A Walk in the Clouds does have its problems, but it looks good enough to eat. [11 Aug 1995]

How bad is Something to Talk About? Well, it's not the worst movie I've seen this year, but it is the biggest waste of talent. [4 Aug 1995, p.18]

The problem is that producer-turned-director Irwin Winkler (Night and the City, Guilty by Suspicion) simply has no idea what he's doing. I take that back. He knows what a producer ought to know: how to latch onto a hot topic and a hot star. Winkler also appears to have picked up enough from the directors he has worked with to give his film a certain second-hand slickness.

Oz is a bit too impressed by the story's enchantment - too inclined to dwell on Omri's astonished gaze and too eager to fill the soundtrack with Randy Edelman's ain't-it-awesome? musical score. [14 July 1995, p.17]

Nine Months does have its problems, but it also has its moments, mainly thanks to a truly remarkable cast. [12 July 1995, p.E1]

The best monster movie to come slithering out of the muck since Jurassic Park. Species is an exploitation picture while Jurassic Park was mainstream, but the new one is lots of fun if you're in the mood for B-movie thrills. [07 July 1995, p.19]

There is a sweet, simple tale at the center of this overstuffed epic. And sometimes, its romanticism manages to shine through all the picture-book pomp. [07 Jul 1995, p.17]

There are theme park attractions with stronger plots and more compelling characters. [26 May 1995, p.17]

Longo and Gibson have so little interest in the personalities of the characters that the actors seem like stand-ins for computer-generated images. [27 May 1995, p.A2]

The intensity of Caruso's close-to-the-vest performance in this absorbing, brutal crime movie suggests that he may have the makings of a big-screen star. [21 Apr 1995, p.29]

Egoyan makes you pay dearly by subjecting you to large doses of film-festival-strength ponderousness. [14 Apr 1995, p.19]

Outbreak is sharp, sometimes-exploitative entertainment that does its job with great efficiency.

The Brady Bunch Movie is certainly watchable, which is a lot more than I had been expecting. [17 Feb 1995, p.19]

Nobody's Fool is funny at times and as cuddly as an old teddy bear. But this movie is being taken far too seriously in some circles.

Altman's method is risky, but when inspiration strikes the result can be wonderful. When it doesn't, the result can be, well, Ready to Wear.

You buy the movie's premise because director Fred Schepisi evokes such a rich spirit of playfulness and romance that you want to buy it. [26 Dec 1994, p.D1]

A routine action drama, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book contains qualities of both forgettability and painlessness.

With its delicate fabric, this film sometimes seems in danger of unraveling. But ultimately it holds together, partly due to Foster's fine, poignant performance and also because some of the characters surrounding Nell reflect aspects of her personality. [23 Dec 1994, p.23]

Director Donald Petrie (Grumpy Old Men) and his screenwriters have nimbly constructed a movie around young Culkin in such a way as to almost conceal the boy's shortcomings - or, at least, to divert us from them for surprisingly long stretches of time. [21 Dec 1994, p.E1]

Shelton's approach in Cobb is stunningly successful and also very funny, in a jolting, in-your-face sort of way. Instead of taking the usual sports-biopic tack of glorifying his subject, he digs deep into the dirt of the athlete's life and somehow comes up with a weird sort of anti-glory glory.

By putting Thompson together with Schwarzenegger, DeVito and the others, Reitman creates abundant opportunities for comedy. The situation is ripe with possibilities. [23 Nov 1994, p.E1]

Fortunately, director David Carson and screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga (all of whom have served in the Star Trek universe) keep the longueurs to a minimum. Whenever you feel like beaming up (or is it out?), they switch scenes.

With Heavenly Creatures, we're always on the outside looking in. And if that view is far from boring, it lacks some of the high drama that a more inside perspective might have offered. [23 Dec 1994, p.26]

At a time when a lot of very silly and terribly dangerous things are being said about sexual harassment, Oleanna sheds a remarkable amount of light on one of the major issues facing us as we struggle, both women and men, to play out our new roles. [02 Dec 1994, p.20]

Half of a wonderful movie is nothing to sneeze at. A love affair that ends badly can still be an affair to remember. [21 Oct 1994, p.27]

Although the filmmakers are subtle in their methods and unobtrusive in their interviewing style, they make their points forcefully.

