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3/4
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Patriot Games
(1992)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
Patriot Games crackles with tension.
Posted Jun 06, 2023
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3/4
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The Color Purple
(1985)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
Spielberg turns The Color Purple into a four-hankie tearjerker that reaffirms the importance of love in such a tender, inoffensive way that it could have been directed by the late Walt Disney.
Posted May 31, 2023
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2.5/4
|
An American Tail
(1986)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
For all the care that has been lavished on this production, it remains a rather plodding movie especially when compared with the far more sprightly Walt Disney feature, The Great Mouse Detective.
Posted May 18, 2023
|
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3.5/4
|
Girlfriends
(1978)
|
New York Daily News Staff
|
[An] intelligent and attractive, if occasionally sentimental, film.
Posted May 17, 2023
|
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4/4
|
Fiddler on the Roof
(1971)
|
Wanda Hale
|
Fiddler on the Roof, stunning, joyful, jubilant and emotion stirring, is an artistic triumph for Norman Jewison.
Posted May 17, 2023
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|
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Fiddler on the Roof
(1971)
|
Rex Reed
|
It is a rich and wonderful movie that retains all the nuances of the play while opening up the settings and lives of the people it embraces into a full-blown entertainment that warms the heart and enchants the eye.
Posted May 16, 2023
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4/4
|
Heavenly Creatures
(1994)
|
Jami Bernard
|
A film as fascinating as the obsessive friendship it depicts.
Posted May 16, 2023
|
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3.5/4
|
Crossing Delancey
(1988)
|
Chris Chase
|
An endearing and unpretentious movie, Crossing Delancey is filled with affection and a sweetness that is healing.
Posted May 16, 2023
|
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1/4
|
A Christmas Story
(1983)
|
Ernest Leogrande
|
It's all in A Christmas Story, but it's as real as wax fruit.
Posted May 13, 2023
|
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2.5/4
|
Yentl
(1983)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
Streisand, while she deserves an "A" for effort this time, tends to resort to her standard tricks when it comes to trying to please her loyal fans.
Posted May 12, 2023
|
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3/4
|
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
(1933)
|
Irene Thirer
|
Nils Asther gives a superb performance; one which will put him right back into the rank of front-line actors -- just where he was before talkie time.
Posted Apr 25, 2023
|
|
|
3 Women
(1977)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
It amounts to a dazzling exercise-- a delicate puzzle, in which Altman gleefully supplies the pieces and lets the audience work to put them together.
Posted Apr 05, 2023
|
|
2/4
|
Evil Dead 2
(1987)
|
Chris Chase
|
A movie like this is clearly fun for aficionados; neither the violence nor the people are real, and if you don't care about the victims, slaughter can be a spectator sport.
Posted Mar 28, 2023
|
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1/4
|
The Evil Dead
(1981)
|
Harry Haun
|
This disgusting gush of gore is aggressively sloshed around before the film finally runs out of characters and gurgles to a stop. By then, the action has become numbingly redundant, if not downright anemic.
Posted Mar 24, 2023
|
|
|
The Black Pirate
(1926)
|
Julia Harpman
|
The best picture ever made in technicolor is The Black Pirate... It is a thrilling, exquisitely photographed film with Douglas Fairbanks, in the role of the Black Pirate himself, giving one of the best performances of his long stardom.
Posted Mar 23, 2023
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|
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The Devil Horse
(1926)
|
Roscoe McGowen
|
The performance of the horse, Rex, is remarkable throughout the picture, but a great deal of credit (if horses want credit) must go to the silver mare, Lady, and to the black and white Killer, another stallion.
Posted Mar 21, 2023
|
|
|
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
(1928)
|
Irene Thirer
|
Buster Keaton hits high with his newest comic offering, Steamboat Bill, Jr. There are at least four new gags which make for real laughs, and that's enough for any movie.
Posted Mar 21, 2023
|
|
1.5/4
|
Enter the Dragon
(1973)
|
Jerry Oster
|
Enter the Dragon, the latest kung fu migraine, is slick junk.
Posted Mar 20, 2023
|
|
4/4
|
Boys on the Side
(1995)
|
Jami Bernard
|
Goldberg and Parker are funny and affecting, but the real treat is Barrymore.
Posted Mar 15, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Come and See
(1985)
|
Harry Haun
|
Director Elem Klimov keeps the human drama of the ordeal in sharp, clear focus at all times, while still giving the story the sweep of an epic unfolding -- an impressive balancing act.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
|
|
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The Dark Angel
(1935)
|
Kate Cameron
|
A tenderly sentimental film that has been produced and directed with care.
Posted Mar 10, 2023
|
|
3.5/5
|
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)
|
Kate Cameron
|
Fine midsummer entertainment.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
One Sings, the Other Doesn't
(1977)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
It's light, easy on the eye, and almost guaranteed to leave everyone in an ebullient mood.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
|
|
|
9 to 5
(1980)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
Nine to Five still offers the best laughs of any movie this season.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
|
|
4/4
|
Sayonara
(1957)
|
Kate Cameron
|
A "must" for moviegoers.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
|
|
2.5/5
|
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(1974)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
The rewards for one's patience with this film are very small.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
|
|
3.5/5
|
Flower Drum Song
(1961)
|
Wanda Hale
|
With movie musicals a rarity today, Ross Hunter contributed one of beauty and charm that fulfills the need...
