label,cleaned_text 3, The Rock is destined to be the st Century 's new Conan '' and that he 's going to make a splash even greater than Arnold Schwarzenegger JeanClaud Van Damme or Steven Segal 4, The gorgeously elaborate continuation of The Lord of the Rings '' trilogy is so huge that a column of words can not adequately describe cowriter\/director Peter Jackson 's expanded vision of JRR Tolkien 's Middleearth 3, Singer\/composer Bryan Adams contributes a slew of songs a few potential hits a few more simply intrusive to the story but the whole package certainly captures the intended er spirit of the piece 2, You 'd think by now America would have had enough of plucky British eccentrics with hearts of gold 3, Yet the act is still charming here 4, Whether or not you 're enlightened by any of Derrida 's lectures on the other '' and the self '' Derrida is an undeniably fascinating and playful fellow 4, Just the labour involved in creating the layered richness of the imagery in this chiaroscuro of madness and light is astonishing 3, Part of the charm of Satin Rouge is that it avoids the obvious with humour and lightness 4, a screenplay more ingeniously constructed than Memento '' 3, Extreme Ops '' exceeds expectations 4, Good fun good action good acting good dialogue good pace good cinematography 2, You Should Pay Nine Bucks for This Because you can hear about suffering Afghan refugees on the news and still be unaffected 4, Dramas like this make it human 2, A thunderous ride at first quiet cadences of pure finesse are few and far between their shortage dilutes the potency of otherwise respectable action 4, Still this flick is fun and host to some truly excellent sequences 3, Australian actor\/director John Polson and awardwinning English cinematographer Giles Nuttgens make a terrific effort at disguising the obvious with energy and innovation 3, You walk out of The Good Girl with mixed emotions disapproval of Justine combined with a tinge of understanding for her actions 2, Post \/ the philosophical message of Personal Freedom First '' might not be as palatable as intended 4, Absorbing character study by André Turpin 3, If you love reading and\/or poetry then by all means check it out 4, You 'll probably love it 3, Frailty '' has been written so well that even a simple Goddammit '' 2, near the end takes on a whole other meaning 4, Grenier is terrific bringing an unforced rapidfire delivery to Toback 's Heidegger and Nietzschereferencing dialogue 2, The Sundance Film Festival has become so buzzobsessed that fans and producers descend upon Utah each January to ferret out The Next Great Thing 2, Tadpole ' was one of the films so declared this year but it 's really more of The Next Pretty Good Thing 4, The actors are fantastic 3, They are what makes it worth the trip to the theatre 4, LRB Taymor RRB utilizes the idea of making Kahlo 's art a living breathing part of the movie often catapulting the artist into her own work 1, This is n't a new idea 4, It 's been done before but never so vividly or with so much passion 3, LRB Take Care of My Cat '' RRB is an honestly nice little film that takes us on an examination of young adult life in urban South Korea through the hearts and minds of the five principals 2, It 's not lifeaffirming its vulgar and mean but I liked it 3, What Empire '' lacks in depth it makes up for with its heart 4, Light silly photographed with colour and depth and rather a good time 3, But tongueincheek preposterousness has always been part of For the most part Wilde 's droll whimsy helps Being Earnest '' overcome its weaknesses and Parker 's creative interference 3, Much of the movie 's charm lies in the utter cuteness of Stuart and Margolo 3, Their computeranimated faces are very expressive 2, The path Ice Age follows most closely though is the one established by Warner Bros giant Chuck Jones who died a matter of weeks before the movie 's release 3, spiced with humor LRB ' I speak fluent flatula ' advises Denlopp after a rather er bubbly exchange with an alien deckhand RRB and witty updatings LRB Silver 's parrot has been replaced with Morph a cute alien creature who mimics everyone and everything around RRB 3, There 's an energy to Y Tu Mamá También 4, Much of it comes from the brave uninhibited performances by its lead actors 2, Conversations '' holds its goodwill close but is relatively slow to come to the point 3, Auto Focus '' works as an unusual biopic and document of male swingers in the Playboy era 2, If Mr Zhang 's subject matter is to some degree at least quintessentially American his approach to storytelling might be called Iranian 0, a sour little movie at its core an exploration of the emptiness that underlay the relentless gaiety of the 's The film 's ending has a What was it all for '' 3, feeling to it but like the 's the trip there is a great deal of fun 3, Cremaster '' should come with the warning For serious film buffs only '' 1, Made me unintentionally famous as the queasystomached critic who staggered from the theater and blacked out in the lobby 4, But believe it or not it 's one of the most beautiful evocative works I 've seen 3, García Bernal and Talancón are an immensely appealing couple and even though their story is predictable you 'll want things to work out 4, a spoof comedy that carries its share of laughs sometimes a chuckle sometimes a guffaw and to my great pleasure the occasional belly laugh 3, LRB City RRB reminds us how realistically nuanced a Robert De Niro performance can be when he is not more lucratively engaged in the shameless selfcaricature of Analyze This ' LRB RRB and Analyze That ' promised LRB or threatened RRB for later this year 4, The wanton slipperiness of \* Corpus and its amiable jerking and reshaping of physical time and space would make it a great piece to watch with kids and use to introduce video as art 4, Frailty '' starts out like a typical Bible killer story but it turns out to be significantly different LRB and better RRB than most films with this theme 4, For those who pride themselves on sophisticated discerning taste this might not seem like the proper cup of tea however it is almost guaranteed that even the stuffiest cinema goers will laugh their \*\*\* off for an hourandahalf 4, It cuts to the core of what it actually means to face your fears to be a girl in a world of boys to be a boy truly in love with a girl and to ride the big metaphorical wave that is life wherever it takes you 3, A welcome relief from baseball movies that try too hard to be mythic this one is a sweet and modest and ultimately winning story 3, A crisp psychological drama LRB and RRB a fascinating little thriller that would have been perfect for an old Twilight Zone '' episode 3, It has more than a few moments that are insightful enough to be fondly remembered in the endlessly challenging maze of moviegoing 2, Opening with some contrived banter cliches and some loose ends the screenplay only comes into its own in the second half 3, An uncluttered resonant gem that relays its universal points without lectures or confrontations ' 3, LRB The Cockettes RRB provides a window into a subculture hellbent on expressing itself in every way imaginable ' 3, A smart steamy mix of road movie comingofage story and political satire 1, The modernday royals have nothing on these guys when it comes to scandals 1, It 's only in fairy tales that princesses that are married for political reason live happily ever after 4, A terrific B movie in fact the best in recent memory 3, Birthday Girl '' is an actor 's movie first and foremost 4, I walked away from this new version of ET just as I hoped I would with moist eyes 4, For devotees of French cinema Safe Conduct is so rich with period minutiae it 's like dying and going to celluloid heaven 3, What 's really so appealing about the characters is their resemblance to everyday children 2, Shamelessly resorting to peerelated sight gags that might even cause Tom Green a grimace still Myer 's energy and the silliness of it all eventually prevail 1, An absurdist spider web 3, If you 're as happy listening to movies as you are watching them and the slow parade of human frailty fascinates you then you 're at the right film 2, This version moves beyond the original 's nostalgia for the communal film experiences of yesteryear to a deeper realization of cinema 's inability to stand in for true lived experience 2, Some movies blend together as they become distant memories 3, Mention Solaris '' five years from now and I 'm sure those who saw it will have an opinion to share 4, Allen 's funniest and most likeable movie in years 4, It 's a glorious spectacle like those DW Griffith made in the early days of silent film 4, This comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative 4, More timely than its director could ever have dreamed this quietly lyrical tale probes the ambiguous welcome extended by Iran to the Afghani refugees who streamed across its borders desperate for work and food 3, The leaping story line shaped by director Peter Kosminsky into sharp slivers and cutting impressions shows all the signs of rich detail condensed into a few evocative images and striking character traits 2, With three excellent principal singers a youthful and goodlooking diva and tenor and richly handsome locations it 's enough to make you wish Jacquot had left well enough alone and just filmed the opera without all these distortions of perspective 4, The production has been made with an enormous amount of affection so we believe these characters love each other 3, Certainly the performances are worthwhile 3, Winds up being both revelatory and narcissistic achieving some honest insight into relationships that most highconcept films candycoat with pat storylines precious circumstances and beautiful stars 4, Watching these eccentrics is both inspiring and pure joy 4, Steven Spielberg brings us another masterpiece 3, Finally the Frenchproduced Read My Lips '' is a movie that understands characters must come first 4, Ms Seigner and Mr Serrault bring fresh unforced naturalism to their characters 3, Allen shows he can outgag any of those young whippersnappers making moving pictures today 3, A good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and more specifically behind the camera 1, By no means a slamdunk and sure to ultimately disappoint the action fans who will be moved to the edge of their seats by the dynamic first act it still comes off as a touching transcendent love story 4, I encourage young and old alike to go see this unique and entertaining twist on the classic whale 's tale you wo n't be sorry 3, A literary detective story is still a detective story and aficionados of the whodunit wo n't be disappointed 3, High Crimes steals so freely from other movies and combines enough disparate types of films that it ca n't help but engage an audience 4, If you 're a fan of the series you 'll love it and probably want to see it twice 3, I will be 3, It celebrates the group 's playful spark of nonconformity glancing vividly back at what Hibiscus grandly called his angels of light ' 4, The story is inspiring ironic and revelatory of just how ridiculous and moneyoriented the record industry really is 3, It is also a testament to the integrity and vision of the band 4, Laced with liberal doses of dark humor gorgeous exterior photography and a stablefull of solid performances No Such Thing is a fascinating little tale 3, Huppert 's show to steal and she makes a meal of it channeling Kathy Baker 's creepy turn as the repressed mother on Boston Public just as much as Women 's Augustine 3, Nair does n't treat the issues lightly 3, She allows each character to confront their problems openly and honestly 4, One of the best silly horror movies of recent memory with some real shocks in store for unwary viewers 3, The work of a filmmaker who has secrets buried at the heart of his story and knows how to take time revealing them 3, Strange occurrences build in the mind of the viewer and take on extreme urgency 3, Has a certain ghoulish fascination and generates a fair amount of Bmovie excitement 3, Familiar but utterly delightful 3, A fascinating dark thriller that keeps you hooked on the delicious pulpiness of its lurid fiction 3, The film aims to be funny uplifting and moving sometimes all at once 3, The extent to which it succeeds is impressive 4, The film brilliantly shines on all the characters as the direction is intelligently accomplished 3, While not for every taste this often very funny collegiate grossout comedy goes a long way toward restoring the luster of the National Lampoon film franchise too long reduced to directtovideo irrelevancy 3, As broad and cartoonish as the screenplay is there is an accuracy of observation in the work of the director Frank Novak that keeps the film grounded in an undeniable social realism 4, In addition to Hoffman 's powerful acting clinic this is that rare drama that offers a thoughtful and rewarding glimpse into the sort of heartache everyone has felt or will feel someday 4, Jeffrey Tambor 's performance as the intelligent jazzplaying exterminator is Oscarworthy 3, From the opening strains of the Average White Band 's Pick up the Pieces '' you can feel the love 3, Stevens ' vibrant creative instincts are the difference between this and countless other flicks about guys and dolls 3, that it 'll probably be the best and most mature comedy of the summer season speaks more of the season than the picture 2, Old people will love this movie and I mean that in the nicest possible way Last Orders will touch the heart of anyone old enough to have earned a year friendship 3, Meyjes ' provocative film might be called an example of the haphazardness of evil 2, Tian emphasizes the isolation of these characters by confining color to Liyan 's backyard 3, The movie is pretty funny now and then without in any way demeaning its subjects 3, imagine a scenario where Bergman approaches Swedish fatalism using Gary Larson 's Far Side humor 3, Too damn weird to pass up and for the blacklight crowd way cheaper LRB and better RRB than Pink Floyd tickets 4, It is most remarkable not because of its epic scope but because of the startling intimacy it achieves despite that breadth 1, It 's not a great monster movie 2, But if you 've paid a matinee price and bought a big tub of popcorn there 's guilty fun to be had here 2, Chomp chomp 2, The Grey Zone gives voice to a story that needs to be heard in the sea of Holocaust movies but the film suffers from its own difficulties 4, Others more attuned to the anarchist maxim that the urge to destroy is also a creative urge ' or more willing to see with their own eyes will find Morrison 's iconoclastic uses of technology to be liberating 3, Miller tells this very compelling tale with little fuss or noise expertly plucking tension from quiet 3, Time Out is existential drama without any of the pretension associated with the term 3, It 's a sweet laughaminute crowd pleaser that lifts your spirits as well as the corners of your mouth 3, Writer\/director Alexander Payne LRB Election RRB and his cowriter Jim Taylor brilliantly employ their quirky and fearless ability to look American angst in the eye and end up laughing 2, A movie that at its best does n't just make the most out of its characters ' flaws but insists on the virtue of imperfection 4, It 's tough to watch but it 's a fantastic movie 4, The best animated feature to hit theaters since Beauty and the Beast years ago 3, What saves this deeply affecting film from being merely a collection of wrenching cases is Corcuera 's attention to detail 4, Pacino is the best he 's been in years and Keener is marvelous 3, A solid spooky entertainment worthy of the price of a ticket 3, By turns fanciful grisly and engagingly quixotic 4, very funny very enjoyable 3, Adaptation is intricately constructed and in a strange way nails all of Orlean 's themes without being a true adaptation of her book 3, So purely enjoyable that you might not even notice it 's a fairly straightforward remake of Hollywood comedies such as Father of the Bride 3, Moonlight Mile gives itself the freedom to feel contradictory things 4, It is sentimental but feels free to offend is analytical and then surrenders to the illogic of its characters is about grief and yet permits laughter 3, The real triumphs in Igby come from Philippe who makes Oliver far more interesting than the character 's lines would suggest and Sarandon who could n't be better as a cruel but weirdly likable WASP matron 3, Robin Williams has thankfully ditched the saccharine sentimentality of Bicentennial Man in favour of an altogether darker side 3, If you 're willing to have fun with it you wo n't feel cheated by the high infidelity of Unfaithful 3, Australia Land Beyond Time is an enjoyable Big Movie primarily because Australia is a weirdly beautiful place 3, Hoffman 's performance is authentic to the core of his being 3, Told just proficiently enough to trounce its overly comfortable trappings 4, An enthralling aesthetic experience one that 's steeped in mystery and a ravishing baroque beauty 4, The quirky drama touches the heart and the funnybone thanks to the energetic and always surprising performance by Rachel Griffiths 4, A captivating comingofage story that may also be the first narrative film to be truly informed by the wireless age 3, What could have been a daytime soap opera is actually a compelling look at a young woman 's tragic odyssey 4, Duvall is strong as always 4, A noholdsbarred cinematic treat 3, You 'd have to be a most hardhearted person not to be moved by this drama 3, Allen 's underestimated charm delivers more goodies than lumps of coal 4, Measured against practically any likethemed film other than its Oscarsweeping franchise predecessor The Silence of the Lambs Red Dragon rates as an exceptional thriller 2, An exhilarating serving of movie fluff 4, Maelstrom is strange and compelling engrossing and different a moral tale with a twisted sense of humor 3, It makes you believe the cast and crew thoroughly enjoyed themselves and believed in their smallbudget film 2, Dark and disturbing yet compelling to watch 1, Too often Son of the Bride becomes an exercise in trying to predict when a preordained big moment '' will occur and not if '' 3, The picture uses humor and a heartfelt conviction to tell a story about discovering your destination in life but also acknowledging the places and the people from whence you came 2, A solid piece of journalistic work that draws a picture of a man for whom political expedience became a deadly foreign policy 3, A terrific insider look at the starmaking machinery of tinseltown 3, It 's a diverting enough hourandahalf for the family audience 1, A partyhearty teen flick that scalds like acid 4, As giddy and whimsical and relevant today as it was years ago 4, The film offers an intriguing whatif premise 3, The Pianist is the film Roman Polanski may have been born to make 3, This version does justice both to Stevenson and to the scifi genre 3, Poignant and delicately complex 3, Enough may pander to our basest desires for payback but unlike many revenge fantasies it ultimately delivers 3, Cho 's latest comic set is n't as sharp or as fresh as I 'm the One That I Want but it 's still damn funny stuff 3, In The Pianist Polanski is saying what he has long wanted to say confronting the roots of his own preoccupations and obsessions and he allows nothing to get in the way 3, Despite the film 's shortcomings the stories are quietly moving 2, Those who love Cinema Paradiso will find the new scenes interesting but few will find the movie improved 3, If you come from a family that eats meddles argues laughs kibbitzes and fights together then go see this delightful comedy 3, This bracingly truthful antidote to Hollywood teenage movies that slather Clearasil over the blemishes of youth captures the combustible mixture of a chafing inner loneliness and desperate grandiosity that tend to characterize puberty 2, The reason to see Sade '' lay with the chemistry and complex relationship between the marquis LRB Auteil RRB and Emilie LRB Le Besco RRB 3, It 's the filmmakers ' postcamp comprehension of what made oldtime B movies goodbad that makes Eight Legged Freaks a perfectly entertaining summer diversion 3, The film 's strength is n't in its details but in the larger picture it paints of a culture in conflict with itself with the thin veneer of nationalism that covers our deepest mediasoaked fears 2, best seen as speculative history as much an exploration of the paranoid impulse as a creative sequel to the Warren Report 3, It has its faults but it is a kind unapologetic sweetheart of a movie and Mandy Moore leaves a positive impression 3, The Saigon of is an uneasy mix of sensual delights and simmering violence and The Quiet American brings us right into the center of that world 3, Despite its shortcomings Girls Ca n't Swim represents an engaging and intimate first feature by a talented director to watch and it 's a worthy entry in the French comingofage genre 2, Flawed but worth seeing for Ambrose 's performance 4, With Dirty Deeds David Caesar has stepped into the mainstream of filmmaking with an assurance worthy of international acclaim and with every cinematic tool well under his control driven by a natural sense for what works on screen 3, The humor and humanity of Monsoon Wedding are in perfect balance 1, Lookin ' for sin Americanstyle 2, Try Hell House which documents the cautionary Christian spookarama of the same name 4, A compelling motion picture that illustrates an American tragedy 3, As comedic spotlights go Notorious CHO hits all the verbal marks it should 3, It 's a day at the beach with air conditioning and popcorn 1, Frida is n't that much different from many a Hollywood romance 3, What sets it apart is the vision that Taymor the avant garde director of Broadway 's The Lion King and the film Titus brings 4, Stevens has a flair for dialogue comedy the film operates nicely off the element of surprise and the large cast is solid 4, Extremely well acted by the four primary actors this is a seriously intended movie that is not easily forgotten 3, The film exudes the urbane sweetness that Woody Allen seems to have bitterly forsaken 3, K The Widowmaker is derivative overlong and bombastic yet surprisingly entertaining 3, It 's good hardedged stuff violent and a bit exploitative but also nicely done morally alert and streetsmart 3, Cineasts will revel in those visual injokes as in the film 's verbal pokes at everything from the likes of Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein 's bluff personal style to the stylistic rigors of Denmark 's Dogma movement 3, It 's a rare window on an artistic collaboration 1, begins with promise but runs aground after being snared in its own tangled plot 4, Perhaps the best sports movie I 've ever seen 4, Cho 's timing is priceless 2, creates a visceral sense of its characters ' lives and conflicted emotions that carries it far above what could have been a melodramatic Lifetime Channelstyle anthology 4, A sensitive moving brilliantly constructed work 3, An edgy thriller that delivers a surprising punch 3, A reasonably entertaining sequel to 's surprise family hit that may strain adult credibility 3, LRB Reno RRB delivers a monologue that manages to incorporate both the horror and the absurdity of the situation in a wellbalanced fashion 3, there is truth here 4, a confident richly acted emotionally devastating piece of work and 's first great film 3, A touching smallscale story of family responsibility and care in the community 4, Arteta directs one of the best ensemble casts of the year 3, The casting of von Sydow is itself Intacto 's luckiest stroke 3, No it 's not as singleminded as John Carpenter 's original but it 's sure a lot smarter and more unnerving than the sequels 4, A gem of a romantic crime comedy that turns out to be clever amusing and unpredictable 4, Stands as one of the year 's most intriguing movie experiences letting its imagery speak for it while it forces you to ponder anew what a movie can be 4, the first \/ of the film are incredibly captivating and insanely funny thanks in part to interesting cinematic devices LRB cool visual backmasking RRB a solid cast and some wickedly sick and twisted humor 3, This movie got me grinning 3, There 's a part of us that can not help be entertained by the sight of someone getting away with something 3, An oldfashioned drama of substance about a teacher 's slide down the slippery slope of dishonesty after an encounter with the rich and the powerful who have nothing but disdain for virtue 3, What 's not to like about a movie with a children 's ' song that includes the line My stepdad 's not mean he 's just adjusting ' 2, This Englishlanguage version does full honor to Miyazaki 's teeming and often unsettling landscape and to the conflicted complexity of his characters 3, The pleasures that it does afford may be enough to keep many moviegoers occupied amidst some of the more seriousminded concerns of other yearend movies 3, Not everyone will welcome or accept The Trials of Henry Kissinger as faithful portraiture but few can argue that the debate it joins is a necessary and timely one 3, There are no special effects and no Hollywood endings 3, Like the original this version is raised a few notches above kiddie fantasy pablum by Allen 's astringent wit 1, Despite its Hawaiian setting the sciencefiction trimmings and some moments of rowdy slapstick the basic plot of Lilo '' could have been pulled from a tearstained vintage Shirley Temple script 2, A brutally honest documentary about a much anticipated family reunion that goes wrong thanks to culture shock and a refusal to empathize with others 4, Filled with honest performances and exceptional detail Baran is a gentle film with dramatic punch a haunting ode to humanity 2, Sparkles in its deft portrait of Tinseltown 's seasoned veterans of gossip wealth paranoia and celebrityhood 3, In its dry and forceful way it delivers the same message as Jiri Menzel 's Closely Watched Trains and Danis Tanovic 's No Man 's Land 4, a triumph of emotionally and narratively complex filmmaking 2, LRB Haynes ' RRB homage to such films as All That Heaven Allows '' and Imitation of Life '' transcends them 4, Simply put Far From Heaven '' is a masterpiece 3, An intense and effective film about loneliness and the chilly anonymity of the environments where so many of us spend so much of our time 1, Although fairly involving as far as it goes the film does n't end up having much that is fresh to say about growing up Catholic or really anything 2, Proves mainly that South Korean filmmakers can make undemanding action movies with all the alacrity of their Hollywood counterparts 3, A very funny romantic comedy about two skittish New York middleagers who stumble into a relationship and then struggle furiously with their fears and foibles 4, Topnotch action powers this romantic drama 3, Beresford nicely mixes in as much humor as pathos to take us on his sentimental journey of the heart 3, It really is a shame that more wo n't get an opportunity to embrace small sweet Evelyn ' 4, I stopped thinking about how good it all was and started doing nothing but reacting to it feeling a part of its grand locations thinking urgently as the protagonists struggled feeling at the mercy of its inventiveness gasping at its visual delights 3, Probably the best case for Christianity since Chesterton and Lewis 3, A gently funny sweetly adventurous film that makes you feel genuinely good that is to say entirely unconned by false sentiment or sharp overmanipulative Hollywood practices 3, Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultraprovincial New Yorker if yearold Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character Melanie Carmichael with a massive infusion of oldfashioned Hollywood magic 3, Visually fascinating an often intense character study about fathers and sons loyalty and duty 3, A lyrical metaphor for cultural and personal selfdiscovery and a picaresque view of a littleremembered world 3, Schütte 's dramatic snapshot of the artist three days before his death offers an interesting bit of speculation as to the issues Brecht faced as his life drew to a close 4, A slick engrossing melodrama 3, SMNE 's satire is not subtle but it is effective 3, It 's a quirky offbeat project 1, While some will object to the idea of a Vietnam picture with such a rahrah patriotic tone Soldiers ultimately achieves its main strategic objective dramatizing the human cost of the conflict that came to define a generation 3, Even if you do n't know the band or the album 's songs by heart you will enjoy seeing how both evolve and you will also learn a good deal about the state of the music business in the st Century 4, The solid filmmaking and convincing characters makes this a high water mark for this genre 3, Films about loss grief and recovery are pretty valuable these days 3, Seen in that light Moonlight Mile should strike a nerve in many 4, It 's endlessly inventive consistently intelligent and sickeningly savage 4, It is definitely worth seeing 3, An impeccable study in perversity 3, Far From Heaven is a dazzling conceptual feat but more than that it 's a work of enthralling drama 4, A movie that both thrills the eye and in its overthetop way touches the heart 3, Stuffed to the brim with ideas American instigator Michael Moore 's film is a rambling examination of American gun culture that uses his usual modus operandi of crucifixion through juxtaposition 3, Affectionately reminds us that in any language the huge stuff in life can usually be traced back to the little things 2, A drama of great power yet some members of the audience will leave the theater believing they have seen a comedy 4, The largeframe IMAX camera lends itself beautifully to filming the teeming life on the reefs making this gorgeous film a must for everyone from junior scientists to grownup fish lovers 2, The result is more depressing than liberating but it 's never boring 3, A story about intelligent high school students that deals with first love sweetly but also seriously 4, It is also beautifully acted 2, It is n't that the picture is unfamiliar but that it manages to find new avenues of discourse on old problems 2, Same song second verse coulda been better but it coulda been worse 4, It 's a technically superb film shining with all the usual Spielberg flair expertly utilizing the talents of his topnotch creative team 3, Wilco fans will have a great time and the movie should win the band a few new converts too 3, Tsai has a welldeserved reputation as one of the cinema world 's great visual stylists and in this film every shot enhances the excellent performances 2, The date movie that Franz Kafka would have made 3, The fact is that the screen is most alive when it seems most likely that Broomfield 's interviewees or even himself will not be for much longer 4, Leguizamo and Jones are both excellent and the rest of the cast is uniformly superb 3, I liked this film a lot 3, there is enough originality in Life ' to distance it from the pack of paintbynumber romantic comedies that so often end up on cinema screens 4, A solid and refined piece of moviemaking imbued with passion and attitude 3, Nettelbeck has crafted an engaging fantasy of flavours and emotions one part romance novel one part recipe book 4, With or without the sex a wonderful tale of love and destiny told well by a master storyteller 3, On the surface a silly comedy Scotland PA would be forgettable if it were n't such a clever adaptation of the bard 's tragic play 3, A weird arresting little ride 2, A fine film but it would be a lot better if it stuck to Betty Fisher and left out the other stories 4, A firstclass road movie that proves you can run away from home but your ego and all your problems go with you 1, You might want to take a reality check before you pay the full ticket price to see Simone '' and consider a DVD rental instead 4, Well cast and well directed a powerful drama with enough sardonic wit to keep it from being maudlin 4, A backstage mustsee for true fans of comedy 3, There 's backstabbing interracial desire and most importantly singing and dancing 3, The film sounds like the stuff of lurid melodrama but what makes it interesting as a character study is the fact that the story is told from Paul 's perspective 4, Jones makes a great impression as the writerdirector of this little $ million charmer which may not be cuttingedge indie filmmaking but has a huge heart 3, In the disturbingly involving family dysfunctional drama How I Killed My Father French director Anne Fontaine delivers an inspired portrait of maleridden angst and the emotional blockage that accompanies this human condition 3, Below may not mark Mr Twohy 's emergence into the mainstream but his promise remains undiminished 4, There 's no reason to miss Interview with the Assassin 4, Happily stays close to the ground in a spare and simple manner and does n't pummel us with phony imagery or music 3, Its sheer dynamism is infectious 3, For his first attempt at film noir Spielberg presents a fascinating but flawed look at the near future 2, it somehow managed to make its way past my crappola radar and find a small place in my heart 4, Perhaps it 's cliche to call the film refreshing ' but it is 4, Drumline ' shows a level of young Black manhood that is funny touching smart and complicated 3, It does give a taste of the Burning Man ethos an appealing blend of countercultural idealism and hedonistic creativity 2, The limited sets and small confined and dark spaces also are homages to a classic lowbudget film noir movie 1, The movie is well done but slow 4, LRB A RRB wonderfully loopy tale of love longing and voting 3, The fascination comes in the power of the Huston performance which seems so larger than life and yet so fragile and in the way the Ivan character accepts the news of his illness so quickly but still finds himself unable to react 3, The last scenes of the film are anguished bitter and truthful 4, Mr Koshashvili is a director to watch 3, Predictable storyline and bythebook scripting is all but washed away by sumptuous ocean visuals and the cinematic stylings of director John Stockwell 3, Antwone Fisher certainly does the trick of making us care about its protagonist and celebrate his victories but with few exceptions it rarely stoops to cheap manipulation or corny conventions to do it 3, One feels the dimming of a certain ambition but in its place a sweetness clarity and emotional openness that recalls the classics of early Italian neorealism 3, It challenges this nervy oddity like modern art should 3, Whenever you think you 've figured out Late Marriage it throws you for a loop 4, The Pianist is Polanski 's best film 2, It is a testament of quiet endurance of common concern of reconciled survival 1, This Orange has some juice but it 's far from freshsqueezed 3, A sensitive modest comic tragedy that works as both character study and symbolic examination of the huge economic changes sweeping modern China 2, High Crimes knows the mistakes that bad movies make and is determined not to make them and maybe that is nobility of a sort 4, Cusack 's just brilliant in this 4, Knows how to make our imagination wonder 3, Jaeeun Jeong 's Take Care of My Cat brings a beguiling freshness to a comingofage story with such a buoyant expressive flow of images that it emerges as another key contribution to the flowering of the South Korean cinema 4, The overall fabric is hypnotic and Mr Mattei fosters moments of spontaneous intimacy 3, Evokes a palpable sense of disconnection made all the more poignant by the incessant use of cell phones 3, Malcolm McDowell is cool 3, Paul Bettany is cool 2, Paul Bettany playing Malcolm McDowell 3, Cool 3, A touching sophisticated film that almost seems like a documentary in the way it captures an Italian immigrant family on the brink of major changes 2, a trashy little bit of fluff stuffed with enjoyable performances and a bewildering sense of selfimportance 4, An inventive absorbing movie that 's as hard to classify as it is hard to resist 3, It made me want to get madeup and go see this movie with my sisters 4, I thought the relationships were wonderful the comedy was funny and the love real ' 3, LRB Caine RRB proves once again he has n't lost his touch bringing off a superb performance in an admittedly middling film 3, Bogdanovich puts history in perspective and via Kirsten Dunst 's remarkable performance he showcases Davies as a young woman of great charm generosity and diplomacy 3, This breezy caper movie becomes a soulful incisive meditation on the way we were and the way we are 4, A captivating new film 4, Those who are n't put off by the film 's austerity will find it more than capable of rewarding them 3, It 's a cleareyed portrait of an intensely lived time filled with nervous energy moral ambiguity and great uncertainties 3, Reveals how important our special talents can be when put in service of of others 3, It also shows how deeply felt emotions can draw people together across the walls that might otherwise separate them 4, With the same sort of goodnatured fun found in films like Tremors Eight Legged Freaks is prime escapist fare 3, A sharp amusing study of the cult of celebrity 3, The sentimental cliches mar an otherwise excellent film 4, A powerful performance from Mel Gibson and a brutal minute battle sequence that does everything but issue you a dogtag and an M 4, A graceful moving tribute to the courage of New York 's finest and a nicely understated expression of the grief shared by the nation at their sacrifice 3, A comingofage tale from New Zealand whose boozy languid air is balanced by a rich visual clarity and deeply felt performances across the board 1, Made to be Jaglomized is the Cannes Film Festival the annual Riviera spree of flesh buzz blab and money 3, The charming result is Festival in Cannes 4, If you 're looking for something new and hoping for something entertaining you 're in luck 4, A hugely rewarding experience that 's every bit as enlightening insightful and entertaining as Grant 's two best films Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones 's Diary 3, A riproaring comedy action fest that 'll put hairs on your chest 3, If there 's no art here it 's still a good yarn which is nothing to sneeze at these days 3, Simultaneously heartbreaking and very funny The Last Kiss is really all about performances 3, There is a subversive element to this Disney cartoon providing unexpected fizzability 3, An unforgettable look at morality family and social expectation through the prism of that omnibus tradition called marriage 3, An enjoyable if occasionally flawed experiment 4, Miyazaki is one of world cinema 's most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers 3, If Ayurveda can help us return to a sane regimen of eating sleeping and stressreducing contemplation it is clearly a good thing 4, Meeting even exceeding expectations it 's the best sequel since The Empire Strikes Back a majestic achievement an epic of astonishing grandeur and surprising emotional depth 4, Leigh is one of the rare directors who feels acting is the heart and soul of cinema 3, He allows his cast members to make creative contributions to the story and dialogue 4, This method almost never fails him and it works superbly here 4, Poetry in motion captured on film 3, While it can be a bit repetitive overall it 's an entertaining and informative documentary 3, Directing with a sure and measured hand LRB Haneke RRB steers clear of the sensational and offers instead an unflinching and objective look at a decidedly perverse pathology 4, The entire movie establishes a wonderfully creepy mood 3, I found The Ring moderately absorbing largely for its elegantly colorful look and sound 3, The filmmakers want nothing else than to show us a good time and in their cheap B movie way they succeed 4, Amari has dressed up this little parable in a fairly irresistible package full of privileged moments and memorable performances 2, RabbitProof Fence will probably make you angry 3, But it will just as likely make you weep and it will do so in a way that does n't make you feel like a sucker 4, Both heartbreaking and heartwarming just a simple fable done in an artless sytle but it 's tremendously moving 3, This masterfully calibrated psychological thriller thrives on its taut performances and creepy atmosphere even if the screenplay falls somewhat short 3, The film 's sense of imagery gives it a terrible strength but it 's propelled by the acting 4, The Pianist LRB is RRB a supremely hopeful cautionary tale of war 's madness remembered that we today can prevent its tragic waste of life 4, Here is a divine monument to a single man 's struggle to regain his life his dignity and his music 3, Strange it is but delightfully so 3, Elegant mannered and teasing 2, An average comingofage tale elevated by the wholesome twist of a pesky mother interfering during her son 's discovery of his homosexuality 4, The ingenuity that Parker displays in freshening the play is almost in a class with that of Wilde himself 2, Decasia is what has happened already to so many silent movies newsreels and the like 3, The unexpected thing is that its dying in this shower of blackandwhite psychedelia is quite beautiful 1, A droll bitchy frolic which pokes fun at the price of popularity and smalltown pretension in the Lone Star State 4, With each of her three protagonists Miller eloquently captures the moment when a woman 's life out of a deepseated emotional need is about to turn onto a different path 4, Ryan Gosling is at a powerful young actor 2, A minor work yet there 's no denying the potency of Miller 's strange fleeting brew of hopeful perseverance and hopeless closure 3, As an introduction to the man 's theories and influence Derrida is all but useless as a portrait of the artist as an endlessly inquisitive old man however it 's invaluable 4, The film is a verbal duel between two gifted performers 1, Imperfect 3, Yes but also intriguing and honorable a worthwhile addition to a distinguished film legacy 2, You 'll get the enjoyable basic minimum 2, But not a whit more 3, What a great way to spend units of your day 3, The movie is hardly a masterpiece but it does mark Ms Bullock 's best work in some time 3, As simple and innocent a movie as you can imagine 4, This is a movie you can trust 3, Passionate irrational longsuffering but cruel as a tarantula Helga figures prominently in this movie and helps keep the proceedings as funny for grownups as for rugrats 2, It 's all about the image '' 4, Vividly conveys the passion creativity and fearlessness of one of Mexico 's most colorful and controversial artists a captivating drama that will speak to the nonconformist in us all 3, Hollywood Ending is not showstoppingly hilarious but scathingly witty nonetheless 2, Maybe Thomas Wolfe was right You ca n't go home again 3, A compelling yarn but not quite a ripping one 3, On the Granger Movie Gauge of to The Powerpuff Girls is a fast frenetic funny even punny aimed specifically at a gradeschool audience 3, The film has several strong performances 3, I 've never bought from telemarketers but I bought this movie 4, Perfectly pitched between comedy and tragedy hope and despair About Schmidt instead comes far closer than many movies to expressing the way many of us live someplace between consuming selfabsorption and insistently demanding otherness 2, The funny thing is I did n't mind all this contrived nonsense a bit 3, LRB Shyamalan RRB turns the goosepimple genre on its empty head and fills it with spirit purpose and emotionally bruised characters who add up to more than body count 4, A sexy peculiar and always entertaining costume drama set in Renaissance Spain and the fact that it 's based on true events somehow makes it all the more compelling 3, An entertaining documentary that freshly considers arguments the Bard 's immortal plays were written by somebody else 4, A highly spirited imaginative kid 's movie that broaches neoAugustinian theology Is God stuck in Heaven because He 's afraid of His bestknown creation 4, Call it magic realism or surrealism but Miss Wonton floats beyond reality with a certain degree of wit and dignity 4, Raimi and his team could n't have done any better in bringing the story of SpiderMan to the big screen 3, The director explores all three sides of his story with a sensitivity and an inquisitiveness reminiscent of Truffaut 4, Wellacted welldirected and for all its moodiness not too pretentious 3, It 's a satisfying summer blockbuster and worth a look 3, Boomers and their kids will have a Barrie good time 3, Real Women Have Curves wears its empowerment on its sleeve but even its worst harangues are easy to swallow thanks to remarkable performances by Ferrera and Ontiveros 3, Ultimately MIB II '' succeeds due to its rapidfire delivery and enough inspired levity that it ca n't be dismissed as mindless 3, Stage director Sam Mendes showcases Tom Hanks as a depression era hitman in this dark tale of revenge 3, Sitting in the third row of the IMAX cinema at Sydney 's Darling Harbour but I sometimes felt as though I was in the tiny two seater plane that carried the giant camera around Australia sweeping and gliding banking and hovering over some of the most not 2, The real charm of this trifle is the deadpan comic face of its star Jean Reno who resembles Sly Stallone in a hot sake halfsleep 4, What 's so fun about this silly outrageous ingenious thriller is the director 's talent 1, Watching a Brian DePalma movie is like watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie after drinking twelve beers 3, Strip it of all its excess debris and you 'd have a minute fourstar movie 0, As it is it 's too long and unfocused 4, An immensely entertaining look at some of the unsung heroes of th century pop music 3, This familiar riseandfall tale is long on glamour and short on larger moralistic consequences though it 's told with sharp ears and eyes for the tenor of the times 4, This beautifully animated epic is never dull 4, Brian Tufano 's handsome widescreen photography and Paul Grabowsky 's excellent music turn this fairly parochial melodrama into something really rather special 4, It makes compelling provocative and prescient viewing 4, A thoroughly entertaining comedy that uses Grant 's own twist of acidity to prevent itself from succumbing to its own bathos 3, Using a stock plot About a Boy injects just enough freshness into the proceedings to provide an enjoyable minutes in a movie theater 2, What Eric Schaeffer has accomplished with Never Again may not strictly speaking qualify as revolutionary 3, But it 's defiantly and delightfully against the grain 4, The hardtopredict and absolutely essential chemistry between the downtoearth Bullock and the nonchalant Grant proves to be sensational and everything meshes in this elegant entertainment 3, A positively thrilling combination of ethnography and all the intrigue betrayal deceit and murder of a Shakespearean tragedy or a juicy soap opera 3, Mr Clooney Mr Kaufman and all their collaborators are entitled to take a deep bow for fashioning an engrossing entertainment out of an almost surefire prescription for a critical and commercial disaster 3, Definitely funny stuff but it 's more of the laughing at ' variety than the laughing with ' 4, Easily the most thoughtful fictional examination of the root causes of antiSemitism ever seen on screen 4, A real winner smart funny subtle and resonant 3, Family portrait of need neurosis and nervy negativity is a rare treat that shows the promise of digital filmmaking 2, The pitch must have read like a discarded House Beautiful spread 4, Uplifting as only a document of the worst possibilities of mankind can be and among the best films of the year 2, Director David Jacobson gives Dahmer a consideration that the murderer never game his victims 4, The film has a terrific look and Salma Hayek has a feel for the character at all stages of her life 0, A decided lack of spontaneity in its execution and a dearth of real poignancy in its epiphanies 4, The performances are remarkable 3, It 's Burns ' visuals characters and his punchy dialogue not his plot that carry waydowntown 3, As literary desecrations go this makes for perfectly acceptable occasionally very enjoyable children 's entertainment 0, You 'll forget about it by Monday though and if they 're old enough to have developed some taste so will your kids 3, While I ca n't say it 's on par with the first one Stuart Little is a light fun cheese puff of a movie 4, Strange funny twisted brilliant and macabre 4, A genuinely moving and wisely unsentimental drama 2, Heaven is a haunting dramatization of a couple 's moral ascension 3, The Mothman Prophecies is best when illustrating the demons bedevilling the modern masculine journey 3, Plays out with a dogged and eventually winning squareness that would make it the darling of many a kidsandfamilyoriented cable channel 4, An entertaining British hybrid of comedy caper thrills and quirky romance 2, Alain Choquart 's camera barely stops moving portraying both the turmoil of the time and giving Conduct a perpetual sense of urgency which for a film that takes nearly three hours to unspool is both funny and irritating 2, Mostly Martha could have used a little trimming or minutes could be cut and no one would notice but it 's a pleasurable trifle 1, The only pain you 'll feel as the credits roll is your stomach grumbling for some tasty grub 4, Hardly an objective documentary but it 's great cinematic polemic love Moore or loathe him you 've got to admire the intensity with which he 's willing to express his convictions 4, The mark of a respectable summer blockbuster is one of two things unadulterated thrills or genuine laughs 4, The film is visually dazzling the depicted events dramatic funny and poignant 3, A directorial tour de force by Bernard Rose ivans xtc 4, is one of this year 's very best pictures 2, What makes the movie work to an admittedly limited extent is the commitment of two genuinely engaging performers 4, Weaver and LaPaglia are both excellent in the kind of lowkey way that allows us to forget that they are actually movie folk 3, Even the digressions are funny 3, Mr Spielberg and his company just want you to enjoy yourselves without feeling conned 3, And they succeed merrily at their noble endeavor 2, Melodrama with a message 3, A perfectly pleasant if slightly pokey comedy 3, Coppola 's directorial debut is an incredibly layered and stylistic film that despite a fairly slow paced almost humdrum approach to character development still manages at least a decent attempt at meaningful cinema 3, At the end when the now computerized Yoda finally reveals his martial artistry the film ascends to a kinetic life so teeming that even cranky adults may rediscover the quivering kid inside 3, Wang Xiaoshuai directs this intricately structured and wellrealized drama that presents a fascinating glimpse of urban life and the class warfare that embroils two young men 3, It 's hard to imagine anybody ever being in the mood '' to view a movie as harrowing and painful as The Grey Zone but it 's equally hard to imagine anybody being able to tear their eyes away from the screen once it 's started 4, Bogdanovich taps deep into the Hearst mystique entertainingly reenacting a historic scandal 3, A moving tale of love and destruction in unexpected places unexamined lives 3, Clooney directs this film always keeping the balance between the fantastic and the believable 3, Even if you do n't understand what on earth is going on this is a movie that will stimulate hours of post viewing discussion if only to be reminded of who did what to whom and why 2, a lesson in prehistoric hilarity 4, A fantastically vital movie that manages to invest real humor sensuality and sympathy into a story about two adolescent boys 3, Lawrence plumbs personal tragedy and also the human comedy 1, Though a capable thriller somewhere along the way K jettisoned some crucial drama 4, Just about the surest bet for an allaround good time at the movies this summer 2, It would be disingenuous to call Reno a great film but you can say that about most of the flicks moving in and out of the multiplex 3, This is a movie that is what it is a pleasant distraction a Friday night diversion an excuse to eat popcorn 3, There is a certain sense of experimentation and improvisation to this film that may not always work but it is nevertheless compelling 3, The Four Feathers has rewards from the exoticism of its seas of sand to the fierce grandeur of its sweeping battle scenes 4, A delicious quirky movie with a terrific screenplay and fanciful direction by Michael Gondry 3, This story still seems timely and important 3, And there 's an element of heartbreak to watching it now with older and wiser eyes because we know what will happen after Greene 's story ends 3, The bodily function jokes are about what you 'd expect but there are rich veins of funny stuff in this movie 3, The performances are amiable and committed and the comedy more often than not hits the bullseye 3, This time the hype is quieter and while the movie is slightly less successful than the first it 's still a rollicking good time for the most part 3, There 's plenty to enjoy in no small part thanks to Lau 1, With a romantic comedy plotline straight from the ages this Cinderella story does n't have a single surprise up its sleeve 3, But it does somehow manage to get you under its spell 4, Though few will argue that it ranks with the best of Herzog 's works Invincible shows he 's back in form with an astoundingly rich film 3, Catch Me '' feels capable of charming the masses with star power a popinduced score and sentimental moments that have become a Spielberg trademark 3, By no means a great movie but it is a refreshingly forthright one 3, The casting of Raymond J Barry as the assassin ' greatly enhances the quality of Neil Burger 's impressive fake documentary 3, Despite Besson 's highprofile name being Wasabi 's big selling point there is no doubt that Krawczyk deserves a huge amount of the credit for the film 's thoroughly winning tone 4, This documentary is a dazzling remarkably unpretentious reminder of what LRB Evans RRB had lost and got back 4, A thoughtful movie a movie that is concerned with souls and risk and schemes and the consequences of one 's actions 4, As satisfyingly odd and intriguing a tale as it was a century and a half ago has a delightfully dour deadpan tone and stylistic consistency 4, Methodical measured and gently tedious in its comedy Secret Ballot is a purposefully reductive movie which may be why it 's so successful at lodging itself in the brain 2, A witty trenchant wildly unsentimental but flawed look at the ins and outs of modern moviemaking 3, For most of the distance the picture provides a satisfyingly unsettling ride into the dark places of our national psyche 4, By the standards of knucklehead swill The Hot Chick is pretty damned funny 3, One of the most gloriously unsubtle and adrenalized extreme shockers since The Evil Dead 3, LRB Reaches RRB wholly believable and heartwrenching depths of despair 3, An absorbing and unsettling psychological drama 4, This movie may not have the highest production values you 've ever seen but it 's the work of an artist one whose view of America history and the awkwardness of human life is generous and deep 1, Though it 's not