1.5/5
|
Boys on the Side
(1995)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
Unfortunately, the movie is too predictable.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
|
|
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)
|
Mitch Woodbury
|
A lush, tuneful affair which moves swiftly and unerringly through 91 diverting minutes.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
9 to 5
(1980)
|
Norman Dresser
|
If you love good comedy and outstanding comic performances, Nine to Five shouldn't be missed.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
|
3/4
|
Thelma & Louise
(1991)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
Whether we agree or disagree with the women's actions, we can't help but watch in admiration as they strip away all expectations and find joy in their own decisions and strength.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
2.5/4
|
The Big Lebowski
(1998)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
The Big Lebowski may be the most original comedy to come down the pike in many a year, or the Coen brothers may be playing an Emperor's-New-Clothes type of game to see how long they can snooker the audience.
Posted Jan 20, 2023
|
|
A Dry White Season
(1989)
|
Fred Lutz
|
Though A Dry White Season does no better than Cry Freedom or A World Apart in avoiding a limited white perspective on South Africa's ugly apartheid problem, it is much stronger dramatically and more involving than either of those earlier efforts.
Posted Jan 03, 2023
|
|
Schindler's List
(1993)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
It's the faces that make Schindler's List a magnificent, harrowing, stomach-wrenching, emotional piece of cinema.
Posted Dec 16, 2022
|
4/4
|
The Blair Witch Project
(1999)
|
Christopher Borrelli
|
[The Blair Witch Project is] the most effective and unsettling horror movie in quite a long time. Just to clarify: after seeing this, you will not sleep well. Invest in a night-light.
Posted Dec 15, 2022
|
3/4
|
Groundhog Day
(1993)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
If the film doesn't cross the line into inspired lunacy, the laughs are plentiful.
Posted Dec 07, 2022
|
2.5/4
|
Braveheart
(1995)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
If Braveheart suffers from Gibson's vision and his excesses, it also accomplishes two things: It demonstrates the vast, faceless misery of war like no other movie of recent memory. And it answers the question: Just what do men wear under those kilts?
Posted Nov 18, 2022
|
4/4
|
Dances With Wolves
(1990)
|
Tom Gearhart
|
Magnificent. It's the only word to describe Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves. An epic in the grand tradition, it is a movie of breathtaking sweep and noble aims, and the story it tells is at once stirring and heartfelt.
Posted Nov 08, 2022
|
3.5/4
|
Gladiator
(2000)
|
Christopher Borrelli
|
We're on the cusp of a new golden age for moviemaking. Ridley Scott is hardly equipped to light the way, but that he or anybody is willing to deliver a jolt of electricity to a genre as dead and dumb as the Roman epic is thrilling in itself.
Posted Nov 01, 2022
|
3/4
|
Addams Family Values
(1993)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
This sequel comes with a lot more laughs than its predecessor. Some are nasty and some are misanthropic, but most of the mirth and malice pokes fun at the shallowness and hypocrisy of conservative upper-middle-class society.
Posted Sep 21, 2022
|
|
A Man for All Seasons
(1966)
|
Fred Lutz
|
The abilities of some of the best actors, directors, writers, and photographers have meshed beautifully in A Man for All Seasons to create one of the best movie productions of this or any other season.
Posted Sep 07, 2022
|
|
Scorpio Rising
(1964)
|
Fred Lutz
|
Though it is obviously not a "family movie," and though it has some obvious flaws... Scorpio Rising does have much to recommend itself.
Posted Sep 01, 2022
|
|
Echoes of Silence
(1967)
|
Fred Lutz
|
It comes off as a series encounters made by persons who act as if they are shell-shocked, and the "echoes" would seem to be more of blankness than of silence.
Posted Sep 01, 2022
|
|
Annie Hall
(1977)
|
Norman Dresser
|
It is such an adroit blend of slapstick and sadness that one weeps tears of both laughter and sorrow. All of Woody Allen's movies have been good, but this one is superlative.
Posted Aug 25, 2022
|
|
A Raisin in the Sun
(1961)
|
Ray Oviatt
|
A Raisin in the Sun is highly recommended for those who appreciate fine drama beautifully acted.
Posted Aug 23, 2022
|
|
Platoon
(1986)
|
Fred Lutz
|
Platoon is so good, in fact, that it is not only one of the best war films ever made but also one of the best anti-war films as well.
Posted Aug 23, 2022
|
|
The Sting
(1973)
|
Norman Dresser
|
Sheer, joyful entertainment. It's a fun picture. Not a comedy, although it's filled with witty lines and laugh-provoking situations. The Sting is a perfect vehicle on which to forget 1973, a year which hasn't given us many laughs.
Posted Aug 08, 2022
|
|
Kramer vs. Kramer
(1979)
|
Norman Dresser
|
Technically, this is a cinematic tour de force, with brilliant acting, superlative writing and directing, almost perfect editing, and an unobtrusive, eminently fitting score of classical music.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
|
|
The Wizard
(1989)
|
Tom Ford
|
The Wizard would have been better on the TV screen, where its programmed predictability would have more closely paralleled that of the games themselves.
Posted Aug 03, 2022
|
|
Drugstore Cowboy
(1989)
|
Tom Ensign
|
In all, Drugstore Cowboy has a few highs, but generally, this is a light dose of viewing valium.
Posted Aug 03, 2022
|
|
The Last Emperor
(1987)
|
Fred Lutz
|
Though The Last Emperor is nearly three hours long, it is so consistently engrossing that the time seems quickly whisked away by Bertolucci's alternately stark and billowing atmospherics.
Posted Aug 01, 2022
|
|
Driving Miss Daisy
(1989)
|
Tom Gearhart
|
If you were to take it apart as you would a watch and spill the insides on a workbench, you'd find about 50 scenes built around 10 or 12 vignettes. You'd find two marvelous actors and a strong supporting cast, plus a director with a blessedly light touch.
