washington post metacritic
[27 July 1979, p.B1], Moonraker, the newest James Bond spectacle, is a cheerful, splashy entertainment. Denying people the forms of amusement, notably erotic amusement, that the publicity suggests, Derek exposes a truly dangerous ineptitude. Edwards and his collaborators have wisely chosen to give an audience just what it wants and expects from a Pink Panther film - riotous slapstick, spectacular stunts and Sellers in a variety of accents and disguises that give him free reign and lead to inevitable uproariousness. It is a gross, hollow and hokey joke in which even the red herrings prove anemic. And what's more, the Allied team gets so excited that they would rather win the game than escape from their captors. One of the big things in the gaming world this week is the release of Uncharted 4. The director of "Lolita," "Dr. Strangelove" and "Clockwork Orange" is simply working with less interesting material: The Shining is a slender, barely believable tale being asked to carry a lot of style and weight. It’s a fascinating story and well worth revisiting. In fact, he's taken considerable care to compensate with virtuoso displays of scenic and atmospheric suggestiveness. A stunning successor, a tense and pictorially dazzling science-fiction chase melodrama that sustains two hours of elaborate adventure while sneaking up on you emotionally. [16 Oct 1981, p.B1], Whatever is wrong with the plot, there's nothing wrong with the dialogue. At the same time, it's remarkably evenhanded, making no judgment on the musical or social standards of the movement. [18 Sep 1981, p.19], Raggedy Man is starved for scenes that might fill out our scanty store of information--for example, a little more about the marriage, the love affair, her identity as a mother. [06 Mar 1981, p.15], The shocks are strictly mechanical and redundant, the script uncomplicated by incidental humor or character byplay. The Tin Drum is likely to be remembered as another conspicuous example of why the urge to film certain books ought to be resisted. [24 Oct 1980, p.B1], In one scene -- a costume ball on his ship -- Korman wears an archaic naval uniform and explains that is is an exact copy of "the uniform worn by Lord Nelson when he defeated the Spanish Armada." . © 2021 METACRITIC, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. “You should remove this review fro[sic] the metacritic , and post a new , sensible one that can justify its existence. By turns, Peter Medak's direction seems stuffy and scattered and Hamilton's Spanish and English accents keep getting lost on the soundtrack. Death on the Nile compounds this vulgarity by visualizing almost every speculation Poirot entertains about his fellow passengers. [19 Oct 1979, p.B1], Unfortunately, even for devotees of the derivative, Legacy has all the scarifyin' power of National Geographic. [12 Nov 1981, p.C17]. It's apparent where Carpenter got his horror devices - and a minor misfortune that he hasn't been able to synthesize them in a fresh or exciting way. [9 Dec 1979, p.G1]. An entertaining mishmash of skits which finds Mel Brooks back in lively form, both for better and for worse. Each new attempt to revive the Western seems to plunge the patient into a deeper coma. . Moonraker is a satisfying blend of familiar ingredients, from the highly polished to the barely adequate. There are times when French Exit beggars belief and tries the viewer’s patience. Director Robert Zemeckis has created a hodgepodge of amateurish, pie-in-the-face humor. [09 Jun 1980, p.B1], When the names of the players flash on the screen in Friday the 13th, it is not so much a list of the cast as a body count. It’s also a return to a brand of muscular, serious-minded filmmaking that has been virtually forgotten in recent years. But even the attempt is marred: Looking for game clues would spoil any painting, but having to look and not being able to find them is worse. [8 Aug 1981, p.C10], Although it frequently misfires and occasionally keeps firing away on empty satiric chambers, Student Bodies is a likably sarcastic and knowing assault on the cliche's of horror movies. [28 June 1978, p.E4], One wonders if such a story is worth recycling. When she ambushes a victim in the woods, they change forms in the course of coupling strategically obscured by a blazing campfire in the foreground -- a deliberate howl of a sex scene. The film's only conceivable distinction is that it could be the worst that Ryan O'Neal has ever made, and that's saying something. [05 Dec 1980, p.F1], Possibly . The only consistent thing about this burlesque miscellany, which incorporates skits about the Dawn of Man, Moses, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition and the French Revolution, is its inconsistency. These films don't really work, but they're the sort of films that don't work in interesting ways. This includes more than 0,000,000 people who have been fully … The new Xbox 360 title BioShock looks to have grabbed the new high review score record over at aggregate site Metacritic.com, where the game is scoring a 97 out of 100 among critics. [20 March 1981, p.17], There's sure nothing purgative about the kind of anxiety the filmmakers are exploiting. One can only conclude that the filmmakers know as little of the facts of life as the children. [13 March 1981, p.C1], It is a fine picture, sweet and pathetic, witty and tender. There are early warning signs that “World” isn’t going to end well. To quote Michael Palin quoting Jesus, "There's just no pleasing some people. Sort of. no, probably . The Blues Brothers offers the melancholy spectacle of them sinking deeper and deeper into a comic grave. Such a half-baked, arbitrary update that the decrepit plot seems to arise from the misty region of a kind of Jewish Brigadoon in contemporary Manhattan, a Ghetto That Time Forgot. It's pretty good. The six young stars are untalented, unattractive and about as believable as characters from a Laverne and Shirley episode, and for a solid hour and a half they run around bumping into things. Objectionable as their raunchy sense of humor and simple-minded, potheaded characters may be from a socially responsible standpoint, Cheech and Chong transcend the objections. Its sincerity, accomplished cast and proud Philadelphia roots manage to keep it real. But it gradually begins to diminish in force, transforming a gripping, realistic reenactment of a murder case into a prosaic and somewhat baffling grind. [21 Dec 1979, p.32], Despite its obviously derivative elements and lack of flair in certain areas, notably writing and casting, the movie is at worst an entertaining redundancy, a brisk and diverting pastiche of familiar science-fiction adventure hokum. It should also prove a great incentive for dining out and shooting the bull in general. As a result, an hour and a half of tense, funny sexual melodrama is squashed flat by a dud of a fadeout. Mark Jenkins at The Washington Post stated, "The movie is too busy being saucy or sappy to even look at its target." But Robin Williams so utterly captures the Popeye idea as to justify this, and Shelley Duvall is such a perfect Olive Oyl that it will always be difficult to imagine her impersonating a human being. It's obvious that Allen has serious intentions, but they're expressed in bloodless, superficial, derivative ways. One half of Godzilla vs. Kong wants to tell a human story. It's an achievement particularly noteworthy in contrast to the Grade-Z "horror" movies that have been cluttering up the screens lately. The best reason to see The Rose is to be in a position to relish the inevitable parody on "Saturday Night Live." Book II revives that excruciating game of false piety in which Hollywood humorists grovel for brownie points in eternity by presuming to be God's chummiest press agents. Thanks to the heavy synthetic hand of director George Roy Hill, the potentially charming aspects of the kids' infatuation curdle into syrupy gruel. “The Last of Us Part II” is a demonstration of how a video game can marry heart-stopping gameplay, gorgeous environmental storytelling and anxiety-inducing moral complexity. [10 Mar 1978, p.15], It's a frequent theme of bad children's pictures that knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, is the opposite of unspoiled childhood goodness,and here it is again, only weakly contradicted by the one pleasant actor in the film, Jack Soo, as an idealistic truant officer. It's a dear and corny story, played with lovable grubbiness by Sally Field and Ron Leibman. [29 Sept 1978, p.D1], The movie is a stunning example of collaborative fidelity and artistry directed by Karel Reisz, and its impact may be heightened if one is in the dark as to the plot of its literary source, Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers. With the Dunne-Didion lines and the acting of Robert DeNiro (the priest) and Robert Duvall (the detective), the lack of a cohesive story doesn't seem terribly important. Foul Play never begins to make sense as a mystery - Dudley Moore and the 3-foot-9 Billy Barty, become the butts of grotesquely conceived and staged sight gags. The Washington Post World section provides information and analysis of breaking world news stories. Practically everyone who spends more than five minutes on camera dies horribly -- in close-up. [29 June 1979, p.C1], Murray, though, is wonderful. [09 Aug 1978, p.B1], You find yourself chewing over Laura Mars