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The Evil Dead
(1981)
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Bruce Bailey
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We need a movie like this about as much as the Creature from the Black Lagoon needed swimming lessons.
Posted Mar 24, 2023
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The Black Pirate
(1926)
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Gazette Staff
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[The Black Pirate is] deliciously fantastical and utterly convincing, which will strike a responsive chord in everyone who has ever been young. And it is Douglas Fairbanks at his best.
Posted Mar 22, 2023
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The Dark Angel
(1935)
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Gazette Staff
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The film is all the stronger and all the more affecting for being on the reserved side.
Posted Mar 09, 2023
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953)
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Harold Whitehead
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The one or two memorable tunes from the stage score get a good play, with Miss Monroe coming through as a fine vocalist.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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Grand Theft Auto
(1977)
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Bill Brownstein
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The resulting 90-minute demolition derby is one of the most tedious ever assembled on screen.
Posted Mar 07, 2023
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Tentacles
(1977)
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Bill Brownstein
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More lamentable than this snacking squid is watching Shelley Winters, John Huston and Henry Fonda earn a living by going through the motions in their respective roles.
Posted Mar 07, 2023
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One Sings, the Other Doesn't
(1977)
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Bill Brownstein
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What is regrettable is that Varda obviously knows how to make films. [One Sings, the Other Doesn't] is well constructed and beautifully photographed, however, all this is lost in the one dimensional characterization.
Posted Mar 07, 2023
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9 to 5
(1980)
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Bruce Bailey
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A highly unusual case of a Hollywood comedy that's fun -- and yet still makes some intelligent points.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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Sayonara
(1957)
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Harold Whitehead
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The performances turned in by the high-priced cast are on a generally high level.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
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4.5/5
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Thelma & Louise
(1991)
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John Griffin
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Thelma & Louise is about more than fine acting, great scenery, juicy script and ride-all night music. It's about an America of endless frontiers and limitless possibilities.
Posted Mar 01, 2023
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Flower Drum Song
(1961)
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Harold Whitehead
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A weak story that has its faults underlined by a substandard score.
Posted Feb 27, 2023
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3/5
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Godzilla
(1998)
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Matt Radz
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The new Godzilla's trouble is that so much technological wizardry and glossy craft add up to so little movie. In this case, too much is not nearly enough.
Posted Feb 15, 2023
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Requiem for a Heavyweight
(1962)
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Harold Whitehead
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The screen-play has been very well written and the acting is so far above average as to be memorable.
Posted Feb 07, 2023
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Back to Bataan
(1945)
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Herbert Whittaker
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Here's another strong action film, with imaginary events cleverly blended with modern historic ones to provide first-rate entertainment.
Posted Feb 01, 2023
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The Big Lebowski
(1998)
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Bill Brownstein
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The Big Lebowski is, simply put, the sort of stylized lark that would land most other filmmakers in the gutter (or the asylum) for good. But on the Coen brothers, it looks good.
Posted Jan 21, 2023
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Frankenstein
(1931)
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Gazette Staff
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Unfortunately, once they have brought the monster to life, James Whale and Universal do not seem to have the slightest idea of how to make him function dramatically.
Posted Jan 13, 2023
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3/5
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Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
(1992)
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John Griffin
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The great strength of "Just Another Girl" is that Chantel's adolescent problems are so painfully true.
Posted Jan 10, 2023
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3.5/5
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Eve's Bayou
(1997)
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John Griffin
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Though the film is dripping in ravishing visual atmospherics and most often reads like the fin old art of storytelling, it is in her treatment of actors that Lemmons really makes her mark.
Posted Jan 09, 2023
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3/5
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A Dry White Season
(1989)
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John Griffin
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A Dry White Season is often heavy-handed and as shrill as a bird in a cage. But it will never be shown in South Africa. It deserves attention for that reason alone.
Posted Jan 04, 2023
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The Lady Eve
(1941)
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Thomas Archer
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With The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges sets a new standard for ingenious screen comedy. He has said himself that he writes and directs for sheer entertainment and this picture is a case in point to prove him true.
Posted Dec 29, 2022
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3.5/5
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Groundhog Day
(1993)
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Bill Brownstein
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It's unlikely anyone but the maniacal Murray could have pulled this film off. He is one of the few actors around who can crack up an audience just lying alone in bed -- asleep.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)
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Herbert Whittaker
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Its outstanding features are the typical Disney animals, the additions to the Disney picture gallery of characters in Grumpy, Sleepy, Bashful, Happy, Doc and Dopey, and the expert "dubbing in" of the music and voices.
Posted Dec 20, 2022
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3/5
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Braveheart
(1995)
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John Griffin
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Make no mistake about this. For its many virtues -- its epic ambition, fine sentiment, virile execution and visual grandeur -- Braveheart is ultimately a wallow in the basic violence that civilization was supposed to erase and all too obviously has not.
Posted Nov 18, 2022
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The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
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Herbert Whittaker
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A remake of a ten-year-old detective story, it might very easily be overlooked as routine filmmaking. But make no such mistake, The Maltese Falcon is lively, original, intelligent and provocative entertainment and is not to be missed.
Posted Nov 16, 2022
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Gentleman's Agreement
(1947)
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Herbert Whittaker
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This is the strength of the picture, that it does not allow you to sit back and say "How can any civilized person behave like that?" but rather makes you ask yourself "Is that what I do?"
