Rookie of year strikes out in the laughs department. [09 Jul 1993, p.3D]

Since the movie never really gets very far beneath the skin of these immensely talented people, their battles and her final victory seldom rise above the level of moderately entertaining melodrama. [11 Jun 1993, p.3G]

Arau gives the northern Mexican landscape a strange beauty, and the acting is sensual and effective, though there are periods when the dialogue becomes heavy-handed and the pace too slow. [07 May 1993, p.3G]

Made in America is at its best when the one-liners are thick and fast, and when comedy rules. There's a lot of staring into space that substitutes for acting when the going gets tougher, and while the ending milks all possible emotion out of an audience, there still is something heartwarming about it. [28 May 1993, p.3E]

In this year's stupid sexy screamer, Sliver, [Stone] tries to reveal some of her character's mind. But there's nothing in there but cotton candy and foggy images from old soap operas. [23 May 1993, p.12C]

HOW FUNNY CAN a movie be when it consists of stupid jokes, dreadful puns and stale sight gags? Pretty funny, actually. [21 May 1993, p.3G]

Map of the Human Heart is a lyrical, gorgeously photographed epic as well as a captivating story of love. Occasionally, its reach exceeds its grasp, but how exciting and rare to see a movie that takes too many chances in an era when most take none at all.

Posse is an exciting, action-packed Western, and almost all of its social commentary is skillfully embedded in the gripping drama itself. [14 May 1993, p.3G]

Reitman's movie is triumphant and actually deserves being mentioned in the same breath with those great comedies of 50 years ago. [07 May 1993, p.3G]

An entertaining and sometimes exceptional look at the short life of the man who singlehandedly brought about the boom of martial arts in this country. Starring Jason Scott Lee (no relation), "Dragon" covers Lee's life from his early days in Hong Kong to his final scene from "Enter The Dragon," Lee's only big-budget American movie. [12 May 1993, p.6F]

As the movie gets longer, Romero's hand gets heavier and heavier, and by the climax he can barely lift it to hurl another cliche. The movie ends in the usual way, with lots of blood and Satanic special effects. [23 Apr 1993, p.3G]

Writers Barry Berman and Leslie McNeil and director Jeremiah Chechik tell the story with tenderness and humor. And - miracle of miracles, in this day of endless endings - when the story is over, the movie is over, too. [16 Apr 1993, p.3G]

This convoluted tale of a U.S. Treasury agent (Wesley Snipes) looking for the rats who killed one of his partners simmers along fairly well for about 45 minutes and then gets all lukewarm and fuzzy. [21 Apr 1993, p.6F]

THANKS to the boys of summer - nine wonderful child actors - and a sweetly nostalgic story well told by writer-director David Mickey Evans, The Sandlot is a winner. [9 Apr 1993, p.3F]

Is there really a need to make a 14-year-old the sexual object of adults' attention? A coming-of-age movie that tries to sympathize with a teen-ager can be enlightening. A movie that tries to tantalize us with a child is shameful. Second, the stereotype of the treacherous Lolita taking advantage of a man twice her age is not only sexist, it's misogynistic. Take The Crush and can it. [9 Apr 1993, p.3F]

Obviously this movie is too dense for most kids under the age of about 8 to follow. Even if you're over 8, way over, the plot still seems overly complicated. [23 Mar 1993, p.3D]

Unfortunately, as the characters change, Harris cannot keep up with them, and as the film becomes more and more melodramatic, it becomes less exciting. A good movie, but Harris had potential for a great one and let it get away. [02 Apr 1993, p.3G]

The movie has some outstanding moments. Rock's performance and writing show that he appreciates rap music and its place in the culture, but he is not so respectful that he is incapable of skewering it. The movie's failings show up in the last half hour. Tamra Davis, known for directing many top music videos, lapses into predictability. The edge in the first part of the film goes dull by picture's end. And the story, written by Rock, Nelson George and Robert LoCash, becomes needlessly complicated, then meanders to a conclusion. [17 Mar 1993, p.3F]

Don't let anyone off the hook. That's a basic rule of good satire, and on the whole Amos & Andrew follows it. The result is a generally amusing, occasionally hilarious send-up of racial posturing in America. [05 Mar 1993, p.3G]

Taken as low comedy, Army of Darkness is fairly successful. The violence, although there is plenty of it, seems even more cartoonish and less gory than in the earlier movies. I have a feeling boys of about 11 or 12, with their normal penchant for bad puns and gross-out tactics, would be the most likely audience for this silliness, which often has the feel of an old "Tales From the Crypt" comic book. [19 Feb 1993, p.3G]