very well shot or composed or edited the score is too insistent and the dialogue is frequently overwrought and crudely literal the film shatters you in waves 4, The entire cast is extraordinarily good 4, Yakusho as always is wonderful as the longfaced sad sack and his chemistry with Shimizu is very believable 4, Young Hanks and Fisk who vaguely resemble their celebrity parents bring fresh good looks and an ease in front of the camera to the work 3, A captivatingly quirky hybrid of character portrait romantic comedy and beattheclock thriller 4, The film sparkles with the the wisdom and humor of its subjects 3, If LRB Jaglom 's RRB latest effort is not the director at his most sparkling some of its repartee is still worth hearing 3, Like The English Patient and The Unbearable Lightness of Being The Hours is one of those reputedly unfilmable '' novels that has bucked the odds to emerge as an exquisite motion picture in its own right 4, Just about the best straightup oldschool horror film of the last years 3, A chilling tale of one of the great crimes of th Century France the murder of two rich women by their servants in 3, An oddity to be sure but one that you might wind up remembering with a degree of affection rather than revulsion 3, While the film is not entirely successful it still manages to string together enough charming moments to work 3, A winning piece of work filled with love for the movies of the s 4, ET works because its flabbergasting principals yearold Robert MacNaughton yearold Drew Barrymore and yearold Henry Thomas convince us of the existence of the wise wizened visitor from a faraway planet 2, Helps to remind the First World that HIV\/AIDS is far from being yesterday 's news 3, A heartening tale of small victories and enduring hope 2, The vistas are sweeping and the acting is far from painful 3, Jackson and co have brought back the value and respect for the term epic cinema 3, It may be a somewhat backhanded compliment to say that the film makes the viewer feel like the movie 's various victimized audience members after a while but it also happens to be the movie 's most admirable quality 4, Charlotte Sometimes is a brilliant movie 3, It is about irrational unexplainable life and it seems so real because it does not attempt to filter out the complexity 3, A delightful stimulus for the optic nerves so much that it 's forgivable that the plot feels like every other tale of a totalitarian tomorrow 2, Defies logic the laws of physics and almost anyone 's willingness to believe in it 4, But darned if it does n't also keep us riveted to our seats 3, A complex psychological drama about a father who returns to his son 's home after decades away 4, Writer and director Otar Iosseliani 's pleasant tale about a factory worker who escapes for a holiday in Venice reveals how we all need a playful respite from the grind to refresh our souls 2, This is NOT a retread of Dead Poets ' Society '' 4, Sweet and memorable film 3, A smart arch and rather coldblooded comedy 3, Keenly observed and refreshingly natural Swimming gets the details right from its promenade of barely clad bodies in Myrtle Beach SC to the adrenaline jolt of a sudden lunch rush at the diner 3, begins on a high note and sustains it beautifully 4, Davis gets vivid performances from her cast and pulls off some deft Ally McBealstyle fantasy sequences 3, it 's better to go in knowing full well what 's going to happen but willing to let the earnestness of its execution and skill of its cast take you down a familiar road with a few twists 2, Cynics need not apply ' 4, Funny somber absurd and finally achingly sad Bartleby is a fine understated piece of filmmaking 4, Red Dragon '' is entertaining 1, An obvious copy of one of the best films ever made how could it not be 3, But it is entertaining on an inferior level 1, It is a popcorn film not a mustown or even a mustsee 2, Succeeds only because Bullock and Grant were made to share the silver screen 2, Both flawed and delayed Martin Scorcese 's Gangs of New York still emerges as his most vital work since GoodFellas 2, As any creaturefeature fan knows when you cross toxic chemicals with a bunch of exotic creatures you get a lot of running around screaming and death 4, On that score the film certainly does n't disappoint 4, As the movie traces Mr Brown 's athletic exploits it is impossible not to be awed by the power and grace of one of the greatest natural sportsmen of modern times 4, A moving and solidly entertaining comedy\/drama that should bolster director and cowriter Juan José Campanella 's reputation in the United States 4, Thanks to confident filmmaking and a pair of fascinating performances the way to that destination is a really special walk in the woods 4, Beautifully shot delicately scored and powered by a set of heartfelt performances it 's a lyrical endeavour 3, A macabre and very stylized Swedish fillm about a modern city where all the religious and civic virtues that hold society in place are in tatters 4, A stylistic romp that 's always fun to watch 4, Informative intriguing observant often touching gives a human face to what 's often discussed in purely abstract terms 4, once the true impact of the day unfolds the power of this movie is undeniable 4, An honest sensitive story from a Vietnamese point of view 3, A buoyant romantic comedy about friendship love and the truth that we 're all in this together 4, The film 's intimate camera work and searing performances pull us deep into the girls ' confusion and pain as they struggle tragically to comprehend the chasm of knowledge that 's opened between them 3, It 's the perfect star vehicle for Grant allowing him to finally move away from his usual bumbling tonguetied screen persona 3, Gaunt silverhaired and leonine LRB Harris RRB brings a tragic dimension and savage fullbodied wit and cunning to the aging Sandeman 2, A disturbing examination of what appears to be the definition of a bad ' police shooting 2, It 's been made with an innocent yet fervid conviction that our Hollywood has all but lost 3, Not only a reminder of how they used to make movies but also how they sometimes still can be made 3, A threehour cinema master class 3, Eyre is on his way to becoming the American Indian Spike Lee 3, A witty whimsical feature debut 4, Warm in its loving yet unforgivingly inconsistent depiction of everyday people relaxed in its perfect quiet pace and proud in its message 4, I loved this film 2, It provides a grim upsetting glimpse at the lives of some of the million Palestinians who live in the crowded cities and refugee camps of Gaza 3, Clint Eastwood 's Blood Work is a lot like a wellmade PB & J sandwich familiar fairly uneventful and boasting no real surprises but still quite tasty and inviting all the same 3, A movie that will surely be profane politically charged music to the ears of Cho 's fans 3, Much of this slick and sprightly CGI feature is sufficiently funny to amuse even the most resolutely unreligious parents who escort their little ones to megaplex screenings 3, Rarely a movie is more than a movie 2, Go 3, Jacquot 's strategy allows his cast the benefit of being able to give full performances while demonstrating vividly that the beauty and power of the opera reside primarily in the music itself 2, Quitting delivers a suckerpunch and its impact is all the greater beause director Zhang 's last film the cuddly Shower was a nonthreatening multicharacter piece centered around a public bath house 3, By not averting his eyes Solondz forces us to consider the unthinkable the unacceptable the unmentionable 1, One Hour Photo may seem disappointing in its generalities but it 's the little nuances that perhaps had to escape from director Mark Romanek 's selfconscious scrutiny to happen that finally get under your skin 4, While general audiences might not come away with a greater knowledge of the facts of Cuban music they 'll be treated to an impressive and highly entertaining celebration of its sounds 4, A fascinating documentary that provides a rounded and revealing overview of this ancient holistic healing system 3, Birthday Girl lucks out with Chaplin and Kidman who are capable of anteing up some movie star charisma when they need it to sell us on this twisted love story but who can also negotiate the movie 's darker turns 3, An interesting look behind the scenes of Chicagobased rock group Wilco 3, Sharp edges and a deep vein of sadness run through its otherwise comic narrative 3, There 's lots of cool stuff packed into ESPN 's Ultimate X 3, Rock solid family fun out of the gates extremely imaginative through out but wanes in the middle 0, The YaYa 's have many secrets and one is the books are better 3, Translating complex characters from novels to the big screen is an impossible task but they are true to the essence of what it is to be YaYa 3, The touch is generally light enough and the performances for the most part credible 3, I liked About Schmidt a lot but I have a feeling that I would have liked it much more if Harry & Tonto never existed 2, Steers has an unexpectedly adamant streak of warmblooded empathy for all his disparate Manhattan denizens especially the a \*\* holes 4, That Storytelling has value can not be denied 1, Not even Solondz 's thirst for controversy sketchy characters and immature provocations can fully succeed at cheapening it 1, Once the downward spiral comes to pass Auto Focus bears out as your typical junkie opera 4, A knowing sense of humor and a lot of warmth ignite Son of the Bride 3, A rich tale of our times very well told with an appropriate minimum of means 4, The characters are complex and quirky but entirely believable as the remarkable ensemble cast brings them to life 3, In all fairness I must report that the children of varying ages in my audience never coughed fidgeted or romped up and down the aisles for bathroom breaks 4, As gory as the scenes of torture and selfmutilation may be they are pitted against shimmering cinematography that lends the setting the ethereal beauty of an Asian landscape painting 3, Efficient suitably anonymous chiller 2, Gorgeous scenes masterful performances but the sickly sweet gender normative narrative left an acrid test in this gourmet 's mouth 3, The hot topics of the plot are relegated to the background a welcome step forward from the Sally Jesse Raphael atmosphere of films like Philadelphia and American Beauty 3, It 's usually a bad sign when directors abandon their scripts and go where the moment takes them but Olympia Wash based filmmakers Anne de Marcken and Marilyn Freeman did just that and it 's what makes their project so interesting 3, A memorable experience that like many of his works presents weighty issues colorfully wrapped up in his own idiosyncratic strain of kitschy goodwill 4, Executed with such gentle but insistent sincerity with such good humor and appreciation of the daily grind that only the most hardhearted Scrooge could fail to respond 3, The gentle comic treatment of adolescent sturm und drang should please fans of Chris Fuhrman 's posthumously published cult novel 3, Director Claude Chabrol has become the master of innuendo 2, It is not what you see it is what you think you see 4, A deftly entertaining film smartly played and smartly directed 1, A documentary to make the stones weep as shameful as it is scary 4, I hope the movie is widely seen and debated with appropriate ferocity and thoughtfulness 2, A thoughtprovoking look at how Western foreign policy however well intentioned can wreak havoc in other cultures 3, Asks what truth can be discerned from nonfirsthand experience and specifically questions cinema 's capability for recording truth 3, The journey to the secret 's eventual discovery is a separate adventure and thrill enough 3, A quiet disquieting triumph 4, Darkly funny and frequently insightful 3, the tale of her passionate tumultuous affair with Musset unfolds as Sand 's masculine persona with its love of life and beauty takes form 2, If you want to see a train wreck that you ca n't look away from then look no further because here it is 4, There 's so much to look at in Metropolis you hate to tear your eyes away from the images long enough to read the subtitles 4, The search for redemption makes for a touching love story mainly because Blanchett and Ribisi compellingly tap into a spiritual aspect of their characters ' suffering 3, A film of ideas and wry comic mayhem 2, At its worst the screenplay is callow but at its best it is a young artist 's thoughtful consideration of fatherhood 3, A worthwhile documentary whether you 're into rap or not even if it may still leave you wanting more answers as the credits roll 3, Fessenden 's narrative is just as much about the ownership and redefinition of myth as it is about a domestic unit finding their way to joy 1, That the film opens with maggots crawling on a dead dog is not an out of place metaphor 4, Stanley Kwan has directed not only one of the best gay love stories ever made but one of the best love stories of any stripe 3, The concert footage is stirring the recording sessions are intriguing and on the way to striking a blow for artistic integrity this quality band may pick up new admirers 2, Norton holds the film together 3, LRB There 's RRB quite a bit of heart as you would expect from the directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin 3, You wo n't have any trouble getting kids to eat up these Veggies 2, A creaky staircase gothic 3, Enjoyably dumb sweet and intermittently hilarious if you 've a taste for the quirky steal a glimpse 3, A movie that sends you out of the theater feeling like you 've actually spent time living in another community 4, Lightyears ahead of paintbynumber American blockbusters like Pearl Harbor at least artistically 4, A fascinating documentary about the long and eventful spiritual journey of the guru who helped launch the New Age 4, Isabelle Huppert excels as the enigmatic Mika and Anna Mouglalis is a stunning new young talent in one of Chabrol 's most intense psychological mysteries 2, Perhaps not since Nelson Eddy crooned his Indian Love Call to Jeanette MacDonald has there been a movie so unabashedly Canadian not afraid to risk American scorn or disinterest 0, Wedding feels a bit anachronistic 2, Still not every lowbudget movie must be quirky or bleak and a happy ending is no cinematic sin 3, It 's still a comic book but Maguire makes it a comic book with soul 4, Brings to a spectacular completion one of the most complex generous and subversive artworks of the last decade 4, An amusing and unexpectedly insightful examination of sexual jealousy resentment and the fine line between passion and pretence 4, A fascinating bombshell documentary that should shame Americans regardless of whether or not ultimate blame finally lies with Kissinger 3, Should be required viewing for civics classes and wouldbe public servants alike 4, Adaptation 's success in engaging the audience in the travails of creating a screenplay is extraordinary 3, A polished and vastly entertaining caper film that puts the sting back into the con 4, It 's no surprise that as a director Washington demands and receives excellent performances from himself and from newcomer Derek Luke 1, while each moment of this broken character study is rich in emotional texture the journey does n't really go anywhere 3, The film gets close to the chimps the same way Goodall did with a serious minded patience respect and affection 2, It 's an oftencute film but either needs more substance to fill the time or some judicious editing 4, This may be Burns 's strongest film since The Brothers McMullen 4, What makes this film special is Serry 's ability to take what is essentially a contained family conflict and put it into a much larger historical context 4, It 's Quaid who anchors the film with his effortless performance and that trademark grin of his so perfect for a ballplayer 3, It is OK for a movie to be something of a sitcom apparatus if the lines work the humor has point and the actors are humanly engaged 2, Though not for everyone The Guys is a somber trip worth taking 3, A sly female empowerment movie although not in a way anyone would expect 2, You really have to salute writerdirector Haneke LRB he adapted Elfriede Jelinek 's novel RRB for making a film that is n't nearly as graphic but much more powerful brutally shocking and difficult to watch 4, It 's a wonderful sobering heartfelt drama 4, Runs on the pure adrenalin of Pacino 's performance 0, The Paradiso 's rustedout ruin and ultimate collapse during the film 's final LRB restored RRB third emotionally belittle a cinema classic 2, Sometimes shorter is better 3, Phillip Noyce and all of his actors as well as his cinematographer Christopher Doyle understand the delicate forcefulness of Greene 's prose and it 's there on the screen in their version of The Quiet American 4, The film just might turn on many people to opera in general an art form at once visceral and spiritual wonderfully vulgar and sublimely lofty and as emotionally grand as life 4, As a vehicle to savour Binoche 's skill the film is well worthwhile 3, The huskies are beautiful the border collie is funny and the overall feeling is genial and decent 3, Whatever complaints I might have I 'd take LRB its RRB earnest errors and hardwon rewards over the bombastic selfglorification of other feelgood fiascos like Antwone Fisher or The Emperor 's Club any time 3, Mastering its formidable arithmetic of cameras and souls Group articulates a flood of emotion 3, A pretty decent kidpleasing tolerabletoadults lark of a movie 3, Even during the climactic hourlong cricket match boredom never takes hold 3, Combine the paranoid claustrophobia of a submarine movie with the unsettling spookiness of the supernatural why did n't Hollywood think of this sooner 3, Like Kubrick Soderbergh is n't afraid to try any genre and to do it his own way 3, Nothing can detract from the affection of that moral favorite friends will be friends through thick and thin 3, If the film has a problem its shortness disappoints You want the story to go on and on 3, Unlike most anime whose most ardent fans outside Japan seem to be introverted young men with fantasy fetishes Metropolis never seems hopelessly juvenile 3, The plot twists give I Am Trying to Break Your Heart an attraction it desperately needed 4, The most brilliant and brutal UK crime film since Jack Carter went back to Newcastle the first half of Gangster No drips with style and at times blood 3, Like its New England characters most of whom wander about in thick clouds of denial the movie eventually gets around to its real emotional business striking deep chords of sadness 4, The Bai brothers have taken an small slice of history and opened it up for all of us to understand and they 've told a nice little story in the process 4, Flamboyant in some movies and artfully restrained in others yearold Jack Nicholson could be looking at his th Oscar nomination by proving that he 's now more than ever choosing his roles with the precision of the insurance actuary 2, is there a deeper more direct connection between these women one that spans time and reveals meaning 2, You bet there is and it 's what makes this rather convoluted journey worth taking 4, The most amazing supersized dosage of goofball stunts any Jackass '' fan could want 4, Real Women may have many agendas but it also will win you over in a big way 4, Young Everlyn Sampi as the courageous Molly Craig simply radiates starpower potential in this remarkable and memorable film 4, Surprisingly powerful and universal 2, Apart from its own considerable achievement Metropolis confirms Tezuka 's status as both the primary visual influence on the animé tradition and its defining philosophical conscience 2, I 'll put it this way If you 're in the mood for a melodrama narrated by talking fish this is the movie for you 4, Morvern Callar confirms Lynne Ramsay as an important original talent in international cinema 3, Welldone supernatural thriller with keen insights into parapsychological phenomena and the soulful nuances of the grieving process 3, A plethora of engaging diatribes on the meaning of home ' delivered in grand passion by the members of the various households 4, It 's technically sumptuous but also almost wildly alive 4, This film puts Wang at the forefront of China 's Sixth Generation of film makers 4, it 's refreshing to see a movie that embraces its oldfashioned themes and in the process comes out looking like something wholly original 3, Wiseman is patient and uncompromising letting his camera observe and record the lives of women torn apart by a legacy of abuse 4, There 's none of the happilyever after spangle of Monsoon Wedding in Late Marriage and that 's part of what makes Dover Kosashvili 's outstanding feature debut so potent 3, An ingenious and often harrowing look at damaged people and how families can offer either despair or consolation 4, Arguably the best script that Besson has written in years 4, It 's no lie Big Fat Liar is a real charmer 4, Invigorating surreal and resonant with a rainbow of emotion 3, Director Alfonso Cuaron gets vivid convincing performances from a fine cast and generally keeps things going at a rapid pace occasionally using an omniscient voiceover narrator in the manner of French New Wave films 3, Pray has really done his subject justice 3, An unexpectedly sweet story of sisterhood 3, Maintains your sympathy for this otherwise challenging soul by letting you share her oneroom world for a while 3, A subtle humorous illuminating study of politics power and social mobility 2, Even if you have no interest in the ganginfested Eastvs 3, West Coast rap wars this modern mob music drama never fails to fascinate 4, Nair 's attention to detail creates an impeccable sense of place while Thurman and Lewis give what can easily be considered careerbest performances 4, Berry 's saucy fullbodied performance gives this aging series a much needed kick making Die Another Day '' one of the most entertaining Bonds in years 2, Red Dragon is less baroque and showy than Hannibal and less emotionally affecting than Silence 1, But like Silence it 's a movie that gets under your skin 3, Caviezel embodies the transformation of his character completely 3, A creepy intermittently powerful study of a selfdestructive man about as unsettling to watch as an exploratory medical procedure or an autopsy 4, Pacino and Williams seem to keep upping the ante on each other just as their characters do in the film 4, What results is the best performance from either in years 4, The cast is topnotch and I predict there will be plenty of female audience members drooling over Michael Idemoto as Michael 4, Béart and Berling are both superb while Huppert is magnificent 2, All the actors are good in Pauline & Paulette but van der Groen described as Belgium 's national treasure ' is especially terrific as Pauline 4, Miyazaki has created such a vibrant colorful world it 's almost impossible not to be swept away by the sheer beauty of his images 3, Muccino seems to be exploring the idea of why human beings long for what they do n't have and how this gets us in trouble 3, But even while his characters are acting horribly he is always sympathetic 3, Whether or not you buy Mr Broomfield 's findings the film acquires an undeniable entertainment value as the slight pale Mr Broomfield continues to force himself on people and into situations that would make lesser men run for cover 2, Ozpetek joins the ranks of those gay filmmakers who have used the emigre experience to explore samesex culture in ways that elude the more nationally settled 4, an eerily suspenseful deeply absorbing piece that works as a treatise on spirituality as well as a solid scifi thriller 4, I 've never seen or heard anything quite like this film and I recommend it for its originality alone 4, Nicole Kidman makes it a party worth attending 3, The direction has a fluid nononsense authority and the performances by Harris Phifer and Cam ron seal the deal 3, The Komediant is a tale worth catching 4, The writing is clever and the cast is appealing 2, The simplicity of The Way Home has few equals this side of Aesop 2, Life on the rez is no picnic this picture shows you why 3, Spielberg has managed to marry science fiction with film noir and action flicks with philosophical inquiry 3, It 's the type of film about growing up that we do n't see often enough these days realistic urgent and not sugarcoated in the least 4, A taut sobering film 4, Exudes the fizz of a Busby Berkeley musical and the visceral excitement of a sports extravaganza 3, It 's full of cheesy dialogue but great trashy fun that finally returns De Palma to his pulpy thrillers of the early 's 2, The results if not memorable are at least interesting 3, A quietly moving look back at what it was to be IranianAmerican in 3, Like a veteran head cutter Barbershop is tuned in to its community 3, I 'm sure mainstream audiences will be baffled but for those with at least a minimal appreciation of Woolf and Clarissa Dalloway The Hours represents two of those well spent 3, You live the mood rather than savour the story 3, Angela Gheorghiu as famous prima donna Floria Tosca Roberto Alagna as her lover Mario Cavaradossi and Ruggero as the villainous lecherous police chief Scarpia all sing beautifully and act adequately 3, While there are times when the film 's reach exceeds its grasp the production works more often than it does n't 1, While Scorsese 's bold images and generally smart casting ensure that Gangs '' is never lethargic the movie is hindered by a central plot that 's peppered with false starts and populated by characters who are nearly impossible to care about 3, Watching this gentle mesmerizing portrait of a man coming to terms with time you barely realize your mind is being blown 3, The beautifully choreographed kitchen ballet is simple but absorbing 1, There 's an underlying Old World sexism to Monday Morning that undercuts its charm 4, The best Disney movie since the Lion King '' 4, Transcends its agenda to deliver aweinspiring at times sublime visuals and offer a fascinating glimpse into the subculture of extreme athletes whose derringdo puts the X into the games 4, Think of it as Gidget only with muscles and a lot more smarts but just as endearing and easy to watch 1, There is no solace here no entertainment value merely a fierce lesson in where filmmaking can take us 3, Giggling at the absurdities and inconsistencies is part of the fun 4, But the talented cast alone will keep you watching as will the fight scenes 3, Arteta paints a picture of lives lived in a state of quiet desperation 3, Drug abuse infidelity and death are n't usually comedy fare but Turpin 's film allows us to chuckle through the angst 3, While Insomnia is in many ways a conventional even predictable remake Nolan 's penetrating undercurrent of cerebral and cinemantic flair lends LRB it RRB stimulating depth 3, Efteriades gives the neighborhood scenery vibe and all the cinematic equivalent of a big tender hug 3, This is a nicely handled affair a film about human darkness but etched with a light LRB yet unsentimental RRB touch 4, Amazing 3, A college story that works even without vulgarity sex scenes and cussing 3, The amazing film work is so convincing that by movies ' end you 'll swear you are wet in some places and feel sand creeping in others 3, A raunchy and frequently hilarious followup to the gifted Korean American standup 's I 'm the One That I Want 4, If you ever wanted to be an astronaut this is the ultimate movie experience it 's informative and breathtakingly spectacular 4, While Parker and cowriter Catherine di Napoli are faithful to Melville 's plotline they and a fully engaged supporting cast have made the old boy 's characters more quickwitted than any English Lit major would have thought possible 4, A smart sassy and exceptionally charming romantic comedy 3, There are flaws but also stretches of impact and moments of awe we 're wrapped up in the characters how they make their choices and why 3, A gift to anyone who loves both dance and cinema 2, It seems Grant does n't need the floppy hair and the selfdeprecating stammers after all 4, A reminder that beyond all the hype and recent digital glitz Spielberg knows how to tell us about people 4, One of the finest most humane and important Holocaust movies ever made 4, An engrossing and infectiously enthusiastic documentary 4, A beautiful timeless and universal tale of heated passions jealousy betrayal forgiveness and murder 3, A cultureclash comedy that in addition to being very funny captures some of the discomfort and embarrassment of being a bumbling American in Europe 3, Shattering devastating documentary on two maladjusted teens in a downward narcotized spiral 4, Extraordinary debut from Josh Koury 4, The most compelling performance of the year adds substantial depth to this shocking testament to antiSemitism and neofascism 3, For those who are intrigued by politics of the 's the film is every bit as fascinating as it is flawed 3, All right so it 's not a brilliant piece of filmmaking but it is a funny LRB sometimes hilarious RRB comedy with a deft sense of humor about itself a playful spirit and a game cast 4, Douglas McGrath 's Nicholas Nickleby does Dickens as it should be done cinematically 4, It 's a lovely eerie film that casts an odd rapt spell 3, The quirky and recessive charms of costars Martin Donovan and MaryLouise Parker help overcome the problematic script 3, It 's good to see Michael Caine whipping out the dirty words and punching people in the stomach again 2, You just know something terrible is going to happen 2, But when it does you 're entirely unprepared 3, It 's fun wispy wise and surprisingly inoffensive for a film about a teen in love with his stepmom 3, Able to provide insight into a fascinating part of theater history 3, An unflinching complex portrait of a modern Israel that is rarely seen onscreen 2, A Jewish WW II doc that is n't trying simply to outshock outoutrage or outdepress its potential audience 2, Who knew 3, It 's a familiar story but one that is presented with great sympathy and intelligence 3, Gently humorous and touching 3, It wo n't hold up over the long haul but in the moment Finch 's tale provides the forgettable pleasures of a Saturday matinee 4, Kinnear 's performance is a careerdefining revelation 3, The film is predictable in the reassuring manner of a beautifully sung holiday carol 1, hits every cliche we 've come to expect including the assumption that crazy '' people are innocent childlike and inherently funny 2, The strong subject matter continues to shock throughout the film 2, Not everyone will play the dark challenging tune taught by The Piano Teacher 3, A certain sexiness underlines even the dullest tangents 3, You may be captivated as I was by its moods and by its subtly transformed star and still wonder why Paul Thomas Anderson ever had the inclination to make the most sincere and artful movie in which Adam Sandler will probably ever appear 4, There is no substitute for onscreen chemistry and when Friel pulls the strings that make Williams sink into melancholia the reaction in Williams is as visceral as a gut punch 3, That old adage about women being unknowable gets an exhilarating new interpretation in Morvern Callar 4, A mix of gritty realism crisp storytelling and radiant compassion that effortlessly draws you in 3, After watching it you can only love the players it brings to the fore for the gifted but nononsense human beings they are and for the stillinestimable contribution they have made to our shared history 4, In his US debut Mr Schnitzler proves himself a deft pace master and stylist 2, Ultimate X is a ride basically the kind of greatesthits reel that might come with a subscription to ESPN the Magazine 4, Rich in shadowy metaphor and as sharp as a samurai sword Jiang Wen 's Devils on the Doorstep is a wartime farce in the alternately comic and gutwrenching style of Joseph Heller or Kurt Vonnegut 4, Offers a cleareyed chronicle of a female friendship that is more complex and honest than anything represented in a Hollywood film 4, A winning comedy with its wry observations about longlived friendships and the ways in which we all lose track of ourselves by trying to please others 3, Its cast full of caffeinated comedy performances more than make up for its logical loopholes which fly by so fast there 's no time to think about them anyway 2, Lohman adapts to the changes required of her but the actress and director Peter Kosminsky never get the audience to break through the wall her character erects 3, Although it includes a fair share of dumb drug jokes and predictable slapstick Orange County '' is far funnier than it would seem to have any right to be 2, For a movie audience The Hours does n't connect in a neat way but introduces characters who illuminate mysteries of sex duty and love 3, A bright inventive thoroughly winning flight of revisionist fancy 4, Ozpetek 's effort has the scope and shape of an especially wellexecuted television movie 3, Affirms the gifts of all involved starting with Spielberg and going right through the ranks of the players oncamera and off that he brings together 3, A delightful little film that revels in its own simplicity Mostly Martha will leave you with a smile on your face and a grumble in your stomach 3, Makes one thing abundantly clear 3, American musical comedy as we know it would n't exist without the precedent of Yiddish theater whose jolly funforfun 's sake communal spirit goes to the essence of Broadway 3, Deepa Mehta provides an accessible introduction as well as some intelligent observations on the success of Bollywood in the Western world 4, If anything the film is doing something of a public service shedding light on a group of extremely talented musicians who might otherwise go unnoticed and underappreciated by music fans 4, In addition to gluing you to the edge of your seat Changing Lanes is also a film of freshness imagination and insight 3, Pan Nalin 's exposition is beautiful and mysterious and the interviews that follow with the practitioners of this ancient Indian practice are as subtle and as enigmatic 3, The mood look and tone of the film fit the incredible storyline to a T 4, It 's crafty energetic and smart the kid is sort of like a fourteenyear old Ferris Bueller 4, A work of extraordinary journalism but it is also a work of deft and subtle poetry 3, It 's funny and human and really pretty damned wonderful all at once 4, At minutes it just zings along with vibrance and warmth 4, A strangely stirring experience that finds warmth in the coldest environment and makes each crumb of emotional comfort feel like a course banquet 2, Sometimes this Blood ' seems as tired as its protagonist Still the pulse never disappears entirely and the picture crosses the finish line winded but still game 2, The strippeddown dramatic constructs austere imagery and abstract characters are equal parts poetry and politics obvious at times but evocative and heartfelt 2, Dogtown and ZBoys more than exposes the roots of the skateboarding boom that would become the punk kids ' revolution '' 4, plenty of warmth to go around with music and laughter and the love of family 3, It 'll keep you wide awake and very tense 3, Could use a little more humanity but it never lacks in eyepopping visuals 4, LRB Danny Huston gives RRB an astounding performance that deftly gradually reveals a real human soul buried beneath a spellbinding serpent 's smirk 4, These three films form a remarkably cohesive whole both visually and thematically through their consistently sensitive and often exciting treatment of an ignored people 4, A funny and wellcontructed black comedy where the old adage be careful what you wish for '' is given a full workout 3, It reaffirms life as it looks in the face of death 3, The film is reasonably entertaining though it begins to drag twothirds through when the melodramatic aspects start to overtake the comedy 4, This is more fascinating being real than anything seen on Jerry Springer 3, A different movie sometimes tedious by a director many viewers would like to skip but film buffs should get to know 2, Williams plays Sy another of his openfaced smiling madmen like the killer in Insomnia 4, He does this so well you do n't have the slightest difficulty accepting him in the role 2, Twist open the Ouzo 2, It 's time to let your hair down Greek style 4, A vibrant whirlwind of love family and all that goes with it My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a nonstop funny feast of warmth colour and cringe 3, Thoughtprovoking and stylish if also somewhat hermetic 4, Broomfield is energized by Volletta Wallace 's maternal fury her fearlessness and because of that his film crackles 3, While it has definite weaknesses like a rather unbelievable love interest and a meandering ending this 's caper film is a riveting brisk delight 3, Funny in a sick twisted sort of way 3, If cinema had been around to capture the chaos of France in the 's one imagines the result would look like something like this 3, It 's a talking head documentary but a great one 2, The Fast Runner ' transports the viewer into an unusual space 3, Ultimately engages less for its story of actorly existential despair than for its boundaryhopping formal innovations and glimpse into another kind of Chinese cultural revolution ' 4, a solid wellformed satire 3, As part of Mr Dong 's continuing exploration of homosexuality in America Family Fundamentals is an earnest study in despair 3, Most consumers of lo mein and General Tso 's chicken barely give a thought to the folks who prepare and deliver it so hopefully this film will attach a human face to all those little steaming cartons 3, Hatosy portrays young Brendan with his usual intelligence and subtlety not to mention a convincing brogue 3, The filmmakers ' eye for detail and the high standards of performance convey a strong sense of the girls ' environment 3, Uneven selfconscious but often hilarious spoof 1, Even bigger and more ambitious than the first installment Spy Kids looks as if it were made by a highly gifted yearold instead of a grown man 3, Thanks to The Château 's balance of whimsicality narrative discipline and serious improvisation almost every relationship and personality in the film yields surprises 3, Alan and his fellow survivors are idiosyncratic enough to lift the movie above its playwriting premise 4, Fresh and raw like a blownout vein Narc takes a walkingdead copflick subgenre and beats new life into it 3, The premise of Jason X is silly but strangely believable 4, It 's a wise and powerful tale of race and culture forcefully told with superb performances throughout 3, An awfully good achingly human picture 2, The cast comes through even when the movie does n't 2, You 'll laugh at either the obviousness of it all or its stupidity or maybe even its inventiveness but the point is you 'll laugh 4, Definitely worth minutes of your time 3, The film jolts the laughs from the audience as if by cattle prod 4, A sexy surprising romance Idemoto and Kim make a gorgeous pair their scenes brim with sexual possibility and emotional danger 3, Toes the fine line between cheese and earnestness remarkably well everything is delivered with such conviction that it 's hard not to be carried away 3, Whereas Oliver Stone 's conspiracy thriller JFK was long intricate starstudded and visually flashy Interview with the Assassin draws its considerable power from simplicity 4, Funny sexy devastating and incurably romantic 3, Triple X is a double agent and he 's one bad dude 3, When you 've got the wildly popular Vin Diesel in the equation it adds up to big box office bucks all but guaranteed 4, Very wellwritten and very wellacted 4, A powerful and telling story that examines forbidden love racial tension and other issues that are as valid today as they were in the s 1, You emerge dazed confused as to whether you 've seen pornography or documentary 3, It ai n't art by a long shot but unlike last year 's lame Musketeer this Dumas adaptation entertains 4, likeable thanks to its cast its cuisine and its quirky tunes 3, Chilling in its objective portrait of dreary lost twentyfirst century America 3, Highly recommended as an engrossing story about a horrifying historical event and the elements which contributed to it 3, there 's enough cool fun here to warm the hearts of animation enthusiasts of all ages 3, It manages to squeeze by on Angelina Jolie 's surprising flair for selfdeprecating comedy 4, Secretary manages a neat trick bundling the flowers of perversity comedy and romance into a strangely tempting bouquet of a movie 4, Judith and Zaza 's extended bedroom sequence is so intimate and sensual and funny and psychologically selfrevealing that it makes most of what passes for sex in the movies look like cheap hysterics 2, Photographed with melancholy richness and eloquently performed yet also decidedly uncinematic 3, A knowing look at female friendship spiked with raw urban humor 3, As I settled into my World War II memories I found myself strangely moved by even the corniest and most hackneyed contrivances 4, The overall effect is awe and affection and a strange urge to get on a board and uh shred dude 4, It 's that rare family movie genuine and sweet without relying on animation or dumb humor 2, The Trinity Assembly approaches the endeavor with a shocking lack of irony and George Ratliff 's documentary Hell House reflects their earnestness which makes for a terrifying film 3, Confessions may not be a straightforward bio nor does it offer much in the way of Barris ' motivations but the film is an oddly fascinating depiction of an architect of pop culture 4, A special kind of movie this melancholic film noir reminded me a lot of Memento 3, Simple poignant and leavened with humor it 's a film that affirms the nourishing aspects of love and companionship 3, Together Miller Kuras and the actresses make Personal Velocity into an intricate intimate and intelligent journey 4, The wonder of Mostly Martha is the performance of Gedeck who makes Martha enormously endearing 3, With Notorious CHO Cho proves she has the stuff to stand tall with Pryor Carlin and Murphy 2, Less frontloaded and more shapely than the twohour version released here in 3, Watching War Photographer you come to believe that Nachtwey hates the wars he shows and empathizes with the victims he reveals 4, LRB A RRB real pleasure in its laidback way 2, Some may choose to interpret the film 's end as hopeful or optimistic but I think Payne is after something darker 3, Though it runs minutes Safe Conduct is anything but languorous 2, It 's packed to bursting with incident and with scores of characters some fictional some from history 4, A much better documentary more revealing more emotional and more surprising than its pedestrian English title would have you believe 3, Notwithstanding my problem with the movie 's final half hour I 'm going to recommend SECRETARY based on the wonderful acting clinic put on by Spader and Gyllenhaal and also the unique way Shainberg goes about telling what at heart is a sweet little girl 3, A wellcrafted film that is all the more remarkable because it achieves its emotional power and moments of revelation with restraint and a delicate ambiguity 3, The film has the uncanny ability to right itself precisely when you think it 's in danger of going wrong 3, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is that rare animal known as ' a perfect family film ' because it 's about family 3, would make an excellent companion piece to the similarly themed The French Lieutenant 's Woman ' 4, with the gifted Pearce on hand to keep things on semistable ground dramatically this retooled Machine is ultimately effective enough at achieving the modest crowdpleasing goals it sets for itself 2, A movie that 's just plain awful but still manages to entertain on a guiltypleasure sobadit 's funny level 3, A disoriented but occasionally disarming saga packed with moments out of an Alice in Wonderland adventure a stalker thriller and a condensed season of TV 's Big Brother 3, Functions as both a revealing look at the collaborative process and a timely tongueincheek profile of the corporate circus that is the recording industry in the current climate of mergers and downsizing 2, With a confrontational stance Todd Solondz takes aim on political correctness and suburban families 2, A mess but it 's a sincere mess 1, This odd distant Portuguese import more or less borrows from Bad Lieutenant and Les Vampires and comes up with a kind of arthouse gay porn film 2, For a debut film Skin of Man Heart of Beast feels unusually assured 3, A photographic marvel of sorts and it 's certainly an invaluable record of that special fishy community 4, It 's soulful and unslick and that 's apparently just what LRB Aniston RRB has always needed to grow into a movie career 3, Although Olivier Assayas ' elegantly appointed period drama seems at times padded with incident in the way of a tooconscientious adaptation its threehour running time plays closer to two 4, A jawdroppingly beautiful work that upends nearly every cliché of Japanese animation while delivering a more than satisfactory amount of carnage 3, Terry is a sort of geriatric Dirty Harry which will please Eastwood 's loyal fans and suits the story wherein our hero must ride roughshod over incompetent cops to get his man 3, Parts seem like they were lifted from Terry Gilliam 's subconscious pressed through Kafka 's meat grinder and into Buñuel 's casings 2, Like a child with an important message to tell LRB Skins ' RRB faults are easy to forgive because the intentions are lofty ' 4, A delightful entree in the tradition of food movies 4, An escapist confection that 's pure entertainment 2, The Ring is worth a look if you do n't demand much more than a few cheap thrills from your Halloween entertainment 2, The movie ultimately relies a bit too heavily on grandstanding emotional Rockylike moments but it 's such a warm and charming package that you 'll feel too happy to argue much 2, Throwing it all away for the fleeting joys of love 's brief moment 4, Armed with a game supporting cast from the pitchperfect Forster to the always hilarious Meara and Levy Like Mike shoots and scores doing its namesake proud 3, A decentenough nailbiter that stands a good chance of being the big hit Franklin needs to stay afloat in Hollywood 4, Begins like a docudrama but builds its multicharacter story with a flourish 4, One of the most genuinely sweet films to come along in quite some time 3, After an uncertain start Murder hits and generally sustains a higher plateau with Bullock 's memorable first interrogation of Gosling 4, The story ultimately takes hold and grips hard 3, A bit of a downer and a little overdramatic at times but this is a beautiful film for people who like their romances to have that French realism 4, An emotionally strong and politically potent piece of cinema 4, Enticing and often funny documentary 2, Going to this movie is a little like chewing whale blubber it 's an acquired taste that takes time to enjoy but it 's worth it even if it does take hours to get through 3, A portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake 4, Almodovar is an imaginative teacher of emotional intelligence in this engaging film about two men who discover what William James once called the gift of tears ' 2, Better than the tepid Star Trek Insurrection falls short of First Contact because the villain could n't pick the lint off Borg Queen Alice Krige 's cape and finishes half a parsec LRB a nose RRB ahead of Generations 3, At times a bit melodramatic and even a little dated LRB depending upon where you live RRB Ignorant Fairies is still quite goodnatured and not a bad way to spend an hour or two 3, Tense terrific sweatypalmed fun 4, Majidi 's direction has never been smoother or more confident 4, What a bewilderingly brilliant and entertaining movie this is 4, Hard endearing caring warm 3, Bring tissues 3, A thriller with an edge which is to say that it does n't follow the stale standard connectthedots storyline which has become commonplace in movies that explore the seamy underbelly of the criminal world 2, Me Without You '' is a probing examination of a female friendship set against a few dynamic decades 3, Inherently caustic and oddly whimsical the film chimes in on the grieving process and strangely draws the audience into the unexplainable pain and eccentricities that are attached to the concept of loss 2, Though Frodo 's quest remains unfulfilled a hardy group of determined New Zealanders has proved its creative mettle 3, It 's a square sentimental drama that satisfies as comfort food often can 3, Pure cinematic intoxication a wildly inventive mixture of comedy and melodrama tastelessness and swooning elegance 4, Ramsay is clearly extraordinarily talented and based on three short films and two features here 's betting her third feature will be something to behold 3, I was impressed by how many titfortat retaliatory responses the filmmakers allow before pulling the plug on the conspirators and averting an AmericanRussian Armageddon 4, A classy sprightly spin on film 2, fast frantic and fun but also soon forgotten 3, A spiffy animated feature about an unruly adolescent boy who is yearning for adventure and a chance to prove his worth 4, Devos and Cassel have tremendous chemistry their sexual and romantic tension while never really vocalized is palpable 2, Fulfills the minimum requirement of Disney animation 3, A moving if uneven success 2, With one exception every blighter in this particular South London housing project digs into dysfunction like it 's a big comforting jar of Marmite to be slathered on crackers and served as a feast of bleakness 4, Wickedly funny visually engrossing never boring this movie challenges us to think about the ways we consume pop culture 3, There 's plenty to impress about ET 3, A chronicle not only of one man 's quest to be president but of how that man singlehandedly turned a plane full of hardbitten cynical journalists into what was essentially by campaign 's end an extended publicity department 3, Until it goes off the rails in its final or minutes Wendigo Larry Fessenden 's spooky new thriller is a refreshingly smart and newfangled variation on several themes derived from far less sophisticated and knowing horror films 3, LRB Woo 's RRB most resonant film since The Killer 0, Collateral Damage is trash but it earns extra points by acting as if it were n't 3, A whole lot of fun and funny in the middle though somewhat less hardhitting at the start and finish 3, Maybe it is formula filmmaking but there 's nothing wrong with that if the film is wellcrafted and this one is 3, LRB Fincher 's RRB camera sense and assured pacing make it an aboveaverage thriller 3, The film is insightful about Kissinger 's background and history 4, An engrossing portrait of a man whose engaging manner and flamboyant style made him a truly largerthanlife character 3, A lot of the credit for the film 's winning tone must go to Grant who has n't lost a bit of the dry humor that first made audiences on both sides of the Atlantic love him 3, Exploits LRB headbanger RRB stereotypes in good fun while adding a bit of heart and unsettling subject matter 3, A journey that is as difficult for the audience to take as it is for the protagonist yet it 's potentially just as rewarding 3, Ratliff 's two previous titles Plutonium Circus and Purgatory County show his penchant for wry contentious configurations and this film is part of that delicate canon 3, From its invitingly upbeat overture to its pathosfilled but ultimately lifeaffirming finale Martin is a masterfully conducted work 3, Passions obsessions and loneliest dark spots are pushed to their most virtuous limits lending the narrative an unusually surreal tone 3, A comedy that swings and jostles to the rhythms of life 1, At times Auto Focus feels so distant you might as well be watching it through a telescope 3, Yet in its own aloof unreachable way it 's so fascinating you wo n't be able to look away for a second 3, If you 're part of her targeted audience you 'll cheer 2, Otherwise maybe 3, As animation increasingly emphasizes the computer and the cool this is a film that takes a stand in favor of tradition and warmth 3, Blade II merges bits and pieces from fighting games wire fu horror movies mystery James Bond wrestling scifi and anime into one big bloody stew 3, Instead of hitting the audience over the head with a moral Schrader relies on subtle ironies and visual devices to convey point of view 3, K will not go down in the annals of cinema as one of the great submarine stories but it is an engaging and exciting narrative of Man confronting the Demons of his own fear and paranoia 3, Contrived as this may sound Mr Rose 's updating works surprisingly well 3, A glib but bouncy bit of sixtiesstyle slickness in which the hero might wind up caught but the audience gets pure escapism 3, You do n't need to be a hiphop fan to appreciate Scratch and that 's the mark of a documentary that works 3, Between bursts of automatic gunfire the story offers a trenchant critique of capitalism 3, Combines improbable melodrama LRB gored bullfighters comatose ballerinas RRB with subtly kinky bedside vigils and sensational denouements and yet at the end we are undeniably touched 3, While the story 's undeniably hard to follow Iwai 's gorgeous visuals seduce 4, If you can get past the taboo subject matter it will be well worth your time 4, A lovely film elegant witty and beneath a prim exterior unabashedly romantic hugely enjoyable in its own right though not really faithful to its source 's complexity 4, Scooby Doo is surely everything its fans are hoping it will be and in that sense is a movie that deserves recommendation 4, LRB A RRB devastatingly powerful and astonishingly vivid Holocaust drama 3, A solid cast assured direction and complete lack of modern day irony 3, These characters are so well established that the gang feels comfortable with taking insane liberties and doing the goofiest stuff out of left field and I 'm all for that 4, A sundrenched masterpiece part parlor game part psychological case study part droll social satire 3, Worth a look as a curiosity 3, You watch for that sense of openness the little surprises 3, Director Peter Kosminsky gives these women a forum to demonstrate their acting chops ' and they take full advantage 2, Auto Focus is not your standard Hollywood biopic 1, Schrader aims to present an unflinching look at one man 's downfall brought about by his lack of selfawareness 3, The Bourne Identity should n't be half as entertaining as it is but director Doug Liman and his colleagues have managed to pack it with enough action to satisfy the boombam crowd without a huge sacrifice of character and mood 4, For VeggieTales fans this is more appetizing than a side dish of asparagus 1, If you 're not a fan it might be like trying to eat Brussels sprouts 3, Remove SpiderMan the movie from its red herring surroundings and it 's apparent that this is one summer film that satisfies 2, The whole mildly pleasant outing the R rating is for brief nudity and a grisly corpse remains aloft not on its own selfreferential hot air but on the inspired performance of Tim Allen 3, A gorgeously strange movie Heaven is deeply concerned with morality but it refuses to spell things out for viewers 4, The Emperor 's