Director Renny Harlin and his writers, Robert King and Marc Norman, appear to have spent many hours watching bad pirate movies, and they seem determined to repeat every pieces-of-eight cliche. [22 Dec 1995, p.G8]

Director Hill usually makes rough 'n' ready films about men in action ("48 HRS," "Extreme Prejudice"). His change-of-pace 1993 Western, "Geronimo: An American Legend," caught many off guard. "Wild Bill" continues to exhibit this maturing filmmaker while retaining the boisterous tone of Hill's earlier films.

Sergei Urusevsky's amazingly mobile cinematography is so expressive, and Kalatozov's heightened sense of drama so contagious, that this becomes one of those rare movies that makes you look at the world differently. [23 Jun 1995, p.H26]

Strange Days presents itself as an original vision, yet many of its ideas about the perils of virtual reality were more intriguingly explored in several early-1980s thrillers, among them David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" and Douglas Trumbull's "Brainstorm." [13 Oct 1995, p.F1]

Jade is sharp enough to keep you focused, but as usual Eszterhas is more interested in cynical titillation than in making much sense or (heaven forbid) exploring a substantial theme. [13 Oct 1995, p.F3]

This installment is essentially the same mix as before, with only a better-than-average cast to recommend it. [30 Sept 1995, p.F7]

Thankfully, To Wong Foo . . . has a heart. It leaves us optimistic. Kidron and neophyte script writer Douglas Carter Beane seem to think that regardless of environment and situation, our differences are key to our survival. They celebrate the fundamental need for acceptance and integration. [08 Sep 1995, p.F5]

Nadja is a one-way ticket to a visual paradise that unearths nothing more substantial than splendid Gothic atmosphere. In opting for artiness, it strands its cast in lifelessness, an anemic exercise in desperate need of a blood transfusion. [15 Sept 1995, p.F5]

A supernatural thriller that would like to be the new Exorcist, this hapless film has a promising villain and a sympathetic hero, but their confrontations are mostly anti-climactic. [02 Sep 1995, p.F3]

A Walk in the Clouds suffers from an inferiority complex. This familial fable, rife with biblical references, overcompensates for its simplicity in story with aspirations of visual grandeur. [11 Aug 1995, p.E1]

Saddled with a script full of lifeless, mock-clever ideas (such as having the local blacksmith make a pair of Rollerblades), Gottlieb can only do his best to mollify his audience with a few fleeting hints of the movie's untapped potential.

Somewhere around the middle of Something to Talk About, I stopped believing or caring about the people on the screen. Almost imperceptibly, the movie's engaging characters and sharp dialogue slipped into artificiality, betraying themselves as puppets of a movie forcing them toward a predetermined outcome that doesn't quite mesh with their established reality. Up to that point, the movie had been a lot of fun. [4 Aug 1995, p.C1]

Presented as a Vietnam War comedy, Operation Dumbo Drop steadfastly refuses to be funny. [28 Jul 1995, p.D3]

Oz creates a highly positive urban family unit - not the slightly dysfunctional one we usually see in movies these days. [14 July 1995, p.D25]

A strangely inert film that is leisurely enough in pace for Seagal to conveniently foil one bad guy at a time until everyone has been disposed of. Ultimately, we're left to rely on pyrotechnic razzle-dazzle to thrill us, which, until the final train debacle, is modest in scope as well. [17 July 1995, p.E3]

A movie that numbs the head. [12 July 1995, p.E1]

Species doesn't scare or dazzle you. [07 July 1995, p.H25]

Maybe the Arthurian legend is unfilmable. There has never been a successful cinematic adaptation. There still isn't. Bad films are forgivable. First Knight is not. [07 Jul 1995, p.H3]

It's easy to see why the Rangers are popular. Even before they magically morph, the kids are sky-diving, roller-blading and living without parental authority. And they kick serious butt. But it's all done quite unhumorously.

Casper is more an elaborate mechanism than a fully realized movie, and the silly plot is merely an excuse to indulge the amazing special effects. But first-time director Brad Silberling never lets the magic overwhelm his characters. Best known as Wednesday in the Addams family movies, Ricci has grown into an appealing young star who nicely complements Pullman's trademark sensitivity, and together they add the necessary touch of special to the visual effects. [26 May 1995, p.G3]

The movie is a series of ostentatious effects, without much sense of narrative momentum or rhythmic pacing, and it leaves you feeling like you've landed on a treadmill. [26 May 1995, p.E3]

The year's most original and thought-provoking coming-of-age drama, with standout performances by Gael Morel as Techine's on-screen alter ego and Frederic Corny as the Algerian-born boy who challenges his adolescent assumptions. [31 Dec 1995, p.1]

In any future compendium of film clips from anti-Hollywood satires, Swimming With Sharks will surely be included. Several scenes are so incisive and well-written that they stand out as classics of their kind. [09 June 1995, p.H32]

ueled by the street-wise authority of screenwriter Richard Price ("Sea of Love"), this jazzed-up remake takes a few basic cues from the '47 original, but otherwise it's a sharply updated morality play, toughened by the fact that good and evil aren't so clearly defined. [21 Apr 1995, p.H3]

The casting is flawless - including a choice bit for Franken's former "SNL" colleague Julia Sweeney - and out of so much anguish Franken fashions an upbeat ending that feels genuinely well-earned. [12 Apr 1995, p.E4]

It's no more obnoxious than the original, and in several ways it's more interesting. [08 Apr 1995, p.C7]

It's a passable weekend-matinee pacifier, offering some good laughs but remaining largely uninspired. [07 Apr 1995, p.H35]

As it is, Tommy Boy is funny enough, but with Farley in the spotlight you shouldn't settle on playing it safe. [31 Mar 1995, p.G25]