By now the "Ten Little Indians" method of killing characters one at a time has gotten so stale that no matter how impressive the monster is, the resulting sequence is inevitably tedious.

Although PUNCHLINE occasionally falters--in its contrived contest ending and saccharine tendencies--it is still an engaging and honest achievement.

Whoopi Goldberg here made her first stab at drama since her film debut in The Color Purple, and it's simply appalling. She's mawkishly maternal, and her patois is about as convincing as Lionel Richie's.

n a remarkable directorial effort, Eastwood shows a great flair for atmosphere and composition and presents a nuanced, complex, humane portrait of Parker's talents, obstacles, virtues and failings. Whitaker gives a towering performance as the tortured musical genius, and Venora is equally impressive as the independent, compassionate Chan.

Despite its mildly raunchy tone and obsession with Peterson's considerable cleavage, the film is a decent, good-hearted comedy that never takes itself seriously.

Quietly devastating... Extremely unsettling, at times amusing, cold yet personal, Dead Ringers gradually and deliberately comes to horrify the viewer, rather than shocking outright.

The cast is quite good. Richardson is so compelling as Hearst that she manages to transcend the mishandled material and create a character that's much more real and stimulating than one might otherwise have imagined.

Because the screenplay is more concerned with its formula plot than with character development, neither McCarthy nor Dillon offer any real insights into this theme.

Guided by director Silver's gentle but sure hand and benefiting from strong performances by the leads, this is a sweet, funny movie that doesn't exploit the sentimentality of its story.

In this very personal portrait, Davies, the artist, has re-created universal experiences--familiar passions and needs--that draw us to his family's humanity.

Lumet develops his story at a leisurely but effective pace, allowing the dynamics of a family in transition--not the sudden appearance of the FBI or an action-paced chase--to give the film its tension. Phoenix delivers a convincing, serious performance, and the rest of the cast, save for the miscast Hirsch, is also strong.

Writer-director Sayles has fashioned a convincing account of the scandal, underlaid with an unconventional (by Hollywood standards) workers-vs.-owners critique.

Actually a moody horror story disguised as a documentary, designed to make the viewer feel how arbitrary and fragile the world of law and society really is.

The old talking-animal routine gets a bit of an update in that this time the animal is vulgar and profane in a way Mr. Ed or Francis the Talking Mule would never have been. But that's about the extent of the inventiveness in this unfunny comedy.

There is plenty to amuse and delight here, including fine performances from Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, and Dean Stockwell.

It seems that with Part 4, Freddy Krueger has just about run out of gas. Getting further and further away from creator Wes Craven's original concept, the series has declined into a plotless series of special-effects set pieces featuring Freddy slicing and dicing a variety of teenagers in their dreams. What the films lack in narrative, however, they make up for with pure cinematic panache, and the latest installment is no exception.

A gorgeous, fluid, wonderfully exhilarating movie.

Powerful, haunting, and at times very moving, The Last Temptation of Christ presents its account of the events and conflicts of Christ's life with a depth of dramatized feeling and motivation that renders them freshly compelling.

YOUNG GUNS is simply not a very good movie--western or otherwise. Fusco's script provides little character development and muddies the narrative with some unlikely supporting characters. Still, it proved to be popular enough to lead to a television spinoff and a sequel in 1990.

In addition to its lack of originality, MAC AND ME is also blatantly commercial, selling everything from candy to soft drinks to fast-food restaurants--the film includes a "special guest appearance" by Ronald MacDonald.

With British-American culture clash as its dominant theme, A Fish Called Wanda bristles with wit, enlivened by delightfully over-the-top ensemble acting.

In fact, with no fewer than 17 of Donaldson's favorite rock songs and a complete lack of dramatic impetus, Cocktail would fare better as an extended-play music video.

Claustrophobic, gripping, and incredibly intense throughout, Monkey Shines is an extremely complicated emotional drama that taps into the dark side of family ties, friendship, dependency, nurturing, and love.

A disaster. Mason founders in his poorly written role, and none of the film's endless series of gags is the least bit funny.

Director Kleiser fails to bring the kind of loopy energy that Pee-Wee's Big Adventure director Burton brought to the first film.

Director Martin Brest has allowed the actors to improvise, and their resulting interaction is more realistic, funny, and surprising than that of any buddy film released in the last several years.

