Much of metal's appeal is the mythology of power -- mighty images of conquest (sexual and otherwise) carried on tidal waves of thunderous music. Spheeris shows us the insecurity, frailty and dim-bulb vacuousness behind the myth, in a film that is sometimes disturbing and always fascinating. [05 Aug 1988, p.C8]

When it's working Blind Date is frenzied and very funny. It's a return to form for Blake Edwards, who has made a good many bad movies over the past 10 years. And in Willis and Basinger there is the kind of team that, back in the good old days, would have launched a series -- not sitcom/sitdram, but big-screen. [27 Mar 1987, p.D1]

In its best moments, the movie works much like an inspired episode of The Twilight Zone, raising provocative What if? questions about human nature that linger long after the end credits. [30 Aug 1996, p.5G]

The Hollywood action genre, sliding into a lazy dependence on computer-generated fakery, needs this authentic kick to the head delivered by Jet Li.

The only real casualty of Lehane's novel is Angie, here reduced to a supporting player who bears no resemblance to the original character, who is every bit as smart and tough and interesting as her boyfriend. It's a regrettable loss in a film that otherwise indicates its first-time director knows what he's doing.

Hilarious and socially astute.

Funny even when it relies heavily on age-old, old-age gags.

If it's black satire and acid wit you crave, Addams Family Values is just the tonic. [19 Nov 1993, p.G4]

The film works as contemporary fable, cautionary tale and perversely driven love story all at once. There's a gratifyingly wide streak of humanism running through it. And there's that "chemistry." Malkovich and MacDowell, bubble, bubble. Yes, indeed. [26 Apr 1991, p.G11]

A sentimental romantic thriller. But it’s a well-made sentimental romantic thriller, and that makes all the difference.

It's a small, heartening slice of life that feels like a crucial step toward something bigger.

This Pride & Prejudice isn't minutely faithful to the book -- and for good reason -- but it is authentic where it counts: to the confused, wounded, eager hearts of its lovers.

Very French and at times threatens to dissolve into a steamy sex farce.

It is always intriguing as it follows the arrest and captivity of Salomon Sorowitsch (the terrific Karl Markovics), one of Germany's leading counterfeiters.

The Best Intentions is more plodding than Bergman's earlier works, but its characters are sympathetically and richly drawn. It succeeds as a macabre family portrait. [02 Oct 1992, p.G4]

Gummo isn't so much a movie as it is an experiment, and, taken on those terms, it is a fascinating piece of work. Repellent, disgusting and ugly, yes -- but still fascinating. [23 Jan. 1998, p.5G]

Mysterious Skin bears all of Araki's hallmarks, from its stylish compositions and lush colors to its willingness to confront difficult subject matter head-on.

Though even Blake Edwards, the director behind the Panthers, could not make the connective material in this film work well, there is so much joy in the vintage Sellers that Trail of the Pink Panther rates as one of the funniest films of this year. Sellers' outtakes are funnier than most of the new material on film today. We shall not see the like of him again soon. [21 Dec 1982, p.C7]

Ironweed is the love story of two bums, the swan song of a haunted man, a character study of abiding humanity. It's a sad movie. Beautiful, too. [12 Feb 1988, p.C1]

The same premise could have been turned into a satirical comedy, but Better Luck Tomorrow opts for a more corrosive, challenging route, one whose troubling, morally ambiguous ending offers no easy resolution.

Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli's second best-known filmmaker and co-founder, adapts Akiyuki Nosaka's short story of the same name to great effect, using animation to create a film that emphasizes the horrors of war better than most live-action films. [21 Jun 2016]

Achieves an assaultive intensity that adds a level of visceral excitement to car chases, mano-a-mano showdowns -- even simple conversations. It's a style that takes some getting used to -- the images flit by at near-subliminal speeds -- but proves tremendously effective.

Such smooth, crisp entertainment, you barely even notice it has nothing new to say.

Gere has never been better cast.

The film isn't perfect. Seidelman is still pretty much brand-new at this, and there are times when the movie seems about to slip through her fingers, run off into the streets and flow farther, irretrievably, downtown. And the ending has the patness of a studio contrivance; one guesses that had Seidelman been in complete control, something more ambiguous might have resulted. Still, what fun: Good, and good for you, too. Hollywood reaches out and gives someone with talent a chance to make something genuine and offbeat. It's a great system. [01 Apr 1985, p.C4]

The Journey of Natty Gann is one of those dead earnest, richly satisfying "family adventures" with which the Disney name has long been associated, despite the fact that the studio has made very few successful ones. It's the kind of film we think Disney is supposed to make, regardless of whether the studio actually does. [25 Oct 1985, p.C1]

Action and comedy are more impressive here than in the first film.

Though Polyester is mild for John Waters, it remains a film not for everyone. But it is a satire of an energy and breadth rarely seen on today's screens. It is recommended, but only for the strong. [03 Dec 1982, p.D1]