A big sweet hit, tingly and glycerined in a phony way, but diverting.

Quick Change unfolds cleverly, keeping the audience in the dark on the robbery plot throughout the film's opening reel.

The Adventures of the Ford Fairlane is an exceptionally well-made film that is everything you could ever want in an Andrew Dice Clay movie; it's vulgar, tasteless, nasty, cynical, and, at times, very funny.

Though by no means a great animated feature, JETSONS does offer unqualified family entertainment, and it even includes a socially responsive message. While the film is neither brilliant nor hilariously funny, it is frequently quite enjoyable, and fans of the Jetsons will not be disappointed.

Feeble attempts at black humor can't save this stillborn teen terror-tale. The humor misses the mark, and the "suspenseful" moments slow the proceedings down even further.

Days of Thunder delivers only the bare essentials. Boys, the reasoning seems to go, will be lured into the theater by the siren call of gasoline and super-charged engines, while their girl friends will tag along to get a look at Cruise in tight jeans.

A sly, self-mocking sense of humor is apparent even in Robocop 2's title, which identifies both the film's sequel status and its hero. And what a fantastic nightmare creation Robocop 2 is.

Surprisingly sweet and good-natured, Dick Tracy is a highly stylized piece of fluff that's easier to digest than the ponderous pretensions of the equally over-hyped Batman.

A huge improvement over the original, Gremlins 2: The New Batch is surprisingly sympathetic towards the title menace, and surprisingly thought-provoking as extended commentary on modern life and morality.

It's only too bad nobody lectured the producers about creative cowardice. If someone had, Another 48 Hrs. might have been another good movie instead of just another damned sequel.

Ugly, stupid, loud, offensive, and pointlessly violent--let's not mince words--this film should be called "Total Reject."

Routine military melodrama leads to a satisfactorily explosive climax. But what makes Birds truly riveting entertainment is not the conflict between good and bad guys, but the clash between the film's apparent intent and the loony subversiveness of its performances.

Like Larry, Cadillac Man doesn't know quite what it wants to do. At first the film seems to be a low-key comedy about a small-time hustler, then it becomes a kind of Dog Day Afternoon-style melodrama. Ultimately it is an uneasy mix of the two.

Big, dull, and noisy, this comedy-romance has chases galore, but its comedy is flat and its romance is grating and graceless.

Not so much a sequel as a reworking of old nonsense, CLASS OF 1999 is a thuddingly dull B movie that borrows its few thrills from other, more satisfying films.

Staying with Tie Me Up! demands some patience, but the director's timing never fails him, and he brings things to a close on an upbeat note.

Dull, derivative horror anthology.

In blending the personal worlds of these characters into a complete cosmology of the abyss, director Uli Edel (Christiane F.) and scriptwriter Desmond Nakano have transformed Selby's episodic book into an aesthetic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Even Bisset has to struggle to keep from looking embarrassed. Sadly, despite these numerous flaws, WILD ORCHID isn't even bad enough to be good.

It's not a nice movie; like The Exorcist, it is ugly, cynical, and mean-spirited. Yet it's also rendered with the same gripping, unholy conviction that has been Friedkin's "saving grace" throughout his career.

Q&A is a pungent, graphic drama sabotaged by a stupid romantic sub-plot, misjudged casting and a truly abysmal soundtrack.

While there is nothing Earth-shattering about director Patrick Read Johnson's first film, it is often quite entertaining. SPACED INVADERS makes fun of just about every outer space film ever made, and throws in some Three Stooges-like mayhem for good measure.

The plot is minimal, and no attempt is made to explain the psychology of the sociopath who murders casually and yet yearns for the security of middle-class life. But the movie's details are fascinating and often surprising.

Lisa is no mindless run-of-the-mill ripoff. Closer to a true homage, it has a style and wit all its own in the hands of Sherman, who, after a decade of turning out such minor genre gems, continues his career as one of Hollywood's most underrated directors.

As for the performances, Moore doesn't bring anything special to his role, but Hannah's slightly awkward and befuddled demeanor works to her advantage, since she's playing someone with a tenuous grip on reality. The other performers are generally left adrift by the simpleminded, juvenile script, which, devoid of comic inspiration, resorts to gratuitous profanity and crude sex jokes.

Despite a few dull spots and a certain amount of predictability, The Gods Must Be Crazy II delivers enough laughs and does it with enough charm to be worthwhile viewing, especially for fans of the first film.