after the lights come up. The occasional use of real people on old film is jarring. Force 10 is a mission that should probably have been aborted. The script is eloquently supplied with scenes illustration this fundamental conflict and bond. Games Home >> New Releases; Coming Soon; Best... Games This Year; Games of All Time; Games by Genre; New Games; More... New Free Games This Month; User's Best New Games ; User's Best Games of All Time; Platforms: PS4; PS5; Xbox One; Xbox … It's an artfully old-fashioned morale booster celebrating comeback kids: apparent losers, outcasts and hard-luck cases who manage to pull themselves together, buck the odds and reaffirm their pride, dignity and masculinity. Eyes is somehow too relaxing to be satisfying. Downey's direction is so flat that about 20 rock songs have been inserted to cover the dithering continuity with a semblance of rhythm. Unfortunately, screenwriter David Shaber hasn't laid the sort of tracks that can support a clever or gripping vehicle. [7 Aug 1981, p.C1], The new film, a fitfully amusing and perfectly harmless spoof of the morbid and masochistic cliches that sustain the typical soap opera, represents a mellow, spruced-up turn toward the mainstream. Like the flatulent and shattering noises, the score functions a distracting sound effect, camouflaging tattered swatches of "comedy." Unfortunately, all too many paying customers will remember being suckered into the Derek remake of "Tarzan," which shortchanges every feature susceptible moviegoers must assume they'll find: tongue-in-cheek romance, exotic high adventure and generous scrutiny of Bo in the buff. Flawed and uneven, but vigorous and imaginative, The Stunt Man is a brash, whirlwind action comedy about the paranoid uncertainties of a fugitive who takes refuge with a movie company on location. Games Home >> New Releases; Coming Soon; Best... Games This Year; Games of All Time; Games by Genre; New Games; More... New Free Games This Month; User's Best New Games ; User's Best Games of All Time; Platforms: PS4; PS5; Xbox One; Xbox Series … The jokes make you laugh. Rather, Cahill’s latest film is an exercise in existential inquiry. Even within the confines of its generic plot and sometimes stilted dialogue, Concrete Cowboy winds up being an engaging and moving family drama. Full of incident, heartbreak, secrets and betrayal, The Affair and its choppy formal structure don’t do justice to an enormously appealing cast. Unfortunately, it's the kind of chew that leaves your jaw feeling tired and your mouth tasting sour. Tucci and Firth have never been better than they are here, and they earn every superlative that has been laid on them in early reviews. [05 Aug 1978, p.H1], Steve Rash directs the firm in a clean, observant and confidently transparent style - making an impressive debut after several years of TV pop-music specials - and demonstrates a flair for expressing Holly's appeal. That any human activity worth considering should ensue from this situation would be ridiculous to expect. Rich and Famous, directed by George Cukor, does it brilliantly. [15 May 1981, p.19], The repeated fake-outs even lead one to entertain the fond delusion that The Burning might be absent-minded enough to diverge into harmless farce and end up as a rehash of "Meatballs." The curators of the Bond museum do not surpass themselves with this exhibition, the 11th in the series, but they haven't fallen down on the job either. A sporadically funny, marginally interesting fiasco that might have evolved into a memorable romantic comedy. For anyone with a taste for the stylized violence and self-aware cartoonishness of the John Wick films — a taste for blood and mayhem that comes closer to corn syrup than most cinematic carnage — Nobody is a brutal treat. Clearly, The Octagon is no real threat to War and Peace or even Beau Geste, but it will appeal to those who are still in mourning for Bruce Lee, who like carefully choreographed fight scenes and who enjoy standing in front of a mirror looking at their muscles. Indeed, it can lead to something sharp, bright and dazzlingly precise. [06 May 1981, p.E7], Priceless it ain't, but if the kids are determined to enjoy it, the brain damage should be minimal. [5 Oct. 1978, p.B10], Interiors imposes a portentous formality that seems deliberately starved of sensuous appeal. The excerpts from old movies are far more vivid and evocative than the host attraction. He doesn't quite duplicate the manic madness of his "Saturday Night" bits, but his performance as Tripper, the camp's head counselor, almost makes the film's sophomoric humor worth sitting through. [10 Feb 1979, p.C1], It's simply a good film that children should enjoy and parents feel it worthwhile