A triumph of slick direction and lowbrow thrills, marred but not spoiled by a sour aftertaste.

Fifth entry in the "Dirty Harry" series, a definite step backwards from the fascinating and ultimately disturbing progression of Eastwood's character in Sudden Impact.

The original Phantasm was an inventive fever-dream, but the sequel, unfortunately, lacks that delirious youthful imagination. There are some memorable moments along the way--fleeting images scattered throughout the film that have a cumulative effect--but when the shocks do come, they are mostly retreads of highlights from the first movie.

Although the premise of getting or not getting a first driver's license is a solid-enough base for 90 minutes of teenage comedy, License to Drive misses the point on all counts.

Although the fairy-tale script is as old as the motion picture industry itself, the resourceful cast of Coming to America brings freshness to the annoyingly cliched material. Unfortunately, Landis' inelegant direction nearly derails the film.

While flawlessly delivered, it's overkill--so loud and excessive, it makes our head swim... It's like a sumptous banquet composed entirely of fast food; fills you up but entirely forgettable.

Hill has gotten Schwarzenegger to give one of the best performances of his career, and Belushi too is thoroughly convincing as an action hero. RED HEAT is a welcome break from the shallow shoot-'em-ups that became the standard in the 1980s.

Scripted by the extraordinarily prolific John Hughes, directed by Howard Deutch, and starring John Candy and Dan Aykroyd, this disappointing comedy should have been much funnier given the talent of those involved.

This is a well-made, observant documentary, with attitude to spare and plenty of justifiable laughs at the expense of its subjects. Focusing in on every aspect of this subculture--from the fascinating, to the absurd, to the downright depressing--this would make the perfect double bill with This Is Spinal Tap.

Gorehounds will likely be pleased by the graphic bloodletting, but there's little else of interest here.

Featuring outstanding lead performances by Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins; a witty, literate script; and an insider's familiarity with life around minor league baseball--Bull Durham is both one of the best films ever made about the national pastime and a charming romantic comedy.

A thoroughly uninvolving picture, THE PRESIDIO is chiefly the victim of a horrendous screenplay by Larry Ferguson (BEVERLY HILLS COP II; HIGHLANDER). When it isn't providing mundane dialog, Ferguson's script assaults the viewer with senseless exposition continuously dredged up from the characters' pasts.

The second sequel to the hit 1982 haunted-house extravaganza is an erratic affair, containing some promising ideas and clever effects that, unfortunately, are haphazardly presented in a narrative so perfunctory as to be almost nonexistent.

Director Abrahams, working on his own for the first time, has some problems with pacing and with sustaining an essentially one-joke premise that never arrives at its big payoff.

Big is a winning, charming film, primarily because Hanks makes it work. He is extraordinarily convincing as an adolescent who suddenly finds himself dealing with a new, adult body, responsibilities, and a romantic relationship, while simultaneously trying to survive vicious corporate infighting.

Although it aspires to subversive social satire, FUNNY FARM seems little more than a dumb comedy more determined to make people guffaw than to think.

In KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE a potentially interesting genre-warping concept is turned into a merely dull and repetitive one by the Chiodo brothers, who created CRITTERS.

Though less offensive than its predecessor, Rambo III -- which is dedicated to "the gallant people of Afghanistan" -- is still a mindless and uninspired effort.

A surprisingly shoddy affair that abandons the unabashed romance of its predecessor for a rudimentary action-adventure plot involving guns and drugs.

Every aspect of WILLOW seems as if it were written in stone before a shot was filmed. The plot grinds on inescapably to its predictable climax, with the viewer fully aware of what awaits long before the events unfold.

The series went from self-parody back to normal with this dull entry.

This is a one-idea concept enlivened ever so slightly by fleeting moments of Cohen's patented sociopolitical subtext and goofy black humor.

Bloodsport is strictly for martial arts buffs; little is offered here in the way of plot, dialog, or acting.

As sequels go, Critters 2: The Main Course is particularly bereft of imagination. Save for the opening 20 or 30 minutes, the film is pretty much a clone of the original.

When it comes right down to it, TWO MOON JUNCTION could be far, far worse than it is; but given the built-in limitations of this type of film, it can't be any better.

