Only sporadically amusing. (review of re-release)

It tries to be an update of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" crossed with "Pygmalion," but while it has some funny and even original moments, it's too predictable to be "all that."

A compelling, at times bone-chilling study of the male character in crisis.

Greengrass' direction is uninspired, but there is powerful chemistry between a workmanlike Branagh and (real-life girlfriend) Bonham Carter. And her original, seductive and always believable turn as the difficult-but-lovable Jane raises the movie above all its flaws. [23 Dec. 1998, p.44]

Shot in luminous black and white, John Boorman's The General is an off-puttingly adoring homage to a complete savage [18 Dec 1998, p.65]

If she (Paltrow) were the only good thing about Shakespeare in Love, it still would have been worth seeing; that she is the crown jewel in a glittering tiara of a film studded with writing and acting gems testifies to the deep pleasures to be found in this remarkable movie.

The picture is smothered by solemn right-mindedness, and hobbled by scripter David McKenna's simplistic, knee-jerk liberal take on suburban white racism.

Scene for scene, it's like a gorgeous painting come to life, magically illuminated with a warm, orange glow. Unfortunately, those very sets and costumes take priority over a plot that - at best - is glacially paced. [06 Oct 1998, p.070]

For all the drama's canonization of a runner who valued guts over everything else, Without Limits takes no risks. It's just not all that it could be. [11 Sep 1998, p.069]

Writer-director Imamura's film seems as deceptively simple as the eel, and yet generates deep emotional ripples. [21 Aug 1998, p.064]

A film of such cyclonic visual and emotional power, of such dazzling virtuosity and shattering humanity, that it is difficult to endure, yet alone describe. Savagely beautiful and savagely true, Saving Private Ryan is an excruciating masterpiece.

Here, Saget can't even find a consistent tone, varying between all-out slapstick and attempts at dark comedy. Then again, it's hard to milk yuks out of murder, prison rape, bestiality, incest, homelessness and guns in school. [13 Jun 1998, p.023]

As the fourth entry of a painfully uninspired series, this version features new actors portraying the trio of adolescent warriors. [10 Apr 1998, p.49]

The violence in the existential gangster poem Sonatine is as flat and matter-of-fact as the antihero's face. Kitano, the Japanese Harvey Keitel, is a bullplug of a man whose very presence has gravity. [10 Apr 1998, p.048]

Indeed, one never doubts that cast and crew went into Wide Awake with anything but the best intentions. Yet, spiritual kiddie flick or not, one knows what the road to hell is paved with. [20 Mar 1998, p.50]

As Tears Go By doesn’t measure up to Wong’s later classics, such as In the Mood for Love (2000) and Chungking Express (1994), but it shows a master in the making.

It's like watching Alfred Hitchcock try to solve a Rubik's cube in a roadside diner.

If you can stomach the lavish gore, The Beyond also treats you to a three-ring circus of atrocious acting, loopy dialogue, a cheesy wah-wah guitar and synthesizer score and endless jump-out-at-you shocks. [12 Jun 1998, p.053]

It’s as if a ruthless gang of Richie Cunninghams terrorized the Fonzies of the world.

We now have the distance to see just how close to a flawless and utterly timeless a film Steven Spielberg and his collaborators crafted – one that transcended genres (sci-fi and kids’ movies) to become of one of the greatest and most durable of American movies. [2002 re-release]

North Dallas Forty wasn't intended to be a traditional sports flick as much as an examination of the cold business side of the game and its institutional pressures, especially during that era, when the paychecks usually weren't commensurate with the pain these disposable players endured. [17 Apr 2020, p.39]

Mostly it's worth seeing Alien, which established Scott as an A-list director, in a theater because his brilliant and often expansive visuals have always worked better on a big screen than on video.

House is a spooky fairy tale mixed with martial arts, slow motion, black-and-white flashbacks — even a little upskirt action. A demonic white cat and a people-eating piano add spice. Movies as original as this one don’t come along very often, so grab it while you can.

Basically Jaws, but, you know, on land. With a bear. [29 Jun 2014, p.20]

Not only does Black Christmas provide real chills, it introduces devices - like the opening, which is shot from the slasher's point of view - that inspired John Carpenter's Halloween and countless genre flicks to follow. [20 Dec 2009, p.61]

Director William Friedkin, (“The French Connection” and this year’s “Rules of Engagement”) has always been a provocateur, a master of the shock. But his very lack of subtlety is both the strength and weakness of The Exorcist in the 21st century. [2000 re-release]

Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor are good, but the real surprise is Ross. She's so magnetic that you can't believe this melodrama didn't lead to a real movie career. [06 Nov 2005, p.76]

You’re a Big Boy Now is no “The Graduate” but it holds up far better than most comedies from this era I’ve revisited.

Bruce Brown’s 1966 documentary, perhaps the greatest surfing movie ever made, follows California surfers as they travel the globe in search of the perfect wave.

Bursting with energy and originality even after 36 years, A Hard Day's Night is easily the best show in town.

Simultaneously funny and frightening, Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satirical masterpiece. [25 Apr 2004, p.3]

An effective damsel-stalked-by-psycho horror tale, only more lush, as befitting any film produced by Ross Hunter. [15 Aug 1999, p.035]

A truly superb courtroom drama. [02 Jan 2008, p.35]

Sorry, the beloved Singin’ in the Rain isn’t the finest of the legendary MGM musicals. For my money, it’s a close second to The Band Wagon, which has better music, better dances, better direction, more lavish sets and costumes and a wittier script (by the same writers).

In Raoul Walsh's potent portrayal of a criminal gang roving backroads America, Cagney permanently redefined psychopathic criminality in the movies. [22 May 2005, p.25]

Basically, Katharine Hepburn could do no wrong, and with Cary Grant, the ultimate screen actor, you've got an instant classic. Screwball comedy is one of the hardest to bring off, and director Howard Hawks realized that you have to play real to make it succeed. [12 July 1998, p.30]

Moving at a leisurely pace, Cavalacade is primarily of historical interest for everyone except Coward completists and hard-core Anglophiles.

Classic shipboard romantic dramedy involving a condemned prisoner (William Powell) who hooks up with a dying woman (Kay Francis). Excellent support by Frank McHugh and Aline MacMahon as a pair of con artists. [31 Jan 2010, p.6]