Always

It's the film in which an entertainer at last becomes an artist, dealing with manifestly personal, painful emotions and casting them in a form that gives them philosophical perspective and universal affect. It's Spielberg's finest achievement, a film that will look better and better with the passage of time. [22 Dec. 1989]

You expect virtuosic technique from Spielberg, and it's there, in spades. What you don't expect is heartfelt romanticism. But that's there, too... Always is a terrific-looking throwback to those large-scale '40s cinematic stews of romantic longing. [22 Dec. 1989, p.43]

Though there are scenes in Always (both intimate and spectacular) I love, the film does seem a bit asking-for-it-weightless following an Indiana Jones sequel. Yet if, as I suspect, many reviewers elect to carve up Always, the film will pick up its devotees - now or down the road. [22 Dec. 1989, p.1D]

Always is a relatively small scale, engagingly casual, somewhat silly, but always entertaining fantasy. Read full review

Always has the benefit of likable characters and actors. Dreyfuss, Hunter and Goodman are good. But several scenes seem needlessly slow, and the film as a whole would be better if it had been pared down from 120 to 90 minutes. At times it seems the title and the running time are one and the same. [22 Dec. 1989, p.R13]

In some ways this is as metaphysical as something like Close Encounters, it’s just lacking the tonal control of Spielberg at his best. Read full review