Fans, at least, should enjoy the realistic touches. The cast is full of real players, announcer Dick Vitale is obnoxious here, too, and that's really coach Bobby Knight in the big game vs. Indiana (though his tan betrays Chips' summer filming schedule). And though O'Neal can barely grunt dialogue, it's fun to watch the Orlando Magic superstar make Nolte look like David Cassidy whenever they share a frame. [18 Feb 1994, p.5D]

Bites may have a bit more on its mind, but it never equals even the weakest scene in Cameron Crowe's "Singles". [18 Feb 1994, p.5D]

As a director, Seagal isn't much on transition scenes. That would cut into the time devoted to knives slicing through heads. [21 Feb 1994, p.4D]

The first moral of the faithfully amoral remake of Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway is that Steve McQueen is irreplaceable. Second: Slavish faithfulness can be risky if the original is only middling Peckinpah to start. Third: Married co-stars sometimes reserve their sexual heat for off-camera Malibu mattresses. [11 Feb 1994, p.4D]

While the rubber-limbed Carrey may not yet be in the hyper-manic league of Jerry Lewis or Robin Williams, his psychotic energy goes a long way to make this plot-anemic comedy palatable. [04Feb1994 Pg. 07.D]

Especially strange: A gimmicky cameo by an actress who outclasses all previous goings-on.

Anwar is reasonably spunky, but she's not given much. The script fatally fumbles the exposition, serving up characters of zero rooting-interest. [09 Feb 1994, p.8D]

As a condescening moron who natters on non-stop in this simplistic comedy, Elliott doesn't just wear out his welcome, he nukes it. [14 Jan 1994]

Edited with whiplash intensity into 92 of the movie year's tightest minutes, Room is arguably the breeziest political documentary ever. [3 Nov 1993, p.7D]

But the film's emotional core is father-son reconciliation, and Pete Postlethwaite is very sympathetic as Dad. [29 Dec 1993 Pg. 01.D]

The film barely skims the grimmer realities of growing old - sickness, money problems, loneliness and death. Still, you couldn't think of two better Grinches to spend the holiday with than Lemmon and Matthau. [23 Dec 1993, p.5D]

Director George Cosmatos brings nothing new to this Wyatt Earp saga except leftover bullets from previous films Cobra and Rambo: First Blood Part II. [23 Dec 1993, p.5D]

Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia labors ambitiously on two socially conscious fronts - relating the story of an AIDS-afflicted lawyer while exploring a much broader issue. Unlike almost any other Demme movie - it's a film where you feel the gears struggling to mesh. [22 Dec 1993, p.1D]

It's amusing, but also rather silly - offering still more evidence that Wenders seems to have seen a few hundred Hollywood genre pics too many. [30 Dec 1993, p.4D]

Until its dopey coda, the film never all-out stumbles, but always exudes Pakula's trademark chilliness. [17 Dec 1993 Pg. 01.D]

With flawless precision, the movie flows seamlessly between a virtual newsreel approach (to chronicle senseless, arbitrary atrocities on the people) and a slightly more direct narrative technique that characterized the film's three dominant characters - each one cast to perfection. [15 Dec 1993]

Every movie year has one, and now it's Britain's Mike Leigh who's conjured up the professional reviewer's worst nightmare: the picture so original, well-acted and witty that it must be given its ample due - despite being heavy on components guaranteed to bum out all but the most frequent moviegoers. [23 Dec. 1993, p.5D]

Unfortunately, someone said "party on" to Wayne's World 2 and forgot to invite any new ideas to rival those that made WWI such a pinhead's delight. [10 Dec 1993, p.9D]

Geronimo: An American Legend offers both sides of the protracted battle between the U.S. Army and Chiricahua Apaches in 1885-86, which means that the film's most abject villains are Jason Patric's vacant performance and Matt Damon's droning voice-over. [10 Dec 1993, p.9D]

That Mrs. Doubtfire, a Tootsie Poppins for our times, misfires in the plausibility department and mis-aims its well-meaning if muddled messages about divorce doesn't matter. [24 Nov 1993 Pg. 01.D]

Ultimately, World comes down to two inherently appealing icons in an imperfect casting fit. Costner modifies his Louisiana accent from JFK, and again we're forced to accept it on good faith. He's never quite believable, but he is tolerable in a role that demands a star presence. [24 Nov 1993, p.4D]

Dumas' perennial story demands stars of stature or wit - components missing from this candy-bar wrapper of a movie. [12 Nov 1993, p.4D]

Perhaps Look Who's Leaking Now would be more apropos: Dirty diapers are replaced by pooch puddles in this second sequel. [5 Nov 1993, p.4D]

Quaid's return to form is worth cheering. He helps make Flesh a watchable depressant. [05 Nov 1993, p.4D]

Director Dominic Sena appears more enamored of peeping-Tom camerawork than plot logic. [03 Sep 1993]

Campion's script is very well received, but the film finally makes it on cinematics: bleakly beautiful photography, haunting score, and good acting. [12 Nov 1993]

Fatally dreadful. This umpteenth parody flick of the year moves sooooooo slowly, it may be the first movie candidate for a pacemaker. The Naked Guns and the Hot Shots may not be Noel Coward cocktail parties. But those films toss out so many joke grenades, a few are bound to set off laughs. Not director Carl Reiner's latest. He takes the same five gags and grinds them into the ground like old cigarettes. Or allows each bit to drag on and on like the toilet paper that keeps sticking to femme fatale Sean Young's killer pumps. [29 Oct 1993, p.4D]

Mostly, this movie is what Burton does best, though some of composer Danny Elfman's ballads make even 75 minutes seem padded. Yet the zingier numbers (the opener especially) are terrific - befitting a movie with a literally wormy villain Oogie Boogie, a ghostly pet, Zero, and a mayor who's literally two-faced. So forget Monster Mash, this is a monster bas. [13 Oct 1993, p.1D]