Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert review five new movies and recommend a video. A split vote on
The Hard Way (1991). Both critics liked and disliked aspects of this self-satirizing cop-buddy movie, but only Ebert liked it well enough to recommend it. Two thumbs down for the allegorical
Closet Land (1991), a two-character piece that makes easy points in an obvious way. A split vote on the drug caper movie,
New Jack City (1991). Siskel thought it was too Hollywood and that it glamorized the drug life; Ebert disagrees on both counts and admired its grittiness. Two thumbs down for the bland and corny children's movie,
Shipwrecked (1990). Both critics found it old-fashioned in a bad way. Two thumbs up for the controversial Chinese drama,
Ju Dou (1990). Both were caught up in the simple story told with vibrant three-color Technicolor images. Roger Ebert's "Video Pick of the Week" is
Cinema Paradiso (1988).
—J. Spurlin