The thrills and spills are often fun, despite their predictability. Watching this movie doesn't seem so much like white-water rafting as it does like taking a theme-park thrill ride that you've already taken a few dozen times. [30 Sep 1994, p.25]

Although Moretti's deadpan delivery and his film's relaxed pacing may be too unemphatic for some, those on his wavelength will be delighted. If you like this sort of comedy, treat yourself to Caro Diario. [09 Dec 1994, p.34]

The formulaic plot does not give the actors that much to work with. Swank, though, does a good job as Julie. [16 Sep 1994, p.2]

Connery doesn't have many scenes, and he does manage to keep his dignity while he is on the screen. That's more than I can say for a lot of the actors in this movie. [09 Sep 1994]

Fresh is easily one of the best of the new ''hood flicks'' because it doesn't neglect the basics. There's a story here - a good one - and characters you can connect with.

Color me dissatisfied with Color of Night. For starters, it's a murder mystery with a really obvious solution. How obvious? It's so embarrassingly obvious that even I figured it out - and I can never figure these things out.

To her credit, Spheeris elicits winning performances from most of the kids. [05 Aug 1994, p.6]

In Eat Drink Man Woman, Lee's ingredients are wholesome enough and correctly prepared, and the finished product is attractively presented. There's also some inspiration here - enough, perhaps, for a fine meal but not quite enough for an entirely satisfying motion picture. [16 Sep 1994, p.20]

It Could Happen to You does present a life-affirming message about keeping your word - a message that undoubtedly will lead somebody to proclaim it the "feel-good movie of the summer." Yes, it's nice. Very nice. But nice ain't always enough.

The problems with North go beyond casting, however, way back to the movie's central idea and to the filmmakers' failure to think it through. [22 Jul 1994, p.23]

The Firm and The Pelican Brief, both of last year, were solid entertainment. Now along comes the movie version of The Client - the best of the Grisham film trilogy.

Despite its heavy use of romantic sentiments, Angels in the Outfield is a heartwarming fairy tale that left me with a happy feeling. [22 July 1994, p.29]

This new film adaptation of the old radio serial is like Batman (1989) without its spark of pop-cult genius. [01 Jul 1994, p.9]

Home Alone-style slapstick with occasional (almost random) heart-tugging. [17 Jun 1994, p.27]

This is getting a little monotonous, but yes, it's another instant classic. [24 June 1994, p.17]

City Slickers II is not merely one of the worst movies of the year. It's one of the worst movie sequels of all time - and, by the way, one of the least necessary. [10 June 1994, p.21]

Bertolucci's latest effort probably won't create much commotion of any kind. But on balance, it isn't a bad little picture. [27 May 1994, p.22]

Movies like this one - with its spoofy jokes, vacant characters and indefensible plotting - do nothing to keep the western form alive. Deal me out of this con game.

The bottom line is that The Crow is a somewhat-better-than-average exploitation flick that has received an extra shot of hype from the untimely and dramatic demise of its star performer.

Kika is flamboyant and provocative. But the new film, which was partly inspired by the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, is ultimately quite serious.

