Escape From Alcatraz is poorly orchestrated, but the Eastwood melody still comes through, laconic and clear. Death on the Nile compounds this vulgarity by visualizing almost every speculation Poirot entertains about his fellow passengers. [9 Dec 1979, p.G1]. Next time, the Fisks owe it to themselves to bite off enough material to chew. At least 000,000 people have received one or both doses of the vaccine in the U.S. [22 Dec 1978, p.20], King of the Gypsies gets caught in a paralyzing bind between sordid subject matter and ridiculous casting. [13 July 1979, p.24], It's a like a film made by people who don't really care, for an audience of people who don't really care. But he packs the middle with drawn-out dialogue and mindless series of chases and escapes that do little more tan pad the feature film into feature length. [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. The sexual undercurrents in the werewolf myth have been made playfully explicit, especially in the sultry, voluptuous form of Elisabeth Brooks, cast as a nympho werewolf named Marsha. The director, J. Lee Thompson, was once a proficient craftsman. . 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 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. Alligator, the most amusing variation yet on the Jaws formula, finds plenty of room for incidental humor and romantic byplay while sustaining a breezy suspense plot. Gene , because you were the only respectable staff that responded to this nonsense , you should remove this review from the Metacritic , and post a new , sensible one that can justify its existence. [25 Apr 1980, p.C1], Happily, director Peter Medak is aware of the fundamental absurdity of his ghost story. [9 Oct 1981, p.21], Paternity may not be one of the dumbest excuses for a romantic comedy that ever littered the screen, but it certainly feels like a numbing inanity while you're exposed to it. The Driver is a chase melodrama abstracted to the verge of pointlessness. But Fame goes deeper, into the quintessential problem of youth -- the painful process by which the society's accumulated culture is passed from one generation to the next [20 June 1980, p.17], Humanoids is a clever combination of Jaws and Alien. 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? [13 June 1980, p.19]. Treat the game with professionalism and respect. “You should remove this review fro[sic] the metacritic , and post a new , sensible one that can justify its existence. [28 Sep 1979, p.E1], The movie version of The Onion Field offers a compelling buildup of suspense and apprehension, culminating in the shocking murder of a young policeman. Xanadu cannot possibly be described as a good movie, but it can be recommended to those who can tolerate large amounts of intravenous marzipan. For my taste a little bit of Steve Martin goes a long way. [01 May 1981, p.19], Fade to Black washes out by relying too heavily on assocations from older films. If he doesn't, he's likely to be remembered not for his undeniable pictorial talent but for his eccentricity. Cheech and Chong are bawdy, they're unself-consciously irreverent, and if any idiocy can happen, it will happen to them. ", This conflict between love and ambition is finely depicted as far as it goes, and the period setting, in a time when birth control problems made the choice of marriage a commitment to unlimited family life, could have reinforced the poignancy of the choice. But these serve ridiculous story making a mushy, if not disreputable, moral point. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Nomadland is the kind of big and big-hearted movie — featuring a central performance at once epic and fine-tuned — that reminds you of how much life one film can hold, when circumstances allow. 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. His Nosferatu is at best unintentional, fitfully risible camp. . [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!" . [25 Aug 1980, p.B1]. Mark Jenkins at The Washington Post stated, "The movie is too busy being saucy or sappy to even look at its target." . It is the most-widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area, and has a large national audience. never approaches the comic heights achieved unwittingly by "Airport '75" and the peerless "Concorde -- Airport 1979." [31 July 1978, p.B1]. One does see the difficulties they will have breaking into the arts, and the raw personal problem they share with unartistic teen-agers. . Still, The Courier makes a smart, stylish stand for the kind of old-fashioned period spy thriller that is increasingly being turned into bingeable series for streaming services. 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. Some of the intuitions and sentiments shared by Ashby and the cast result in affecting interludes, but on the whole the material is too diffuse and complacently wistful to accomplish its ultimate goal of getting you there, breaking your heart, scaling the summit of old Mt. [31 March 1978, p.15]. Indeed, you come out of Back Roads feeling more familiar with the configuration of Sally Field's spinal column and chestbone than the character she's struggling to embody. It’s a good movie, executed with affectionate humor, wistful honesty and tender care. It should also prove a great incentive for dining out and shooting the bull in general. The Villain is the sort of dumb comedy that never smartens up. In short, the perfect made-for-TV movie. Higgins can't keep his mind from wandering. You can't help wondering what they, along with Mason and Neal, talked about between the takes of this howler. One scene in Central Park, when Pacino confronts the murder suspect on a deserted rain-slicked path, is haunting and beautfully photographed. But cumulatively, the effect is the strength of American pop to convey American mythology. If anything, it condemns them to strictly degenerate company. The succession of slow-motion, overlapping dissolves of Erving gliding and dunking in solitary grandeur is a rather pretty abstraction, but it seems to stylize his prowess in a misleading way. It flip-flops withdesperate hypocrisy between clownish antics and indignant orations. And what's more, the Allied team gets so excited that they would rather win the game than escape from their captors. The Amityville Horror is a feeble excuse for a haunted-house thriller, but given the source, who could ask for more? [8 Feb 1980, p.20], Going in Style is cautiously conceived, but it also projects a sincere human interest and reveals a command of intimate, subtle dramatization that is likely to prove Brest's artistic and commercial fortune sooner or later. [26 Apr 1978, p.B1], This story has explosive screen possibilities. The reviewers who made a fuss over Halloween have a lot to answer for. [16 March 1979, p.18], Schrader's