|
|
Blonde Venus
(1932)
|
Edgar Hay
|
There's no big emotional build-up, no tingling suspense, no concentrated driving force in the story - and I suppose that's why I was disappointed. As a matter of fact, it's too closely patterned after life itself to be good drama.
Posted Feb 05, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
A Face in the Crowd
(1957)
|
George Bourke
|
A fascinating and at times fearsome story of how our electronics era has created a modern Frankenstein monster -- the television personality.
Posted Feb 05, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Vanishing Point
(1971)
|
John Huddy
|
Unhappily, "Vanishing Point" doesn't vanish but rolls right along, eventually wallowing groin-deep in odious bits and pieces of drug glorification, cop hating, racial violence and other goodies.
Posted Feb 05, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Arabesque
(1966)
|
George Bourke
|
...taken for its way-out, devil-may-care quality, "Arabesque" qualifies as a good night at the movies. As for the plot, itself, it never settles down long enough to analyze. And that's good.
Posted Feb 04, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Camille
(1936)
|
Edgar Hay
|
If it's romance you want, here it is at its best.
Posted Feb 04, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Days of Heaven
(1978)
|
John Huddy
|
There may be an outline of a story and a set of characters, there may even be a beginning and an end, but all of this is illusive and dreamlike, as if you could reach out and poke your finger through the vapor-like structure created by the director.
Posted Feb 04, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Ace in the Hole
(1951)
|
George Bourke
|
If you like grim, revealing films about the more sordid sides of life you'll wallow quite contentedly in Ace in the Hole.
Posted Feb 03, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
1/4
|
House
(1985)
|
Bill Cosford
|
As haunted-house tales go, House is something of a bust.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
My Bloody Valentine
(1981)
|
Bill Cosford
|
My Bloody Valentine is just plain messy.
Posted Jan 29, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
North
(1994)
|
Jackie Potts
|
Wood's disarmingly funny performance paired with Reiner's irreverent gags make North a fun, harmless trip.
Posted Jan 23, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
2/4
|
The American President
(1995)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
It's a fairy tale grounded in the driest of subjects -- government -- and by the end, it has become so asinine you expect little cartoon animals to invade the screen and sing a Schoolhouse Rock jingle.
Posted Jan 22, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
3/4
|
Misery
(1990)
|
Bill Cosford
|
Bates can take her murderous shrieks to mewls of contrition in the space of a scene. She's great fun to watch.
Posted Jan 21, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951)
|
Marion Aitchison
|
We found The Day the Earth Stood Still both exciting and thought-provoking, and it's a definite must for the younger generation which has become so expert in scientific angles, both actual and imaginative.
Posted Jan 16, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Bite the Bullet
(1975)
|
Candice Russell
|
An overblown but interesting tale.
Posted Jan 15, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
The Magnificent Seven
(1960)
|
George Bourke
|
John Sturges has directed with fine understanding and has obtained stellar performances from his entire cast.
Posted Jan 15, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
Stand by Me
(1986)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The movie has a good feeling about it. But it's badly written, too.
Posted Jan 13, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
2/4
|
Tough Guys
(1986)
|
Bill Cosford
|
It's too flimsy, and we're left with two stars in search of a story.
Posted Jan 12, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
3/4
|
A Few Good Men
(1992)
|
Bill Cosford
|
[The cast] all give the film a certain heat, if not weight. It's fun to watch them go through the genre paces and fun, as Hollywood courtroom dramas usually are, waiting for justice to be served, however imperfectly.
Posted Jan 08, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
The Sure Thing
(1985)
|
Bill Cosford
|
It's nicely made and well-acted, and it is a bauble nonetheless.
Posted Jan 07, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Princess Bride
(1987)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The Princess Bride has pretty much everything the modern fairy tale requires, plus jokes. It's an unexpected pleasure, as sweetly unassuming as it is late-nite hip.
Posted Jan 07, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939)
|
Charles E. Ward
|
Edward G. Robinson has the lead and performs it ably and realistically. It's a sympathetic part, and Robinson makes the most of it.
Posted Jan 03, 2026
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Death Race 2000
(1975)
|
Candice Russell
|
If it's far-fetched and fun-loving, "Death Race 2000" is rooted enough in the absurdities and passions of 1975 to make sense as a vision of the future.
Posted Dec 22, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3/4
|
Hook
(1991)
|
Bill Cosford
|
It's all very Spielbergian. This most maligned of Hollywood's big names probably couldn't have made a bad movie about Peter Pan if he tried. Hook looks wonderful.
Posted Dec 19, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
Christine
(1983)
|
Bill Cosford
|
Carpenter gets just enough style into the picture.
Posted Dec 15, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
2/4
|
Big Top Pee-wee
(1988)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The sublime surrealism of Pee-wee's original digs is gone -- and with it, most of the grown-up laughs.
