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Liverpool Echo

Tomatometer-approved publication.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
2/5
North (1994) Joe Riley One wonders why [Rob Reiner] got involved with this transglobal odyssey, which, while technically well made, has the disadvantage of becoming gut-wrenchingly banal.
Posted Jan 24, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
The American President (1995) Joe Riley Thus to the nub of Rob Reiner's stylish and immaculately executed film: the conflict between public expectations and personal frailties.
Posted Jan 20, 2026  Edit critic review
The Magnificent Seven (1960) Felix Barker Based on the Japanese film "The Seven Samurai," and directed by John Sturges, the film gets good effects from a clean-cut simplicity, beautiful backgrounds and a sort of epic quality unworried by diversions.
Posted Jan 14, 2026  Edit critic review
Gaslight (1944) George Whitfield The screen version of the famous stage thriller... and has Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman as demented husband and lovely bride of the gas-lit London of the eighties.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
A Place in the Sun (1951) Milton Shulman ...George Stevens has injected an unusual and distinctive amount of brilliant direction into this ordinary tale.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
Wall Street (1987) Mike Studley Without [Michael Douglas'] portrayal of the ruthless corporate ruler who has the instincts of a carnivore, this would be a very ordinary movie. As it is, the film struggles to convince and the script is disappointingly cliched.
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
The Princess Bride (1987) Mike Studley This is one picture where the kids can turn the tables and take their grown ups to the cinema. Entertainment in the true sense of the word.
Posted Jan 07, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Hook (1991) Joe Riley It's a distinctly larger-than-life Dustin from beginning to end, with devilish glare and crisply annunciated English tones. You've got to hand it to him.
Posted Dec 18, 2025  Edit critic review
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) Mike Studley A remarkable movie, superbly photographed, and one that keeps you totally involved despite its long running time.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Dune (1984) Mike Studley A commendable attempt by director David Lynch. He has managed in the main to successfully condense Herbert's saga.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Gremlins (1984) Mike Studley The film is laughably bad in parts and distinctly unpleasant in others -- in fact, only if it had been well made as an obvious spoof could one have forgiven the excesses.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
The Terminator (1984) Mike Studley Blood and thunder fans will undoubtedly enjoy the mayhem immensely -- and one has to admit that on its own terms the movie succeeds pretty well.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Predator 2 (1990) Joe Riley All is doom and gloom.
Posted Oct 31, 2025  Edit critic review
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Jympson Harman Mr. Ray's observations on modern parental shortcomings, on the cruelty of youth to youth and the agony of misunderstood children, are terrifyingly credible. His direction is as full of controlled power as a taut bow-string.
Posted Oct 23, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Casper (1995) Jackie Newton Apart from a delightfully appealing ghostie, there are splendid sets and wonderfully executed special effects.
Posted Sep 30, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Toy Story (1995) Mike Chapple Toy Story is technically dazzling, charming, and, occasionally, rollickingly funny.
Posted Sep 10, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Mortal Kombat (1995) Jackie Newton It has a tongue-in-cheek delivery and scattered bits of badly-needed humour. But not enough to save it from the boredom of far too many carefully staged fights.
Posted Aug 19, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Babe (1995) Malcolm Leigh On one level Babe is an excellent piece of knockabout animal farce. On another there is a modern morality tale in the telling.
Posted Jul 29, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Waterworld (1995) Joe Riley It's a comedy. Nay, a farce.
Posted Jul 28, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Class Action (1991) Lew Baxter No matter what Gene Hackman tackles, it always turns up trumps.
Posted Jul 22, 2025  Edit critic review
1/5
Navy SEALS (1990) Mike Chapple Not since "Who Dares Wins" has so much patriotic, gung-ho bull hit the screen.
Posted Jul 22, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) Joe Riley Inevitably, the temptation is to re-process comic situations of proven worth: The visual equivalent of the running gag. Maybe that's why the second film does not have the zany freshness of the first.
Posted Jul 22, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Red Rock West (1993) Joe Riley If you can cope with the twists then you'll enjoy the picture.
Posted Jul 15, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman: The Movie (1978) Tom Hutchinson Oh, yes. It's fun for some of the time. But for nearly 2.5 hours -- no. After that period you realise that the flying legend is becoming very earthbound indeed.
Posted Jul 08, 2025  Edit critic review
Superman III (1983) Mike Studley It's Richard Pryor, however, who all but steals the show with an eccentric performance as the likeable rogue who almost sends our hero to his doom.
Posted Jul 07, 2025  Edit critic review
Day of the Dead (1985) Mike Studley It is risible, revolting nonsense.
Posted Jun 25, 2025  Edit critic review
Apollo 13 (1995) Joe Riley Although a generation on we know the outcome of the drama, the voyage of Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon in re-creating the flight is so nail-bitingly tense as to make it the best thriller for light years.
