of scientific DNA jargon, are really the only lively people in this dense, gruesome film that stubbornly refuses to break out of its contrived atmosphere.

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]

Like a coffee-table book, it looks inviting and teases you with sumptuous photography but leaves you cold.

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

This novelty film is little more than a strung-together product reel of animation pieces put to the 3-D and IMAX test.

Typical of some of the absurd moments in this film is a long drawn-out fist fight between the hero and Frank, who almost kill each other because Frank is too proud to try on the magic dark glasses. It is completely stupid. [5 Nov 1988]

The music and wizard DJs in Groove are better than the dopey story.

Saved throughout by its inviting atmosphere and richness of characters.

The movie is so cleverly entrenched in its sardonic style that Russell's toughest act must have been keeping a straight face. Escape From L.A. is surprisingly effective in picturing a former nirvana clenched in the twisted rubble of its own excess.

The movie is a mess of bits and pieces that try to gel but don't. Still, it is stupidly fun.

You strain to hear mumbled dialogue at times, and there's no sense trying to making sense of it -- but Exorcist III is not half-bad terrible psychological thriller junk entertainment. [18 Aug 1990, p.C3]

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.

Mouse Hunt is inane, antic cinema in the extreme. But even if half the gags don't quite work, the other half are inspired.

Fans have cause to cheer.

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]

As a coming-of-age melodrama and high seas adventure, White Squall is fair.