Red Rock West is not, in any sense, groundbreaking. When you come right down to it, all Red Rock West really has going for it is its enormous entertainment value. But, hey, that's plenty. [14 Oct 1994, p.31]

Ending The Paper cleverly - in the spirit that it begins - doesn't appear to have occurred to Howard and the Koepps. And that disappointing ending is certainly the movie's loss. [25 March 1994]

What's pleasantly surprising about Gilbert Grape is that director Lasse Hallstrom generally maneuvers quite deftly around his self-created obstacles. In its gently ironic, unforced way, his movie manages to be both uplifting and funny, with the laughs never really being at anyone's expense. [4 March 1994, p.17]

It's Shaq, making his motion-picture debut, who in the end turns Blue Chips into a slam-jam-thank-you-man experience sure to please basketball fans who aren't looking for more emotional involvement than a typical night at the O-rena. [8 Feb 1994, p.16]

Among the movie's strengths are the performances, especially that of Ryder, who comes across as bright, beautiful and more delicate than ever before. The lead roles in this film are the sorts of roles that she and Hawke really ought to be playing ones that allow their contemporary vibes to work for them. The film's shortcomings are those of youth and with one exception they are easily forgiven.

Putting up with weeks - or even months - of such media-fed psychobabble is a big price to pay for a couple of hours of defiantly unwholesome entertainment. The Getaway might just be worth it, though.

Tombstone has quite a lot going for it, at least for the first hour, including all those colorful characters and lots and lots of action. [27 Dec 1993, p.D1]

By the end of the film, there's even something vaguely inspirational about our antihero's painful journey through the bowels of his self-created hell.

Possibly the most disappointing sequel since "Jaws 2". [10 Dec 1993, p.19]

In Sister Act 2, these energized musical numbers and the sparkling comedy work together in ways that are very hard to resist. And considering how terribly resistible (to me, at least) last year's Sister Act was, the sequel seems like a movie miracle. [10 Dec 1993]

While the movie's visuals are complex and suggestive, the plotting and dialogue are merely congested and muddled. Hill and the writers get caught between political correctness, historical fidelity, dramatic license and simple movie nostalgia. [11 Dec 1993, p.E1]

Though A Perfect World may deserve to be attacked for its casual pacing and occasional clumsy staging, and for one or two less-than-fabulous performances, the darn thing kind of grew on me. [24 Nov 1993, p.E2]

Somehow, the new production fails to sustain the creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and altogether ooky visual sweep that held the first film together.

Imagine the most exciting parts of The Fugitive but filmed with real moviemaking brio by director Brian De Palma (The Untouchables). [12 Nov 1993, p.20]

Nunez's determined lack of slickness does have its rewards. For one thing, it allows the atmosphere of the movie's tourism-based town to emerge. And Nunez doesn't go the easy route of using the tackiness of the gift shop and the other locations for cheap laughs: He's more interested in their authenticity. [26 Nov 1993, p.20]

The actors are so impressed by the seriousness of their dialogue that they respectfully wait a minute or so after each line is spoken before speaking the next one. Remove the pauses and the movie would run about 20 minutes. [12 Nov 1993, p.20]

A masterpiece. A work of grand visual wit, clever songs, funny gags and genuine pathos, it is perhaps the greatest stop-motion animated film ever, a painstaking style of model animation that computers have all but completely done away with.

when Mr. Jones is working, it's surprisingly enjoyable, partly because the cast is so entertaining. [9 Oct 1993]

How many times can Michael J. Fox ask his fans to sit through junk before they stop being his fans? [1 Oct 1993, p.22]

Even if your expectations were not especially high, chances are that you would be disappointed by Into the West. [17 Sep 1993, p.21]

Profoundly moving. [24 Sept 1993, p.17]

This is ugly. [20 Sept 1993, p.D2]

This movie will finally kill off the series.

Manhattan Murder Mystery is Allen's lightest, most inconsequential production in ages. It is, you might say, fun while it lasts but not a moment longer. [20 Aug 1993, p.17]

I admit, I jumped a couple of times in the beginning, but as the movie progressed, it lost its horror and picked up its stupidity. [20 Aug 1993, p.21]

The movie's dark themes, unhurried pace and talkiness make it something of a gamble for many children. But older children - especially those who have been asking specific questions about death - may find some nourishment in this garden.

