Susan Wloszczyna

A family movie with a heart and a brain. And if you aren't moved to tears, you might need an organ transplant.

Too bad Boys has more gas than wind beneath its wings. [03 Feb 1995, Pg.04.D]

In its third go-round, the Lethal Weapon arsenal is running out of ammunition. [15 May 1992]

Costner and Russo show they're up to par. [16 August 1996, p.D1]

The same weakness that has plagued a goodly portion of major releases this year that rely on past successes for their reason to exist rears up again: the lack of the new and fresh.

Isn't smart enough to cut it as the ultimate blond joke. [25 April 1997, p. 4D]

As a date-night viewing option for this weekend, this nearly all-sung autopsy of a failed marriage would pretty much qualify as a Valentine’s Day massacre.

For Plummer’s plum of a performance alone, you might want to make an exception for The Exception.

The stars at least keep Wong Foo watchable. [08 Sep 1995, p.7D]

At Middleton is the just the sort of trite if inoffensive diversion that barely tiptoes into theaters before landing in the cable and video-on-demand listings.

A somber and derivative relationship drama.

The pitch of the script, written by director Mark Herman, isn't perfect. But these earthy blokes are an engaging lot, the soot of the earth, with an admirably wry view of their bleak situations. [23May1997 Pg 03.D]

This is a noisy, sadistic and just plain dull rendering of a too-often-told tale about a mysterious drifter who rides into a lawless outpost and pits rival gangs against each other. The plot, based on Akira Kurosawa's samurai classic Yojimbo, isn't so much dusted off by writer/director Walter Hill (Wild Bill) as propped up. [20 Sep 1996]

Unfortunately, someone said "party on" to Wayne's World 2 and forgot to invite any new ideas to rival those that made WWI such a pinhead's delight. [10 Dec 1993, p.9D]

These gun-crazy, lust-loopy kids on the run are irresistible in the best crime rush since “GoodFellas.” [10 Sept 1993]

Simply falls short.

Just like the popular (and more graphically violent) video game it's spun from, kung-fooy and kartoony Kombat shoves plot and personality aside to focus on action cloaked in mystic mumbo-jumbo and gloomy mock-gothic graphics. [21 Aug 1995 Pg. 03.D]

Still a one-of-a-kind mind-blower.

So much water. Such a dramatic washout.

There's also a nice cheekiness to the material written by Robert Towne ("Chinatown"), and the usual cool high-tech toys are deployed.

As a piece of filmmaking, Torn is slightly above TV-movie quality.

It's terrific to see such well-matched actresses of opposing generations duke it out.

Any movie that can bring to mind a Joni Mitchell song as the credits roll — “Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone” — has earned its keep.

Neither as funny and scary as the first, nor as campy and breathless as the second, Alien 3 can only settle for third best. Considering the state of sci-fi movies, that may be enough. [22 May 1992, p.12D]

Its makers know all too well how to fully exploit the power of a catchy pop song.

Carrey's jolly green mug carries Mask. [29 July 1994, p. D1]

There is a welcome sense of familiarity in Bridget Jones's Baby — but also of the fresh and au courant.

Guilty of inciting a near-laugh riot thanks to an irresistible leading lady whose comic instincts are as impeccable as her manicure.