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C-
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Evil Dead 2
(1987)
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Marylynn Uricchio
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Evil Dead 2 is shameless, and I'm embarrassed to admit, cheap fun.
Posted Mar 28, 2023
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Enter the Dragon
(1973)
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George Anderson
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As such films go, Enter the Dragon is probably the best of them, although it is dubious praise indeed to be called better than Five Fingers of Death.
Posted Mar 20, 2023
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2.5/4
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Boys on the Side
(1995)
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Barbara Vancheri
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This is a case of doing less with more. Less might have proved to be more.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
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2.5/4
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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
(2005)
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Barry Paris
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The emotional candy that sustains this “Sisterhood” is too artificially sweetened to be filling, unless you really believe that one sentimental size fits all.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
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The Dark Angel
(1935)
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Harold V. Cohen
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A touching, sentimental fable that quietly and placidly makes a weeping willow of eve n the least susceptible.
Posted Mar 10, 2023
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)
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Win Fanning
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Howard Hawks must indeed be a genius of the first magnitude, for not only has he presented us with a new Monroe, he has also completely refurbished Anita Loo's 27-year-old story.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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9 to 5
(1980)
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George Anderson
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Nine to Five settles for such a one-sided conflict that the film turns into a cartoon.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Sayonara
(1957)
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Harold V. Cohen
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An entertainment with a big heart.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Thelma & Louise
(1991)
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Marylynn Uricchio
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Scott and screenwriter Callie Khouri concentrate on the delightful characters and the details, which are precise, colorful and humorous in a deadpan kind of way. It's the humor, above all, that makes the movie so infectious.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Flower Drum Song
(1961)
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Win Fanning
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Flower Drum Song is a show business for the whole family.
Posted Feb 27, 2023
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2.5/4
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Godzilla
(1998)
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Tony Norman
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Hollywood, as usual, has thrown another brainless and convoluted movie our way under the rubric of "summer blockbuster" (thinking optional, but never required).
Posted Feb 15, 2023
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Requiem for a Heavyweight
(1962)
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Win Fanning
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Requiem for a Heavyweight searches the slums and back alleys of New York and probes deeply into the minds and hearts of its principals to tell a story as exciting as it is unseemly.
Posted Feb 08, 2023
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1.5/4
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Wild Things
(1998)
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Leslie Rubinkowski
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Maybe this is someone's idea of a postmodern joke: Sit through two hours of monkey junk for five minutes of answers.
Posted Feb 02, 2023
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Back to Bataan
(1945)
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Harold V. Cohen
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Back to Bataan is a bang-up show and a bitter . memory, its hair-raising thrills tempered by its aching terrors.
Posted Feb 01, 2023
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Diabolique
(1955)
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Harold V. Cohen
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If somebody insists, against all warnings, on telling you how Diabolique comes out, kill him in cold blood. There isn't a jury in the land that would convict you.
Posted Jan 31, 2023
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The Big Lebowski
(1998)
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Ron Weiskind
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The Coens have created a character study masquerading as a mystery. But the whodunit proves as substantial as a case of the munchies.
Posted Jan 20, 2023
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Frankenstein
(1931)
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Harold V. Cohen
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It is all hooey, to be sure, hooey of the simplest sort, but it has been so expertly assembled and so smartly dressed that it becomes a fine example of the school of the cinema that seeks to shiver and not convince.
Posted Jan 18, 2023
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3/4
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Eve's Bayou
(1997)
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Barry Paris
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These characters sound suspiciously like southern Californians to me, and it's a lapse in authenticity. Otherwise, Eve's story is warmly believable. It's enhanced, and we're entranced, by the backdrop bayou beauty.
Posted Jan 10, 2023
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Down in the Delta
(1998)
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Barbara Vancheri
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Sometimes miracles don't happen in the way you expect. [Down in the Delta] is simple and simplistic in that regard. It's also small, heartfelt, filled with good performances, and likely to get lost in the holiday shuffle.
Posted Jan 04, 2023
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B-
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A Dry White Season
(1989)
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George Anderson
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A Dry White Season is oddly flat in its overall impact, but the validity and value of the film are beyond question.
Posted Jan 04, 2023
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The Lady Eve
(1941)
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Harold V. Cohen
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It's fast, funny and comically naughty, and Preston Sturges, who's growing up to be a genius, has turned Barbara Stanwyck into a senior member of the Lana Turner set and Henry Fonda into -- surprise! surprise! -- a grand slapstick comedian.
Posted Dec 29, 2022
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)
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Harold V. Cohen
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Never has the cinema witnessed anything quite like this unbelievably bewitching fantasy, this captivating, lovely classic touched with agelessness.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
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3/4
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Groundhog Day
(1993)
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Marylynn Uricchio
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Groundhog Day is a Scrooge-like comedy that's surprisingly delightful. It poses a very interesting question: What would happen if every day were the same?
Posted Dec 21, 2022
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Deadly Friend
(1986)
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Marylynn Uricchio
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A deadly bore.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
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Gentleman's Agreement
(1947)
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Harold V. Cohen
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The shoulder Gentleman's Agreement talks directly from has no chip on it, but it wears an epaulet of courage and straightens up in an eloquent plea for the common decency all mankind is heir to.
Posted Nov 16, 2022
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The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
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Harold V. Cohen
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John Huston has not only whipped up a crackling screenplay but he has also turned right around and directed it like an Alfred Hitchcock. You can't just say Mr. Walter Huston's son is going places: he's already there.