Bagdad Cafe is a visually exhilarating and consciously modern film, more concerned with projecting an atmosphere or spirit than with telling a story. It's hard not to fall in love with this comic fable about the magic that develops at the meeting of two cultures.

A slam-bang action film with some stunning scenes of mayhem and violence.

This unnecessary sequel to the 1977 cult item Attack of the Killer Tomatoes picks up where the latter left off, as, over footage from the first film, we are told that the human race has survived the onslaught of the giant killer fruit, yet some are still traumatized even at the sight of a normal-sized tomato.

LaLoggia shares his unique vision with the viewer through an imaginative and innovative visual style that flows skillfully from traditional naturalism into surreal dreamlike fantasies and back again without ever seeming gratuitous or clumsy. A remarkable film.

As in BASKET CASE, director Henenlotter combines some disturbing gore with an offbeat sense of humor that makes the entire disgusting exercise a bit more palatable.

An ideal animated film for young children, it has also found favor among adults who appreciate its unusually gentle, painterly style of animation, a trademark of the film's director, Japan's most renowned animator, Hayao Miyazaki.

Colors has a tentative, ambivalent feel to it--as if Hopper merely considered himself a hired gun who should avoid imposing too personal a vision on the material.

The first feature for director-cowriter Fran Rubel Kuzui, TOKYO POP manages to be entertaining despite its thin story line, mainly because of its striking visuals and the kooky charm of the leads.

Burns is always a joy to watch!

Fox's performance is surprisingly assured; Sutherland is also convincing as his self-centered, dissipated, and snobbish best friend.

A surreal, demented delight.

Biloxi Blues works better than the script alone would suggest, thanks to the skillful direction of Nichols and excellent performances from Broderick and Walken.

Johnny be worthless.

POLICE ACADEMY 5 presents a patchwork of ideas borrowed from a score of wittier and better-done comedies, not to mention earlier entries in the series. In short, it's exactly what you would expect it to be.

The premise of LITTLE NIKITA is a great one--worthy of Alfred Hitchcock--but the execution here by director Benjamin is as rickety as can be. About two-thirds into LITTLE NIKITA, the film deteriorates so rapidly that the characters cannot help but fall through the holes. Adding to the frustration of watching this otherwise-promising movie fall apart are the superb performances by Poitier and Phoenix.

Carefully scripted and well acted, Stand and Deliver is sentimental and utterly predictable but better than many films of this kind.

The story isn't particularly believable, the revelations not fresh or profound, but the film succeeds anyway because of its strong lead performances. A true family picture in the most entertaining sense, VICE VERSA provides laughs for both kids and adults.

An intriguing genre hybrid boasting a stronger than usual cast and excellent, atmospheric direction from Finnish newcomer Renny Harlin, Prison is an impressive piece of low-budget genre work.

The movie has only a few bright moments, mainly provided by the fine group of supporting actors. Pryor displays none of his old manic energy, and the film follows suit, proceeding with murderous deliberation.

A gentle film that metaphorically examines the artist's relationship to her art, BABETTE'S FEAST is the sort of story that one cannot help but find uplifting.

Controversial filmmaker John Waters finally hits his commercial stride in this film, parlaying his keen social observation and great compassion for society's outsiders into a colorful and engaging comedy full of dancing, music and heartfelt nostalgia.

Director Polanski, a master of movie atmospherics (e.g., Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby), here creates a hauntingly foreign, forbiddingly stylish Paris that seems to move to the oneiric disco stylings of Grace Jones. Harrison Ford, outstanding as an American innocent abroad, moves persuasively from complacency to confusion, rage, and paranoid desperation in a performance comparable to James Stewart's best work for Hitchcock.

Hope and Glory is a wonderful film, an intelligent, heartfelt, personal, and marvelously entertaining look at what it was like to grow up in wartorn England.

A shapeless mess that falls far short of the high expectations created by Lee's first feature, SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT.

First-class stunts, fine photography, and solid acting by Weathers and Vanity combine to lift this action film above its ludicrous story. Had the filmmakers not undermined the project with inane plot twists, unexplained motives, and absurd coincidences, this could have been a real winner.

The film attempts to pay tribute to vintage rock music--most of the songs are covers of golden oldies. But the renditions are so uninspired, the tribute falls flat.

