Mannequin may be loosely described as a variation on Ron Howard's Splash, but with none of that film's charm or wit. [14 Feb 1987, p.5B]

While the movie's technical aspects are first-rate and Stallone manages more than a monosyllabic performance, Over the Top can't overcome its sense of deja vu or provide any reason for Hawk's suitability as a parent. [14 Feb 1987, p.5B]

Evidently, Schrader didn't believe strongly in his own screenplay, and that lack of faith proves fatal. [06 Feb 1987, p.1D]

Like The Postman Always Rings Twice, Rafelson's Black Widow is seriously flawed despite several compelling scenes. It plods to a contrived resolution, piling implausibility upon implausibility, rarely pausing to account for the incredulous events that transpire. It is the type of movie that squanders potential at every juncture. [7 Feb 1987, p.5B]

Radio had a mystical power that television never has been able to re-create. Its sound effects and faceless voices stirred the imagination and quite often the heart. Allen captures its essence with an anguished broadcast from the scene of an accident, an attempted rescue of a young girl wedged in a well shaft. [20 Feb 1987, p.1D]

The two women seem genuinely comfortable with each other, and it shows in their unselfishness and timing in a film that moves from verbal humor to slapstick. [30 Jan 1987, p.4D]

The only highlights in this farce are Wallace Shawn's brief comic turn as the killer's attorney, and Mark Margolis' portrayal of a man who'd rather fight than let Terry into his phone booth. I applaud his integrity. [16 Jan 1987, p.3D]

Estevez has said that Wisdom is at least partly a comment on American celebrity-worship. He focuses on the media blitz that surrounds the nationwide manhunt for John Wisdom and his girlfriend, but he is merely reworking tired cliches. Like the youngsters in the dum-dum 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean, John Wisdom is a rebel without a cause. [3 Jan 1987, p.5B]

Oliver Stone's Platoon is the most sobering Vietnam War epic ever made. It is an unqualified triumph for its honesty, its artistry, its brutality and its frank portrayal of a nation - our nation - divided by ideology, poverty, racism and drugs. [25 Jan 1987, p.1E]

The Mission, grand prize winner at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, recognizes the bounds of the picture experience and strives to stretch beyond. [16 Jan 1987, p.1D]

Bertrand Tavernier's 'Round Midnight is a superlative elegy, a bluesy, melancholy movie dedicated to expatriate jazzmen Bud Powell and Lester Young. It captures the essence of their music, moving with the smokey, meandering rhythms of bebop. [03 Feb 1987, p.3D]

This 1984 movie starring Daryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn is simply perfect. It's gritty. It doesn't stoop to being overly predictable. And it just makes your heart swoon a little.

Superbly directed by John Huston and acted with extraordinary charisma by Caine and Sean Connery. [14 Mar 2002, p.19W]

Catch 22 will be remembered as a screamingly terrifying and funny interpretation of Joesph Heller's classic work. [27 July 1970, p.42]

The cinema grew up when Penn crafted this movie. Beatty was never better playing boyish insecurity while Faye Dunaway was a smoldering newcomer. Essential viewing for film lovers. [27 Sept 2001, p.14W]

No other movie has so masterfully conveyed the folly of nuclear warfare, or poked such savage fun at a military that wages it. Stanley Kubrick's coal-black comedy has a timeless quality that will probably extend beyond disarmament. [6 Aug 1995, p.2B]

Once impressive, the special effects seem dated now. [15 Nov 1991, p.18]

A memorable doomsday drama. [28 Sep 2000, p.13W]

Never a dull moment, which, considering the film's length is saying something. [04 Jan 1987, p.6E]

Guilt and obsession combine to create the most personally revealing effort of his career. [Restored version; 13 Dec 1996, p.5]

For craftsmanship, fine acting and excellent direction, Them! tops practically all previous such fiction. It offers excitement, humor, suspense; also, romance which, however, is reduced to a minimum. [20 Jun 1954, p.11C]

The filmmaker who counted A Place in the Sun, Giant, and The Greatest Story Ever Told among his epic works made this rather intimate Western in which character dominates the landscape. [18 Aug 2000, p.9W]

Forget the last hour of Pearl Harbor. LeRoy's depiction of Jimmy Doolittle's air raid has all the excitement and patriotism that Disney's publicity machine couldn't buy. [13 Sep 2001, p.13W]

Lifeboat is one of Alfred Hitchcock's weakest films, yet it remains a notable experiment for its ability to maintain a sense of action despite its cramped setting. [9 March 1990, p.10]

A bit dated in its feminism, making some jokes even funnier. [08 Mar 2001, p.17W]

Fonda's comedy instincts are in top form as a herpetologist duped by a con artist (Barbara Stanwyck) in a screwball comedy from director Preston Sturges. A vintage example of pratfalling into love. [16 May 2002, p.11W]

The greatest animated film of all time...one of the truly monumental cinematic accomplishments of all time. Each frame was lovingly hand-drawn, rather than the stylized mechanics of computer animation that brought back the art form in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. The effect is astounding, especially when the animators' attention to detail and four years of painstaking effort is considered. I'm not ashamed to admit that at a recent screening - right around the sound of the first "Heigh Ho" - I wept, awed by the artistry and savoring a rich historical and emotional experience. [2 July 1993, p.8]

It is brilliant and spectacular to a superlative degree with scenes that are nothing less than astonishing in their magnificence. [16 Apr 1936, p.2]