Contrasting Forrest's unassuming innocence with the upheavals and rancor of the times, the film is a wisely goofy commentary on the stupidity of smartness.

Director Mulcahy's fast-moving dynamic, aided by cinematographer Stephen H. Burum's rhythmic shots, editor Peter Honess' zesty punctuation and composer Jerry Goldsmith's titanic score, brings necessary bulk to The Shadow's surface dimension. [01 Jul 1994]

A scrumptiously delightful moviegoing experience.

Vague and unsastisfying, but not as immediately dismissable as Propaganda's 1993 shocker dud "Kalifornia," "Dream Lover" has going for it the lure of Spader and Amick going for broke and a plot that will bring on post-screening discussions. Either masterfully restrained or badly out of whack, depending on how one interprets the conclusion, "Dream Lover" is problematic enough to earn only passing notice in the marketplace. [11 Apr 1994]

It's a bust. The characters are bland; the dialogue is lame; and the situational comedy and inevitable dramatics are mediocre at best. The quietly released Warner Bros. film might play well on naval bases and ships at sea, but everyone else will steer clear. [25 Apr 1994]

Although the story line is somewhat stretched and overly neat, "The Paper" is a tight and entertaining read, uh, view. [14 March 1994]

Polanski's crisp and twisted direction unravels one kinky film. [18 Mar 1994]

Throwing verbal spears, constantly working themselves into a frenzy and then backing off, Davis and Spacey use their talents as serious actors to enhance what could have turned into a repetitive and unsatisfying curse-fest. [07 Mar 1994]

Bad cop crosses paths with even badder hit woman in the stylistic but ultimately unsatisfying"Romeo Is Bleeding. Gary Oldman's gritty lead performance is not enough to save writer Hilary Henkin's modern-day noir fable from shooting itself in the foot. [4 Feb 1994]

Car 54, Where Are You? makes the other recent big-screen adaptations of old TV series seem like episodes of "Masterpiece Theater" in comparison. [27 Jan 1994]

An excellent documentary film. [3 Nov 1993]

Director Rachel Talalay squeezes the life out of the suspense sequences by dragging them on for too long, and doesn't always hit the macabre witty tone the gruesome murders seem to call for. [30 Dec 1993]

Despite the premise's admittedly thin motivational set-up, "Act 2" skits along on exuberant charm and zippity humor. [10 Dec 1993]

As written by John Milius and Larry Gross and directed by Walter Hill, "Geronimo: An American Legend" makes interesting characters dull as dirt, makes a great story confusing (while taking predictable liberties with the truth) and, worst of all, trivializes the subject matter it tries to splendidly mount. [06 Dec 1993]

Weakest of the performers is Chris O'Donnell as D'Artagnan. He's certainly young enough to portray Dumas' "Don Quixote of 18," but most traces of D'Artagnan's hot-blooded, big-hearted Gascony traits have been blunted in favor of mere eager stubbornness. [12 Nov 1993]

The mangy humor provides a steady stream of laughs, but Look Who's Talking Now won't be confused with the better breeds of film comedy. [3 Nov 1993]

Just identifying the references is a feast for film buffs, but the comedy here is so specifically film-oriented that the laughs, with rare exception, have no deeper resonance. The gags, both sight and verbal, come fast and furious, and more than a few connect. But the ultimate result is wearying, as if one were forced to sit through an endless succession of "Carol Burnett Show" parodies. Another problem is that the films parodied are often less than stellar; "Sleeping With the Enemy," for instance, was already a tired thriller rehash. [19 Oct 1993]

Overall, Ordinary Magic is not a bad film. Those looking for family entertainment with a tinge of radical revisionism could do a lot worse. [01 Nov 1993]

The humor, both physical and verbal, is extremely weak. Aimed at suburban mall hoards, it might connect with young children. But no one else except maybe the filmmakers' friends and bums at all-night theaters will sit this one out. [11 Oct 1993]

A haunting glimpse into the horrors of mental illness as well as the harsh world of mental-health care, "Mr. Jones" is, unfortunately, sugarcoated with a glossy doctor-patient love story that diminishes its emotional strengths. [6 Oct 1993]

In terms of rollicking wacky gorefests, "Freaked" has nothing on "Dead Alive," the superior New Zealand cult hit from earlier this year. Still, the uniqueness of the project will ensure a number of die-hard fans. [4 Oct 1993]

It is on the family level that Bopha! realizes its most graceful power. [17 Sept 1993]

Exciting in its big game scenes but excessively dreary in the undercoached dramatics, the seasonal offering will score some quick points at the boxoffice and then fade quickly. [24 Sept 1993]

Off to a decent start with a bang-bang car chase that takes the life of cop Tom Hardy's father, Striking Distance never recaptures the sense of gritty believability that is essential but rarely found in the cops-and-killers genre. Indeed, it quickly sinks into the usual cliches. [17 Sept 1993]

In the climactic team rollerblade race down the "devil's backbone," this Warner Bros. throwaway tries to combine "Rollerball" and "Breaking Away" for a wow finish that will leave audiences awestruck and cheering. Skaters crash into fences, hit their heads on spittoons, smash genitals-first into trees, jump over cars, slide under semis and battle each other. But this absurdly contrived hokum, poorly shot and edited, is the final insult in what is overall a new low for teen-targeted, big-screen pulp. [20 Sept 1993]

Dennis Quaid's killer smile and Kathleen Turner's lovely legs are two of the up-front assets this winning comedy relies on to work its magic. But Herbert Ross' film also boasts a fine script, overall good casting and tight editing that keeps the gags flowing smoothly. [13 Sept 1993]

Audiences will likely feel that they're being intestinated while sitting through Fortress, a soporific and perfectly fatuous exercise that should lure modest audiences for a weekend or two before receiving a life sentence on video. [7 Sept 1993]

Embraces its many cliches like they were nuggets of gold.