Posted Feb 28, 2023
|
|
|
Safety Last
(1923)
|
P.W. Gallico
|
As photocomic entertainment it is in a class by itself. We have rarely heard people laugh and shriek in a theatre as they did yesterday.
Posted Feb 22, 2023
|
|
2.5/4
|
Godzilla
(1998)
|
Robert Dominguez
|
While the spectacular special effects are the obvious main attraction, Godzilla, at more than two hours long, is bogged down by paper-thin characters and uninteresting subplots.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
|
|
3.5/4
|
Requiem for a Heavyweight
(1962)
|
Kate Cameron
|
[The performers] all lend an emotional quality to the action that quickens the pulse of the audience.
Posted Feb 14, 2023
|
|
2/4
|
Wild Things
(1998)
|
Dave Kehr
|
McNaughton wildly exaggerates the lustfulness and greediness of his characters, and the picture loses that one grain of credibility it needs to function as an involving tale, rather than a camp spectacle.
Posted Feb 02, 2023
|
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3.5/4
|
Back to Bataan
(1945)
|
Kate Cameron
|
The action is filled with suspense and is deeply moving at times, as brave men and women risk their lives over and over again in their efforts to deceive and overcome the enemy.
Posted Feb 01, 2023
|
|
|
Diabolique
(1955)
|
Dorothy Masters
|
The arch fiends of hell couldn't have plotted better than Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac in the devising of Diabolique. The horrors, psychological as well physical, make this a shocker worthy of the devil himself.
Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
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2.5/4
|
Spirit of Youth
(1937)
|
Wanda Hale
|
It is the star who counts. He goes through his paces modestly and in a businesslike way... Among his supporting players are Clarence Muse, Mae Turner and Mantan Moreland, seasoned players who know their way around a movie lot.
Posted Jan 31, 2023
|
|
3.5/4
|
Blazing Saddles
(1974)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
Brooks' western is anything but typical. It is a brazen, punch-drunk, free-swinging spoof of every sagebrush saga that ever came down the Hollywood trail.
Posted Jan 30, 2023
|
|
|
Main Street
(1923)
|
P.W. Gallico
|
... In the days of the Old West, Mr. Lewis, we think, would be justified in shooting it on sight.
Posted Jan 26, 2023
|
|
2/4
|
The Big Lebowski
(1998)
|
Dave Kehr
|
It's a tired idea, and it produces an episodic, unstrung film.
Posted Jan 21, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Frankenstein
(1931)
|
Irene Thirer
|
It's a study of a chemical experiment -- one which clutches at you icily and holds you until the romantic ending guarantees satisfaction after an hour's worth of gripping, intriguing horrors.
Posted Jan 18, 2023
|
|
4/4
|
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
(1948)
|
Kate Cameron
|
In Treasure of the Sierra Madre, John Huston has turned out the best picture that has come from Warner Brothers' studios since the war.
Posted Jan 12, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
(1992)
|
David Hinckley
|
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. isn't just another anything. It's a snapshot of a scene most people think they know, only as the camera gets closer, the picture changes. Even when the viewer laughs, which is often, the ground is subtly shifting.
Posted Jan 11, 2023
|
|
2/4
|
Alma's Rainbow
(1994)
|
Jami Bernard
|
It fails more often than it succeeds, but its heart is in the right place.
Posted Jan 10, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Eve's Bayou
(1997)
|
Jami Bernard
|
Actress Kasi Lemmons makes a self-assured directorial debut that illuminates the joys, hurts and mysteries of a girlhood set under the moss canopy of the Louisiana bayou. Newcomer Jurnee Smollett as Eve is the prize of the movie.
Posted Jan 10, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Down in the Delta
(1998)
|
Jami Bernard
|
The movie's rhythm is a little off, particularly during transitional scenes. But Angelou has coaxed beautifully natural, unselfconscious performances from her actors.
Posted Jan 04, 2023
|
|
3.5/4
|
A Dry White Season
(1989)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
Although A Dry White Season is somewhat mechanical in the early scenes, Palcy's personal sense of outrage is so strong it ultimately transforms the movie into a stinging indictment of apartheid rule.
Posted Jan 04, 2023
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Lady Eve
(1941)
|
Kate Cameron
|
A psychologist might deduce that the author-director of The Lady Eve had taken a fiendish delight in upsetting the Fonda dignity. Be that as it may, the latter goes through his assignment valiantly.
Posted Dec 29, 2022
|
|
|
The Lady Eve
(1941)
|
Frank Mittauer
|
The Lady Eve is a strange film, long on production value; short on story and ideas. Sturges previous efforts have been long on the latter items; short on the former.
Posted Dec 29, 2022
|
|
|
Deadly Friend
(1986)
|
Alan Mirabella
|
It's boring, unsuspenseful and predictable.
Posted Dec 09, 2022
|
|
|
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
(1975)
|
Kathleen Carroll
|
There is something curiously compelling about Ackerman's chillingly documented portrait of an obsessively neat woman who slowly but inevitably cracks under the strain of maintaining her image as a perfect mother and housekeeper.
Posted Dec 07, 2022
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
|
Kate Cameron
|
Humphrey Bogart's Sam is all that the most rabid Hammett fan could wish him to be, while Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor are just about perfect in their roles.
Posted Nov 11, 2022
|
|
4/4
|
Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
|
Kate Cameron
|
Minnelli had a Grade, A cast to work with and he and its separate parts have accomplished a miracle of delightful entertainment that is a sure cure for the blues.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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