As for Bond’s glib wit, which has been running down lately, the screenwriters haven’t solved that problem. Some of his double entendres are older than Moore and one of them had to be used twice.

As he proved in the far funnier and livelier "Sixteen Candles," Hughes has a wonderful knack for communicating the feelings of teenagers, as well as an obvious rapport with his exceptional cast — who deserve top grades.

Clever as it is, Blood Simple is derivative and self-consciously stylized.

It's rather confusing. But in the context of this wildly imaginative movie, it's all, rather exciting, too.

Amadeus is about as close to perfection as movies get. [2002 Director's Cut]

All in all, Spielberg has come up with another rousing piece of entertainment.

It's not just the sexist humor that makes this tired businessman's fantasy so offensive. The real shocker is that the basic plot has been shamelessly lifted by screenwriters Charlie Peters and Larry Gelbart from "One Wild Moment," an equally skimpy French comedy by Claude Berri about two middle-aged pals who get into the exact same predicament in the South of France with their two nubile daughters. [17 Feb 1984, p.5]

Footloose turns out to be a sort of Boy Scout version of “Flashdance,” a carefully toned-down, overly respectable piece of schmaltz.

Brooks works overtime finding laughs more in line with his rambunctious kind of comedy...Only in Anne Bancroft's luscious, Lombard-light performance of Brooks' better (but parenthetically billed) half do you get a hint of this film's smart and stylish origin.

A haunting, emotionally devastating movie. [04 Nov 1983, p.C21]

Among the ties with the past, the opening portion introduces a comic orgy that is deliberate parallel cantina scene in “Star Wars” and among the new thrills there is an airborne vehicle chase through a forest, projected at a speed to leave audiences dizzy.

What Fast Times at Ridgemont High has is an attractive, personable cast, a bunch of young actors who are very easy to like. What it doesn't have is a clear point of view, something that would make it of more interest than leafing through a high school yearbook. Its final sequence, for instance, could just as easily come in the middle of the movie for all the relation it bears to what goes on before.

Spielberg's direction and Melissa Mathison's script never lose sight of the realistic, low center of gravity world of childhood, in which such marvelous adventures happen every day that an alien knocking around the garage is not really such an unusual occurrence. [2002 re-release]

Chariots of Fire reasserts the importance of the so-called old-fashioned virtues of moral courage and personal integrity and, as such, it is a movie that, with the help of Vangelis Papathanassiou’s wonderfully stirring music, lifts the spirits to a new high. The actors seem to have been born to play their roles.

The movie is so entertaining it hardly seems right to say it's susceptible to holes being picked in it, but it is.

There is no denying the emotional power of these scenes, but one wishes that Scorsese would end his Italian-American guilt trip and stop exposing mean-tempered, self-destructive characters like La Motta, whose personality problems, he apparently feels, stem from their cultural environment. Raging Bull ultimately has a numbing effect on the brain as if one's head had been pummeled by La Motta's so-called "girlish" fists.

It is nearly impossible to look at this brilliantly executed movie without being moved to tears.

The combination of old-time Hollywood valor and ahead-of-its-time surprises makes this restoration a big event.

Airplane loses its buoyancy. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, who share both writing and directorial credits, become so desperate for laughs that the jokes descend to a much cruder level. And Airplane does an abrupt nosedive, turning a hopelessly flat movie, sparked only by the occasional appearances of Lloyd Bridges as an easily rattled air traffic controller whose nerves are such he depends on booze and pills to keep himself going on the job.

The opening scene of The Shining is along a narrow mountain road while the “Dies Irae” plays ominously on the soundtrack. The camera veers out away from the car toward the horizon as if to bear down on something significant… and then comes back to the car. The movement is a sort of portent for the direction of the movie, which takes two and a half hours to go nowhere.

Anyone planning to see The Empire Strikes Back should be warned right away that it is done as a two-hour chapter and ends in a cliffhanger, which is likely to leave an unsatisfied feeling, unlike “Star Wars,” which can be taken as a self-contained unit. This acknowledged, the movie nevertheless is a spectacular piece of work that carries the new “Star Wars” tradition forward.

Creepy in 1980, Cruising is almost macabre now, knowing that most of the young men involved in rough, unprotected sex then began dying of AIDS shortly afterwards.