The result is a one-joke movie.

Not surprisingly, his ranting soon becomes repetitive and boring. Greenaway's dialogue cannot sustain our interest, and his lack of humor is the film's biggest drawback. For a lover of games, the director is never remotely playful.

This is the kind of film most of us don't really want to admit we've seen, let alone laughed at. Nevertheless, Ernest Goes To Jail gives Varney fans more or less what they expect, and they keep coming back for more.

Regardless of his true intentions, Resnikoff has made a screwy horror movie that, despite itself, is fun to watch.

Underneath the numerous entertaining cameos, not much is going on, and it shows. The film's terrific first half-hour can't sustain itself. Depp is nice to look at, but too diminutive to bring much force to his sexy biker. Locane is well, okay, but she's eclipsed at every turn by the marvelously vulgar Lords, who embraces the genre with the energy and anarchy of the much-missed Divine.

while many reviewers were put off by Splinter's rheumy-eyed philosophizing and the Turtles' ninja antics, the movie's youthful target audience squealed with delight.

SIDE OUT might interest a few beach bums, volleyball fans, and product-placement buffs, but otherwise it has limited appeal.

The silly script lurches from one jarring, implausible moment to another, and Marshall directs like he was wearing earplugs and boxing gloves on the set.

An effective, tightly constructed thriller that packs an emotional punch in the end, when even its politics are compelling.

A feel-good movie for anyone who's ever wanted to see yuppies burned, blown up, or dropped from the sky.

Blue Steel's greatest pleasure is its smashing cinematography, courtesy of Amir Mokri, but also owing much to Bigelow's distinctive pop aesthetics. The dependable Curtis adds depth to what might have been a stock character; Silver is convincingly vicious and seductive.

A lovely-to-look-at photo album treatment of Golding's heart of darkness pessimism, this movie misses the point and mood of Lord of the Flies completely.

Tepid action picture that fails to live up to its interesting premise.

A thoroughly captivating romantic adventure in the grand tradition of the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s. With a plot flavored with elements from such classics as the Carole Lombard-Fredric March romp NOTHING SACRED and Frank Capra's delightful masterpiece YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, this Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan outing is writer-director John Patrick Shanley's gift to moviegoers who are tired of films distinctive only for their excessive violence, sex, gutter language, or a combination of all three.

Spader is most effective here, and Lowe has finally found his niche as a junior league Richard Gere. The tension between the two is well handled and yet never quite explained, which adds to the mysterious feel of the movie and gives the characters a sexually ambiguous edge.

Pinter's adaptation is uninspired, and this half-heartedness, combined with Schlondorff's heavy-handedness, serves to crush Atwood's feminist concerns through overkill and to turn a provocative novel into a screen polemic that invites no discussion. This isn't filmmaking; it's haranguing by celluloid.

A heavy-duty mediocrity, sluggish, unwieldy, and instantly forgettable.

They don't make movies like they used to, and this Oscar-winning Italian-French co-production spends the better part of three hours proving it.

Besides a lot of scenic driving in and around Calgary, Nightbreed does have its fair share of sound and fury, not to mention blood and entrails. But it plays as if Barker were making it up as he went along, despite the film's having been based on his own novel Cabal.

Richly plotted, alternately inspiring and horrifying, Glory is an enlightening and entertaining tribute to heroes too long forgotten.

Though the film gets off to an indifferent start, bogged down by too many talking heads, by the time Cochran plunges headlong into corruption, Scott is operating at something like full throttle.

Though the material in Madhouse is intentionally sophomoric, though slapstick comedies can be funny, and though there's nothing wrong with a bit of good silliness, assured, deftly paced direction and adroit, lively performances are necessary to pull such broad comic romps off. Madhouse fails to deliver on both these crucial counts.

As it is, Hard to Kill has just enough going for it between the explosions and bone-crunching fight scenes to qualify as two hours of solid, high-decibel action entertainment.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers here seem to lack any notion of how to create a well-crafted vehicle, and the whole thing comes off as an uncertain, shoddy attempt to wring box-office dollars from sniffling audiences.

It's eye-filling, to say the least, but there's not much tension or sense of danger.

Splatterpunk novelist-turned-screenwriter David Schow and director Jeff Burr take the material back to its roots, re-creating the minimal plotting and alternately muddy and washed-out look of the original. In deference to contemporary tastes, Leatherface pulls as few gory punches as prevailing standards permit (Texas Chainsaw Massacre only seemed unbearably graphic) and underscores the mayhem with an abrasive speed metal soundtrack.