Posted Jun 24, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Mission: Impossible (1996) Joe Riley There's only one problem for the film-makers; the cold war is over, making it ultra difficult to keep on contriving convincing plots. But when reason fails, there's always effect.
Posted May 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Funny Lady (1975) Tom Hutchinson Funny Lady is an American film musical that has gone wrong.
Posted Apr 24, 2025  Edit critic review
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) Tom Hutchinson In a real world of greyness it is enough to tell us that there are some values that are still white and black. Why is it so popular? Why will it make so much money? Because it tells us what we want to know.
Posted Apr 22, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Joe Riley ...the writing's infantile; the acting's okay; the effects and illusions are wonderful.
Posted Apr 16, 2025  Edit critic review
Brannigan (1975) Tom Hutchinson Douglas Hickox has directed it all with a good deal of pace.
Posted Apr 11, 2025  Edit critic review
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Felix Barker Discussion will rage for months to come around 2001: A Space Odyssey, which, for size, cost, imaginative brilliance and perplexity, is light years ahead of any space film yet made.
Posted Apr 09, 2025  Edit critic review
The Four Musketeers (1975) Tom Hutchinson The historical settings are meticulous and sumptuous and the pace is tight and efficient. A film to be seen for its spectacle, its jokes and its underlying message.
Posted Apr 01, 2025  Edit critic review
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Tom Hutchinson Much more disciplined than their first film and, therefore, more effective in gags which, however brutal, still manage to smartly crack the funnybone.
Posted Apr 01, 2025  Edit critic review
Barbarella (1968) Felix Barker I found it only too easy to withstand its casual eroticism.
Posted Feb 12, 2025  Edit critic review
Shampoo (1975) Tom Hutchinson When it is not so politically pretentious, Shampoo is bitchy and witty and, at all times, provocative.
Posted Feb 10, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Scream 2 (1997) Joe Riley It's a two pronged game of creeps and cretins, where the tingle factor relies on sudden bursts of hammy stock horror action, rather than any prolonged exploitation of tension.
Posted Feb 06, 2025  Edit critic review
Blue Velvet (1986) Mike Studley This might sound like the stuff of good potboilers are made of. But this is not mere melodrama. Lynch has that talent to disturb epitomised by Hitchcock.
Posted Jan 22, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Tarzan (1999) Joe Riley As a package it's skillfully devised and could only have been improved had someone dissuaded Phil Collins from chipping in every five minutes with a drum-heavy number.
Posted Dec 20, 2024  Edit critic review
4/5
Mulan (1998) Jackie Newton Mulan is pretty standard Disney-fare. But when you standards are as high as Disney's, who's to complain?
Posted Dec 19, 2024  Edit critic review
The Lion King (1994) Joe Riley Technically, it's a triumph for the expertise of 600 artists who have created a big screen adventure which fully exploits the very latest advances in computer graphics.
Posted Dec 19, 2024  Edit critic review
3/5
Pocahontas (1995) Jackie Newton The animation is attractive, the story fairly fast-moving, and the soundtrack adequate, but not distinguished. Yet somehow it lacks the endearing nature of past classics.
Posted Dec 17, 2024  Edit critic review
5/5
Beauty and the Beast (1991) Joe Riley Great songs and show routines give the whole concept a pace and a buzz which should turn it into a fave rave.
Posted Dec 16, 2024  Edit critic review
4/5
Scream (1996) Joe Riley Here is a high concept horror movie for the 90s. It'll shock you and rock you.
Posted Oct 12, 2024  Edit critic review
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) Joe Riley [Coppola] has turned a structured novel into a crazy roller-coaster of expensive effects in a failed attempt to serve up the thinking man's bucket of giblets.
Posted Sep 26, 2024  Edit critic review
Apocalypse Now (1979) Felix Barker Before I zap Francis Coppola for the most pretentiously silly ending ever put onto a brilliant film, let me dish out Congressional Medals of Honour to everyone concerned with Apocalypse Now.
Posted Sep 22, 2024  Edit critic review
4/5
Alien Resurrection (1997) Joe Riley As latest director Jean-Pierre Jeunet does his best to inject a little garlic into a tried and tested recipe, there is the added benefit of water: the creature has added swimming to its capabilities.
Posted Aug 06, 2024  Edit critic review
4/5
Alien 3 (1992) Joe Riley Once again, the squelching horror thrives in tunnels and shafts. The resultant effect from director David Fincher, making his feature film debut, is one of unrelenting claustrophobia.
Posted Aug 05, 2024  Edit critic review
5/5
Twister (1996) Jackie Newton This is a film to be experienced for its adrenaline boost and savoured for its cinematic beauty. And with the recent run of so-so movies, that should be enough for anyone.
Posted Jul 11, 2024  Edit critic review
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