Critical round-up

FAR AND AWAY

'Ron Howard's Far and Away strains the credulity so far and so fast that there's almost nothing left of it within five minutes. The film lasts 140 minutes, which is a long time to hide under the seat for fear of damaging your brain cells . . . Shot, sometimes spectacularly, in Eastman Kodak's new 64mm stock, the film achieves a sweep that might be recommendable if it were not accompanied by a screenplay made up of cliches of equal dimension and a storyline of which Barbara Cartland might well have been proud.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian.

'If you like your history re-processed in Wishfulfilmentscope - and many do - Far and Away is for you.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times.

'Far and Away is a bland, misguided, well-upholstered bore.' Geoff Brown, Times.

'The storyline is the stuff of costumed soap, heavily perfumed with peat.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph.

NIGHT ON EARTH

'Night on Earth enriches its stories with a bouquet of passing pleasures, from Tom Waits's gravel voice singing on the soundtrack to the nocturnal photography of Frederick Elmes. Yet . . . the suspicion persists that Jarmusch is beginning to mark time, squeezing his themes and deadpan visuals into an easily digestible formula.' Geoff Brown, Times.

'At least a partially successful attempt to get away from that special kind of New York knowingness that sometimes renders his films untranslatable to those who aren't dyed-in- the-wool fans.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian.

'An affectionate, wittily observed celebration of individual oddity.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph.

'At two hours, Night on Earth may be too much of a good thing, but a good thing it undoubtedly is.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times.