This may be the easiest installment in the series for parents to sit through.

It's a ridiculous premise, and the film works best when Badham seems in on the joke. By the time Harvey Keitel appears as a ruthless operative assigned to clean up a botched job, the film has reached its own point of no return, tipping over the edge into rib-tickling parody. Keitel is one of the few actors alive who can make you chuckle while disposing of corpses in an acid bath. [19 March 1993, p.16]

By any sensible standard, and from any ethnic perspective, this is juvenile trash of the lowest order. Never rising above its own crotch-obsessed level of would-be satire, it fails to examine the social issues that give rap music its aggressive vitality, and completely misses every opportunity for intelligent comedy that lies neglected beneath the surface of its imbecilic, gutter-minded excuse for a plot. [12 Mar 1993, p.3]

As Walton, D.B. Sweeney recalls Richard Dreyfuss's UFO-obsessed family man in Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He's a sweet, semi-looney dreamer who all but invites the aliens to take him, and his performance is the most appealing thing about the picture. [12 Mar 1993, p.3]

Although its lofty ambitions as a "social comedy" are never fully realized, Amos & Andrew is a refreshingly intelligent, character-driven comedy that attempts to tackle a timely and serious issue - racism - and still manages to be consistently funny. [05 Mar 1993, p.24]

Along with outrageous infusions of dimwit humor, Army of Darkness is a tribute to the unbridled spirit - without the unbridled expense - of pure cinematic invention. [19 Feb 1993, p.10]

First-time writer Tom Sierchio occasionally lapses into Love Story-style sentiment, and surprisingly Bill is willing to go along, but Untamed Heart (wisely retitled from its original Baboon Heart) is strong enough to hold up against its cornier inclinations. [12 Feb 1993, p.23]

Even on its own merits this new Vanishing is a washout, a classic case of Hollywood studio compromise, in which almost everything that made the original effectively chilling has been tampered with and cheapened. [05 Feb 1993, p.03]

Rampant silliness has its place. [5 Feb 1993, p.22]

The remake is both more romantic and more resonant than the original. It's less of a star vehicle for its leading actor, and it sticks to its guns right down its stunningly orchestrated finish. In almost every way it's an intelligent improvement. [05 Feb 1993, p.3]

Although it's got a skeletal plot lifted from such comic books as "The Punisher" and lasts in the memory about as long as a Life Saver lasts on the tongue, there's something about Sniper that grabs your attention and holds it, loosely but firmly, with just enough Adrenalin to keep your pulse just a beat or two above normal. [29 Jan 1993, p.23]

A male-bonding tearjeker that sometimes resembles "Top Gun" on the Colorado ski slopes, Aspen Extreme" is a more watchable movie than you might expect from a former ski instructor who's making his feature-film debut as a writer-director.

Damage is the kind of movie that risks unintended laughter for the simple reason that reckless passion almost always looks ludicrous from the outside. The filmmakers must establish just the right tone, which Malle, Irons and Binoche do for the most part, although occasionally they falter. It's hard to buy the final revelations about Binoche's character, which are meant to explain something that's probably best left alone. [22 Jan 1993, p.20]

It is routine but watchable fare (set in Portland, partially filmed in Olympia), steeped in movie tradition and executed with admirable craftsmanship . . . and enough naked Madonna to make everything else a trivial distraction. [15 Jan 1993, p.3]

This wildly overpraised Belgian mock-documentary might have been a lacerating 10-minute Swiftian satire of the media's never-ending thirst for blood. Instead, it's a 95-minute reiteration of the obvious that manages simultaneously to offend and bore. [11 June 1993, p.24]

Unlike the cheapie late-1970s Mexican exploitation movie Survive!, this sobering account of a 1972 Andes plane crash has a spiritual quality that makes the tougher aspects of the story easier to handle. [15 Jan 1993, p.16]

Nowhere to Run isn't the worst of its kind - it's just painfully uninspired. Perhaps that partially accounts for Van Damme's apparent disinterest. With one expression at his command, it's surprising that he actually musters three distinct acting styles: concrete, steel, and petrified wood. [15 Jan 1993, p.18]

At the risk of confessing a breech of duties, I "watched" much of the film with my eyes closed, isolating the soundtrack only because I could always accurately guess what was happening on the screen . . . which wasn't much, believe me. [20 Mar 1993, p.C6]

Lorenzo's Oil begins with an epigram stating that life has meaning only in the struggle. As the film unfolds over 2 hours and 15 minutes, those words take on a greater and deeper significance, resonating throughout a remarkable real-life drama that pulls the viewer through an almost unbearable ordeal to arrive at a pinnacle of triumph and almost miraculous perseverence. [15 Jan 1993, p.03]

It carries the stale odor of something that was stuck in a drawer long ago and could easily have gathered more dust. Worst of all, there's something inauthentic and phony about the way Gale and Zemeckis crank out racial taunts and four-letter-word dialogue. The result is a movie that isn't just a throwaway but borderline offensive. [26 Dec 1992, p.C7]

It is a singularly irritating semi-comedy, colorfully wrapped but with batteries definitely not included. [18 Dec 1992, p.28]

The Muppet Christmas Carol is cute rather than touching. It could have been both. [11 Dec 1992, p.24]

It all works quite well as glossy entertainment, but ultimately The Bodyguard satisfies only if you don't think about it too much. [25 Nov 1992, p.D3]

A thoroughly satisfying musical-comedy romp.

In the middle of their mainstream pandering, Hughes and Columbus have an uncanny knack for developing cleancut sentiment that is calculated yet sweetly sincere. The key to their success lies in having it both ways: Kevin is smarter than all the adults, but he's still just a cute, frightened little boy who wants his mom. [20 Nov 1992, p.3]

Love Potion No. 9 is no great shakes, but far worse comedies are routinely released without a second thought. [13 Nov 1992, p.28]

Passenger 57 is so completely routine and devoid of imagination that it seems to have been directed on auto-pilot. [09 Nov 1992, p.D4]

While Jennifer 8 won't surprise anyone who's addicted to whodunits, it's not a great disappointment either. It occupies that middle ground inhabited by so many thrillers that keep you interested only as long as they're in front of you. Out of sight, out of mind. [6 Nov 1992, p.20]