It is a purely mechanical movie that is no more dazzling to the eye than a nighttime landing at Kennedy airport.

Coppola, with his bravura style of direction, has created a movie of harrowing intensity and staggering power. But if you accept the belief that art should enlighten and illuminate as well as arouse the emotions, I’m afraid that Apocalypse Now does not qualify as great art.

The Warriors is a comic book morality tale, Westside Story crossed with A Clockwork Orange. The movie is so perversely fascinating in a variety of ways that it’s too bad the imagination demonstrated wasn’t used for something better than what turns out to be one more exploitation film in which the audience is encouraged to cheer the sights and sounds of mayhem.

A movie that is pure escape and good, clean, unadulterated fun.

In ferociously intense, chillingly brutal scenes, this bravely innovative, kingsized movie (one should be warned that it runs over three hours) enables one to fully understand why this particular war not only destroyed the hopes and dreams of America’s young men, but why it left so many of them permanently shattered and alienated from society.

Star Wars is somewhat grounded by a malfunctioning script and hopelessly infantile dialogue, but from a technical standpoint, it is an absolutely breathtaking achievement.

There are moments when it seems Allen’s comic muse has temporarily deserted him - but it has been replaced by something much greater. Annie Hall touches the heart.

Stallone is totally engaging Rocky playing him with a mixture of boyish intensity, lusty sensuality and cheerful innocence. And Shire is equally appealing, slowly blossoming into a vibrant young woman, and Burt Young seethes with anger as her embittered brother.

Were there Richter scales for measuring the degree of terror induced by movies of this kind, De Palma's "Carrie" would register only 2.2 in terms of actual shock value, but it would score well on the laugh meter. This satiric examination of the American high schooler turns out to be scathingly funny.

What finally makes the movie so compelling is director Martin Scorsese's scathing vision of New York as a fiery inferno of neon lights and relentlessly hostile populace.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the best film therapy one can recommend.

It is a stunningly effective thriller, as cleverly engineered by director Steven Spielberg (with considerable assist from film editor, Verna Fields) as the mechanical sharks that everyone knows by now play the great white shark.

The Godfather PART II is the most ambitious American movie in terms of size and scope in recent memory. It goes much deeper than “The Godfather” in analyzing the twisted mentalities of these men who pervert the capitalist system for their own gain. The film is richer in texture and gives more evidence of social awareness.

Director William Friedkin, with his scrupulous attention to detail, his determination to convey a sense of realism, achieves such startling effects that one comes away almost completely convinced of the possibility of demonic possession. His movie rushes headlong towards a blood-curling climax (the actual rite of exorcism), a series of scenes so powerful it leaves the audience limp and exhausted.

But the look of a movie is not as important as how it feels. The Sting feels like a cold shower. One dashes into it primarily because of its superior cast.

The movie is set in a gloriously creepy and crumbling Venice. It's the off-season, and every deserted canal and alleyway reeks of bad vibes. Roeg plays masterfully with this menacing atmosphere, jangling the nerves with quick cuts and quixotic possibilities. [16 Oct 1998, p.72]

Poitier relieves the melodrama, thankfully, by livening up the picture with his sense of humor. [29 Apr 1972, p.187]

His film may offend (it very nearly makes one nauseous) but there is no doubting the fact that it is the end product of a brilliant, highly original mind.

The French Connection is pure dynamite. Its trigger-fast, explosive scenes and high-tension chase sequences (the one in “Bullitt” pales by comparison) will have you literally gasping for breath.

Whew! It’s shocking - a horror film but extremely well done by producer Jerome Hellman and John Schlesinger, the British director who uncannily captures the feeling for tragedy in this locale, the forced gaiety of some who have sunk to the lower depths of despair and sympathy for the two disillusioned protagonists.

Oliver! is a timeless classic that will be as lovable in 10 or 20 years as it is today.

You can reexperience the humor and magic -- and the essence of Streisand -- in this William Wyler classic.

Polanski’s direction is smooth and the film itself happily understated. The tension created is practically unbearable.

Kubrick leaves himself wide open to ridicule from the minute he picks up Dr. Floyd’s space investigation of the mysterious monolith...The setting is a technical marvel, but advertising plugs make it a super-commercial and destroy its impact.

