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Video Review

Video Review is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Andrew Sarris, Glenn Kenny, Janet Maslin, Jeffrey Lyons, Leonard Maltin, Molly Haskell, Richard Schickel, Steve Schneider, Steve Simels.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
The Sure Thing (1985) Steve Simels Because director Reiner coaxes believable and accomplished performances out of his costars, The Sure Thing registers as one of the funniest and best observed coming-of-age movies in memory.
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
4/4
Blue Velvet (1986) Richard Schickel A biliously ironic assault on the goopy fantasies with which movies have traditionally solaced those hard-pressed souls enduring either provincialism or adolescence or (worst-case scenario) both at the same time.
Posted Jan 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
To Sleep With Anger (1990) Molly Haskell An unusual and richly rewarding viewing experience.
Posted Nov 29, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Bringing Up Baby (1938) Richard Schickel The dialogue sparkles and the acting shines as the big cat escapes and mishap follows mishap in swift succession.
Posted Jul 25, 2023  Edit critic review
3/4
The Color Purple (1985) Andrew Sarris The Color Purple is the most lavishly produced and lovingly lyrical, virtually all-black entertainment ever produced by an American moviemaker.
Posted May 31, 2023  Edit critic review
3/4
An American Tail (1986) Leonard Maltin It has the most important ingredient for a good cartoon feature: an appealing main character.
Posted May 19, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Richard Schickel I think this last installment in the popular series, made with the same care, conviction and energy as the first, but orchestrating the elements of a delicious formula at a still higher level of sophistication, may well be the best of his best.
Posted May 01, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Jeffrey Lyons Indiana Jones has something important going for it that Raiders -- admittedly a better movie -- didn’t have: Kate Capshaw. As Willie, this fiery Missouri actress adds spark, irreverence and drive to her character.
Posted Apr 18, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Radio Days (1987) Glenn Kenny It is wildly imaginative, playful, slightly unsettling and very funny. Not funny in a nice way, however.
Posted Mar 29, 2023  Edit critic review
3/4
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) Andrew Sarris This very frothy farce is more pointedly political -- refreshingly so -- than almost any "serious" movie in recent memory.
Posted Mar 02, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Thelma & Louise (1991) Jami Bernard Thelma & Louise is funny and sexy. It's funny thanks to Davis and Sarandon, who mesh perfectly and get as wild as some of the Monument Valley scenery. It's sexy thanks to director Scott.
Posted Mar 02, 2023  Edit critic review
3/4
A Passage to India (1984) Molly Haskell David Lean's adaptation of E.M. For- ster's great Anglo-Indian novel is, for a great deal of its 2 1/2-hours running time, an exceptionally fine and civilized movie, almost a great one.
Posted Jan 19, 2023  Edit critic review
4/4
Dances With Wolves (1990) Jeffrey Lyons Dances with Wolves is, above all, that very special experience, a movie that will stay in your memory forever.
Posted Nov 02, 2022  Edit critic review
4/5
Carnival of Souls (1962) Glenn Kenny Its imagery evokes not a horror of blood, but a horror of loneliness.
Posted Sep 26, 2022  Edit critic review
The Godfather, Part III (1990) Andrew Sarris I consider this third part of the Godfather trilogy a worthy conclusion to the greatest American movie epic of the past two decades -- and an underrated masterpiece in its own right.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
The Hard Way (1991) Joanna Langfield I always enjoy watching Fox and Woods, who can be counted upon for at least a few entertainingly quirky moments. Pairing them makes for a scrappy match. Too bad the vehicle isn't quite as intriguing as the casting.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Andrew Sarris Most viewers will be rooting for Foster's Starling all the way up to the expertly directed denouement -- a darkly whimsical ending that would have been utterly unacceptable in the old days of the Production Code.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Beaches (1988) Jeffrey Lyons Once in a while it's okay to enjoy a movie for its own sake -- to let it work you over emotionally, to make you cry when you know you're supposed to cry and laugh when you know a laugh is coming. Beaches is such a movie.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Rain Man (1988) Andrew Sarris My own comparatively mixed reaction is conditioned by a reflex resistance to any movie that seems to exploit a mental or physical handicap for easy pathos... Having stated this reservation, I must confess that Rain Man had me close to tears.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
4/4
Moonstruck (1987) Leonard Maltin Moonstruck made me laugh, as any good comedy should. But this rare and wonderful movie did something more: It also made me smile. That's because, unlike most contemporary comedies, Moonstruck isn't a collection of gags. It's a picture of genuine humor.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Last Emperor (1987) Andrew Sarris A spectacle that evokes respect and even admiration rather than genuine movie-movie affection.