Posted Nov 16, 2022
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Meet Me in St. Louis
(1944)
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Herbert Whittaker
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I have never been in St. Louis... I have never attended a World's Fair. I wasn't alive in 1903. But by the time Meet Me In St Louis was over, there was I, feeling quite homesick for that Missouri city... and full of nostalgia for those Good Old Days.
Posted Nov 10, 2022
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939)
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Herbert Whittaker
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Perhaps the greatest effectiveness of the picture is its utilization of the democratic -- no, the universal impulse to "tell 'em." Senator Smith is given the opportunity in his film life to do what most of in achieve only in our fondest day-dreams.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
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King Kong
(1933)
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Gazette Staff
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However far-fetched this story of a prehistoric ape dealing death and destruction on Broadway may be, there is no denying that it offers a new thrill in the way of horror and adventure.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
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The Shop Around the Corner
(1940)
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Herbert Whittaker
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The small cast is well chosen, with Frank Morgan, Felix Bressart, William Tracy and Joseph Schildkraut supplying interesting and amusing studies as background to the romance of the characters played by Miss Sullavan and James Stewart.
Posted Nov 07, 2022
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Stalag 17
(1953)
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Harold Whitehead
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What happened here between the stage and the screen we wouldn't venture to say but what was hailed as a hit play on Broadway has been turned into something leas than that as a picture.
Posted Nov 05, 2022
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Dances With Wolves
(1990)
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John Griffin
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Make no mistake about it: Dances With Wolves is a great movie. It doesn't matter whether you wear your bleeding sentiments on your sleeve, or tucked deep in some heart of darkness -- this is one film to send you back into the theatre.
Posted Nov 02, 2022
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3.5/5
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Gladiator
(2000)
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John Griffin
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Gladiator is the kind of cinema we don't see any more... It's like opening a picture book and going back to our Technicolor childhood.
Posted Nov 01, 2022
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The Thief of Bagdad
(1924)
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Gazette Staff
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Julanne Johnston makes a sweet picture as a princess... while Miss Anna May Wong enacts [her role] with distinctive ability and realistic effect.
Posted Oct 21, 2022
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Shanghai Express
(1932)
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Gazette Staff
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The picture is tense with excitement where the story is underway. At other moments the director has substituted clever camera effects and a convincing atmosphere.
Posted Oct 20, 2022
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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1919)
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Gazette Staff
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Of the actors, it may be said that they most faithfully portray the undiluted horrors set to their tasks. From that point of view they are excellent, indeed, the characterizations are amazing.
Posted Oct 03, 2022
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3/5
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Addams Family Values
(1993)
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John Griffin
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By the time the cast, crew and creators of this film have had their way, there are few icons left un-smashed. To subvert another American verité, theirs is a job well done.
Posted Sep 22, 2022
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Andy Warhol's Trash
(1970)
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Dane Lanken
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You get the impression that the characters' screen roles account for only part of their weirdness. In that, Trash offers a look at a way of life, the junk, welfare, and garbage-picking included, that's as disappointing and as rewarding as any.
Posted Sep 21, 2022
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Cobra Woman
(1944)
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Herbert Whittaker
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The popular features of Flash Gordon, Robinson Crusoe and Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs are dished out in Technicolor, and served with a generous gollop of sex appeal, in this latest of the Universal film fantasties.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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Curtain Up
(1952)
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Harold Whitehead
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There is enough slapstick comedy during the run of the production to keep everyone amused.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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High Noon
(1952)
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Harold Whitehead
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Across the arid entertainment desert of the Hollywood horse opera we come across a production that provides an oasis that makes the long trip seem worthwhile. Stagecoach was one, The Gunfighter another and now we have High Noon.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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Bedazzled
(1967)
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Jan Wright
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The result is a clever text, hilarious scenes and impeccable performances.
Posted Sep 15, 2022
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1.5/5
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Fright Night
(1985)
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Bruce Bailey
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Fright Night is a vampire movie out to put the bite on the unsuspecting public.
Posted Sep 14, 2022
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La Strada
(1954)
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Harold Whitehead
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It has simplicity of story, theme and production and it has a feeling for humanity that at times brings sharp tears to the eyes.
Posted Sep 14, 2022
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A Man for All Seasons
(1966)
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Jacob Siskind
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The play has been brought to the screen with understanding and warmth, not to say artistry, and it can be recommended unreservedly as first class adult entertainment.
Posted Sep 02, 2022
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The Deer Hunter
(1978)
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Dave Chenoweth
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If I challenge the underlying hollowness of the film -- which may only be challenging the underlying hollowness of American life -- there can be no denying that its execution is dazzling in its power, almost to extremes.
Posted Aug 30, 2022
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The Eagle Has Landed
(1976)
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Dane Lanken
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The sort of movie that's ideal if you've got a couple of hours to kill.
Posted Aug 25, 2022
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Annie Hall
(1977)
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Dane Lanken
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Allen has produced a movie that is at once his most self-indulgent and, in its evaluation of the mid-20th century North American Zeitgeist, his most interesting.
Posted Aug 25, 2022
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A Raisin in the Sun
(1961)
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Wendy Cahill
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Aside from the moral values, the play, and now film, is in itself outstanding.
Posted Aug 23, 2022
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The Land Before Time
(1988)
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Bill Brownstein
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Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have joined forces to produce an animated treat for younger audiences, usually left out in the cold by filmmakers this time of the year.
Posted Aug 23, 2022
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5/5
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Platoon
(1986)
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Bill Brownstein
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Stone makes no bones. He sets out to jar and disturb -- and he succeeds. He conveys the horror and insanity in no uncertain terms.
Posted Aug 22, 2022
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