This Night and the City is alive and kicking, and Winkler's got a lot of interesting physical and behavioral detail packed into his frame. But by walking the fence between comedy and desperation, this film denies the hellish certainty of the original, rendering itself harmless and weak in the process.

The only thing original in Dr. Giggles - about a psychotic doctor (Larry Drake) who escapes a mental institution to resume his belovedly departed father's explicitly unhealthy rampage of serial killings - is the freakish instruments that the pun-filled physician totes around in his bag of dirty tricks.

Rose resorts too easily to the easy jolt, the gratuitous release of anxiety and, finally, the reliance on graphic bloodletting and pointless shocks (such as the ominously unsettling Todd kissing Madsen with a mouthful of bees), sacrificing whatever substance the story started out with. [17 Oct 1992, p.C5]

The chief distinction of the picture, and what makes it more guilty pleasure than patience-tester, is Pakula's strong visual sense, which is reminiscent of his work on "The Parallax View." [16 Oct 1992, p.3]

Seagal's "best" movie to date, handled with slick blandness by director Andrew Davis (reteaming with Seagal after the star's 1988 debut in "Above the Law). It's depraved and bloodthirsty stuff, which of course means that audiences will flock to this junk (to borrow a line from bone-snappin' Steve) like puppets in some sick play. [09 Oct 1992, p.22]

Scott and Bosch deserve credit for honoring the moral complexities and consequences of Columbus's conquests, but in trying to cram so much into a lavishly mainstream film, they've lost the impact of an adventure that is perhaps best relived in documentaries. [09 Oct 1992, p.3]

A wildly controversial film that is both achingly unpleasant and gripping in its denouncement of the blindly ignorant racist and fascist mentality. [02 July 1993, p.D22]

The Mighty Ducks hasn't got a single fresh idea in its 100 fluffily formulaic minutes, so it's surprising that the film is quite easy to enjoy. [02 Oct 1992, p.27]

Worthy of this and future adaptations, Of Mice and Men is blessed by timeless quality. [16 Oct 1992, p.22]

For a film that reaches an impressive level of moral complexity, the bottom line - that all of us are potential heroes, and that all heroes have flaws - is simple, sweet and absolutely refreshing. [02 Oct 1992, p.24]

It boasts a dream cast - from Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino in the most garrulous roles, to Jonathan Pryce in a smaller part that's near-mimetic. [02 Oct 1992, p.26]

Earnest, well-acted and occasionally compelling, School Ties gets an A for effort and a C-plus for achievement. At best, it's like a well-mounted, feature-length afterschool special about prep-school anti-Semitism in the mid-1950s. With hate crimes on the rise, it's unfortunately timely now, and its heart is always in the right place. At worst, it's a single-minded exploration of the subject, with too many aspects left untouched. [18 Sept 1992, p.26]

Captain Ron feels like the work of people who've had too much exposure to equatorial sunshine, as if it were lazily shot between vacation dips in a blue lagoon. Comedically speaking, Captain Ron is a sinking ship. While Russell is passably amusing with a care-free, phoned-in performance, Short's character is an irritating killjoy, and the role rarely capitalizes on Short's considerable comedic skills. [18 Sep 1992, p.22]

With its ever-so-earnest desire to shed light on the complex social issues of gang influence in Los Angeles, South Central is a film that's good - or at least, easily recommendable - in spite of itself. [06 Nov 1992, p.27]

You can't help getting into the spirit of it.

And whether or not you think Allen's an irresponsible home-wrecker and/or Farrow's gone round the bend, Husbands and Wives towers above the recent batch of mediocre-to-awful summer movies that were created by people with less-dished private lives. For those of us who aren't directly involved, it's the work that matters. [18 Sept 1992, p.3]

There is an elemental majesty to sailing that Ballard and his daring crew have magically transferred to the screen, and the consummate skills of the racing crews are a marvel to behold. Still, it's clear that the magic of Wind is in the wind itself, and not always in the movie that blows around it. [11 Sep 1992, p.22]

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth demonstrates, Barker's horrific ideas can still inspire some genuinely creepy cinema. [12 Sep 1992, p.C5]

It's far-fetched yet (for entertainment's sake) entirely credible, and the abundant comedy is intelligent enough to advance a serious and surprisingly sophisticated plot. [09 Sep 1992, p.F3]

By showing us the human side of poverty, Where the Day Takes You proves that a society is best judged by the treatment of its least fortunate members. [11 Sep 1992, p.21]

On par with the most compelling courtroom dramas, Brother's Keeper is all the more fascinating because it presents a reality as complex as any fictional plot could ever be. [20 Nov 1992, p.20]

Lambert relies so much on gore and mean-spiritedness that the actors can't help looking glum; they're clearly being ignored by a director who seems to have lost touch with all the human elements in the story. The movie is ultimately as lifeless as most of its characters end up being. [28 Aug 1992, p.28]

It is, by any rational measure, an absolute mess....But we should all know by now that Lynch cannot be judged by "rational measures," and if you're a "Peaks" aficionado who can easily shift into Lynch's gear, Fire Walk With Me will cast an undeniable spell.

The pleasure of Bergman's style comes from the extremes that his characters must endure to arrive at that predictable point, and the new tricks that Bergman can teach to an old-dog story line. The airborne climax of "Honeymoon in Vegas" - involving those Flying Elvises (Utah Chapter!) that you've probably heard about by now - turns the ending of countless other movies into something new under the setting desert sun. [28 Aug 1992, p.3]

Proudly declaring itself "an irresponsible movie" yet pointedly aimed at politicians who have done little to address a lethal epidemic, Gregg Araki's The Living End is in fact an attempt to make a morally charged statement about the AIDS crisis. [11 Sep 1992, p.03]

If you were to subtract the strikingly mature and subtly nuanced performances of Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Single White Female would be almost indistinguishable from the majority of half-baked, pseudo-psychological thrillers that Fatal Attraction brought into vogue. [14 Aug 1992, p.3]

The irony of it all is that "Stay Tuned" is itself a TV show, filled with razzle-dazzle, but unfolding with the wispy depth of a sit-com. That makes the casting of TV veterans Ritter and Dawber totally appropriate (and lends the physically hilarious Ritter a good-natured dig at "Three's Company"), but Parker and Jennewein don't capitalize on the potential of their ideas. The nuggets are there ("don't watch so much television" is the basic extent of the message), but if taken more seriously, "Stay Tuned" might've been a funny and deeply affecting film. Instead it's just funny . . . which is OK. [15 Aug 1992, p.C3]

The characters in Clint Eastwood's dark, rugged, perversely funny new Western are so seriously compromised that their flaws almost add up to a running gag.