A League of Their Own (1992)

Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.

Likable and mildly entertaining comedy drama with a slight feminist message is best when more focused on humor and the sport (and sport politics), but doesn't try to avoid sentimentality either; the stars help a lot, though.

Halliwell*: "A comedy that trundles along in a predictable fashion, settling for sentimentality rather than humour."

Maltin***: "Thoroughly entertaining comedy...Davis and Madonna stand out in a first-rate cast, with Hanks giving a terrific performance as the drunken ex-baseball star...Good-natured fiction that sheds light on a neglected chapter of real-life sports history."

Jurassic Park III (2001)

A decidedly odd couple with ulterior motives convince Dr. Alan Grant to go to Isla Sorna (the second InGen dinosaur lab.), resulting in an unexpected landing and unexpected new inhabitants on the island.

Moderately entertaining third part of the series, again the dinosaurs steal the show.

On rewatching: I still agree with my initial opinion about the dinosaurs; the movie is streamlined for straight entertainment and delivers, but offers nothing more.

Halliwell (no star): "Hectic chase movie that, jettisoning the slight intellectual content of the first two movies, concentrates on shocks and thrills, which it delivers effectively."

Maltin***: "Entertaining popcorn movie that takes a formula and plays it for all its worth...Full of scares, and lots of fun: proof that a thrill-ride type of movie doesn't have to be dumb...or overlong."

Deep Impact (1998)

Unless a comet can be destroyed before colliding with Earth, only those allowed into shelters will survive.

Mediocre and quite tedious doomsday movie that makes one long for the apocalypse - and disappoints in that aspect, too.



On renewed viewing: If you don't take it too seriously, the movie can be mildly entertaining.

Halliwell*: "Something of a feel-bad disaster movie, in which the world is almost destroyed, while the audience is slowly drowned in the sticky syrup of sentimentality. What is truly striking is the poverty of imagination: the end of all life is a theme worth more than the trivial psychodramas on display."

Maltin***: "Exciting yarn...Freeman is the rock-solid U.S. president, Duvall a veteran astronaut on a space mission to explode the comet; their authorative presence adds weight to this saga, while Leoni seems a bit of a flyweight as the ambitious TV newswoman who breaks the story."

Deep Impact (1998)

Unless a comet can be destroyed before colliding with Earth, only those allowed into shelters will survive.

Mediocre and quite tedious doomsday movie that makes one long for the apocalypse - and disappoints in that aspect, too.

Halliwell*: "Something of a feel-bad disaster movie, in which the world is almost destroyed, while the audience is slowly drowned in the sticky syrup of sentimentality. What is truly striking is the poverty of imagination: the end of all life is a theme worth more than the trivial psychodramas on display."

Maltin***: "Exciting yarn...Freeman is the rock-solid U.S. president, Duvall a veteran astronaut on a space mission to explode the comet; their authorative presence adds weight to this saga, while Leoni seems a bit of a flyweight as the ambitious TV newswoman who breaks the story."