David Elliott
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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An American Tail (1986) |
The secondary figures, including villainous Warren T. Rat, are often splendid. So are the storm scene, fire effects and the Statue of Liberty episodes. - Copley News Service
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| Posted May 18, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) |
As summer movies go, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a real heat wave. Steven Spielberg tries to out-dash his Raiders of the Lost Ark, and he does. You may feel elated, or just exhausted. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Apr 17, 2023
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Thelma & Louise (1991) |
[A] blazingly fresh feminist comedy. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Feb 28, 2023
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Dances With Wolves (1990) |
[Kevin Costner] is winning too much puff press for "risking" his stardom. Washed in John Barry's symphonic syrup (close your eyes and you see Out of Africa), the film basks in the comfy, 1-2-3 storytelling that once ruled Hollywood. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Nov 08, 2022
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Platoon (1986) |
Ragged though it is, Platoon has a certain painful majesty. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Aug 23, 2022
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Rain Man (1988) |
Director Barry Levinson lays on beautiful backdrops and glib needlings of junk culture, yet his vaunted "feel" for people goes trite. The result is not maudlin, just dull. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Aug 04, 2022
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The Last Emperor (1987) |
This curious epic gives us a slice of history unlike any other; it has a mysterious weight and a refreshing lack of moralizing. The ending is a miracle of poetic concision. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Aug 01, 2022
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Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984) |
Chattanooga Choo Choo is no ordinary bad film. We're talking serious suffering at the movies. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Mar 07, 2022
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Stand by Me (1986) |
"Stand by Me" stirs memories, especially if you've been a boy, especially if (like me), you were a '50s kid whose old pals have grown up and drifted apart. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Aug 23, 2021
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One Crazy Summer (1986) |
One Crazy Summer is mostly another "wacky" frolic for the late-summer teen market. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Aug 17, 2021
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Bolero (1984) |
Alas, Bo will never, never be an actress. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Mar 31, 2020
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The Slugger's Wife (1985) |
This is the most nakedly calculated film Simon has written (which is really saying something), and also the least funny. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Nov 18, 2019
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Beverly Hills Cop (1984) |
It has a creamy surface and junky insides. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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2010 (1984) |
Hyams directed, produced, scripted, even supervised photography, but his dossier is not that of a masterbuilder. He's a sturdy craftsman who gets all the gears moving in tight rhythm. His film is impressive but not elating. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Phar Lap (1983) |
The film is richly acted... And it's as well paced as a good race by director Simon Wincer. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) |
Mazursky taps and carbonates a rich source Boudu Saved From Drowning, Rene Fauchois' play that became a classic 1931 movie directed by Jean Renoir. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Tightrope (1984) |
On an action fan's gut level, I like Eastwood. There's no other star who can pull off tense, John Wayneish moments so well. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) |
From its whip 'em up music to its doggy cliches, the movie is a rubbish pile. Even the vaunted action scenes... don't show fresh verve or tactical flair. They're just stunts with big price tags. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Dune (1984) |
Inside Dune is a good freak show struggling to get out (and failing). - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Weird Science (1985) |
Weird Science has a laser-line to the hopes and fears of teen-age boys. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Band of the Hand (1986) |
Dumb movies are with us always, but it isn't every week that we have a Band of the Hand. Flawlessly false, it breaks into the elite of the super-stupid. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Torchlight (1984) |
[Ian McShane] is irrepressibly slimy and entertaining. Not since Malcolm McDowell played a creep Nazi (in a movie I have otherwise managed to forget) has a villain done such solo salvage work on his scenes in a terrible film. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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The Sure Thing (1985) |
The Sure Thing is one of those movies that start to fade right after you've seen it, but while you're watching there's pleasure to be had in its craft. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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Solarbabies (1986) |
Solarbabies is baked in the cliche oven, and then iced with derivations. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jul 19, 2019
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The Cotton Club (1984) |
This movie would have been ruined by good taste. It is spendthrift on every level but logic, and at times inane, yet a smashing entertainment. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Feb 22, 2019
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The Bear (1984) |
The Bear hawks the oldest line in sports films, telling us in various ways that Bryant was a "maker of men." We can believe it, and even admire it, because Busey brings out Bryant's courtly grace, his instinctual decency. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Feb 22, 2019
