You don't walk into Fortress expecting much, and the fact that it entertains as well as it does comes as a surprise. There's plenty of violence and gore here -- Gordon hasn't forgotten his Re-Animator roots -- and the plot offers enough curves and twists to make you overlook the movie's limitations. [7 Sept 1993, p.D6]

The screenplay by W.D. Richter (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) turns Needful Things into a pitch-black comedy -- a rather lifeless one, unfortunately. There are more laughs than scares, though the movie still carries a creepy undercurrent of nastiness that pops up periodically, to great effect. [27 Aug 1993, p.G5]

Blake Edwards returned to direct this time, and seems to have made the miscalculation that Benigni could carry the movie. One with less noble lineage, maybe. But the Pink Panther movies, largely because of Edwards' own brilliance at physical comedy, are very hard acts to follow. [01 Sep 1993, p.E3]

Hard Target is pretty much a bust from every conceivable aspect, except the visual -- it looks terrific, and one sequence, a shoot-out on the streets of New Orleans between Van Damme and a progressively larger number of bad guys, comes close to capturing the trademark frenzied, exhilarating feel of Woo's previous work. [20 Aug 1993, p.5]

One of the two flirtations is appealing -- Alda and Keaton tryst briefly, harmlessly, in one of the film's best scenes. The other, which asks us to believe that Huston finds Allen darned near irresistible, is more troublesome. On the other hand, it's Woody Allen's movie, and he gets to do what he wants; this time, apparently, he wants to dream. We go along, those of us who like him, because he's still funny and he's still smart. As for Manhattan Murder Mystery -- he has been funnier, and smarter. [20 Aug 1993, p.5]

It's as stupid, unimaginative and cheesy as the rest of them. [16 Aug 1993, p.C2]

It's a gorgeous pastiche of flowers and Gothic architecture that, like a painting on a museum wall, never quite involves the viewer. You'll be momentarily enchanted, then forget it entirely. [14 Aug 1993, p.G5]

"Ghost movies" have been a Hollywood staple at least since It's a Wonderful Night, and this is one of the better of them. It's a tearjerker, though. Go prepared. [13 Aug 1993, p.G5]

Despite its all-around good performances (Pomeranc in particular is a marvel), Searching for Bobby Fischer can't quite shake its overly familiar feel. We've seen this all before, many times. It's a diverting, undemanding piece of work though, and you don't have to know a single thing about chess to enjoy it. [11 Aug 1993, p.E3]

Jones brings the character around in a big, flashy performance, and there's not a moment when he isn't fun to watch. Not all of The Fugitive makes sense, though.[6 Aug 1993, p.G5]

The result is a movie that's funny and touching, yes, but also has something to say about family, and about the deceptions we practice in the name of harmony. Ang Lee seems to know something about the subject, and his movie is knowing and wise, too. [17 Sep 1993, p.G5]

The sad thing about Rising Sun is that for all the controversy surrounding the book, it plays as just another cop drama set against an alien landscape. As so often happens in Hollywood these days, the alien locale is Los Angeles, an L.A. under assault from within and without. Rising Sun the movie doesn't have all that much to say about that condition. It sticks to the safe stuff. [30 July 1993, p.G4]

So I Married an Axe Murderer is a clumsy mishmash of Saturday Night Live sketches and a rambling comic-thriller plot that wastes the promise of twisted laughs presented by its '50s B-movie title. [30 July 1993, p.G7]

Mel Brooks has never been a finesse comic, and no one expects him to hit with every gag. But this film reminds you how far his films have slipped behind the shotgun comedies of the Zucker brothers (David and Jerry) and Jim Abrahams, collectively and singly, who have built on Airplane! to a broad- gag frenzy. [28 July 1993, p.E2]

It's a dreadful bore. [23 July 1993, p.G5]

here are strange sensibilities at work here, yes. Just not working hard enough. [23 July 1993, p.G7]

Disney's half-baked recipe for box-office success. Hocus Pocus is a pretty lackluster affair, owing to excess characters and a choppy, wandering script. [16 July 1993, p.G7]

As pathetic and unfunny as comedies get. In fine bait-and-switch fashion, you find out -- too late, of course -- that the movie revealed all its best gags in the TV ads and trailers. [12 July 1993, p.C5]

This is one of the silliest plots since Disney cast Gus the mule as the star place-kicker for a hapless football team. Although it sounds like a whimsical throwback to Gus and another classic of the genre, The Absent Minded Professor, Rookie of the Year fails to connect. [09 Jul 1993, p.G4]

It's just as boring and dumb as it sounds. This is the kind of movie that uses a shot of a bare butt as a punch line, and thinks having Encino Man's Brendan Fraser do a walk-on re- enaction of that movie's frog-eating scene is a clever cameo. As if. And Shore needs to freshen up his act: You can only act like a buffoon for so long before people start thinking of you as one. Remember Andrew Dice Clay? [2 July 1993, p.G5]

The musical numbers are exhilarating, and the story unfolds against a delightful, ever-changing series of set designs, haircuts and fashions. But it's the performances in this look at the often- harrowing relationship between Tina and Ike Turner that you'll remember. [09 Jul 1993, p.G5]

Simply put, it's the heartwarming story of a boy and his slingshot. [25 June 1993, p.G5]

As a director, Woo never hesitates, and the result is exhilarating. [22 Oct 1993, p.G6]

The movie is best when it sends up the whole culture of child stars and commercials -- "I wanna grow artistically," says one well-paid brat. "I wanna work with Michelle Pfeiffer." But it loses its edge, and soon Life With Mikey is awfully close to the thing it sets out to lampoon. [4 June 1993, p.G5]

What The Long Day Closes lacks is a narrative thread, however slim, to match the perfectly realized setting and wonderful visuals Davies has crafted. The whole thing feels like a chapter of a much larger work, one that, if finished, would doubtless prove more intriguing than what we get here. [7 Aug 1993, p.G5]

The story was adapted by Laura Esquivel from her novel, a bestseller in Mexico. Arau, the actor turned filmmaker, tells the story with the equivalent of a saucier's night out -- the film is physically lovely, and never so sumptuous as when it is concentrating on Tita's creations in and out of the kitchen. [02 Apr 1993, p.G4]

Does the movie bear any relation to the video game? Not much. Do the dinosaur effects steal Jurassic Park's thunder? Keep dreaming. Will kids want to see it? Depends on how big Nintendo fans they are. Super Mario Bros. is like watching somebody else play a video game: It's flashy, colorful and wholly uninvolving. [29 May 1993, p.5]

It's a routine, who's-the-slasher melodrama, and for all its visual allure -- Stone and Baldwin bump and grind, in living color and in third-generation, off-monitor black-and-white -- it drags, and drags. [22 May 1993, p.E1]