Batman is largely content to skim the surface and bask in the light of its visual style.

On the whole, Star Trek V is a highly forgettable motion picture, regardless of whether you're looking at it from the perspective of a Trek lover or a movie-goer.

Cusack invests such sincerity in his portrayal of Lloyd that it's impossible not to root for him to get the girl. He's the classic underdog that we all think of ourselves as -- earnest, engaging, and impossible to resist because of his flaws, rather than in spite of them.

Viewed from a purely narrative perspective, Castle in the Sky is a fun, engaging two hours. Miyazaki knows how to keep things moving without belaboring certain scenes. He doesn’t speak down to his audience and isn’t afraid to mix in exposition with action.

The final minute of Halloween 4 remains as unsettling today as it was during its 1988 theatrical run. The real reason to see this movie is not for the predictable build-up, but for the cliffhanger provided by director Dwight H. Little and screenwriter Alan B. McElroy.

One of the best-constructed, funniest, and most clever comedies to grace motion picture screens in recent years. It's outrageous, offensive, and even a little sick -- and all the more enjoyable because of it.

Not only is it a thrill-a-minute ride, but it has one of the best film villains in recent memory, a hero everyone can relate to, dialogue that crackles with wit, and a lot of very impressive pyrotechnics.

Although Big is generally lighthearted, it rarely plays for stupid laughs. There are a few of these, but the film avoids sacrificing character integrity for the cheap guffaw.

Empire of the Sun remains a solidly engaging story of heroism in the face of adversity, as filtered through the eyes of a boy obsessed with planes and flight.

The twists taken by the narrative, the quality of the performances, the superlative cinematography, and Berri's masterful direction make this one of the best motion pictures ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is one of those rare movies that manages to mingle outrageous comedy and light drama in such a way that we aren't repulsed or offended by its simplicity and occasional mawkishness. It's a fine cinematic treat that doesn't demand much from a viewer, but gives back a lot, both in terms of laughter and good feeling.

The twists taken by the narrative, the quality of the performances, the superlative cinematography, and Berri's masterful direction make this one of the best motion pictures ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

I'll be among the first to admit that Timothy Dalton is a fine actor. But giving a solid performance has little to do with being a good James Bond, and, as accomplished as Dalton is, he's a failure as 007 in The Living Daylights.

Director Sidney J. Furie, whose previous career high-point was either The Ipcress File or Lady Sings the Blues, fumbles the tone as badly as Richard Lester did in Superman III, veering drunkenly from action/adventure to comedy. Gone is the sense of naïve grandeur that made the original Superman such an endearing production.

The Stepfather doesn’t hold up quite as well as it did during the late 1980s (some of the film’s technical aspects are dated) but it still generates tension and suspense and O’Quinn’s performance has lost none of its power.

May not have much thematic depth, but it represents two hours of pure, exuberant entertainment – an epic gangster tale rendered on a grand scale.

For those with a taste for outrageousness and an appetite for horror, there's no juicier meal than the Evil Dead movies.

This is one of the best of the subgenre, an action-packed movie that delivers adrenaline jolts with both barrels while not skimping on character development and wry humor.

This is the kind of charming motion picture that can be viewed repeatedly without ever wearing out its welcome. With several triumphant musical numbers, an original villain, a smart and witty script, a cute romance, and a new, upbeat ending, this Little Shop of Horrors offers countless delights during its 94-minute running time.

If Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter are like slaps to the face, Platoon is a punch to the gut.

Star Trek IV, while not a superior effort, is an effective and enjoyable sample of entertainment -- not good science fiction, but a lightweight piece of comic fantasy utilizing characters so familiar that they feel like old friends.

The Mission is beautiful to look at, features impeccable period and setting detail, and offers a fascinating and tragic backstory, but it falls short in many simple human qualities. Overall, it's an impressive motion picture, but lacks the epic greatness sometimes associated with it.

The Color of Money plays better when not under the shadow of The Hustler, which is ultimately a better and more compelling tale.

Crocodile Dundee is a breezy, fun affair - a trifle that is extremely pleasant to sample and leaves no bitter aftertaste.

Blue Velvet is David Lynch in peak form, and represents (to date) his most accomplished motion picture. It is a work of fascinating scope and power that rivals any of the most subversive films to reach the screens during the '80s.

The richness of its tapestry, densely woven from human emotions and character interaction, ensure it will never lose that relevance.