for them to see. Nor does he place us in a position to appreciate Merrick's fears and longings as if they were our own. [19 July 1980, p.B1], Friday the Thirteenth meets Saturday Night Fever. [03 Aug 1979, p.D4]. Obviously. But since that piece, Metacritic has introduced a Progress and Unscored Reviews sections. Arriving on the heels of Jack Nicholson's Goin' South, Alan J. Pakula's cataleptic Comes a Horseman suggests a conspiracy to kick the poor old Western while it's down. © 2021 METACRITIC, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. John Cassavetes is the last person in the world likely to perceive or write that drama. I mentioned last week that my launch-era Xbox 360 recently up and died on me just when I got my hands on the game. Still, there's something likeable about this zany manipulator. Read what Washington Post had to say at Metacritic.com. No -- less. Despite a lull here and a lapse there, this superproduction turns out to be prodigiously inventive and enjoyable, doubly blessed by sophisticated illusionists behind the cameras and a brilliant new stellar personality in front of the cameras -- Christopher Reeve. Considering the source, however, this ill-advised and disreputable movie could have been worse. [05 Oct 1979, p.B1], Given the current heightened tenor of religious rhetoric and paranoia, it may well wind up pushing brand-new buttons today. Ostensibly a serious, compelling melodramatic chronicle about dynastic conflict within the gypsy subculture of contemporary American, the movie resolves itself lickety-split into a laughter. [29 Dec 1979, p.C6]. Yet THAT review is not counted on Metacritic, and the one that was posted in the comedy section is the one that Metacritic posts as the Washington Post review? This is a film with brittle dialogue, complicated acting and visual subtlety in the service of a trite and unworkable story. Though it obviously aims to be sassy and uninhibited, Airplane! [17 Oct 1980, p.C1], If Kagemusha falls short dramatically, and many admirers may not share that impression, the sag occurs at an awesome level of filmmaking prowess. This has a wealth of true movie ingredients: two or three meaty subjects handled with naturalistic ambiguity, suspense, a variety of interestingly developing characters finely acted, excitement and authenticity laced with restrained satire. Smokey and the Bandit II -- is a premeditated embarrassment. [26 June 1981, p.17], As a movie concept, Dragonslayer seems to have so much going for it that it could scarcely miss. search... Games Metacritic's 11th Annual Game Publisher Rankings See All Reports. [10 Feb 1979, p.C7], Purely visual cinema was accomplished successfully in "Days of Heaven," where there is no story line to speak of, but people and nature are made memorably vivid through the moving picture.Picnic at Hanging Rock is not up to that level visually, because it occasionally slips into the hair-color advertisement school of slow-motion beauty. If any one made a respectable effort to invest this story with authenticity or tension it is not apparent on the screen. The music isn't bad, but there's something more than a little blasphemous about hearing She's Leaving Home or A Day in the Life sung by the likes of the Bee Gees. [20 Dec 1978, p.E1]. Martin, an eerie, sardonic updating of the traditional vampire legend, should secure Romero's reputation as a modern master of the horror film. [24 Mar 1978, p.D1], The finished film has no thematic or emotional integrity. [25 Feb 1981, p.B12], The pace of the film is also on a low level, with episodic sequences rather than ones that build: more suitable to a television series than a feature film. The oddity of this romance and its picturesque setting do a great deal to lend interest to an otherwise minimal (for a spy picture) story. At the same time, it's remarkably evenh As one would expect, Spielberg, who directed "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," sustains a high energy level. [18 Aug 1978, p.B1], George Romero has done it again. Yet it does miss in crucial respects. It has a sentimental story, but that's better than the usual dumb good-guys-bad-guys stories; it's corny, but that's better than the cheap smartsyness of most youth films. [19 Oct 1979, p.31], Despite the artificial ending, The Great Santini is a powerfully written and acted movie. Despite its excesses, "The Howling" has some tricks and jokes worth howling about. Here's a sitting turkey that virtually sits up and begs to be plucked. [12 Dec 1980, p.E1], Considering how firmly the image of Popeye is fixed in the minds of all spinach-bred Americans, it's daring of the film to open by showing the character in its familiar cartoon form. Profoundly