Hal Boedeker
Select another critic »For 383 reviews, this critic has graded:
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51% higher than the average critic
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2% same as the average critic
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47% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 6.9 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Hal Boedeker's Scores
- Movies
- TV
| Average review score: | 62 | |
|---|---|---|
| Highest review score: | The Shield: Season 1 | |
| Lowest review score: | The 1/2 Hour News Hour: Season 1 | |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 168 out of 383
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Mixed: 158 out of 383
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Negative: 57 out of 383
383
tv
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Hal Boedeker
The remake isn't first-rate King because it saves most of the terror and special effects for the second half. More than 500 effects decorate the program, and the eerie cinematography helps transform Melbourne, Australia, into New England...In the lavish visuals, acrobatic vampires prowl ceilings and expire with ferocious flourishes. These bloodsuckers have different but very splashy ways of exiting the planet...Those images should satisfy moviegoers who can't get enough visual magic at the multiplex. But great acting serves the show better in the long run. [20 June 2004]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted May 14, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
Legend has it that 23 people disappeared at Rose Red. On the strength of King's name, millions more are bound to get lost there. So a warning: It's a long, punishing program that will leave you stupefied in Seattle. [27 Jan 2002, p.4]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted May 12, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
The Stephen King miniseries on ABC have underwhelmed me. I found The Shining tarnished, The Langoliers laughable, The Stand rickety, It exhausting and The Tommyknockers oh so knockable. Storm of the Century, however, wowed me. It is the most effective King miniseries the network has presented. In this genuinely unsettling epic, good and evil face off on a small Maine island pounded by a nor'easter in 1989. [14 Feb 1999]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted May 11, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
But the running time unwisely inflates this intimate story of a three-member family coming apart at the isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies. The Stand was an epic. The Shining is not... The extreme length, however, leads to tiresome repetition. Horror and suspense are better served in small helpings. Even Alfred Hitchcock would have been daunted by these conditions. [27 Apr 1997]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted May 8, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
The first hour, "Battleground" with William Hurt, is brilliant, but the next three are repetitive, talky or derivative. [9 July 2006, p.10]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted May 4, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
No one will confuse episodic The Tommyknockers with The Twilight Zone. It relies more on cheap effects than imagination or characterizations. Even the setting is counterfeit; this New England is actually New Zealand. [8 May 1993, p.G1]- Miami Herald
Posted Apr 24, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
The Stand is far superior to other miniseries based on King books -- IT and The Tommyknockers -- but at twice their lengths, it's a demanding, sometimes confounding epic. The first six hours unfold, oh so slowly, as an elaborate prelude to the rousing final two hours. ABC is betting you'll still be around by Thursday night, to see divine intervention, spectacularly hellish makeup and an explosive finale. [8 May 1994, p.1]- Miami Herald
Posted Apr 14, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
Among new series this season, Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital is the biggest disappointment, a botch of monumental proportions. Next to it, NBC's misbegotten Coupling looks quaint. [29 Feb 2004, p.4]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Apr 14, 2021 -
- Hal Boedeker
Hugely entertaining...Among the new spring series I've seen, Sliders stands out as the most enjoyable. "What-might-have-been" is usually a pointless exercise, but here it makes for some rousing entertainment.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Apr 22, 2020
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- Hal Boedeker
The print ads for The Commish go: "Loves pasta. Sings opera. Nails scum. . . . A police commissioner you gotta love." Viewer, you don't gotta at all. The Commish and ABC should go nail themselves. [28 Sept 1991]- Miami Herald
Posted Apr 16, 2020 -
- Hal Boedeker