Slater is monosyllabic and mostly expressionless. When Tomei and Perez speak, they have nothing to say, as contrasted with the rapid-fire lines they had in their earlier films, lines that kept them interested and enthusiastic, so that their performances just glowed. Here, they're as dull as the dishwater in the diner, and so is the entire movie, tragic ending and all. [12 Feb 1993, p.3F]

As the climactic scenes approach, the audience must find a way through a number of large plot holes and suspend disbelief, but The Vanishing remains a strong, entertaining movie. [05 Feb 1993, p.3G]

The rich performances from Foster and Gere and the steady direction from Jon Amiel ensure that love is all you need. [09 Feb 1993, p.4D]

There is a lot of sex along the way, but I found very little of it exciting, or even sensual. Madonna never seems to be having any fun, nor do her sexual partners, either in action or when they talk about it later. [15 Jan 1993, p.3E]

The acting is quite good, and Marshall keeps suspense as high as possible, considering we all know the eventual conclusion. [15 Jan 1993, p.3E]

Although viewing this movie leaves you raw emotionally, it is a powerful testimony to one family's unwavering love and willpower, captured splendidly by Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte and director and co-writer George Miller. [27 Jan 1993, p.5G]

If the story were only a little better, the characters and situations a little more believable, the very talented Hill could have turned this into a winner. As it is, the direction keeps things taut and rather tense, even as the dialogue sags into nonsense. [25 Dec 1992, p.3H]

Toys may be beautiful to look at, but it's hard to love. [18 Dec 1992, p.1G]

THE BODYGUARDS for the people who made The Bodyguard should be fired - because they should have thrown their clients to the ground and held them there until their desire to make this movie went away. [30 Nov 1992, p.3D]

WE ALL know we have to suspend disbelief when we go to the movies, but never has an audience been asked to suspend as much as it has been by director Alan J. Pakula in Consenting Adults, a dumb, unconvincing tale that features some of the poorest performances in history. [20 Oct 1992, p.9D]

A superficial glimpse at the man who symbolizes some of the most heroic and shameful aspects of Western heritage. Depardieu is fine as the explorer, and Weaver, Armand Assante and Fernando Rey are solid in support. But the writing never surpasses average and the exchanges on the above-mentioned issues come off sounding like a junior-high debate class or, worse yet, 15-second sound bites from political candidates. [09 Oct 1992, p.3G]

Sinise's direction is outstanding. The pacing is well-nigh perfect, and even though the story is familiar, it often seems new, and Malkovich obviously thrives on his direction. On second thought, Sinise thrives on it, too. [16 Oct 1992, p.3F]

The movie is enjoyable if it isn't taken too seriously. Geena Davis sparkles as a TV reporter who is among those rescued, Chevy Chase is amusing in an uncredited role as a TV executive and Garcia is, as usual, both charming and believable, in a movie-star kind of way. Hoffman is always interesting to watch, even when, as in this movie, he reminds us a little too much of some of the other roles on his resume. [04 Oct 1992, p.12C]

Parillaud is a pretty good actress, handling a comic line with aplomb and displaying a proper amount of je ne sais quoi. The movie, on the other hand, is overdone, overblown, overlong and last but certainly not least, over-gory. Michael Wolk's screenplay and John Landis' direction belabor the obvious and the bloody to the exclusion of all else. [25 Sept 1992, p.3F]

School Ties offers a moving and uncompromising look at religious intolerance, narrow-mindedness and hatred. And although this movie is set in a prep school, it has more in common with ''Gentlemen's Agreement'' than with ''Dead Poets Society.'' [19 Sept 1992, p.7D]

This is not a great, thought-provoking film, but following the young people from relationship to relationship is mostly fun, though it begins to sag in the latter parts as Crowe does some padding to flesh out a too-thin story. [18 Sept 1992, p.5G]

The whining reaches new heights in Husbands and Wives, and it was one of the things that bothered me. Another was the over-jerky camera movement as he tried to give the film the look of a documentary but only made it look like a bad home movie. A third was his use of characters looking straight at the camera and talking to an off-screen person, perhaps a psychiatrist. I think that's a phony device. On the other hand, I found more Allen humor along the way than in several of his recent movies, and he kept it brighter than the depressing tone the subject matter would seem to allow. When he didn't whine, Allen was excellent, and so was Sydney Pollack as his friend Jack. [27 Sept 1992, p.6C]

The real disappointment is that director Carroll Ballard delivers such powerful racing scenes and seascapes that you wish he could have done better on dry land. But you can't argue that Ballard doesn't deliver an original, often breathtaking, view of nature. [17 Sep 1992, p.4E]