In praising Heart and Souls, I hope I haven't oversold the film. Really, it's kind of thrown together, but it's thrown together in a fun, unpretentious way that makes it an often delightful distraction for a rainy August afternoon. And it'll probably look even better when it shows up on TV. [13 Aug 1993, p.17]

Zaillian's usual weakness - a tendency to simplify and sentimentalize - asserts itself from time to time here. But much of the movie has a dry, almost documentary-like tone that helps to keep the material in perspective, as does the filmmaker's loving attention to detail. [13 Aug 1993, p.20]

Most big-screen adaptations of small-screen fare seek to discover some deeper - or, at least, more complex - implications of the material. But in this new Fugitive, the filmmakers have taken just the opposite approach.

What it all comes down to is that Kaufman gets the hard things right and messes up the simple stuff. If there isn't a Japanese saying for that, there certainly ought to be.

Not everyone has realized this yet, but with Wayne's World and So I Married an Axe Murderer, Mike Myers has somehow become the first major movie star of the '90s. [30 July 1993]

Many years ago, Mel Brooks made up his mind about what was funny and he hasn't budged since. [30 July 1993, p.21]

As in the sketches, the Coneheads are humorously outrageous, but somehow they don't seem quite as humorously outrageous as they did 20 years ago. [23 July 1993, p.6]

Bottom line: Stake out another movie. [23 July 1993, p.8]

All things considered, Hocus Pocus is much more entertaining than a pimple-people picture has a right to be. In addition to the delightful witches and the delightful Thora Birch, the film's bag of tricks and treats also includes a cat that - thanks to the magic of computer graphics - really seems to talk. [16 July 1993]

Let's just say that compared to Son-in-Law, Green Acres is Noel Coward.

This delicious, mystical Mexican drama keeps you in an almost constant state of stimulation. [11 June 1993, p.28]

Director Richard Benjamin and screenwriter Holly Goldberg Sloan use a single comic device throughout the entire movie. In scene after scene, two things are made to happen simultaneously with supposedly hilarious results. [11 Jun 1993, p.22]

And for a while, anyway, the filmmakers capitalize on this irresistible premise, winning our complicity in their thriller's voyeuristic game with slick visuals and a delicious mood of anticipation. [22 May 1993, p.E1]

This lovely, tentative motion picture tells a captivating tale. [14 May 1993, p.19]

The comedy - it's too cautious, really, to be called a satire - just sort of tap-dances along, hitting all the usual marks without ever straining too hard.

The way the story is structured, Johnny Depp's performance should have been the movie's centerpiece. But though Depp has a moonbeam quality that's right for Sam, he's not really enough of a clown to make his slapstick scenes come alive. [20 Apr 1993, p.E1]

The basic problem with Indian Summer: The movie sacrifices credibility in an attempt to get easy laughs. [23 Apr 1993]

Basically, it's like a standard TV cop show with better-than-average acting and a few brief scenes of violence that would be too extreme to pass network standards...The word that comes to mind is generic.

What's missing in Point of No Return is basically the same thing that was missing in La Femme Nikita - cleverness. Both are stylish action pictures that would seem a lot more stylish with a few ingenious plot twists. [23 March 1993, p.E1]

What's especially encouraging about Just Another Girl is that in it Leslie Harris demonstrates a genuine knack for capturing on film the sounds and rhythms of adolescence. [10 Apr 1993, p.E1]

You would call Amos & Andrew a comedy of errors if it were actually funny. I suppose the precise term is an attempted comedy of errors - or maybe just a turkey. [05 Mar 1993, p.19]

If anything saves Untamed Heart from itself, it's Tomei's performance which, if nothing else, proves that her terrific turn in My Cousin Vinny was no fluke. She's a star on the rise, and even in a formula flick that is something to see. [12 Feb 1993, p.20]

The love scenes turn out to be the most appealing sequences in this otherwise uninspired movie. [05 Feb 1993, p.17]

Malle and Hare have created a devastatingly understated film about the ravages of passion.

The movie doesn't paint a pretty picture, but it paints one that you sense is emotionally true. In the end, the Odones are heroes, not statues of heroes. You may not always like these people, but how can you help but admire them? [22 Jan 1993, p.E1]