Posted Nov 11, 2022
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Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
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Harold V. Cohen
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Meet Me in St. Louis is probably the pleasantest family album Hollywood has ever thumbed through. Its pages are encrusted in charm and old rose leaves.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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King Kong
(1933)
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Harold V. Cohen
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Mr. Cooper and Mr. Schoedsack may take a deserving bow for their latest work. It is a wild-eyed study in delirium tremens and at the same time an expert example of inspired foolishness.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939)
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Harold V. Cohen
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We never knew Mr. Stewart had It in him. His Mr. Smith is by all odds the top performance of the year so far and, once again, the Academy can close its polls right now.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
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The Shop Around the Corner
(1940)
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Harold V. Cohen
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It has nothing except a series of moods, but they're priceless moods, spun into piquant fabrics by Miss Margaret Sullavan and Mr. James Stewart and Mr. Frank Morgan and Mr. Felix Bressart, and embroidered by the unmistakable fancy-work of Mr. Lubitsch.
Posted Nov 08, 2022
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Stalag 17
(1953)
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Harold V. Cohen
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In Stalag 17 a crackling good movie has been fashioned from a crackling good play.
Posted Nov 05, 2022
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B+
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Dances With Wolves
(1990)
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Marylynn Uricchio
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Costner has made an impressive debut as a director. But even better, he has made a serious, intelligent and important movie. He's to be lauded for his integrity and taste.
Posted Nov 02, 2022
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The Thief of Bagdad
(1924)
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PG Staff
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Douglas Fairbanks in this picture is better than ever before... Three others deserve special mention. Anna May Wong, [Julanne Johnston, and C. Comont]. All of the characters, however, are unusually well portrayed.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
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Shanghai Express
(1932)
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Harold V. Cohen
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You can feel the whole thing surging forward like a mighty steam-roller, vivid and exciting, beating headlong into a stirring crescendo that tinkles notes of accented harmony.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
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4/4
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Peter Pan
(1924)
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Barry Paris
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Peter Pan demonstrated once and for all that film was no mere sub-branch of photography or theater -- that its art went above and beyond realism.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
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Martin
(1978)
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Marylynn Uricchio
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Enigmatic and intriguing on many levels... the age-old fascination with vampirism is contrasted with urban angst, and one may be seen directly linked with the other.
Posted Sep 28, 2022
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Sisters
(1973)
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George Anderson
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One of the year's surprises. It is a tense, well-made shocker in the classic Hitchcock tradition.
Posted Sep 27, 2022
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The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
(1970)
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George Anderson
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It's an engrossing whodunit, which may have more than its share of red herrings, but which generates substantial tension along the way.
Posted Sep 26, 2022
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2/4
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Don't Worry Darling
(2022)
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Joshua Axelrod
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It’s a decently atmospheric psychological thriller propped up almost entirely by Pugh’s dynamic central performance, but the rest is a jumbled mess of well-intentioned but poorly executed ideas.
Posted Sep 23, 2022
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2.5/4
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Addams Family Values
(1993)
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Barbara Vancheri
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The mood is still macabre, although, on the whole, not as funny or fresh.
Posted Sep 22, 2022
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Andy Warhol's Trash
(1970)
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George Anderson
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It is loaded with four-letter words and acts, and even this would be tolerable if it all were not so loathsome. Trash is ugly and depressing. But, we've always known that.
Posted Sep 21, 2022
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Cobra Woman
(1944)
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Harold V. Cohen
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Silly, however, isn't quite the word for Cobra Woman, it's downright half-witted. The whole thing has been pasted together with paper and spit.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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3.5/4
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The Woman King
(2022)
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Joshua Axelrod
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It's worth checking out for Davis' performance alone, and the rest will hopefully garner enough attention to ensure it becomes the classic it deserves to be.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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House on Haunted Hill
(1959)
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Win Fanning
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House on Haunted Hill proves that if it is fun to be fooled, it is even more fun to be thoroughly frightened.
Posted Sep 16, 2022
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Grand Slam
(1967)
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Deborah Little
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Grand Slam generally maintains enough suspense to keep the audience with the film. It has a lovely twist at the end, guaranteed to destroy your sense of aplomb at being present at a job well done.
Posted Sep 15, 2022
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Bedazzled
(1967)
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Deborah Little
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Bedazzled is probably the funniest movie of the year. It's a delightful collage of timely farce, irony and satire, framed by the relationship between God and the Devil. That sounds like an unpromising situation for a contemporary comedy, but it works.
Posted Sep 15, 2022
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Zarak
(1956)
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Win Fanning
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There should be some sort of special award for Director Terence Young; he is a man of usual talents and possessed of extraordinary restraint. The proof of this lies in his superb handling of Miss Ekberg's contribution.
Posted Sep 14, 2022
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La Strada
(1954)
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Harold V. Cohen
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La Strada has a throbbing compassion for these oddly assorted folks, and it threads a curious symbolism through their groping for communication with each other.
Posted Sep 14, 2022
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A Man for All Seasons
(1966)
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Win Fanning
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A Man for All Seasons is a thing of beauty to the eye, music to the ear and excitement to the mind. It is also one of the very few transpositions from stage to screen which can honestly be said to improve with the change of medium.
Posted Sep 07, 2022
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The Deer Hunter
(1978)
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George Anderson
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That Cimino succeeded in keeping his vision alive is amazing. The achievement elevates him to the top ranks of American filmmakers.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
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