Like a lava lamp turned on high, Joe Versus the Volcano glows with originality. Go bask in it. [9 Mar 1990, p.4D]

Overall, this is a tart little toughie - within its limitations. Like 1987's The Bedroom Window, also directed by Curtis Hanson, it admittedly pales next to suspense classics it recalls. Yet on its own terms, it's a hefty cut above the norm. [09 Mar 1990, p.1D]

If there can be a best-selling novel with a cult following, Margaret Atwood's feminist-futuristic The Handmaid's Tale qualifies. I'm not sure if the screen version has the stuff to become a cult movie - but if so, credit timeliness, visual style and a few performances. Most of all, timeliness. [07 Mar 1990, p.4D]

Hunt is coldly clinical rather than emotionally resonant; so is the measured ensemble work of a super cast. [2 Mar 1990, Life, p.1D]

Lovely “memory'' film. [2 March 1990, Life, p.4D]

If Costner's clout gets this 124-minute snooze even three weeks of business, dust off the Tom Cruise Cocktail award. [16 Feb 1990, p.4D]

There's probably a fall-out-of-your-seat, laugh-your-head-off comedy to be made about house guests. Meanwhile, the maddeningly mediocre Madhouse will have to do. [16 Feb 1990, p.4D]

The story is about as good as the average TV cop drama. But here actions speak far louder than words, and Seagal is quite eloquent. Rather than weapons, he prefers a hands-on approach to his enemies. Twisted limbs are his specialty. [12 Feb 1990, p.2D]

But once the updated story - now about an unwed mom who sacrifices all for her child rather than a divorcee who married above her class - starts clinging to the original's plot machinations, Stella turns into one helluva maudlin mess. [2 Feb 1990, p.4D]

The special effects are scream-worthy, the gore is minimal and the humor has a folksy zing to it. [19 Jan 1990, p.1D]

The script strives to turn Garcia into a nasty Gere alter ego, which may explain why both leads solemnly underplay it. Though Gere's contribution is welcome, two hard-ballers in shades may be one too many; on balance, it's the actresses (especially ever-solid Laurie Metcalf) who sustain interest. [12 Jan 1990, p.2D]

Nothing in John McNaughton's script and direction is exploitative; there isn't a frame of wasted action in what may well remain the year's most tightly constructed movie. As such, you're with this qualified classic all the way, you believe in it all the way, and you're thus forced to take its sporadic atrocities seriously. How many movies (and how long has it been since we've seen one) have really pulled this off? [20 April 1990, p.4D]

Though there are scenes in Always (both intimate and spectacular) I love, the film does seem a bit asking-for-it-weightless following an Indiana Jones sequel. Yet if, as I suspect, many reviewers elect to carve up Always, the film will pick up its devotees - now or down the road. [22 Dec. 1989, p.1D]

Tango is a Lethal Weapon without lethal wit. [22 Dec 1989, p.7D]

A fresh-slant Vietnam picture in which lead Tom Cruise achieves indisputable greatness, July is otherwise a "more often than not'' achievement. But though it's as full of itself as Stone's watchably windy Talk Radio, the film's roundhouse punches propel you into remote Mike Tyson-land when they connect. [20 Dec 1989, p.1D]

Though Roger & Me's editing plays somewhat fast and loose with the juxtaposition of real-life events, it qualifies as an event itself. For once, have-nots get to lambaste haves in a documentary likely to be seen. [20 Dec 1989, p.5D]

Here's an ''opened-up'' film of a fragile, sentimental play that doesn't overemphasize every dramatic point, and doesn't tromp on every minefield in the material. [13 Dec 1989, p.1D]

Hollywood must still have some wheezy hacks capable of gleaning a few chuckles out of the hoary Convicts-Disguised-as-Priests movie premise. But to paraphrase Groucho Marx, Someone, please, get us a hack; David Mamet's We're No Angels script can't find them. [15 Dec 1989, p.6D]

Before you go off to see The Wizard with your own video whiz kid, consider visiting an arcade instead. Your entertainment dollar would be much better spent on Double Dragon. [15 Dec 1989, p.6D]

Blaze is like an old-fashioned striptease - the juicy story line gets you all hot and bothered, but you end up wanting more. [13 Dec 1989, p.4D]

If She-Devil is (at best) ragged, it's also a must for Streep fans. [8 Dec 1989, p.1D]

This smashingly filmed and performed one-shot is (uh, so to speak) the year's best romantic comedy. [8 Dec 1989]

For those who like a little Grinch with their yuletide cheer, this movie isn't totally ho-ho-hopeless. In fact, you can even say it glows occasionally - especially with 2,500 imported Christmas bulbs a-twinkling on the Griswold abode. [1 Dec 1989, p.4D]

Valmont, to my surprise, isn't the best movie of Choderlos de Laclos' novel. Blame overripe material, as well as Forman's benign approach to an essentially nasty yarn. [17 Nov 1989]

I don't mind that Nights is a potty-mouth benchmark; crude verbiage is appropriate to the leads, as well as the film's subject matter. This is, however, an amazingly mean two hours. Even the funniest gag involves Murphy's fatal shooting of three men. [17 Nov 1989, p.6D]

Despite overlength, this acceptable outing has its moments, most of them in the second half. [17 Nov 1989]

The Little Mermaid, or Hans Christian Andersen Goes Hip, is the most thoroughly socko kiddie cartoon feature in decades. [15 Nov 1989, p.1D]

Like too many others, I resisted seeing (or at least, rushing out to) this film, fully expecting a stolid, respectable bummer; what I found, without the filmmakers ever having cheapened the material, is one of 1989's most entertaining movies. There is even, I swear, a barroom brawl that's out (and worthy) of John Ford. [3 Jan 1990, p.4D]