To the extent that it has a serious theme, the film is about the tug of mortality and the demands it makes on simple humanity -- courage, selflessness, the sharing of wisdom. There's not enough of this, not by far. But it's something. The rest of Cocoon -- The Return is hash. [23 Nov 1988, p.D1]

It's the kind of movie that parents and children ought to see together, then talk about afterward, though the lessons are ones that grown-ups need to master, as well. [18 Nov 1988, p.D1]

Jordan's jokes are sometimes stereotypical barbs tossed at Americans, but the Irish director definitely can inject hackneyed Hollywood devices with high-spirited fun. Be warned, though, you'll have to stomach some dismal scenes between Hannah and Guttenberg -- the biggest stiffs in this movie. [18 Nov 1988, p.D8]

This warmhearted yuletide comedy has enough slapstick and gags to keep the kids rolling in the aisles, and Mom and Dad entertained as well. [11 Nov 1988, p.C7]

It's a sturdy Streep vehicle. [11 Nov 1988, p.C1]

The single redeeming feature of Child's Play is the manner in which the doll is slowly transformed into semi-human form. Scene by scene it turns into a half-pint, rubbery version of Jack Nicholson. And that's scary. [09 Nov 1988, p.D6]

At his wittiest, Carpenter is very funny indeed, and the undisguised commentary of They Live is as entertaining as it is pointed. But at his clunkiest, Carpenter directs with all the deftness of a hod-carrier, and his set pieces drop like bricks -- wham!, plop! [9 Nov 1988, p.D6]

Besides the clever name and some striking images from director Dwight H. Little, the only other entertaining bits in Halloween 4 come from Donald Pleasence. [29 Oct 1988, p.C4]

Things Change is David Mamet's Moonstruck. It is not a romance, but it is a movie made with a similar giddiness as it celebrates the redemptive powers of friendship. Bravissimo! [21 Oct 1988, p.E1]

What we have here is a solid war story with excellent performances, but a largely superficial look at Vietnam's atrocities. If Bat 21 says anything, it's that Hollywood is reluctant to release any more pure-action Vietnam pictures. However thin, there must be some message to the madness. [21 Oct 1988, p.E8]

The great film that The Accused could have been is in there. So is Foster's lovely, measured work, the work of an actress at the top of her art, and this in a supposed "comeback." Yes, darker and more sadistic passages have burdened many lesser movies. But this one has ambition, and this one has this performance. It's a hard movie to like; it's an impossible one to ignore. [14 Oct 1988, p.E1]

It'll have you wishing the villain was just another maniac with a machete or a chain saw. [30 Jan 1989, p.C6]

Though there's some wit on the fringes (including splendid use of a Reagan stump-speech line), the whole thing plays a lot like a Miami Vice via Star Trek. [7 Oct 1988, p.E10]

It's a character study and a stunted romance involving characters played by Tom Hanks and Sally Field, and in that strange couple's brackish chemistry the film founders and sinks. [7 Oct 1988, p.E1]

Whoopi Goldberg gives a first-rate performance in Clara's Heart, enough to atone for the sins of her Fatal Beauty period. But it's nifty work in a lost cause. The movie is sickly sweet, shot through with the kind of confectioner's sentiment that Hollywood used to crank out on assembly lines until the formula slid into disuse. [21 Oct 1988, p.E10]

Memories of Me is not great cinema, but like the best Hollywood schmaltz, it's delightful. [07 Oct 1988, p.E6]

What Salaam Bombay! thus lacks in polish it makes up for with deadpan authenticity. Watching the film is like being a witness to an event that is dark, intimate and frightening. There's something voyeuristic about the experience, and something deeply compelling as well. [17 Mar 1989, p.6]

With it's buxom, raven-haired star, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark skips a chance to spoof B-movies and instead shatters the all-time record for breast jokes in one movie. There's at least one every three minutes, and a tassel- twirling ending that stretches the limits of this PG-13 picture. But the real immorality here is that a quirky character -- yes, Elvira has her moments -- is played like an unfunny bimbo with one-liners that die quick deaths. [04 Oct 1988, p.C4]

Patty Hearst is a compelling piece of work, with the bogus immediacy of old newspaper clippings. And yet it plays at times almost as satire. It's a vaudevillian's account of the end of the '60s radicalism, a murderous skit. Schrader, who loves ambiguity, has outdone himself this time. [23 Sep 1988, p.E1]

McCarthy wanders around this movie like he's lost. You'll suffer the same fate in Kansas. [23 Sep 1988, p.E5]

Crossing Delancey is a sweet, sustained mood more than a fully realized movie. An ode to romance, Manhattan and mustachioed Jewish grandmothers, it charms and amuses but it doesn't satisfy. [16 Sep 1988, p.D1]

Lumet patches his film together with a quilt of cliches. He wants you to like his characters so much -- to sympathize with their loss -- that he sticks them in unlikely situations that drip with sentimentality. [14 Oct 1988, p.E6]

If ever a movie may be said to have perfect pitch, then Eight Men Out is the one. It is a triumph of ensemble playing, so intent on giving each player equal time that in the beginning it is a little difficult to keep them all straight. But this approach pays dividends in the end when we understand and feel for them all, the ringleaders as well as the more innocent victims. [08 Sept 1988, p.D3]

Hot to Trot is such a poorly executed comedy it boggles the mind. Even a horse's mind. [31 Aug 1988, p.D3]

The movie is heavy on shock and gimmickry, thanks to Renny Harlin's frenetic and flamboyant direction. The wafer-thin plot is little more than an excuse to showcase the astonishing achievements of special-effects makeup artists. [19 Aug 1988, p.D9]

Mac and his gangly parents are crude special-effects jobs, with dorky ears and dippy walks. But the kids love them anyway, thanks to director Stewart Raffill (The Philadelphia Experiment), who knows how to get young moviegoers cheering. His pace is quick, and the numerous chase scenes make for good fun. For sheer thrills, Mac beats Pippi and Pee-wee, claws down. [12 Aug 1988, p.C8]

For Romero fans, Monkey Shines may lack the graphic punch of his earlier work, but it's still a crafty piece of entertainment. [29 July 1988, p.C5]

Beyond the anemic script, though, Caddyshack II fails because Dangerfield fits the character better. His bulging eyes and neurotic demeanor fuel his lethal jabs. Even though he's still the stand-up comic, his well-established routine makes it easier to believe him. [27 July 1988, p.D1]