Figgis again aims for sensual moodiness, but so many clashing tones clamor for the viewer's attention that the result is a noisy mishmash.

Ski Patrol is lame-brained entertainment stuffed with tired gags and stale slapstick.

Well-acted, deftly written and directed, and expertly shot by Young, this darkly comic tale of a hapless small-time gangster is an engaging cinematic artifact that remains as fresh today as the day it was made.

No film in recent memory has tapped into primal, visceral fear as HENRY does, with its vision of a depraved world that seems at once too horrible to exist and too realistic to be denied.

SIDEWALK STORIES has more heart than art, but its heart is large, and Lane proves himself an ambitious, impassioned filmmaker.

The powerful movement of the movie is exhilarating, but it's all action with little characterization or plot. There is a moral here about mankind's lust for power, but it never clearly emerges from the spectacle of destruction and violence. Ultimately, AKIRA is really all about the animation.

The plot is a recycled mess, the dialog is awful, and the character motivation is nil, but thanks to Konchalovsky (and a strong performance by Russell), Tango and Cash is not only bearable, it's likable. Responsible for some of the finest films of the 80s, the Soviet-born director brings an insane, kinetic energy to the film that makes for effective action sequences and potent satire. A very smart "dumb" movie.

The critique of masculinity is far more thoughtful and compelling than the vague ruminations about war. Nonetheless Cruise's impassioned performance as Kovic is an impressive accomplishment.

Roger & Me is a pointedly hilarious documentary about a subject that isn't remotely funny, the indifference of corporate America to the lives of its workers. First-time filmmaker Michael Moore shows a city ruined, not by lack of drive and hard work, but by simple corporate greed. He uses humor to keep the viewer involved in what could easily have been an unbearably depressing film.

It works, in the end, because its generous emotions are earned. De Niro mugs a bit, but Penn is surprisingly endearing as a naive young criminal looking for a little peace of mind.

The runaways' actions provide anything but responsible models for the children who make up the film's target audience, and the likable cast flails against the rampant idiocy and gross commercialism.

Blaze may be the least sleazy movie about whoring since The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Paul Newman stars as Louisiana governor Earl K. Long in this sanitized romance adapted by director Ron Shelton from the autobiography of Blaze Starr, the Bourbon Street stripper who supposedly stole Long's heart.

Seidelman has succeeded in making a sow's ear out of a silk purse. Weldon's novel is witty, wacky, and wonderfully way out; the film is none of those things. The problem lies with Barr in the pivotal role of Ruth. Once the part was hers, the whole script had to be rewritten around her monotonous delivery and limited acting ability, much to the detriment of the plot.

DeVito films this tale with a fiendish gusto, yet with psychological realism and meticulous attention to an inexorable logic in the plotting, even as the Roses' war moves from the outlandish to the surreal.

Although Chase is very funny, the first half-hour of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION is rather flat; the film really comes to life until the arrival of Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), who steals the picture. Nevertheless, with enough sight gags to please slapstick fans and enough good-natured Christmas cheer to qualify as a good holiday film, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION should keep most viewers occupied and provide 97 minutes of goofy entertainment.

Steel Magnolias is an old-fashioned "klatsch" film, a prefeminist relic in which a group of women eschew the public world of men in favor of the community of the coffee table. Their world is shown as inferior to men's in terms of power but superior to it in emotion and insight into the things that "really matter."

Milo Forman's Valmont is the weakest version so far, suffering from willfully wrongheaded casting, a comic-strip "free" adaptation by former Luis Bunuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere, and Forman's heavy-handed direction of material that requires the most sophisticated glancing touch.

Harlem Nights isn't the embarrassing vanity production it might have been, there's still not a lot to be said for it.

The animation, courtesy of Don Bluth's studio, is exceptional, and some fine musical moments are provided by Melba Moore.

As with Stranger Than Paradise and Down By Law, Jarmusch focuses his offbeat sensibility on urban iconoclasts, small-town oddballs, and bewildered strangers. Not surprisingly, Mystery Train will work best for those who share Jarmusch's fondness for America's pop culture junkyard; he's a true original, but Jarmusch's originality lies in a quirky viewpoint that may leave some audience members cold.

Overall, it's an enjoyable film, thankfully free of the computerized look of later Disney cartoons, but it really can't compare to the real Disney classics (which appealed equally to both kids and adults).

