Two hours of nonstop, nail-biting tension and anxiety.

Philippe Blasband's screenplay is witty and economical, and the film's editing is crisp.

It's shockingly funny - you don't sit there deciding to laugh. Your own laughter catches you by surprise. [14 Apr 1989]

[Soderbergh] plays with time and narrative to reveal character, mood and longing in ways you just don't find in a mainstream crime picture.

More than a high concept stretched to feature length. This is a funny and extremely satisfying comedy, the best in a while.

Fascinating in its depiction of presidential leadership in action.

Midnight Run has thrills, excellent performances, touching moments, slick plotting, lively dialogue, plenty of laughs, beautiful locations and finely detailed direction. It's an across-the-board success, the best new movie I've seen in years. [20 July 1988]

The true soul of the New York mob is portrayed in Donnie Brasco, a first-class Mafia thriller that is also in its way a love story -- perhaps director Mike Newell's best.

One of the best crime dramas to come along in years.

Presented without preachiness or affectation, Kandahar is a short, matter-of-fact visit to hell.

A film of audacity and total gut-level appeal.

The picture, written and directed by Francis Veber, the screenwriter of "La Cage Aux Folles,'' is a complete success.

A film of real beauty, which is surprising, since it's not a movie of beautiful sentiments or settings.

Masterful documentary.

Powerful and outrageous.

Though Mom is ditzy and, at times, irritating, we come to recognize her as the family's most original creative spirit.

The kind of picture to whip out the clichés for: Surprisingly original. Delightful. Brilliant. Funny as all heck. When 1989 is through, sex, lies, and videotape may well be remembered as the best film of the year. [11 Aug 1989, Daily Datebook, p.E1]

A movie about serendipity and spontaneity.

The picture gently caricatures the folk music scene with dozens of delicate brush strokes, creating a picture that's increasingly, gloriously funny -- as in entire lines of dialogue are lost because the audience's laughing so hard.

Rarely does a movie come along that captures an aspect of everyday consciousness that has not yet made it onto film.

Stays in the mind, changing the way we look at the world.

Dares to present a flat-out heroic president, without the safety net of irony. It succeeds.

This is an acerbic examination of erotic obsession, told from different perspectives, with wit, suspense and cold-blooded detachment.

Stuns with writing, acting, direction.

To make a movie about that team and those games requires more than an ability to depict personal dramas or re-enact game highlights. It requires the re- creation of a world and a mind-set, and Miracle accomplishes both brilliantly.

An ungainly masterpiece, but Chaplin's ungainliness is something one can grow fond of.

A wonderful movie, sincere and inspired, with four terrific performances and a story that doesn't let up. The picture has the gentle, nourishing quality of a fairy tale that you want to believe, and the unsoftened impact of gut-level entertainment. [13 July 1990, Daily Datebook, p.E1]

A caustic comedy of Hollywood manners.