Club ruthless in its own placid way finds one of our most conservative and hidebound moviemaking traditions and gives it new texture new relevance new reality 3, It 's truly awful and heartbreaking subject matter but one whose lessons are well worth revisiting as many times as possible 3, Though intrepid in exploring an attraction that crosses sexual identity Ozpetek falls short in showing us Antonia 's true emotions But at the very least His Secret Life will leave you thinking 3, There is little question that this is a serious work by an important director who has something new to say about how in the flipflop of courtship we often reel in when we should be playing out 2, The message of such reflections intentional or not is that while no art grows from a vacuum many artists exist in one 3, Gooding is the energetic frontman and it 's hard to resist his enthusiasm even if the filmmakers come up with nothing original in the way of slapstick sequences 3, The otherwise goodnaturedness of Mr Deeds with its embrace of sheer goofiness and cameos of less thanlikely New York celebrities certainly raises the film above anything Sandler 's been attached to before 4, The movie is brilliant really 3, It is philosophy illustrated through everyday events 3, It 's stylishly directed with verve 3, Gives an intriguing twist to the French comingofage genre 3, Offers an interesting look at the rapidly changing face of Beijing 3, A solid psychological action film from Hong Kong 2, See it now before the inevitable Hollywood remake flattens out all its odd intriguing wrinkles 3, Holm does his sly intricate magic and Iben Hjelje is entirely appealing as Pumpkin 3, An enjoyable feelgood family comedy regardless of race 4, Features what is surely the funniest and most accurate depiction of writer 's block ever 0, It would take a complete moron to foul up a screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde 's classic satire 3, It 's bright pristine style and bold colors make it as much fun as reading an oversized picture book before bedtime 2, In the long dishonorable history of quickie teenpop exploitation Like Mike stands out for its only partly synthetic decency 3, Bravo for history rewritten and for the uncompromising knowledge that the highest power of all is the power of love 4, Lead actress Gaï she of the impossibly long limbs and sweetly conspiratorial smile is a towering siren 4, Even if you 've seen Stomp '' LRB the stage show RRB you still have to see this 3, a light yet engrossing piece 4, Lux now in her eighties does a great combination act as narrator Jewish grandmother and subject taking us through a film that is part biography part entertainment and part history 3, It 's a setup so easy it borders on facile but keeping the film from cheapshot mediocrity is its crack cast 3, Rife with the rueful wry humor springing out of Yiddish culture and language 4, A time machine a journey back to your childhood when cares melted away in the dark theater and films had the ability to mesmerize astonish and entertain 3, Rubbo 's humorously tendentious intervention into the whowroteShakespeare controversy 3, Cantet beautifully illuminates what it means sometimes to be inside looking out and at other times outside looking in 3, K The Widowmaker is a great yarn 4, It 's as raw and actionpacked an experience as a ringside seat at a toughman contest 1, Evokes the frustration the awkwardness and the euphoria of growing up without relying on the usual tropes 2, A brilliant gag at the expense of those who paid for it and those who pay to see it 3, Visually striking and viscerally repellent 3, Overcomes its visual hideousness with a sharp script and strong performances 4, Astonishingly skillful and moving it could become a historically significant work as well as a masterfully made one 4, Beautifully crafted and cooly unsettling recreates the atmosphere of the crime expertly 4, The year has conjured up more comingofage stories than seem possible but Take Care of My Cat emerges as the very best of them 2, Although it does n't always hang together violence and whimsy do n't combine easily Cherish '' certainly is n't dull 3, The sight of the spaceship on the launching pad is duly impressive in IMAX dimensions as are shots of the astronauts floating in their cabins 4, Time is a beautiful film to watch an interesting and at times captivating take on loss and loneliness 3, An intriguing look at the French film industry during the German occupation its most delightful moments come when various characters express their quirky inner selves 3, A fine documentary can be distinguished from a mediocre one by the better film 's ability to make its subject interesting to those who are n't part of its supposed target audience 3, Judging by those standards Scratch ' is a pretty decent little documentary 2, Fubar is very funny but not always in a laughoutloud way 3, A diverse and astonishingly articulate cast of Palestinian and Israeli children 3, Slight but enjoyable documentary 2, The film is stark straightforward and deadly an unnatural calm that 's occasionally shaken by blasts of rage and later violent jealousy ' 2, Call this The Full Monty on ice the underdog sports team formula redux 3, Unfolds in a lowkey organic way that encourages you to accept it as life and go with its flow 3, A beguiling evocation of the quality that keeps Dickens evergreen the exuberant openness with which he expresses our most basic emotions 3, The heat of the moment prevails 3, It cooks Conduct in a low smoky and inviting sizzle 4, A riveting story well told 2, Denis forges out of the theories of class based rage and sisterly obsession a razorsided tuning fork that rings with cultural sexual and social discord 4, A compelling preWWII drama with vivid characters and a warm moving message 3, The stars may be college kids but the subject matter is as adult as you can get the temptations of the flesh are unleashed by a slightly crazed overtly determined young woman and a onenight swim turns into an ocean of trouble 3, Pretty good little movie 4, By turns touching raucously amusing uncomfortable and yes even sexy Never Again is a welcome and heartwarming addition to the romantic comedy genre 3, If you have n't seen the film lately you may be surprised at the variety of tones in Spielberg 's work 3, Much of it is funny but there are also some startling surrealistic moments 2, LRB The digital effects RRB reminded me of Terry Gilliam 's rudimentary old Monty Python cartoons in which he would cut out figures from drawings and photographs and paste them together 3, An entertaining mix of period drama and flatout farce that should please history fans 3, Canada 's arctic light shines bright on this frozen tundra soap opera that breathes extraordinary life into the private existence of the Inuit people 3, The fluid motion is astounding on any number of levels including the physical demands made on Büttner and it implies in its wake the intractable irreversible flow of history 3, Alternately hilarious and sad aggravating and soulful scathing and joyous 4, It 's a masterpeice 3, The film 's messages of tolerance and diversity are n't particularly original but one ca n't help but be drawn in by the sympathetic characters 3, Though it lacks the utter authority of a genre gem there 's a certain robustness to this engaging mix of love and bloodletting 3, A conventional but wellcrafted film about a historic legal battle in Ireland over a man 's right to raise his own children 3, Yes it 's as good as you remember 3, In fact even better 4, Hartley adds enough quirky and satirical touches in the screenplay to keep the film entertaining 0, An uncomfortable movie suffocating and sometimes almost senseless The Grey Zone does have a center though a morbid one 2, This is a harrowing movie about how parents know where all the buttons are and how to push them 3, A stirring road movie 3, One of the best films I have ever seen constantly pulling the rug from underneath us seeing things from new sides plunging deeper getting more intense 4, Insanely hilarious 4, I have n't laughed that hard in years 2, Anyone who 's ever suffered under a martinet music instructor has no doubt fantasized about what an unhappy repressed and twisted personal life their tormentor deserved 4, These people are really going to love The Piano Teacher 2, It 's a tour de force written and directed so quietly that it 's implosion rather than explosion you fear 2, It may not be history but then again what if it is 4, but it makes for one of the most purely enjoyable and satisfying evenings at the movies I 've had in a while 4, If Lilo & Stitch '' is n't the most edgy piece of Disney animation to hit the silver screen then this first film to use a watercolor background since Dumbo '' certainly ranks as the most original in years 2, This may be Dover Kosashvili 's feature directing debut but it looks an awful lot like life gritty awkward and ironic 3, This readymade midnight movie probably wo n't stand the cold light of day but under the right conditions it 's goofy LRB if not entirely wholesome RRB fun 4, See Scratch for the history see Scratch for the music see Scratch for a lesson in scratching but most of all see it for the passion 3, Bowling for Columbine '' remains a disquieting and thoughtprovoking film 2, Even though it is infused with the sensibility of a video director it does n't make for completely empty entertainment 2, But even with the twowrongsmakearight chemistry between Jolie and Burns this otherwise appealing picture loses its soul to Screenwriting For Dummies conformity 3, Talk to Her is so darned assured we have absolutely no idea who the main characters are until the film is well under way and yet it 's hard to stop watching 3, Star\/producer Salma Hayek and director Julie Taymor have infused Frida with a visual style unique and inherent to the titular character 's paintings and in the process created a masterful work of art of their own 4, A truly wonderful tale combined with stunning animation 3, A lowkey labor of love that strikes a very resonant chord 3, An average kidempowerment fantasy with slightly aboveaverage brains 3, Confessions is n't always coherent but it 's sharply comic and surprisingly touching so hold the gong 2, While Guzmán frustratingly refuses to give Pinochet 's crimes a political context his distance from the material is mostly admirable 2, a story an old and scary one about the monsters we make and the vengeance they take 3, A sentimental but entirely irresistible portrait of three aging sisters 3, White Oleander may leave you rolling your eyes in the dark but that does n't mean you wo n't like looking at it 3, In painting an unabashedly romantic picture of a nation whose songs spring directly from the lives of the people the movie exalts the Marxian dream of honest working folk with little to show for their labor living harmoniously joined in song 4, The most brilliant work in this genre since the uncut version of Sergio Leone 's flawed but staggering Once Upon a Time in America 3, It looks closely insightfully at fragile complex relationships 2, Not a bad choice here assuming that the airconditioning in the theater is working properly 3, A fine effort an interesting topic some intriguing characters and a sad ending 3, Certainly the big finish was n't something Galinsky and Hawley could have planned for but part of being a good documentarian is being there when the rope snaps 3, It must be the end of the world the best film so far this year is a franchise sequel starring Wesley Snipes 3, There are moments of hilarity to be had 3, A hypnotic portrait of this sad compulsive life 3, LRB While The Last Metro RRB was more melodramatic confined to a single theater company and its strategies and deceptions while Tavernier is more concerned with the entire period of history 4, One of the best films of the year with its exquisite acting inventive screenplay mesmerizing music and many inimitable scenes of tenderness loss discontent and yearning 4, Return to Never Land is reliable standard Disney animated fare with enough creative energy and wit to entertain all ages 4, Michael Moore 's latest documentary about America 's thirst for violence is his best film yet 2, Suffice to say that after seeing this movie in IMAX form you 'll be more acquainted with the tiniest details of Tom Hanks ' face than his wife is 3, Like a Tarantino movie with heart Alias Betty is richly detailed deftly executed and utterly absorbing 4, Marvelously entertaining and deliriously joyous documentary 4, A brisk reverent and subtly different sequel 4, A movie I loved on first sight and even more important love in remembrance 3, Deserves a place of honor next to Nanook as a landmark in film history 3, Murderous Maids pulls no punches in its depiction of the lives of the Papin sister and the events that led to their notorious rise to infamy 4, This is an undeniably intriguing film from an adventurous young talent who finds his inspiration on the fringes of the American underground 2, The Sweetest Thing a romantic comedy with outrageous tendencies may be a mess in a lot of ways 3, But it does have one saving grace 2, A lot of its gags and observations reflect a woman 's pointofview 3, This is lightweight filmmaking to be sure but it 's pleasant enough and oozing with attractive men 3, At its most basic this cartoon adventure is that windinthehair exhilarating 3, Fans of critics ' darling band Wilco will marvel at the sometimes murky always brooding look of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart 3, The film presents visceral and dangerously honest revelations about the men and machines behind the curtains of our planet 3, LRB Gosling 's RRB combination of explosive physical energy and convincing intelligence helps create a complex unpredictable character 2, Confounding because it solemnly advances a daringly preposterous thesis 2, Acting can not be acted 3, FulfordWierzbicki deftly captures the wisebeyondheryears teen 3, A wild ride juiced with enough energy and excitement for at least three films 4, It 's a cool event for the whole family 4, Maybe not a classic but a movie the kids will want to see over and over again 1, The movie is not as terrible as the synergistic impulse that created it 2, A typically observant carefully nuanced and intimate French comingofage film that is an encouraging debut feature but has a needlessly downbeat ending that is too heavy for all that has preceded it 3, Less an examination of neoNazism than a probe into the nature of faith itself 3, A moving and weighty depiction of one family 's attempts to heal after the death of a child 1, I do n't think most of the people who loved the Paradiso will prefer this new version 2, But I do 4, A zingerfilled crowdpleaser that openminded Elvis fans LRB but by no means all RRB will have fun with 4, Diggs and Lathan are among the chief reasons Brown Sugar is such a sweet and sexy film 4, Entirely suspenseful extremely wellpaced and ultimately dare I say entertaining 4, The riveting performances by the incredibly flexible cast make Love a joy to behold 3, Terrific as Nadia a Russian mailorder bride who comes to America speaking not a word of English it 's Kidman who holds the film together with a supremely kittenish performance that gradually accumulates more layers 4, With an unflappable air of decadent urbanity Everett remains a perfect Wildean actor and a relaxed Firth displays impeccable comic skill 3, The rerelease of Ron Howard 's Apollo in the IMAX format proves absolutely that really really really good things can come in enormous packages 4, Very well written and directed with brutal honesty and respect for its audience 3, Wonderful fencing scenes and an exciting plot make this an eminently engrossing film 3, It 's pretty linear and only makeupdeep but Bogdanovich ties it together with efficiency and an affection for the period 3, A surprisingly charming and even witty match for the best of Hollywood 's comicbook adaptations 4, This is a superior horror flick 4, Adaptation is simply brilliant 3, Smart and alert Thirteen Conversations About One Thing is a small gem 4, The pleasure of Read My Lips is like seeing a series of perfect black pearls clicking together to form a string 3, We 're drawn in by the dark luster 3, A haunting tale of murder and mayhem 3, I love the opening scenes of a wintry New York City in 3, Cinematic poetry showcases the city 's oldworld charm before machines change nearly everything 4, It 's hard to imagine anyone managing to steal a movie not only from charismatic rising star Jake Gyllenhaal but also from accomplished Oscar winners Susan Sarandon Dustin Hoffman and Holly Hunter yet newcomer Ellen Pompeo pulls off the feat with aplomb 4, One of the best rock documentaries ever 4, Wilco is a phenomenal band with such an engrossing story that will capture the minds and hearts of many 3, Ian Holm conquers France as an earthy Napoleon 1, Offers big fat dumb laughs that may make you hate yourself for giving in 2, Ah what the hell 3, LRB Sports RRB admirable energy fullbodied characterizations and narrative urgency 2, A portrait of an artist 4, Directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein have put together a bold biographical fantasia 3, The subtitled costume drama is set in a remote African empire before cell phones guns and the internal combustion engine but the politics that thump through it are as timely as tomorrow 4, A tremendous piece of work 4, A delightful if minor pastry of a movie 3, While obviously aimed at kids The Country Bears should keep parents amused with its low groantoguffaw ratio 4, LaBute masterfully balances both Traditional or Modern stories together in a manner that one never overwhelms the other 3, Something for everyone 4, Irwin is so earnest that it 's hard to resist his pleas to spare wildlife and respect their environs 2, There are far worse messages to teach a young audience which will probably be perfectly happy with the sloppy slapstick comedy 3, Leigh succeeds in delivering a dramatic slap in the face that 's simultaneously painful and refreshing 3, Not about scares but a mood in which an ominous pervasive and unknown threat lurks just below the proceedings and adds an almost constant mindset of suspense 3, Film aficionados can not help but love Cinema Paradiso whether the original version or new Director 's Cut ' 4, A fascinating glimpse into an insular world that gives the lie to many clichés and showcases a group of dedicated artists 1, It 's one thing to read about or rail against the ongoing and unprecedented construction project going on over our heads 2, It 's quite another to feel physically caught up in the process 3, Contradicts everything we 've come to expect from movies nowadays 3, Instead of simply handling conventional material in a conventional way Secretary takes the most unexpected material and handles it in the most unexpected way 4, Could I have been more geeked when I heard that Apollo was going to be released in IMAX format 2, In a word No 3, Murderous Maids has a lot going for it not least the brilliant performances by Testud and Parmentier 3, Filmmaker Stacy Peralta has a flashy editing style that does n't always jell with Sean Penn 's monotone narration but he respects the material without sentimentalizing it 3, There are a couple of things that elevate Glory '' above most of its ilk most notably the mere presence of Duvall 3, It 's light on the chills and heavy on the atmospheric weirdness and there are moments of jawdroppingly odd behavior yet I found it weirdly appealing 3, LRB Rises RRB above its ohsoHollywood rejiggering and its conventional direction to give the film a soul and an unabashed sense of good oldfashioned escapism 3, A breezy blend of art history esoteric musings and philosophy 4, Kids will love its fantasy and adventure and grownups should appreciate its whimsical humor 2, Tsai Mingliang 's ghosts are painfully aware of their notbeing 4, Leaping from one arresting image to another Songs from the Second Floor has all the enjoyable randomness of a very lively dream and so manages to be compelling amusing and unsettling at the same time 2, Sean Penn you owe Nicolas Cage an apology 3, The performances are uniformly good 3, She 's allpowerful a voice for a popcyber culture that feeds on her Bjorkness 4, It 's a perfect show of respect to just one of those underrated professionals who deserve but rarely receive it 2, For all its plot twists and some of them verge on the bizarre as the film winds down Blood Work is a strong characteroriented piece 3, The story line may be years old but El Crimen del Padre Amaro could n't be more timely in its despairing vision of corruption within the Catholic establishment 3, This indepth study of important developments of the computer industry should make it required viewing in university computer science departments for years to come 3, It shows us a slice of life that 's very different from our own and yet instantly recognizable 3, A wonderfully speculative character study that made up for its rather slow beginning by drawing me into the picture 2, Has its share of arresting images 4, Leave it to John Sayles to take on developers the Chamber of Commerce tourism historical pageants and commercialism all in the same movie without neglecting character development for even one minute 3, Reign of Fire just might go down as one of the alltime great apocalypse movies 3, A smart little indie 4, Payne has created a beautiful canvas and Nicholson proves once again that he 's the best brush in the business 3, Try as you might to resist if you 've got a place in your heart for Smokey Robinson this movie will worm its way there 3, A riveting profile of law enforcement and a visceral nasty journey into an urban Hades 0, Director Douglas McGrath takes on Nickleby with all the halfhearted zeal of an th grade boy delving into required reading 3, Stands as a document of what it felt like to be a New Yorker or really to be a human being in the weeks after \/ 3, I am not generally a huge fan of cartoons derived from TV shows but Hey Arnold 3, The Movie is clever offbeat and even gritty enough to overcome my resistance 2, With not a lot of help from the screenplay LRB proficient but singularly cursory RRB LRB Testud RRB acts with the feral intensity of the young Bette Davis 3, It 's a film that 's destined to win a wide summer audience through wordofmouth reviews and not far down the line to find a place among the studio 's animated classics 3, Slow and ponderous but Rohmer 's drama builds to an intense indoor drama about compassion sacrifice and Christian love in the face of political corruption 2, If you 're not totally weirded out by the notion of cinema as communitytherapy spectacle Quitting hits home with disorienting force 3, Austin Powers for the most part is extremely funny the first part making up for any flaws that come later 4, While Tattoo borrows heavily from both Seven and The Silence of the Lambs it manages to maintain both a level of sophisticated intrigue and humanscale characters that suck the audience in 3, Cho continues her exploration of the outer limits of raunch with considerable brio 4, Elvira fans could hardly ask for more 2, A canny derivative wildly gruesome portrait of a London sociopath who 's the scariest of sadists 2, The movie should be credited with remembering his victims 4, Fastpaced and wonderfully edited the film is extremely thorough 3, A bracing unblinking work that serves as a painful elegy and sobering cautionary tale 3, Hashiguchi uses the situation to evoke a Japan bustling atop an undercurrent of loneliness and isolation 1, As if trying to grab a lump of PlayDoh the harder that Liman tries to squeeze his story the more details slip out between his fingers 4, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is not only the best date movie of the year it 's also a dare I say it twice delightfully charming and totally American I might add slice of comedic bliss 3, Few films have captured the chaos of an urban conflagration with such fury and audience members will leave feeling as shaken as Nesbitt 's Cooper looks when the bullets stop flying 3, Another love story in 's remarkable procession of sweeping pictures that have reinvigorated the romance genre 2, It 's another retelling of Alexandre Dumas ' classic 1, Why 3, Who knows but it works under the direction of Kevin Reynolds 3, LRB F RRB rom the performances and the cinematography to the outstanding soundtrack and unconventional narrative the film is blazingly alive and admirable on many levels 3, Shiri is an action film that delivers on the promise of excitement but it also has a strong dramatic and emotional pull that gradually sneaks up on the audience 4, Provides the kind of laugh therapy ' I need from movie comedies offbeat humor amusing characters and a happy ending 3, After seeing Analyze That ' I feel better already 3, A penetrating potent exploration of sanctimony selfawareness selfhatred and selfdetermination 2, This is n't a retooled genre piece the tale of a guy and his gun but an amiably idiosyncratic work 4, Overall it 's a very entertaining thoughtprovoking film with a simple message God is love 3, It may not be a great piece of filmmaking but its power comes from its soul 's eye view of how wellmeaning patronizing masked a social injustice at least as represented by this case 3, Although mainstream American movies tend to exploit the familiar every once in a while a film arrives from the margin that gives viewers a chance to learn to grow to travel 3, JeongHyang Lee 's film is deceptively simple deeply satisfying 4, The film is a hoot and is just as good if not better than much of what 's on Saturday morning TV especially the pseudoeducational stuff we all ca n't stand 3, George Clooney in his first directorial effort presents this utterly ridiculous shaggy dog story as one of the most creative energetic and original comedies to hit the screen in years 3, Even when it drags we are forced to reflect that its visual imagination is breathtaking 3, Although commentary on Nachtwey is provided it 's the image that really tells the tale 2, A lifesize reenactment of those Jack Chick cartoon tracts that always ended with some hippie getting tossed into the lake of fire 2, Grainy photography mars an otherwise delightful comedy of errors 2, this film is not a love letter for the slain rappers it 's a taunt a call for justice for two crimes from which many of us have not yet recovered 4, The film is impressive for the sights and sounds of the wondrous beats the world has to offer 4, Daily struggles and simple pleasures usurp the preaching message so that by the time the credits roll across the pat ending a warm fuzzy feeling prevails 3, in no way original or even all that memorable but as downtown Saturday matinee brain candy it does n't disappoint 4, Clever and unflinching in its comic barbs Slap Her is a small but rewarding comedy that takes aim at contemporary southern adolescence and never lets up 3, Cremaster is at once a tough pill to swallow and a minor miracle of selfexpression 1, Sex is one of those films that aims to confuse 3, Compared to his series of spectacular belly flops both on and off the screen RunTelDat is something of a triumph 1, LRB Moore 's RRB better at fingering problems than finding solutions 3, But though he only scratches the surface at least he provides a strong itch to explore more 3, The powerful success of Read My Lips with such provocative material shows why after only three films director\/cowriter Jacques Audiard though little known in this country belongs in the very top rank of French filmmakers 4, In his debut as a director Washington has a sure hand 4, His work with actors is particularly impressive 4, A generous inspiring film that unfolds with grace and humor and gradually becomes a testament to faith 3, Delivers the sexy razzledazzle that everyone especially movie musical fans has been hoping for 3, Vincent Gallo is right at home in this French shocker playing his usual bad boy weirdo role 3, Fierce glaring and unforgettable 3, Cletis is playful but highly studied and dependent for its success on a patient viewer 2, Like its predecessor it 's no classic but it provides a reasonably attractive holiday contraption one that families looking for a clean kidfriendly outing should investigate 3, Campanella gets the tone just right funny in the middle of sad in the middle of hopeful 2, Either a fascinating study of the relationship between mothers and their children or a disturbing story about sociopaths and their marks 2, gripping and handsome execution LRB but RRB there is n't much about K that 's unique or memorable 4, Effective in all its aspects Margarita Happy Hour represents an auspicious feature debut for Chaiken 4, The delicious trimmings arrive early and stay late filling nearly every minute with a lighthearted glow some impudent snickers and a glorious dose of humankind 's liberating ability to triumph over a Scrooge or two 3, Standing by Yourself is haunting LRB It 's RRB what punk rock music used to be and what the video medium could use more of spirit perception conviction 2, Not the best Herzog perhaps but unmistakably Herzog 4, Enjoyably fastmoving hardhitting documentary 3, Rehearsals are frequently more fascinating than the results 2, Last Dance whatever its flaws fulfills one facet of its mission in making me want to find out whether in this case that 's true 4, The film 's constant mood of melancholy and its unhurried narrative are masterfully controlled 1, But in trying to capture the novel 's deeper intimate resonances the film has ironically distanced us from the characters 4, This is a stunning film a oneofakind tour de force 3, LRB Cho 's face is RRB an amazing slapstick instrument creating a scrapbook of living mug shots 1, It 's about as convincing as any other Arnie musclefest but has a little too much resonance with real world events and ultimately comes off as insultingly simplistic 2, While not quite a comedy the film tackles its relatively serious subject with an open mind and considerable good cheer and is never less than engaging 3, An extremely funny ultimately heartbreaking look at life in contemporary China 2, Your response to its new sequel Analyze That may hinge on what you thought of the first film 3, Davis is funny charming and quirky in her feature film acting debut as Amy 4, Bloody Sunday has the grace to call for prevention rather than to place blame making it one of the best war movies ever made 3, It 's a movie that accomplishes so much that one viewing ca n't possibly be enough 4, A lively and engaging examination of how similar obsessions can dominate a family 4, In the new release of Cinema Paradiso the tale has turned from sweet to bittersweet and when the tears come during that final beautiful scene they finally feel absolutely earned 3, Faithful without being forceful sad without being shrill A Walk to Remember '' succeeds through sincerity 2, The film is a masterpiece of nuance and characterization marred only by an inexplicable utterly distracting blunder at the very end 3, The film is full of charm 4, The movie is well crafted and well executed 2, If you 're paying attention the big twists '' are pretty easy to guess but that does n't make the movie any less entertaining 3, One of those unassuming films that sneaks up on you and stays with you long after you have left the theatre 1, Pray does n't have a passion for the material 4, He nonetheless appreciates the art and reveals a music scene that transcends culture and race 4, The oneliners are snappy the situations volatile and the comic opportunities richly rewarded 4, It 's anchored by splendid performances from an honored screen veteran and a sparkling newcomer who instantly transform themselves into a believable mother\/daughter pair 4, Fathers and sons and the uneasy bonds between them rarely have received such a sophisticated and unsentimental treatment on the big screen as they do in this marvelous film 2, This scifi technosex thriller starts out bizarre and just keeps getting weirder 4, Last Orders nurtures the multilayers of its characters allowing us to remember that life 's ultimately a gamble and last orders are to be embraced 3, It 's affecting amusing sad and reflective 3, A slight but sweet film 3, Writer\/director Walter Hill is in his hypermasculine element here once again able to inject some real vitality and even art into a pulpy concept that in many other hands would be completely forgettable 4, It is a happy heady jumble of thought and storytelling an insane comic undertaking that ultimately coheres into a sane and breathtakingly creative film 2, This new Time Machine is hardly perfect yet it proves surprisingly serviceable 3, Even at its worst it 's not halfbad 3, Almost everyone growing up believes their family must look like The Addams Family '' to everyone looking in My Big Fat Greek Wedding '' comes from the heart 3, Once folks started hanging out at the barbershop they never wanted to leave 2, Chances are you wo n't either 3, George Lucas returns as a visionary with a tale full of nuance and character dimension 3, Can be viewed as pure composition and form film as music 4, An extraordinary dramatic experience 4, Every individual will see the movie through the prism of his or her own beliefs and prejudices but the one thing most will take away is the sense that peace is possible 4, That in itself is extraordinary 2, If you can tolerate the redneckversusblueblood cliches that the film trades in Sweet Home Alabama is diverting in the manner of Jeff Foxworthy 's standup act 3, It 's a treat watching Shaw a British stage icon melting under the heat of Phocion 's attentions 3, All in all an interesting look at the life of the campaigntrail press especially ones that do n't really care for the candidate they 're forced to follow 4, Narc is a nobull throwback to s action films 4, It zips along with Bmovie verve while adding the rich details and goforbroke acting that heralds something special 4, Me Without You has a bracing truth that 's refreshing after the phoniness of femalebonding pictures like Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood 1, It 's a strange film one that was hard for me to warm up to 2, Goes a long way on hedonistic gusto 3, The result puts a human face on Derrida and makes one of the great minds of our times interesting and accessible to people who normally could n't care less 3, The Scorpion King is more fun than Conan the Barbarian 2, If there 's one big point to Promises it 's that nothing can change while physical and psychological barriers keep the sides from speaking even one word to each other 4, Unexpected moments of authentically impulsive humor are the hallmark of this bittersweet uncommonly sincere movie that portrays the frank humanity of emotional recovery 3, Jacquot has filmed the opera exactly as the libretto directs ideally capturing the opera 's drama and lyricism 4, This is a sincerely crafted picture that deserves to emerge from the traffic jam of holiday movies 3, I liked it because it was so endlessly grotesquely inventive 4, Audiard successfully maintains suspense on different levels throughout a film that is both gripping and compelling 3, Credit director Ramsay for taking the sometimes improbable story and making it feel realistic 4, This is DiCaprio 's best performance in anything ever and easily the most watchable film of the year 2, Witherspoon puts to rest her valleygirl image but it 's Dench who really steals the show 4, Even when there are lulls the emotions seem authentic and the picture is so lovely toward the end you almost do n't notice the minute running time 3, While dutifully pulling on heartstrings directors Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders valiantly keep punching up the mix 3, Ambitious unsettling psychodrama that takes full chilling advantage of its rougharoundtheedges lowbudget constraints 2, Eric Byler 's nuanced pic avoids easy sentiments and explanations 3, Manages to be wholesome and subversive at the same time 3, When it 's not wallowing in hormonal melodrama Real Women Have Curves '' is a sweet honest and enjoyable comedydrama about a young woman who wants many things in life but fears she 'll become her mother before she gets to fulfill her dreams 1, The film runs on a little longer than it needs to Muccino either does n't notice when his story ends or just ca n't tear himself away from the characters but it 's smooth and professional 2, Blithely anachronistic and slyly achronological 1, This starts off with a 's Doris Day feel and it gets very ugly very fast 3, The first five minutes will have you talking 'til the end of the year 2, Triumph of Love is a very silly movie but the silliness has a pedigree 3, Discursive but oddly riveting documentary 2, The movie has no respect for laws political correctness or common decency but it displays something more important respect for its flawed crazy people 3, On its own Big Trouble could be considered a funny little film 3, An undeniably gorgeous terminally smitten document of a troubadour his acolytes and the triumph of his band 3, This cinema verite speculation on the assassination of John F Kennedy may have been inspired by Blair Witch but it takes its techniques into such fresh territory that the film never feels derivative 4, A beautifully observed character piece 4, A comingofage movie that Hollywood would n't have the guts to make 3, It is quite a vision 3, There are laughs aplenty and as a bonus viewers do n't have to worry about being subjected to farts urine feces semen or any of the other foul substances that have overrun modernday comedies 3, A bittersweet drama about the limbo of grief and how truthtelling can open the door to liberation 3, A strong and confident work which works so well for the first minutes but ends so horrendously confusing in the final two 4, Salma goes native and she 's never been better in this colorful biopic of a Mexican icon 4, Filled with Alexandre Desplat 's haunting and sublime music the movie completely transfixes the audience 3, As chilling and fascinating as Philippe Mora 's modern Hitlerstudy Snide and Prejudice 4, An hour and a half of joyful solo performance 3, Strange and beautiful film 3, No worse a film than Breaking Out and Breaking Out was utterly charming 1, Parker can not sustain the buoyant energy level of the film 's city beginnings into its country conclusion ' 3, Despite lagging near the finish line the movie runs a good race one that will have you at the edge of your seat for long stretches ' 3, a guiltless film for nice evening out 3, Deflated ending aside there 's much to recommend the film 4, It 's a treat a delightful witty improbable romantic comedy with a zippy jazzy score Grant and Bullock make it look as though they are having so much fun 3, Performances all around are tops with the two leads delivering Oscarcaliber performances 3, Everything about The Quiet American is good except its timing 2, A savage John Waterslike humor that dances on the edge of tastelessness without ever quite falling over 3, At once a testament to the divine calling of education and a demonstration of the painstaking process of imparting knowledge 2, May seriously impair your ability to ever again maintain a straight face while speaking to a highway patrolman 3, It 's an interesting effort LRB particularly for JFK conspiracy nuts RRB and Barry 's coldfish act makes the experience worthwhile 3, They 're just a couple of cops in Copmovieland these two but in Narc they find new routes through a familiar neighborhood 2, Brings awareness to an issue often overlooked women 's depression 1, It 's a shame the marvelous first minutes have to be combined with the misconceived final 3, It has a caffeinated sloppy brilliance sparkling with ideas you wish had been developed with more care but animated by an energy that puts the dutiful efforts of more disciplined gradegrubbers to shame 3, You can almost see Mendes and company getting together before a single frame had been shot and collectively vowing This is going to be something really good ' 3, And it is 4, Foster and Whitaker are especially fine 3, She is a lioness protecting her cub and he a reluctant villain incapable of controlling his crew 3, Undoubtedly the scariest movie ever made about tattoos 2, A movie that will wear you out and make you misty even when you do n't want to be 4, Not only better than its predecessor it may rate as the most magical and most fun family fare of this or any recent holiday season 3, Though the story is hackneyed the characters have a freshness and modesty that transcends their predicament 3, Although Frailty fits into a classic genre in its script and execution it is a remarkably original work 2, If this movie leaves you cool it also leaves you intriguingly contemplative 2, The climactic events are so well realized that you may forget all about the original conflict just like the movie does 1, A rude black comedy about the catalytic effect a holy fool has upon those around him in the cutthroat world of children 's television 0, All comedy is subversive but this unrelenting bleak insistence on opting out of any opportunity for finding meaning in relationships or work just becomes sad 4, If a horror movie 's primary goal is to frighten and disturb then They works spectacularly well A shiverinducing nerverattling ride 3, A playful Iranian parable about openness particularly the need for people of diverse political perspectives to get along despite their ideological differences 4, Brilliantly written and wellacted Yellow Asphalt is an uncompromising film 3, That Alabama ' manages to be pleasant in spite of its predictability and occasional slowness is due primarily to the perkiness of Witherspoon LRB who is always a joy to watch even when her material is not firstrate RRB 2, Personal Velocity has a nofrills docuDogma plainness yet Miller lingers on invisible nearly psychic nuances leaping into digressions of memory and desire 3, She boxes these women 's souls right open for us 4, A fascinating literary mystery story with multiple strands about the controversy of who really wrote Shakespeare 's plays 3, Throughout Mr Audiard 's direction is fluid and quick 3, A dashing and absorbing outing with one of France 's most inventive directors 3, It 's a fine oldfashionedmovie movie which is to say it 's unburdened by pretensions to great artistic significance 3, flatout amusing sometimes endearing and often fabulous with a solid cast noteworthy characters delicious dialogue and a wide supply of effective sight gags 4, The Trials of Henry Kissinger is a remarkable piece of filmmaking because you get it 2, Nachtwey clears the cynicism right out of you 4, He makes you realize that deep inside righteousness can be found a tough beauty 3, What it lacks in substance it makes up for in heart 3, Robert Harmon 's lessismore approach delivers real bumpin thenight chills his greatest triumph is keeping the creepy crawlies hidden in the film 's thick shadows 2, With its hint of an awkward Hitchcockian theme in tact Harmon 's daunting narrative promotes a reasonable landscape of conflict and pathos to support the scattershot terrorizing tone 3, In Auteil 's less dramatic but equally incisive performance he 's a charismatic charmer likely to seduce and conquer 3, The heart of the film is a touching reflection on aging suffering and the prospect of death 2, Will you go ape over this movie 3, Well it probably wo n't have you swinging from the trees hooting it 's praises but it 's definitely worth taking a look 3, Its director 's most substantial feature for some time 4, Fontaine 's direction especially her agreeably startling use of closeups and her grace with a moving camera creates sheerly cinematic appeal 4, The Son Of The Bride 's humour is born out of an engaging storyline which also is n't embarrassed to make you reach for the tissues 4, This movie is to be cherished 2, a visually seductive unrepentantly trashy take on Rice 's second installment of her Vampire Chronicles 4, The story 's scope and pageantry are mesmerizing and Mr DayLewis roars with leonine power 4, PT Anderson understands the grandness of romance and how love is the great equalizer that can calm us of our daily ills and bring out joys in our lives that we never knew were possible 4, Twenty years later ET is still a cinematic touchstone 3, This fascinating experiment plays as more of a poetic than a strict reality creating an intriguing species of artifice that gives The Lady and the Duke something of a theatrical air 1, It 's virtually impossible to like any of these despicable characters 2, This is mostly wellconstructed fluff which is all it seems intended to be 3, Even through its flaws Revolution # proves to be a compelling interestingly told film 2, The best way to describe it is as a cross between Paul Thomas Anderson 's Magnolia and David Lynch 's Mulholland Dr 4, Schepisi aided by a cast that seems to include every topnotch British actor who did not appear in Gosford Park LRB as well as one Ms Mirren who did RRB has succeeded beyond all expectation 3, Watching this film one is left with the inescapable conclusion that Hitchens ' obsession with Kissinger is at bottom a sophisticated flower child 's desire to purge the world of the tooth and claw of human power 3, There is no denying the power of Polanski 's film 3, The movie is amateurish but it 's a minor treat 3, This charming but slight tale has warmth wit and interesting characters compassionately portrayed 3, Offers a persuasive look at a defeated but defiant nation in flux 4, A return to pure Disney magic and is enjoyable family fare 3, Takes a fresh and absorbing look at a figure whose legacy had begun to bronze 4, A triumph of pure craft and passionate heart 4, Gosling creates a staggeringly compelling character a young man whose sharp intellect is at the very root of his contradictory selfhating selfdestructive ways 4, Witty and often surprising a dark little morality tale disguised as a romantic comedy 3, Even as it pays earnest homage to turntablists and beat jugglers old schoolers and current innovators Scratch is great fun full of the kind of energy it 's documenting 2, Got a David Lynch jones 3, Then you 'd do well to check this one out because it 's straight up Twin Peaks action 4, Astonishing LRB frames RRB profound ethical and philosophical questions in the form of dazzling pop entertainment 1, Take Care is nicely performed by a quintet of actresses but nonetheless it drags during its minute length 2, It 's hard to fairly judge a film like RINGU when you 've seen the remake first 2, Many of the effective horror elements are dampened through familiarity LRB yet RRB are worthwhile 4, One of the very best movies ever made about the life of moviemaking 3, Rarely does such highprofile talent serve such literate material 3, An elegant and sly deadpan comedy 4, The way the roundelay of partners functions and the interplay within partnerships and among partnerships and the general air of Gatorbashing are consistently delightful 3, Land people and narrative flow together in a stark portrait of motherhood deferred and desire explored 3, Blue Crush ' swims away with the Sleeper Movie of the Summer award 4, You 're not merely watching history you 're engulfed by it 2, A chick flick for guys 3, It 's mildly entertaining especially if you find comfort in familiarity 1, But it 's hardly a necessary enterprise 1, The Quiet American is n't a bad film it 's just one that could easily wait for your pay per view dollar 2, As home movie gone haywire it 's pretty enjoyable but as sexual manifesto I 'd rather listen to old Tori Amos records 3, In its treatment of the dehumanizing and egodestroying process of unemployment Time Out offers an exploration that is more accurate than anything I have seen in an American film 2, Like an episode of MTV 's Undressed with times the creativity but without any more substance indulgently entertaining but could have and should have been deeper 4, A sensitive cultivated treatment of Greene 's work as well as a remarkably faithful one 3, It 's not just a feelgood movie it 's a feel movie 4, You feel good you feel sad you feel pissed off but in the end you feel alive which is what they did 3, It 's a piece of handiwork that shows its indie tatters and selfconscious seams in places but has some quietly moving moments and an intelligent subtlety 3, What makes Barbershop so likable with all its flaws is that it has none of the pushiness and decibel volume of most contemporary comedies 3, Watching these two actors play against each other so intensely but with restraint is a treat 4, An example of quiet confident craftsmanship that tells a sweet charming tale of intergalactic friendship 3, A meditation on faith and madness Frailty is bloodcurdling stuff 4, The production design score and choreography are simply intoxicating 4, A comedy that is warm inviting and surprising 4, So vivid a portrait of a woman consumed by lust and love and crushed by betrayal that it conjures up the intoxicating fumes and emotional ghosts of a freshly painted Rembrandt 1, Suspend your disbelief here and now or you 'll be shaking your head all the way to the credits 2, Trades runofthemill revulsion for extreme unease 4, one of the more influential works of the Korean New Wave ' 3, Implicitly acknowledges and celebrates the glorious chicanery and selfdelusion of this most American of businesses and for that reason it may be the most oddly honest Hollywood document of all 4, A beautifully tooled action thriller about love and terrorism in Korea 2, Directorwriter Bille August depicts this relationship with economical grace letting his superb actors convey Martin 's deterioration and Barbara 's sadness and occasionally anger 4, Victor Rosa is Leguizamo 's best movie work so far a subtle and richly internalized performance 3, Birthday Girl does n't try to surprise us with plot twists but rather seems to enjoy its own transparency 4, smart funny and just honest enough to provide the pleasures of a slightly naughty justaboveaverage off Broadway play 4, Topics that could make a sailor blush but lots of laughs 3, Michael Moore has perfected the art of highly entertaining selfaggrandizing politically motivated documentarymaking and he 's got as potent a topic as ever here 4, A fine production with splendid singing by Angela Gheorghiu Ruggero Raimondi and Roberto Alagna 2, About a Boy vividly recalls the Cary Grant of Room for One More Houseboat and Father Goose in its affectionate depiction of the gentle war between a reluctant irresponsible man and the kid who latches onto him 3, None of this is meaningful or memorable but frosting is n't either and you would n't turn down a big bowl of that would you 3, The film is a fierce dance of destruction 3, Its flamelike roiling blackandwhite inspires trembling and gratitude 3, May lack the pungent bite of its title but it 's an enjoyable trifle nonetheless 2, manages to fall closer in quality to Silence than to the abysmal Hannibal 1, You may think you have figured out the con and the players in this debut film by Argentine director Fabian Bielinsky but while you were thinking someone made off with your wallet 4, Diane Lane works nothing short of a minor miracle in Unfaithful 3, Takashi Miike keeps pushing the envelope Ichi the Killer 2, A fantastic premise anchors this movie but what it needs is either a more rigid Blair Witchstyle commitment to its mockumentary format or a more straightforward dramatic treatment with all the grandiosity that that implies 3, Exhilarating but blatantly biased 3, Much of what we see is horrible but it 's also undeniably exceedingly clever 2, It understands in a way that speaks forcefully enough about the mechanisms of poverty to transcend the rather simplistic filmmaking 3, Ramsay succeeds primarily with her typical blend of unsettling atmospherics delivering a series of abrasive stylized sequences that burn themselves upon the viewer 's memory 4, a thoughtful whatif for the heart as well as the mind 3, Like its bizarre heroine it irrigates our souls 4, Hawn and Sarandon form an acting bond that makes The Banger Sisters a fascinating character study with laughs to spare 4, It 's a fun adventure movie for kids LRB of all ages RRB that like adventure 3, A very capable nailbiter 4, Because the genre is well established what makes the movie fresh is smart writing skewed characters and the title performance by Kieran Culkin 1, White Oleander '' the movie is akin to a Reader 's Digest condensed version of the source material 1, It 's like going to a house party and watching the host defend himself against a frothing exgirlfriend 2, You do n't want to call the cops 2, You want to call Domino 's 3, What 's most refreshing about Real Women Have Curves is its unforced comedydrama and its relaxed naturalseeming actors 3, The lowkey direction is pleasingly emphatic in this properly intense claustrophobic tale of obsessive love 3, Secretary is just too original to be ignored 3, That rare film whose reallife basis is in fact so interesting that no embellishment is needed 3, Smart and fun but far more witty than it is wise 3, This is n't a stand up and cheer flick it 's a sit down and ponder affair 4, And thanks to Kline 's superbly nuanced performance that pondering is highly pleasurable 3, Originality ai n't on the menu but there 's never a dull moment in the giant spider invasion comic chiller 3, Walter Hill 's Undisputed is like a s Warner Bros 2, B picture and I mean that as a compliment 3, This one is not nearly as dreadful as expected 3, In fact it 's quite fun in places 2, With elements cribbed from Lang 's Metropolis Welles ' Kane and Eisenstein 's Potemkin the true wonder of Rintarô 's Metropolis is the number of lasting images all its own 2, A biopic about Crane 's life in the classic tradition but evolves into what has become of us all in the era of video 3, The best of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films to date 4, Thanks to a small star with big heart this family film sequel is plenty of fun for all 3, While the now yearold Robert Evans been slowed down by a stroke he has at least one more story to tell his own 4, It 's about individual moments of mood and an aimlessness that 's actually sort of amazing 3, The people in Jessica are so recognizable and true that as in real life we 're never sure how things will work out 3, A tone poem of transgression 2, Creeps you out in high style even if Nakata did it better 3, Rubbo runs through a remarkable amount of material in the film 's short minutes 3, Visually engrossing seldom hammy honorably Mexican and burns its Kahlories with conviction 3, This is Christmas Future for a lot of baby boomers 3, Despite a quieter middle section involving Aragorn 's dreams of Arwen this is even better than The Fellowship 4, There are scenes of cinematic perfection that steal your heart away 2, SpiderMan is in the same category as XMen occasionally brilliant but mostly average showing signs of potential for the sequels but not giving us much this time around 3, The obnoxious title character provides the drama that gives added clout to this doc 4, Anyone who welcomes a dash of the avantgarde fused with their humor should take pleasure in this crazed joyous romp of a film 4, The fun of the movie is the chance it affords to watch Jackson who also served as executive