Jay Boyar
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Color Purple (1985) |
For a movie as ambitious as this one, The Color Purple is unusually entertaining in an immediate, straightforward way. It's peppered with slapstick and scenes of emotional extravagance. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 25, 2023
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An American Tail (1986) |
An American Tail is a pleasant diversion with a couple of big shortcomings. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 18, 2023
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Heavenly Creatures (1994) |
An often compelling drama. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 16, 2023
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Crossing Delancey (1988) |
It's a clumsy trifle with an amiable aura. This aura seems mainly to emanate from Amy Irving who, as Izzy, has a captivating stillness. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 16, 2023
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Yentl (1983) |
The movie raises odd, unexpected questions about sexual stereotyping and about sex itself. Yentl is feminist in outlook, but it provocatively confounds conventional feminist thinking. The movie cares more about emotional truth than political orthodoxy. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 12, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) |
I take grateful pleasure, for example, in the brilliant craftsmanship that director Spielberg and his technical crew bring to this movie. If there is a point at which craft becomes art, Temple of Doom is there. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 18, 2023
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Boys on the Side (1995) |
In Boys on the Side, you have a movie that's like a bundle of raw, exposed nerves. At times, it may be impossible, but it is seldom dull. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 14, 2023
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Godzilla (1998) |
Other than the way the giant lizard looks -- which does turn out to be pretty spectacular -- there's not a whole heck of a lot going on in this film. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 14, 2023
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Wild Things (1998) |
Murray somehow picks the film up, briskly tucks it into his pocket and walks away with it. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 02, 2023
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The Big Lebowski (1998) |
Where Fargo was cool and wryly detached, the zany new film is aggressively antic -- more like parts of their Barton Fink or The Hudsucker Proxy. On occasion, in fact, the Coens' anything-goes approach can begin to get on your nerves. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 20, 2023
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Eve's Bayou (1997) |
The charm of Eve's Bayou comes straight from the heart. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 09, 2023
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Down in the Delta (1998) |
At a time when so many films strain to be either tragically hip on the one hand or distressingly saccharine on the other, a movie like Down in the Delta is a genuine rarity. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 04, 2023
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Days of Heaven (1978) |
Days of Heaven has got to be the quietest spectacular ever filmed. With the confidence of a black-belt fighter, it doesn't flex its muscles or flaunt its power. - Buffalo Courier-Express
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| Posted Aug 30, 2022
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The Deer Hunter (1978) |
The actors are so natural, so real, so privately panic-stricken in the face of death, that their performances ride rough-shod over the technical situation and bring to it an intensity and vitality. - Buffalo Courier-Express
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| Posted Aug 30, 2022
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The Land Before Time (1988) |
If it were a film for adults, parts might be considered melodramatic or sentimental. But by kiddie-picture standards, there's actually a certain restraint to the way the emotional scenes are handled. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 23, 2022
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Creepshow (1982) |
The stories are all short enough that they're over before they start to drag. They may remind you, in fact, of those dark little tales that made up such television programs as The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, only more explicit. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 09, 2022
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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) |
It's tasteful in the best sense, the sense that implies modesty. You can't manage great art with this kind of restraint, but you can make an awfully good movie. And Benton has. - Buffalo Courier-Express
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| Posted Aug 04, 2022
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Terms of Endearment (1983) |
The film is a rarity: an observant story told with intelligence and sensibility. The script is as funny as the best of Brooks' TV work, but without that sitcom punchiness. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 20, 2022
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Gandhi (1982) |
While Attenborough's primary aim is veneration, he also manages a bit of incidental illumination. This bit is something less than the great subject deserves, but the film is clearly a cut above the usual run of movie "bios." - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 19, 2022
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Amadeus (1984) |
The surprise of Amadeus is that although it chronicles the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and contains selections from his work, much of the movie is gloriously plebeian. The film is a passionate triumph; its spirit is both lowdown and transcendent. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jul 11, 2022
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The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) |
As Jesus, Willem Dafoe offers a brilliant, even inspired, performance. Dafoe's character is strong and charismatic, though extremely troubled and ever-questioning. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 05, 2022
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The Last Starfighter (1984) |
It does have a tendency to drag, but it's an awfully friendly movie with a darn clever premise. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted May 03, 2022
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The Witches of Eastwick (1987) |
Nicholson hardly gives the performance of his career in The Witches of Eastwick, but it's an effective performance, one that fills up an already full screen. And as usual, Jack Nicholson is the most interesting thing in the movie. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 22, 2022
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Three Men and a Baby (1987) |