Posted Jul 25, 2022
|
|
The Girl in a Swing
(1989)
|
Nanciann Cherry
|
The Girl in a Swing refers to a beautiful, rare porcelain statue, but as a film it exhibits no more life than a piece of kitchen crockery.
Posted Jul 21, 2022
|
|
Terms of Endearment
(1983)
|
Fred Lutz
|
These three gifted actors, with the powerful underpinnings of a classy director and an important novelist, have created one of the most memorable movies of recent years.
Posted Jul 20, 2022
|
|
Gandhi
(1982)
|
Tom Gearhart
|
What makes the movie so remarkable, beyond its monumental scope and the 20-year quest of Richard Attenborough to get it made, is the stunning performance of Ben Kingsley as the Mahatma, a role which he has turned into a work of art.
Posted Jul 19, 2022
|
|
Stardust Memories
(1980)
|
Norman Dresser
|
Woody Allen's new picture, Stardust Memories, is a most curious work, often hilariously funny as only Allen can be, sometimes a parody of Allen films, and, as a whole, perhaps the least successful of any of his movies in the last five years.
Posted Jul 14, 2022
|
|
Up the Down Staircase
(1967)
|
Lee Steele
|
As the fledgling teacher, Sandy Dennis is big-sisterish and convincingly pitying in the part of Miss Barrett. She is the epitome of that contemporary yet ancient phenomenon: the dedicated mentor with the maternal instinct.
Posted Jul 06, 2022
|
|
The Sons of Katie Elder
(1965)
|
Ray Oviatt
|
Traditionalists should be quite pleased with The Sons of Katie Elder.
Posted Jul 01, 2022
|
|
What's New, Pussycat?
(1965)
|
Ray Oviatt
|
What's New, Pussycat? would seem to have many things going for it. Most of them are going the wrong way, though.
Posted Jul 01, 2022
|
|
The Way West
(1967)
|
Andy Mead
|
Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark help to oil the squeaky theme with their skill.
Posted Jul 01, 2022
|
|
Barefoot in the Park
(1967)
|
Lee Steele
|
Barefoot in the Park has much to recommend it, especially the revealingly human scenes that demonstrate only too well how simple it is for a tender moment to disintegrate into tension.
Posted Jul 01, 2022
|
|
The Dirty Dozen
(1967)
|
Lee Steele
|
An exciting war drama of World War II that will make the viewer cheer "the bad guys."
Posted May 04, 2022
|
|
Go Tigers!
(2001)
|
Christopher Borrelli
|
It's all true, even though the details are both as chilling as the premise of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and as uplifting as the plots of a half-dozen recent sports movies.
Posted Sep 15, 2020
|
4/4
|
The Cockettes
(2002)
|
Christopher Borrelli
|
The effect is to actually bring to life the idealistic spirit of the times, to provide a context more resonant than simply the fashions and the music.
Posted Sep 15, 2020
|
2.5/5
|
Irresistible
(2020)
|
Kirk Baird
|
...its vicious comedic blow - what Stewart would passionately deliver most nights The Daily Show at the end of a rant - never comes.
Posted Aug 08, 2020
|
2.5/5
|
The King of Staten Island
(2020)
|
Kirk Baird
|
The King of Staten Island is a long journey to spend with someone you want to like and should like, but never do.
Posted Jun 12, 2020
|
|
The Vast of Night
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Once the pair get going with their big, creepy adventure, The Vast of Night begins to drag. It's a character-driven story, but it offers its characters little to do but rote detective work.
Posted May 29, 2020
|
2/5
|
The Lizzie McGuire Movie
(2003)
|
Christopher Borrelli
|
Here, we get a Bizarro Europe where the modest pleasures of the cable series are skipped to make room for a plot every American kiddie flick takes when it heads overseas. It aspires to nothing more than smiling imitation.
Posted Jan 15, 2020
|
3.5/5
|
Frozen II
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Arguably the true stars of Frozen were the Lopez husband-and-wife songwriting team.
Posted Dec 27, 2019
|
3.5/5
|
Spider-Man: Far From Home
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Spider-Man: Far From Home isn't perfect, but it does rise to the occasion. And as the opening film in this new chapter of the MCU, it sets the stage for the bigger and better to come.
Posted Dec 27, 2019
|
3/5
|
Doctor Sleep
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
McGregor is certainly skilled enough to make Dan compelling, even if the journey and its twists aren't always embraceable.
Posted Dec 27, 2019
|
3/5
|
Yesterday
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Boyle does have two fun leads in Patel and James, though, and a wonderful musical accompaniment, even if those songs are performed by Jack and not the Fab Four.
Posted Dec 27, 2019
|
|
Joker
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Joker is dark enough that you'll appreciate stepping out of the theater and into the light.
Posted Dec 27, 2019
|
3/5
|
Richard Jewell
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Given the effort by Eastwood and Ray to set history right in how we remember Jewell, their misrepresentation of Scruggs is an incongruous, and from a plot perspective, lazy misstep that mars an otherwise worthy endeavor.
Posted Dec 27, 2019
|
4/5
|
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood is the work of a middle-aged director, one who looks back by looking forward, and who eschews the familiar for the new.
Posted Dec 21, 2019
|
5/5
|
The Irishman
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
The director creates a fascinating and frightening world with its own heroes and villains and the rules that govern them both - rules that are exceedingly complex, unlike the fictional black-and-white and occasionally grey domain of superheroes.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|
4.5/5
|
Toy Story 4
(2019)
|
Kirk Baird
|
Toy Story 4 is the first film in the series to introduce the concept that a toy can love another toy, and their developing relationship will pull at your heart.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|