The entire production is vaguely unsettling. That, in fact, is one of the most engaging things about Babe: Pig in the City. The imaginative art direction, economical editing and sculptural cinematography combine to make this movie one of the year's most distinctive-looking productions.

As a Steve Carell comedy, it works. He plays the victim well, the guy romantically in over his head ever better. Surrounding him with people this funny - Ryan Gosling, who knew?

The daft feather-light French farce Potiche is a period piece designed to remind us of just how far and how fast women have come in the Western world.

Like the hero himself, the movie is larger than life - a horrific fantasy that gets carried away with itself as the mood builds and the tension mounts

The most jarring casting mistake (even more jarring than the miscasting of Dangerfield) involves Keith Gordon, who plays Thornton's son. Gordon, who has shown himself to be an intense and quirky actor in such films as Christine and Dressed to Kill, is a smoldering presence in what ought to be a light, comic role. His psycho-killer eyes just don't fit here.

Watch on the Rhine, Lillian Hellman's stark and gripping play about Nazi indoctrination, was translated to film in 1943 with accuracy and depth. [26 Sep 1993, p.71]

A superb character study of the residents of an English seaside hotel. [17 Oct 1999, p.56]

Under the sweet, gooey surface of Avalon there's a more impressive movie yearning to break free - a finely textured movie about how an immigrant man's love of the performing arts produced a grandson who became an important American filmmaker. [22 Oct 1990, p.C1]

Audacious, violent and disquieting, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a summer sequel that's better than it has any right to be.

My Cousin Vinny is a hoot.

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]

Zeroing in on Carr as the movie's "hero" was a smart move. He comes off as smart, confrontational and unconventional.

Frankly, the original was never one of my favorite Disney cartoons - pleasant enough, but uninspiring. The sequel, I'm afraid, isn't much of an improvement. [16 Nov 1990, p.8]

Its chilling third act suggests that sooner or later, even these riders on the Islamic short bus are going to get one right. And that won't be funny at all.

In Bottle Rocket, the small scale and vague amateurishness (especially in the performances) are themselves rather endearing. They seem to go along with the screwed-up characters, as does the loosely structured plot.

A sequel that delivers more heart than laughs, and is, if anything, more visually dazzling than the 2008 original film.

Whatever small pleasure there is to be found in this loud dud is due mostly to the residual good feelings from the first film.

It isn't a great film. But it is a smart and high-minded one, wonderfully cast, with understated direction. Clooney is good enough in the lead to stir talk of a political future.

Filmmaker Haynes has brought forth a punishing little movie, but he fails to make the case that the viewer deserves to be punished. Poison really wants us to suffer - which, come to think of it, is also the underlying aim of many exploitation flicks. For all their cheap thrills, they are basically soul-deadening - and so, ultimately, is this earnest little message movie. [17 May 1991, p.6]

Although FernGully is no Little Mermaid, it moves along nicely, and the ecological message generally stays out of the way of the action. [10 Apr 1992, p.24]

Backhanded compliments are pretty much the only ones The Boy Who Could Fly deserves. The subjects, here, are childhood and illness: topics that otherwise tough-minded people are inclined to approach with uncharacteristic sentimentality. But though the film is both sappy and cliched, it's not as sappy or cliched as might be expected. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.

If Larry Fishburne is like a Clint Eastwood who can act better, the new film is like a Dirty Harry movie done right. [17 Apr 1992, p.20]

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.

A fast-paced thriller with a wicked bite and a sure sense of humor, it traps you in a web of suspense and makes you squeal with pleasure. [18 July 1990, p.E1]

We get little sense of his interior life, what was going on in his head as school, girlfriends and music were competing for his attention and music was winning out. His drive is suggested, but never really felt in the performance.

Melodramatic, impulsive, painful, but never quite "totally unnecessary."

The Russia House is one of the most gorgeous-looking movies currently in release and also, unfortunately, one of the dullest. If it were a travelogue, it would be great. But it isn't. [21 Dec 1990, p.9]

Somewhere is a triumph of tedium, banality passing for depth, a vacuous embrace of nothing.