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2/4
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Predator
(1987)
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Bob Ross
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The movie's sloppy plot and monosyllabic dialogue will make it a disappointment for more thoughtful types. But the advertisements make no pretensions. "Predator" is designed to elevate one's adrenalin, not one's intellect.
Posted Oct 31, 2025
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Stephen King's It
(1990)
|
Walt Belcher
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The special effects are wonderfully grim and gruesome -- for about three hours. But the climax is laughable.
Posted Oct 13, 2025
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3/4
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Casper
(1995)
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Bob Ross
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And just as we've grown accustomed to the weird effects, "Casper" shifts into its most sentimental story line, about loss and grief and faith. It sounds sappy, but so do all the other ghost movies that we've loved over the years.
Posted Oct 01, 2025
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3/4
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To Sleep With Anger
(1990)
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Bob Ross
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Although Glover provides drawing power, his colleagues here are equally satisfying to watch.
Posted Sep 25, 2025
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3/4
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Boogie Nights
(1997)
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Bob Ross
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This novelistic yarn runs a demanding, 2.5-hour course, but Anderson -- adequately imitating idols such as Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman -- makes it a trip worth taking.
Posted Sep 24, 2025
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4/4
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Toy Story
(1995)
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Bob Ross
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It takes more than cute voices and clever dialogue to make an outstanding cartoon, and director John Lasseter comes through in every frame with detailed delights.
Posted Sep 10, 2025
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3/4
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Darkman
(1990)
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Bob Ross
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Director Sam Raimi extends his range with "Darkman," an original tale that twists popular conventions into gleeful, gory knots.
Posted Aug 26, 2025
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3.5/4
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Requiem for a Dream
(2000)
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Bob Ross
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Yes, it's a brilliant film. No, it's not for the conventional Christmastime crowd. But if you thought "Trainspotting" went too easy on its addicts, you might find this relentless nightmare more to your liking.
Posted Aug 23, 2025
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3/4
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Babe
(1995)
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Bob Ross
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With its understated humor, amazing animatronics and vivid voice actors, "babe" easily rates as the year's most endearing live-action talking-animal movie.
Posted Jul 30, 2025
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3/4
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Pee-wee's Big Adventure
(1985)
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Walt Belcher
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It's silly stuff all the way with stunts, chases, a touch of animation here and there.
Posted Jul 30, 2025
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3.5/4
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The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
(1988)
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Bob Ross
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Warning: "The Naked Gun" will blast Magnum-size holes in your comic consciousness. That pain you feel will be your sides splitting.
Posted Jul 24, 2025
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The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear
(1991)
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Bob Ross
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So you had a rough day. The world's falling apart. Nobody cares. You need a tonic -- one that works without gin. Frank Drebin can help.
Posted Jul 22, 2025
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3/4
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Red Rock West
(1993)
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Bob Ross
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Director John Dahl turns this small-town tangle into a nifty noir chiller -- a dryly funny story about an honest man tangled in murderous cross-currents.
Posted Jul 15, 2025
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A
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Superman Returns
(2006)
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Bob Ross
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The effects are spectacular, the story's true to tradition and the guy in tights presents a perfect blend of superhuman strength and lovelorn vulnerability.
Posted Jul 08, 2025
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1.5/4
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Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
(1987)
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Bob Ross
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This one's co cheaply done that Superman has a blue-green aura whenever he "flies" past a matte, or painted background.
Posted Jul 02, 2025
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3/4
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Jurassic Park
(1993)
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Bob Ross
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Like the prehistoric animals it brings to uncanny screen life, Jurassic Park combines amazing appearance and astonishing mobility with a markedly dim intellect and a cold, reptilian heart.
Posted Jul 01, 2025
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3/4
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The Lost World: Jurassic Park
(1997)
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Bob Ross
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Despite its essential predictability, The Lost World delivers surprising details, amusing asides, reasonably well-defined characters and -- as if you didn't know -- an astonishing menagerie of not-so-extinct reptiles.
Posted Jun 28, 2025
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Supergirl
(1984)
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Walt Belcher
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The campy film mixes special effects with weak attempts at humor. Unfortunately, the sidekicks and villains are more interesting than the heroine.
Posted Jun 27, 2025
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C-
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Jurassic Park III
(2001)
|
Bob Ross
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A desultory sequel disguised as a thrill ride.
Posted Jun 25, 2025
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1.5/4
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Day of the Dead
(1985)
|
Bob Ross
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With its bloody, grim effects and its tongue-in-cheek plot turns, "Day of the Dead" is just what today's over-18 horror fans have been waiting for. Everyone else: You've been warned.
Posted Jun 25, 2025
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Day of the Dead
(1985)
|
Walt Belcher
|
It should have been titled "Day of the Dud."
Posted Jun 25, 2025
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4/4
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Apollo 13
(1995)
|
Bob Ross
|
Apollo 13 might make you wonder why space exploration is no longer a high national priority. It will certainly bring a lump of wholesome pride to your throat.
Posted Jun 24, 2025
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2.5/4
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Child's Play
(1988)
|
Bob Ross
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Brad Dourif, a veteran at demented characterizations, is amusing and chilling as the dying Chucky and the creepy doll's voice.
Posted Jun 06, 2025
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2/4
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Final Destination
(2000)
|
Bob Ross
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Catch camera work and attractive actors can't salvage a story that seldom rises above the scary-campfire level.
Posted May 22, 2025
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B-
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Mission: Impossible III
(2006)
|
Bob Ross
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Nearly every plot point in "Mission: Impossible III" stems from a major gaffe, from a botched rescue to a failed kidnapping...But that's what makes for excitement in this era of overdone effects and audio overkill.