second feature, Hardcore, is more confidently made than his first, Blue Collar, but it slips into a similar category: absorbing but unsatisfying. Cheech and Chong's Next Movie decisively confirms the flair for movie comedy that the pair demonstrated so disarmingly in "Up in Smoke." [02 Oct 1981, p.C1], An intimate theater piece conceived for the movies, My Dinner With Andre illustrates how much human interest, entertainment value and even philosophical inquiry can be derived from a situation as static as a dinner conversation. The script is eloquently supplied with scenes illustration this fundamental conflict and bond. [06 Mar 1981, p.15], The shocks are strictly mechanical and redundant, the script uncomplicated by incidental humor or character byplay. [19 Oct 1979, p.B1], Unfortunately, even for devotees of the derivative, Legacy has all the scarifyin' power of National Geographic. Thanks to the heavy synthetic hand of director George Roy Hill, the potentially charming aspects of the kids' infatuation curdle into syrupy gruel. The occasional use of real people on old film is jarring. It's obvious that Allen has serious intentions, but they're expressed in bloodless, superficial, derivative ways. The whole concept is so outrageous that it hardly leaves time for one to consider the details. 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. Unfortunately, The Champ does not let well enough alone. BioShock: Rave Reviews at Metacritic. Mommie Dearest, the film version of Christina Crawford's poison-pen memoir of her adoptive mother, Joan Crawford, looms as wretched excess. The horror fan who climbs into his movie seat looking for an experience as intense as a roller-coaster ride will be more teased than satisfied. Albert Brooks may be the Woody Allen of the 1980s. [28 June 1978, p.E1], Peckinpah is a filmmaking heavyweight, but in Convoy all he's doing is fighting off the boredom and frustration that grow out of coping with stupid material. Despite a powerful performance by Tahar Rahim in the title role, and despite such marquee names as Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch in the supporting roles of Slahi’s attorney, Nancy Hollander, and Stu Couch, the Marine lawyer assigned to prosecute him — despite scenes of grotesque abuse that inflame the conscience — the movie lands, through no fault of its own other than timing, with a whiff of been-there, done-that. Producer Ray Stark, screenwriter Neil Simon and director Jay Sandrich obviously intended to whip up a frothy, madcap entertainment in the tradition of the screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s. Unfortunately, screenwriter David Shaber hasn't laid the sort of tracks that can support a clever or gripping vehicle. Dressed to Kill is a witty blend of suspense and humor, a skillful manipulation of basic nightmare ingredients that leaves one limp, amused and always impressed. And pity the poor actors -- George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes; it's the TV-jeebies. [27 June 1981, p.C1], The thrust of the film is to escalate the Superman idea to the point where the charm is no longer visible. But as long as the camera stays on Pfeiffer, we’re all hers. Even the big spectacle, the demolition of a dam, is going to look unimpressive to moviegoers who've already been to Superman and seen the identical illusion depicted with far more skill. Too frequently and too loudly, the sci-fi bells and whistles of Chaos Walking overwhelm its quieter, more engrossing elements, making it hard to hear what the film really seems to be saying. Parker has upset the book's delicate sense of balance. [10 Feb 1979, p.C1], It's simply a good film that children should enjoy and parents feel it worthwhile for them to see. [6 Oct 1978, p.19], Days of Heaven leaves one wanting more: either a totally revolutionary approach to pictorial storytelling or traditional dramatic interest....It may be artistic suicide for Malick to continue his style of pictorial inflation without also enriching his scenarios. 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 a riveting look at what goes on behind the scenes -- mainly pills, booze and shots. [20 Nov 1981, p.21], The Funhouse begins with a lamely facetious reprise of the shower sequence from Psycho and slides steadily downhill there. But there's nothing in their lines or behavior that would make any of them irreplaceable in this sort of friendly group. [16 Aug 1980, p.D2], For a terrible movie, Used Cars certainly has its moments. [2 Oct 1981, p.17], Gratuitous gore prevents this monstrous movie from becoming the competent comedy it might have been. The Dogs of War can be recommended only as a desperate snack for rabid tastes. 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. [19 Jan 1982, p.D3], This particular kind of social satire, a quick and deft combination of fashions in clothes, words and romance, can be done better on the screen than in books, where it requires the enumeration of too many details, or on stage, where the details can't be seen. [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. Even the location needs to be filled out, since one forms the misimpression that Gregory is not so much a small town as a ghost town. Disney’s gorgeously animated, entertainingly told fantasia Raya and the Last Dragon is a visual feast. None of Hill's dynamism will save The Warriors from impressing most neutral observers as a ghastly folly. [3 Aug 1979, p.25], More American Graffiti suffers from a terminal case of the cutes. [26 Sep 1980, p.F1]. The Washington Post published a real review in their technology section, which reviews videogames from a legitimate perspective all the time, and THAT reviewer gave the game a *GLOWING* review. That's what most of this movie consists of. Given the fact that Washington Post’s Comic Riff is the source of most of the outlet’s reviews on Metacritic, it would be strange if just this one was to … This includes more than 0,000,000 people who have been fully … An inconsistent but good-natured ramble, Bustin' Loose looks like a secure investment for Richard Pryor fans. [13 May 1981, p.B6], Harry Hamlin remains in a depressing, narcissistic low gear in King of the Mountain. Read what Washington Post had to say at Metacritic.com - Page 344 © 2021 METACRITIC, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. Despite its excesses, "The Howling" has some tricks and jokes worth howling about. 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. [19 Dec 1980, p.19]. From opening wolf howls through ominous, ambiguous concluding images, it sustains an exciting, witty, erotically compelling illusion of supernatural mystery and terror. As for the comedy, it starts out with Clyde the orangutan defecating in squad cars, and goes downhill from there.