depressing sorts, that is. Their failure to "make one like they used to" incurs a double liability: In addition to wasting resources and disappointing expectations, Seems Like Old Times -- now at area theaters -- appears to trifle with an older and better movie. The Dogs of War can be recommended only as a desperate snack for rabid tastes. Parker has made his visually charming film more than a study of talented and ambitious kids. When he's not clowning around he takes time to befriend a homesick 12-year-old camper (Christopher Makepeace), thus displaying a streak of responsibility that would curl John Belushi's hair. His extraordinary first feature, Real Life, demonstrates a potential genius for movie comedy and is animated by a peculiarly fertile and subtle imagination. He's a master of improvisation, flitting from role to role - one minute a swaggering, would-be Lothario, the next a frenzied coach - with Morkian speed. [13 July 1979, p.25], It's a half-baked stopover in the big house, relying on Eastwood, rather than a particular prison theme, for focus and continuity. After building up to a stirring, climactic turning point, Alan Ormsby's original screenplay falters in the stretch. Still, the destination makes the tedium of the trip worthwhile. [28 Oct 1978, p.B6], One of the worst ideas in Murder on the Orient Express was the repeated reenactment of the murder scene. [18 Apr 1980, p.19], 1941 represents an appalling waste of filmmaking and performing resources. Rough Cut isn't the finest vintage of its light, dry style, but it is easy to take and when it ends you may be sorry there isn't more. But despite its shortcomings, director Hal Ashby managed to transplant the undernourished narrative with remarkable success. It's a good solid movie -- but it won't blow you away. His smoldering pouts, crazed gleams, elevating eyebrows and erotically-contended smiles generate gleeful rabble-rousing excitement. His Nosferatu is at best unintentional, fitfully risible camp. Next time, the Fisks owe it to themselves to bite off enough material to chew. That's ridiculous. Here's this week's big gaming drama: an idiot writing for the Washington Post gave Uncharted 4 a negative review. [26 Apr 1978, p.B1], This story has explosive screen possibilities. In this absorbing and rigorously disciplined account, Konchalovsky proves that a healthy embrace of nuance doesn't need to result in muddled thinking. It is the most-widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area, and has a large national audience. Mommie Dearest, the film version of Christina Crawford's poison-pen memoir of her adoptive mother, Joan Crawford, looms as wretched excess. [03 Oct 1980, p.22], Taking frantic aim at a fairly promising target -- American jurisprudence -- And Justice for All makes a trigger-happy, scatterbrained spectacle of itself. [19 Dec 1980, p.20], As derivative interplanetary clunkers go, Flash Gordon is good for a few laughs -- some of them intentional. [08 Nov 1978, p.C1]. It’s good at what it sets out to do. [31 July 1978, p.B1]. [18 Mar 1981, p.B4]. You can't help wondering what they, along with Mason and Neal, talked about between the takes of this howler. [20 Dec 1980, p.D3], Inside Moves is sneaky-funny and sneaky-affecting. Reason against discipline is always funny -- hero to sergeant: "I know I'm speaking for the entire platoon when I say that the run should be postponed until the platoon is better rested" -- but the kicker, that there really is a reason for the discipline, is necessary to the premise. There's no doubt about Burt Reynolds' skill. [23 July 1979, p.B11], The plot - obviously derived from Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" - has the customary quantum of Disney cuteness as the story unravels predictably...But it takes advantage of the situation for some funny lines. [24 Mar 1981, p.B8], The intelligence and artistry with which Cutter's Way dresses up the top few cliches of the 1980s is amazing. But the energy is expended on material that is pointless at best and occasionally hateful. The best policy might be to go about 30 minutes late and leave about 15 minutes early. It's as if kiddies' mindless escape films, unlike adults', needed to carry their own internal justification. [15 Apr 1978, p.C9]. It’s rare that a documentary has the ability to take the kind of long view of events that establishes context and consequence. [25 Dec 1979, C1], The perceptive dramatic touches of Fonda and Redford take the stereotypical edge off the stock characters of "cowboy" and "career girl." One minute sex is like a camp food-fight -- against the rules but everybody has a good time-- and the next it's the grown-up activity that leads directly to that