For a few flickering moments, we care a bit about the people, but then it's gone. There's little plot, and the picture is far too long and fraught with allegory. Director Hector Babenco's sense of style is evident, but a sharper editing eye would have helped.

A delicately rendered and exceptionally moving reminiscence of a boyhood friendship cut short by war.

A sloppy but ambitious mix of pop anthropology, political observation, and good old-fashioned Val Lewtonesque horror, The Serpent and the Rainbow succeeds more often than it fails.

Unfortunately, for all its credentials and the virtuoso performances of its three leads, this lengthy movie doesn't add up to much. It fails to explore its themes--love and hedonism, freedom and commitment (political and sexual)--in depth, floating haphazardly from scene to scene without emotional or intellectual development.

She's Having a Baby could have been a fascinating and funny look at the conflict between marriage and personal ambition had its writer-director probed more deeply into the subject. Hughes instead falls back on the easy jokes, hip music, and superficial character studies that have obscured the basic viability of all his work.

Once Griffith and Andrews enter the lawless zone attempts at quirky humor fall flat and the film settles into a fairly conventional action yarn

O'Connor is superb as the would-be rock star whose romantic notions persist despite the fact that he is an empty vessel with absolutely nothing to say, and this odd, offbeat film richly deserves the audience it failed to find during its theatrical run.

Good Morning, Vietnam stumbles whenever Williams isn't behind the mike, placing him in melodramatic, hackneyed situations that become increasingly predictable and preposterous, and director Barry Levinson's seemingly endless reaction shots of listeners grooving to the DJ's antics become irritating. Levinson manages, however, to be one of the few filmmakers to show the Vietnamese as complex, cultured people, rather than as helpless victims or the faceless enemy.

Director Ken Wiederhorn is a competent, if unremarkable, talent who handles the action scenes in a professional manner. His writing talent, however, is not equal to that of the first film's writer-director, Dan O'Bannon, and the sequel lacks its predecessor's snappy, biting dialog and O'Bannon's satiric edge.

The film is carelessly directed, paced, acted, and scripted, offering today's teenagers, at best, a confused message. Foremost among its endless problems is Avildsen's pathetic direction. Under his uninspired guidance, the actors appear to be performing in filmed rehearsals, guilty of glaring character inconsistencies from one scene to the next. The cliche-ridden story throws in every possible obstacle to the young couple's happiness.

Clumsily designed as a showcase for special effects, this lamebrain kiddie comedy is a shoddily directed and performed attempt to retool Ghostbusters as a latter-day Hardy Boys' mystery.

Simply stated, it is difficult not to be swept up by this charming picture.

This grand and powerful biography begins in 1908 when, at the age of three, Pu Yi was named emperor of China and follows him through a tumultuous life inextricably intertwined with the history of modern-day China, one that that ended with the once-coddled emperor working quietly as a gardener at Peking's Botanical Gardens.

The performances are passable: Tandy and Cronyn are talented enough to avoid looking foolish. The special effects team has created some truly convincing sequences that give the saucers more personality than the human characters.

A film whose "TV movie" feel is at once incredibly appropriate and a notable drawback, Broadcast News is nevertheless worthy adult entertainment.

Overboard aspires to be a wacky, heart-warming screwball comedy, but it is neither memorable nor particularly funny. Hawn and Russell have both shown themselves capable of bringing this kind of light comedy to life, but even their likable screen presences aren't enough.

Stone intentionally set out to make a good old-fashioned liberal drama about the evils of unchecked capitalism. This approach results in a film with few shades of gray and lots of moralizing speeches, but Stone nearly pulls it off through his usual visual verve and keen casting instincts.

A surprisingly assured directorial debut that is hampered only by a weak script.

As Jim, Bale delivers a stunning performance; he appears in virtually every frame and truly seems to grow over the course of the film from a coddled rich child to a calculating, almost feral creature who will ally himself with whoever wields the most power in a given situation.

With a concept as thin as this, Planes, Trains and Automobiles could have easily become a repetitious bore. Instead, producer-director-writer Hughes infuses his film with an appealing sense of sentiment and humanity--not to mention many hilarious scenes.

The leads acquit themselves fairly well, but the biggest winner is Selleck, whose low-key charm and gift for light comedy are put to good use here.