The Graduate, the erratic, jet-age film at the Coronet and Lincoln Art, has two standout performances - one from a young actor, who looks as if the worries of the world rested on his sawed-off body, and another from a director, still new to movies, whose spit and polish technique at times borders on genius.

It’s a pleasure, all too rare, to watch two splendid actors pitted against each other with equal force such as Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in the exceptional murder mystery, In the Heat of the Night. Over the years I remember a few extraordinary cases of this kind - Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable in “San Francisco.” Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins in “The Prisoner,” Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole in “Becket.”

A faithful and beautifully impressive transition to the screen of Robert Bolt's superb historical play.

The strangely mesmerizing dance contest in "Pulp Fiction" was born of Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 New Wave classic Band of Outsiders.

Robert Wise has transformed the delightful Rodgers and Hammerstein musical stage production of "The Sound of Music" into a magical film in which Julie Andrews gives an endearing performance in the role of Maria, the governess.

It's phenomenal! A rare case in film history that a series projecting the same character, with the same star, improves as it goes along. The James Bond movies do. The first, "Dr. No," was good; the second, "From Russia With Love," was better; the best and the wildest is Goldfinger, a fun galore thriller that is one of the brightest lights of the holiday offerings on screens of De Mille and Coronet Theatres.

The picture sparkles with witty dialogue, titilates with droll situations, stirs the heart with its story of the metamorphosis of a London guttersnipe in a fine lady, and its romantic intervals glow with warmth and charm that fascinates the audience.

As joyously energetic now as the day it arrived.

Remains funnier than almost any comedy made in this generation. And since we are, once again, embarked in global warfare, it's as timely as it has ever been. [24 Apr 2004, p.67]

A fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek movie about an engaging foundling.

If French film makers would consider the story they have to tell as paramount to the technique of telling it, I'm sure they would interest a wider audience than they do now. [05 Sep 1962, p.37]

The film adaptation of Robert E. Griffith’s and Harold S. Prince’s stage production of “West Side Story” retains all the vibrant qualities of the original work while added brilliance and originality have been brought to the screen presentation.

The film moves at a leisurely pace at first, but it accelerates as it moves towards its exciting climax.

The obvious thing to say is that Hitch has done it again; that the suspense of his picture builds up slowly but surely to an almost unbearable pitch of excitement. Psycho is a murder mystery. It isn’t Hitchcock’s usual terrifier, a shocker of the nervous system; it’s a mind-teaser.

Production and direction wise, Wilder sustains his usual excellence. But his story is controversial and I am not one of those who can quite see The Apartment as the great comedy-drama he evidently intended it to be. He oversteps the bounds of good taste.

The race alone is well worth the price of admission.

The funniest comedy I’ve seen in years. There aren’t many of the hundred and four minutes of running time that doesn’t find the audience laughing its head off at the antics of Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe.

It is a picture that will charm the young and tickle adults, since the old fairy tale has been transferred to the screen by a Disney who kept his tongue in his cheek throughout the film's animation. It is a beautiful and amusing cartoon.

The direction is excellent and Freed is to be congratulated on the production as a whole, as the story is presented in an original and enticing manner.

An artistic triumph for the master of mystery.

Brilliant performances are to be credited to Alec Guinness, as the British colonel, who insists on sticking to the rules of the Geneva Conference governing prisoners of war, and Sessue Hayakawa as the stubborn, cruel, proud Japanese officer.

For the new film generation, some minor chills are offered in this well-done production. [08 Aug 1957]

It's impossible to imagine how the action genre would have developed without Akira Kurosawa's watershed 1954 movie Seven Samurai.

As far as its entertainment value goes, the picture should be a smash hit, as its impresario has inveigled so many of the top players of the day to put in an appearance on the screen, that it is the most star-studded film of all time. It is also an eye-filling travelogue, an exciting adventure and a very funny film.

Akira Kurosawa's talent for analysis, interpretation and projection is again apparent in "To Live." [30 Jan 1960, p.22]

It is a sentimental, heart-warming, simple story of a couple of ugly ducklings who find compensation for their lack of good looks in each other's love.