The cornball Walker, Texas Ranger looks like a parody early on; it has the strangest camera angles since Batman. Soon enough, it's clear this is just another violent show filled with cartoonish villains, helpless victims and a taciturn martial arts hero who lets his hands do the talking. The low point comes when a rapist ogles his victim a second time and confides to pals, "Just chalk it up to hormones." [21 Apr 1993, p.E7]- Miami Herald
Posted Jan 14, 2020 -
- Hal Boedeker
Party of Five is easily Fox's best new series this season...The young actors, especially Wolf, give heartfelt performances, and when they talk about their departed parents, the pain comes through. There are some Fox touches -- the knockout new nanny, for one -- but Party of Five is far from being a life-without-parents fantasy. [12 Sept 1994, p.C1]- Miami Herald
Posted Jan 8, 2020 -
- Hal Boedeker
Wonderland, which debuts at 10 on WFTV-Channel 9, should carry a warning: It's a tough, tough show...When Wonderland slows down, it can be quite effective. The National Mental Health Association complains that the series distorts the mentally ill, but the portrayals are wide-ranging.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Dec 3, 2019
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- Hal Boedeker
You have to hope the show is therapeutic for Titus, because it has little entertainment value. [19 March 2000, p.F1]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Dec 2, 2019 -
- Hal Boedeker
Making the Band proves highly watchable. This story of a bubblegum band gives you something to chew on. [24 March 2000]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Nov 28, 2019 -
- Hal Boedeker
Considering what's at stake, the show could use more edge. It settles instead for sweetness. [9 March 2000, p.E1]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Nov 27, 2019 -
- Hal Boedeker
The Beat needs more reinforcements because the main characters aren't strong enough to carry a show. Andre Braugher had more help on Homicide.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Nov 26, 2019
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- Hal Boedeker
Daddio and Battery Park are wisps of shows, so slight and feeble that they're not ready for prime time. They're not ready for anything, really. Lumping them with Friends and Frasier only makes them look punier.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Nov 21, 2019
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- Hal Boedeker
Daddio and Battery Park are wisps of shows, so slight and feeble that they're not ready for prime time. They're not ready for anything, really. Lumping them with Friends and Frasier only makes them look punier.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Nov 21, 2019
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- Hal Boedeker
You would do better to go out Saturday night than settle for this sappy supernatural thriller. [5 Feb 2000, p.E1]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Nov 20, 2019 -
- Hal Boedeker
City of Angels, a good but uneven show, crackles when depicting romance or behind-the-scenes intrigue. But in addressing race, the show can turn preachy, earnest and trite. [16 Jan 2000, p.F1]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Nov 20, 2019 -
- Hal Boedeker
Cop Rock is neither a realistic police drama nor a convincing musical. It's an experiment that's rarely arresting. [26 Sep 1990, p.D1]- Miami Herald
Posted May 16, 2016 -
- Hal Boedeker
I like this show, but am not bowled over by it, and I couldn't imagine racing home each week to see it. Kellie Martin had more compelling adventures on "Life Goes On". As for oft-invoked comparisons to "Catcher in the Rye", forget it. [25 Aug 1994, p.G1]- Miami Herald
Posted Aug 27, 2015 -
- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Aug 23, 2015 -
- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Aug 22, 2015
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- Hal Boedeker
ABC takes television to lower depths with That Was Then, which starts in a dreadful spot and keeps doing variations on it...This annoying show will push you out of the house to enjoy Friday nights.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Aug 19, 2015
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- Hal Boedeker
Like Whoopi, Luis just barrels along on coarse writing and over-the-top performances. This obnoxious show is the salmon doughnut of sitcoms. [19 Sept 2003, p.E1]- Orlando Sentinel
Posted Aug 19, 2015 -
- Hal Boedeker
The horrible Hawaii suggests that crimefighting has degenerated to idiotic levels since "Hawaii Five-O" and "Magnum, P.I." The new protectors of paradise work in such stupefying ways that you want to shout at the screen, "Book 'em, Danno!"- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Aug 17, 2015
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- Hal Boedeker
It's laudable that the show goes without a laugh track and studio audience. Going without appealing characters, however, is foolhardy.- Orlando Sentinel
- Posted Jun 18, 2015
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- Hal Boedeker
Swift pacing energizes the movie, and Schulman writes compelling scenes for the large cast. Many actors, who have only one scene to make an impression, meet the challenge splendidly. [11 Sept 1993, p.G1]- Miami Herald
Posted Jun 17, 2015