Howard the Duck is a bad movie. It doesn’t work as a comic book adaptation, a comedy, an action/adventure film, a fantasy/science fiction pastiche, or a combination of any of the above. The humor is juvenile. The action is cheesy and unexciting. The costume is embarrassing. The script feels like it was cobbled together by people with no knowledge of comic books but who were pretending expertise.

Tautly paced and expertly directed, this roller coaster ride of a motion picture offers a little bit of everything, all wrapped up in a tidy science fiction/action package.

The core of honesty that distinguishes the production remains unchanged by time, ensuring that, no matter how many years have passed, About Last Night... still works on an emotional level.

At his best, Carpenter was able to do amazing things with low budgets and a surfeit of creativity but, despite the arguments of its adherents, Big Trouble in Little China isn’t an example of one of those instances.

In an era when movies about love almost always invariably devolve into formulaic affairs, Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa stands out as an often-surprising, multi-layered achievement. By offering a rumination on a wide variety of love - real, imagined, romantic, sexual, and platonic - Mona Lisa defies easy categorization and offers a complex and superior one-hundred minutes for all who view it.

Lucas manages to be touching, sad, thoughtful, funny, and joyous - it's a nearly-perfect portrait of the incredible highs and lows that accompany the high school journey of a square peg who doesn't fit into a round hole.

Runaway Train belongs to a rare genre: the intelligent thriller.

The passage of years have shown Out of Africa to be a nice, pleasant (if padded) motion picture that's long on visual and audio poetry and short on substance. It tells a grand love story in less-than-grand fashion but is nevertheless worth seeing because of all the other things it does right.

Brazil can be enjoyed without knowledge of the behind-the-scenes circumstances but the rich irony of the parallels between Gilliam and his fictional creation, Sam Lowry, add a layer of appreciation to the project that it otherwise lacks.

The first half-hour (or so) of Clue is enjoyably witty but, after that, it’s a downhill mudslide.

Like many entries into the genre, Jagged Edge works best when it's watched with a minimum of analysis. There are a fair number of gaffes, flaws, and other assorted problems, and the plot looks progressively less substantial the more closely it's examined. However, the bottom line is that the crux of the story - whether or not Jack is guilty - is engrossing, and it isn't until we know the answer that the movie really seems to let us down.

A fun-but-uninspired swords-and-sorcery story.

The battle between Max and The Blaster in Beyond Thunderdome may be the best the series has to offer.

Back to the Future is played neither entirely seriously nor entirely for laughs, and therein lies the nature of its success. It's funny and breezy but doesn't descend to a level where the characters are little more than props for jokes.

Even though Moore sleepwalks his way through the part, making it apparent that he should have departed two films ago, and Tanya Roberts can't act to save her life (although she certainly can scream), we're back to a more conventional, straightforward Bond than the convoluted mess of the previous movie.

The comedy in The Sure Thing is genial and unforced. Most of it develops organically out of the characters and their situations. It doesn't grate and it doesn't interfere with the evolution of the central relationship, and it's effective enough to provoke the occasional laugh or smile.

Eminently watchable and consistently entertaining...It has a candor that is unexpected and refreshing in a sea of too-often generic teen-themed films.

Witness states its position about clashing cultures with eloquence.

Almost paradoxically, 2010 may be unnecessary, but it is nevertheless a worthwhile effort.

If Superman was an eagle streaking across the sky, Supergirl is the result of that eagle’s bowel movement.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is tailor made for those who like their gore leavened with thought-provoking ideas - something that is a rarity in this genre.

It's a rousing science fiction story that proves an on-screen adrenaline rush.

Stop Making Sense is pure fun and sheer exuberance transferred onto celluloid and perfectly re-created at the other end. Experiencing what Demme and the Talking Heads have crafted with this motion picture makes perfect sense. [Review of re-release]

Arguably the best motion picture ever made about the process of creation and the creator.

While the sluggish beginning and ending mar this Star Trek outing somewhat, there's still enough here to please fans of the series, and, to a lesser extent, movie-goers in general.

Indy's companions are weak; we don't identify with them the way we did with Marion and Sallah. There's less action and more overt comedy, and neither change works to the benefit of the story.

Arguably the best baseball movie ever made. The film works not because it is flawless in its depiction of what transpires on the diamond (more on a significant mistake later), but because it captures the spirit of the game at a time when baseball truly was the National Pastime.

This Is Spinal Tap is virtually guaranteed to appeal to nearly everyone. The film contains everything from laugh aloud moments to scenes that will have even the most dry, humorless viewers smiling with unrestrained mirth.