Posted Aug 08, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990) Jeffrey Lyons Jason, who looks nothing like his father, acquits himself well in this sleek- looking TV movie.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Age-Old Friends (1989) Joanna Langfield Sympathetic, for sure, but not exactly fun stuff.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Hard to Kill (1990) Andrew Sarris The choreography of violence is competent enough to satisfy the more violence-addicted sector of the video public. For even a modicum of redeeming charm, wit or humor, however, Seagal is clearly no Schwarzenegger.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Strike It Rich (1990) Joanna Langfield Slick, stylish and wonderfully cast.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
A Summer Story (1988) Molly Haskell This story of a tragic betrayal of a loving heart rolls with the inexorable force of a runaway railway train as it unfurls one unforgettable image after another of unrequited commitment.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Family Business (1989) Leonard Maltin The opportunity to watch [Dustin Hoffman and Sean Connery] together automatically constitutes An Event. Adding Matthew Broderick to the mix is icing on the cake. Unfortunately, Family Business lets them down.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Internal Affairs (1990) Jeffrey Lyons The movie belongs to Garcia, who, with his intense delivery and glare, seems like a man possessed. It’s too bad that the movie has too many distracting visual hi-jinks and too many violent scenes performed at fever pitch.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
1/4
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) Jeffrey Lyons Simultaneously obvious and obtuse.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Licence to Kill (1989) Leonard Maltin Licence to Kill is just the shot in the arm the James Bond series has been needing.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Between Two Women (1986) Joanna Langfield There may not be any real surprises in the plot -- the rewards of the piece come from the two starring performances.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
A Good Marriage (1982) Glenn Kenny Rohmer, like Jean Renoir, doesn’t see things in purely black-and-white terms, and the fun of his movies is in how he shows each of his characters from a number of different angles, shifting our sympathies subtly with nearly every shot.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
The Believers (1987) Andrew Sarris There is a depressingly surprising ending in tune with the current tendency to let the forces of darkness prevail for the sake of profitable sequels. Invincible evil seems to sell like hotcakes in today’s marketplace.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
1/4
Heaven (1987) Andrew Sarris Heaven is a chaotically incoherent viewing experience.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Nadine (1987) Molly Haskell Writer-director Benton’s feeling for the endless surprises of domestic intimacy (Kramer vs. Kramer) and the built-in resilience of Southern communal life (Places in the Heart) come together in this lighthearted mock-thriller.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
1/4
Jaws the Revenge (1987) Jeffrey Lyons In the considerable wake of the superb original Jaws adventure, one dreadful concoction after another has come our way. Jaws The Revenge (actually Jaws IV) is about as inane as they get.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
1/4
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) Leonard Maltin Any comedy [as] good [as Beverly Hills Cop] warrants a better follow-up than this, and I can’t understand why audiences didn’t feel cheated by this second-rate retread.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
4/4
No Way Out (1987) Molly Haskell This stunning thriller about a murder and an elaborate cover-up in present-day Washington power circles was one of the best movies of 1987 and, to my mind, an all-time classic.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Bostonians (1984) Molly Haskell Ivory, working in concert with his longtime producer-partner Ismael Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, possesses an abundance of those civilized virtues we could use more of in everyday life but that are often a handicap in making movies.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Terminator (1984) Andrew Sarris This action flick has more than a few moments of intimacy, lyricism and tenderness as it confronts the bleak prospects for mankind from a matriarchal point of view.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Mean Season (1985) Jeffrey Lyons Leon Piedmont’s screenplay... effectively conveys the sense of a real newspaper and a real newspaper reporter, aware of his obligation to report the news, while trying never to be the one who’s involved in making events unfold.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) Janet Maslin Unmistakably tongue-in-cheek, the movie follows Buckaroo (Peter Weller) to the frontier of ultra-hip sci-fi parody. John Lithgow gets a chance to pull out all the stops as a mad scientist, and when things are funny they’re very much so.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
1984 (1984) Jeffrey Lyons Orwell dealt in ironies, in frightening possibilities which have turned out to be not so far-fetched. But not much of that is conveyed in 1984. Just atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
2/4
Birdy (1984) Leonard Maltin To me, there are parts of Birdy that definitely outshine the whole.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Look Who's Talking (1989) Andrew Sarris Look Who’s Talking would be complete goulash if it were not for Alley’s charm and comic timing.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
1/4
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) Janet Maslin This stiff and misguided effort to outline the events leading up to the development of the atom bomb manages to be both full of surprises yet thoroughly familiar.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
3/4
Triumph of the Spirit (1989) Jeffrey Lyons If this sounds depressing and difficult to endure, well, it is. But it is also a gripping, powerful movie, with performances as forceful as the screenplay.
Posted Aug 05, 2022  Edit critic review
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