Posted Dec 11, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Abyss
(1989)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The Abyss rolls along, a collection of wonderfully persuasive sets and props and dazzling effects work.
Posted Dec 10, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3.5/4
|
True Lies
(1994)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
This is as good as action movies get, and more.
Posted Dec 10, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
The Terminator
(1984)
|
Bill Cosford
|
Fast, well made and utterly inconsequential -- The Terminator is a vintage "B," and it's good to know that Hollywood can still crank them out.
Posted Dec 08, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
1/4
|
Piranha II: The Spawning
(1981)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The bog problem here is the fish, which are hard to produce in menacing numbers on a small budget.
Posted Dec 02, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Journey Back to Oz
(1974)
|
Susan Burnside
|
"Journey Back to Oz" simply proves Thomas Wolfe's point: You can't go home again.
Posted Nov 21, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
The Wiz
(1978)
|
John Huddy
|
Excessive, loud and manic, The Wiz turns out to be good fun.
Posted Nov 17, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
1/4
|
The Running Man
(1987)
|
Hal Boedeker
|
Schwarzenegger has carved out a comfortable niche in the action-drama genre, but The Running Man is a step backward. It lays bare his inability to act and, his only lines are often indecipherable.
Posted Nov 05, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
1/4
|
Predator
(1987)
|
Laurie Horn
|
All those graphics slow the pace, contain the terror and give us a kind of ritual in storytelling not unlike the combat detail in ancient heroic sagas.
Posted Oct 31, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
Predator 2
(1990)
|
Bill Cosford
|
There's not a dull moment in the thing, and it's dumb as dirt. But who can resist?
Posted Oct 30, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Dracula
(1979)
|
Bill Cosford
|
There isn't much at stake here, as it were, but what's been filmed is handsome and played with charisma -- a fine movie.
Posted Oct 21, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
Re-Animator
(1985)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The special effects here are remarkable.
Posted Oct 16, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Born Yesterday
(1950)
|
George Bourke
|
A spicy bit of enjoyable comedy fare.
Posted Oct 13, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Desert Hearts
(1985)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The first film since John Sayles' Lianna to make a grown-up view of lesbian characters.
Posted Oct 12, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3.5/4
|
My Beautiful Laundrette
(1985)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The principal performances by Gordon Warnecke and Daniel Day Lewis are first-rate. Lean and intelligent throughout, and often darkly funny.
Posted Oct 10, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Stephen King's It
(1990)
|
Hal Boedeker
|
It lacks that special something that sets the great monster movies apart from the gruesome glut of shlocky horror flicks.
Posted Oct 09, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3/4
|
The Celluloid Closet
(1995)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
The result is a documentary that entertains, grandly, as it educates. If it lacks some of the edge of Russo's book, The Celluloid Closet still qualifies as a thought-provoking work that never preaches, but simply shows -- and the proof is irrefutable.
Posted Oct 08, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3/4
|
Tron
(1982)
|
Bill Cosford
|
Considerable effort has gone to making the fantasy bits of TRON connect, however loosely, with the presumed relationship of man to computer, and there is not a character or a sequence of action that seems to be pure fancy.
Posted Oct 01, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Tron
(1982)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
A dull, borderline silly affair.
Posted Oct 01, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
2.5/4
|
Casper
(1995)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
It's all rather painless, even if the movie never gathers much steam.
Posted Sep 30, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
Hard Times
(1975)
|
Candice Russell
|
Marginally interesting for work-weary and brain-fatigued patrons, it sponges up the minutes as painlessly and forgettably as bad television.
Posted Sep 26, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3.5/4
|
Boogie Nights
(1997)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
It invites you to take a walk on the wild side at a safe distance, and it accomplishes that with an explosive, firecracker energy. But it's also a movie about finding humanity in the most unexpected places.
Posted Sep 24, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3/4
|
Hard Eight
(1996)
|
Todd Anthony
|
Hard Eight doesn't break the bank -- it's too self-consciously small -- but it has the feel of a modest long shot that hits.
Posted Sep 22, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
4/4
|
Toy Story
(1995)
|
Rene Rodriguez
|
Yet all the visual razzle-dazzle, formidable as it is, wouldn't work so well without equally great writing. Toy Story does not disappoint there, either.
Posted Sep 10, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
|
This Is Spinal Tap
(1984)
|
Howard Cohen
|
"There is a fine line between stupid and clever," says Spinal Tap's Michael McKean. Director Rob Reiner mostly keeps This Is Spinal Tap on the clever side of that invisible line.
Posted Sep 09, 2025
Edit critic review
|
|
3.5/4
|
This Is Spinal Tap
(1984)
|
Bill Cosford
|
The details are right and the performances are perfect.
Posted Sep 04, 2025
Edit critic review
|