Bob Roberts is a triumph in every respect: The editing is glorious, the use of music dazzling, the nebulous ending very true to life. [18 Sep 1992, p.3G]

THE MAN who would trade his fiancee - but just for the weekend! - for a $65,000 gambling debt may be rather sleazy, but it probably wouldn't raise many eyebrows in Las Vegas, where sleaze and the concept of woman-as-object have marched hand-in-hand for many years. ''Honeymoon in Vegas'' continues those precepts, and does so woefully, with dumb writing, ordinary direction and performances by Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan that are so awful as to be mind-boggling. [28 Aug 1992, p.3F]

Lutz created more than just a mystery yarn, and Don Roos' screenplay and Schroeder's direction take the story even further and, of course, make it a lot more visual. [14 Aug 1992, p.3G]

Even after all the problems are discussed, a de Palma thriller at less than full speed is as good or better than most directors can turn out with their foot to the floor. [11 Aug 1992, p.4D]

The man is bound to special effects as if they were Siamese twins, and while fancy stuff helped a lot in Who Killed Roger Rabbit? and all the Back to the Future movies, it doesn't do much for Death Becomes Her. But Zemeckis insists on emphasizing them over script or cleverness or even acting, and he hammers a viewer into surrender, rather than excitement. [04 Aug 1992, p.4D]

Enchanted April, from von Arnim's novel, may be the most charming film I've seen all year. Not only is it charming, but also witty, literate and bitingly funny. Then, without losing those qualities, it becomes a warm and wonderful love story, about dreams coming true, and finding what was thought lost, both in oneself and in someone else. [28 Aug 1992]

The acting is solid, but the story sags from time to time, and it's very predictable, though when it's funny, it's very funny. [21 Nov 1992, p.7D]

It is one of those movies that seem to be meandering to no real purpose, and yet, very slowly, take hold of your emotions. By the end, you find yourself rather astonished at how much you care about what happens to the characters. [9 Oct 1992, p.3G]

Despite the melancholy background of Scandinavia, the repressive work ethic, the class struggle, this is a beautiful love story. [14 Aug 1992, p.3G]

For the screen version, Baldwin is back, along with Meg Ryan, and there's less chemistry than in a high-school laboratory in July. [10 Jul 1992, p.3G]

Is briefly entertaining but shows mainly that sports films featuring women are no better than those featuring men. Much of the problem belongs to director Penny Marshall, who reaches for the cliche, and for the easy way out, each time the movie seems to be about to make a serious statement about women or about baseball. [3 July 1992, p.3G]

The romantic relationship between the two stars is mishandled, and neither is given sufficient funny material. [16 June 1992, p.4D]

It breaks no new ground, offers no ingenious plot twist and makes no unique character insights. But who cares when the movie is so much fun. [02 June 1992, p.4D]

Director David Fincher, making his feature film debut in strong style, keeps the action fast and furious, though the climactic scenes look an awful lot like the ending of ''Terminator 2.'' It may be just another sequel, but Alien 3 is better than most, and follows nicely after the first two. [22 May 1992, p.3G]

The film is directed with dark stylishness by Katt Shea Ruben from a screenplay she wrote with the film's producer, Andy Ruben. [29 May 1992, p.3F]

LARGE GROUPS of highly paid Hollywood people spend a great deal of time deciding on titles for new movies. Rarely do they succeed as well as with ''Split Second,'' whose title perfectly describes the length of entertainment in store for the moviegoer. [1 May 1992, p.3G]

I can't imagine a true ''Rocky & Bullwinkle'' devotee who won't enjoy ''Boris and Natasha.'' [17 Apr 1992, p.9F]

Fishburne gets the last word, however, in the midst of more flip-flops than a lake full of frogs, and while much of the movie is shoot-'em-up and fast action, the work of the actors and of Duke give it a nice cohesion. [18 Apr 1992, p.4D]

THUNDERHEART, a murder mystery set amid the American Indian movement on Sioux reservations in the 1970s, has its heart in the right place. But except for a few scenes, the thunder is missing. [7 Apr 1992, p.2D]

As in his previous film, the game action is secondary to the zany characters, and there certainly are a lot of them. In fact, they bring such charm that White Men Can't Jump, a truly dumb movie, is a very funny movie. [27 Mar 1992, p.3F]

IF SINCERITY were the basis on which movies were judged, The Power of One would be a great one. But real movies, like real life, have to provide satisfaction over a wider range, and this long, dry, coming-of-age tale about South Africa falls short. [29 March 1992, p.12C]