producer take his smooth shrewd powerful act abroad 3, Saddled with an unwieldy cast of characters and angles but the payoff is powerful and revelatory 4, It 's something of the ultimate Scorsese film with all the stomachturning violence colorful New York gang lore and other hallmarks of his personal cinema painted on their largestever historical canvas 4, Mr Caine and Mr Fraser are the whole show here with their memorable and resourceful performances 2, A frustrating yet deeply watchable melodrama that makes you think it 's a tougher picture than it is 3, A giddy and provocative sexual romp that has something to say 3, LRB Russell RRB makes good B movies LRB The Mask The Blob RRB and The Scorpion King more than ably meets those standards 3, OttoSallies has a real filmmaker 's eye 3, This is a smart movie that knows its classical music knows its Freud and knows its Sade 3, The film has an infectious enthusiasm and we 're touched by the film 's conviction that all life centered on that place that time and that sport 3, Beautifully reclaiming the story of Carmen and recreating it an in an African idiom 4, The camera soars above the globe in dazzling panoramic shots that make the most of the largescreen format before swooping down on a string of exotic locales scooping the whole world up in a joyous communal festival of rhythm 3, A flawed but engrossing thriller 4, Demonstrates the unusual power of thoughtful subjective filmmaking 3, Expect no major discoveries nor any stylish sizzle but the film sits with square conviction and touching good sense on the experience of its women 3, The success of Undercover Brother is found in its ability to spoof both black and white stereotypes equally 3, This is the kind of subject matter that could so easily have been fumbled by a lesser filmmaker but Ayres makes the right choices at every turn 3, Cox creates a fluid and mesmerizing sequence of images to match the words of Nijinsky 's diaries 2, What Bloody Sunday lacks in clarity it makes up for with a great fiery passion 3, Its adult themes of familial separation and societal betrayal are head and shoulders above much of the director 's previous popcorn work 4, Director Nancy Savoca 's nofrills record of a show forged in stillraw emotions captures the unsettled tenor of that post period far better than a more measured or polished production ever could 3, The film grows on you 2, And how 3, One thing you have to give them credit for The message of the movie is consistent with the messages espoused in the company 's previous video work 2, Halloween Resurrection is n't exactly quality cinema but it is n't nearly as terrible as it cold have been 3, As banal as the telling may be and at times All My Loved Ones more than flirts with kitsch the tale commands attention 4, Romantic comedy and Dogme filmmaking may seem odd bedfellows but they turn out to be delightfully compatible here 4, The most wondrous love story in years it is a great film 4, Some movies suck you in despite their flaws and Heaven is one such beast 3, My Wife Is an Actress works as well as it does because LRB the leads RRB are such a companionable couple 4, With Spy Kids The Island of Lost Dreams however Robert Rodriguez adorns his familyfilm plot with an elegance and maturity that even most contemporary adult movies are lacking 3, Based on Dave Barry 's popular book of the same name the movie benefits from having a real writer plot out all of the characters ' moves and overlapping story 4, Bouquet gives a performance that is masterly 4, A poignant comedy that offers food for thought 4, a series of tales told with the intricate preciseness of the best short story writing 3, If you 're content with a clever pseudobio that manages to have a good time as it doles out pieces of the famous director 's life Eisenstein delivers 3, This filmed Tosca not the first by the way is a pretty good job if it 's filmed Tosca that you want 1, I 'll stay with the stage versions however which bite cleaner and deeper 3, While the path may be familiar firsttime director Denzel Washington and a topnotch cast manage to keep things interesting 3, An engaging criminal romp that will have viewers guessing just who 's being conned right up to the finale 3, The picture runs a mere minutes but it 's no glance 4, It 's a headturner thoughtfully written beautifully read and finally deeply humanizing 3, It asks nothing of the audience other than to sit back and enjoy a couple of great actors hamming it up 3, It is as uncompromising as it is nonjudgmental and makes clear that a prostitute can be as lonely and needy as any of the clients 3, Barbershop '' is a goodhearted ensemble comedy with a variety of quirky characters and an engaging story 4, Tully is in many ways the perfect festival film a calm selfassured portrait of small town regret love duty and friendship that appeals to the storytelling instincts of a slightly more literate filmgoing audience 4, I like this movie a lot 3, I like that Smith he 's not making fun of these people he 's not laughing at them 2, the implication is Kissinger may have decided that when it comes to truncheoning it 's better to give than to receive 3, What 's the Russian word for Wow ' 3, Kiarostami has crafted a deceptively casual ode to children and managed to convey a tiny sense of hope 4, I had more fun watching Spy than I had with most of the big summer movies 3, What Lee does so marvelously compelling is present Brown as a catalyst for the struggle of black manhood in restrictive and chaotic America sketchy but nevertheless gripping portrait of Jim Brown a celebrated wonder in the spotlight 2, Murder by Numbers ' is n't a great movie but it 's a perfectly acceptable widget 3, For those of an indulgent slightly sunbaked and summery mind Sex and Lucia may well prove diverting enough 3, What LRB Denis RRB accomplishes in his chilling unnerving film is a double portrait of two young women whose lives were as claustrophic suffocating and chilly as the attics to which they were inevitably consigned 4, A welldone film of a selfreflexive philosophical nature 4, Texan director George Ratliff had unlimited access to families and church meetings and he delivers fascinating psychological fare 3, The rich performances by Friel and especially Williams an American actress who becomes fully English round out the square edges 3, The new Insomnia is a surprisingly faithful remake of its chilly predecessor and when it does elect to head off in its own direction it employs changes that fit it well rather than ones that were imposed for the sake of commercial sensibilities 4, A film in a class with Spike Lee 's masterful Do The Right Thing 4, Jagger Stoppard and director Michael Apted deliver a riveting and surprisingly romantic ride 2, Greengrass LRB working from Don Mullan 's script RRB forgoes the larger sociopolitical picture of the situation in Northern Ireland in favour of an approach that throws one in the pulsating thick of a truly frightening situation 3, A thoughtprovoking and oftenfunny drama about isolation 4, Whatever one makes of its political edge this is beautiful filmmaking from one of French cinema 's master craftsmen 3, Mama Africa pretty much delivers on that promise 2, It does give you a peek 2, The main problem being that it 's only a peek 3, Roman Polanski 's autobiographical gesture at redemption is better than Shindler 's List ' it is more than merely a Holocaust movie 2, A perfectly respectable perfectly inoffensive easily forgettable film 4, Romanek 's themes are every bit as distinctive as his visuals 3, Beyond the cleverness the weirdness and the pristine camerawork One Hour Photo is a sobering meditation on why we take pictures 2, Seeing Seinfeld at home as he watches his own appearance on Letterman with a clinical eye reminds you that the key to standup is to always make it look easy even though the reality is anything but 4, Speaks eloquently about the symbiotic relationship between art and life 3, The work of an artist tormented by his heritage using his storytelling ability to honor the many faceless victims 1, The audacity to view one of Shakespeare 's better known tragedies as a dark comedy is by itself deserving of discussion 4, This is an exercise in chilling style and Twohy films the sub inside and out with an eye on preserving a sense of mystery 3, An uncomfortable experience but one as brave and challenging as you could possibly expect these days from American cinema 4, Hailed as a clever exercise in neoHitchcockianism this clever and very satisfying picture is more accurately Chabrolian 3, Funny and also heartwarming without stooping to gooeyness 2, At the film 's centre is a precisely layered performance by an actor in his midseventies Michel Piccoli 3, The viewer takes great pleasure in watching the resourceful Molly stay a step ahead of her pursuers 3, With amazing finesse the film shadows Heidi 's trip back to Vietnam and the city where her mother Mai Thi Kim still lives 4, Director Charles Stone III applies more detail to the film 's music than to the story line what 's best about Drumline is its energy 4, A heroic tale of persistence that is sure to win viewers ' hearts 2, It 's all a rather shapeless good time 3, has far more energy wit and warmth than should be expected from any movie with a '' at the end of its title 3, A little better than Sorcerer 's Stone 3, A chilling movie without oppressive gore 3, A uniquely sensual metaphorical dramatization of sexual obsession that spends a bit too much time on its fairly ludicrous plot 3, If you like peace you 'll like Promises 4, Be prepared to cling to the edge of your seat tense with suspense 3, The Ring never lets you off the hook 4, Thumbs up to Paxton for not falling into the Hollywood trap and making a vanity project with nothing new to offer 4, At once disarmingly straightforward and strikingly devious 4, If you like quirky odd movies and\/or the ironic here 's a fun one 4, Sensitive ensemble performances and good period reconstruction add up to a moving tragedy with some buoyant human moments 1, It 's not the least of Afghan tragedies that this noble warlord would be consigned to the dustbin of history 4, It 's a lovely sad dance highlighted by Kwan 's unique directing style 4, The script by David Koepp is perfectly serviceable and because he gives the story some soul he elevates the experience to a more mythic level 3, This is a visually stunning rumination on love memory history and the war between art and commerce 3, Shortstory quaint touchingly mending a child 's pain for his dead mother via communication with an old woman straight out of Eudora Welty 3, It 's always fascinating to watch Marker the essayist at work 3, A quiet family drama with a little bit of romance and a dose of darkness 3, The tasteful little revision works wonders enhancing the cultural and economic subtext bringing richer meaning to the story 's morals 3, Kosminsky puts enough salt into the wounds of the tortured and selfconscious material to make it sting 4, One of the greatest films I 've ever seen 4, Its gentle touching story creeps into your heart 4, About as big a crowdpleaser as they possibly come 3, Bound to appeal to women looking for a howlingly trashy time 2, Even these tales of just seven children seem at times too many although in reality they are not enough 2, Every child 's story is what matters 3, This film can only point the way but thank goodness for this signpost 4, A poignant and gently humorous parable that loves its characters and communicates something rather beautiful about human nature 2, Real Women Have Curves does n't offer any easy answers 2, Vampire epic succeeds as spooky actionpacked trash of the highest order 3, One of the funniest motion pictures of the year but also one of the most curiously depressing 3, While somewhat less than it might have been the film is a good one and you 've got to hand it to director George Clooney for biting off such a big job the first time out 3, Like the chilled breath of oral storytelling frozen onto film 3, A charmer from Belgium 4, A wild endearing masterful documentary 3, Jackie Chan movies are a guilty pleasure he 's easy to like and always leaves us laughing 3, Brown Sugar signals director Rick Famuyiwa 's emergence as an articulate grownup voice in AfricanAmerican cinema 3, With exquisite craftsmanship Olivier Assayas has fashioned an absorbing look at provincial bourgeois French society 3, It 's rare for any movie to be as subtle and touching as The Son 's Room 3, It has a way of seeping into your consciousness with lingering questions about what the film is really getting at 2, Maelstrom is a deliberately unsteady mixture of stylistic elements 4, LRB Leigh RRB has a true talent for drawing wrenching performances from his actors LRB improvised over many months RRB and for conveying the way tiny acts of kindness make ordinary life survivable 3, LRB D RRB espite its familiar subject matter Ice Age is consistently amusing and engrossing 3, The ingenious construction LRB adapted by David Hare from Michael Cunningham 's novel RRB constantly flows forwards and back weaving themes among three strands which allow us to view events as if through a prism 3, Assured glossy and shot through with brittle desperation 3, The bottom line is the piece works brilliantly 3, It was only a matter of time before some savvy producer saw the potential success inherent in the mixture of Bullock Bubble and Hugh Goo 3, It is Scott 's convincing portrayal of Roger the sad cad that really gives the film its oomph 3, While this movie by necessity lacks Fellowship 's heart Two Towers outdoes its spectacle 3, Meyjes has done his homework and soaked up some jazzy new revisionist theories about the origins of Nazi politics and aesthetics 3, Aside from Rohmer 's bold choices regarding point of view The Lady and the Duke represents the filmmaker 's lifelong concern with formalist experimentation in cinematic art 2, What Dumb and Dumber ' would have been without the vulgarity and with an intelligent lifeaffirming script 4, a vivid thoughtful unapologetically raw comingofage tale full of sex drugs and rock 'n' roll 3, You would n't want to live waydowntown but it is a hilarious place to visit 2, Films are made of little moments 3, Changing Lanes tries for more 3, It does n't reach them but the effort is gratefully received 3, When the movie mixes the cornpone and the Cosa Nostra it finds a nice rhythm 3, The story is a rather simplistic one grief drives her love drives him and a second chance to find love in the most unlikely place it struck a chord in me 3, Terrific casting and solid execution give all three stories life 3, A hard look at one man 's occupational angst and its subsequent reinvention a terrifying study of bourgeois desperation worthy of Claude Chabrol 4, LRB Ramsay RRB visually transforms the dreary expanse of deadend distaste the characters inhabit into a poem of art music and metaphor 3, Frequent flurries of creative belly laughs and genuinely enthusiastic performances keep the movie slaloming through its hackneyed elements with enjoyable ease 4, At its best this is grandscale moviemaking for a largerthanlife figure an artist who has been awarded mythic status in contemporary culture 3, The plot of the comeback curlers is n't very interesting actually but what I like about Men With Brooms and what is kind of special is how the film knows what 's unique and quirky about Canadians 4, minutes into the film you 'll be whiteknuckled and unable to look away 4, It 's a beautiful film full of elaborate and twisted characters and it 's also pretty funny 1, Could this be the first major studio production shot on video tape instead of film 4, Not since Ghostbusters has a film used Manhattan 's architecture in such a gloriously goofy way 3, As tricky and satisfying as any of David Mamet 's airless cinematic shell games 4, The universal theme of becoming a better person through love has never been filmed more irresistibly than in Baran ' 2, Cube 's charisma and chemistry compensate for corniness and cliche 2, With lesser talents High Crimes would be entertaining but forgettable 2, With Freeman and Judd I 'll at least remember their characters 4, As a director Paxton is surprisingly brilliant deftly sewing together what could have been a confusing and horrifying vision into an intense and engrossing headtrip 3, The film is filled with humorous observations about the general absurdity of modern life as seen through the eyes outsiders but deftly manages to avoid many of the condescending stereotypes that so often plague films dealing with the mentally ill 3, Daughter From Danang sticks with its subjects a little longer and tells a deeper story 3, A comingofage film that avoids the cartoonish clichés and sneering humor of the genre as it provides a fresh view of an old type the uncertain girl on the brink of womanhood 2, The faithful will enjoy this sometimes wry adaptation of VS Naipaul 's novel but newcomers may find themselves stifling a yawn or two during the first hour 4, A distinguished and thoughtful film marked by acute writing and a host of splendid performances 4, Barry convinces us he 's a dangerous secretly unhinged guy who could easily have killed a president because it made him feel powerful 3, Takes you by the face strokes your cheeks and coos beseechingly at you slow down shake off your tensions and take this picture at its own breezy distracted rhythms 3, I do n't feel the least bit ashamed in admitting that my enjoyment came at the expense of seeing justice served even if it 's a dish that 's best served cold 4, It 's a smart solid kineticallycharged spy flick worthy of a couple hours of summertime and a bucket of popcorn 3, Nothing overly original mind you but solidly entertaining 4, Changing Lanes is an anomaly for a Hollywood movie it 's a wellwritten and occasionally challenging social drama that actually has something interesting to say 4, borrows a bit from the classics Wait Until Dark '' and Extremities '' But in terms of its style the movie is in a class by itself 2, Because Eight Legged Freaks is partly an homage to Them Tarantula and other low budget Bmovie thrillers of the s and 's the movie is a silly LRB but not sophomoric RRB romp through horror and hellish conditions 3, Puts a refreshing and comical spin on the alltoofamiliar saga of the contemporary single woman 3, If you grew up on Scooby you 'll love this movie 4, Matthew Lillard is born to play Shaggy 3, Though filmed partly in Canada Paid in Full has clever ways of capturing innercity life during the Reagan years 4, Spiderman is better than any summer blockbuster we had to endure last summer and hopefully sets the tone for a summer of good stuff 4, If you 're a comic fan you ca n't miss it 3, If you 're not you 'll still have a good time '' 2, This movie has a strong message about never giving up on a loved one but it 's not an easy movie to watch and will probably disturb many who see it 4, The movie is a trove of delights 4, Excellent performances from Jacqueline Bisset and Martha Plimpton grace this deeply touching melodrama 4, In a summer of clones Harvard Man is something rare and riveting a wild ride that relies on more than special effects 3, While the humor is recognizably Plympton he has actually bothered to construct a real story this time 2, Jolting into Charleston rhythms the story has the sizzle of old news that has finally found the right vent LRB accurate 1, Who cares RRB 2, An overly melodramatic but somewhat insightful French comingofage film 3, Most thrillers send audiences out talking about specific scary scenes or startling moments Frailty '' leaves us with the terrifying message that the real horror may be waiting for us at home 3, Close enough in spirit to its freewheeling trashcinema roots to be a breath of fresh air 4, Skillfully weaves both the elements of the plot and a powerfully evocative mood combining heated sexuality with a haunting sense of malaise 3, Damon brings the proper conviction to his role as LRB Jason Bourne RRB 3, For the most part it works beautifully as a movie without sacrificing the integrity of the opera 3, As played by Ryan Gosling Danny is a frighteningly fascinating contradiction 2, This is not Chabrol 's best but even his lesser works outshine the best some directors can offer 3, Despite its flaws Crazy as Hell marks an encouraging new direction for La Salle 3, You 'll end up moved 4, If you ever wondered what it would be like to be smack in the middle of a war zone armed with nothing but a camera this Oscarnominated documentary takes you there 3, The Woodman seems to have directly influenced this girlmeetsgirl love story but even more reassuring is how its makers actually seem to understand what made Allen 's romantic comedies so pertinent and enduring 3, I loved the look of this film 3, Those with a modicum of patience will find in these characters ' foibles a timeless and unique perspective 4, Beautiful to watch and holds a certain charm 2, Conversations may be a bit too enigmatic and overly ambitious to be fully successful but Sprecher and her screenwriting partner and sister Karen Sprecher do n't seem ever to run out of ideas 2, The movie is our story as much as it is Schmidt 's no matter if it 's viewed as a selfreflection or cautionary tale 3, Foster breathes life into a roll that could have otherwise been bland and run of the mill 3, Quitting offers piercing domestic drama with spikes of sly humor 2, Some people want the ol' ballandchain and then there are those who just want the Ball and Chain 3, LRB Barry RRB gives Assassin a disquieting authority 3, It 's refreshing to see a romance this smart 2, At its best LRB and it does have some very funny sequences RRB Looking for Leonard reminds you just how comically subversive silence can be 4, As improbable as this premise may seem Abbass 's understated shining performance offers us the sense that on some elemental level Lilia deeply wants to break free of her old life 3, Anyone who ever fantasized about space travel but ca n't afford the $ million ticket to ride a Russian rocket should catch this IMAX offering 2, The turntable is now outselling the electric guitar '' 3, Transforms one of LRB Shakespeare 's RRB deepest tragedies into a smart new comedy 4, An intelligent and deeply felt work about impossible irrevocable choices and the price of making them 2, It may sound like a mere diseaseof theweek TV movie but A Song For Martin is made infinitely more wrenching by the performances of reallife spouses Seldahl and Wollter 2, Sayles is making a statement about the inability of dreams and aspirations to carry forward into the next generation 3, As Antonia is assimilated into this newfangled community the film settles in and becomes compulsively watchable in a guiltypleasure daytimedrama sort of fashion 3, every once in a while a movie will come along that turns me into that annoying specimen of humanity that I usually dread encountering the most The Fanboy 3, On its own staggeringly unoriginal terms this genderbending comedy is generally quite funny 4, It 's never dull and always looks good 2, The tonal shifts are jolting and though Wen 's messages are profound and thoughtfully delivered more thorough transitions would have made the film more cohesive 4, As commanderinchief of this film Bigelow demonstrates a breadth of vision and an attention to detail that propels her into the upper echelons of the directing world 2, With wit and empathy to spare waydowntown acknowledges the silent screams of workaday inertia but stops short of indulging its characters ' striving solipsism 4, All of it works smoothly under the direction of Spielberg who does a convincing impersonation here of a director enjoying himself immensely 4, The kind of sweetandsour insider movie that film buffs will eat up like so much gelati 4, With Bowling for Columbine ' Michael Moore gives us the perfect starting point for a national conversation about guns violence and fear 4, One of the year 's most weirdly engaging and unpredictable character pieces 4, One of the best insideshowbiz yarns ever 2, None of his actors stand out but that 's less of a problem here than it would be in another film Characterization matters less than atmosphere 4, A terrifically entertaining specimen of Spielbergian scifi 4, A rare and lightly entertaining look behind the curtain that separates comics from the people laughing in the crowd 1, Solondz is so intent on hammering home his message that he forgets to make it entertaining 4, Whatever heartwarming scene the impressively discreet filmmakers may have expected to record with their mini DV they show a remarkable ability to document both sides of this emotional carwreck 3, It establishes its ominous mood and tension swiftly and if the suspense never rises to a higher level it is nevertheless maintained throughout 4, Although What Time offers Tsai 's usual style and themes it has a more colorful more playful tone than his other films 4, A moving and stark reminder that the casualties of war reach much further than we imagine 4, A thoroughly engaging surprisingly touching British comedy 3, A sloppy amusing comedy that proceeds from a stunningly unoriginal premise 4, a rich and intelligent film that uses its pulpy core conceit to probe questions of attraction and interdependence and how the heart accomodates practical needs 3, It is an unstinting look at a collaboration between damaged people that may or may not qual 3, captures that perverse element of the Kafkaesque where identity overnight is robbed and replaced with a persecuted other '' 4, The actors are simply too good and the story too intriguing for technical flaws to get in the way 2, An estrogen opera so intensely feminine that it serves as the antidote LRB and cannier doppelganger RRB to Diesel 's XXX flexathon 3, Imamura has said that Warm Water Under a Red Bridge is a poem to the enduring strengths of women 4, It may also be the best sex comedy about environmental pollution ever made 3, It 's a ripper of a yarn and I for one enjoyed the thrill of the chill 3, Naomi Watts is terrific as Rachel her petite frame and vulnerable persona emphasising her plight and isolation 3, A family film that contains some hefty thematic material on time death eternity and what is needed to live a rich and full life 4, With Dickens ' words and writerdirector Douglas McGrath 's eventoned direction a ripping good yarn is told 3, Exactly what its title implies lusty boisterous and utterly charming 4, The film is darkly funny in its observation of just how much more grueling and timeconsuming the illusion of work is than actual work 4, A smart compelling drama 4, A mustsee for fans of thoughtful war films and those interested in the sights and sounds of battle 2, I found myself liking the film though in this case one man 's treasure could prove to be another man 's garbage 3, Rogers 's mouth never stops shut about the war between the sexes and how to win the battle 3, Deliberately and skillfully uses ambiguity to suggest possibilities which imbue the theme with added depth and resonance 2, It 's all entertaining enough but do n't look for any hefty antiestablishment message in what is essentially a whipcrack of a buddy movie that ends with a whimper 4, Nicholson 's understated performance is wonderful 2, As Warren he stumbles in search of all the emotions and life experiences he 's neglected over the years 3, Despite its oldhat setup and predictable plot Empire still has enough moments to keep it entertaining 3, Another entertaining romp from Robert Rodriguez 2, It 's not a classic spyaction or buddy movie but it 's entertaining enough and worth a look 1, I am more offended by his lack of faith in his audience than by anything on display here 3, A sharp satire of desperation and cinematic deception 3, Tsai convincingly paints a specifically urban sense of disassociation here 3, If you can swallow its absurdities and crudities Lagaan really is enormously good fun 3, An unorthodox little film noir organized crime story that includes one of the strangest love stories you will ever see 3, A pleasing oftenfunny comedy 2, LRB A RRB rare movie that makes us reassess the basis for our lives and evaluate what is truly ours in a world of meaningless activity 4, All three actresses are simply dazzling particularly Balk who 's finally been given a part worthy of her considerable talents 4, An Asian neorealist treasure 3, Plummer steals the show without resorting to camp as Nicholas ' wounded and wounding Uncle Ralph 4, It 's a great performance and a reminder of Dickens ' grandeur 1, less a story than an inexplicable nightmare right down to the population 's shrugging acceptance to each new horror 4, I am highly amused by the idea that we have come to a point in society where it has been deemed important enough to make a film in which someone has to be hired to portray Richard Dawson 4, A compassionate moving portrait of an American LRB and an America RRB always reaching for something just outside his grasp 2, An original little film about one young woman 's education 2, The film is about the relationships rather than about the outcome 3, And it sees those relationships including that between the son and his wife and the wife and the father and between the two brothers with incredible subtlety and acumen 4, One of those terrific documentaries that collect a bunch of people who are enthusiastic about something and then figures out how to make us share their enthusiasm 3, An instance of an old dog not only learning but inventing a remarkable new trick 3, Rodriguez has the chops of a smartaleck film school brat and the imagination of a big kid 3, Amy and Matthew have a bit of a phony relationship but the film works in spite of it 3, Garcia and the other actors help make the wobbly premise work 3, It 's surprisingly decent particularly for a tenth installment in a series 3, A fascinating unnerving examination of the delusions of one unstable man 4, It 's no accident that The Accidental Spy is a solid action pic that returns the martial arts master to top form 4, Leave it to the French to truly capture the terrifying angst of the modern working man without turning the film into a cheap thriller a dumb comedy or a sappy melodrama 3, The director Mark Pellington does a terrific job conjuring up a sinister menacing atmosphere though unfortunately all the story gives us is flashing red lights a rattling noise and a bump on the head 4, Heartwarming here relies less on forced air than on Petter Næss ' delicate clever direction and a wonderful imaginative script by Axel Hellstenius 3, Makes the case for a strong education and good teachers being more valuable in the way they help increase an average student 's selfesteem and not strictly in the knowledge imparted 3, Steers refreshingly clear of the usual cliches 4, Home Movie '' is a sweet treasure and something well worth your time 4, Highly recommended viewing for its courage ideas technical proficiency and great acting 3, The movie 's thesis elegant technology for the masses is surprisingly refreshing 4, Scott delivers a terrific performance in this fascinating portrait of a modern Lothario 3, Wallace is smart to vary the pitch of his movie balancing deafening battle scenes with quieter domestic scenes of women back home receiving War Department telegrams 4, Combines sharp comedy oldfashioned monster movie atmospherics and genuine heart to create a film that 's not merely about kicking undead \*\*\* but also about dealing with regret and ultimately finding redemption 3, While most films these days are about nothing this film seems to be about everything that 's plaguing the human spirit in a relentlessly globalizing world 3, Marshall puts a suspenseful spin on standard horror flick formula 1, As lively an account as Seinfeld is deadpan 3, Though Lan Yu lacks a sense of dramatic urgency the film makes up for it with a pleasing verisimilitude 3, You may leave the theater with more questions than answers but darned if your toes wo n't still be tapping 3, Take any yearold boy to see this picture and he 'll be your slave for a year 2, But this is not a movie about an inhuman monster it 's about a very human one 2, At times THE GUYS taps into some powerful emotions but this kind of material is more effective on stage 0, It 's not a motion picture it 's an utterly static picture 3, What makes it worth watching is Quaid 's performance 3, Soderbergh skims the fat from the film 2, What 's left is a rich stew of longing 4, It 's the brilliant surfing photography bringing you right inside the massive waves that lifts Blue Crush into one of the summer 's most pleasurable movies 3, More of the same from Taiwanese auteur Tsai Mingliang which is good news to anyone who 's fallen under the sweet melancholy spell of this unique director 's previous films 3, Hatfield and Hicks make the oddest of couples and in this sense the movie becomes a study of the gambles of the publishing world offering a case study that exists apart from all the movie 's political ramifications 4, Best of all is Garcia who perfectly portrays the desperation of a very insecure man 3, The filmmakers try to balance pointed often incisive satire and unabashed sweetness with results that are sometimes bracing sometimes baffling and quite often and in unexpected ways touching 3, A sobering and powerful documentary about the most severe kind of personal loss rejection by one 's mother 2, Often overwrought and at times positively irritating the film turns into an engrossing thriller almost in spite of itself 4, Humorous and heartfelt Douglas McGrath 's version of Nicholas Nickleby ' left me feeling refreshed and hopeful 4, Not many movies have that kind of impact on me these days 4, A poignant lyricism runs through Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress that transforms this story about love and culture into a cinematic poem 2, This is SO De Palma 3, If you love him you 'll like it 2, If you do n't well skip to another review 3, Rouge is less about a superficial midlife crisis than it is about the need to stay in touch with your own skin at or 3, The moral shrapnel and mental shellshock will linger long after this film has ended 3, Unfolds in a series of achronological vignettes whose cumulative effect is chilling 3, The movie enters a realm where few nonporn films venture and comes across as darkly funny energetic and surprisingly gentle 3, Although the subject matter may still be too close to recent national events the film works mostly due to its superior cast of characters 3, It 's not going to be everyone 's bag of popcorn but it definitely gives you something to chew on 4, Huppert and Girardot give performances of exceptional honesty 4, It has that rare quality of being able to creep the living hell out of you 2, A cautionary tale about the grandiosity of a college student who sees himself as impervious to a fall 3, An infinitely wittier version of the Home Alone formula 2, Feardotcom 's thrills are all cheap but they mostly work 4, LRB Hayek RRB throws herself into this dream Hispanic role with a teethclenching gusto she strikes a potent chemistry with Molina and she gradually makes us believe she is Kahlo 4, Mr Deeds is as comedy goes very silly and in the best way 2, You could love Safe Conduct LRB Laissez Passer RRB for being a subtitled French movie that is minutes long 1, You could hate it for the same reason 3, With We Were Soldiers Hollywood makes a valiant attempt to tell a story about the Vietnam War before the pathology set in 1, Moore is like a progressive bull in a china shop a provocateur crashing into ideas and specialinterest groups as he slaps together his own brand of liberalism ' 2, Broomfield reveals an ironic manifestation of institutionalized slavery that ties a blackowned record label with a whiteempowered police force 4, At just over an hour Home Movie will leave you wanting more not to mention leaving you with some laughs and a smile on your face 2, Stuart 's poorme persona needs a whole bunch of Snowball 's cynicism to cut through the sugar coating 3, But once the falcon arrives in the skies above Manhattan the adventure is on red alert 4, There is greatness here 3, Boasts enough funny dialogue and sharp characterizations to be mildly amusing 4, Director Juan Jose Campanella could have turned this into an Argentine retread of Iris '' or American Beauty '' but instead pulls a little from each film and creates something more beautiful than either of those films 4, If you love the music and I do its hard to imagine having more fun watching a documentary 3, Nakata 's technique is to imply terror by suggestion rather than the overuse of special effects 4, Conversations About One Thing '' is an intelligent flick that examines many different ideas from happiness to guilt in an intriguing bit of storytelling 3, Satin Rouge is not a new or inventive journey but it 's encouraging to see a threedimensional average middleaged woman 's experience of selfdiscovery handled with such sensitivity 1, Though an important political documentary this does not really make the case the Kissinger should be tried as a war criminal 3, Cannon 's confidence and laidback good spirits are with the drumming routines among the film 's saving graces 3, In its understanding often funny way it tells a story whose restatement is validated by the changing composition of the nation 4, She may not be real but the laughs are 4, A fiercely clever and subtle film capturing the precarious balance between the extravagant confidence of the exiled aristocracy and the cruel earnestness of the victorious revolutionaries 2, OK arthouse 2, The power of this script and the performances that come with it is that the whole damned thing did n't get our moral hackles up 3, The movie itself is far from disappointing offering an original take on courtroom movies a few nifty twists that are so crucial to the genre and another firstrate performance by topbilled star Bruce Willis 4, About Schmidt is undoubtedly one of the finest films of the year 4, If you 're not deeply touched by this movie check your pulse 3, The charm of Revolution OS is rather the way it introduces you to new fervently held ideas and fanciful thinkers 1, Until its final minutes this is a perceptive study of two families in crisis and of two girls whose friendship is severely tested by bad luck and their own immaturity 4, Offers the flash of rock videos fused with solid performances and eerie atmosphere 3, Filmmakers Dana JanklowiczMann and Amir Mann area headed east Far East in retelling a historically significant and personal episode detailing how one international city welcomed tens of thousands of German Jewish refugees while the world 's democracie 3, For all its problems The Lady and the Duke surprisingly manages never to grow boring which proves that Rohmer still has a sense of his audience 3, An edifying glimpse into the wit and revolutionary spirit of these performers and their era 3, Craig Bartlett and director Tuck Tucker should be commended for illustrating the merits of fighting hard for something that really matters 3, The film is saved from are n't kidscute sentimentality by a warmth that is n't faked and a stately sense of composition 4, This is one of the year 's best films 3, A fleetfooted and pleasingly upbeat family diversion 3, Sorvino is delightful in the central role 3, She nearly glows with enthusiasm sensuality and a conniving wit 4, It 's immensely ambitious different than anything that 's been done before and amazingly successful in terms of what it 's trying to do 4, The story once it gets rolling is nothing short of a great one 4, Great performances stylish cinematography and a gritty feel help make Gangster No a worthwhile moviegoing experience 3, Mr Deeds '' is suitable summer entertainment that offers escapism without requiring a great deal of thought 3, It 's an ambitious film and as with all ambitious films it has some problems 3, But on the whole you 're gonna like this movie 3, Chaiken ably balances realtime rhythms with propulsive incident 4, This is an extraordinary film not least because it is Japanese and yet feels universal 4, In a summer overrun with movies dominated by CGI aliens and super heroes it revigorates the mind to see a feature that concentrates on people a project in which the script and characters hold sway 3, There 's just something about watching a squad of psychopathic underdogs whale the tar out of unsuspecting lawmen that reaches across time and distance 4, A funny and touching film that is gorgeously acted by a British cast to rival Gosford Park 's 3, There 's nothing more satisfying during a summer of event movies than a spy thriller like The Bourne Identity that 's packed with just as much intelligence as action 2, I 'm not generally a fan of vegetables but this batch is pretty cute 2, Qutting may be a flawed film but it is nothing if not sincere 4, Beautifully crafted engaging filmmaking that should attract upscale audiences hungry for quality and a nostalgic twisty yarn that will keep them guessing 4, A thoughtful and surprisingly affecting portrait of a screwedup man who dared to mess with some powerful people seen through the eyes of the idealistic kid who chooses to champion his ultimately losing cause 4, A cultural wildcard experience wacky different unusual even nutty 1, Daughter From Danang reveals that efforts toward closure only open new wounds 1, It does n't flinch from its unsettling prognosis namely that the legacy of war is a kind of perpetual pain 4, For most of its footage the new thriller proves that director M Night Shyamalan can weave an eerie spell and that Mel Gibson can gasp shudder and even tremble without losing his machismo 1, This is not an easy film 3, But it could be by its art and heart a necessary one 3, A very good film sits in the place where a masterpiece should be 4, spellbinding fun and deliciously exploitative 2, It 's Jagger 's bonedry mournfully brittle delivery that gives the film its bittersweet bite 4, Impossible as it may sound this film 's heart is even more embracing than Monty if only because it accepts nasty behavior and severe flaws as part of the human condition 4, Despite the predictable parent vs child comingofage theme firstclass natural acting and a look at the real Americans '' make this a charmer 3, One of the smarter offerings the horror genre has produced in recent memory even if it 's far tamer than advertised 4, One of recent memory 's most thoughtful films about art ethics and the cost of moral compromise 1, the film does n't sustain its initial promise with a jarring newagey tone creeping into the second half 2, Blade II is as estrogenfree as movies get so you might want to leave your date behind for this one or she 's gonna make you feel like you owe her bigtime 2, The message is that even the most unlikely can link together to conquer all kinds of obstacles whether they be of nature of man or of one another 4, Many a parent and their teen LRB or preteen RRB kid could bond while watching A Walk To Remember 3, So could young romantics out on a date 3, All leather pants & augmented boobs Hawn is hilarious as she tries to resuscitate the funloving libertine lost somewhere inside the conservative handbagclutching Sarandon 2, The members manage to pronounce KOK exactly as you think they might thus giving the cast ample opportunity to use that term as often as possible 3, It 's very Beavis and Butthead yet always seems to elicit a chuckle 2, While this gentle and affecting melodrama will have luvvies in raptures it 's far too slight and introspective to appeal to anything wider than a niche audience 3, Chicago offers much colorful eye candy including the spectacle of Gere in his dancing shoes hoofing and crooning with the best of them 2, A difficult but worthy film that bites off more than it can chew by linking the massacre of Armenians in with some difficult relationships in the present 3, By and large this is Mr Kilmer 's movie and it 's his strongest performance since The Doors 3, Some of the most ravaging gutwrenching frightening war scenes since Saving Private Ryan '' have been recreated by John Woo in this littleknown story of Native Americans and their role in the second great war 3, A charming but slight comedy 3, Henry Bean 's thoughtful screenplay provides no easy answers but offers a compelling investigation of faith versus intellect 3, A great cast and a wonderful but sometimes confusing flashback movie about growing up in a dysfunctional family 3, Playing a role of almost Bergmanesque intensity Bisset is both convincing and radiant 4, A smart provocative drama that does the nearly impossible It gets under the skin of a man we only know as an evil monstrous lunatic 3, An alternately fascinating and frustrating documentary 4, Griffin & Co manage to be spectacularly outrageous 4, Nair 's cast is so large it 's Altmanesque but she deftly spins the multiple stories in a vibrant and intoxicating fashion 2, The movie plays up the cartoon 's more obvious strength of snazziness while neglecting its less conspicuous writing strength 3, Poignant Japanese epic about adolescent anomie and heartbreak 3, We 've seen it all before in one form or another but director Hoffman with great help from Kevin Kline makes us care about this latest reincarnation of the world 's greatest teacher 2, Secretary is not a movie about fetishism 2, It is a movie about passion 3, Even though it 's common knowledge that Park and his founding partner Yong Kang lost Kozmo in the end you ca n't help but get caught up in the thrill of the company 's astonishing growth 3, Although some viewers will not be able to stomach so much tongueincheek weirdness those who do will have found a cult favorite to enjoy for a lifetime 4, What could have easily become a cold calculated exercise in postmodern pastiche winds up a powerful and deeply moving example of melodramatic moviemaking 4, A delightful surprise because despite all the backstage drama this is a movie that tells stories that work is charming is moving is funny and looks professional 4, The IMAX screen enhances the personal touch of manual animation 3, Does an impressive job of relating the complicated history of the war and of filling in the background 4, It 's all about Anakin and the lustrous polished visuals rich in color and creativity and of course special effect 0, Lacks the inspiration of the original and has a bloated plot that stretches the running time about minutes past a child 's interest and an adult 's patience 3, But it also has many of the things that made the first one charming 4, It 's funny touching dramatically forceful and beautifully shot 3, Its rawness and vitality give it considerable punch 4, A livewire film that never loses its ability to shock and amaze 4, The year 's greatest adventure and Jackson 's limited but enthusiastic adaptation has made literature literal without killing its soul a feat any thinking person is bound to appreciate 3, It 's fairly solid not to mention well edited so that it certainly does n't feel like a film that strays past the two and a half mark 4, Brims with passion for words for its eccentric accidentprone characters and for the crazy things that keep people going in this crazy life 3, It 's secondary to American Psycho but still has claws enough to get inside you and stay there for a couple of hours 3, The Hours a delicately crafted film is an impressive achievement in spite of a river of sadness that pours into every frame 4, Fudges fact and fancy with such confidence that we feel as if we 're seeing something purer than the real thing 3, This is unusual foodforthought cinema that 's as entertaining as it is instructive 3, With an expressive face reminiscent of Gong Li and a vivid personality like Zhang Ziyi 's Dong stakes out the emotional heart of Happy 3, Nohe 's documentary about the event is sympathetic without being gullible He is n't blind to the silliness but also captures moments of spontaneous creativity and authentic cooperative interaction 2, It may not be as cutting as witty or as true as back in the glory days of Weekend and Two or Three Things I Know About Her but who else engaged in filmmaking today is so cognizant of the cultural and moral issues involved in the process 4, Secret Ballot is a funny puzzling movie ambiguous enough to be engaging and oddly moving 3, Although devoid of objectivity and full of nostalgic comments from the now middleaged participants Dogtown and ZBoys has a compelling story to tell 2, It 's got some pretentious eyerolling moments and it did n't entirely grab me but there 's stuff here to like 4, Birthday Girl walks a tricky tightrope between being wickedly funny and just plain wicked 4, The enjoyable Undercover Brother a zany mix of Saturday Night Livestyle parody 's Blaxploitation films and goofball action comedy gone wild dishes out a ton of laughs that everyone can enjoy 4, Brings an irresistible blend of warmth and humor and a consistent embracing humanity in the face of life 's harshness 3, Jackson is always watchable 2, To the degree that ivans xtc 3, works it 's thanks to Huston 's revelatory performance 3, A wild ride of a movie that keeps throwing fastballs 3, Confessions is without a doubt a memorable directorial debut from King Hunk 2, Weird vulgar comedy that 's definitely an acquired taste 2, A 2, cynical and serious look at teenage boys doing what they do best being teenagers 3, The film is a very good viewing alternative for young women 4, Australian filmmaker David Flatman uses the hugescreen format to make an oldfashioned nature film that educates viewers with words and pictures while entertaining them 4, A dazzling dream of a documentary 3, A keep 'em guessing plot and an affectionate take on its screwedup characters 3, Brave and sweetly rendered love story 3, The film proves unrelentingly grim and equally engrossing 3, A hallmark film in an increasingly important film industry and worth the look 3, The Last Kiss will probably never achieve the popularity of My Big Fat Greek Wedding but its provocative central wedding sequence has far more impact 3, If you like blood guts and crazy beasts stalking men with guns though you will likely enjoy this monster 3, The difference between Cho and most comics is that her confidence in her material is merited 3, Sad to say it accurately reflects the rage and alienation that fuels the selfdestructiveness of many young people 3, There is a strong directorial stamp on every frame of this stylish film that is able to visualize schizophrenia but is still confident enough to step back and look at the sick character with a sane eye 4, Anyone with a passion for cinema and indeed sex should see it as soon as possible ' 3, Seeks to transcend its genre with a curiously stylized quasiShakespearean portrait of pure misogynist evil 3, Mordantly funny and intimately knowing 3, What makes the movie special is its utter sincerity 3, Fast and funny an action cartoon that 's suspenseful enough for older kids but not too scary for the schoolage crowd 3, One of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of acting direction story and pace 4, The AAA of action XXX is a blast of adrenalin rated EEE for excitement 3, And Vin Diesel is the man 3, Earnest unsubtle and Hollywoodpredictable Green Dragon is still a deeply moving effort to put a human face on the travail of thousands of Vietnamese 4, An ambitious movie that like Shiner 's organizing of the big fight pulls off enough of its effects to make up for the ones that do n't come off 2, Nair and writer Laura Cahill dare to build a movie around some flawed but rather unexceptional women emerging with a fine character study that 's short on plot but rich in the tiny revelations of real life 3, The film 's unhurried pace is actually one of its strengths 3, Entirely appropriately the tale unfolds like a lazy summer afternoon and concludes with the crisp clarity of a fall dawn 4, Despite its floating narrative this is a remarkably accessible and haunting film 4, Vibrantly colored and beautifully designed Metropolis is a feast for the eyes 4, Sweetly sexy funny and touching 1, while Dark Water is n't a complete wash LRB no pun intended RRB watched sidebyside with Ringu it ultimately comes off as a pale successor 2, Is truth stranger than fiction 2, In LRB screenwriter RRB Charlie Kaufman 's world truth and fiction are equally strange and his for the taking 3, For decades we 've marveled at Disney 's rendering of water snow flames and shadows in a handdrawn animated world 3, Prepare to marvel again 4, A witty lowkey romantic comedy 3, More good than great but Freeman and Judd make it work 3, If you 're looking for a smart nuanced look at de Sade and what might have happened at Picpus Sade is your film 3, Could have been crisper and punchier but it 's likely to please audiences who like movies that demand four hankies 3, Together writerdirector Danny Verete 's three tales comprise a powerful and reasonably fulfilling gestalt 4, Bursting through the constraints of its source this is one adapted fromtelevision movie that actually looks as if it belongs on the big screen 3, Its almost toospectacular coastal setting distracts slightly from an eccentric and goodnaturedly aimless story 1, In other words it 's just another sports drama\/character study 3, Yet this one makes up for in heart what it lacks in outright newness 3, Plus like I already mentioned it 's Robert Duvall 2, C'mon 3, This story of a determined woman 's courage to find her husband in a war zone offers winning performances and some effecting moments 4, Like Shrek Spirit 's visual imagination reminds you of why animation is such a perfect medium for children because of the way it allows the mind to enter and accept another world 4, A modestly made but profoundly moving documentary 1, It irritates and saddens me that Martin Lawrence 's latest vehicle can explode obnoxiously into screens while something of Bubba HoTep 's clearly evident quality may end up languishing on a shelf somewhere 3, Not everything in this ambitious comic escapade works but Coppola along with his sister Sofia is a real filmmaker 2, It must be in the genes 4, The performers are so spot on it is hard to conceive anyone else in their roles 3, This slight premise works because of the ideal casting of the masterful British actor Ian Holm as the aged Napoleon 4, Hashiguchi covers this territory with wit and originality suggesting that with his fourth feature the first to be released in the US a major director is emerging in world cinema 3, Although the film boils down to a lightweight story about matchmaking the characters make Italian for Beginners worth the journey 3, The dragons are the real stars of Reign of Fire and you wo n't be disappointed 4, Kudos to the most enchanting film of the year 3, It works well enough since the thrills pop up frequently and the dispatching of the cast is as often imaginative as it is gory 2, Colorful and deceptively buoyant until it suddenly pulls the rug out from under you Burkinabe filmmaker Dani Kouyate 's reworking of a folk story whose roots go back to thcentury oral traditions is also a pointed political allegory 4, It 's a powerful though flawed movie guaranteed to put a lump in your throat while reaffirming Washington as possibly the best actor working in movies today 3, Director Paul Cox 's unorthodox abstract approach to visualizing Nijinsky 's diaries is both stimulating and demanding 2, For often