Between Leary, Davis, Spacey and Johns, director Ted Demme (nephew of Jonathan, and director of Leary's MTV spots) has captured lightning in a bottle, and The Ref has enough subtle and not-so-subtle interplay to make a repeat viewing worthwhile.

Just as there can be fresh angles on the old story, there is a growing number of urban-survival cliches that lose their dramatic impact as they grow tiresomely familiar. Sugar Hill is a virtual catalog of these cliches - a serious, well-meaning film that offers no new insight into the crises it professes to understand. [25 Feb 1994, p.D21]

As written by Ron Shelton - who with "The Best of Times," "Bull Durham" and "White Men Can't Jump" has turned the sports movie into his own cottage industry - a crowd-pleasing story has been crafted into a sharp indictment of modern sports as a business, in which victory isn't so much earned as it is bought. [18 Feb 1994, p.D3]

Childress has an ear for dialogue that rings true even when it's self-consciously movie-ish, and Ryder and Hawke bring crucial authenticity to their roles with effortless appeal. You'll find yourself wanting more of these characters than the movie gives you.

This fuzzily illustrated sermon is mostly an attempt to prove that the internal combustion engine is obsolete, and that oil companies everywhere are conspiring to wipe out alternative methods.

The Getaway gradually devolves into just another high-polish shoot'em-up between half-baked characters. Led by Baldwin, everyone's acting so cool they're prit'near frozen. [11 Feb 1994, p.D24]

Blank Check will get a few big laughs from kids, but that doesn't stop this vapid, morally bankrupt and wretchedly written Disney comedy from being genuinely disgusting. [11 Feb 1994, p.D28]

My Father the Hero can be enjoyed as a travelogue (cinematographer Daryn Okada makes the Bahamas look especially seductive) and as the blandest, most nonthreatening kind of date movie. [4 Feb 1994, p.D19]

But they all end up spinning their wheels under Deran Sarafian, whose action-movie credentials include Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Death Warrant." He tries to establish a tongue-in-cheek attitude that seems as borrowed and clueless as Stephen Sommers' script. [4 Feb 1994, p.D28]

As its title suggests, it plays not only on sight - with masterfully composed images that glisten with the timeless quality of memory - but smell, touch, taste and sound are all equally well utilized, to establish the kind of serenity that has become all but extinct in movies today. [04 Feb 1994, p.D3]

Car 54, Where are You? is an insult to the popular late-1950's TV show that inspired it.

It's doubtful that any variation on Finney's story could be called definitive. There's an inexhaustible supply of targets; we could have a new one every year or so. But this one certainly has its creepy moments. [18 Feb 1994, p.D3]

Given the time-tested durability of a decent boy-and-his-dog adventure, Iron Will can't steer too far off course. [14 Jan 1994, p.D20]

This is a movie about a process, not about who should be president or why. On that level, it's informative, smart and surprisingly entertaining - the best thing of its kind since Robert Altman covered the 1988 presidential follies with his mostly fictional "Tanner '88." [7 Jan 1994, p.D22]

The real criminals here are writers William Davies and William Osborne (obviously pseudonyms for Beavis and Butt-head), who have concocted a derivative, imbecilic anything-goes premise serving only to provide random opportunities for the CGI wizards to strut their stuff. [31 Dec 1993, p.C14]

Unfortunately, director George P. Cosmatos, who took over when Jarre was fired as director, emphasizes action over character. [25 Dec 1993, p.C2]

Indeed, if it didn't rely so much on brawls and shootouts to interrupt a serviceable story line, this might have been a noteworthy screen addition to the Batman legacy. But the requisite outbursts of action are only secondary to the movie's nearly fatal shortcoming: the animation itself. [28 Dec 1993, p.E1]

Trimmed from 164 to 140 minutes after playing the international festival circuit, "Faraway, So Close!" is not without its enticing qualities, and if nothing else it will provoke some interesting coffehouse discussion. But when held to the light of its predecessor, one can't help but think it's pointlessly redundant. [23 Dec 1993, p.E5]

In a severe, uncompromising manner that none of his previous films has approached, Spielberg has captured the terror of the Nazi reign as well as the determination and resourcefulness of those who resisted. He has created one of the most shocking movies yet made about the Holocaust (there were several walkouts at the screening I attended) and one of the most inspiring.

If you can find a handful of funny, original gags and TV-inspired in-jokes in this second compendium of now overly familiar Wayne-speak witticisms, consider your 100 minutes time well spent. [10 Dec 1993, p.G3]

Pathetically uninspired. [10 Dec 1993, p.G3]

Patric gives the character dignity and righteousness, but he and the narrator end up drowning the finale in noble speeches. [10 Dec 1993, p.G30]

A resonant moral conundrum tripling as a wry social satire and an armchair mystery, Six Degrees of Separation has been transferred to the screen with intelligence and panache, if some initial disorientation in the jumpy opening sequences. [22 Dec 1993, p.E3]

Breezy, good-hearted Irish comedy. [17 Dec 1993, p.H3]

Despite a slightly relaxed first hour and forgivably minimal lapses in credibility, debut screenwriter John Lee Hancock has crafted an ultimately satisfying study of fate and circumstance that is worthy of its superstar showcase. [24 Nov 1993, p.E1]

It's hard to enjoy the same joke told a hundred times over. After so many gags about the burial of live cats or putting baby Pubert on a guillotine, it's clear that the movie has little else on its mind. It's enough to make Charles Addams turn in his . . . well, you get the idea. [19 Nov 1993, p.D3]

It's not enough to say that the Ernest movies are aimed at very young children. They are aimed at very young, very stupid children, and their unfortunate parents should steer them toward more edifying entertainment. [12 Nov 1993, p.D24]

They've simply turned the book into an anything-goes burlesque with such a contemporary flavor that even 1990s street slang is permissible. [12 Nov 1993, p.D27]