At a little over two hours, Black Rain is a good half-hour too long, and the style gymnastics are eventually wearying. But Scott's work is always fascinating to watch, even as it grinds you down. And Douglas now has something heroic about him that enhances, if it doesn't quite transcend, the plot-by- numbers. It's fun watching the two of them volley. [22 Sep 1989, p.G5]

A Dry White Season hits with the force of its convictions, and it hits hard. But it could have been more. [06 Oct 1989, p.G5]

Pacino is the only real attraction. His character feels ancient, used-up, bone-tired -- vulnerable, maybe, but numb. We need to see this in his face, and Pacino can use his the way Triple-A uses maps. That face is still one of the great instruments of modern movies. [15 Sep 1989, p.G5]

If you're a movie buff, The Big Picture will be hilarious. If you're not, it should be revealing. [01 Dec 1989, p.G8]

What's missing in Kickboxer is a solid script and keen direction of dramatic sequences... Van Damme choreographed and edited all the fight scenes, and his talent is undeniable. If you're thrilled by a flurry of spinning back kicks, elbow punches and assorted high-flying martial-arts tricks, Kickboxer has your name on it. [12 Sep 1989, p.C7]

The movie has its own sweet charm, a charm as winning as Shirley herself. [15 Sept 1989, p.G5]

Hackman, with the force of his inelegant personality and his gift for dramatic understatement, makes it go. He has saved a lot of movies, and this is one. [25 Aug 1989, p.G5]

The movie continually threatens to become shlock, but the story and serviceable performances hold it together. Still, the three big-name actors don't realize Millennium is a cut above the usual sci-fi flick, and never surprise us with their performances. [29 Aug 1989, p.C5]

De Palma does some borrowing, too. He always does. Pick your Vietnam War favorite -- Platoon, Apocalypse Now, et al. -- and you'll find an "homage" in Casualties of War. But you won't find the scale or depth that either the war or the genre deserve. It's a big disappointment. [18 Aug 1989, p.G5]

Half-way through Uncle Buck, however, the plot abandons reality and is content to settle into the realm of cheap yuks. The film suffers accordingly and becomes so much like the unnatural potato chips and pretzel food snacks that our hero is fond of noshing. Uncle Buck tastes great, yes. But it sure doesn't fill you up. [16 Aug 1989, p.D6]

The principal appeal remains the series' principal weakness as well. These films are all about the blurring of the boundary between dream and reality, which strikes at the heart of what film is all about. But this also means that at regular intervals, someone wakes up to find that it was all a dream, one of the hoariest and least satisfying devices in the history of bad drama. [15 Aug 1989, p.C5]

Man bites dog in Turner & Hooch, the new Tom Hanks vehicle, and it's a tender moment. But there's precious little else going on in this tired little action comedy, which is so bereft of ideas that it winds up borrowing from Lady and the Tramp, among other familiar sources. [28 July 1989, p.G5]

Putting this hackneyed villain in The Big Apple is a tantalizing concept, but Hedden rarely takes advantage of it. He deserves credit for a few shocks and some laughs from a gloom- and-doom deck swabber, but this is highly derivative stuff. And like many slash directors, he replaces suspense with short chases and violence. If audience response is a meter, Jason VIII is a dud. Save a few shrieks, the crowd fell victim to boredom. [31 July 1989, p.C5]

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]

If Shag had been a music marketing ploy like Dirty Dancing or Salsa, the shagging would have come every 10 minutes. Here the dance accompanies something better: a pleasant story about appealing characters. [21 July 1989, p.5]

Mildly entertaining but not terribly exciting. Agent 007 seems to have fallen victim to the foulest villainy he has yet encountered: mismanagement behind the camera. The movie cost $34 million, but you don't see it on the screen. [14 July 1989, p.4]

Audiences with an insatiable appetite for car chases, explosions, menacing helicopters and relentless mayhem should have a good time. For the more demanding, Lethal Weapon 2 is closer to Excedrin Headache No. 2. [07 July 1989, p.G5]

There are more fight scenes in this movie than the first two installments, but the plot is silly and the come-from-behind climax isn't believable. The movie's only asset is Griffith's hammy performance. [30 June 1989, p.H12]

Great Balls of Fire makes the most of this abundant raw material by keeping its focus tight (barely two years in a career that has spanned 30), its characters outrageous and the conflict between Lewis and his self-righteous cousin Jimmy Swaggart unresolved. [30 June 1989, p.H5]

The movie is sweet and reflects Disney's usual care, but there's nothing in it to match that title. [23 June 1989, p.H11]

The most memorable aspect of Batman is the film's attention to florid detail. At times, Burton's strange touches upstage the simple good-vs.-evil parable. [23 June 1989, p.H4]

While intimate scenes of male bonding among Kirk, Spock and "Bones" McCoy are particularly delightful, the film's overall themes -- God, creation, friendships as family -- are never tied together or amply explained. Star Trek V is a lot like a dinner party where the appetizers are delicious, the main course stale and cold. [9 June 1989, p.5]

Senseless. [15 Sept 1989, p.33]

The film is cold, and despite the principals' considerable thrashings, utterly uninvolving. The overarching theme, gunplay notwithstanding, is tedium. [02 Jun 1989, p.5]

Has he forgotten how to act? He can't deliver lines, he has no comic timing, he moves like a crippled buffalo -- Eastwood is so awful in this unfunny action comedy that those obnoxious movies with Clyde the orangutan now seem like Shakespeare. [29 May 1989, p.C1]

Road House makes Cocktail look like a documentary. [19 May 1989, p.6]

The film sequences of Earth from orbit, of the moon from the lunar lander, then of Earth again are breathtaking. They're disquieting, too -- the feeling of remoteness seems to boil up from the moon's surface as the explorers hop and stumble about in the lunar dust. You get that sense, during these best moments in the film, of the remarkable achievement it was. The thrill is back, in other words. [1 June 1990, p.G9]

Pryor is so lacking in energy that Wilder steals most of the movie from him. For the first time in his career, Wilder actually seems robust, but it's only because he's performing opposite a ghost. It's quite sad. [12 May 1989, p.DW5]