A splendid murder mystery, but one with as much gore and steamy sex as I've seen in a long time. [20 Mar 1992, p.3F]

Peter Bogdanovich's brilliant direction (on a par with his classic comedy, ''What's Up, Doc?'') has brought a successful adaptation of a stage farce to the screen, conquered the problems of the play-within-a-play format and most important, has lost almost none of the laughs of Michael Frayn's original play. As a result, ''Noises Off'' brings laughter from start to finish because Bogdanovich has captured the essence of physical farce and blended it perfectly with superlative comic dialogue. [24 March 1992, p.4D]

My Cousin Vinny would have been a moderately funny movie in any case. But with Joe Pesci in the leading role, the movie escalates several notches to a rough-and-tumble, exciting comedy and proves that Pesci is one of the most versatile actors in the business. [19 Mar 1992, p.6E]

If you like to have your mind blown, this movie will do the job. [10 Mar 1992, p.4D]

Once Upon a Crime could have been a boisterous slapstick comedy, but writing and direction reduce it to the status of the very ordinary. [12 March 1992, p.3E]

Memoirs of an Invisible Man' is a generally entertaining bit of nonsense, a slick blend of suspense, comedy and special effects. [28 Feb 1992, p.3F]

FALLING FROM GRACE, the acting and directing debut of rock singer John Mellencamp, may not quite be solid gold - but it is a solid first effort. [21 May 1992, p.3E]

The movie would have been slightly better if the relationship had remained one of professional respect and personal friendship. But that would not have solved the problem with the movie's pace and suspense. Action-adventure movies should have, well, action and adventure. [12 Feb 1992, p.4F]

Strick and Joanou have made this one so convoluted that interest falters, and the lack of a truly sympathetic character doesn't help. [7 Feb 1992, p.3F]

Most important, Taraporevala and Nair have created a seamless story that entertains, informs -- and maybe even teaches. [28 Feb 1992, p.75]

The four leading actresses give memorable portrayals, all worth watching. The message, of the universal necessity of love and human kindness, is certainly important. But as a total movie experience, Fried Green Tomatoes gives way to sentimentality and calculated tear-jerking. [28 Jan 1992, p.4D]

The matte work is awful, the lighting terrible. Many of the vehicles look like bumper cars, borrowed from the nearest amusement park and covered with plastic tops; the rest look like Disneyland rejects. Chase sequences are boring. [24 Jan 1992, p.3F]

ALTHOUGH deranged baby sitters have become standard suspense thriller fodder, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle offers a few chills despite its hard-to-swallow premise and tedious, predictable ending. [9 Jan 1992, p.5E]

Tamra Davis, directing her first feature, is so caught up in the sex-and-violence aspects, and bolstering the body count, that she forgets to keep her story at all credible, and lets gunshots take the place of conversation. [19 Feb 1993, p.3G]

In the end, Light Sleeper is slightly more optimistic than some of Schrader's earlier works, but it's a tough, hard-nosed film that shows, in small moments here and there, what life in drugs is all about - and it ain't all about fun. [11 Sep 1992, p.3F]

Nolte gives a superlative performance, rich and full, packed with emotion and yet not overly hysterical. [25 Dec 1991, p.3F]

Barry Levinson's film, Bugsy, glamorizes the back side of the American dream, adjusting facts as necessary to keep the story dramatic and to paint Siegel in better colors. The result is a strong, fascinating film that features a number of impressive performances, especially from Warren Beatty as Siegel and Annette Bening as Virginia Hill, whose nickname became the name of Siegel's dream hotel and casino in Las Vegas, the Flamingo.

Despite its many shortcomings and periods of ridiculousness, it's a fast-paced, often humorous, entertaining piece of work. [13 Dec 1991, p.3G]

This time around, the story seems old and tired as well. The result is a routine space opera, an only moderately entertaining finale to a series that has had some great moments. [6 Dec. 1991, p.3D]

Newcomer Anna Chlumsky shines in My Girl, a movie sure to hit the same sort of high note among pre-teen girls that Home Alone hit among pre-teen boys. [27 Nov 1991, p.3F]

The film makes a few starts in many directions but doesn't go very far in any, and that's disappointing to those of us who thought so much of Soderbergh's previous effort. Oh, well, everyone's entitled to a clunker now and then. [7 Feb. 1992, p.3F]

I still liked Marshall's movie version of Frankie & Johnny for many of the same reasons I liked his Pretty Woman. Neither one is a big picture, nor particularly realistic, and yet despite their shortcomings - and there are plenty in each - I left the theater feeling good. I also left feeling guilty about feeling good. [17 Oct 1991, p.4E]