hilarious minutes LRB Cho RRB riffs on the diciness of colonics on straight versus gay personal ads on how men would act if they had periods and on the perils of a certain outré sexual practice 3, Most of the things that made the original Men in Black such a pleasure are still there 4, Mostly honest this somber picture reveals itself slowly intelligently artfully 3, Best enjoyed as a work of fiction inspired by reallife events 1, Those seeking a definitive account of Eisenstein 's life would do better elsewhere 4, LRB Westbrook RRB makes a wonderful subject for the camera 3, A film that 's flawed and brilliant in equal measure 3, Even if Invincible is not quite the career peak that The Pianist is for Roman Polanski it demonstrates that Werner Herzog can still leave us with a sense of wonder at the diverse marvelously twisted shapes history has taken 1, Ultimately too repellent to fully endear itself to American art house audiences but it is notable for its stylistic austerity and forcefulness 3, Hardly a film that comes along every day 4, A wild ride with eight boarders from Venice Beach that was a deserved cowinner of the Audience Award for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival 2, The film 's only missteps come from the script 's insistence on providing deep emotional motivation for each and every one of Abagnale 's antics 3, A sweet tender sermon about a yearold Welsh boy more curious about God than girls who learns that believing in something does matter 3, the film belongs to the marvelous Verdu a sexy slip of an earth mother who mourns her tragedies in private and embraces life in public 4, More intimate than spectacular ET is carried less by wow factors than by its funny moving yarn that holds up well after two decades 3, For once a movie does not proclaim the truth about two lovestruck somebodies but permits them time and space to convince us of that all on their own 3, If you 're burnt out on It 's a Wonderful Life marathons and bored with A Christmas Carol it might just be the movie you 're looking for 2, It depends on how well flatulence gags fit into your holiday concept 3, Moonlight Mile does n't quite go the distance but the cast is impressive and they all give life to these broken characters who are trying to make their way through this tragedy 2, It is an indelible epic American story about two families one black and one white facing change in both their inner and outer lives 3, Not as wellwritten as Sexy Beast not as gloriously flippant as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but stylish and moody and exceptionally wellacted 4, Quite simply a joy to watch and especially to listen to 2, A flawed film but an admirable one that tries to immerse us in a world of artistic abandon and political madness and very nearly succeeds 3, The filmmakers wisely decided to let Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin do what he does best and fashion a story around him 3, A winning and wildly fascinating work 1, We do get the distinct impression that this franchise is drawing to a close 3, Worth catching for Griffiths ' warm and winning central performance 2, The tone errs on the shrill side tempered by a soft southern gentility that speaks of beauty grace and a closet full of skeletons 4, An interesting psychological game of catandmouse threedimensional characters and believable performances all add up to a satisfying crime drama 3, A meatier deeper beginning and\/or ending would have easily tipped this film into the A '' range as is it 's a very very strong B + '' 4, I love the robust middle of this picture 3, The power of Shanghai Ghetto a documentary by Dana JanklowiczMann and Amir Mann rests in the voices of men and women now in their s who lived there in the s 3, Maintains your interest until the end and even leaves you with a few lingering animated thoughts 3, There is a beautiful aching sadness to it all 1, Paul Cox needed to show it 2, It is up to you to decide if you need to see it 1, If Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood suffers from a ploddingly melodramatic structure it comes to life in the performances 2, If you ignore the cliches and concentrate on City by the Sea 's interpersonal drama it ai n't halfbad 4, There are n't too many films that can be as simultaneously funny offbeat and heartwarming LRB without a thick shmear of the goo at least RRB but Elling '' manages to do all three quite well making it one of the year 's most enjoyable releases 3, Reign of Fire is hardly the most original fantasy film ever made beyond Road Warrior it owes enormous debts to Aliens and every previous dragon drama but that barely makes it any less entertaining 3, An earnest roughshod document it serves as a workable primer for the region 's recent history and would make a terrific thgrade learning tool 2, Samuel Beckett applied to the Iranian voting process 4, The Bard as black comedy Willie would have loved it 3, Another trumpet blast that there may be a New Mexican Cinema abornin ' ' 0, the film 's considered approach to its subject matter is too calm and thoughtful for agitprop and the thinness of its characterizations makes it a failure as straight drama ' 3, Tadpole may be one of the most appealing movies ever made about an otherwise appalling and downright creepy subject a teenage boy in love with his stepmother 4, This is a story that zings all the way through with originality humour and pathos 1, As underwater ghost stories go Below casts its spooky net out into the Atlantic Ocean and spits it back grizzled and charred somewhere northwest of the Bermuda Triangle 2, It is a challenging film if not always a narratively cohesive one 3, Trapped wo n't score points for political correctness but it may cause parents a few sleepless hours a sign of its effectiveness 3, A rocksolid gangster movie with a fair amount of suspense intriguing characters and bizarre bank robberies plus a heavy dose of fatherandson dynamics 3, It 's incredible the number of stories the Holocaust has generated 3, Just when you think that every possible angle has been exhausted by documentarians another new film emerges with yet another remarkable yet shockingly littleknown perspective 3, As they used to say in the s scifi movies Signs is a tribute to Shyamalan 's gifts which are such that we 'll keep watching the skies for his next project 3, There 's no conversion effort much of the writing is genuinely witty and both stars are appealing enough to probably have a good shot at a Hollywood career if they want one 4, Like a skillful fisher the director uses the last act to reel in the audience since its poignancy hooks us completely 3, A film with contemporary political resonance illustrated by a winning family story 4, Kids five and up will be delighted with the fast funny and even touching story 4, Parents may even find that it goes by quickly because it has some of the funniest jokes of any movie this year including those intended for adults 4, An unsettling memorable cinematic experience that does its predecessors proud 2, Maid in Manhattan might not look so appealing on third or fourth viewing down the road But as a high concept vehicle for two bright stars of the moment who can rise to fans ' lofty expectations the movie passes inspection 4, Much of All About Lily ChouChou is mesmerizing some of its plaintiveness could make you weep 4, Ferrara 's strongest and most touching movie of recent years 4, Spielberg 's first real masterpiece it deserved all the hearts it won and wins still years later 1, The screenwriters dig themselves in deeper every time they toss logic and science into what is essentially a Dungeons and Dragons '' fantasy with modern military weaponry 2, More than simply a portrait of early extreme sports this peek into the s skateboard revolution is a skateboard film as social anthropology 4, What I saw I enjoyed 3, The level of acting elevates the material above pat inspirational status and gives it a sturdiness and solidity that we 've long associated with Washington the actor 3, A deft delightful mix of sulky teen drama and overcomingobstacles sportsmovie triumph 3, Daringly perceptive taut piercing and feisty Biggie and Tupac is undeniably subversive and involving in its bold presentation 3, Delivers more than its fair share of saucy hilarity 3, A fairly enjoyable mixture of Longest Yard and the Guy Ritchie caper Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 3, Happily some things are immune to the folly of changing taste and attitude 3, For proof of that on the cinematic front look no further than this th anniversary edition of the film that Spielberg calls retrospectively his most personal work yet 4, Hugely entertaining from start to finish featuring a fall from grace that still leaves shockwaves it will gratify anyone who has ever suspected Hollywood of being overrun by corrupt and hedonistic weasels 3, It 's not like having a real film of Nijinsky but at least it 's better than that eponymous biopic that used soap in the places where the mysteries lingered 3, It 's probably worth catching solely on its visual merits 1, If only it had the story to match 2, Like other great documentaries this goes after one truth LRB the Ford administration 's complicity in tearing orphans ' from their mothers RRB and stumbles upon others even more compelling 2, only Bond can save us from the latest eccentric superwealthy megalomaniac bent on world domination and destruction 2, The first half bursts with a goofy energy previous Disney films only used for a few minutes here and there 1, It 's quite diverting nonsense 3, An oldfashioned scary movie one that relies on lingering terror punctuated by sudden shocks and not constant bloodshed punctuated by flying guts 3, For all the wit and hoopla Festival In Cannes offers rare insight into the structure of relationships 4, What makes How I Killed My Father compelling besides its terrific performances is Fontaine 's willingness to wander into the dark areas of parentchild relationships without flinching 2, Renner 2, s face is chillingly unemotive yet he communicates a great deal in his performance 3, See it for his performance if nothing else 4, the kind of entertainment that parents love to have their kids see 4, It 's a fine focused piece of work that reopens an interesting controversy and never succumbs to sensationalism 4, Its engaging simplicity is driven by appealing leads 4, Swimming is above all about a young woman 's face and by casting an actress whose face projects that woman 's doubts and yearnings it succeeds 2, A respectable venture on its own terms lacking the broader vision that has seen certain Trek films cross over to a more mainstream audience 3, It 's weird wonderful and not necessarily for kids 3, An elegant film with often surprising twists and an intermingling of naiveté and sophistication 3, Blessed with two fine nuanced lead performances 2, While this has the making of melodrama the filmmaker cuts against this natural grain producing a work that 's more interested in asking questions than in answering them 4, As a girlmeetsgirl romantic comedy Kissing Jessica Steinis quirky charming and often hilarious 1, Yet it 's not quite the genrebusting film it 's been hyped to be because it plays everything too safe 1, You do n't need to know your IceT 's from your CoolJ 's to realize that as far as these shootings are concerned something is rotten in the state of California 4, Turturro is fabulously funny and over the top as a very sneaky ' butler who excels in the art of impossible disappearing\/reappearing acts 2, Meant for Star Wars fans 2, It is there to give them a good time 4, From a deceptively simple premise this deeply moving French drama develops a startling story that works both as a detailed personal portrait and as a rather frightening examination of modern times 4, Simply and eloquently articulates the tangled feelings of particular New Yorkers deeply touched by an unprecedented tragedy 4, Provides a very moving and revelatory footnote to the Holocaust 4, Terrific performances great to look at and funny 3, A little uneven to be the cat 's meow but it 's good enough to be the purr 4, It 's a compelling and horrifying story and The Laramie Project is worthwhile for reminding us that this sort of thing does in fact still happen in America 3, I like it 3, There is a freedom to watching stunts that are this crude this fastpaced and this insane 4, That rare documentary that incorporates so much of human experience drama conflict tears and surprise that it transcends the normal divisions between fiction and nonfiction film 4, That rare movie that works on any number of levels as a film of magic and whimsy for children a heartfelt romance for teenagers and a compelling argument about death both pro and con for adults 3, It 's both degrading and strangely liberating to see people working so hard at leading lives of sexy intrigue only to be revealed by the dispassionate Gantz brothers as ordinary pasty lumpen 3, A sharp and quick documentary that is funny and pithy while illuminating an era of theatrical comedy that while past really is n't 4, The film does a solid job of slowly steadily building up to the climactic burst of violence 3, Fred Schepisi 's tale of four Englishmen facing the prospect of their own mortality views youthful affluence not as a lost ideal but a starting point 2, The directive to protect the code at all costs also begins to blur as the importance of the man and the code merge 4, Overall Cletis Tout is a winning comedy that excites the imagination and tickles the funny bone 4, Easily one of the best and most exciting movies of the year 3, The script manages the rare trick of seeming at once both refreshingly different and reassuringly familiar 3, An engaging formulaic sports drama that carries a charge of genuine excitement 4, Insomnia is one of the year 's best films and Pacino gives one of his most daring and complicated performances 4, Like Vardalos and Corbett who play their roles with vibrant charm the film directed by Joel Zwick is heartfelt and hilarious in ways you ca n't fake 3, I do n't know if Frailty will turn Bill Paxton into an Alist director but he can rest contentedly with the knowledge that he 's made at least one damn fine horror movie 3, Despite its flaws Belinsky is still able to create an engaging story that keeps you guessing at almost every turn 2, Each punch seen through prison bars the fights become not so much a struggle of man vs man as BrotherMan vs The Man 3, The evocative imagery and gentle lapping rhythms of this film are infectious it gets under our skin and draws us in long before the plot kicks into gear 4, Like the best of Godard 's movies it is visually ravishing penetrating impenetrable 3, Horns and Halos benefits from serendipity but also reminds us of our own responsibility to question what is told as the truth 3, LRB Has RRB an immediacy and an intimacy that sucks you in and dares you not to believe it 's all true 3, It treats Ana 's journey with honesty that is tragically rare in the depiction of young women in film 3, Captivates as it shows excess in business and pleasure allowing us to find the small human moments and leaving off with a grand whimper 4, A refreshingly realistic affectationfree comingofage tale 3, How good this film might be depends if you believe that the shocking conclusion is too much of a plunge or not 3, Great fun both for sports aficionados and for ordinary louts whose idea of exercise is climbing the steps of a stadiumseat megaplex 4, Features one of the most affecting depictions of a love affair ever committed to film 1, To honestly address the flaws inherent in how medical aid is made available to American workers a more balanced or fair portrayal of both sides will be needed 4, One of the best movies of the year 3, The usual movie rahrah pleasantly and predictably delivered in lowkey style by director Michael Apted and writer Tom Stoppard 3, A superlative B movie funny sexy and rousing 3, Those prone to indignation need not apply those susceptible to blue hilarity step right up 3, Like Mike is n't going to make box office money that makes Michael Jordan jealous but it has some cute moments funny scenes and hits the target audience LRB young Bow Wow fans RRB with nothing but net 4, LRB Dong RRB makes a valiant effort to understand everyone 's point of view and he does such a good job of it that Family Fundamentals gets you riled up 3, The trick when watching Godard is to catch the pitch of his poetics savor the pleasure of his sounds and images and ponder the historical philosophical and ethical issues that intersect with them 3, At its best which occurs often Michael Moore 's Bowling for Columbine rekindles the muckraking soulsearching spirit of the Are we a sick society ' 2, journalism of the s 3, A modestly surprising movie 3, A headlinefresh thriller set among orthodox Jews on the West Bank Joseph Cedar 's Time Of Favor manages not only to find a compelling dramatic means of addressing a complex situation it does so without compromising that complexity 3, There 's a spontaneity to The Chateau a sense of lightheartedness that makes it attractive throughout 4, The first Tunisian film I have ever seen and it 's also probably the most goodhearted yet sensual entertainment I 'm likely to see all year 3, Like any good romance Son of the Bride proves it 's never too late to learn 4, LRB Kline 's RRB utterly convincing and deeply appealing as a noble teacher who embraces a strict moral code and as a flawed human being who ca n't quite live up to it 3, The film while not exactly assured in its execution is notable for its sheer audacity and openness 3, A thoroughly enjoyable heartfelt comingofage comedy 2, Feeling like a dope has rarely been more fun than it is in Nine Queens 3, Leigh makes these lives count 3, And he allows a gawky actor like Spall who could too easily become comic relief in any other film to reveal his impressively delicate range 4, A lot of fun with an undeniable energy sparked by two actresses in their s working at the peak of their powers 4, Promises is one film that 's truly deserving of its Oscar nomination 3, What bubbles up out of John C Walsh 's Pipe Dream is the distinct and very welcome sense of watching intelligent people making a movie they might actually want to watch 2, If Reno is to the left of liberal on the political spectrum her tough funny rather chaotic show is n't subversive so much as it is nitpicky about the hypocrisies of our time 3, Beautiful angry and sad with a curious sick poetry as if the Marquis de Sade had gone in for pastel landscapes 4, Ms Hutchins is talented enough and charismatic enough to make us care about Zelda 's ultimate fate 4, Monte Cristo smartly emphasizes the wellwrought story and omits needless chase scenes and swordfights as the revenge unfolds 4, A mesmerizing cinematic poem from the first frame to the last 3, LRB It 's RRB a clever thriller with enough unexpected twists to keep our interest 3, An undeniably moving film to experience and ultimately that 's what makes it worth a recommendation 3, Nicole Kidman evolved from star to superstar some time over the past year which means that Birthday Girl is the kind of quirkily appealing minor movie she might not make for a while 2, Vividly conveys the shadow side of the year friendship between two English women 1, The story has some nice twists but the ending and some of the backstory is a little tired 2, The performances are all solid it merely lacks originality to make it a great movie 3, Manages to please its intended audience children without placing their parents in a comalike state 2, When you think you 've figured out Bielinsky 's great game that 's when you 're in the most trouble He 's the con and you 're just the mark 4, A strong first act and absolutely inescapably gorgeous skyscrapertrapeze motion of the amazing SpiderMan 4, Driven by a fantastic dual performance from Ian Holm the film is funny insightfully human and a delightful lark for history buffs 3, A wellputtogether piece of urban satire 3, It 's the sweet Cinderella story that Pretty Woman '' wanted to be 3, It will make you think twice about what might be going on inside each trailer park you drive past even if it chiefly inspires you to drive a little faster 3, What does n't this film have that an impressionable kid could n't stand to hear 3, What saves it and makes it one of the better videogamebased flicks is that the film acknowledges upfront that the plot makes no sense such that the lack of linearity is the point of emotional and moral departure for protagonist Alice 3, A deeply felt and vividly detailed story about newcomers in a strange new world 3, It 's a visual delight and a decent popcorn adventure as long as you do n't try to look too deep into the story 4, It 's a feelgood movie about which you can actually feel good 3, A full experience a love story and a murder mystery that expands into a meditation on the deep deceptions of innocence 3, The Powerpuff Girls arrive on the big screen with their superpowers their supersimple animation and their superdooperadorability intact 2, LRB Raimi 's RRB matured quite a bit with SpiderMan even though it 's one of the most plain white toast comic book films you 'll ever see 4, A new film from Bill Plympton the animation master is always welcome 0, A devastating indictment of unbridled greed and materalism 3, What makes the film special is the refreshingly unhibited enthusiasm that the people in spite of clearly evident poverty and hardship bring to their music 1, The film has a kind of hard cold effect 3, The gags are often a stitch 4, The asylum material is gripping as are the scenes of Jia with his family 2, A bonanza of wacky sight gags outlandish color schemes and corny visual puns that can be appreciated equally as an abstract Frank Tashlin comedy and as a playful recapitulation of the artist 's career 3, One ca n't deny its seriousness and quality 4, Good performances and a realistic nonexploitive approach make Paid in Full worth seeing 2, This engrossing characteristically complex Tom Clancy thriller is shifty in the manner in which it addresses current terrorism anxieties and sidesteps them at the same time 4, Ryan Gosling is in a word brilliant as the conflicted Daniel 3, somehow manages to escape the shackles of its own clichés to be the best espionage picture to come out in weeks 3, Much of The Lady and the Duke is about quiet decisive moments between members of the cultural elite as they determine how to proceed as the world implodes 4, Takes a simple premise and carries it to unexpected heights 4, With few respites Marshall keeps the energy humming and his edits unlike those in Moulin Rouge are crisp and purposeful without overdoing it 3, Its metaphors are opaque enough to avoid didacticism and the film succeeds as an emotionally accessible almost mystical work 3, Provides a satisfactory overview of the bizarre world of extreme athletes as several daredevils express their own views 3, Inventive fun intoxicatingly sexy violent selfindulgent and maddening 3, Comedian like its subjects delivers the goods and audiences will have a fun nofrills ride 4, A naturally funny film Home Movie makes you crave Chris Smith 's next movie 3, Pipe Dream does have its charms 4, The leads are natural and lovely the pace is serene the humor wry and sprightly 3, Those who want to be jolted out of their gourd should drop everything and run to Ichi 3, enthusiastically invokes the percussion rhythm the brass soul and the sense of fierce competition that helps make great marching bands half the fun of college football games 3, Sheds light on a subject few are familiar with and makes you care about music you may not have heard before 3, Despite the film 's bizarre developments Hoffman keeps us riveted with every painful nuance unexpected flashes of dark comedy and the character 's gripping humanity 1, To get at the root psychology of this film would require many sessions on the couch of Dr Freud 4, Great overthetop moviemaking if you 're in a slaphappy mood 4, Viveka Seldahl and Sven Wollter will touch you to the core in a film you will never forget that you should never forget 3, The magic LRB and original running time RRB of ace Japanimator Hayao Miyazaki 's Spirited Away survives intact in BV 's revoiced version 3, From the dull surreal ache of mortal awareness emerges a radiant character portrait 4, Captures the raw comic energy of one of our most flamboyant female comics 2, It 's not particularly subtle However it still manages to build to a terrifying if obvious conclusion 3, The auteur 's ear for the way fears and slights are telegraphed in the most blithe exchanges gives the film its lingering tug 4, Bolstered by exceptional performances and a cleareyed take on the economics of dealing and the pathology of ghetto fabulousness 4, This enthralling documentary is at once playful and haunting an indepth portrait of an iconoclastic artist who was fundamentally unknowable even to his closest friends 3, Some remarkable achival film about how Shanghai LRB of all places RRB served Jews who escaped the Holocaust 3, In a movie full of surprises the biggest is that Secret Ballot is a comedy both gentle and biting 4, The urban landscapes are detailed down to the signs on the kiosks and the color palette with lots of somber blues and pinks is dreamy and evocative 3, A manically generous Christmas vaudeville 2, Tony Gayton 's script does n't give us anything we have n't seen before but director DJ Caruso 's grimy visual veneer and Kilmer 's absorbing performance increase the gravitational pull considerably 3, A psychic journey deep into the very fabric of Iranian life 4, It 's a smartly directed grownup film of ideas 2, While puerile men dominate the story the women shine 3, Unlike lots of Hollywood fluff this has layered welldeveloped characters and some surprises 1, For a film that 's being advertised as a comedy Sweet Home Alabama is n't as funny as you 'd hoped 1, For a film that 's being advertised as a comedy Sweet Home Alabama is n't as funny as you 'd hoped 3, Vera has created a provocative absorbing drama that reveals the curse of a selfhatred instilled by rigid social mores 3, A French film with a more downhome flavor 2, Depending upon your reaction to this movie you may never again be able to look at a red felt Sharpie pen without disgust a thrill or the giggles 3, While Bollywood\/Hollywood will undoubtedly provide its keenest pleasures to those familiar with Bombay musicals it also has plenty for those LRB like me RRB who are n't 2, There are times when you wish that the movie had worked a little harder to conceal its contrivances but Brown Sugar turns out to be a sweet and enjoyable fantasy 3, Fontaine masterfully creates a portrait of two strong men in conflict inextricably entwined through family history each seeing himself in the other neither liking what he sees 3, As Janice Eileen Walsh an engaging wideeyed actress whose teeth are a little too big for her mouth infuses the movie with much of its slender glinting charm 3, Sure it 's contrived and predictable but its performances are so well tuned that the film comes off winningly even though it 's never as solid as you want it to be 2, Dong shows how intolerance has the power to deform families then tear them apart 3, The Chateau belongs to Rudd whose portrait of a therapydependent flakeball spouting French malapropisms is a nonstop hoot 3, The cast collectively a successful example of the lovableloser protagonist shows deft comic timing 4, It trusts the story it sets out to tell 3, I could n't recommend this film more 3, As a good oldfashioned adventure for kids Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron is a winner 3, An effective portrait of a life in stasis of the power of inertia to arrest development in a deadend existence 3, Succeeds as a wellmade evocation of a subculture 3, an interesting slice of history 3, Me no lika da accents so good but I thoroughly enjoyed the love story 3, Scott Baio is turning in some delightful work on indie projects 3, It 's an experience in understanding a unique culture that is presented with universal appeal 3, What 's surprising is how well it holds up in an era in which computergenerated images are the norm 4, Brings together some of the biggest names in Japanese anime with impressive results 3, Wonder hope and magic can never escape the heart of the boy when the right movie comes along especially if it begins with the name of Star Wars 3, A flick about our infantilized culture that is n't entirely infantile 4, An exceptionally acted quietly affecting cop drama 4, Sensual funny and in the end very touching 3, Angel presents events partly from the perspective of Aurelie and Christelle and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale 3, Who needs mindbending drugs when they can see this the final part of the qatsi ' trilogy directed by Godfrey Reggio with music by Philip Glass 3, LRB A RRB smarter and much funnier version of the old Police Academy flicks 4, Proof once again that if the filmmakers just follow the books they ca n't go wrong 4, Better effects better acting and a hilarious Kenneth Branagh 4, An excellent sequel 4, Both a grand tour through hundred years of Russian cultural identity and a stunning technical achievement 2, Just how these families interact may surprise you 2, Proves that some movie formulas do n't need messing with like the bigbug movie 4, A surprisingly funny movie 3, This new movie version of the Alexandre Dumas classic is the stuff of high romance brought off with considerable wit 3, Like all of Egoyan 's work Ararat is fiercely intelligent and uncommonly ambitious 3, If a big musical number like Praise the Lord He 's the God of Second Chances ' does n't put you off this will be an enjoyable choice for younger kids 4, fuses the events of her life with the imagery in her paintings so vividly that the artist 's work may take on a striking new significance for anyone who sees the film 3, LRB Clooney 's RRB debut can be accused of being a bit undisciplined but it has a tremendous offbeat sense of style and humor that suggests he was influenced by some of the filmmakers who have directed him especially the Coen brothers and Steven Soderbergh 1, Although made on a shoestring and unevenly acted conjures a Lynchlike vision of the rotting underbelly of Middle America 2, A piquant meditation on the things that prevent people from reaching happiness 3, A timely look back at civil disobedience antiwar movements and the power of strong voices 4, Rifkin 's references are impeccable throughout 3, I 'd be lying if I said my ribcage did n't ache by the end of Kung Pow 4, More than their unique residences Home Movie is about the people who live in them who have carved their own comfortable niche in the world and have been kind enough to share it 4, The movie is ingenious fun 4, See it 2, The combination of lightness and strictness in this instance gives Italian for Beginners an amiable aimlessness that keeps it from seeming predictably formulaic 3, The script is smart and dark hallelujah for small favors 4, An intelligent multilayered and profoundly humanist LRB not to mention gently political RRB meditation on the values of knowledge education and the affects of cultural and geographical displacement 3, Mr Polanski is in his element here alone abandoned but still consoled by his art which is more than he has ever revealed before about the source of his spiritual survival 4, Spectacular in every sense of the word even if you don ' t know an Orc from a UrukHai 3, This is n't exactly profound cinema but it 's goodnatured and sometimes quite funny 4, This is a finely written superbly acted offbeat thriller 3, Tres Greek writer and star Nia Vardalos has crafted here a worldlywise and very funny script 3, A tasty appetizer that leaves you wanting more 3, It gives devastating testimony to both people 's capacity for evil and their heroic capacity for good 3, The film reminds me of a vastly improved Germanic version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding with better characters some genuine quirkiness and at least a measure of style 3, The difference is that I truly enjoyed most of Mostly Martha while I ne 4, Morton deserves an Oscar nomination 4, A colorful vibrant introduction to a universal human impulse lushly photographed and beautifully recorded 3, The screenplay never lets us forget that Bourne was once an amoral assassin just like the ones who are pursuing him There is never really a true us '' versus them '' 4, The history is fascinating the action is dazzling 1, They just do n't work in concert 3, For those in search of something different Wendigo is a genuinely bonechilling tale 3, A lovely film for the holiday season 2, It remains to be seen whether Statham can move beyond the crimeland action genre but then again who says he has to 3, A hypnotic cyber hymn and a cruel story of youth culture 4, It 's a fairy tale that comes from a renowned Indian film culture that allows Americans to finally revel in its splendor 4, At once subtle and visceral the film never succumbs to the trap of the maudlin or tearful offering instead with its unflinching gaze a measure of faith in the future 3, The performances of the children untrained in acting have an honesty and dignity that breaks your heart 3, Despite its lavish formalism and intellectual austerity the film manages to keep you at the edge of your seat with its shapeshifting perils political intrigue and brushes with calamity 3, This rush to profits has created a predictably efficient piece of business notable largely for its overwhelming creepiness for an eagerness to create images you wish you had n't seen which in this day and age is of course the point 4, Adams with four scriptwriters takes care with the characters who are so believable that you feel what they feel 3, A completely spooky piece of business that gets under your skin and some plot blips aside stays there for the duration 4, Superbly photographed and staged by Mendes with a series of riveting set pieces the likes of which mainstream audiences have rarely seen 4, The ensemble cast turns in a collectively stellar performance and the writing is tight and truthful full of funny situations and honest observations 3, Not quite as miraculous as its DreamWorks makers would have you believe but it more than adequately fills the eyes and stirs the emotions 3, A properly spooky film about the power of spirits to influence us whether we believe in them or not 3, The lightest most breezy movie Steven Spielberg has made in more than a decade 3, And the positive change in tone here seems to have recharged him 4, Like Edward Norton in American History X Ryan Gosling LRB Murder By Numbers RRB delivers a magnetic performance 4, This is a very funny heartwarming film 4, It has fun with the quirks of family life but it also treats the subject with fondness and respect 4, Rarely indeed almost never is such highwattage brainpower coupled with pitchperfect acting and an exquisite unfakable sense of cinema 3, The leanest and meanest of Solondz 's misanthropic comedies 4, A dark quirky road movie that constantly defies expectation 3, There are some movies that hit you from the first scene and you know it 's going to be a trip 2, Igby Goes Down is one of those movies 3, Often messy and frustrating but very pleasing at its best moments it 's very much like life itself 4, A burst of color music and dance that only the most practiced curmudgeon could fail to crack a smile at 3, An energetic violent movie with a momentum that never lets up 3, Lasker 's canny meditative script distances sex and love as Byron and Luther realize they ca n't get no satisfaction without the latter 4, It turns out to be smarter and more diabolical than you could have guessed at the beginning 3, Cage makes an unusual but pleasantly haunting debut behind the camera 4, Noyce has worked wonders with the material 3, It 's mostly a pleasure to watch 3, And the reason for that is a selfaware often selfmocking intelligence 3, The Chateau is a risky venture that never quite goes where you expect and often surprises you with unexpected comedy 3, A very wellmeaning movie and it will stand in future years as an eloquent memorial to the World Trade Center tragedy 3, There are n't many conclusive answers in the film but there is an interesting story of pointed personalities courage tragedy and the little guys vs the big guys 4, Vividly demonstrates that the director of such Hollywood blockbusters as Patriot Games can still turn out a small personal film with an emotional wallop 3, A four star performance from Kevin Kline who unfortunately works with a two star script 3, Dogtown & ZBoys evokes the blithe rebel fantasy with the kind of insouciance embedded in the sexy demise of James Dean 2, If you do n't flee you might be seduced 2, If you do n't laugh flee 3, Payne constructs a hilarious ode to middle America and middle age with this unlikely odyssey featuring a pathetic endearing hero who is all too human 3, Koury frighteningly and honestly exposes one teenager 's uncomfortable class resentment and in turn his selfinflicted retaliation 3, The Santa Clause proves itself a more streamlined and thought out encounter than the original could ever have hoped to be 3, Now as a former Gong Show addict I 'll admit it my only complaint is that we did n't get more recreations of all those famous moments from the show 3, Succeeds where its recent predecessor miserably fails because it demands that you suffer the dreadfulness of war from both sides 3, The first Bond movie in ages that is n't fake fun 4, This odd poetic road movie spiked by jolts of pop music pretty much takes place in Morton 's everwatchful gaze and it 's a tribute to the actress and to her inventive director that the journey is such a mesmerizing one 4, A film centering on a traditional Indian wedding in contemporary New Delhi may not sound like specialized fare but Mira Nair 's film is an absolute delight for all audiences 4, A weird and wonderful comedy 3, The movie should jolt you out of your seat a couple of times give you a few laughs and leave you feeling like it was worth your seven bucks even though it does turn out to be a bit of a cheat in the end 3, Has the capability of effecting change and inspiring hope 4, A firstclass thoroughly involving B movie that effectively combines two surefire beloved genres the prison flick and the fight film 4, LaBute 's careful handling makes the material seem genuine rather than pandering 1, In between all the emotional seesawing it 's hard to figure the depth of these two literary figures and even the times in which they lived 3, But they fascinate in their recklessness 3, Death to Smoochy is often very funny but what 's even more remarkable is the integrity of DeVito 's misanthropic vision 4, A beautiful entertaining two hours 2, You get the idea though that Kapur intended the film to be more than that 3, A wonderful ghastly film 4, Amid the new populist comedies that underscore the importance of family tradition and familial community one would be hardpressed to find a movie with a bigger fatter heart than Barbershop 3, Parris ' performance is credible and remarkably mature 2, Enigma ' is the kind of engaging historical drama that Hollywood appears to have given up on in favor of sentimental war movies in the vein of We Were Soldiers ' 3, Munch 's screenplay is tenderly observant of his characters 3, He watches them as they float within the seas of their personalities 2, His scenes are short and often unexpected 3, It grabs you in the dark and shakes you vigorously for its duration 2, Leigh 's daring here is that without once denying the hardscrabble lives of people on the economic fringes of Margaret Thatcher 's ruinous legacy he insists on the importance of those moments when people can connect and express their love for each other 3, Hashiguchi vividly captures the way young Japanese live now chafing against their culture 's manic mix of millennial brusqueness and undying traditional politesse 3, Uneven but a lot of fun 3, I know that I 'll never listen to Marvin Gaye or the Supremes the same way again 4, The two leads nearly perfect in their roles bring a heart and reality that buoy the film and at times elevate it to a superior crime movie 3, Not as good as The Full Monty but a really strong second effort 3, Whenever it threatens to get bogged down in earnest dramaturgy a stirring visual sequence like a surge through swirling rapids or a leap from pinnacle to pinnacle rouses us 2, If horses could fly this is surely what they 'd look like 3, Unfolds as one of the most politically audacious films of recent decades from any country but especially from France 3, This reallife Hollywood fairytale is more engaging than the usual fantasies Hollywood produces 3, The graphic carnage and recreation of wartorn Croatia is uncomfortably timely relevant and sickeningly real 3, Left me with the visceral sensation of longing lasting traces of Charlotte 's web of desire and desperation 3, The characters are more deeply thought through than in most rightthinking ' films 3, Crammed with incident and bristles with passion and energy 3, It 's fun splashy and entertainingly nasty 4, A simple tale of an unlikely friendship but thanks to the gorgeous locales and exceptional lead performances it has considerable charm 3, It might be easier ' to watch on video at home but that should n't stop diehard French film connoisseurs from going out and enjoying the bigscreen experience 2, There 's very little sense to what 's going on here but the makers serve up the cliches with considerable dash 4, Witty contemplative and sublimely beautiful 3, A surprisingly solid ' achievement by director Malcolm D Lee and writer John Ridley 3, Woven together handsomely recalling sixties ' rockumentary milestones from Lonely Boy to Do n't Look Back 4, This is pure exciting moviemaking 2, You wo n't exactly know what 's happening but you 'll be blissfully exhausted 2, The s rebellion was misdirected you ca n't fight your culture 4, Works because Reno does n't become smug or sanctimonious towards the audience 3, Nettelbeck has a pleasing way with a metaphor 2, A pure participatory event that malnourished intellectuals will gulp down in a frenzy 3, The cast delivers without sham the rawnerved story 3, Steven Soderbergh 's digital video experiment is a clever and cutting quick and dirty look at modern living and movie life 3, The film 's highlight is definitely its screenplay both for the rhapsodic dialogue that jumps off the page and for the memorable character creations 3, It lets you brush up against the humanity of a psycho without making him any less psycho 4, Sillier cuter and shorter than the first LRB as best I remember RRB but still a very good time at the cinema 4, The film is bright and flashy in all the right ways 4, Elegant and eloquent LRB meditation RRB on death and that most elusive of passions love 3, Cut through the layers of soapopera emotion and you find a scathing portrayal of a powerful entity strangling the life out of the people who want to believe in it the most 4, Filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang triumphantly returns to narrative filmmaking with a visually masterful work of quiet power 3, It excels because unlike so many other Hollywood movies of its ilk it offers hope 4, Shot in rich shadowy blackandwhite Devils chronicles with increasingly amused irony the relationship between reluctant captors and befuddled captives 2, There 's no clear picture of who killed Bob Crane 2, But here 's a glimpse at his life 4, Spectacularly beautiful not to mention mysterious sensual emotionally intense and replete with virtuoso throatsinging 3, A summer entertainment adults can see without feeling embarrassed but it could have been more 3, Sparse but oddly compelling 4, A stirring funny and finally transporting reimagining of Beauty and the Beast and s horror films 2, The Pinochet Case is a searing album of remembrance from those who having survived suffered most 3, A sweettempered comedy that forgoes the kneejerk misogyny that passes for humor in so many teenage comedies 3, Argento at only brings a youthful outtochangetheworld aggressiveness to the project as if she 's cut open a vein and bled the raw film stock 3, With so many bad romances out there this is the kind of movie that deserves a chance to shine 4, Brash intelligent and erotically perplexing Haneke 's portrait of an upper class Austrian society and the suppression of its tucked away demons is uniquely felt with a sardonic jolt 3, Though Jackson does n't always succeed in integrating the characters in the foreground into the extraordinarily rich landscape it must be said that he is an imaginative filmmaker who can see the forest for the trees 2, The Quiet American '' begins in Saigon in 1, That 's its first sign of trouble 3, A dazzling thing to behold as long as you 're wearing the somewhat cumbersome D goggles the theater provides 3, Be patient with the lovely Hush 4, and your reward will be a thoughtful emotional movie experience 4, The largeformat film is well suited to capture these musicians in full regalia and the incredible IMAX sound system lets you feel the beat down to your toes 4, Godard has never made a more sheerly beautiful film than this unexpectedly moving meditation on love history memory resistance and artistic transcendence 4, The kind of movie that comes along only occasionally one so unconventional gutsy and perfectly executed it takes your breath away 3, Unlike most surf movies Blue Crush thrillingly uses modern technology to take the viewer inside the wave 3, By the end you ca n't help but feel stoked ' 3, The offcenter humor is a constant and the ensemble gives it a buoyant delivery 2, A tasty slice of droll whimsy 4, Mike Leigh populates his movie with a wonderful ensemble cast of characters that bring the routine day to day struggles of the working class to life 4, Awesome work ineffable elusive yet inexplicably powerful 4, Sparkling often hilarious romantic jealousy comedy Attal looks so much like a young Robert DeNiro that it seems the film should instead be called My Husband Is Travis Bickle ' 3, Even if you 're an agnostic carnivore you can enjoy much of Jonah simply and gratefully as laughoutloud lunacy with a pronounced Monty Pythonesque flavor 2, Where Bowling for Columbine is at its most valuable is in its examination of America 's culture of fear as a root cause of gun violence 3, The result is somewhat satisfying it still comes from Spielberg who has never made anything that was n't at least watchable 1, But it 's also disappointing to a certain degree 4, The allFrench cast is marveilleux 3, There 's a lot to recommend Read My Lips 4, A minor film with major pleasures from Portuguese master Manoel de Oliviera 4, Brosnan gives a portrayal as solid and as perfect as his outstanding performance as Bond in Die Another Day 3, Audiences are advised to sit near the back and squint to avoid noticing some truly egregious lipnonsynching but otherwise the production is suitably elegant 3, The movie is very funny as you peek at it through the fingers in front of your eyes 3, Nicks sustains the level of exaggerated stylized humor throughout by taking your expectations and twisting them just a bit 4, A refreshing change from the usual whoopeecushion effort aimed at the youth market 3, It finds its moviegoing pleasures in the tiny events that could make a person who has lived her life halfasleep suddenly wake up and take notice 4, an enjoyably frothy date movie ' 4, The genius of the work speaks volumes offering up a hallucinatory dreamscape that frustrates and captivates 3, Two Weeks Notice has appeal beyond being a Sandra Bullock vehicle or a standard romantic comedy 3, The movie 's seams may show but Pellington gives Mothman '' an irresistibly uncanny ambience that goes a long way toward keeping the picture compelling 3, If Mostly Martha is mostly unsurprising it 's still a sweet even delectable diversion 3, A wild comedy that could only spring from the demented mind of the writer of Being John Malkovich 4, Schnitzler does a fine job contrasting the sleekness of the film 's present with the playful paranoia of the film 's past ' 4, A freshfaced bighearted and frequently funny thrill ride for the kiddies with enough eye candy and cheeky wit to keep parents away from the concession stand ' 2, Mana gives us compelling damaged characters who we want to help or hurt 3, The sentimental script has problems but the actors pick up the slack 3, A good documentary can make interesting a subject you thought would leave you cold 2, A case in point Doug Pray 's Scratch 2, Abderrahmane Sissako 's Heremakono LRB Waiting for Happiness RRB is an elegiac portrait of a transit city on the West African coast struggling against foreign influences 4, In XXX Diesel is that rare creature an action hero with table manners and one who proves that elegance is more than tattoo deep 4, An engrossing and grim portrait of hookers what they think of themselves and their clients 3, It all plays out like a highend John Hughes comedy a kind of Elder Bueller 's Time Out 4, The film is enriched by an imaginatively mixed cast of antic spirits headed by Christopher Plummer as the subtlest and most complexly evil Uncle Ralph I 've ever seen in the many film and stage adaptations of the work 3, This is one of the rarest kinds of films a familyoriented nonDisney film that is actually funny without hitting below the belt 4, It is refreshingly undogmatic about its characters 4, A moving and important film 4, Deep intelligence and a warm enveloping affection breathe out of every frame 3, Famuyiwa 's feature deals with its subject matter in a tasteful intelligent manner rather than forcing us to endure every plot contrivance that the clichériddled genre can offer 4, Showtime is a finelooking film with a bouncy score and a clutch of lively songs for deft punctuation 3, Sweet Home Alabama is n't going to win any Academy Awards but this datenight diversion will definitely win some hearts 3, a cruelly funny twist on teen comedy packed with inventive cinematic tricks and an ironically killer soundtrack 4, A gracious eloquent film that by its end offers a ray of hope to the refugees able to look ahead and resist living in a past forever lost 3, Even though many of these guys are less than adorable LRB their lamentations are pretty much selfcentered RRB there 's something vital about the movie 3, A tour de force drama about the astonishingly pivotal role of imagination in the soulful development of two rowdy teenagers 3, It is a strength of a documentary to disregard available bias especially as temptingly easy as it would have been with this premise 3, When twentysomething hotsies make movies about their lives harddriving narcissism is a given but what a world we 'd live in if Argento 's Hollywood counterparts had this much imagination and nerve 3, Maryam is more timely now than ever 4, An eloquent reflective and beautifully acted meditation on both the profoundly devastating events of one year ago and the slow painful healing process that has followed in their wake 4, Piccoli gives a superb performance full of deep feeling 4, What a concept what an idea what a thrill ride 3, This is a more fascinating look at the future than Bladerunner '' and one of the most highconcept sci fi adventures attempted for the screen 4, The rare movie that 's as crisp and to the point as the novel on which it 's based 3, A film of epic scale with an intimate feeling a saga of the ups and downs of friendships 3, Sayles has an eye for the ways people of different ethnicities talk to and about others outside the group 3, Nicholas Nickleby '' is a perfect family film to take everyone to since there 's no new A Christmas Carol '' out in the theaters this year 4, Charlie Hunnam has the twinkling eyes repressed smile and determined face needed to carry out a Dickensian hero 3, Niccol the filmmaker merges his collaborators ' symbolic images with his words insinuating for example that in Hollywood only God speaks to the press 3, Khouri manages with terrific flair to keep the extremes of screwball farce and bloodcurdling family intensity on one continuum 4, Impresses as a skillfully assembled highly polished and professional adaptation just about as chilling and unsettling as Manhunter ' was 3, It 's a solid movie about people whose lives are anything but 3, Though a touch too Arthouse in its poetic symbolism Heaven proves to be a good match of the sensibilities of two directors 3, I simply ca n't recommend it enough 2, Wiseman reveals the victims of domestic abuse in all of their pity and terror 4, Muccino who directed from his own screenplay is a canny crowd pleaser and The Last Kiss provides more than enough sentimental catharsis for a satisfying evening at the multiplex 3, We want the funk and this movie 's got it 3, Wow so who knew Charles Dickens could be so lighthearted 0, Many went to see the attraction for the sole reason that it was hot outside and there was air conditioning inside and I do n't think that AC will help this movie one bit 4, The storylines are woven together skilfully the magnificent swooping aerial shots are breathtaking and the overall experience is awesome 4, A miraculous movie I 'm Going Home is so slight yet overflows with wisdom and emotion 1, Baran is shockingly devoid of your typical Majid Majidi shoeloving crippled children 4, Every moment crackles with tension and by the end of the flick you 're on the edge of your seat 4, A fine rousing Grated family film aimed mainly at little kids but with plenty of entertainment value to keep grownups from squirming in their seats 3, The series ' message about making the right choice in the face of tempting alternatives remains prominent as do the girls ' amusing personalities 4, Richly entertaining and suggestive of any number of metaphorical readings 3, A compelling allegory about the last days of Germany 's democratic Weimar Republic 4, Offers a guiltfree trip into feelgood territory 3, A Bmovie you can sit through enjoy on a certain level and then forget 3, Devos delivers a perfect performance that captures the innocence and budding demons within a wallflower 2, Disappointingly the characters are too strange and dysfunctional Tom included to ever get under the skin but this is compensated in large part by the offthewall dialogue visual playfulness and the outlandishness of the idea itself 3, Director Todd Solondz has made a movie about critical reaction to his two previous movies and about his responsibility to the characters that he creates 3, The word that comes to mind while watching Eric Rohmer 's tribute to a courageous Scottish lady is painterly 4, A fascinating case study of flowerpower liberation and the price that was paid for it 4, Bluer than the Atlantic and more biologically detailed than an autopsy the movie is also frequently hilarious 3, Really is a panAmerican movie with moments of genuine insight into the urban heart 3, An overly familiar scenario is made fresh by an intelligent screenplay and gripping performances in this lowbudget videoshot debut indie effort 3, Peppering this urban study with references to Norwegian folktales Villeneuve creates in Maelstrom a world where the bizarre is credible and the real turns magical 4, Ong 's promising debut is a warm and welltold tale of one