The French version did have more texture, but the new film is brighter and livelier than its predecessor. And if the ending seemed more plausible in a French context, a subplot about drug smugglers is executed more nimbly in the new movie. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 20, 2022
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Mishima (1985) |
Though the film must be called a failure, it's more fascinating and involving than are many less-ambitious pictures that fully succeed in achieving more limited goals. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Apr 04, 2022
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I Like It Like That (1994) |
A cheerfully entertaining movie. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Mar 02, 2022
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Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990) |
While no great shakes, this old-fashioned movie has a serviceable narrative that carries you along from one harrowing episode to the next. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 15, 2022
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Beloved (1998) |
Although Winfrey is hardly alone up there on the screen, her individual acting achievement cannot be dismissed. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Feb 02, 2022
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Sidewalk Stories (1989) |
Despite the film's serious shortcomings, it does have a certain wan charm. And its surprise ending packs a strong punch. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jan 24, 2022
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Wyatt Earp (1994) |
If Wyatt Earp isn't quite Heaven's Other Gate, it's as close as anyone's likely to get to repeating that classic horse-opera folly. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Dec 22, 2021
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The Secret of NIMH (1982) |
The dear Mrs. Brisby is just about the perfect heroine for a children's movie... For missing her shot at a great starring role, Minnie Mouse must be eating her little heart out. - Buffalo Courier-Express
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| Posted Nov 09, 2021
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Poltergeist II (1986) |
A lot of people who ordinarily avoid horror pictures will rush to check it out. But what they will see for their trouble is barely distinguishable from a dumb drive-in cheapie. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Nov 02, 2021
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Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) |
In Devil in a Blue Dress, the '40s atmosphere is rich, but Franklin doesn't make the mistake of laying it on too thick. He has a fine eye for detail... Virtually every scene contains something like that -- something small yet telling. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Oct 27, 2021
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From the Hip (1987) |
Director/co-writer Clark probably could make an offensive film on almost any subject. This time the subject is the legal system. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Sep 25, 2021
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To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) |
If Friedkin occasionally goes overboard, he certainly commands an attention-getting technique and manages to tell a fascinating story. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 22, 2021
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Garbo Talks (1984) |
Expatriate New Yorkers may feel sad as the movie ends. Personally speaking, I had a little trouble readjusting to Central Florida. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 22, 2021
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The Jigsaw Man (1984) |
The movie is one of the worst I've seen this year. Possibly, the worst. The Jigsaw Man just goes to pieces before your eyes. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 17, 2021
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Hangin' With the Homeboys (1991) |
Director Vasquez treats the people in his movie sympathetically, but with an edge of irony that makes most of what happens humorous. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 12, 2021
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Stand and Deliver (1988) |
The movie doesn't deliver it all might, but it takes enough of a stand to be worth a look. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 10, 2021
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El Norte (1983) |
What I remember with greatest pleasure about EI Norte are those individual scenes of clarity and illumination. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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Romantic Comedy (1983) |
As you watch this picture, the earth doesn't move. It doesn't even rumble. But Romantic Comedy, in its own bumbling way, scores a few laughs. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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Backdraft (1991) |
[Howard's] intuitive sense of the rhythms of popular entertainment keeps the picture from bogging down. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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Big Trouble in Little China (1986) |
Big Trouble in Little China is a failure, but it's a fascinating, atypical failure. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 29, 2021
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Delirious (1991) |
Often... the script and the all-thumbs direction of Tom Mankiewicz leave Candy and the rest of the cast (Mariel Hemingway, Emma Samms, David Rasche, Raymond Burr) stranded. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 29, 2021
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Doc Hollywood (1991) |
The rare film that actually improves as it develops. What begins as an all-too-standard fish-out-of-water comedy eventually grows into something more. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 24, 2021
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Another You (1991) |
An abrasive, spectacularly mirthless comedy. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 24, 2021
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Troop Beverly Hills (1989) |
Perhaps the film's premise would have been effective for a 10-minute sketch on Saturday Night Live or The Tracey Ullman Show. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 24, 2021
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Baby Boom (1987) |
There's just something irresistible about a major star dropping his or her guard and going full-out in the service of a comic romp. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 24, 2021
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Skin Deep (1989) |
Considered as a whole, Skin Deep plays like a bad sequel to 10. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 18, 2021
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The Secret of My Success (1987) |
The Secret of My Success lacks even the modest verbal wit that many Family Ties episodes contain. - Orlando Sentinel
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| Posted Jun 09, 2021
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