Chocolat is as beautiful as it is solemn. It's a meditation on memory and on the nature of innocence in the face of great, irresistible change, but its glory is in the quiet development of its several characters. [12 May 1989, p.5]

Belushi, the only actor to get away with calling Arnold Schwarzenegger Gumby (in Red Heat), wisecracks his way through K-9 -- even in a sappy injured-dog sequence. But despite his efforts, a muddled story has his comic talents on a tight leash. [01 May 1989, p.C5]

Silver garners a hilarious performance from Dempsey, whose charm is only surpassed by his talent for slapstick. And though she lets the movie lapse into a lengthy montage in the middle, she keeps the story's wit and romance intact to the very end. Loverboy is a movie worth falling for. [2 May 1989, p.C5]

The movie definitely belongs to the hyper-kinetic Hunter, who originated the role of Carnelle on stage. Still, no matter how many cartwheels or rifle twirls she gives us, Miss Firecracker never becomes more than a pleasant flash. [12 May 1989, p.5]

As time goes on, and more King comes to the screen, The Shining, once widely disparaged, looks better and better. At least that film translated some of King's terror; subsequent adaptations, Pet Sematary included, do little more than animate the gore. [24 Apr 1989, p.C6]

She's Out of Control is too insipid to take. [15 Apr 1989, p.E5]

Ward does manage to pump the film with tension in the climactic, will-the-Indians-beat-the-Yankees sequence, and I found Major League hard to resist in its last 20 minutes or so -- even though it's sappy enough to make Levinson's prettifying of The Natural seem positively dour by contrast. Maybe it's just the season. [7 Apr 1989, p.1]

The best that can be said about Dead Calm is that director Phillip Noyce maintains nearly constant tension and finds a surprising number of ways to evoke menace in confined spaces. [07 Apr 1989, p.7]

Dream Team turns the excursion scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest into a full-length movie. Unfortunately, it's a superficial reworking of a classic. [07 Apr 1989, p.1]

Director Albert Pyun also knows his B-movie tricks -- catchy camera work, slow motion, minimal dialogue and even some dime-store Christ imagery. It's a shame he didn't have a better script. [07 Apr 1989, p.5]

Fletch Lives passes over you like most Chevy Chase movies. You chuckle, maybe laugh, and afterward forget the whole thing. [17 March 1989, p.10]

A decent cast, led by Peter Weller (as the geologist/hero) and Rambo vet Richard Crenna (as Doc), grapples gamely with the script and hauls down the paychecks. [21 Mar 1989, p.C7]

If Blake Edwards had gotten this one back when he was still fresh (say, around 10), this would have been a physical as well as verbal comedy, and it would have had some kicks. As it is, Chances Are is dreamy, amiable and utterly unmemorable. See it for Cybill. [10 March 1989, p.1]

The movie is just self-conscious enough to get some bad reviews, and it's going to draw some walkouts. Pay no attention. There's something wonderful here...It's a fascinating film. [3 March 1989, p.6]

Lean on Me is one of those movies that you know is swollen with hyperbole, but that you want to like anyway. Freeman provides a big reason. [3 March 1989, p.5]

Skin Deep works best when the director delivers his stock in trade -- slapstick and sight gags. [3 March 1989, p.6]

Leigh is obviously a major talent of the English film resurgence, which may already have peaked but nonetheless offers hopes of its own. His loose way of making films -- the wandering camera, the scenes that seem to invent themselves as they go along -- somehow accommodates a genuine comic intelligence, which usually requires the tightest of controls. [2 June 1989, p.7]

This tropical murder-mystery goes down like luscious fruit -- juicy, lively and refreshing. [17 Feb 1989, p.5]

As played by the sublimely dazed Keanu Reeves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill), the boys are appealing at first, but their witlessness wears thin quickly. So, too, the movie. Ignorance may indeed be a happy state, but you wouldn't want to live there, and even this short visit seems much, much too long. The film acknowledges its empty-headedness early, when the boys meet Sock-rates. [20 Feb 1989, p.C-6]

If heavy gore is your kind of entertainment, you'll get a buzz out of The Fly II. But be warned -- don't take a squeamish date. [13 Feb 1989, p.C7]

A romantic comedy with enough gimmicks to fill a dime-store thriller -- see Tom almost get run over; see Tom fall in the pool; see Tom get an arrow in his rear. [3 Feb 1989, p.C1]

If not for some of Candy's inspired bits, Who's Harry Crumb? would have been nothing more than a watered down Ruthless People. [06 Feb 1989, p.C5]

B-movie king Charles Bronson, whose long association with Cannon Films has set all-time lows in the idiotic, hits rock bottom in Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects. [03 Feb 1989, p.C5]

Ultimately Three Fugitives is too sweet for its own good. It has moments of real hilarity, and moments of oh-please. Veber, we know, can do better. [27 Jan 1989, p.C5]

When he means to be funny, Balaban has a wicked way about him. When he means to scare, he's just like the rest of the pack. Still, there's something wonderfully subversive at work in Parents. Be warned. [17 March 1989, p.11]

This is a problem for a story located deep underwater, because without an immediate, photogenic threat, the movie literally has nowhere to go. The hard-working cast, led by Greg Evigan, Miguel Ferrer and the psychedelically named Taurean Blacque, lurches from bulkhead to air lock on cue, but accomplishes little beyond contributing to a growing sense of claustrophobia. [16 Jan 1989, p.7]

An overwrought, horribly directed, sloppily plotted and dreadfully written mess. It's difficult to believe that Shanley actually created the thing. [13 Jan 1989, p.C7]

Hellbound is long overdue at the video morgue. [23 Dec 1988, p.C5]