A rich cinematic experience, this uplifting British production will leave you in awe of the extraordinary Christy Brown.

Although director Bob Radler gums up the fight scenes with lots of unnecessary slo-mo, and the film follows its formula mechanically, this is a moderately serviceable action yarn.

Everything honest and hard-hitting in the book has been tastefully subverted, and the performances are scaled to meet the script's tiny demands.

Straightforward, energetic, updated Bard. 28-year-old star-director-adapter Kenneth Branagh's spellbinding version of Shakespeare's Henry isn't superior to Olivier's 1944 version - it's different, and complementary to it.

A sloppy, often goofy chiller, the film is full of references to (and outright rip-offs from) other movies, especially those of New Line Cinema, Craven's erstwhile producer.

Well-crafted and competently acted, Kill Me Again is anything but a terrible film; however, like so many other films that have struggled mightily to pay homage to the great films noir of the past, it fails to come to life on its own terms.

Neither a buddy-buddy action-comedy nor a pyrotechnical showcase of explosions and stunts, NEXT OF KIN--an intelligently made and moodily atmospheric action melodrama--provides solid, satisfying entertainment while demonstrating just how effective a fully realized genre film can be.

Despite the considerable creative and technical talents of those involved, Fat Man And Little Boy is slow, stilted, and stultifying.

Fine ensemble acting (Alda and Huston are outstanding), evocative composition and design, intelligent writing, and spritely musical score.

Thanks to the ingenious voiceover, however, Look Who's Talking is a genial, entertaining film.

Frustrating, confusing, loud, and offensive, this horribly bad sequel not only continues to ruin the story line and characters so deftly created by John Carpenter in HALLOWEEN (1978), but sets a new standard of stupidity.

Though full of atmosphere, mood, and attitude, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS is all dressed up with no place to go.

Gus Van Sant's direction here is supremely confident, fusing witty camerawork, neat editing, and a jazz-oriented score to make Drugstore Cowboy an exhilaratingly bumpy ride.

The plot is almost as old as Hollywood itself, yet the film's ironic, cynical tone gives the material a new spin under the direction of veteran Peter Yates. The script is savvy about the power structures both inside and outside the prison gates, and the fine cast makes the most of the well-crafted dialog and sharply drawn characters.

In its understanding of Monk and its intelligent handling of the Blackwood footage, STRAIGHT NO CHASER really does succeed in presenting Monk in a straight, potent, and undiluted fashion.

Hill's action scenes here are surprisingly perfunctory, but his narrative exposition is superb--a model of minimalist restraint in lurid circumstances. Hill also maintains his ability to push his actors in interesting directions here, though Rourke's laconic performance fails to pay off.

Director Ridley Scott's visual gifts are still evident in Black Rain. But with retread plot and characters, Scott's stylistic flourishes become irritating clutter.

Palcy, in what amounts to the casting coup of the year, enlisted the reclusive Brando to make his brief but memorable cameo appearance--his first film role since 1980--for union scale. His performance alone is worth the price of admission to this earnest, somewhat predictable, but moving and significant film.

A thriller featuring a mysterious femme fatale, an involving plot, and some nice offbeat twists, Sea of Love owes a good deal to Hitchcock, and to such recent efforts as Fatal Attraction and Jagged Edge, though it can claim plenty of originality as well.

The Big Picture is a failed attempt to spoof the wheelers and dealers behind the scenes in Hollywood. Christopher Guest, who directed and cowrote this diatribe against the inanities of the studio system, has created what amounts to no more than a series of sketches that would probably work better on television than in this prolonged, belabored movie. 

Cruelly honest and pitilessly funny, Sweetie is one of the nakedest explorations of familial love and desperation ever filmed.

Nobody goes to these movies for their comic-book plots, klutzy dialog, or hammy acting--all of which Kickboxer has in abundance. They go for action, and on that level Kickboxer delivers the goods.

While some may object to the storytelling techniques employed by playwright and screenwriter Willy Russell to depict his title character, others will find themselves enchanted by Shirley Valentine.

For all its action, suspense, and intricate plotting, THE PACKAGE comes across as a mostly leaden entry in the political-paranoia thriller category.

An underdeveloped script, anemic direction and pacing, uninspired production design, and miscasting of the two lead roles undermine some intriguing ideas and characters in Millennium. Despite its many deficiencies, however, this sci-fi brain teaser with love story elements is not entirely without interest.