recent Chinese immigrant 's experiences in New York City 4, That the real Antwone Fisher was able to overcome his personal obstacles and become a good man is a wonderful thing that he has been able to share his story so compellingly with us is a minor miracle 2, There 's not much to Fatale outside of its stylish surprises but that 's OK 3, What redeems the film is the cast particularly the YaYas themselves 3, Beautiful cold oddly colorful and just plain otherworldly a freaky bit of art that 's there to scare while we delight in the images 3, It 's up to LRB Watts RRB to lend credibility to this strange scenario and her presence succeeds in making us believe 2, The film is darkly atmospheric with Herrmann quietly suggesting the sadness and obsession beneath Hearst 's forced avuncular chortles 3, Shyamalan takes a potentially trite and overused concept LRB aliens come to Earth RRB and infuses it into a rustic realistic and altogether creepy tale of hidden invasion 3, the story like Ravel 's Bolero builds to a crescendo that encompasses many more paths than we started with 1, It 's plotless shapeless and yet it must be admitted not entirely humorless 3, Indeed the more outrageous bits achieve a shockyouintolaughter intensity of almost Dadaist proportions 3, Gondry 's direction is adequate but what gives Human Nature its unique feel is Kaufman 's script 3, The film 's plot may be shallow but you 've never seen the deep like you see it in these harrowing surf shots 3, With a large cast representing a broad crosssection Tavernier 's film bounds along with the ratatat energy of His Girl Friday '' maintaining a light touch while tackling serious themes 3, The observations of this social\/economic\/urban environment are canny and spiced with irony 4, Renner carries much of the film with a creepy and deadon performance 2, Jarecki and Gibney do find enough material to bring Kissinger 's record into question and explain how the diplomat 's tweaked version of statecraft may have cost thousands and possibly millions of lives 3, The spanieleyed Jean Reno infuses Hubert with a mixture of deadpan cool wry humor and just the measure of tenderness required to give this comic slugfest some heart 3, Aniston has at last decisively broken with her Friends image in an independent film of satiric fire and emotional turmoil 2, A mildly enjoyable if toothless adaptation of a much better book 3, Unexpected and often contradictory truths emerge 4, years of Russian history and culture compressed into an evanescent seamless and sumptuous stream of consciousness 3, Intelligent caustic take on a great writer and dubious human being 3, May take its sweet time to get wherever it 's going but if you have the patience for it you wo n't feel like it 's wasted yours 3, Less the sensational truecrime helljaunt purists might like and more experimental in its storytelling LRB though no less horrifying for it RRB 4, The film is one of the year 's best 1, Eerily accurate depiction of depression 4, a delicious crime drama on par with the slickest of Mamet 3, Charming and witty it 's also somewhat clumsy 4, Directed with purpose and finesse by England 's Roger Mitchell who handily makes the move from pleasing relatively lightweight commercial fare such as Notting Hill to commercial fare with real thematic heft 3, Escapes the precious trappings of most romantic comedies infusing into the story very real complicated emotions 2, This big screen caper has a good bark far from being a bowwow 3, LRB Allen RRB manages to breathe life into this somewhat tired premise 2, I have two words to say about Reign of Fire 3, Great dragons 3, By surrounding us with hyperartificiality Haynes makes us see familiar issues like racism and homophobia in a fresh way 3, A deliberative account of a lifestyle characterized by its surfaceobsession one that typifies the delirium of post pre and extant stardom 3, Superb production values & Christian Bale 's charisma make up for a derivative plot 4, The film has the courage of its convictions and excellent performances on its side 3, I know I should n't have laughed but hey those farts got to my inner nineyearold 3, A movie that will thrill you touch you and make you laugh as well 3, It 's a smart funny look at an arcane area of popular culture and if it is n't entirely persuasive it does give exposure to some talented performers 2, More vaudeville show than wellconstructed narrative but on those terms it 's inoffensive and actually rather sweet 4, The case is a convincing one and should give anyone with a conscience reason to pause 3, The actresses find their own rhythm and protect each other from the script 's bad ideas and awkwardness 2, Diverting French comedy in which a husband has to cope with the pesky moods of jealousy 4, Captivates and shows how a skillful filmmaker can impart a message without bludgeoning the audience over the head 4, There is a welcome lack of pretension about the film which very simply sets out to entertain and ends up delivering in good measure 3, Coy but exhilarating with really solid performances by Ving Rhames and Wesley Snipes 3, It is a likable story told with competence 4, Not only does SpiderMan deliver but I suspect it might deliver again and again 3, Tackles the difficult subject of grief and loss with such lifeembracing spirit that the theme does n't drag an audience down 4, A small movie with a big impact 3, The movie despite its rough edges and a tendency to sag in certain places is wry and engrossing 3, I admire the closing scenes of the film which seem to ask whether our civilization offers a cure for Vincent 's complaint 0, Like Rudy Yellow Lodge Eyre needs to take a good sweat to clarify his cinematic vision before his next creation and remember the lessons of the trickster spider 3, a delightful romantic comedy with plenty of bite 3, It 's far from a frothy piece and the characters are complex laden with plenty of baggage and tinged with tragic undertones 3, Using an endearing cast writer\/director Dover Kosashvili takes a slightly dark look at relationships both sexual and kindred 4, When a movie has stuck around for this long you know there 's something there 4, It 's that good 4, Smart sassy interpretation of the Oscar Wilde play 4, Forget about one Oscar nomination for Julianne Moore this year she should get all five 3, Japanese director Shohei Imamura 's latest film is an odd but ultimately satisfying blend of the sophomoric and the sublime 3, Kwan is a master of shadow quietude and room noise and Lan Yu is a disarmingly livedin movie 3, While the plot follows a predictable connectthedots course director John Schultz colors the picture in some evocative shades 3, Katz 's documentary does n't have much panache but with material this rich it does n't need it 2, We get an image of Big Papa spanning history rather than suspending it 3, Evelyn 's strong cast and surehanded direction make for a winning heartwarming yarn 4, A conventional but heartwarming tale 4, This is one of the outstanding thrillers of recent years 3, Skins has a desolate air but Eyre a Native American raised by white parents manages to infuse the rocky path to sibling reconciliation with flashes of warmth and gentle humor 3, A film of quiet power 4, More concerned with overall feelings broader ideas and openended questions than concrete story and definitive answers Soderbergh 's Solaris is a gorgeous and deceptively minimalist cinematic tone poem 3, An intelligent romantic thriller of a very oldschool kind of quality 3, The sword fighting is well done and Auteuil is a goofy pleasure 3, Yes MIBII is rote work and predictable but with a philosophical visual coming right at the end that extravagantly redeems it 2, Film ca n't quite maintain its initial momentum but remains sporadically funny throughout 3, O Fantasma is boldly confidently orchestrated aesthetically and sexually and its impact is deeply and rightly disturbing 2, It 's still Adam Sandler and it 's not Little Nicky 3, And for many of us that 's good enough 3, Here 's yet another cool crime movie that actually manages to bring something new into the mix 3, Lee 's achievement extends to his supple understanding of the role that Brown played in American culture as an athlete a movie star and an image of black indomitability 2, Kaufman and Jonze take huge risks to ponder the whole notion of passion our desire as human beings for passion in our lives and the emptiness one feels when it is missing 4, It tends to remind one of a really solid Woody Allen film with its excellent use of New York locales and sharp writing 4, While centered on the life experiences of a particular theatrical family this marvelous documentary touches ever so gracefully on the entire history of the Yiddish theater both in America and Israel 3, The film despite the gratuitous cinematic distractions impressed upon it is still good fun 4, The immersive powers of the giant screen and its hyperrealistic images are put to perfect use in the breathtakingly beautiful outerspace documentary Space Station D 3, Has an unmistakable easy joie de vivre 4, More than anything else Kissing Jessica Stein injects freshness and spirit into the romantic comedy genre which has been held hostage by generic scripts that seek to remake Sleepless in Seattle again and again 3, This movie has the usual impossible stunts But it has just as many scenes that are lean and tough enough to fit in any modern action movie 4, Mostly works because of the universal themes earnest performances and excellent use of music by India 's popular Gulzar and Jagjit Singh 2, the one thing this Wild film has that other Imax films do n't chimps lots of chimps all blown up to the size of a house 4, That 's fun for kids of any age 4, Writer\/director David Caesar ladles on the local flavour with a hugely enjoyable film about changing times clashing cultures and the pleasures of a wellmade pizza 4, Rarely have I seen a film so willing to champion the fallibility of the human heart 4, Holofcener rejects patent solutions to dramatize life 's messiness from inside out in all its strange quirks 4, Like The Full Monty this is sure to raise audience 's spirits and leave them singing long after the credits roll 4, a gleefully grungy hilariously wicked black comedy 4, Kinnear and Dafoe give what may be the performances of their careers 3, All in all a great party 4, A moving story of determination and the human spirit 3, Brown Sugar '' admirably aspires to be more than another Best Man '' clone by weaving a theme throughout this funny film 3, LRB Gulpilil RRB is a commanding screen presence and his character 's abundant humanism makes him the film 's moral compass 4, An effortlessly accomplished and richly resonant work 2, In some ways Lagaan is quintessential Bollywood 4, Except it 's much much better 2, Though it never rises to its full potential as a film still offers a great deal of insight into the female condition and the timeless danger of emotions repressed 3, Scotland looks wonderful the fans are often funny fanatics the showdown sure beats a bad day of golf 3, What enlivens this film beyond the astute direction of Cardoso and beautifully detailed performances by all of the actors is a note of defiance over social dictates 4, The emotion is impressively true for being so hotblooded and both leads are up to the task 3, Although it lacks the detail of the book the film does pack some serious suspense 4, I 'd watch these two together again in a New York minute 4, There 's nothing like love to give a movie a B shot and CQ shimmers with it 3, A moving essay about the specter of death especially suicide 3, This film is so different from The Apple and so striking that it can only encourage us to see Samira Makhmalbaf as a very distinctive sensibility working to develop her own film language with conspicuous success 2, Like a less dizzily gorgeous companion to Mr Wong 's In the Mood for Love very much a Hong Kong movie despite its mainland setting 2, a somber film almost completely unrelieved by any comedy beyond the wistful everyday ironies of the working poor 3, Coral Reef Adventure is a heavyweight film that fights a good fight on behalf of the world 's endangered reefs and it lets the pictures do the punching 4, The overall result is an intelligent realistic portrayal of testing boundaries 4, Poignant and moving A Walk to Remember is an inspirational love story capturing the innocence and idealism of that first encounter 3, Worth a salute just for trying to be more complex than your average film 3, Handsome and sophisticated approach to the workplace romantic comedy 4, A shimmeringly lovely comingofage portrait shot in artful watery tones of blue green and brown 3, While Cherish does n't completely survive its tonal transformation from dark comedy to suspense thriller it 's got just enough charm and appealing character quirks to forgive that still serious problem 2, In many ways reminiscent of 's Unforgiven which also utilized the scintillating force of its actors to draw out the menace of its sparse dialogue 4, We admire this film for its harsh objectivity and refusal to seek our tears our sympathies 3, An often watchable though goofy and lurid blast of a costume drama set in the late th century 4, The entire cast is firstrate especially Sorvino 3, The Cat 's Meow marks a return to form for director Peter Bogdanovich 2, This one is strictly a lightweight escapist film 4, This sensitive smart savvy compelling comingofage drama delves into the passiveaggressive psychology of codependence and the struggle for selfesteem 2, The culmination of everyone 's efforts is given life when A Selection appears in its final form LRB in Last Dance '' RRB 3, In questioning the election process Payami graphically illustrates the problems of fledgling democracies but also the strength and sense of freedom the Iranian people already possess with or without access to the ballot box 4, A very charming and funny movie 3, This is a film that manages to find greatness in the hue of its drastic iconography 2, Streamlined to a tight brisk minute screwball thriller Big Trouble '' is funny harmless and as substantial as a tub of popcorn with extra butter 4, Consummate actor Barry has done excellent work here 2, The biggest problem with this movie is that it 's not nearly long enough 1, While not all that bad of a movie it 's nowhere near as good as the original 2, Ali 's graduation from little screen to big is far less painful than his opening scene encounter with an overamorous terrier 3, I have always appreciated a smartly written motion picture and whatever flaws Igby Goes Down may possess it is undeniably that 4, You can sip your vintage wines and watch your Merchant Ivory productions I 'll settle for a nice cool glass of iced tea and a Jerry Bruckheimer flick any day of the week 2, May be the most undeserving victim of critical overkill since Town and Country 3, A chilly brooding but quietly resonant psychological study of domestic tension and unhappiness 3, The movie does its best to work us over with second helpings of love romance tragedy false dawns real dawns comic relief two separate crises during marriage ceremonies and the lush scenery of the Cotswolds 3, Cold nervy and memorable 3, Becomes a fascinating study of isolation and frustration that successfully recreates both the physical setting and emotional tensions of the Papin sisters 2, Spend your Benjamins on a matinee 3, All in all it 's a pretty good execution of a story that 's a lot richer than the ones Hollywood action screenwriters usually come up with on their own 3, Worth seeing just for Weaver and LaPaglia 4, A pleasant piece of escapist entertainment 3, Among the many pleasures are the lively intelligence of the artists and their perceptiveness about their own situations 3, It 's consistently funny in an irresistible juniorhigh way and consistently free of any gag that would force you to give it a millisecond of thought 3, It 's the cute frissons of discovery and humor between Chaplin and Kidman that keep this nicely wound clock not just ticking but humming 3, The storytelling may be ordinary but the cast is one of those allstar reunions that fans of Gosford Park have come to assume is just another day of Brit cinema 2, There 's something about a marching band that gets me where I live 4, Cuaron repeatedly perversely undercuts the joie de vivre even as he creates it giving the movie a mournful undercurrent that places the goodtime shenanigans in welcome perspective 3, It 's definitely an improvement on the first Blade since it does n't take itself so deadly seriously 4, A slambang extravaganza that is all about a wildandwoolly walltowall good time 1, What 's infuriating about Full Frontal is that it 's too close to real life to make sense 3, What 's invigorating about it is that it does n't give a damn 2, Is Red Dragon worthy of a place alongside the other Hannibal movies 3, As Hannibal would say yes It 's like having an old friend for dinner ' 4, Writerdirector Juan Carlos Fresnadillo makes a feature debut that is fully formed and remarkably assured 4, insightfully written delicately performed 0, Perhaps the grossest movie ever made 2, Funny though 3, This minute postmodern voyage was more diverting and thoughtprovoking than I 'd expected it to be 4, One of those exceedingly rare films in which the talk alone is enough to keep us involved 4, A heartbreakingly thoughtful minor classic the work of a genuine and singular artist 3, An affectionately goofy satire that 's unafraid to throw elbows when necessary 4, Between them De Niro and Murphy make Showtime the most savory and hilarious guilty pleasure of many a recent movie season 2, Jackson tries to keep the plates spinning as best he can but all the bouncing back and forth ca n't help but become a bit tedious even with the breathtaking landscapes and villainous varmints there to distract you from the ricocheting 3, Filmmakers David Weissman and Bill Weber benefit enormously from the Cockettes ' camera craziness not only did they film performances but they did the same at home 3, Interesting both as a historical study and as a tragic love story 4, A stylish but steady and ultimately very satisfying piece of characterdriven storytelling 4, It picked me up swung me around and dropped me back in my seat with more emotional force than any other recent film 3, Graham Greene 's novel of colonialism and empire is elevated by Michael Caine 's performance as a weary journalist in a changing world 3, Though it 's equally solipsistic in tone the movie has enough vitality to justify the notion of creating a screen adaptation of Evans ' saga of Hollywood excess 3, Compulsively watchable no matter how degraded things get 3, Delivers roughly equal amounts of beautiful movement and inside information 3, Bon appétit 4, Just like a splendid meal Red Dragon satisfies from its ripe recipe inspiring ingredients certified cuisine and palatable presentation 3, The structure is simple but in its own way RabbitProof Fence is a quest story as grand as The Lord of the Rings 4, This charming thoughtprovoking New York fest of life and love has its rewards 3, Some people march to the beat of a different drum and if you ever wondered what kind of houses those people live in this documentary takes a look at alternative housing options 3, Playfully profound and crazier than Michael Jackson on the top floor of a skyscraper nursery surrounded by open windows 3, A film that will enthrall the whole family 3, The charm of the first movie is still there and the story feels like the logical unforced continuation of the careers of a pair of spy kids 3, K stays afloat as decent drama\/action flick 4, It sends you away a believer again and quite cheered at just that 4, Like the best Minutes exposé the film LRB at minutes RRB is actually quite entertaining 2, an minute document of a project which started in a muddle seesawed back and forth between controlling interests multiple times then found its sweet spot 4, An emotionally and spiritually compelling journey seen through the right eyes with the right actors and with the kind of visual flair that shows what great cinema can really do 2, Nair does n't use LRB Monsoon Wedding RRB to lament the loss of culture 3, Instead she sees it as a chance to revitalize what is and always has been remarkable about clungto traditions 3, Both Grant and Hoult carry the movie because they are believable as people flawed assured of the wrong things and scared to admit how much they may really need the company of others 2, Leading a double life in an American film only comes to no good but not here 3, Matters play out realistically if not always fairly 3, In the affable Maid in Manhattan Jennifer Lopez 's most aggressive and most sincere attempt to take movies by storm the diva shrewdly surrounds herself with a company of strictly Alist players 2, Like Mike is a harmlessly naïve slice of bball fantasy fit for filling in during the real NBA 's offseason 3, Though writer\/director Bart Freundlich 's film ultimately becomes a simplistic story about a dysfunctional parentchild relationship it has some special qualities and the soulful gravity of Crudup 's anchoring performance 3, What the movie lacks in action it more than makes up for in drama suspense revenge and romance 3, Just offbeat enough to keep you interested without coming close to bowling you over 3, Probes in a lighthearted way the romantic problems of individuals for whom the yearning for passion spells discontent 4, What elevates the movie above the runofthemill singles blender is its surreal sense of humor and technological finish 4, A film about female friendship that men can embrace and women will talk about for hours 0, The directing and story are disjointed flaws that have to be laid squarely on Taylor 's doorstep 3, But the actors make this worth a peek 4, Light the candles bring out the cake and do n't fret about the calories because there 's precious little substance in Birthday Girl it 's simply and surprisingly a nice light treat 2, It may be about drug dealers kidnapping and unsavory folks but the tone and pacing are shockingly intimate 2, Massoud 's story is an epic but also a tragedy the record of a tenacious humane fighter who was also the prisoner LRB and ultimately the victim RRB of history 3, If villainous vampires are your cup of blood Blade is definitely a cut above the rest 3, Drumline ably captures the complicated relationships in a marching band 4, Because the film deliberately lacks irony it has a genuine dramatic impact it plays like a powerful drama we 've somehow never seen before 3, Does point the way for adventurous Indian filmmakers toward a crossover into nonethnic markets 4, Seems based on ugly ideas instead of ugly behavior as Happiness was Hence Storytelling is far more appealing 2, Sum '' is Jack Ryan 's doover '' 4, Give credit to everyone from Robinson down to the key grip that this bold move works 4, Especially give credit to Affleck 4, An intelligently made LRB and beautifully edited RRB picture that at the very least has a spark of life to it more than you can say for plenty of movies that flow through the Hollywood pipeline without a hitch 3, A terrific date movie whatever your orientation 3, Not all of the stories work and the ones that do are thin and scattered but the film works well enough to make it worth watching 2, What it lacks in originality it makes up for in effective if cheap moments of fright and dread 3, The pain loneliness and insecurity of the screenwriting process are vividly and painfully brought to slovenly life in this selfdeprecating biting and witty feature written by Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald and directed by Spike Jonze 4, A gem of a movie 3, Witty vibrant and intelligent 4, It 's all stitched together with energy intelligence and verve enhanced by a surplus of vintage archive footage 4, Miller comes at film with bracing intelligence and a vision both painterly and literary 4, The film is moody oozing chilling and heartwarming all at once a twisting unpredictable catandmouse thriller 3, Eight Legged Freaks is clever and funny is amused by its special effects and leaves you feeling like you 've seen a movie instead of an endless trailer 3, This is historical filmmaking without the balm of rightthinking ideology either liberal or conservative 3, Mr Scorsese 's bravery and integrity in advancing this vision can hardly be underestimated 3, A thriller whose style structure and rhythms are so integrated with the story you can not separate them 4, It 's a hoot watching The Rock chomp on jumbo ants pull an arrow out of his back and leap unscathed through raging fire 4, Returning director Rob Minkoff and screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin have done a fine job of updating White 's dry wit to a new age 4, Unfolds with such a wallop of youarethere immediacy that when the bullets start to fly your first instinct is to duck 4, A strong script powerful direction and splendid production design allows us to be transported into the life of Wladyslaw Szpilman who is not only a pianist but a good human being 2, An unflinching look at the world 's dispossessed 3, If the film fails to fulfill its own ambitious goals it nonetheless sustains interest during the long buildup of expository material 4, Polanski has found the perfect material with which to address his own World War II experience in his signature style 3, It is life affirming and heartbreaking sweet without the decay factor funny and sad 3, An offbeat and fanciful film about the human need for monsters to blame for all that is amiss in the world 4, A colorful joyous celebration of life a tapestry woven of romance dancing singing and unforgettable characters 3, Frei assembles a fascinating profile of a deeply humanistic artist who in spite of all that he 's witnessed remains surprisingly idealistic and retains an extraordinary faith in the ability of images to communicate the truth of the world around him 3, Nicely combines the enigmatic features of Memento ' with the hallucinatory drug culture of Requiem for a Dream ' 4, A well paced and satisfying little drama that deserved better than a directtovideo ' release 3, The best part about Gangs '' was Daniel DayLewis 3, A treat for its depiction on not giving up on dreams when you 're a struggling nobody 4, One of those rare films that seems as though it was written for no one but somehow manages to convince almost everyone that it was put on the screen just for them 3, A gripping documentary that reveals how deep the antagonism lies in wartorn Jerusalem 3, Director Chris Wedge and screenwriters Michael Berg Michael J Wilson and Peter Ackerman create some episodes that rival vintage Looney Tunes for the most creative mayhem in a brief amount of time 2, One of the film 's most effective aspects is its Tchaikovsky soundtrack of neurasthenic regret 2, Solondz creates some effective moments of discomfort for character and viewer alike 3, The film 's appeal has a lot to do with the casting of Juliette Binoche as Sand who brings to the role her pale dark beauty and characteristic warmth 4, I was amused and entertained by the unfolding of Bielinsky 's cleverly constructed scenario and greatly impressed by the skill of the actors involved in the enterprise 3, Somehow Ms Griffiths and Mr Pryce bring off this wild Welsh whimsy 4, More mature than Fatal Attraction more complete than Indecent Proposal and more relevant than \/ Weeks Unfaithful is at once intimate and universal cinema 3, For all the dolorous trim Secretary is a genial romance that maintains a surprisingly buoyant tone throughout notwithstanding some of the writers ' sporadic dips into pop Freudianism 4, A fanciful drama about Napoleon 's last years and his surprising discovery of love and humility 2, A highly personal look at the effects of living a dysfunctionally privileged lifestyle and by the end we only wish we could have spent more time in its world 4, Eric Schweig and Graham Greene both exude an air of dignity that 's perfect for the proud warrior that still lingers in the souls of these characters 3, Lovely and Amazing is Holofcener 's deep uncompromising curtsy to women she knows and very likely is 3, When all is said and done she loves them to pieces and so I trust will you 3, Campbell Scott finds the ideal outlet for his flickknife diction in the role of Roger Swanson 4, LRB Fiji diver Rusi Vulakoro and the married couple Howard and Michelle Hall RRB show us the world they love and make us love it too 3, Russian Ark is a new treasure of the Hermitage 4, The animated sequences are well done and perfectly constructed to convey a sense of childhood imagination and creating adventure out of angst 3, It 's definitely a step in the right direction 3, As the princess Sorvino glides gracefully from male persona to female without missing a beat 4, Ben Kingsley is truly funny playing a kind of Ghandi gone bad 4, Ourside the theatre Roger might be intolerable company but inside it he 's well worth spending some time with 2, A gem captured in the unhurried lowkey style favored by many directors of the Iranian new wave 3, In an era where big stars and high production values are standard procedure Narc strikes a defiantly retro chord and outpaces its contemporaries with daring and verve 2, Ranges from laughoutloud hilarious to wonderwhat timeitis tedious 3, The film 's gamble to occasionally break up the liveaction scenes with animated sequences pays off as does its sensitive handling of some delicate subject matter 3, Talk To Her is not the perfect movie many have made it out to be but it 's still quite worth seeing 3, Beating the Austin Powers films at their own game this blaxploitation spoof downplays the raunch in favor of gags that rely on the strength of their own cleverness as opposed to the extent of their outrageousness 3, This is a dark gritty sometimes funny little gem 4, For all its visual panache and compelling supporting characters the heart of the film rests in the relationship between Sullivan and his son 4, What makes Salton Sea surprisingly engrossing is that Caruso takes an atypically hypnotic approach to a world that 's often handled in fastedit hoppedup fashion 2, A hiddenagenda drama that shouts classic French nuance 3, With Spy Kids The Island of Lost Dreams the Spy Kids franchise establishes itself as a durable part of the movie landscape a James Bond series for kids 4, An invaluable historical document thanks to the filmmaker 's extraordinary access to Massoud whose charm cultivation and devotion to his people are readily apparent 3, The performances of the four main actresses bring their characters to life 3, A little melodramatic but with enough hope to keep you engaged 1, Lan Yu seems altogether too slight to be called any kind of masterpiece 4, It is however a completely honest openhearted film that should appeal to anyone willing to succumb to it 3, Everyone should be able to appreciate the wonderful cinematography and naturalistic acting 4, This oftenhilarious farce manages to generate the belly laughs of lowbrow comedy without sacrificing its highminded appeal 3, Expands the limits of what a film can be taking us into the lives of women to whom we might not give a second look if we passed them on the street 2, The farcical elements seemed too pat and familiar to hold my interest yet its diverting grim message is a good one 4, Shanghai Ghetto may not be as dramatic as Roman Polanski 's The Pianist but its compassionate spirit soars every bit as high 2, Despite these annoyances the capable Clayburgh and Tambor really do a great job of anchoring the characters in the emotional realities of middle age 3, The underworld urban angst is derivative of Martin Scorsese 's Taxi Driver and Goodfellas but this film speaks for itself 2, The film 's heady yet far from impenetrable theory suggests that Russians take comfort in their closedoff nationalist reality 3, Despite modest aspirations its occasional charms are not to be dismissed 3, Constantly touching surprisingly funny semisurrealist exploration of the creative act 3, The journey is worth your time especially if you have Ellen Pompeo sitting next to you for the ride 2, Merci pour le movie 3, For every cheesy scene though there is a really cool bit the movie 's conception of a futureworld holographic librarian LRB Orlando Jones RRB who knows everything and answers all questions is visually smart cleverly written and nicely realized 3, What sets Ms Birot 's film apart from others in the genre is a greater attention to the parents and particularly the fateful fathers in the emotional evolution of the two bewitched adolescents 3, All three women deliver remarkable performances 3, Claire is a terrific role for someone like Judd who really ought to be playing villains 2, It 's clear that Mehta simply wanted to update her beloved genre for the thousands of Indians who fancy themselves too sophisticated for the cheeselaced spectacles that pack 'em in on the subcontinent 3, Compassionately explores the seemingly irreconcilable situation between conservative Christian parents and their estranged gay and lesbian children 4, The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission 3, Rodriguez does a splendid job of racial profiling Hollywood style casting excellent Latin actors of all ages a trend long overdue 3, Beneath the film 's obvious determination to shock at any cost lies considerable skill and determination backed by sheer nerve 3, Bielinsky is a filmmaker of impressive talent 4, So beautifully acted and directed it 's clear that Washington most certainly has a new career ahead of him if he so chooses 4, A visual spectacle full of stunning images and effects 3, A gentle and engrossing character study 3, It 's enough to watch Huppert scheming with her small intelligent eyes as steady as any noir villain and to enjoy the perfectly pitched web of tension that Chabrol spins 3, An engrossing portrait of uncompromising artists trying to create something original against the backdrop of a corporate music industry that only seems to care about the bottom line 3, A mischievous visual style and oodles of charm make Cherish ' a very good LRB but not great RRB movie 3, Just as the recent Argentine film Son of the Bride reminded us that a feelgood movie can still show real heart Time of Favor presents us with an action movie that actually has a brain 3, LRB A RRB strong piece of work 4, A stirring tribute to the bravery and dedication of the world 's reporters who willingly walk into the nightmare of war not only to record the events for posterity but to help us clearly see the world of our making 3, The Importance of Being Earnest so thick with wit it plays like a reading from Bartlett 's Familiar Quotations 4, Daring and beautifully made 2, Made for teens and reviewed as such this is recommended only for those under years of age and then only as a very mild rental 0, Imagine O Henry 's The Gift of the Magi relocated to the scuzzy underbelly of NYC 's drug scene 2, Merry friggin ' Christmas 3, The film does give a pretty good overall picture of the situation in Laramie following the murder of Matthew Shepard 4, Both lead performances are Oscarsize 3, Quaid is utterly fearless as the tortured husband living a painful lie and Moore wonderfully underplays the longsuffering heroine with an unflappable 's dignity somewhere between Jane Wyman and June Cleaver 4, Ferrara 's best film in years 4, A remarkably insightful look at the backstage angst of the standup comic 4, Nothing short of wonderful with its tenyearold female protagonist and its steadfast refusal to set up a dualistic battle between good and evil 3, Davis ' candid archly funny and deeply authentic take on intimate relationships comes to fruition in her sophomore effort 3, It 's more enjoyable than I expected though and that 's because the laughs come from fairly basic comedic constructs 2, Cinematic pratfalls given a working over 3, The cast is spot on and the mood is laid back 2, Matches neorealism 's impact by showing the humanity of a wartorn land filled with people who just want to live their lives 4, Those moviegoers who would automatically bypass a hiphop documentary should give Scratch '' a second look 3, Babyfaced Renner is eerily convincing as this bland blank of a man with unimaginable demons within 4, Romantic riveting and handsomely animated 3, A competent unpretentious entertainment destined to fill the afterschool slot at shopping mall theaters across the country 4, Shot largely in small rooms the film has a gentle unforced intimacy that never becomes claustrophobic 3, Where Janice Beard falters in its recycled aspects implausibility and sags in pace it rises in its courageousness and comedic employment 3, Byler is too savvy a filmmaker to let this morph into a typical romantic triangle 2, Instead he focuses on the anguish that can develop when one mulls leaving the familiar to traverse uncharted ground 3, McGrath has deftly trimmed Dickens ' wonderfully sprawling soap opera the better to focus on the hero 's odyssey from cowering poverty to courage and happiness 4, A chance to see three splendid actors turn a larky chase movie into an emotionally satisfying exploration of the very human need to be somebody and to belong to somebody 3, Metaphors abound but it is easy to take this film at face value and enjoy its slightly humorous and tender story 2, As directed by Dani Kouyate of Burkina Faso Sia lacks visual flair 3, But Kouyate elicits strong performances from his cast and he delivers a powerful commentary on how governments lie no matter who runs them 4, The best comedy concert movie I 've seen since Cho 's previous concert comedy film I 'm the One That I Want in 3, Broomfield reminds us that beneath the hype the celebrity the high life the conspiracies and the mystery there were once a couple of bright young men promising talented charismatic and tragically doomed 3, Offers laughs and insight into one of the toughest ages a kid can go through 3, A perceptive goodnatured movie 3, An amused indictment of Jaglom 's own profession 3, A small movie with a big heart 3, Hugely accomplished slice of Hitchcockian suspense 3, The formula is familiar but enjoyable 4, Tells a fascinating compelling story 4, A triumph a film that hews out a world and carries us effortlessly from darkness to light 3, What begins as a conventional thriller evolves into a gorgeously atmospheric meditation on lifechanging chance encounters 3, The Lady and the Duke is a smart romantic drama that dares to depict the French Revolution from the aristocrats ' perspective 4, Most haunting about Fence '' is its conclusion when we hear the ultimate fate of these girls and realize much to our dismay that this really did happen 1, Noyce 's greatest mistake is thinking that we needed sweeping dramatic Hollywood moments to keep us 3, World Traveler might not go anywhere new or arrive anyplace special but it 's certainly an honest attempt to get at something 3, There 's much tongue in cheek in the film and there 's no doubt the filmmaker is having fun with it all 3, There 's absolutely no reason why Blue Crush a latesummer surfer girl entry should be as entertaining as it is 4, An action\/thriller of the finest kind evoking memories of Day of the Jackal The French Connection and Heat 3, The best movie in many a moon about the passions that sometimes fuel our best achievements and other times leave us stranded with nothing more than our lesser appetites 2, In capturing the understated comedic agony of an everruminating genteel yet decadent aristocracy that can no longer pay its bills the film could just as well be addressing the turn of the th century into the st 2, Insomnia does not become one of those rare remakes to eclipse the original but it does n't disgrace it either 4, classic cinema served up with heart and humor 3, LRB Stephen RRB Earnhart 's film is more about the optimism of a group of people who are struggling to give themselves a better lot in life than the ones they currently have 1, The events of the film are just so WEIRD that I honestly never knew what the hell was coming next 4, Nicole Holofcener 's Lovely and Amazing from her own screenplay jumps to the head of the class of women 's films that manage to avoid the ghetto of sentimental chickflicks by treating female follies with a satirical style 4, That Jack Nicholson makes this man so watchable is a tribute not only to his craft but to his legend 3, Has a solid emotional impact 3, Successfully blended satire high camp and yet another sexual taboo into a really funny movie 3, Mark Pellington 's latest pop thriller is as kooky and overeager as it is spooky and subtly in love with myth 4, While maintaining the appearance of clinical objectivity this sad occasionally horrifying but often inspiring film is among Wiseman 's warmest 4, Raimi crafted a complicated hero who is a welcome relief from the usual twodimensional offerings 3, An enjoyable above average summer diversion 4, There is simply no doubt that this film asks the right questions at the right time in the history of our country 3, If you 've the patience there are great rewards here 4, As a science fiction movie Minority Report '' astounds 2, Watching ET now in an era dominated by cold loud specialeffectsladen extravaganzas one is struck less by its lavish grandeur than by its intimacy and precision 4, Visually breathtaking viscerally exciting and dramatically moving it 's the very definition of epic adventure 3, Chris Columbus ' sequel is faster livelier and a good deal funnier than his original 1, Watching this film what we feel is n't mainly suspense or excitement 2, The dominant feeling is something like nostalgia ' 3, a great participatory spectator sport ' 3, A rather brilliant little cult item a pastiche of children 's entertainment superhero comics and Japanese animation 2, Believes so fervently in humanity that it feels almost anachronistic and it is too cute by half 3, But arriving at a particularly dark moment in history it offers flickering reminders of the ties that bind us 2, Adam SANDLER 3, In an ART FILM 4, As averse as I usually am to feelgood followyourdream Hollywood fantasies this one got to me 1, Stone seems to have a knack for wrapping the theater in a cold blanket of urban desperation 3, a funny yet dark and seedy clash of cultures and generations 3, The hook is the drama within the drama as an unsolved murder and an unresolved moral conflict jockey for the spotlight 4, Over the years Hollywood has crafted a solid formula for successful animated movies and Ice Age only improves on it with terrific computer graphics inventive action sequences and a droll sense of humor 3, Like Smoke Signals the film is also imbued with strong themes of familial ties and spirituality that are powerful and moving without stooping to base melodrama 3, One of those movies that make us pause and think of what we have given up to acquire the fastpaced contemporary society 4, One of the most original American productions this year you 'll find yourself remembering this refreshing visit to a Sunshine State 4, Melds derivative elements into something that is often quite rich and exciting and always a beauty to behold 4, Gives everyone something to shout about 2, The entire movie has a truncated feeling but what 's available is lovely and lovable 4, LRB A RRB thoughtful visually graceful work 4, Admirers of director Abel Ferrara may be relieved that his latest feature R Xmas marks a modest if encouraging return to form 4, The slambang superheroics are kinetic enough to engross even the most antsy youngsters 4, A worthy addition to the cinematic canon which at last count numbered different versions 3, Deliciously meanspirited and wryly observant 3, The kind of primal storytelling that George Lucas can only dream of 3, Even if The Ring has a familiar ring it 's still unusually crafty and intelligent for Hollywood horror 3, The sheer joy and pride they took in their work and in each other shines through every frame 3, A solidly constructed entertaining thriller that stops short of true inspiration 3, The cast keeps this pretty watchable and casting Mick Jagger as director of the escort service was inspired 3, An entertaining if somewhat standardized action movie 3, It has a dashing and resourceful hero a lisping reptilian villain big fights big hair lavish period scenery and a story just complicated enough to let you bask in your own cleverness as you figure it out 4, An enjoyable comedy of lingual and cultural differences The Château is a film full of life and small delights that has all the wiggling energy of young kitten 4, Intriguing and downright intoxicating 3, An incredibly thoughtful deeply meditative picture that neatly and effectively captures the debilitating grief felt in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks 4, With an obvious rapport with her actors and a striking style behind the camera Hélène Angel is definitely a director to watch 4, could easily be called the best Korean film of 4, Full of detail about the man and his country and is well worth seeing 3, The banter between Calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise McLaughlin Group and never fails to entertain 1, Thoroughly engrossing and ultimately tragic 4, Peter Jackson and company once again dazzle and delight us fulfilling practically every expectation either a longtime Tolkien fan or a moviegoing neophyte could want 4, Bill Morrison 's Decasia is uncompromising difficult and unbearably beautiful 1, Full of bland hotels highways parking lots with some glimpses of nature and family warmth Time Out is a discreet moan of despair about entrapment in the maze of modern life 3, Even with all its botches Enigma offers all the pleasure of a handsome and wellmade entertainment 3, His work transcends the boymeetsgirl posturing of typical love stories 4, If the reallife story is genuinely inspirational the movie stirs us as well 3, An ebullient Tunisian film about the startling transformation of a traditionbound widow who is drawn into the exotic world of belly dancing 2, The dramatic crisis does n't always succeed in its quest to be taken seriously but Huppert 's volatile performance makes for a riveting movie experience 2, Highly irritating at first Mr Koury 's passive technique eventually begins to yield some interesting results 3, About Schmidt belongs to Nicholson 2, Gone are the flamboyant mannerisms that are the trademark of several of his performances 2, As Schmidt Nicholson walks with a slow deliberate gait chooses his words carefully and subdues his natural exuberance 3, The powder blues and sunsplashed whites of Tunis make an alluring backdrop for this sensuous and spirited tale of a prim widow who finds an unlikely release in bellydancing clubs 1, It does n't make for great cinema but it is interesting to see where one 's imagination will lead when given the opportunity 2, It 's sobering particularly if anyone still thinks this conflict can be resolved easily or soon 3, If it 's not entirely memorable the movie is certainly easy to watch 4, by the time it 's done with us Mira Nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over 4, Best indie of the year so far 4, LRB Ferrera RRB has the charisma of a young woman who knows how to hold the screen 3, the plot weaves us into a complex web 3, Do n't judge this one too soon it 's a dark gritty story but it takes off in totally unexpected directions and keeps on going 3, In Death to Smoochy we do n't get Williams ' usual tear and a smile just sneers and bile and the spectacle is nothing short of refreshing 2, A serviceable Eurotrash action extravaganza with a decent sense of humor and plenty of things that go boom handguns BMWs and seaside chateaus 3, Fortunately Elling never gets too cloying thanks to the actors ' perfect comic timing and sweet genuine chemistry 3, If you 've grown tired of going where no man has gone before but several movies have take heart 4, This is the best Star Trek movie in a long time 4, Greg Kinnear gives a mesmerizing performance as a fullfledged sex addict who is in complete denial about his obsessive behavior 4, Not only a comingofage story and cautionary parable but also a perfectly rendered period piece 3, ou 've got to love a Disney pic with as little cleavage as this one has and a heroine as feisty and principled as Jane 4, A funny triumphant and moving documentary 3, Lathan and Diggs carry the film with their charisma and both exhibit sharp comic timing that makes the more hackneyed elements of the film easier to digest 3, About Schmidt is Nicholson 's goofy heartfelt mesmerizing King Lear 3, A confluence of kiddie entertainment sophisticated wit and symbolic graphic design 4, Gay or straight Kissing Jessica Stein is one of the greatest date movies in years 4, This is a movie full of grace and ultimately hope 4, Even better than the first one 3, Its compelling mix of trial movie escape movie and unexpected fable ensures the film never feels draggy 4, A must see for all sides of the political spectrum 4, LRB Reynolds RRB takes a classic story casts attractive and talented actors and uses a magnificent landscape to create a feature film that is wickedly fun to watch 2, There are problems with this film that even Oscar winners ca n't overcome but it 's a nice girlbuddy movie once it gets rocknrolling 3, Rich in atmosphere of the postwar art world it manages to instruct without reeking of research library dust 3, Has the rare capability to soothe and break your heart with a single stroke 3, It rapidly develops into a gutwrenching examination of the way cultural differences and emotional expectations collide 2, Though it flirts with bathos and pathos and the further Oprahfication of the world as we know it it still cuts all the way down to broken bone 3, This humbling little film fueled by the light comedic work of Zhao Benshan and the delicate ways of Dong Jie is just the sort for those moviegoers who complain that they do n't make movies like they used to anymore ' 2, It will break your heart many times over 4, A straightshooting family film which awards animals the respect they 've rarely been given 2, Overall interesting as a documentary but not very Imaxy 4, This is one of those war movies that focuses on human interaction rather than battle and action sequences and it 's all the stronger because of it 2, Secretary '' is owned by its costars Spader and Gyllenhaal 4, Maggie G makes an amazing breakthrough in her first starring role and eats up the screen 3, The film fits into a genre that has been overexposed redolent of a thousand cliches and yet remains uniquely itself vibrant with originality 4, Not only is it a charming funny and beautifully crafted import it uses very little dialogue making it relatively effortless to read and follow the action at the same time 2, The kind of sense of humor that derives from a workman 's grasp of pun and entendre and its attendant need to constantly draw attention to itself 1, Too much of Storytelling moves away from Solondz 's social critique casting its audience as that of intellectual lector in contemplation of the auteur 's professional injuries 2, The story is virtually impossible to follow here but there 's a certain style and wit to the dialogue 4, The music makes a nice album the food is enticing and Italy beckons us all 1, The film is an earnest try at beachcombing verismo but it would be even more indistinct than it is were it not for the striking quietly vulnerable personality of Ms Ambrose 4, The film is small in scope yet perfectly formed 4, Jones has delivered a solidly entertaining and moving family drama 3, Happy Times maintains an appealing veneer without becoming too cute about it 2, Oliveira seems to pursue silent film representation with every mournful composition 2, One of the pleasures in Walter 's documentary is the parade of veteran painters confounded dealers and miscellaneous bohos who expound upon the subject 's mysterious personality without ever explaining him 3, Captures all the longing anguish and ache the confusing sexual messages and the wish to be a part of that elusive adult world 3, He 's the scariest guy you 'll see all summer 4, Frailty '' offers chills much like those that you get when sitting around a campfire around midnight telling creepy stories to give each other the willies 3, And there 's no way you wo n't be talking about the film once you exit the theater 2, If I have to choose between gorgeous animation and a lame story LRB like say Treasure Planet RRB or soso animation and an exciting clever story with a batch of appealing characters I 'll take the latter every time 3, Quiet adult and just about more stately than any contemporary movie this year a true study a film with a questioning heart and mind that is n't afraid to admit it does n't have all the answers 3, In the end the film is less the cheap thriller you 'd expect than it is a fairly revealing study of its two main characters damagedgoods people whose orbits will inevitably and dangerously collide 4, Some of the visual flourishes are a little too obvious but restrained and subtle storytelling and fine performances make this delicate comingofage tale a treat 3, It is hard not to be especially grateful for freedom after a film like this 3, The dirty jokes provide the funniest moments in this oddly sweet comedy about jokester highway patrolmen 4, Y Tu Mamá También is hilariously gloriously alive and quite often hotter than Georgia asphalt 3, works on some levels and is certainly worth seeing at least once 3, You come away from his film overwhelmed hopeful and perhaps paradoxically illuminated 3, If the material is slight and admittedly manipulative Jacquot preserves Tosca 's intoxicating ardor through his use of the camera 3, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing lays out a narrative puzzle that interweaves individual stories and like a Mobius strip elliptically loops back to where it began 2, Overall it 's a wacky and inspired little film that works effortlessly at delivering genuine acerbic laughs 4, A must for fans of British cinema if only because so many titans of the industry are along for the ride 2, Tsai has managed to create an underplayed melodrama about family dynamics and dysfunction that harks back to the spare unchecked heartache of Yasujiro Ozu 2, Until LRB the RRB superfluous epilogue that leaks suspension of disbelief like a sieve Die Another Day is as stimulating & heartrateraising as any James Bond thriller 2, It 's a good film but it falls short of its aspiration to be a true epic ' 3, All the pieces fall together without much surprise but little moments give it a boost 3, The beauty of Alexander Payne 's ode to the Everyman is in the details 4, A touching drama about old age and grief with a tour de force performance by Michel Piccoli 3, The ending feels at odds with the rest of the film 3, A tone of rueful compassion reverberates throughout this film whose meaning and impact is sadly heightened by current world events 3, A beautiful paean to a time long past 2, Dense and thoughtful and brimming with ideas that are too complex to be rapidly absorbed 2, If you thought Tom Hanks was just an ordinary bigscreen star wait until you 've seen him eight stories tall 4, With this masterful flawless film LRB Wang RRB emerges in the front ranks of China 's now numerous worldrenowned filmmakers 3, Shyamalan offers copious hints along the way myriad signs if you will