other favorite grown-up activity -- depression. And pity the poor actors -- George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes; it's the TV-jeebies. Anyone braving the sleezy ad campaign will be treated to some wonderfully funny gibes at a larger-than-life target: the used-car-industry. An admirably crisp, incisive counter-terrorist thriller, the most proficient and entertaining movie of its kind since Richard Lester's Juggernaut. [6 March 1981, p.15], Back from their respective voids and together for the firs time, Hurt and Weaver romp romantically as janitor and TV news reporter in Eyewitness, a murky mystery produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich, the guys who uplifted us via Breaking Away. A powerful period setting might have taken up the slack, but Lynch doesn't impose the past as vividly as the theme demands. As nervy and well-made as it is, Cherry feels less personal than pageant-like, especially in a rushed and glibly perfunctory final sequence. Considering the quality of the acting, most of them deserve no better. [09 Sep 1980, p.C3], The movie isn't skillful enough to back up its satiric presumptions. [17 Apr 1981, p.19], It's the most exaggerated example yet of the abiding imbalance in modernist filmmaking, where an abundance of texture fails to conceal a minimum of substance, although it frequently makes the act of concealment pictorially exciting. [19 Jun 1981, p.19], Content to pick up where the skid marks from "Smokey and the Bandit II" left off, The Cannonball Run quickly establishes itself as an aggressive shambles, the latest exercise in amateurism from facetious professionals. [13 June 1980, p.19]. It comes as no great surprise when the killer is revealed to a be a Halloween clone and then allowed to vanish, aggravating the pathetic resemblance. It slogs on for about two reels too many, concluding on a note of utterly contrived tragedy that should make just about everyone feel wretchedly deceived. [15 Aug 1980, p.C1], Given the source material, the film is as good as respectful adaptation could make it: a high-class soap opera, compulsively watchable despite a quality of insight eventually exposed as trite and dubious in the extreme. the worst rock film of all time. None of Hill's dynamism will save The Warriors from impressing most neutral observers as a ghastly folly. The nice thing about Nice Dreams is that, if you can live with a little raunchiness, it's fun, and it's funnier than C&C's "Next Movie," their second movie after "Up in Smoke": the humor doesn't rely so completely on old jokes about the drug culture. For better and worse, Eastwood's peculiarly intimidating personality - solitary, sarcastic, fearless - has become its own predominant, suggestive theme. That's what most of this movie consists of. It's a satire review from Michael Thomsen of the Washington Post, but Metacritic.com seems to believe it's … [24 Dec 1979, p.C1], Scavenger Hunt, a solvenly farce about a frantic competition for a multi-million dollar legacy, is the studio's bottom-of-the barrel Christmas treat. Suddenly you find yourself in the grip of an overwhelming cinemate and melodramatic undertow, at once thrilled, astonished and dreadfully uncertain of where it may set you down. It seems to prove that entertainers who discover a successful formula may not have the foggiest notion of how to protect, duplicate and sustain it. Metacritic score: 69 It unfolds like an American dream that becomes a nightmare, before switching back again — just before we wake up and shake the whole thing off. [10 Apr 1979, p.B3]. The rickety foundation might be finessed by swift, dynamic direction -- the sort of approach William Friedkin brought to The French Connection or Walter Hill to The Warriors, an urban thriller Shaber also helped fabricate -- but newcomer Bruce Malmuth isn't agile enough. But the accompanying low-keyed acting, mostly in the police parts of Newman, Ken Wahl and Edward Asner, lends the film a sustaining interest. But these serve ridiculous story making a mushy, if not disreputable, moral point. [24 July 1981, p.19], Arthur is one of those rare contemporary entertainments that can be used to contradict people who habitually complain, "They don't make 'em like they used to!" [10 June 1980, p.B2]. [11 Aug 1979, p.B4], Breaking Away is a film with a happy and intelligent imagination, crediting the American teenager with more inventiveness than a more mean-spirited popular culture would admit, these conflicts have a charming originality. [03 Aug 1979, p.27], The new Dracula is a dazzler, a classic retelling of a classic text. The reviewers who made a fuss over Halloween have a lot to answer for. Higgins can't keep his mind from wandering.