Whether it works as a traditional motion picture is up for debate. However, it’s short enough (about 90 minutes) that it never overstays its welcome and is generally a fun, wild ride, even though it may at times be difficult to figure out where the journey began and where, as the 1964 Chevy leaves the streets like Doc’s DeLorean in Back to the Future, it ends.

A viscerally effective, fast paced thriller.

It's those moments and others and the way they are tied together by Shepherd's tongue-in-cheek narration that cements A Christmas Story as one of those rare must-see holiday movies, even for those who don't celebrate Christmas.

Unfortunately, Never Say Never Again is a poor excuse for the veteran actor's return. The humor is over-the-top, the direction is pedestrian, and the storyline drags. Were it not for the simple pleasure of seeing Connery playing 007 one more time, this film would have been nearly unwatchable. All things considered, it's not a very good movie, but at least Connery's charisma salvages parts of it. Unfortunately, Never Say Never Again is a poor excuse for the veteran actor's return. The humor is over-the-top, the direction is pedestrian, and the storyline drags. Were it not for the simple pleasure of seeing Connery playing 007 one more time, this film would have been nearly unwatchable. All things considered, it's not a very good movie, but at least Connery's charisma salvages parts of it.

Whatever goodwill the movie builds up during its first 85 minutes is thrown away in the idiotic, anticlimactic final ten.

Everything about Staying Alive is cliched: characters, story, dialogue… There’s not a single original or interesting thing to be found. Even the music is tired and, although Travolta evinces the same physicality he showed in Saturday Night Fever, the sense of joy is gone.

Under Lester’s aegis, Superman III loses its identity, never emerging as a true superhero adventure or a full-blown parody.

There's a fine line between wit and absurdity, and this particular movie too often falls on the wrong side.

The teaser scene is phenomenal. It depicts the escalating tensions that accompany being one of the men in the final chain that leads to a nuclear launch. In this case, it's just a drill, but the men (played by Michael Madsen and John Spencer) don't know that. They must confront the morality of obeying an order that could lead to a worldwide holocaust. It's a taut scene that is suffused with verisimilitude.

Cuteness is the watchword here. The dark, eerie atmosphere that oozed from every frame of "The Empire Strikes Back" is gone. Instead, for Return of the Jedi, we have good triumphing decisively over evil, a too-pat resolution to a love triangle, and walking teddy bears.

The extreme nature of the gore isn't beside the point - it is the point. Raimi goes so far over the top in presenting these displays that they take on a campy, almost humorous appearance. It's impossible to take all this blood seriously. So, instead of being sickened, we're strangely amused - and this is all intentional.

Local Hero is a fragment of cinematic whimsy - a genial dramatic comedy that defies both our expectations and those of the characters.

Tootsie works for three reasons: a sharp screenplay, good comic timing, and delightful performances.

The darker tone, somber subtext, and generally non-exploitative violence allow viewers to enjoy the film not only as an action/thriller but as something with a degree of intelligence and substance.

It is by no means an “easy” movie with its somnambulant pace being a significant drawback. However, the movie has qualities that make it hard to forget and, on that basis alone, it is recommended viewing material for anyone serious about film.

The film is far from perfect - the soundtrack occasionally chooses the wrong songs, there are times when the acting (especially by the supporting players) falters, and there are scenes (most of them throw-ways) that don't work. Aside from jump-starting so many promising motion picture careers (including Crowe, Heckerling, and members of the cast), Fast Times will always be remembered for one thing: showing respect for and insight into the members of its core audience, something that was as rare in the 1980s as it is today.

The Last American Virgin tries to inject some honesty and emotional depth into an otherwise silly and raunchy storyline. Its success is mixed but that element at least makes it more interesting to watch than at least 75% of its contemporaries.

The story is simple, as befits a movie that's more about visual flash, technical bravura, and ideas than plot and character development. TRON turns into an action-oriented endeavor, with characters attempting to make their way through the video game inspired landscape of the mainframe to the goal that will achieve victory.

A paranoia-choked atmosphere is the primary reason why The Thing works as well as it does. The setup is standard stuff, establishing that the characters are isolated and can expect no help from the outside. The realization there could be an alien among them, and any one of them might not be human, is what launches The Thing into a spiral of escalating tension.

Blade Runner is a rare science fiction movie so full of material that pages can be written about it without scratching the surface. A review like this can provide little more than an overview. A detailed exploration of the movie, its style, and its mysteries requires dedication that only someone immersed in Blade Runner lore can provide. Currently, the film is available in the United States only in the director's cut. Warner Brothers, however, has promised an exhaustive box set next year with multiple versions. It will be interesting to see whether those editions offer new insights or expand upon the film's already rich tapestry.

