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Philadelphia Daily News

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
My Bloody Valentine (1981) Joe Baltake The 10,674th "Halloween" rip-off.
Posted Jan 28, 2026  Edit critic review
2/4
North (1994) Gary Thompson The movie sometimes gets airborne, but with an obvious strain that hurts an airy fantasy like "North."
Posted Jan 23, 2026  Edit critic review
3/4
The American President (1995) Gary Thompson Every actor is armed with glib dialogue and sharply drawn character. The top-to-bottom professionalism of the cast and high-gloss visuals combine to create a movie as slick as Douglas' hair in "Wall Street."
Posted Jan 22, 2026  Edit critic review
Bite the Bullet (1975) Joe Baltake If "Bite the Bullet" says anything, it says that the real heroes among us are the doers. Pure entertainment coupled with a positive message. Ecstasy!
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
The Magnificent Seven (1960) Sandra Saunders "The Magnificent Seven"...is a rip snortin' western, alive with lusty action and pounding excitement.
Posted Jan 15, 2026  Edit critic review
B+
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Gary Thompson The genius of filming all three parts of this massive narrative at once is now beyond dispute -- The Two Towers joins seamlessly with the first adventure. Could it stand by itself? Of course not, and who would want it to?
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
Stand by Me (1986) Joe Baltake The gifted Rob Reiner managed to convince someone to give him enough money to make an intimate little movie about friendship.
Posted Jan 12, 2026  Edit critic review
The Sure Thing (1985) Joe Baltake The Sure Thing suffers from a niceness that gets to be mundane.
Posted Jan 08, 2026  Edit critic review
Death Race 2000 (1975) Joe Baltake A rain-bath of sickie violence, physical brutality, sadism and cornball humor runs rampant throughout "Death Race 2000."
Posted Dec 22, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Hook (1991) Gary Thompson Steven Spielberg's Hook, as flights of fancy go, is a big, lumbering job that shudders and strains to get off the ground. Though made on a dazzling scale, the movie simply fails to find an elegant way to continue the story of Peter Pan.
Posted Dec 19, 2025  Edit critic review
Christine (1983) Joe Baltake Watching this movie is like being trapped in a stalled car or, worse yet, in a car at a drive-in theater.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
Big Top Pee-wee (1988) Kathleen Shea I was charmed.
Posted Dec 13, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
True Lies (1994) Gary Thompson Not even the final-act special effects bonanza can invigorate this listless picture.
Posted Dec 10, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
The Abyss (1989) Gary Thompson Director Cameron keeps the fresh, original action sequences moving at a rapid clip.
Posted Dec 09, 2025  Edit critic review
The Terminator (1984) Joe Baltake It is difficult to say whether Cameron's forte is his penchant for tidy storytelling or his knack for staging action sequences. His film is original, fluent and preposterous yet believable.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
A Christmas Carol (1984) Judy Flander I think we now have a definitive rendition of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
Posted Dec 04, 2025  Edit critic review
Peeper (1975) Joe Baltake It's the jolliest show about deadly detective doings to come our way in a long, long time.
Posted Nov 21, 2025  Edit critic review
The Wiz (1978) Joe Baltake "The Wiz" is a dud.
Posted Nov 17, 2025  Edit critic review
The Running Man (1987) Dan Geringer "The Running Man" is a first-class Arnold movie, which means it has non-stop comic-book action, the Arnold Glare, the Arnold deadpan one-liners, some wonderfully bizarre secondary characters and a bad guy you love to hate.
Posted Nov 06, 2025  Edit critic review
2/3
The Running Man (1987) Ben Yagoda The Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie at its best.
Posted Nov 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Dracula (1979) Joe Baltake Badham has conjured up a handsome traditional version of the story, replete with the kind of straightforward storytelling, ambience and look that has made the Hammer horror films so durable and satisfying over the years.
Posted Oct 22, 2025  Edit critic review
Re-Animator (1985) Joe Baltake Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator" is your basic predictable, use-every-trick-in-the-book contemporary horror movie.
Posted Oct 16, 2025  Edit critic review
Stephen King's It (1990) Francesca Chapman "It" has several good, creepy moments, and a few decent performances among the big cast.
Posted Oct 14, 2025  Edit critic review
Desert Hearts (1985) Joe Baltake Deitch's intentions don't coincide with her script or casting.
Posted Oct 13, 2025  Edit critic review
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) Joe Baltake The situations in My Beautiful Laundrette may not sound like much, but Frears' camera eye brings them to pulsating life, using atmosphere to get at some unforgettable truths as it chronicles a young man's not so sentimental education.
Posted Oct 10, 2025  Edit critic review
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) Joe Baltake "Farewell, My Lovely" is an expert reconstruction of the gritty crime movies of the '40s, and yet, there's something individualistic and unique about it.
