Patrick Taggart
Patrick Taggart's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
Austin Chronicle
Austin American-Statesman
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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9 to 5 (1980) |
Nine to Five could have used an efficiency expert. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Mar 03, 2023
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A Dry White Season (1989) |
A Dry White Season fires a shot right between the eyes of South African apartheid. The new movie is a thriller, but it's also an education. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jan 04, 2023
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The Deer Hunter (1978) |
The smell of horse droppings is powerful, but we don't have to go around sniffing for it. Power is not importance. The Deer Hunter is powerful; it is not important. It is too melodramatic, self-indulgent and shrill to be important. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 30, 2022
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Platoon (1986) |
There's no self-conscious artistry here, no metaphorical trips up a river into a thickening jungle. Platoon is a clean, direct narrative that may not go to the heart of darkness but does get to the heart of the matter. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 23, 2022
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Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) |
Benton, the Texas-born former art director at Esquire and director of The Late Show, has taken this nasty subject and put it in the center of a movie that is funny, believable, sad, warming and hopeful. Not bad for a Waxahachle boy. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 05, 2022
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Rain Man (1988) |
Rain Man is regulated so well in its emotional and psychological currents that many viewers may not be conscious of how deeply involved they are until it is over. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 04, 2022
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The Last Emperor (1987) |
It offers more striking panoramas than anything in the old costume epics of the 1950s. But The Last Emperor is inert; the pictures, while lovely, don't move. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 02, 2022
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Terms of Endearment (1983) |
[Terms of Endearment] is in a lofty class by itself, addressing its issues as it creates them, shooting from the hip with deadly accuracy. That it is also one of the most profoundly funny movies of the year is a joy in itself. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jul 21, 2022
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Gandhi (1982) |
At the end of the three-hours-and-10-minutes (plus intermission) running time, it's clear that Attenborough's subject was infinitely more daring than his chronicler. Still, it is almost impossible not to at least like Gandhi. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jul 19, 2022
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Chariots of Fire (1981) |
The racing sequences are a huge treat even if they do rely on that sports photography favorite, the slow-motion camera. The electronic score by Vangelis adds, well, not a chill -- let's call it icing on a splendid cake. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jul 14, 2022
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Ordinary People (1980) |
It is a beauty, a masterfully crafted American tragedy that stimulates our minds, captures our hearts, and soothes our eyes and ears. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jul 13, 2022
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Amadeus (1984) |
Forman is greatly indebted to an excellent cast, especially to Tom Hulce as the hee-hawing Mozart and Jeffrey Jones' quietly hilarious portrayal of the emperor. My own personal Oscar, though, goes to F. Murray Abraham's Salieri. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jul 11, 2022
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Thief (1981) |
It has a resolution that sends the whole enterprise whirling down the toilet and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the viewer. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jul 07, 2022
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Tess (1979) |
Tess is Roman Polanski's Barry Lyndon. Much like Stanley Kubrick's film of five years ago, Tess is a spacious, atmospheric and brilliantly photographed period piece based on a novel about a hapless pawn of a highly regimented British caste system. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jun 17, 2022
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The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) |
You end up with a pile of scenes that resemble a movie, but the lingering feeling is that the pieces could have and should have been put together more carefully. Within these pieces, though, are durable moments. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted May 04, 2022
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The Last Starfighter (1984) |
The movie has fewer original ideas than almost anything without a Roman numeral behind it, and there have been sequels with more of a life of their own. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted May 03, 2022
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The Witches of Eastwick (1987) |
The whole thing is a high-spirited hoot. Nicholson needs to quit playing woman-hating bad boys before he becomes a self-parody. For the moment, though, he is quite an irresistible prince of darkness. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Apr 21, 2022
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Three Men and a Baby (1987) |
Apart from some priceless moments early on, Three Men and a Baby is just Three Men and a Cradle all over again, as utterly predictable and utterly unremarkable as ever. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Apr 19, 2022
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Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) |
It is easy to avoid cliches if you don't know them, and we don't see a single one in Apted's portrayal of Kentucky mountain people. And Apted's tightness of vision is encased in a masterwork of craftsmanship. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Apr 06, 2022
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Mishima (1985) |
Schrader's film is challenging, daring and ultimately touching. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Mar 09, 2022
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) |
The rebellion of the late 60s wasn't all that wonderful, but it opened some minds and eyes, and the book, the play, and now this glorious film, lay it in our laps. It's a tribute to filmmaking at its finest. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Mar 04, 2022
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Excalibur (1981) |
John Boorman's lavishly produced new film is an amusing, and sometimes very exciting, failure. It attempts to stir the King Arthur legend into a vat containing Wagner and Star Wars, and the results are sometimes successful, sometimes not. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Dec 28, 2021
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The Secret of NIMH (1982) |
An auspicious debut. What will make [Don Bluth's] career even more interesting and more of a threat to Disney and other filmmakers is a second film that combines his meticulous animation with a story that transcends age barriers. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Nov 09, 2021
