Howard the Duck
August 1, 1986 | Howard the Duck isn’t kid stuff. It's a wack!-wack!-wacky comedy-adventure, but much of its humor has a sarcastic, satirical edge best appreciated by teen-agers and adults.…
Lone Star
June 27, 1996 | Early in John Sayles’ Lone Star, there is a heated discussion about textbooks that, quite obviously, is really about something else. The scene is a parent-teacher meeting…
El Mariachi
March 12, 1993 | With El Mariachi, his already near-legendary debut feature, Robert Rodriguez establishes himself as a filmmaker of impressive self-assurance and — considering his puny budget of $7,000 and…
Stormy Monday
May 20, 1988 | Stormy Monday is a sleek, smoky romantic thriller, the sort of atmospheric neo-film noir that even very experienced directors seldom manage to pull off. Surprisingly enough,…
The Fast and the Furious
June 22, 2001 | When the graybeards among us bitterly grouse about Hollywood's inability to “make them like they used to,” chances are good that the complainers aren’t pining for the…
To Sleep With Anger
November 16, 1990 | During the opening seconds of To Sleep With Anger, a middle-aged, sturdily-built black man, all decked out in his Sunday best, sits on a cane chair near…
Fresh
August 31, 1994 | At the start of Fresh, the drop-dead brilliant film by first-time writer-director Boaz Yakin, the title character is introduced as he makes the early-morning rounds of…
Feed
June 25, 1993 | Comedy, Steve Martin once noted, is not pretty. The makers of Feed, the savagely clever documentary premiering this weekend at the Rice University Media Center, would likely…
Groundhog Day
February 12, 1993 | In synopsis, Groundhog Day sounds like some lesser episode of The Twilight Zone. In coming attractions trailers, it looks even less promising — more like Caddyshack 3.…
Echo Park
January 17, 1987| Right off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything very harsh to say about Echo Park, an innocuous comedy-drama about ambitious eccentrics in a…