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Cleveland Plain Dealer

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
RoboCop 3 (1993) Karen Sandstrom While "RoboCop 3" couldn't be as good as the first, it's a far cry better than the second, and a downright blast of entertainment.
Posted Mar 16, 2026  Edit critic review
RoboCop 2 (1990) Joanna Connors It's a phenomenally cynical, hateful product.
Posted Mar 10, 2026  Edit critic review
Phantom Lady (1944) W. Ward Marsh Phantom Lady is that kind of picture -- pretty smary whodunit melodrama in any in company's language.
Posted Mar 06, 2026  Edit critic review
Anastasia (1956) W. Ward Marsh Anatole Litvak's direction is superb. There are so many touches which point up the realness of a modern fairy tale that it pulsates with life throughout.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
4/4
RoboCop (1987) Michael Heaton What saves "RoboCop" from being more than just an exercise in ultraviolence is the point-blank, black-hearted comedy that fleshes out the otherwise comic-book plot and action.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Emerson Batdorff Pacino carries the picture, as much as it is carried, by sheer brilliance. Great acting, fine directing, all waiting for a movie to happen.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) W. Ward Marsh Audrey Hepburn as Holly is quite wonderful. She, incredibly, rises above all sin, quite analyzes her own failures and proves that her frailties give her strength in crazy comedy and farce situations.
Posted Mar 05, 2026  Edit critic review
THE BRIDE! (2026) Joey Morona A pulpy, punk-rock romantic tragedy that’s chaotic, weird and beautiful, but also confusing and confounding.
Posted Mar 04, 2026  Edit critic review
Sense and Sensibility (1995) Joanna Connors Airy and droll and even a bit sexy, it honors Austen's 17th-century elegance while emphasizing her wicked satirical glee. This is no museum-piece film: It's flat-out fun.
Posted Feb 26, 2026  Edit critic review
The Postman (1994) Joanna Connors Radford doesn't have the perfect actors for this airy conceit; he has the only actors for it. After seeing it, you can't imagine anyone but the late Massimo Troisi as Mario.
Posted Feb 22, 2026  Edit critic review
THX 1138 (1971) Emerson Batdorff "THX 1138" is earnestly soporific. A man finds it impossible to keep the old eyeball operational while watching George Lucas' fears for the future. The lids drop.
Posted Feb 20, 2026  Edit critic review
Chocolat (2000) Joanna Connors A sweet little confection, the movie equivalent of a bon-bon. If it lacks the deep, rich complexity of the really good stuff, it does offer lighter, fluffier pleasures. A better title, perhaps, would be "Whipped Cream."
Posted Feb 17, 2026  Edit critic review
3/4
Pretty in Pink (1986) Roxanne T. Mueller Pretty in Pink is good, genial fun. Even the sound trakc of rock song after rock song doesn't get in the way.
Posted Feb 13, 2026  Edit critic review
Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Joanna Connors Muppet Treasure Island relies on jokes that are obvious even by Muppet standards, and feels as frantic and overcrowded as a Saturday afternoon at Discovery Zone.
Posted Feb 12, 2026  Edit critic review
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Joanna Connors These lethal warriors have the lighthearted souls of Fred Astaire, dancing on the ceiling, and the movie leaves the ground right along with them.
Posted Feb 11, 2026  Edit critic review
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) Glenn C. Pullen Director Boris Ingster is different -- but too much so. Although he has Alfred Hitchcock's technique of building up ominous suspense skillfully, he seems unable to sustain it.
Posted Feb 10, 2026  Edit critic review
Erin Brockovich (2000) Joanna Connors A classic Hollywood crowd-pleaser. What makes it more interesting is that on a slightly deeper level, it is about class, and the way Americans both deny and at the same time rigidly adhere to class divisions and prejudices.
Posted Feb 06, 2026  Edit critic review
A Face in the Crowd (1957) W. Ward Marsh A Face in the Crowd is drama in the Kazan manner, and that manner is invariably indelible.
Posted Feb 05, 2026  Edit critic review
Days of Heaven (1978) Donna Chernin Watching Days of Heaven is like being immersed in a painting as a lyrical melody plays in the background. It's a unique and fascinating film.
Posted Feb 04, 2026  Edit critic review
Arabesque (1966) W. Ward Marsh It's a slick, swift and exciting melodrama, keenly directed by Donen who has built up every situation with thrills lasting from one set to the next.
Posted Feb 04, 2026  Edit critic review
Camille (1936) W. Ward Marsh Pictorially then, a celluloid gem and a constant feast of beauty for the eye: exquisitely composed and smoothly edited.
Posted Feb 03, 2026  Edit critic review
My Bloody Valentine (1981) Michael Ward Its weak plot, its disjointed story and its predictable panic are covered by a coating of enough blood to satisfy the needs of a large hospital in a national disaster.
Posted Jan 29, 2026  Edit critic review
North (1994) Joanna Connors Written by a former "Saturday Night Live" staff writer, it is little more than a series of sketches, most of them as smug and lame as any current "SNL" bit.