that beneath the familiar funny surface is a far bigger far more meaningful story than one in which little green men come to Earth for harvesting purposes 3, This film is an act of spiritual faith an eloquent deeply felt meditation on the nature of compassion 2, A different kind of love story one that is dark disturbing painful to watch yet compelling 3, Splendidly illustrates the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity 4, A compelling gutclutching piece of advocacy cinema that carries you along in a torrent of emotion as it explores the awful complications of one terrifying day 4, She 's as rude and profane as ever always hilarious and most of the time absolutely right in her stinging social observations 3, To those who have not read the book the film is a much better motherdaughter tale than last summer 's Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood ' but that 's not saying much 3, Even before it builds up to its insanely staged ballroom scene in which actors appear in full regalia it 's waltzed itself into the art film pantheon 4, A thoughtful reverent portrait of what is essentially a subculture with its own rules regarding love and family governance and hierarchy 3, It seems impossible that an epic fourhour Indian musical about a cricket game could be this good but it is 3, Will certainly appeal to Asian cult cinema fans and Asiaphiles interested to see what all the fuss is about 3, Touches smartly and wistfully on a number of themes not least the notion that the marginal members of society might benefit from a helping hand and a friendly kick in the pants 4, A wildly entertaining scan of Evans ' career 3, A mature deeply felt fantasy of a director 's travel through years of Russian history 2, Boldly engineering a collision between tawdry Bmovie flamboyance and grandiose spiritual anomie Rose 's film true to its source material provides a tenacious demonstration of death as the great equalizer 4, A finely tuned mood piece a model of menacing atmosphere 3, The Salton Sea has moments of inspired humour though every scrap is of the darkest variety 4, Both a beautifully made nature film and a tribute to a woman whose passion for this region and its inhabitants still shines in her quiet blue eyes 3, Although shot with little style Skins is heartfelt and achingly real 3, Harks back to a time when movies had more to do with imagination than market research 3, Upsetting and thoughtprovoking the film has an odd purity that does n't bring you into the characters so much as it has you study them 2, A very pretty afterschool special 3, It 's an effort to watch this movie but it eventually pays off and is effective if you stick with it 3, A harrowing account of a psychological breakdown 3, Continually challenges perceptions of guilt and innocence of good guys and bad and asks us whether a noble end can justify evil means 3, It certainly wo n't win any awards in the plot department but it sets out with no pretensions and delivers big time 3, Dog Soldiers does n't transcend genre it embraces it energizes it and takes big bloody chomps out of it 2, At once emotional and richly analytical the CosbySeinfeld encounter alone confirms the serious weight behind this superficially loose larky documentary 3, It may scream low budget but this charmer has a spirit that can not be denied 3, Alice 's adventure through the looking glass and into zombieland ' is filled with strange and wonderful creatures 1, Without LRB De Niro RRB City By The Sea would slip under the waves 3, He drags it back singlehanded 4, A good music documentary probably one of the best since The Last Waltz 3, If the plot seems a bit on the skinny side that 's because Panic Room is interested in nothing more than sucking you in and making you sweat 3, LRB the film RRB works due mostly to the tongueincheek attitude of the screenplay 3, The film becomes an overwhelming pleasure and you find yourself rooting for Gai 's character to avoid the fate that has befallen every other Carmen before her 3, Broomfield has a rather unique approach to documentary 1, He thinks the film is just as much a document about him as it is about the subject 2, At its best when the guarded resentful Betty and the manipulative yet needy Margot are front and center 2, Gloriously straight from the vagina 3, It 's excessively quirky and a little underconfident in its delivery but otherwise this is the best old neighborhood ' project since Christopher Walken kinda romanced Cyndi Lauper in The Opportunists 3, The film oozes craft 4, Robinson 's web of suspense matches the pageturning frenzy that Clancy creates 4, Manages to be both hugely entertaining and uplifting 4, A classic fairy tale that perfectly captures the wonders and worries of childhood in a way that few movies have ever approached 2, It 's the unsettling images of a warravaged land that prove more potent and riveting than the unlikely story of Sarah and Harrison 3, a wonderfully warm human drama that remains vividly in memory long after viewing 2, Jaunty fun with its celebstrewn backdrop well used 2, Recoing 's fantastic performance does n't exactly reveal what makes Vincent tick but perhaps any definitive explanation for it would have felt like a cheat 3, Washington overcomes the script 's flaws and envelops the audience in his character 's anguish anger and frustration 3, The film fearlessly gets under the skin of the people involved This makes it not only a detailed historical document but an engaging and moving portrait of a subculture 3, A searing epic treatment of a nationwide blight that seems to be horrifyingly ever on the rise 3, Not a film for the faint of heart or conservative of spirit but for the rest of us especially San Francisco lovers it 's a spirited film and a mustsee 4, Read My Lips is to be viewed and treasured for its extraordinary intelligence and originality as well as its lyrical variations on the game of love 3, The color sense of Stuart Little is its most immediate and most obvious pleasure but it would count for very little if the movie were n't as beautifully shaped and as delicately calibrated in tone as it is 2, while LRB Roman Coppola RRB scores points for style he staggers in terms of story 3, Any movie that makes hard work seem heroic deserves a look 3, It may not be a huge cut of above the rest but I enjoyed Barbershop 4, It 's a funny little movie with clever dialogue and likeable characters 3, A different and emotionally reserved type of survival story a film less about refracting all of World War II through the specific conditions of one man and more about that man lost in its midst 4, It 's sweet funny charming and completely delightful 2, A perfectly competent and often imaginative film that lacks what little Lilo & Stitch had in spades charisma 4, Beautifully shot against the frozen winter landscapes of Grenoble and Geneva the film unfolds with all the mounting tension of an expert thriller until the tragedy beneath it all gradually reveals itself 1, Medem may have disrobed most of the cast leaving their bodies exposed but the plot remains as guarded as a virgin with a chastity belt 3, That 's why Sex and Lucia is so alluring 3, An elegant work Food of Love is as consistently engaging as it is revealing 3, Although largely a heavyhanded indictment of parental failings and the indifference of Spanish social workers and legal system towards child abuse the film retains ambiguities that make it well worth watching 2, A behind the scenes look at the training and dedication that goes into becoming a worldclass fencer and the champion that 's made a difference to NYC innercity youth 2, A brain twister less a moviemovie than a funny and weird meditation on Hollywood success artistic integrity and intellectual bankruptcy 3, A powerful inflammatory film about religion that dares to question an ancient faith and about hatred that offers no easy comfortable resolution 3, In its own floundering way it gets to you 2, Just like Igby 3, Return to Never Land may be another shameless attempt by Disney to rake in dough from baby boomer families but it 's not halfbad 3, Wise and deadpan humorous 3, God bless Crudup and his aversion to taking the easy Hollywood road and cashing in on his moviestar gorgeousness 2, If Signs is a good film and it is the essence of a great one is in there somewhere 2, Veterans of the dating wars will smirk uneasily at the film 's nightmare versions of everyday sexinthecity misadventures 3, Schrader examines Crane 's decline with unblinking candor 3, You can watch giggle and get an adrenaline boost without feeling like you 've completely lowered your entertainment standards 3, It thankfully goes easy on the reel\/real world dichotomy that LRB Jaglom RRB pursued with such enervating determination in Venice\/Venice 3, This rich bittersweet Israeli documentary about the life of songanddanceman Pasach ke Burstein and his family transcends ethnic lines 2, Sensitively examines general issues of race and justice among the poor and specifically raises serious questions about the death penalty and asks what good the execution of a mentally challenged woman could possibly do 4, Cool gadgets and creatures keep this fresh 2, Not as good as the original but what is 3, Presents a side of contemporary Chinese life that many outsiders will be surprised to know exists and does so with an artistry that also smacks of revelation 3, LRB Jeff 's RRB gorgeous fluid compositions underlined by Neil Finn and Edmund McWilliams 's melancholy music are charged with metaphor but rarely easy obvious or selfindulgent 4, Engages us in constant fits of laughter until we find ourselves surprised at how much we care about the story and end up walking out not only satisfied but also somewhat touched 3, a bilingual charmer just like the woman who inspired it 4, Blisteringly rude scarily funny sorrowfully sympathetic to the damage it surveys the film has in Kieran Culkin a pitchperfect Holden 3, The fourth Pokemon '' is a diverting if predictable adventure suitable for a matinee with a message that cautions children about disturbing the world 's delicate ecological balance 3, What one is left with even after the most awful acts are committed is an overwhelming sadness that feels as if it has made its way into your very bloodstream 2, LRB It RRB has the feel of a summer popcorn movie 1, Nothing too deep or substantial 2, Explosions jokes and sexual innuendoes abound 4, Miyazaki 's nonstop images are so stunning and his imagination so vivid that the only possible complaint you could have about Spirited Away is that there is no rest period no timeout 4, a delightfully unpredictable hilarious comedy with wonderful performances that tug at your heart in ways that utterly transcend gender labels 4, Assured vital and well wrought the film is arguably the most accomplished work to date from Hong Kong 's versatile Stanley Kwan 4, Delia Greta and Paula rank as three of the most multilayered and sympathetic female characters of the year 3, As each of them searches for their place in the world Miller digs into their very minds to find an unblinking flawed humanity 3, A surprisingly sweet and gentle comedy 3, Shanghai Ghetto much stranger than any fiction brings this unknown slice of history affectingly to life 3, It 's not particularly well made but since I found myself howling more than cringing I 'd say the film works 2, But this is Lohman 's film 3, Her performance moves between heartbreak and rebellion as she continually tries to accommodate to fit in and gain the unconditional love she seeks 3, Though its story is only surface deep the visuals and enveloping sounds of Blue Crush make this surprisingly decent flick worth a summertime looksee 2, Ryosuke has created a wry winning if languidly paced meditation on the meaning and value of family 3, Sometimes charming sometimes infuriating this Argentinean dramedy ' succeeds mainly on the shoulders of its actors 3, You may feel compelled to watch the film twice or pick up a book on the subject 4, Often shocking but ultimately worthwhile exploration of motherhood and desperate mothers 4, A venturesome beautifully realized psychological mood piece that reveals its firsttime feature director 's understanding of the expressive power of the camera 3, Like The Rugrats movies The Wild Thornberrys Movie does n't offer much more than the series but its emphasis on caring for animals and respecting other cultures is particularly welcome 1, Taken outside the context of the current political climate LRB see terrorists are more evil than ever RRB 4, The Sum of All Fears is simply a wellmade and satisfying thriller 2, The setting is so cool that it chills the characters reducing our emotional stake in the outcome of Intacto 's '' dangerous and seductively stylish game 3, A lovely and beautifully photographed romance 4, One of the most splendid entertainments to emerge from the French film industry in years 2, Its vision of that awkward age when sex threatens to overwhelm everything else is acute enough to make everyone who has been there squirm with recognition 3, For almost the first twothirds of Martin Scorsese 's minute Gangs of New York I was entranced 2, Openended and composed of layer upon layer Talk to Her is a cinephile 's feast an invitation to countless interpretations 4, One of the most slyly exquisite antiadult movies ever made 1, What makes Esther Kahn so demanding is that it progresses in such a lowkey manner that it risks monotony 3, But it 's worth the concentration 3, Neither the funniest film that Eddie Murphy nor Robert De Niro has ever made Showtime is nevertheless efficiently amusing for a good while 1, Before it collapses into exactly the kind of buddy cop comedy it set out to lampoon anyway 3, A clever script and skilled actors bring new energy to the familiar topic of office politics 4, The determination of Pinochet 's victims to seek justice and their often heartbreaking testimony spoken directly into director Patricio Guzman 's camera pack a powerful emotional wallop 2, Disney aficionados will notice distinct parallels between this story and the musical Bedknobs and Broomsticks '' which also dealt with British children rediscovering the power of fantasy during wartime 3, It 's worth the extra effort to see an artist still committed to growth in his ninth decade change while remaining true to his principles with a film whose very subject is quite pointedly about the peril of such efforts 3, Dark and unrepentant this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten 4, It 's a rollicking adventure for you and all your mateys regardless of their ages 3, Boasts a handful of virtuosic set pieces and offers a fair amount of trashy kinky fun 2, Myers has turned his franchise into the movie version of an adolescent dirtyjoke book done up in postTarantino popculture riffs 3, If you 're down for a silly hackandslash flick you can do no wrong with Jason X 3, This is a very ambitious project for a fairly inexperienced filmmaker but good actors good poetry and good music help sustain it 4, The modern master of the chase sequence returns with a chase to end all chases 2, The messy emotions raging throughout this threehour effort are instantly recognizable allowing the film to paradoxically feel familiar and foreign at the same time 2, either you 're willing to go with this claustrophobic concept or you 're not 2, Just watch Bettany strut his stuff 3, You 'll know a star when you see one 1, Austin Powers in Goldmember is a cinematic car wreck a catastrophic collision of tastelessness and gall that nevertheless will leave fans clamoring for another ride 0, You can fire a torpedo through some of Clancy 's holes and the scripters do n't deserve any Oscars 4, But the nerveraked acting the crackle of lines the impressive stagings of hardware make for some robust and scary entertainment 1, contrasting the original Ringu with the current Americanized adaptation is akin to comparing The Evil Dead with Evil Dead II 3, A small gem of a movie that defies classification and is as thoughtprovoking as it is funny scary and sad 3, For a long time the film succeeds with its dark delicate treatment of these characters and its unerring respect for them 4, It 's the kind of effectively creepyscary thriller that has you fixating on a far corner of the screen at times because your nerves just ca n't take it any more 3, Late Marriage is an inyourface family drama and black comedy that is filled with raw emotions conveying despair and love 2, An ambitious and moving but bleak film 3, It 's too harsh to work as a piece of storytelling but as an intellectual exercise an unpleasant debate that 's been given the drive of a narrative and that 's been acted out The Believer is nothing less than a provocative piece of work 3, It 's sweet 3, It 's funny 1, It wears its heart on the sleeve of its gaudy Hawaiian shirt 3, And thanks to the presence of the King ' it also rocks 3, It 's never laughoutloud funny but it is frequently amusing 3, A bittersweet film simple in form but rich with human events 3, The unexplored story opportunities of PunchDrunk Love '' may have worked against the maker 's minimalist intent but it is an interesting exercise by talented writer\/director Anderson 2, PunchDrunk Love '' is a little like a chocolate milk moustache 3, digs beyond the usual portrayals of good kids and bad seeds to reveal a more ambivalent set of characters and motivations 3, The beauty of the piece is that it counts heart as important as humor 3, Piercingly affecting while clearly a manipulative film emerges as powerful rather than cloying 3, Very amusing not the usual route in a thriller and the performances are odd and pixilated and sometimes both 3, While the frequent allusions to gurus and doshas will strike some Westerners as verging on mumbojumbo broad streaks of common sense emerge with unimpeachable clarity 4, The cast is phenomenal especially the women 4, A marvel of production design 4, The byplay and bickering between the now spysavvy siblings Carmen LRB Vega RRB and Juni LRB Sabara RRB Cortez anchor the film in a very real and amusing giveandtake 3, Good actors have a radar for juicy roles there 's a plethora of characters in this picture and not one of them is flat 4, Though in some ways similar to Catherine Breillat 's Fat Girl Rain is the far superior film 4, Is not so much a work of entertainment as it is a unique wellcrafted psychological study of grief 4, Remarkable for its excellent storytelling its economical compressed characterisations and for its profound humanity it 's an adventure story and history lesson all in one 4, Colorful energetic and sweetly whimsical the rare sequel that 's better than its predecessor 3, Reno himself can take credit for most of the movie 's success 3, He 's one of the few cool ' actors who never seems aware of his own coolness 3, Significantly better than its children 's movie competition 3, UB equally spoofs and celebrates the more outre aspects of black culture ' and the dorkier aspects of white culture ' even as it points out how inseparable the two are 3, A lot smarter than your average Bond 4, bright intelligent and humanly funny film 4, Painful horrifying and oppressively tragic this film should not be missed 4, Part of the film 's cheeky charm comes from its vintage schmaltz 2, So unique and stubborn and charismatic that you want it to be better and more successful than it is 2, I wo n't argue with anyone who calls Slackers ' dumb insulting or childish but I laughed so much that I did n't mind 2, It arrives with an impeccable pedigree mongrel pep and almost indecipherable plot complications 3, So fiendishly cunning that even the most jaded cinema audiences will leave the auditorium feeling dizzy confused and totally disorientated 4, Not to mention absolutely refreshed 4, A vibrant colorful semimusical rendition 2, The film sometimes flags but there is enough secondary action to keep things moving along at a brisk amusing pace 2, It 's a drawling slobbering lovable runon sentence of a film a Southern Gothic with the emotional arc of its raw blues soundtrack 4, Nolan proves that he can cross swords with the best of them and helm a more traditionally plotted popcorn thriller while surrendering little of his intellectual rigor or creative composure 4, It is different from others in its genre in that it is does not rely on dumb gags anatomical humor or character cliches it primarily relies on character to tell its story 4, Both a successful adaptation and an enjoyable film in its own right 2, All the filmmakers are asking of us is to believe in something that is improbable 2, If the very concept makes you nervous you 'll have an idea of the film 's creepy scary effectiveness 3, Worth a look by those on both sides of the issues if only for the perspective it offers one the public rarely sees 3, A mostly believable refreshingly lowkey and quietly inspirational little sports drama 3, May be more genial than ingenious but it gets the job done 3, A stylish cast and some clever scripting solutions help Chicago make the transition from stage to screen with considerable appeal intact 4, Exhilarating funny and fun 3, While not quite Shrek '' or Monsters Inc '' it 's not too bad 4, It 's worth taking the kids to 3, In the end there is one word that best describes this film honest 4, Writerdirector David Jacobson and his star Jeremy Renner have made a remarkable film that explores the monster 's psychology not in order to excuse him but rather to demonstrate that his pathology evolved from human impulses that grew hideously twisted 3, The action sequences are fun and reminiscent of combat scenes from the Star Wars series 3, Norton is magnetic as Graham 3, Savvy director Robert J Siegel and his cowriters keep the story subtle and us in suspense 2, It pulls the rug out from under you just when you 're ready to hate one character or really sympathize with another character something happens to send you off in different direction 4, Twenty years after its first release ET remains the most wondrous of all Hollywood fantasies and the apex of Steven Spielberg 's misunderstood career 2, It says a lot about a filmmaker when he can be wacky without clobbering the audience over the head and still maintain a sense of urgency and suspense 2, Gives us a lot to chew on but not all of it has been properly digested 4, It 's an exhilarating place to visit this laboratory of laughter 4, Simone '' is a fun and funky look into an artificial creation in a world that thrives on artificiality 3, A great companion piece to other Napoleon films 1, To some eyes this will seem like a recycling of clichés an assassin 's greatest hits 3, To others it will remind them that Hong Kong action cinema is still alive and kicking 2, At the end of the movie my yearold nephew said I guess I come from a broken family and my uncles are all aliens too '' 4, Congrats Disney on a job well done I enjoyed it just as much 3, A remarkably alluring film set in the constrictive Eisenhower era about one suburban woman 's yearning in the face of a loss that shatters her cheery and tranquil suburban life 3, Berling and Béart continue to impress and Isabelle Huppert again shows uncanny skill in getting under the skin of her characters 3, Uplifting funny and wise 4, Remarkable for its intelligence and intensity 3, The hypnotic imagery and fragmentary tale explore the connections between place and personal identity 3, Brosnan is more feral in this film than I 've seen him before and Halle Berry does her best to keep up with him 4, A film that begins with the everyday lives of naval personnel in San Diego and ends with scenes so true and heartbreaking that tears welled up in my eyes both times I saw the film 2, On Guard '' 4, wo n't be placed in the pantheon of the best of the swashbucklers but it is a whole lot of fun and you get to see the one of the world 's best actors Daniel Auteuil have a whale of a good time 1, The movie starts with a legend and ends with a story that is so farfetched it would be impossible to believe if it were n't true 3, This is the stuff that Disney movies are made of 4, Like all great films about a life you never knew existed it offers much to absorb and even more to think about after the final frame 3, That the egraveyard holds as many good ideas as bad is the cold comfort that Chin 's film serves up with style and empathy 3, While we no longer possess the lackofattention span that we did at seventeen we had no trouble sitting for Blade II 2, like a poor man 's You Can Count On Me 3, a solid unassuming drama 3, A seriocomic debut of extravagant promise by GeorgianIsraeli director Dover Kosashvili 2, Thanks to Ice Cube Benjamins feels an awful lot like Friday in Miami 3, The real star of this movie is the score as in the songs translate well to film and it 's really well directed 3, It 's rare to find a film to which the adjective gentle ' applies but the word perfectly describes Pauline & Paulette 4, My Wife is an Actress has its moments in looking at the comic effects of jealousy 2, In the end though it is only mildly amusing when it could have been so much more 3, Both Garcia and Jagger turn in perfectly executed and wonderfully sympathetic characters who are alternately touching and funny 2, Humorous artsy and even cute in an offkilter dark vaguely disturbing way 3, The more you think about the movie the more you will probably like it 4, a powerful sequel and one of the best films of the year 3, For the most part the film does hold up pretty well 3, Together LRB Time Out and Human Resources RRB establish Mr Cantet as France 's foremost cinematic poet of the workplace 4, You can take the grandkids or the grandparents and never worry about anyone being bored audience is a sea of constant smiles and frequent laughter 2, Like these Russo guys lookin ' for their Mamet instead found their Sturges 3, There has been a string of ensemble cast romances recently but Peter Mattei 's Love in the Time of Money sets itself apart by forming a chain of relationships that come full circle to end on a positive LRB if tragic RRB note 3, By applying definition to both sides of the man the picture realizes a fullness that does not negate the subject 2, Who is the audience for Cletis Tout 3, Anybody who enjoys quirky fun popcorn movies with a touch of silliness and a little bloodshed 4, LRB Cuarón has RRB created a substantive movie out of several cliched movie structures the road movie the comingofage movie and the teenage sex comedy 4, Puts to rest any thought that the German film industry can not make a delightful comedy centering on food 3, Witty dialog between realistic characters showing honest emotions 3, It 's touching and tender and proves that even in sorrow you can find humor 4, Like blended shades of lipstick these components combine into one terrific story with lots of laughs 3, Ash Wednesday is not Edward Burns ' best film but it is a good and ambitious film 3, And it marks him as one of the most interesting writer\/directors working today 3, After one gets the feeling that the typical Hollywood disregard for historical truth and realism is at work here it 's a matter of finding entertainment in the experiences of Zishe and the fiery presence of Hanussen 3, The footage of the rappers at play and the prison interview with Suge Knight are just two of the elements that will grab you 3, it 's as comprehensible as any Dummies guide something even nontechies can enjoy 3, Do n't wait to see this terrific film with your kids if you do n't have kids borrow some 3, Moretti is the rare commonman artist who 's wise enough to recognize that there are few things in this world more complex and as it turns out more fragile than happiness 4, The movie 's captivating details are all in the performances from Foreman 's barkingmad Taylor to Thewlis 's smoothly sinister Freddie and Bettany\/McDowell 's hardeyed gangster 3, Features Fincher 's characteristically startling visual style and an almost palpable sense of intensity 3, Precocious smarterthanthou wayward teen struggles to rebel against his oppressive rightwing proprietyobsessed family 2, Anyone else seen this before 4, Moore provides an invaluable service by sparking debate and encouraging thought 4, Better still he does all of this and more while remaining one of the most savagely hilarious social critics this side of Jonathan Swift 3, Alternating between facetious comic parody and pulp melodrama this smartaleck movie tosses around some intriguing questions about the difference between human and android life 3, A cutesy romantic tale with a twist 4, This is a gorgeous film vivid with color music and life 4, Delight your senses and crash this wedding 1, A brutally dry satire of Middle American numbness 3, More sophisticated and literate than such pictures usually are an amusing little catch 3, Smith examines the intimate unguarded moments of folks who live in unusual homes which pop up in nearly every corner of the country 4, With an admirably dark first script by Brent Hanley Paxton making his directorial feature debut does strong measured work 3, A compelling French psychological drama examining the encounter of an aloof father and his chilly son after years apart 4, even if you 've never heard of Chaplin you 'll still be glued to the screen 2, You have enough finely tuned acting to compensate for the movie 's failings 3, As the dominant Christine Sylvie Testud is icily brilliant 2, Although tender and touching the movie would have benefited from a little more dramatic tension and some more editing 3, The story that emerges has elements of romance tragedy and even silentmovie comedy 3, LRB Safe Conduct '' RRB is a long movie at minutes but it fills the time with drama romance tragedy bravery political intrigue partisans and sabotage 3, Viva le Resistance 3, It offers a glimpse of the Solomonic decision facing Jewish parents in those turbulent times to save their children and yet to lose them 3, The film is delicately narrated by Martin Landau and directed with sensitivity and skill by Dana JanklowiczMann 2, Martyr gets royally screwed and comes back for more 2, A virtual rollercoaster ride of glamour and sleaze 4, an admirable sometimes exceptional film 3, If you like an extreme actionpacked film with a hint of humor then Triple X marks the spot 0, If you 're the kind of parent who enjoys intentionally introducing your kids to films which will cause loads of irreparable damage that years and years of costly analysis could never fix I have just one word for you Decasia 3, May not be a breakthrough in filmmaking but it is unwavering and arresting 3, The film 's images give a backbone to the company and provide an emotional edge to its ultimate demise 3, A bodiceripper for intellectuals 3, The locations go from stark desert to gorgeous beaches 3, The story plays out slowly but the characters are intriguing and realistic 2, Count on his movie to work at the back of your neck long after you leave the theater 4, Neil Burger here succeeded in making the mystery of four decades back the springboard for a more immediate mystery in the present 3, The complex politically charged tapestry of contemporary Chinese life this exciting new filmmaker has brought to the screen is like nothing we Westerners have seen before 2, A thriller made from a completist 's checklist rather than with a cultist 's passion 4, Try as you might to scrutinize the ethics of Kaufman 's approach somehow it all comes together to create a very compelling sensitive intelligent and almost cohesive piece of film entertainment 4, As quiet patient and tenacious as Mr Lopez himself who approaches his difficult endless work with remarkable serenity and discipline 2, Though the film never veers from its comic course its unintentional parallels might inadvertently evoke memories and emotions which are anything but humorous 3, Evokes the style and flash of the doublecross that made Mamet 's House of Games '' and last fall 's Heist '' so much fun 4, So original in its base concept that you can not help but get caught up 3, It may be a nobrainer but at least it 's a funny nobrainer 3, A lot more dimensional and complex than its sunny disposition would lead you to believe 4, Jeffs has created a breathtakingly assured and stylish work of spare dialogue and acute expressiveness 2, Underachieves only in not taking the Shakespeare parallels quite far enough 3, The most audacious outrageous sexually explicit psychologically probing pure libido film of the year has arrived from Portugal 3, The creative animation work may not look as fully rendered ' as Pixar 's industry standard but it uses lighting effects and innovative backgrounds to an equally impressive degree 3, Arthouse to the core Read My Lips is a genrecurling crime story that revives the freewheeling noir spirit of old French cinema 1, Grant is certainly amusing but the very hollowness of the character he plays keeps him at arms length 3, Conceptually brilliant Plays like a livingroom War Of The Worlds gaining most of its unsettling force from the suggested and the unknown 3, manages to deliver a fair bit of vampire fun 3, Drama of temptation salvation and good intentions is a thoughtful examination of faith love and power 4, The strength of the film comes not from any cinematic razzledazzle but from its recovery of an historical episode that in the simple telling proves simultaneously harrowing and uplifting 3, The performances are strong though the subject matter demands acting that borders on hammy at times 4, A damn fine and a truly distinctive and a deeply pertinent film 4, Still rapturous after all these years Cinema Paradiso stands as one of the great films about movie love 3, Reggio and Glass put on an intoxicating show 4, MacDowell gives give a solid anguished performance that eclipses nearly everything else she 's ever done 1, The thing about guys like Evans is this You 're never quite sure where selfpromotion ends and the truth begins 4, But as you watch the movie you 're too interested to care 3, I liked a lot of the smaller scenes 2, The film will appeal to Discovery Channel fans and will surely widen the perspective of those of us who see the continent through rosecolored glasses 3, An eyeboggling blend of psychedelic devices special effects and backgrounds Spy Kids ' is a visual treat for all audiences 3, Straightforward and oldfashioned in the best possible senses of both those words Possession is a movie that puts itself squarely in the service of the lovers who inhabit it 3, It may work as a jaunt down memory lane for teens and young adults who grew up on televised ScoobyDoo shows or reruns 4, One of those movies that catches you up in something bigger than yourself namely an archetypal desire to enjoy good trash every now and then 2, This harrowing journey into combat hell vividly captures the chaotic insanity and personal tragedies that are all too abundant when human hatred spews forth unchecked 3, Far more successful if considerably less ambitious than last year 's KubrickmeetsSpielberg exercise 3, Elling builds gradually until you feel fully embraced by this gentle comedy 3, A fascinating examination of the joyous turbulent selfdiscovery made by a proper middleaged woman 3, Here is a VH Behind the Music special that has something a little more special behind it music that did n't sell many records but helped change a nation 2, Buy popcorn 3, Take nothing seriously and enjoy the ride 3, Carrying off a spoton Scottish burr Duvall LRB also a producer RRB peels layers from this character that may well not have existed on paper 3, The acting for the most part is terrific although the actors must struggle with the fact that they 're playing characters who sometimes feel more like literary conceits than fleshandblood humans 3, Some Body will take you places you have n't been and also places you have 3, Vereté has a whipsmart sense of narrative bluffs 1, Parts of the film feel a bit too much like an infomercial for Ram Dass 's latest book aimed at the boomer demographic 4, But mostly it 's a work that with humor warmth and intelligence captures a life interestingly lived 2, Were it not for a sentimental resolution that explains way more about Cal than does the movie or the character any good Freundlich 's World Traveler might have been one of the more daring and surprising American movies of the year 2, Home Movie '' is the film equivalent of a lovingly rendered coffee table book 4, Graphic sex may be what 's attracting audiences to Unfaithful but gripping performances by Lane and Gere are what will keep them awake 4, When compared to the usual more somber festival entries Davis ' highly personal brand of romantic comedy is a tart smart breath of fresh air that stands out from the pack even if the picture itself is somewhat problematic 3, Both damning and damned compelling 3, Much has been written about those years when the psychedelic 's grooved over into the gay 's but words do n't really do the era justice 4, You have to see it 3, Even if it pushes its agenda too forcefully this remains a film about something one that attempts and often achieves a level of connection and concern 3, What lifts the film high above runofthefilth gangster flicks is its refusal to recognise any of the signposts as if discovering a way through to the bitter end without a map 3, Both an admirable reconstruction of terrible events and a fitting memorial to the dead of that day and of the thousands thereafter 2, A sly dissection of the inanities of the contemporary music business and a rather sad story of the difficulties of artistic collaboration 4, The unique niche of selfcritical behindthescenes navelgazing Kaufman has carved from Orleans ' story and his own infinite insecurity is a work of outstanding originality 4, Lovingly photographed in the manner of a Golden Book sprung to life Stuart Little manages sweetness largely without stickiness 4, Consistently clever and suspenseful 2, It 's like a Big Chill '' reunion of the BaaderMeinhof Gang only these guys are more harmless pranksters than political activists 4, The story gives ample opportunity for largescale action and suspense which director Shekhar Kapur supplies with tremendous skill 3, Fresnadillo has something serious to say about the ways in which extravagant chance can distort our perspective and throw us off the path of good sense 4, Throws in enough clever and unexpected twists to make the formula feel fresh 3, Weighty and ponderous but every bit as filling as the treat of the title 3, A real audiencepleaser that will strike a chord with anyone who 's ever waited in a doctor 's office emergency room hospital bed or insurance company office 3, Generates an enormous feeling of empathy for its characters 2, Exposing the ways we fool ourselves is One Hour Photo 's real strength 2, It 's up to you to decide whether to admire these people 's dedication to their cause or be repelled by their dogmatism manipulativeness and narrow fearful view of American life 3, Mostly LRB Goldbacher RRB just lets her complicated characters be unruly confusing and through it all human 3, quite good at providing some good old fashioned spooks 2, At its worst the movie is pretty diverting the pity is that it rarely achieves its best 4, Scherfig 's lighthearted profile of emotional desperation is achingly honest and delightfully cheeky 3, A journey spanning nearly three decades of bittersweet camaraderie and history in which we feel that we truly know what makes Holly and Marina tick and our hearts go out to them as both continue to negotiate their imperfect lovehate relationship 3, The wonderfully lush Morvern Callar is pure punk existentialism and Ms Ramsay and her cowriter Liana Dognini have dramatized the Alan Warner novel which itself felt like an answer to Irvine Welsh 's book Trainspotting 3, As it turns out you can go home again 3, You 've already seen City by the Sea under a variety of titles but it 's worth yet another visit 3, This kind of handson storytelling is ultimately what makes Shanghai Ghetto move beyond a good dry reliable textbook and what allows it to rank with its worthy predecessors 3, Making such a tragedy the backdrop to a love story risks trivializing it though Chouraqui no doubt intended the film to affirm love 's power to help people endure almost unimaginable horror 2, Grownup quibbles are beside the point here 3, The little girls understand and McCracken knows that 's all that matters 4, A powerful chilling and affecting study of one man 's dying fall 4, This is a fascinating film because there is no clearcut hero and no allout villain 3, A dreadful day in Irish history is given passionate if somewhat flawed treatment 4, a good film that must have baffled the folks in the marketing department 4, is funny in the way that makes you ache with sadness LRB the way Chekhov is funny RRB profound without ever being selfimportant warm without ever succumbing to sentimentality 1, Devotees of Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan will feel a nagging sense of deja vu and the grandeur of the best Next Generation episodes is lacking 4, A soulstirring documentary about the Israeli\/Palestinian conflict as revealed through the eyes of some children who remain curious about each other against all odds 3, What 's so striking about Jolie 's performance is that she never lets her character become a caricature not even with that radioactive hair 1, The main story is compelling enough but it 's difficult to shrug off the annoyance of that chatty fish 4, The performances are immaculate with Roussillon providing comic relief 4, Kinnear gives his best screen performance with an oddly winning portrayal of one of life 's ultimate losers 4, Hugh Grant who has a good line in charm has never been more charming than in About a Boy 3, There 's a lot of tooth in Roger Dodger 4, But what 's nice is that there 's a casual intelligence that permeates the script 3, Reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock 's thrillers most of the scary parts in Signs ' occur while waiting for things to happen 4, One of the best looking and stylish animated movies in quite a while 4, Its use of the thriller form to examine the labyrinthine ways in which people 's lives cross and change buffeted by events seemingly out of their control is intriguing provocative stuff 2, Denver should not get the first and last look at one of the most triumphant performances of Vanessa Redgrave 's career 3, It deserves to be seen everywhere 3, You need n't be steeped in 's sociology pop culture or movie lore to appreciate the emotional depth of Haynes ' work 2, Though Haynes ' style apes films from the period its message is not rooted in that decade 3, Waiting for Godard can be fruitful In Praise of Love ' is the director 's epitaph for himself 3, A gangster movie with the capacity to surprise 3, The film has a laundry list of minor shortcomings but the numerous scenes of gory mayhem are worth the price of admission if gory mayhem '' is your idea of a good time 3, If not a home run then at least a solid base hit 2, Goldmember is funny enough to justify the embarrassment of bringing a barf bag to the moviehouse 2, a fairly disposable yet still entertaining B picture 3, It may not be particularly innovative but the film 's crisp unaffected style and air of gentle longing make it unexpectedly rewarding 2, The film truly does rescue LRB the Funk Brothers RRB from Motown 's shadows 2, It 's about time 4, Drawing on an irresistible languid romanticism Byler reveals the ways in which a sultry evening or a beerfueled afternoon in the sun can inspire even the most retiring heart to venture forth 2, Works because we 're never sure if Ohlinger 's on the level or merely a dying delusional man trying to get into the history books before he croaks 3, LRB Scherfig RRB has made a movie that will leave you wondering about the characters ' lives after the clever credits roll 3, A heady biting bebop ride through nighttime Manhattan a loquacious videologue of the modern male and the lengths to which he 'll go to weave a protective cocoon around his own ego 3, Skin Of Man gets a few cheap shocks from its kidsinperil theatrics but it also taps into the primal fears of young people trying to cope with the mysterious and brutal nature of adults 1, The Piano Teacher is not an easy film 1, It forces you to watch people doing unpleasant things to each other and themselves and it maintains a cool distance from its material that is deliberately unsettling 3, As refreshing as a drink from a woodland stream 3, Williams absolutely nails Sy 's queasy infatuation and overall strangeness 1, Can I admit XXX is as deep as a Petri dish and as wellcharacterized as a telephone book but still say it was a guilty pleasure 4, While it 's nothing we have n't seen before from Murphy I Spy is still fun and enjoyable and so aggressively silly that it 's more than a worthwhile effort 2, By the time it ends in a rush of sequins flashbulbs blaring brass and backstabbing babes it has said plenty about how show business has infiltrated every corner of society and not always for the better 3, An intimate contemplation of two marvelously messy lives 3, Rarely has skin looked as beautiful desirable even delectable as it does in Trouble Every Day 3, This is one of those rare docs that paints a grand picture of an era and makes the journey feel like a party 3, Poignant if familiar story of a young person suspended between two cultures 3, A metaphor for a modernday urban China searching for its identity 3, For all its brooding quality Ash Wednesday is suspenseful and ultimately unpredictable with a sterling ensemble cast 4, An odd drama set in the world of lingerie models and bar dancers in the Midwest that held my interest precisely because it did n't try to 3, The film feels uncomfortably real its language and locations bearing the unmistakable stamp of authority 3, Despite its faults Gangs excels in spectacle and pacing 2, Entertaining despite its onejoke premise with the thesis that women from Venus and men from Mars can indeed get together 3, A tightly directed highly professional film that 's oldfashioned in all the best possible ways 4, It 's dark but has wonderfully funny moments you care about the characters and the action and special effects are firstrate 3, In visual fertility Treasure Planet rivals the top Japanese animations of recent vintage 4, Enormously enjoyable highadrenaline documentary 3, Buy is an accomplished actress and this is a big juicy role 4, It works its magic with such exuberance and passion that the film 's length becomes a part of its fun 4, Beautifully crafted and brutally honest Promises offers an unexpected window into the complexities of the Middle East struggle and into the humanity of its people 3, An oldfashioned but emotionally stirring adventure tale of the kind they rarely make anymore 3, Charlotte Sometimes is a gem 4, It 's always enthralling 2, In my opinion Analyze That is not as funny or entertaining as Analyze This but it is a respectable sequel 4, A remarkable film by Bernard Rose 3, Zhuangzhuang creates delicate balance of style text and subtext that 's so simple and precise that anything discordant would topple the balance but against all odds nothing does 3, A much more successful translation than its most famous previous film adaptation writerdirector Anthony Friedman 's similarly updated British production 3, an original and highly cerebral examination of the psychopathic mind 3, Michel Piccoli 's moving performance is this films reason for being 4, A captivating and intimate study about dying and loving 4, This is an elegantly balanced movie every member of the ensemble has something fascinating to do that does n't reveal even a hint of artifice 3, LRB Grant RRB goes beyond his usual fluttering and stammering and captures the soul of a man in pain who gradually comes to recognize it and deal with it 3, A highspirited buddy movie about the reunion of Berlin anarchists who face arrest years after their crime 3, About the best thing you could say about Narc is that it 's a rocksolid little genre picture 2, Whether you like it or not is basically a matter of taste 2, An involving inspirational drama that sometimes falls prey to its sobstory trappings 3, Some of the most inventive silliness you are likely to witness in a movie theatre for some time 4, Canadian filmmaker Gary Burns ' inventive and mordantly humorous take on the soullessness of work in the city 4, A rollicking ride with jawdropping action sequences striking villains a gorgeous color palette astounding technology stirring music and a boffo last hour that leads up to a strangely sinister happy ending 4, Everyone 's insecure in Lovely and Amazing a poignant and wryly amusing film about mothers daughters and their relationships 3, The closest thing to the experience of space travel 3, Connoisseurs of Chinese film will be pleased to discover that Tian 's meticulous talent has not withered during his enforced hiatus 3, If you can push on through the slow spots you 'll be rewarded with some fine acting 3, An unusually dryeyed even analytical approach to material that is generally played for maximum moisture 3, Symbolically Warm Water Under a Red Bridge is a celebration of feminine energy a tribute to the power of women to heal 4, Spy Kids also happens to be that rarity among sequels It actually improves upon the original hit movie 4, Exceptionally well acted by Diane Lane and Richard Gere 3, Like a precious and finely cut diamond magnificent to behold in its sparkling beauty yet in reality it 's one tough rock 4, In addition to scoring high for originality of plot putting together familiar themes of family forgiveness and love in a new way Lilo & Stitch has a number of other assets to commend it to movie audiences both innocent and jaded 3, Miller has crafted an intriguing story of maternal instincts and misguided acts of affection 4, One of the most exciting action films to come out of China in recent years 2, This is a nervy risky film and Villeneuve has inspired Croze to give herself over completely to the tormented persona of Bibi 4, MY LITTLE EYE is the best little horror '' movie I 've seen in years 4, Tunney brimming with coltish neurotic energy holds the screen like a true star 4, Even if the Naipaul original remains the real masterpiece the movie possesses its own languorous charm 3, LRB The film RRB tackles the topic of relationships in such a straightforward emotionally honest manner that by the end it 's impossible to ascertain whether the film is at its core deeply pessimistic or quietly hopeful 2, Sometimes we feel as if the film careens from one colorful event to another without respite but sometimes it must have seemed to Frida Kahlo as if her life did too 3, The strength of the film lies in its two central performances by Sven Wollter as the stricken composer and Viveka Seldahl as his desperate violinist wife 2, Like the series the movie is funny smart visually inventive and most of all alive 2, It was filled with shootings beatings and more cussing than you could shake a stick at 1, You do n't know whether to admire the film 's stately nature and call it classicism or be exasperated by a noticeable lack of pace 2, Or both 1, Sure I hated myself in the morning 1, But then again I hate myself most mornings 3, I still like Moonlight Mile better judgment be damned 1, Time Out is as serious as a pink slip 3, And more than that it 's an observant unfussily poetic meditation about identity and alienation 4, Will assuredly rank as one of the cleverest most deceptively amusing comedies of the year 3, Maryam is a small film but it offers large rewards 3, A highly watchable giggly little story with a sweet edge to it 3, The most consistently funny of the Austin Powers films 2, Ana 's journey is not a stereotypical one of selfdiscovery as she 's already comfortable enough in her own skin to be proud of her Rubenesque physique 2, Cockettes has the glorious gaudy benefit of much stock footage of Those Days featuring all manner of drag queen bearded lady and lactating hippie 3, There 's something poignant about an artist of plus years taking the effort to share his impressions of life and loss and time and art with us 2, The comedy makes social commentary more palatable 3, An ideal love story for those intolerant of the more common saccharine genre 3, One funny popcorn flick 1, This New Zealand comingofage movie is n't really about anything 3, When it 's this rich and luscious who cares 4, Tully is worth a look for its truetolife characters its sensitive acting its unadorned view of rural life and the subtle direction of firsttimer Hilary Birmingham 4, This gorgeous epic is guaranteed to lift the spirits of the whole family 3, The Wild Thornberrys Movie is pleasant enough and the message of our close ties with animals can certainly not be emphasized enough 4, Williams creates a stunning Taxi Driveresque portrayal of a man teetering on the edge of sanity 3, If you 're in the right Bmovie frame of mind it may just scare the pants off you 4, A movie of riveting power and sadness 3, Both a detective story and a romance spiced with the intrigue of academic skullduggery and politics 3, Ludicrous but director Carl Franklin adds enough flourishes and freakouts to make it entertaining 3, Director Roger Kumble offers just enough sweet and traditional romantic comedy to counter the crudity 3, And there 's the inimitable Diaz holding it all together 3, Spielberg 's picture is smarter and subtler than LRB Total Recall and Blade Runner RRB although its plot may prove too convoluted for funseeking summer audiences 3, It 's got all the familiar Bruckheimer elements and Schumacher does probably as good a job as anyone at bringing off the Hopkins\/Rock collision of acting styles and onscreen personas 3, A grittily beautiful film that looks sounds and feels more like an extended openended poem than a traditionally structured story 3, The production values are of the highest and the performances attractive without being memorable 4, A wellrounded tribute to a man whose achievements and complexities reached far beyond the end zone 4, finely crafted finely written exquisitely performed 3, Ramsay and Morton fill this character study with poetic force and buoyant feeling 3, This submarine drama earns the right to be favorably compared to Das Boot 3, Claude Chabrol 's camera has a way of gently swaying back and forth as it cradles its characters veiling tension beneath otherwise tender movements 1, There 's a great deal of corny dialogue and preposterous moments 3, And yet it still works 4, The film was immensely enjoyable thanks to great performances by both Steve Buscemi and Rosario Dawson 3, Like many Western action films this thriller is too loud and thoroughly overbearing but its heartfelt concern about North Korea 's recent past and South Korea 's future adds a much needed moral weight 4, Special POV camera mounts on bikes skateboards and motorcycles provide an intense experience when splashed across the immense IMAX screen 4, Mike White 's deft combination of serious subject matter and dark funny humor make The Good Girl '' a film worth watching 3, This is a shrewd and effective film from a director who understands how to create and sustain a mood 2, Meant to reduce Blake 's philosophy into a tragic comingofage saga punctuated by bursts of animator Todd McFarlane 's superhero dystopia 3, Assayas ' ambitious sometimes beautiful adaptation of Jacques Chardonne 's novel 