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Poltergeist II (1986) |
The film contains barely a fraction of the originality, drama, humor, horror or whatever else the original was selling. It's a shame, and a lot of people are going to be disappointed. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Nov 01, 2021
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The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) |
Gripping, funny-sad entertainment. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Oct 30, 2021
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Critters (1986) |
The film certainly breaks no new ground thematically, but it is one of those goofy, playful concoctions that constitutes effective, harmless entertainment for the young. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Oct 27, 2021
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Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) |
[Director John Boorman] just doesn't know a thing about making a horror movie. He is a master with a camera, delighting in color experiments and camera movement. But at storytelling he's a lightweight, and it's our loss. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Oct 26, 2021
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Teachers (1984) |
Call it a D minus, and let's go to recess. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Oct 03, 2021
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From the Hip (1987) |
From the Hip is sort of like a bratpack version of And Justice for All, which is to say the film is narcissistic trash as opposed to just plain trash. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Sep 25, 2021
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Last Embrace (1979) |
Director Jonathan Demme never quite succeeds in getting higher than treetop level in building tension, despite the excellent efforts of Scheider and Margolin. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Sep 24, 2021
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The Presidio (1988) |
The film does tend to peek from behind its formulaic framework from time to time to offer hints of real personality. But on balance, director Peter Hyams' latest is a paint-by-number job. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Sep 06, 2021
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French Connection II (1975) |
A sometimes fast, often slow and almost always intriguing movie that is both more and less than its parent. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Sep 05, 2021
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Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1975) |
There are only three really good jokes in the entire thing. And three good gags do not a comedy make. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 29, 2021
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To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) |
It's a well-made, pulse-quickening action picture, but one that is, finally, as exhausting as it is entertaining. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 22, 2021
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Garbo Talks (1984) |
Sidney Lumet, a filmmaker known for style, wit and a knack for satire, directed, and the film has a spryness and elegance that holds our interest most of the time. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 22, 2021
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The Jigsaw Man (1984) |
There are just too many pieces to The Jigsaw Man. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 17, 2021
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Stand and Deliver (1988) |
While Phillips may command attention because of his laudable work last summer as Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, other actors create equally indelible characters. These include Will Gotay as Pancho, Ingrid Oliu as Lupe and Patrick Baca as Javier. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 11, 2021
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La Bamba (1987) |
The difference is passion. La Bamba has it as few movies do, and the person who is not swept up by it is to be envied or pitied, I'm not sure which. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 10, 2021
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The Border (1982) |
Nicholson is there with his cigarette and wild hair and his clenched-teeth sincerity to make it all okay. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 06, 2021
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El Norte (1983) |
One sees in Nava's directorial style the eye of an artist, both in the way he composes his frame and in the thoughtful, inexorable manner in which he moves his story. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Aug 03, 2021
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Big Trouble in Little China (1986) |
If you're in the right mood for this sort of thing, John Carpenter's new movie presents as fine an opportunity as any this summer to have a good, goofy time. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jun 29, 2021
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Psycho III (1986) |
Psycho III is funny almost from start to finish, and yet remains frightening and suspenseful. As a first-time director, Perkins has done a magnificent job. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jun 29, 2021
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Crimes of Passion (1984) |
It's not coy, but it's not real, either. The characters don't talk to each other, they spout bad, pompous dialogue. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jun 23, 2021
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The Toy (1982) |
Ultimately, "The Toy" will be remembered as a poor showcase for a couple of fine comedians. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jun 15, 2021
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Rear Window (1954) |
What's so delicious about this is not so much the story itself (we've seen immobile sleuths before) but the terrific style with which Hitchcock brings it off. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Jun 07, 2021
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Target (1985) |
Target is definitely an action picture, but if s not one of those noisy thrillers that sets a quick pace and harsh tone and never lets up. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted May 26, 2021
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Chan Is Missing (1982) |
This grainy little black-and-white movie is ostensibly a detective mystery, but in fact it is an enlightening filmic discussion on what it is to be a Chinese-American in San Francisco. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted May 19, 2021
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Sugar Cane Alley (1983) |
Sugar Cane Alley may be the cheeriest, most lyrical film about utter economic depravity that many of us are likely to see. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted May 07, 2021
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Top Secret! (1984) |
It's no classic, but Top Secret is funny, good-natured, and - with one exception early on involving a marital aid - clean. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Apr 20, 2021
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Flashpoint (1984) |
It's a passable B movie. - Austin American-Statesman
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| Posted Apr 15, 2021
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