Spielberg has always shown a penchant for overt manipulation, but nowhere is this more obvious than in E.T., where he pulls out all the stops in an effort to bleed tears from the eyes of every audience member. It doesn't take a cynical nature to recognize what the director is doing. [2002 re-release]

The Wrath of Khan is a top-notch, fast-paced adventure that can be enjoyed equally by fans of the series and those who have never seen an episode.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is a straightforward action/adventure film, filled to the brim with over-the-top chases and stunts.

Those who have an inherent distaste for this sort of entertainment will appreciate Conan the Barbarian's impeccable production values without enjoying the story; most everyone else will be swept away by the film's spectacle.

There's barely a whiff of melodrama in Chariots of Fire, which makes the film-watching experience all the more effective -- director Hugh Hudson shows respect for the integrity of his material and the intelligence of his audience. The absence of mawkish moments provides the narrative with a genuine quality that supports its factual background.

Takes all of the drama and suspense inherent in a submarine-based story and delivers it in a near-perfect package, establishing Das Boot as not just a terrific adrenaline rush, but one of the best movies ever made. [Director's Cut]

The blend of quick-moving adventure, familiar faces, lowbrow slapstick, highbrow wit, and visual style offers more than one thing to just about everyone. And, with an ending that mocks the idea of happily ever after, Time Bandits concludes perfectly.

As slasher movies go, Halloween II is far from the bottom of the barrel, but, given its pedigree, one has a right to expect a higher degree of quality that what is delivered.

The transformation sequences on their own are disturbing enough to upset sensitive viewers (even though the first one doesn't occur until an hour into the 97 minute film, making the first two-thirds of the movie relatively tame, with the exception of a few appearances by Jack, who looks like a "walking meatloaf").

Escape from New York isn't really science fiction -- it's an action flick set in a futuristic setting. Epic potential for a masterful, gripping tale is abandoned in favor of cheap thrills.

For Your Eyes Only is a solid adventure, although it could have been better. There's enough action to hold those with even a short attention span, and Roger Moore's deft charm hasn't yet begun to wear thin.

Superman II delivers on the promise hinted at in "Superman." Which is the better film? That's a hard choice to make, since both succeed in different ways.

Has all the right ingredients: a smart script, a likable hero, a dash of romance, more than a touch of comedy, and a lot of fast-paced action.

Despite its general failure, some scenes from Clash of the Titans remain memorable. Chief among them is the duel with Medusa, a scene that ripples with tension.

Takes a cold, unflinching look at the violence both inside and outside of the ring.

Whatever social statement Ordinary People was making about its time has evaporated during the intervening years, leaving behind an open, honest drama lacking the emotional punch that would make it unforgettable today. Ordinary People should be devastating, but it's not. By any standards, it's still a good movie, but three decades have stripped away any pretense of greatness. [21 Feb 1999]

The film is too energetic, too jaw-droppingly campy, and too silly not to be enjoyed and celebrated on some level. "Cheesy" doesn't even begin to describe it, yet that's at the heart of its perverse charm. Now, that's entertainment!

There are also plenty of background sight gags that often go unnoticed on a first viewing.

At its best, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown captures the flavor of the beloved comic strip gang but the stew is overcooked and things start to drag after a jaunty first half-hour or so. Overall, this is more for “Peanuts completists” than those looking to get a quick Charlie Brown fix.

Despite its deliberate pacing, it moves quickly, in large part because of the extraordinary way that Kubrick builds and deepens the sense of dread. Even seemingly normal and innocent moments - such as Danny tooling around the corridors of the hotel on his Big Wheel (with the sound of the wheels echoing on hard wood and muffled on carpet) - are overshadowed by an encroaching sense of the ominous. Technically, The Shining may be one of the most perfect motion pictures I have seen. It's too bad that the same level of excellence doesn't extend to the performances and screenplay. The Shining is well worth experiencing, but it does not rank as a member of Kubrick's top echelon of cinematic achievements.

The storyline is more interesting and ambitious, the characters -- little more than appealing types in the original -- are allowed to grow and develop, the special effects are more mature, and the tone is deliciously dark and downbeat. [Special Edition]

Friday the 13th is neither tense nor frightening (although, to be fair, it is at times creepy and atmospheric, due in part to budgetary limitations that led to a low-key style).

It's pretty much assumed throughout art and literature that the collapse of civilization will result in the rise of barbarism. That assumption underlies Mad Max, where the strong prey on the weak, and Max steps in to be the equalizer.

Today, it feels like a parody and at times slips into “so bad it’s enjoyable” territory.