Posted Jan 24, 2026  Edit critic review
The American President (1995) Joanna Connors This movie is as much a tribute to seamless, mainstream, middle-of-the-road Hollywood moviemaking as it is to Capra. Here is that rare big-budget movie where all the money has gone to buy major stars, lavish sets, and an army of hairstylists.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
Misery (1990) Joanna Connors Lacking both a sense of escalating tension and a sense of comic relief, the movie feels inert.
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) W. Ward Marsh A good story, abetted by a moral these foolish mortals here below can take home with them, keeps this new thriller at top pitch throughout its telling.
Posted Jan 16, 2026  Edit critic review
The Magnificent Seven (1960) W. Ward Marsh ...the major laurels still go to Sturges who has handled his situations and cast with a power and glory tending to create a major western movie.
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
Bite the Bullet (1975) Emerson Batdorff "Bite the Bullet" is usually good fun.
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
A
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Joanna Connors Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King upends all trilogy expectations. It is a spectacular movie, the best of the three, offering both a grand, fight-to-the-death climax and an intimate, emotional summing up of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy classic.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
3/4
Stand by Me (1986) Roxanne T. Mueller It's a rare, deeply moving look at boyhood camaraderie, beautifully acted by everyone involved.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
A Place in the Sun (1951) W. Ward Marsh It is quite the most moving, most disturbing and most nearly realistic melodrama I have seen in years.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
B
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Joanna Connors It's a filmmaking feat, all right. But huge and accomplished as The Two Towers is, it fails to delight the way the first film did.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
A
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Joanna Connors I'll leave it to others to report on how faithfully Jackson has stuck to Tolkien's novel; frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn. What I do know is that he has made a grand movie-movie.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
Gaslight (1944) W. Ward Marsh All cheers lead back to Miss Bergman, who delivers the most accurate and sensitive screen performance I have ever seen in years.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
Out of the Past (1947) W. Ward Marsh As case-hardened melodrama and an exciting study in violence, "Out of the Past" is a pretty gripping picture.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
Alice in Wonderland (1951) W. Ward Marsh The color is a constant and steady visual thrill. The depths achieved in many scenes are greater than I remember in "Disney" before and all the major characters are not only voiced but given proper emotion, temperament and personification.
Posted Jan 09, 2026  Edit critic review
3/4
The Sure Thing (1985) Roxanne T. Mueller Not only does [Reiner] show the main characters trying to cope with the cultural quirks and pressures of modern life, but he's got a healthy appreciation for the offbeat.
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
A Few Good Men (1992) Joanna Connors Aaron Sorkin should get down on the his knees for hourly and thank the gods for Jack Nicholson. He should throw in Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon and Keifer Sutherland and Kevin Pollack occasionally. Tom Cruise, too, I guess. Rob Reiner, definitely.
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) W. Ward Marsh Litvak's direction is unfalteringly sure.
Posted Dec 31, 2025  Edit critic review
Hook (1991) Joanna Connors The star personalities, the money, the effects and especially the sets overwhelm Spielberg's fragile magic. The magic appears, but only fleetingly, like fairy dust thrown on a two-ton gorilla that will never, ever fly.
Posted Dec 19, 2025  Edit critic review
Christine (1983) Roxanne T. Mueller Horror of any kind works on the mind, with the imagination of the film maker heightening that of the viewer. In "Christine," the only thing that the director successfully works on is the funny bone.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) Joey Morona No matter how well intentioned the effort, "Avatar: Fire and Ash" can’t change the reality that for all its cinematic bluster, the franchise has become overstuffed and exhausting, forcing you into submission until you’re… wait for it… blue in the face.
Posted Dec 16, 2025  Edit critic review
The Abyss (1989) Joanna Connors Cameron lacks originality and vision, but his craft as a director is to pump up the conventions of the action-adventure genre, to make them more intense than anybody else makes them.
Posted Dec 10, 2025  Edit critic review
True Lies (1994) Joanna Connors As troubling as Cameron's military-hardware celebration is, far more troubling is his treatment of his heroine.
Posted Dec 09, 2025  Edit critic review
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Joanna Connors The sequel maintains the nihilistic humor of the first...but it never gets the soul. It isn't the characters; it is about how much Cameron and his special effects team can cook up in explosions, car crashes, shoot-outs and fights.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
The Terminator (1984) Roxanne T. Mueller It's junk, but good junk.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Wicked: For Good (2025) Joey Morona Despite all its detours, "Wicked: For Good" ends up exactly where it needs to be. It might not defy gravity in quite the same way, but it still soars.
Posted Nov 19, 2025  Edit critic review
The Wiz (1978) Michael Ward It is a pity that director Sidney Lumet could not get the story moving down that Yellow Brick Road a little faster.
Posted Nov 18, 2025  Edit critic review
Lost & Found in Cleveland (2024) Joey Morona The film’s sincerity and sentimentality go a long way, giving it a warmth that feels like your favorite sweater.
Posted Nov 04, 2025  Edit critic review
Predator (1987) Roxanne T. Mueller John McTiernan's pedestrian direction emphasizes pyrotechnics, blood, gore and singular determination to avoid fleshing out his characters.
Posted Oct 30, 2025  Edit critic review
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