License to Drive takes too much license with its nuttiness, playing wacky moments to the point where the comedy sputters. [06 July 1988, p.D6]

The Great Outdoors isn't great. The Dopey Outdoors would be more like it. It's wildly uneven, yet consistently dumb. [17 June 1988, p.C5]

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]

You know a movie's in trouble when the characters babble on about long ago. In The Presidio, they have to. What's happening on-screen is dull and predictable. The movie's highlights, car chases up and down the San Francisco inclines, pale in comparison to those in Bullitt. [10 June 1988, p.D5]

Incredibly inane and boring special effects fiasco. [15 June 1988, p.D7]

Midler sweeps into scenes with divine force, and Tomlin plays off her co-star with a barrage of comic nuance. Tomlin is playing parts, Midler is plying shtick, and it's wonderful. [10 Jun 1988, p.D1]

Funny Farm adds up to enjoyable but uneven summer entertainment that seconds the Green Acres credo: "Farm livin' is the life for me." [3 June 1988, p.D5]

Croc, as played by the sinewy and appealing Paul Hogan, may be a fish out of water, but he's a formidable comic hero, a kind of Outback James Bond only less perturbable. And this sequel is actually a better film than the original, which was one of the movies' least likely success stories in 1986. [25 May 1988, p.D1]

It's fluffy stuff, lovingly made and instantly forgettable. [20 May 1988, p.5]

This would all be a lot more fun if Jason were ever in jeopardy, but since we know he can't be killed -- the best one can hope to do is bottle him up and store him, like toxic waste -- the charm of the film depends on action in the margins. Part VI, for instance, had a sense of humor; II and III had a splendid variety of weaponry. No jokes this time, however, and Jason contents himself for the most part with the ax blow, the tent-pole stab and the simple head-twist. He's old, and he has lost a step. [17 May 1988, p.B4]

Bloodsport offers some lurid but fascinating bits. Chief among them: Van Damme, his feet tied to two poles, performs horrifyingly painful splits. Otherwise, Bloodsport boasts bad acting, bad photography and a bad script. So much for the art of motion pictures. [03 May 1988, p.C4]

The original's mildly offbeat sense of humor is at work in 2, and the cheesy special effects return as well (the Krites look like nothing so much as deranged Muppets). Still, this is the kind of goofy B-movie that will look good on the small screen -- so watch for its release on tape. [07 May 1988, p.B5]

For all its pretension, Powaqqatsi is a confused work -- both a compeling analysis of underdeveloped nations and a self-indulgent exercise in cinematic drudgery. [24 Jun 1988, p.C5]

Interesting. Not worth the trouble, but interesting. [22 Apr 1988, p.C5]

After he reveals what is ultimately a paper-thin murder scheme, LaLoggia develops suspense, but like the rest of the thrills in Lady in White, it is fleeting. [27 Jun 1988, p.D6]

In the end, Wendy and Hiro lose their identities in each other's cultures -- an interesting premise for a movie. However, this potentially dramatic point suffers from a badly paced script, and acting that leaves you wondering where the characters are. [15 Apr 1988, p.C12]

18 Again is one for the VCR. On the big screen, there's not enough Burns for your money. [08 Apr 1988, p.C1]

Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City was hailed as a portrait of the vacuous, coked-out '80s generation. The movie is simply vacuous. The script, also written by Mc-Inerney, strips away the novel's witty and ironic voice. What is left is a vapid yet sentimental cautionary tale about the evils of drugs. Of course, drugs are terrible. But so is Bright Lights, Big City. [1 Apr 1988, p.C1]

Elaborate special effects ruin the whimsy of this haunted house movie. The filmmakers parcel out the horrific gags so tirelessly they lose sight of the tale they're telling. This is one ghost story that needed an exorcism. [30 March 1988, p.C8]

It's little more than an amiable exercise in nostalgia, but it's nicely performed and handsome to look at. [25 Mar 1988, p.C1]

Johnny Be Good -- hah! Johnny Be Terrible is more like it. This dopey football comedy loses major yardage in the first scene and never recovers. Scene one: A high school coach turns a prayer for a state championship into a foul-mouthed speech so loathsome that you expect the Almighty to smite him. If only He had, film goers would have been spared this hell of a movie. [29 March 1988, p.B6]

The jokes? Passing gas, large breasts, schoolyard double entendre -- the usual run of recess humor. On the faces of most of the cast, one can clearly read despair, occasionally even irritation. They know: If you're much over 10, Police Academy 5 isn't going to keep you awake. [23 March 1988, p.C7]

Benjamin's creative visual style isn't enough to lift a weak story. [18 Mar 1988, p.D7]

It's a stand-up-and-cheer kind of movie -- hence the Rocky comparison -- with the unlikeliest of heroes. [30 Mar 1988, p.D1]

Even though its story is nothing new, Vice Versa works. [11 Mar 1988, p.C5]

Alan Metter (Back to School) directed this wildly uneven trifle. Most of the jokes are tasteless or stupid. [08 Mar 1988, p.B5]

Though there is certainly more to the film than its voluptuous second half -- Babette is an agent of redemption in more ways than one, for instance -- there's no overlooking the simple appeal of the climactic serving. [10 Feb 1988, p.D6]

Polanski, who seldom has a problem with directorial conviction, falters here. He tries to gives us Alfred Hitchcock, without much success. Frantic works best when Polanski delivers Polanski -- that sharp-edged vision that injects a harrowing situation with black humor, even slapstick. [27 Feb 1988, p.B1]