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City Heat (1984) |
Imagine The Sting without charm, and you have a fix on City Heat. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Feb 22, 2019
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The Evil That Men Do (1984) |
The Evil That Men Do is an efficient C.B. machine. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Feb 22, 2019
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Under the Volcano (1984) |
There are nips of beauty and terror, but the movie starts small and then shrinks. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jan 30, 2019
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National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985) |
It must have been fun for the film's makers to work in London, Paris, Rome and Southern Germany, but their fun didn't get exported to us. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jan 30, 2019
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Lost in America (1985) |
With co-writer Monica Johnson, his collaborator on Real Life and Modern Romance, Brooks has scripted the perfect outing for his gifts. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jan 30, 2019
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Ran (1985) |
This film is the visual epic of the year, and one of the few really great movies of the 80s. - Copley News Service
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| Posted Jan 30, 2019
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The Stone Boy (1984) |
This film is sincere, earnest and irritating. - Gannett News Service
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| Posted Jan 30, 2019
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) |
Maturing performances are a bonus, but the show's the thing, and by now it seems much richer than any theme park that could ever be made from it. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 14, 2016
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Waste Land (2010) |
With Walker and cinematographer Dudu Miranda, Muniz has a hawk's eye for the weird beauty of bulldozed hillocks of trash and the catador faces that he chose to star in photographic portraits. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 14, 2016
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Wild Target (2010) |
A few tart, amusing lines echo the fabled Kind Hearts and Coronets, yet this British movie based on a French farce falls into morbid silliness. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 14, 2016
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Kings of Pastry (2009) |
The makers are left, finally, a few cookies short. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 14, 2016
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Prometheus (2012) |
The story is a lurching carnival of budget blasts. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 09, 2016
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Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) |
Devout fans will have to go. For the rest of us, the best rewards of this show were long ago, in a galaxy that now seems far, far away. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Nov 16, 2015
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Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) |
Strong effects, good design, and an exciting use of nature help to empower Stewart and Theron, who inject a rich, double dose of feminism. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Oct 06, 2015
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Crime After Crime (2011) |
Despite its plodding tactics, the movie is an alarming witness. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Jun 25, 2015
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Children of Men (2006) |
Here is your post-holiday depression pill: Children of Men. Not to relieve depression. To cause it. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Apr 01, 2015
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The King's Speech (2010) |
The film is richly rooted, with splendid trappings, including pea-soup fogs. For all the pomp and protocol, it's an intimate story about a scared man who must find his voice if he is to rise, in regal stature, above his epaulets. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 20, 2015
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The Artist (2011) |
Through it all, Dujardin has great dignity, is hugely likeable, and pulls off touches of comic poignancy not far from Chaplin's. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 17, 2015
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Carnage (2011) |
The acting marathon is adroitly blocked and paced by Polanski and impeccably shot by Pawel Edelman. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Feb 04, 2015
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The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) |
It's very pretty (plus a song that is like a gumdrop melting in your ear). Girls may enjoy the sweet, rather wistful story more than most boys. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Dec 08, 2014
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Howl's Moving Castle (2004) |
Like Tiepolo, Miyazaki is a winged artist who flies in his own space, taking gravity with him. He can put us into a childish stupor of anticipation, then satisfaction. His vision is so free that it captivates. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Dec 08, 2014
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) |
The grand finish, if not always inspired, feels necessary. In a sustained, imaginative way, this is the best of any movie series. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted Nov 18, 2014
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Moneyball (2011) |
Brad Pitt is at the top of his own game as Beane. Cocky and often nonchalant, he is gnawed by doubts that he tries to cover by grabbing a snack or pitching a grin. - San Diego Reader
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| Posted May 06, 2014
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Underclassman (2005) |
The finish, a rush of climaxes, can make you feel zoned at 3 a.m., trying to decide between TV and the wallpaper. - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| Posted Jun 10, 2013
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