Posted May 21, 2025
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2.5/4
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Fandango
(1985)
|
Bob Ross
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A charming, almost naive comedy about confused young men in transition, "Fandango" lacks the slapstick sexuality that sells missions of tickets. That doesn't mean it's not funny.
Posted May 19, 2025
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2/4
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Dirty Work
(1998)
|
Bob Ross
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Low-brow humor has its place, and "Dirty Work" should have clean up in that category.
Posted May 15, 2025
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Mission: Impossible II
(2000)
|
Bob Ross
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Overkill is part of Woo's cinematic trip. His Cruise control is locked on full throttle.
Posted May 08, 2025
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2.5/4
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Mission: Impossible
(1996)
|
Bob Ross
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Hand-to-hand combat sequences will provide enough action to help audiences overlook lapses in logic.
Posted May 06, 2025
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Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
(1984)
|
Walt Belcher
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It's long on action, short on characterizations (no pun intended).
Posted Apr 28, 2025
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Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
(1985)
|
Walt Belcher
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This film alternates between being too violent and too boring. And when it isn't violent, it tries to be sugary sweet.
Posted Apr 26, 2025
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3.5/4
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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
(1983)
|
Bob Ross
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Fourteen years later, it's still a galaxy-rocking showdown.
Posted Apr 25, 2025
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3.5/4
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Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
(1980)
|
Bob Ross
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Do you have to catch the middle movie to appreciate the first and last ones? Not really. But this transitional chapter packs the most powerful psychological punches.
Posted Apr 23, 2025
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B-
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Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
(2002)
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Bob Ross
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More technological triumph than earth-shattering story, it's still summery, PG-rated fare that does not betray the franchise.
Posted Apr 22, 2025
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Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
(2005)
|
Bob Ross
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Putting more energy, emotion and imagination on-screen than he has in 25 years, George Lucas completes his Star Wars double trilogy with visual triumph and mythic tragedy.
Posted Apr 22, 2025
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4/4
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Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
(1977)
|
Bob Ross
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Don't get bogged down in digital effects and surround sound. Star Wars was and is a rip-roaring, tongue-in-cheek space western, with characters you have to love -- except for the villain you love to hate.
Posted Apr 22, 2025
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2/4
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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
(1999)
|
Bob Ross
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Despite some awesome effects and cleverly crafted creatures, "The Phantom Menace" is merely a ghost of a space epic, a hint of a myth in the making.
Posted Apr 16, 2025
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3.5/4
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The Wedding Banquet
(1993)
|
Bob Ross
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Writer-director Ang Lee is full of pleasant surprises.
Posted Apr 15, 2025
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2/4
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American Psycho
(2000)
|
Bob Ross
|
"American Psycho" emerges as a faintly funny echo of a nearly forgotten time.
Posted Apr 04, 2025
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3.5/4
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Do the Right Thing
(1989)
|
Bob Ross
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Tightly wound, crammed with eccentric characters and written as a brilliant blend of detail and ambiguity, "Do the Right Thing: establishes Spike Lee as a major American film maker.
Posted Mar 21, 2025
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2/4
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Back to School
(1986)
|
Bob Ross
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A feature-length skit custom-tailored for its star, "Back to School" will keep Rodney Dangerfield's fans giggling at his predictable antics and rude one-liners.
Posted Feb 27, 2025
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2.5/4
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Scream 3
(2000)
|
Bob Ross
|
Still, it's a Scream that proclaims pop culture as the politics of the new century, and that's the kind of cutting remark worth remembering.
Posted Feb 20, 2025
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2.5/4
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Scream 2
(1997)
|
Bob Ross
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Director Wes Craven hops nimbly from mayhem to merriment, which keeps the action as lively as it is silly.
Posted Feb 06, 2025
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3/4
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Blue Velvet
(1986)
|
Bob Ross
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Disconcerting, disagreeable and at times disgusting, Blue Velvet is nonetheless a mesmerizing piece of work that challenges one's notions of what cinema can be.
Posted Jan 22, 2025
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Tarzan
(1999)
|
Bob Ross
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For their first jungle foray since The Lion King, the folks at the Mouse House have drawn a dense, dramatic environment that rumbles with G-rated menace and cool-looking creatures. The artwork is the star of this lush retelling.
Posted Dec 20, 2024
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3.5/4
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Mulan
(1998)
|
Bob Ross
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Boasting the most imaginative animation since Beauty and the Beast, the most comical sidekick since Aladdin and the most adorable heroine since The Little Mermaid, Mulan mocks macho posturing even as it glories the armed defense of one's homeland.
Posted Dec 20, 2024
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2.5/4
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The Lion King
(1994)
|
Bob Ross
|
This is not Beauty and the Beast, or Aladdin, it's not even as moving or tuneful as The Little Mermaid.
Posted Dec 19, 2024
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4/4
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Hercules
(1997)
|
Bob Ross
|
The funniest, most fascinating of Disney animation since -- well, pick your favorite.
Posted Dec 18, 2024
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3.5/4
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1996)
|
Bob Ross
|
This exceptionally inventive movie mixes a timely message into its broad comedy, triumphant music and daring animation.
Posted Dec 18, 2024
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3/4
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Pocahontas
(1995)
|
Bob Ross
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With its semi-historical characters, gloriously drawn backgrounds and Broadway-style tunes, Pocahontas contributes much more than tie-in merchandise to the '95 movie season.
Posted Dec 17, 2024
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