Posted Oct 08, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
The Celluloid Closet (1995) Gary Thompson [Some] have criticized The Celluloid Closet as being soft -- unwilling to indict, and condemn the industry the way Russo did... undeniably true. So is this: that humor, disarming and powerful, can reach audiences in a way that stern lectures cannot.
Posted Oct 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Tron (1982) Joe Baltake [TRON] looks like a bad imitation of Roy Lichtenstein pop-art paintings crossed with Ralph Bakshi's hideous rotoscope process.
Posted Oct 06, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Casper (1995) Bill Wedo To its credit, "Casper" manages to take a rather mundane character...and spin it into a pleasant diversion for adults and a lot of fun for kids.
Posted Sep 30, 2025  Edit critic review
Hard Times (1975) Joe Baltake Overcoming the film's innate pessimism and fleshing out its story line are a colorful boxing background and the overall visual beauty of the film itself.
Posted Sep 26, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
To Sleep With Anger (1990) Gary Thompson Contrary to its somewhat misleading title, "To Sleep with Anger" is a charming, funny movie.
Posted Sep 25, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Boogie Nights (1997) Gary Thompson Anderson is refreshing, even for a flavor-of-the-month. Unlike other filmmakers his age, he's not hiding behind genres, narrative gimmicks or slacker postures. He has epic ambitions, he wants to work on a large canvas, and he's apparently fearless.
Posted Sep 24, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
Hard Eight (1996) Gary Thompson There is little to recommend Hard Eight other than the fine lead performance of Hall, who plays his role with all of the smooth conviction of a bit player who's been rewarded, finally, with a career role.
Posted Sep 22, 2025  Edit critic review
Toy Story (1995) Gary Thompson It's a spectacular technique married to a good story.
Posted Sep 10, 2025  Edit critic review
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) Joe Baltake Reiner doesn't miss a trick as he sends up the rockumentary form.
Posted Sep 09, 2025  Edit critic review
4/4
Darkman (1990) Gary Thompson "Darkman" is an unabashed "B" -- full of droll, disposable jokes and enjoyably transparent special effects.
Posted Aug 26, 2025  Edit critic review
Cooley High (1975) Joe Baltake Mediocrity pervades Michael Schultz's "Cooley High" and, as a result, it undermines everything that the film's makers are attempting.
Posted Aug 15, 2025  Edit critic review
Pumpkinhead (1988) Ben Yagoda I hate to say it, but I've seen jack-o'-lanterns that are scarier than Pumpkinhead.
Posted Aug 14, 2025  Edit critic review
High and Low (1963) Joe Baltake The witty Kurosawa manipulates us, telling when to be tense, confused, surprised and pleased.
Posted Aug 13, 2025  Edit critic review
The Return of the Living Dead (1985) Joe Baltake "The Return of the Living Dead" is uncommonly witty. It is hardly a parasite living off George Romero's undead menaces; it comes with its own brand of unwholesomeness and nastiness.
Posted Aug 13, 2025  Edit critic review
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Joe Baltake This is a wonderful comedy, a flat-out gem.
Posted Jul 30, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Waterworld (1995) Gary Thompson The movie has a fluid quality...
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/4
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) Gary Thompson It's all fairly ridiculous, and fairly entertaining. There's no getting around the fact, however, that Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker have lost a bit of their collective touch.
Posted Jul 23, 2025  Edit critic review
2/4
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) Gary Thompson That the satire is no longer as funny as its subject is a bad sign for "The Naked Gun" series, which at this point bears no likeness to the original "Police Squad," a deadpan parody of strait-laced cop shows.
Posted Jul 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/4
Red Rock West (1993) Gary Thompson The spare, lean "Red Rock West" is obviously a low-budget affair, but it's helped a great deal by its accomplished cast.
Posted Jul 15, 2025  Edit critic review
Explorers (1985) Joe Baltake "Explorers" has a brazen, intimidating wildness that never becomes truly exhilarating and that just peters out.
Posted Jul 10, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman III (1983) Joe Baltake It shouldn't work. But it manages to get by because of a couple of guys named Richard and the pure pleasure syndrome that each one brings to the production.
Posted Jul 08, 2025  Edit critic review
B+
Superman Returns (2006) Gary Thompson ...on the whole Singer has done a great job taking our cast-in-stone ideas about Superman and reshaping them into something new, fresh and even relevant.
Posted Jul 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman: The Movie (1978) Joe Baltake It's a sumptuous entertainment -- a joy to look at, a pleasure to listen to, a feast for all the senses. Sumptuous. There's no better word to describe it.
Posted Jul 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman II (1980) Joe Baltake This movie may look like an expensive comic strip, but Lester's very personal (and peculiar) vision of it is rooted not in the usual "Crash! Bang! Slam!" acrobatics, but in human emotions.
Posted Jun 28, 2025  Edit critic review
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