Ted Mahar

Tokyo Pop is an amiable, ambling film mixing travelogue, romantic comedy and musical documentary. [20 Apr 1988, p.C08]

In this loose adaptation of Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla, Ingrid Pitt became a Hammer favorite as a lesbian vampire. This has a few nude scenes and Cushing; something for everyone. [22 Aug 1977, p.38]

The film seems thin, a set of vignettes about a fairly consistent set of characters. -- but only fairly consistent. [17 May 1989, p.B05]

You would think "The Day" might offer a grim, realistic sketch of the dangers of street life for runaways. In fact, the dangers look exciting and even stylish. Rocco gives the film a rich, complicated visual design, with consistently beautiful photography, no matter how grubby the setting is. [03 Nov 1992, p.D05]

Despite the avoidance of fundamental surprise -- there are a few good ones along the way -- Shoot To Kill is still an OK suspense adventure. Director Roger Spottiswoode (Under Fire, The Best of Times) makes the most of the wild, sometimes vertical terrain, and the acting is fine. [15 Feb 1988, p.C04]

The problem with Clara's Heart is that it grows increasingly sentimental and improbable. [16 Nov 1988, p.D05]

Memphis Belle is an ambitious, lavishly produced, terrific-looking adventure about a B-17 crew and its 25th and last mission in May 1943 at a crucial point in the bomber war. Unfortunately, the film is at war with itself. [12 Oct 1990, p.R04]

Slow, contrived and monotonously grim. [18 Aug 2006, p.45]

Loaded is draggy and repetitious in spots. But consider its task -- poking fun at a genre that is more than half comedy to begin with. And the remainder is so silly that restaging it is lampoon enough. [6 Feb 1993, p.C07]

Shrunk is a sometimes funny, occasionally clever comedy adventure. But the fun stuff consumes only about one-fourth of the film, nowhere near enough for a feature-length movie. [24 June 1989, p.C06]

Barkin's brilliance can't offset misdirected script for Switch. [11 May 1991, p.C08]

``Blood'' seems to be sketches for a more comprehensible film which, alas, we will not see. [28 Sept 1992, p.C08]

Hoooooooooooo-hum. [19 Apr 1991, p.R13]

Is ``Consenting Adults'' a joke? The question bobs to the surface like a dead catfish about halfway through the Alan J. Pakula suspense melodrama. A barely plausible but engaging premise collapses, crushing credibility like a mouse. [17 Oct 1992, p.C14]

Contrivances grow so outlandish as Cain grinds on that De Palma seems to be parodying himself. His intent is seldom humor, but Cain ends up being more inadvertent comedy than thriller. [07 Aug 1992, p.D01]

With his customary sensitivity, director Bert I. Gordon ripped off Them! as well as his own Amazing Colossal Man. Nutty as it all is, it takes a sudden lurch into deeper nuttiness at the end. [09 Aug 1996, p.37]

The last half hour is full of plot twists, turns and pretzel bends. They are imaginative, occasionally funny, and they make some surprises truly surprising. But in the process they leave the last flickering glimmer of credibility back around Minute No. 61. [8 Feb 1992, p.C06]

For all its improbability and rigorous emotion, Desperate does have its moments of quiet suspense and tension. Cimino often gets good performances and does so here. But when it's all over, nothing really unexpected has happened, and it has taken a lot of unpleasant moments to get through the desperate hours. [11 Oct 1990, p.C09]

Lonely ends up being confused and repetitious. [27 May 1991, p.B08]

For all the film's patness and lame predictability, Candy gives it a strange charm. He seems to be inherently funny, and his subtle weirdness, so useful on SCTV, is handy here as well. It helps make seeing Uncle Buck marginally worthwhile. [18 Aug 1989, p.E13]

Vincente Minnelli's 1949 film is patently made on the MGM lot, and Van Heflin makes cloddish country doctor Monsieur Bovary a bit too pleasant. And Emma Bovary's grotesque death is tidied up. Still, the film conveys the story and Emma's naive romantic thralls. [13 Jun 2004]

Sidewalk Stories is nobly intended and has many moments of humor and ingenuity. But it's ultimately a sermon with a point so general as to be almost meaningless. And it sure ruins the fun. [25 Nov 1989, p.C08]

The film is so-so, but producer/writer Bob Kaufman, flush with the success of Love at First Bite said High Cost was the forerunner of a new way of life. [04 Aug 1991, p.34]

They Live has such a clever idea, it's disappointing that scenarist Frank Armitage and director John Carpenter did so little with it. It's like a ``Twilight Zone'' tale inflated from 30 minutes to 90. Or like a film made from a rough draft. [9 Nov 1988, p.C06]