It is full of goodness of purpose, sweetness and nobility of character. [05 Aug 1954, p.38]

Outstanding performances are turned in by Karl Malden in the role of a priest who makes the waterfront characters his particular charge, by Lee J. Cobb, as the big bully who bosses the boys, by Rod Steiger, John Hamilton and a couple of well-known pugilists, Tony Galento and Tami Mauriello.

The threatened catastrophe, as destructive as any H-bomb, is handled with enough realism and tension to be plenty scary. [04 Jul 1954, p.20]

There isn't a dull moment in the picture.

Peter Pan has been done in the style for which Disney is noted. It is one of his best productions and, I believe, is closer to the author's idea than any other presentation of the story, as the Disney medium is ideally adapted to the fantasy.

It has comedy, drama, thrills, melodrama, tragedy and great heart. [11 Jan 1952, p.54]

In this picture, the screen’s greatest dancer contributes some of his art of choreography for the special pleasure of movie audiences.

Kelly is superb as dancer and comedian, but a little less than that as a singer of Gershwin songs. Leslie Caron, who dances like an angel, is no beauty, according to Hollywood standards, but she is endowed with great grace and personal charm. She is an exquisite dancer. An American in Paris, in short, is definitely a picture to see.

All About Eve is not only a brilliant and clever portrait of an actress, it is a downright funny film, from its opening scene to the final fadeout.

It is a realistic drama, conceived and written into a brilliant and provocative screen play. [11 Aug 1950, p.52]

Newton's eye-rolling Silver has been much impersonated but never equaled. Disney's first live-action feature was vividly shot in Technicolor by Freddie Young. [10 Nov 2002]

A brilliant, thrilling, vital transference of the play to the screen.

It is light, it is charming, it is delightfully funny and completely captivating. It is all that, and something more. It has an undefinable spiritual quality that raises the spirits of the beholder into a happy, hopeful mood.

The film is too sprawling in extent, too noisy as to background music and voices and much too obvious in the application of its social significance notes. But while it isn’t the best picture to come out of Hollywood this year, nor is it Capra’s masterpiece, it tells a good story and its conclusion has a heart-warming effect on the audience.

The dialogue is superb and the situations natural. The comedy touches are delightful. They spring from the inherent character of the people in the story, rather than the obvious contriving of playwright and director...A satisfying, heart-warming, deeply moving picture.

Paramount may have made a more appealing, more tenderly human and amusing picture than Going My Way, during its many years of film-making, but if so, I have missed it.

Ingrid Bergman makes a charming and beautiful refugee and Paul Henried gives a convincing performance in the role of the ardent anti-Nazi leader. Claude Rains gives one of his best performances as the police chief and Conrad Veidt is properly menacing as the Nazi officer. Sydney Greestreet is wonderful as the slick proprietor of the Blue Parrot and Rick’s rival in the cafe business.

As the story unreels, one can feel the warmth of the writers' and director's hearts for their subject and inspired playing of the cast.

The picture, produced by Alexander Korda, under Lubitsch's direction, has some deliciously funny moments and every now and then a serious sequence is injected that startles the audience into an attitude of taut suspense. But it seems to me that the background of the Melchior Lenggel story is a bit too grim for joking.

The dialogue follows the quaint Welsh dialect of the book and the picture is as faithful a transcription of novel to screen as it is possible for a scenarist and director to achieve. The screen play, by Philip Dunne, retains all the honest vigor and tender charm of the book.

Welles displays touches of genius in the handling of his story. His cast, made up of players from his Mercury Theatre group, respond like sensitive musicians to the movements of the conductor’s baton.

The suspense of the story is magnificently sustained throughout the film, which didn't surprise us, as maintaining suspense in a story has always been Director Hitchcock's forte

Walt Disney has waved his magic wand over Collodi's world-famous fairy story, Pinocchio, and presto! he has changed it into the most enchanting film ever brought to the screen.

The picture is real, full of vitality and of so much human waywardness and nobility of spirit that it tears your heart out in sympathy with its tender and tragic passages and makes you want to shout with joy at its hearty humor.

Judy Garland is perfectly cast as Dorothy. She is as clever a little actress as she is a singer and her special style of vocalizing is ideally adapted to the music of the picture.