Wingfield's attempts to bring the movie to a smooth conclusion fail completely, and the weakness of the story undermines the smooth, careful direction of Robert Mulligan, a veteran with 40 years of movies like To Kill a Mockingbird to his credit. [15 Nov 1991, p.3G]

Thanks in great part to a couple of dozen wonderful soul songs from the 1960s, and a very engaging and talented group of young Dubliners, The Commitments is a thorough delight - warm, funny and deeply human. [13 Sep 1991, p.3F]

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man is a terrible movie. For the first 20 minutes or so, it is so far over the top in its pseudo-mythic urban cowboy way that it is at least entertainingly terrible. [23 Aug 1991, p.3F]

The script could use a few more laughs, but all in all Doc Hollywood is a pleasant if unexceptional summer movie. [02 Aug 1991, p.3F]

Return to the Blue Lagoon is just a lamer rehash of the 1980 movie, which starred Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. And that ''classic'' actually was just a remake of the 1949 Jean Simmons version. Except that in the latest sequel, there isn't even the dopey innocence that was present in the Shields-Atkins saga. It's just dopey. [06 Aug 1991, p.4D]

Brooks has his moments. His facial expressions and body language are often funny and his delivery usually impeccable. But as a director, he doesn't keep the pace even or achieve any semblance of balance between humor and poignancy. [27 July 1991, p.5D]

Point Break is a perfect example of the contemporary "B" movie. And, like a lot of the old B movies, those cheap thrillers of the 1940s and 1950s, Point Break has considerably more raw energy than almost all of the higher-priced products. [12 July 1991, p.3F]

The first five minutes of this law-enforcement spoof (subtitled ''The Smell of Fear'') are hilarious, as police Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) brings havoc to a White House dinner that features George and Barbara Bush. Although the movie slows down somewhat after that, there are enough giggles and bellylaughs along the way to make this summer comedy hard to resist. [28 June 1991, p.3F]

FOR ABOUT HALF its length, City Slickers is a close-to-perfect movie comedy...Crystal, Stern and Kirby are good comedians, but they fall apart when the script does. Only cinematographer Dean Semler (''Dances With Wolves'') has his vision, and the film looks great from start to finish.

The baby sitter isn't the only thing dead in this movie - the plot also suffered a massive coronary while being scripted. In fact, the only life breathed into Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is the light comedic performance of Christina Applegate (Married . . . With Children), with an assist from Keith Coogan. [13 June 1991, p.6E]

WITH Jungle Fever, a shattering movie that focuses on interracial love andracial hatred but that also confronts a dozen other incendiary topics, Spike Lee confirms his position as the leading American director of his generation. [7 June 1991, p.3F]

Candy breaks out of his goofball mold and delivers a solid performance as a lonely Chicago cop who can't pull loose from his domineering mother. The major flaw in Only the Lonely is that the mother (Maureen O'Hara) is such a vicious, whining, manipulative bigot that it is hard to care about her when the inevitable turnabout comes, or see why Candy doesn't just pull out his service revolver and blow her away. [24 May 1991, p.3F]

The overt sexuality of Madonna's stage show, particularly the lengthy exercise in self-stimulation called Like a Virgin, as well as the sometimes startling bluntness of her talk, keeps the movie from being totally boring. But this kind of trash can only sustain itself for so long - for most of us, about as long as it takes to get through the line at a supermarket. [17 May 1991, p.3F]

Toy Soldiers is strictly formula writing, and rather ordinary formula at that, director Daniel Petrie Jr. gets generally good acting from the cast, and the script is guaranteed not to test them too much. [26 Apr 1991, p.3F]

The suspense trickles out of A Kiss Before Dying in the first 10 or 15 minutes, and the movie just lies there until the final 10 or 15 minutes. Writer-director James Dearden tries to inject life into the long, slow middle with blood, breasts and buttocks, but we never sense that any of these attributes belongs to actual breathing human beings. [26 Apr 1991, p.5F]

Stallone starring in a comedy? Absolutely. Furthermore, it's a terrific comedy. Oscar is a fast-moving, highly stylized, very entertaining farce that is played as a combination of comic opera (complete with numerous soundtrack references to The Barber of Seville) and Depression-era zany comedy. [26 Apr 1991, p.3F]

Director Alan Rudolph and writers William Reilly and Claude Kerven don't play fair with the audience. They stack the deck and then deal from the bottom, and the result is such a surprise that I felt let down, even angry. I don't mind not figuring out who the murderer is, but Rudolph should show the viewer a few things along the way to allow it to be figured out. [19 Apr 1991, p.3F]