3, As exMarine Walter who may or may not have shot Kennedy actor Raymond J Barry is perfectly creepy and believable 3, Those who do n't entirely get ' Godard 's distinctive discourse will still come away with a sense of his reserved but existential poignancy 4, Pete 's screenplay manages to find that real natural evenflowing tone that few movies are able to accomplish 4, Like Brosnan 's performance Evelyn comes from the heart 3, It uses some of the figures from the reallife story to portray themselves in the film 4, The result is a powerful naturally dramatic piece of lowbudget filmmaking 3, Its spirit of iconoclastic abandon however canned makes for unexpectedly giddy viewing 4, The early and middle passages are surprising in how much they engage and even touch us 1, This is not a classical dramatic animated feature nor a hip contemporary injokey one 3, It 's sort of inbetween and it works 4, This quiet introspective and entertaining independent is worth seeking 2, Whether our actionandpopcorn obsessed culture will embrace this engaging and literate psychodrama is n't much of a mystery unfortunately 3, Whether or not Ram Dass proves as clear and reliable an authority on that as he was about inner consciousness Fierce Grace reassures us that he will once again be an honest and loving one 3, Sly sophisticated and surprising 3, Spare but quietly effective retelling 3, Demonstrates a vivid imagination and an impressive style that result in some terrific setpieces 3, By its modest straightahead standards Undisputed scores a direct hit 3, Its story about a young Chinese woman Ah Na who has come to New York City to replace past tragedy with the American Dream is one that any arthouse moviegoer is likely to find compelling 3, For those who like quirky slightly strange French films this is a must 3, There are so few films about the plight of American Indians in modern America that Skins comes as a welcome if downbeat missive from a forgotten front 3, LRB Shyamalan RRB continues to cut a swathe through mainstream Hollywood while retaining an integrity and refusing to compromise his vision 4, A whale of a good time for both children and parents seeking Christianthemed fun 2, What begins as a film in the tradition of The Graduate quickly switches into something more recyclable than significant 3, Much smarter and more attentive than it first sets out to be 3, The story is smart and entirely charming in intent and execution 4, A movie of technical skill and rare depth of intellect and feeling 3, Represents a worthy departure from the culture clash comedies that have marked an emerging Indian American cinema 1, Does n't do more than expand a TV show to movie length 3, However it 's pleasant enough and its ecological prowildlife sentiments are certainly welcome 3, If you 're looking for an intelligent movie in which you can release your pent up anger ENOUGH is just the ticket you need 3, A pointed often tender examination of the pros and cons of unconditional love and familial duties 2, As wellacted and wellintentioned as All or Nothing is however the film comes perilously close to being too bleak too pessimistic and too unflinching for its own good 4, A comedydrama of nearly epic proportions rooted in a sincere performance by the title character undergoing midlife crisis 3, It 's about issues most adults have to face in marriage and I think that 's what I liked about it the real issues tucked between the silly and crude storyline 4, Elegantly produced and expressively performed the six musical numbers crystallize key plot moments into minutely detailed wonders of dreamlike ecstasy 4, Enriched by a strong and unforced supporting cast 3, Writer \/ director M Night Shyamalan 's ability to pull together easily accessible stories that resonate with profundity is undeniable 2, If you can keep your eyes open amid all the blood and gore you 'll see Del Toro has brought unexpected gravity to Blade II 1, Not a strike against Yang 's similarly themed Yi Yi but I found What Time 2, to be more engaging on an emotional level funnier and on the whole less detached 4, A breathtaking adventure for all ages Spirit tells its poignant and uplifting story in a stunning fusion of music and images 2, A charming and funny story of clashing cultures and a clashing mother\/daughter relationship 3, Never lets go your emotions taking them to surprising highs sorrowful lows and hidden impulsive niches gorgeous passionate and at times uncommonly moving 0, something appears to have been lost in the translation this time 1, The Importance of Being Earnest movie seems to be missing a great deal of the acerbic repartee of the play '' 4, LRB Washington 's RRB strong hand keen eye sweet spirit and good taste are reflected in almost every scene 3, Shiner can certainly go the distance but is n't world championship material 1, The film 's desire to be liked sometimes undermines the possibility for an exploration of the thornier aspects of the nature\/nurture argument in regards to homosexuality 3, a quietly introspective portrait of the selfesteem of employment and the shame of losing a job 3, Affable if not timeless Like Mike raises some worthwhile themes while delivering a wholesome fantasy for kids 3, A film of delicate interpersonal dances 3, Caine makes us watch as his character awakens to the notion that to be human is eventually to have to choose 2, It 's a sight to behold 2, It 's an unusual thoughtful biodrama with a rich subject and some fantastic moments and scenes 2, Saved from being merely waycool by a basic credible compassion 4, The increasingly diverse French director has created a film that one can honestly describe as looking sounding and simply feeling like no other film in recent history 2, Gangs despite the gravity of its subject matter is often as fun to watch as a good spaghetti western 3, Peter Jackson has done the nearly impossible 3, He has improved upon the first and taken it a step further richer and deeper 1, What Jackson has done is proven that no amount of imagination no creature no fantasy story and no incredibly outlandish scenery 2, There has to be a few advantages to never growing old 1, Like being able to hit on a year old when you 're over 3, Ice Age wo n't drop your jaw but it will warm your heart and I 'm giving it a strong thumbs up 3, Like Kissing Jessica Stein Amy 's Orgasm has a key strength in its willingness to explore its principal characters with honesty insight and humor 2, The Lady and the Duke is Eric Rohmer 's economical antidote to the bloated costume drama 4, One of the year 's best films featuring an Oscarworthy performance by Julianne Moore 4, A small gem from Belgium 3, Combines a comically dismal social realism with a farcically bawdy fantasy of redemption and regeneration 1, A soapopera quality twist in the last minutes almost puts the kibosh on what is otherwise a sumptuous work of Bmovie imagination 4, The most ingenious film comedy since Being John Malkovich 3, There 's something to be said for a studioproduced film that never bothers to hand viewers a suitcase full of easy answers 1, A movie where story is almost an afterthought amidst a swirl of colors and inexplicable events 3, Manages to accomplish what few sequels can it equals the original and in some ways even betters it 4, To call this one an eventual cult classic would be an understatement and woe is the horror fan who opts to overlook this goofily endearing and welllensed gorefest 3, Jolie gives it that extra little something that makes it worth checking out at theaters especially if you 're in the mood for something more comfortable than challenging 2, Although melodramatic and predictable this romantic comedy explores the friendship between five FilipinoAmericans and their frantic efforts to find love 3, I have a new favorite musical and I 'm not even a fan of the genre 3, It 's unlikely we 'll see a better thriller this year 4, There is a real subject here and it is handled with intelligence and care 4, Jason Patric and Ray Liotta make for one splendidly cast pair 2, Noyce creates a film of nearhypnotic physical beauty even as he tells a story as horrifying as any in the heartbreakingly extensive annals of whiteonblack racism 3, Starts slowly but Adrien Brody in the title role helps make the film 's conclusion powerful and satisfying 3, Very predictable but still entertaining 4, Nothing short of a masterpiece and a challenging one 3, Pratfalls aside Barbershop gets its greatest play from the timeless spectacle of people really talking to each other 3, This amiable picture talks tough but it 's all bluster in the end it 's as sweet as Greenfingers 3, This is one of Mr Chabrol 's subtlest works but also one of his most uncanny 3, An engrossing Iranian film about two itinerant teachers and some lost and desolate people they encounter in a place where war has savaged the lives and liberties of the poor and the dispossessed 3, Even though we know the outcome the seesawing of the general 's fate in the arguments of competing lawyers has the stomachknotting suspense of a legal thriller while the testimony of witnesses lends the film a resonant undertone of tragedy 2, Watching Spirited Away is like watching an Eastern imagination explode 3, As relationships shift director Robert J Siegel allows the characters to inhabit their world without cleaving to a narrative arc 3, Twohy knows how to inflate the mundane into the scarifying and gets full mileage out of the rolling of a stray barrel or the unexpected blast of a phonograph record 3, While the story does seem pretty unbelievable at times it 's awfully entertaining to watch 3, A smart and funny albeit sometimes superficial cautionary tale of a technology in search of an artist 2, Examines its explosive subject matter as nonjudgmentally as Wiseman 's previous studies of innercity high schools hospitals courts and welfare centers 2, I prefer Soderbergh 's concentration on his two lovers over Tarkovsky 's mostly male mostly patriarchal debating societies 3, If you are in the mood for an intelligent weepy it can easily worm its way into your heart ' 4, In IMAX in short it 's just as wonderful on the big screen 3, Does a good job of establishing a time and place and of telling a fascinating character 's story 3, I 'm going to give it a marginal thumbs up 3, I liked it just enough 2, Those of you who do n't believe in Santa Claus probably also think that sequels can never capture the magic of the original 1, Well this movie proves you wrong on both counts 4, A deliciously nonsensical comedy about a city coming apart at its seams 3, The rare Imax movie that you 'll wish was longer than an hour 2, My Wife 's plotting is nothing special it 's the delivery that matters here 3, I 've yet to find an actual Vietnam War combat movie actually produced by either the North or South Vietnamese but at least now we 've got something pretty damn close 4, A moving and not infrequently breathtaking film 3, It 's a sharp movie about otherwise dull subjects 1, It 's like Rocky and Bullwinkle on Speed but that 's neither completely enlightening nor does it catch the intensity of the movie 's strangeness 3, As actionadventure this spacebased homage to Robert Louis Stevenson 's Treasure Island fires on all plasma conduits 2, A melancholy emotional film 3, While the filmmaking may be a bit disjointed the subject matter is so fascinating that you wo n't care 4, Intensely romantic thoughtprovoking and even an engaging mystery 4, Goofy nutty consistently funny 3, And educational 2, Another in a long line of ultraviolent war movies this one is not quite what it could have been as a film but the story and theme make up for it 4, It leaves little doubt that Kidman has become one of our best actors 4, The film boasts dry humor and jarring shocks plus moments of breathtaking mystery 3, Beautifully directed and convincingly acted 2, Gambling and throwing a basketball game for money is n't a new plot in fact Toback himself used it in Black and White 3, But Toback 's deranged immediacy makes it seem fresh again 3, In the director 's cut the film is not only a love song to the movies but it also is more fully an example of the kind of lush allenveloping movie experience it rhapsodizes 3, Bring on the sequel 3, Graced with the kind of social texture and realism that would be foreign in American teen comedies 3, If we sometimes need comforting fantasies about mental illness we also need movies like Tim McCann 's Revolution No 3, The film occasionally tries the viewer 's patience with slow pacing and a main character who sometimes defies sympathy but it ultimately satisfies with its moving story 3, A bigbudget\/allstar movie as unblinkingly pure as The Hours is a distinct rarity and an event 3, certainly an entertaining ride despite many talky slow scenes 2, But something seems to be missing 3, A sense of real magic perhaps 4, That Haynes can both maintain and dismantle the facades that his genre and his character construct is a wonderous accomplishment of veracity and narrative grace 2, The movie worked for me right up to the final scene and then it caved in 4, one of the most entertaining monster movies in ages 3, Plunges you into a reality that is more often then not difficult and sad and then without sentimentalizing it or denying its brutality transforms that reality into a lyrical and celebratory vision 2, Would you laugh if a tubaplaying dwarf rolled down a hill in a trash can 2, Do you chuckle at the thought of an ancient librarian whacking a certain part of a man 's body 3, If you answered yes by all means enjoy The New Guy 3, The film is determined to treat its characters weak and strong as fallible human beings not caricatures and to carefully delineate the cost of the inevitable conflicts between human urges and an institution concerned with selfpreservation 2, Missteps take what was otherwise a fascinating riveting story and send it down the path of the mundane 3, An indispensable peek at the art and the agony of making people laugh 3, Steadfastly uncinematic but powerfully dramatic 3, The engagingly primitive animated special effects contribute to a mood that 's sustained through the surprisingly somber conclusion 2, MadeUp lampoons the moviemaking process itself while shining a not particularly flattering spotlight on America 's skindeep notions of pulchritude 3, Evokes the th century with a subtlety that is an object lesson in period filmmaking 3, YaYas everywhere will forgive the flaws and love the film 2, The film 's best trick is the way that it treats conspiracy as a kind of political Blair Witch a monstrous murk that haunts us precisely because it can never be seen 4, The artwork is spectacular and unlike most animaton from Japan the characters move with grace and panache 3, The picture 's fascinating byways are littered with trenchant satirical jabs at the peculiar egocentricities of the acting breed 1, The modern remake of Dumas 's story is long on narrative and LRB too RRB short on action 0, Fred Schepisi 's film is paced at a speed that is slow to those of us in middle age and deathly slow to any teen 4, With a cast of Alist Brit actors it is worth searching out 1, Suffers from its timid parsing of the barnside target of sons trying to breach gaps in their relationships with their fathers 4, Nonchalantly freaky and uncommonly pleasurable Warm Water may well be the year 's best and most unpredictable comedy 2, It 's like an old Warner Bros costumer jived with sex this could be the movie Errol Flynn always wanted to make though Bette Davis cast as Joan would have killed him 4, It 's a great American adventure and a wonderful film to bring to IMAX 3, Satisfyingly scarifying fresh and oldfashioned at the same time 3, Oh James 3, Your th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality and get this Madonna 's cameo does n't suck 2, That death is merely a transition is a common tenet in the world 's religions 3, This deeply spiritual film taps into the meaning and consolation in afterlife communications 3, There is something that is so meditative and lyrical about Babak Payami 's boldly quirky Iranian drama Secret Ballot a charming and evoking little ditty that manages to show the gentle and humane side of Middle Eastern world politics 3, A huge boxoffice hit in Korea Shiri is a must for genre fans 3, I 'm not a fan of the phrase life affirming ' because it usually means schmaltzy ' but Real Women Have Curves truly is life affirming 2, The symbols float like butterflies and the spinning styx sting like bees 1, I wanted more 3, If it 's unnerving suspense you 're after you 'll find it with Ring an indisputably spooky film with a screenplay to die for 4, The art direction and costumes are gorgeous and finely detailed and Kurys ' direction is clever and insightful 2, Red Dragon makes one appreciate Silence of the Lambs 3, Proves a servicable World War II drama that ca n't totally hide its contrivances but it at least calls attention to a problem Hollywood too long has ignored 3, Leigh is n't breaking new ground but he knows how a daily grind can kill love 3, While Broomfield 's film does n't capture the effect of these tragic deaths on hiphop culture it succeeds as a powerful look at a failure of our justice system 3, strips Bible stores of the potential for sanctimoniousness making them meaningful for both kids and churchwary adults 4, Laughoutloud lines adorably ditsy but heartfelt performances and sparkling bittersweet dialogue that cuts to the chase of the modern girl 's dilemma 3, Tends to pile too many serious issues '' on its plate at times yet remains fairly light always entertaining and smartly written 3, A solidly entertaining little film 3, It 's an entertaining movie and the effects boosted to the size of a downtown hotel will all but take you to outer space 4, Sayles has a knack for casting often resurrecting performers who rarely work in movies now and drawing flavorful performances from bland actors 3, Despite an overwrought ending the film works as well as it does because of the performances 4, A passionately inquisitive film determined to uncover the truth and hopefully inspire action 3, Though Nijinsky 's words grow increasingly disturbed the film maintains a beguiling serenity and poise that make it accessible for a nonnarrative feature 3, A muddle splashed with bloody beauty as vivid as any Scorsese has ever given us 3, From both a great and a terrible story Mr Nelson has made a film that is an undeniably worthy and devastating experience 1, SpiderMan is about growing strange hairs getting a more mature body and finding it necessary to hide new secretions from the parental units 3, The first shocking thing about Sorority Boys is that it 's actually watchable 2, Even more baffling is that it 's funny 3, Highlighted by a gritty style and an excellent cast it 's better than one might expect when you look at the list of movies starring IceT in a major role 3, Neither quite a comedy nor a romance more of an impish divertissement of themes that interest Attal and Gainsbourg they live together the film has a lot of charm 4, First and foremost the reason to go see Blue Crush '' is the phenomenal waterborn cinematography by David Hennings 1, A visionary marvel but it 's lacking a depth in storytelling usually found in anime like this 4, The problems and characters it reveals are universal and involving and the film itself as well its delightful cast is so breezy pretty and gifted it really won my heart 3, In his latest effort Storytelling Solondz has finally made a movie that is n't just offensive it also happens to be good 2, How I Killed My Father would be a rarity in Hollywood 2, It 's an actor 's showcase that accomplishes its primary goal without the use of special effects but rather by emphasizing the characters including the supporting ones 1, I just saw this movie well it 's probably not accurate to call it a movie 3, What 's most memorable about Circuit is that it 's shot on digital video whose tiny camera enables Shafer to navigate spaces both large and small with considerable aplomb 4, Scherfig the writerdirector has made a film so unabashedly hopeful that it actually makes the heart soar 3, Yes soar 4, A delicious and delicately funny look at the residents of a Copenhagen neighborhood coping with the befuddling complications life tosses at them 2, What really happened '' 1, is a question for philosophers not filmmakers all the filmmakers need to do is engage an audience 4, Soderbergh like Kubrick before him may not touch the planet 's skin but understands the workings of its spirit 3, Much credit must be given to the watercamera operating team of Don King Sonny Miller and Michael Stewart 4, Their work is fantastic 3, Crush is so warm and fuzzy you might be able to forgive its meanspirited second half 0, Franco is an excellent choice for the walledoff but combustible hustler but he does not give the transcendent performance SONNY needs to overcome gaps in character development and story logic 3, Tsai Mingliang 's witty wistful new film What Time Is It There 3, is a temporal inquiry that shoulders its philosophical burden lightly 2, The Pianist lacks the quick emotional connections of Steven Spielberg 's Schindler 's List 4, But Mr Polanski creates images even more haunting than those in Mr Spielberg 's classic 4, Steers in his feature film debut has created a brilliant motion picture 3, A brilliant absurd collection of vignettes that in their own idiosyncratic way sum up the strange horror of life in the new millennium 4, As warm as it is wise deftly setting off uproarious humor with an underlying seriousness that sneaks up on the viewer providing an experience that is richer than anticipated 2, The film may not hit as hard as some of the better drugrelated pictures but it still manages to get a few punches in 3, Oldfashioned but thoroughly satisfying entertainment 4, An energizing intoxicating documentary charting the rise of hiphop culture in general and the art of scratching LRB or turntablism RRB in particular 4, A fun family movie that 's suitable for all ages a movie that will make you laugh cry and realize It 's never too late to believe in your dreams ' 3, If you open yourself up to Mr Reggio 's theory of this imagery as the movie 's set it can impart an almost visceral sense of dislocation and change 4, I had a dream that a smart comedy would come along to rescue me from a summer of teendriven toilethumor codswallop and its name was Earnest 3, Even though the film does n't manage to hit all of its marks it 's still entertaining to watch the target practice 1, Where This was lazy but enjoyable a formula comedy redeemed by its stars That is even lazier and far less enjoyable 4, The D vistas from orbit with the space station suspended like a huge set of wind chimes over the great blue globe are stanzas of breathtaking aweinspiring visual poetry 3, The attraction between these two marginal characters is complex from the start and refreshingly stays that way 3, Fans of the modern day Hong Kong action film finally have the worthy successor to A Better Tomorrow and The Killer which they have been patiently waiting for 3, Even when he 's not at his most critically insightful Godard can still be smarter than any other filmmakers still at work 3, What sets this romantic comedy apart from most Hollywood romantic comedies is its lowkey way of tackling what seems like donetodeath material 3, Has enough wit energy and geniality to please not only the fanatical adherents on either side but also people who know nothing about the subject and think they 're not interested 3, This seductive tease of a thriller gets the job done 3, It 's a scorcher 4, Bittersweet comedy\/drama full of life hand gestures and some really adorable Italian guys 4, Works as pretty contagious fun 4, The best didacticism is one carried by a strong sense of humanism and Bertrand Tavernier 's oftbrilliant Safe Conduct LRB Laissezpasser '' RRB wears its heart on its sleeve 3, A realistically terrifying movie that puts another notch in the belt of the long list of renegadecop tales 3, A charming banterfilled comedy one of those airy cinematic bon bons whose aims and by extension accomplishments seem deceptively slight on the surface 4, A film with almost as many delights for adults as there are for children and dog lovers 4, Serious moviegoers embarking upon this journey will find that The Road to Perdition leads to a satisfying destination 3, Heartwarming and gently comic even as the film breaks your heart 3, Caruso sometimes descends into subTarantino cuteness but for the most part he makes sure The Salton Sea works the way a good noir should keeping it tight and nasty 2, A black Austin Powers '' 2, I prefer to think of it as Pootie Tang with a budget '' 2, Sa da TAY 3, Oddly the film is n't nearly as downbeat as it sounds but strikes a tone that 's alternately melancholic hopeful and strangely funny 2, I would be shocked if there was actually one correct interpretation but that should n't make the movie or the discussion any less enjoyable 3, Chouraqui brings documentarylike credibility to the horrors of the killing field and the barbarism of ethnic cleansing ' 4, The best thing I can say about this film is that I ca n't wait to see what the director does next 3, Smarter than its commercials make it seem 4, One of the funnier movies in town 3, Campanella 's competent direction and his excellent cast overcome the obstacles of a predictable outcome and a screenplay that glosses over Rafael 's evolution 4, By turns very dark and very funny 1, Steven Soderbergh does n't remake Andrei Tarkovsky 's Solaris so much as distill it 3, For more than two decades Mr Nachtwey has traveled to places in the world devastated by war famine and poverty and documented the cruelty and suffering he has found with an devastating eloquent clarity 2, Simultaneously heartbreakingly beautiful and exquisitely sad 3, Though overall an overwhelmingly positive portrayal the film does n't ignore the more problematic aspects of Brown 's life 2, The philosophical musings of the dialogue jar against the tawdry soap opera antics of the film 's action in a way that is surprisingly enjoyable 3, Not too fancy not too filling not too fluffy but definitely tasty and sweet 4, Director Lee has a true cinematic knack but it 's also nice to see a movie with its heart so thoroughly unabashedly on its sleeve 2, As Allen 's execution date closes in the documentary gives an especially poignant portrait of her friendship with the never flagging legal investigator David Presson 4, Jones has tackled a meaty subject and drawn engaging characters while peppering the pages with memorable zingers 3, A vivid spicy footnote to history and a movie that grips and holds you in rapt attention from start to finish 3, If S&M seems like a strange route to true love maybe it is but it 's to this film 's LRB and its makers ' RRB credit that we believe that that 's exactly what these two people need to find each other and themselves 3, If the film 's vision of sport as a secular religion is a bit cloying its throughline of family and community is heartening in the same way that each season marks a new start 3, One of the best of a growing strain of daring films that argue that any sexual relationship that does n't hurt anyone and works for its participants is a relationship that is worthy of our respect 3, an adorably whimsical comedy that deserves more than a passing twinkle 4, An engrossing story that combines psychological drama sociological reflection and highoctane thriller 2, It 's easy to be cynical about documentaries in which underdogs beat the odds and the human spirit triumphs but Westbrook 's foundation and Dalrymple 's film earn their uplift 3, Mel Gibson fights the good fight in Vietnam in director Randall Wallace 's flagwaving war flick with a core of decency 3, There 's real visual charge to the filmmaking and a strong erotic spark to the most crucial lipreading sequence 4, A brutal and funny work 3, Nicole Holofcenter the insightful writer\/director responsible for this illuminating comedy does n't wrap the proceedings up neatly but the ideas tie together beautifully 2, The film is a blunt indictment part of a perhaps surreal campaign to bring Kissinger to trial for crimes against humanity 4, One of the most important and exhilarating forms of animated filmmaking since old Walt doodled Steamboat Willie 4, Move over Bond this girl deserves a sequel 2, The kind of trifle that date nights were invented for 3, It 's a testament to the film 's considerable charm that it succeeds in entertaining despite playing out like a featurelength sitcom replete with stereotypical familial quandaries 3, There 's a sheer unbridled delight in the way the story unfurls 2, Tells LRB the story RRB with such atmospheric ballast that shrugging off the plot 's persnickety problems is simply a matter of LRB being RRB in a shrugging mood 3, The film is hard to dismiss moody thoughtful and lit by flashes of mordant humor 3, If The Man from Elysian Fields is doomed by its smallness it is also elevated by it the kind of movie that you enjoy more because you 're one of the lucky few who sought it out 3, What emerges is an unsettling picture of childhood innocence combined with indoctrinated prejudice 3, Promises is a compelling piece that demonstrates just how well children can be trained to live out and carry on their parents ' anguish 3, Meticulously uncovers a trail of outrageous force and craven concealment 3, Hey Happy 3, is many things stoner midnight flick scifi deconstruction gay fantasia but above all it 's a love story as sanguine as its title 2, You wo n't look at religious fanatics or backyard sheds the same way again 2, At its best Festival in Cannes bubbles with the excitement of the festival in Cannes 3, There is a general air of exuberance in All About The Benjamins that 's hard to resist 3, A lovably oldschool Hollywood confection 2, I 'm happy to have seen it not as an alternate version but as the ultimate exercise in viewing deleted scenes 3, By turns gripping amusing tender and heartwrenching Laissezpasser has all the earmarks of French cinema at its best 2, The warnings to resist temptation in this film are blunt and challenging and offer no easy rewards for staying clean 3, Wonder of wonders a teen movie with a humanistic message 3, A quirky comedy set in Newfoundland that cleverly captures the dry wit that 's so prevalent on The Rock 4, Peppered with witty dialogue and inventive moments 0, I 'd rather watch a rerun of The Powerpuff Girls 3, With the prospect of films like Kangaroo Jack about to burst across America 's winter movie screens it 's a pleasure to have a film like The Hours as an alternative 2, The wonderful combination of the sweetness and the extraordinary technical accomplishments of the first film are maintained but its overall impact falls a little flat with a storyline that never quite delivers the original magic 3, Like its title character this Nicholas Nickleby finds itself in reduced circumstances and also like its hero it remains brightly optimistic coming through in the end 3, As a thoughtful and unflinching examination of an alternative lifestyle Sex with Strangers is a success 4, unpretentious charming quirky original 4, Spinning a web of dazzling entertainment may be overstating it but SpiderMan '' certainly delivers the goods 3, Other than the slightly flawed LRB and fairly unbelievable RRB finale everything else is top shelf 4, This fascinating look at Israel in ferment feels as immediate as the latest news footage from Gaza and because of its heightened wellshaped dramas twice as powerful 3, Manages to delight without much of a story 4, There 's no denying that Burns is a filmmaker with a bright future ahead of him 1, I have a confession to make I did n't particularly like ET the first time I saw it as a young boy 2, That is because damn it 3, I also wanted a little alien as a friend 4, Fairytale formula serves as a paper skeleton for some very good acting dialogue comedy direction and especially charm 4, A genuinely funny ensemble comedy that also asks its audience in a heartwarming nonjudgmental kind of way to consider what we value in our daily lives 3, Though the aboriginal aspect lends the ending an extraordinary poignancy and the story itself could be played out in any working class community in the nation 3, An energetic and engaging film that never pretends to be something it is n't 2, A violent initiation rite for the audience as much as it is for Angelique the LRB opening RRB dance guarantees Karmen 's enthronement among the cinema 's memorable women 4, An animation landmark as monumental as Disney 's breakthrough Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 3, An entertaining if ultimately minor thriller 4, Sex With Strangers is fascinating 2, A subtle poignant picture of goodness that is flawed compromised and sad 4, A wry affectionate delight 4, The acting in Pauline And Paulette is good all round but what really sets the film apart is Debrauwer 's refusal to push the easy emotional buttons 3, One of those joyous films that leaps over national boundaries and celebrates universal human nature 2, A penetrating glimpse into the tissuethin ego of the standup comic 4, Kids should have a stirring time at this beautifully drawn movie 1, And adults will at least have a dream image of the West to savor whenever the film 's lamer instincts are in the saddle 3, Paid in Full is remarkably engaging despite being noticeably derivative of Goodfellas and at least a half dozen other troubleintheghetto flicks 2, Less cinematically powerful than quietly and deeply moving which is powerful in itself 3, waydowntown manages to nail the spiritcrushing ennui of denuded urban living without giving in to it 4, Each of these stories has the potential for Touched by an Angel simplicity and sappiness but Thirteen Conversations About One Thing for all its generosity and optimism never resorts to easy feelgood sentiments 2, If Borstal Boy is n't especially realistic it is an engaging nostalgia piece 1, Often demented in a good way but it is an uneven film for the most part 2, The script 's snazzy dialogue establishes a realistic atmosphere that involves us in the unfolding crisis but the lazy plotting ensures that little of our emotional investment pays off 4, Maggie Smith as the YaYa member with the Otank will absolutely crack you up with her crass then gasp for gas verbal deportment 4, This is a movie that refreshes the mind and spirit along with the body so original is its content look and style 1, Although I did n't hate this one it 's not very good either 3, It can be safely recommended as a video\/DVD babysitter 4, Another Best of the Year selection 3, The film has the highbuffed gloss and highoctane jolts you expect of De Palma but what makes it transporting is that it 's also one of the smartest most pleasurable expressions of pure movie love to come from an American director in years 4, It 's a very valuable film 3, Max pokes provokes takes expressionistic license and hits a nerve as far as art is concerned it 's mission accomplished 4, Literary purists may not be pleased but as far as mainstream matineestyle entertainment goes it does a bangup job of pleasing the crowds 2, Here Polanski looks back on those places he saw at childhood and captures them by freeing them from artefact and by showing them heartbreakingly drably 4, The story itself it mostly told through oncamera interviews with several survivors whose riveting memories are rendered with such clarity that it 's as if it all happened only yesterday 3, A compelling story of musical passion against governmental odds 1, With Ichi the Killer '' Takashi Miike Japan 's wildest filmmaker gives us a crime fighter carrying more emotional baggage than Batman 3, You never know where Changing Lanes is going to take you but it 's a heck of a ride 4, Samuel L Jackson is one of the best actors there is 4, LRB Breheny 's RRB lensing of the New Zealand and Cook Island locations captures both the beauty of the land and the people 0, An almost unbearably morbid love story 3, The Wild Thornberrys Movie has all the sibling rivalry and general family chaos to which anyone can relate 3, A forceful drama of an alienated executive who reinvents himself 4, Spielberg 's realization of a nearfuture America is masterful 4, This makes Minority Report necessary viewing for scifi fans as the film has some of the best special effects ever 4, The gags that fly at such a furiously funny pace that the only rip off that we were aware of was the one we felt when the movie ended so damned soon 3, The best film of the year 4, An enthralling entertaining feature 1, Stripped almost entirely of such tools as nudity profanity and violence LaBute does manage to make a few points about modern man and his problematic quest for human connection 3, A remarkable movie with an unsatisfying ending which is just the point 4, All in all Brown Sugar is a satisfying wellmade romantic comedy that 's both charming and well acted 4, It will guarantee to have you leaving the theater with a smile on your face 3, Smith finds amusing juxtapositions that justify his exercise 4, Working from a surprisingly sensitive script cowritten by Gianni Romoli Ozpetek avoids most of the pitfalls you 'd expect in such a potentially sudsy setup 3, An older cad instructs a younger lad in Zen and the art of getting laid in this prickly indie comedy of manners and misanthropy 4, Austin Powers in Goldmember '' has the right stuff for silly summer entertainment and has enough laughs to sustain interest to the end 2, One of LRB Jaglom 's RRB better efforts a wry and sometime bitter movie about love 3, Schaeffer is n't in this film which may be why it works as well as it does 4, A fresh entertaining comedy that looks at relationships minus traditional gender roles 3, Although Estela Bravo 's documentary is cloyingly hagiographic in its portrait of Cuban leader Fidel Castro it 's still a guilty pleasure to watch 3, Surprisingly the film is a hilarious adventure and I shamelessly enjoyed it 3, The Way Home is an ode to unconditional love and compassion garnered from years of seeing it all a condition only the old are privy to and often misconstrued as weakness 4, Brutally honest and told with humor and poignancy which makes its message resonate 3, If you can read the subtitles LRB the opera is sung in Italian RRB and you like Masterpiece Theatre ' type costumes you 'll enjoy this movie 4, A pretty funny movie with most of the humor coming as before from the incongruous but chemically perfect teaming of Crystal and De Niro 4, Gangster No is solid satisfying fare for adults 4, This Chicago has hugely imaginative and successful casting to its great credit as well as one terrific score and attitude to spare 1, Has enough gun battles and throwaway humor to cover up the yawning chasm where the plot should be 2, With its jerky handheld camera and documentary feel Bloody Sunday is a sobering recount of a very bleak day in Derry 3, You will likely prefer to keep on watching 1, Insomnia loses points when it surrenders to a formulaic bangbang shootemup scene at the conclusion 4, But the performances of Pacino Williams and Swank keep the viewer wideawake all the way through 1, What might have been readily dismissed as the tiresome rant of an aging filmmaker still thumbing his nose at convention takes a surprising subtle turn at the midway point 3, At a time when commercialism has squeezed the life out of whatever idealism American moviemaking ever had Godfrey Reggio 's career shines like a lonely beacon 4, An Inuit masterpiece that will give you goosebumps as its uncanny tale of love communal discord and justice unfolds 3, This is popcorn movie fun with equal doses of action cheese ham and cheek LRB as well as a serious debt to The Road Warrior RRB but it feels like unrealized potential 3, It 's a testament to De Niro and director Michael CatonJones that by movie 's end we accept the characters and the film flaws and all 2, Performances are potent and the women 's stories are ably intercut and involving 4, An enormously entertaining movie like nothing we 've ever seen before and yet completely familiar 4, Lan Yu is a genuine love story full of traditional layers of awakening and ripening and separation and recovery 3, Your children will be occupied for minutes 2, Pull LRB s RRB off the rare trick of recreating not only the look of a certain era but also the feel 3, Twohy 's a good yarnspinner and ultimately the story compels 2, Tobey Maguire is a poster boy for the geek generation ' 3, a sweetly affecting story about four sisters who are coping in one way or another with life 's endgame 3, Passion melodrama sorrow laugther and tears cascade over the screen effortlessly 4, Road to Perdition does display greatness and it 's worth seeing 1, But it also comes with the laziness and arrogance of a thing that already knows it 's won 3, A marvelous performance by Allison Lohman as an identityseeking foster child 4, Arliss Howard 's ambitious moving and adventurous directorial debut Big Bad Love meets so many of the challenges it poses for itself that one can forgive the film its flaws 2, Critics need a good laugh too and this tooextremeforTV rendition of the notorious MTV show delivers the outrageous sickening sidesplitting goods in steaming visceral heaps 3, What a dumb fun curiously adolescent movie this is 3, The charms of the lead performances allow us to forget most of the film 's problems 3, A vivid sometimes surreal glimpse into the mysteries of human behavior 3, A tour de force of modern cinema 4, Peralta captures in luminous interviews and amazingly evocative film from three decades ago the essence of the Dogtown experience 4, The lively appeal of The Last Kiss lies in the ease with which it integrates thoughtfulness and pastafagioli comedy 4, Without resorting to camp or parody Haynes LRB like Sirk but differently RRB has transformed the rhetoric of Hollywood melodrama into something provocative rich and strange 4, The performances are an absolute joy 3, A quasidocumentary by French filmmaker Karim Dridi that celebrates the hardy spirit of Cuban music 3, Grant carries the day with impeccable comic timing raffish charm and piercing intellect 3, A sensitive and astute first feature by AnneSophie Birot 3, Both exuberantly romantic and serenely melancholy What Time Is It There 4, may prove to be LRB Tsai 's RRB masterpiece 4, Mazel tov to a film about a family 's joyous life acting on the Yiddish stage 4, Standing in the Shadows of Motown is the best kind of documentary one that makes a depleted yesterday feel very much like a brandnew tomorrow 3, It 's nice to see Piscopo again after all these years and Chaykin and Headly are priceless 2, Provides a porthole into that noble trembling incoherence that defines us all 1, Simplistic silly and tedious 2, It 's so laddish and juvenile only teenage boys could possibly find it funny 1, Exploitative and largely devoid of the depth or sophistication that would make watching such a graphic treatment of the crimes bearable 2, LRB Garbus RRB discards the potential for pathological study exhuming instead the skewed melodrama of the circumstantial situation 1, A visually flashy but narratively opaque and emotionally vapid exercise in style and mystification 1, The story is also as unoriginal as they come already having been recycled more times than I 'd care to count 0, About the only thing to give the movie points for is bravado to take an entirely stale concept and push it through the audience 's meat grinder one more time 1, Not so much farcical as sour 1, Unfortunately the story and the actors are served with a hack script 1, All the more disquieting for its relatively gorefree allusions to the serial murders but it falls down in its attempts to humanize its subject 0, A sentimental mess that never rings true 1, While the performances are often engaging this loose collection of largely improvised numbers would probably have worked better as a onehour TV documentary 2, Interesting but not compelling 0, On a cutting room floor somewhere lies footage that might have made No Such Thing a trenchant ironic cultural satire instead of a frustrating misfire 1, While the ensemble player who gained notice in Guy Ritchie 's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch has the bod he 's unlikely to become a household name on the basis of his first starring vehicle 1, There is a difference between movies with the courage to go over the top and movies that do n't care about being stupid 1, Nothing here seems as funny as it did in Analyze This not even Joe Viterelli as De Niro 's righthand goombah 4, Such master screenwriting comes courtesy of John Pogue the Yale grad who previously gave us The Skulls '' and last year 's Rollerball '' 0, Enough said except Film overboard 1, Here common sense flies out the window along with the hail of bullets none of which ever seem to hit Sascha 1, This minute movie only has about minutes of decent material 2, The execution is so pedestrian that the most positive comment we can make is that Rob Schneider actually turns in a pretty convincing performance as a prissy teenage girl 1, On its own it 's not very interesting 0, As a remake it 's a pale imitation 0, It shows that some studios firmly believe that people have lost the ability to think and will forgive any shoddy product as long as there 's a little girlongirl action 2, A farce of a parody of a comedy of a premise it is n't a comparison to reality so much as it is a commentary about our knowledge of films 0, As exciting as all this exoticism might sound to the typical Pax viewer the rest of us will be lulled into a coma 2, The party scenes deliver some tawdry kicks 0, The rest of the film is dudsville 0, Our culture is headed down the toilet with the ferocity of a frozen burrito after an allnight tequila bender and I know this because I 've seen jackass the movie ' 1, The criticism never rises above easy cynical potshots at morally bankrupt characters 1, The movie 's somethingborrowed construction feels less the product of loving well integrated homage and more like a mere excuse for the wan thinly sketched story 0, Killing time that 's all that 's going on here 2, Somewhere in the middle the film compels as Demme experiments he harvests a few movie moment gems but the field of roughage dominates 1, The action clichés just pile up 1, Payami tries to raise some serious issues about Iran 's electoral process but the result is a film that 's about as subtle as a party political broadcast 1, The only surprise is that heavyweights Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis agreed to produce this I assume the director has pictures of them cavorting in ladies ' underwear 1, Another useless recycling of a brutal mid 's American sports movie 0, Please someone stop Eric Schaeffer before he makes another film 0, Most of the problems with the film do n't derive from the screenplay but rather the mediocre performances by most of the actors involved 2, if you 're just in the mood for a fun but bad movie you might want to catch Freaks as a matinee 2, Curling may be a unique sport but Men with Brooms is distinctly ordinary 2, Though the opera itself takes place mostly indoors Jacquot seems unsure of how to evoke any sort of naturalism on the set 2, There 's no getting around the fact that this is Revenge Of The Nerds Revisited again 0, The effort is sincere and the results are honest but the film is so bleak that it 's hardly watchable 2, Analyze That regurgitates and waters down many of the previous film 's successes with a few new swings thrown in 1, With flashbulb editing as cover for the absence of narrative continuity Undisputed is nearly incoherent an excuse to get to the closing bout by which time it 's impossible to care who wins 1, Stinks from start to finish like a wet burlap sack of gloom 0, To the civilized mind a movie like Ballistic Ecks Vs Sever is more of an ordeal than an amusement 1, Equlibrium could pass for a thirteenyearold 's book report on the totalitarian themes of and Farenheit 0, The lack of naturalness makes everything seem selfconsciously poetic and forced It 's a pity that LRB Nelson 's RRB achievement does n't match his ambition 2, When Seagal appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit I wanted to stand up in the theater and shout Hey KoolAid ' 2, An easy watch except for the annoying demeanour of its lead character 1, Imagine the CleanFlicks version of Love Story ' with Ali MacGraw 's profanities replaced by romancenovel platitudes 1, PC stability notwithstanding the film suffers from a simplistic narrative and a pat fairytale conclusion 1, Forget the misleading title what 's with the unexplained baboon cameo 1, An odd haphazard and inconsequential romantic comedy 1, Though her fans will assuredly have their funny bones tickled others will find their humorseeking dollars best spent elsewhere 1, Pascale Bailly 's romcom provides Amélie 's Audrey Tautou with another fabuleux destin ie a banal spiritual quest 2, A static and sugary little halfhour afterschool special about interfaith understanding stretched out to minutes 3, Watching the chemistry between Freeman and Judd however almost makes this movie worth seeing 2, Almost 1, a pretentious and ultimately empty examination of a sick and evil woman 2, The Country Bears has no scenes that will upset or frighten young viewers 1, Unfortunately there is almost nothing in this flat effort that will amuse or entertain them either 0, The cumulative effect of watching this minute trifle is rather like being trapped while some weird relative trots out the video he took of the family vacation to Stonehenge 0, Before long you 're desperate for the evening to end 0, The characters are never more than sketches which leaves any true emotional connection or identification frustratingly out of reach 1, Mattei 's underdeveloped effort here is nothing but a convenient conveyor belt of brooding personalities that parade about as if they were coming back from Stock Character camp a drowsy drama infatuated by its own pretentious selfexamination 2, Only in its final surprising shots does RabbitProof Fence find the authority it 's looking for 1, Is n't as sharp as the original Despite some visual virtues Blade II ' just does n't cut it 0, plays like a badly edited minute trailer LRB and RRB the director ca n't seem to get a coherent rhythm going 0, In fact it does n't even seem like she tried 1, Maybe LeBlanc thought Hey the movie about the baseballplaying monkey was worse '' 0, What you expect is just what you get assuming the bar of expectations has n't been raised above sixthgrade height 2, Barry Sonnenfeld owes Frank the Pug big time 0, The biggest problem with Roger Avary 's uproar against the MPAA is that even in all its director 's cut glory he 's made a film that 's barely shocking barely interesting and most of all barely anything 2, So riddled with unanswered questions that it requires gargantuan leaps of faith just to watch it plod along 0, I approached the usher and said that if she had to sit through it again she should ask for a raise 2, If Sinise 's character had a brain his ordeal would be over in five minutes but instead the plot goes out of its way to introduce obstacles for him to stumble over 1, Too slow for a younger crowd too shallow for an older one 1, There 's a reason the studio did n't offer an advance screening 0, The Adventures of Pluto Nash '' is a big time stinker 2, A punch line without a premise a joke built entirely from musty memories of halfdimensional characters 2, Takes one character we do n't like and another we do n't believe and puts them into a battle of wills that is impossible to care about and is n't very funny 1, The things this movie tries to get the audience to buy just wo n't fly with most intelligent viewers 0, Even if the enticing prospect of a lot of nubile young actors in a film about campus depravity did n't fade amid the deliberate tiresome ugliness it would be rendered tedious by Avary 's failure to construct a story with even a trace of dramatic interest 2, Sitting through the last reel LRB spoiler alert RRB 0, is significantly less charming than listening to a fouryearold with a taste for exaggeration recount his Halloween trip to the Haunted House 0, Confuses its message with an ultimate desire to please and contorting itself into an idea of expectation is the last thing any of these three actresses nor their characters deserve 1, Deadly dull pointless meditation on losers in a gonetoseed hotel 2, With this new Rollerball sense and sensibility have been overrun by what can only be characterized as robotic sentiment 1, One can only assume that the jury who bestowed star Hoffman 's brother Gordy with the Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at 's Sundance Festival were honoring an attempt to do something different over actually pulling it off 0, A movie more to be prescribed than recommended as visually bland as a dentist 's waiting room complete with soothing Muzak and a cushion of predictable narrative rhythms 1, Sex ironically has little to do with the story which becomes something about how lame it is to try and evade your responsibilities and that you should never ever leave a large dog alone with a toddler 3, But never mind all that the boobs are fantasti 1, The script covers huge heavy topics in a bland surfacey way that does n't offer any insight into why for instance good things happen to bad people 1, A portrait of alienation so perfect it will certainly succeed in alienating most viewers 1, The code talkers deserved better than a hollow tribute 0, Skip the film and buy the Philip Glass soundtrack CD 1, Feels like a cold old man going through the motions 1, Dignified CEO 's meet at a rustic retreat and pee against a tree 3, Can you bear the laughter 2, Dull and mechanical kinda like a very goofy museum exhibit 1, There 's no point of view no contemporary interpretation of Joan 's prefeminist plight so we 're left thinking the only reason to make the movie is because present standards allow for plenty of nudity 1, Beware the quirky Britcom 3, They can and will turn on a dime from oddly humorous to tediously sentimental 3, Has its moments and almost as many subplots 1, The gags and the script are a mixed bag 0, Completely awful Iranian drama as much fun as a grouchy ayatollah in a cold mosque 1, Narratively Trouble Every Day is a plodding mess 1, There 's no point in extracting the bare bones of Byatt 's plot for purposes of bland Hollywood romance 2, Directors John Musker and Ron Clements the team behind The Little Mermaid have produced sparkling retina candy but they are n't able to muster a lot of emotional resonance in the cold vacuum of space 1, Adam Sandler 's heart may be in the right place but he needs to pull his head out of his butt 2, There 's no doubting that this is a highly ambitious and personal project for Egoyan but it 's also one that next to his best work feels clumsy and convoluted 1, Despite engaging offbeat touches Knockaround Guys rarely seems interested in kicking around a raison d'etre that 's as freshfaced as its youngguns cast 2, It 's all pretty tame 0, The most offensive thing about the movie is that Hollywood expects people to pay to see it 1, The movie is a mess from start to finish 1, The trouble with making this queen a thoroughly modern maiden is that it also makes her appear foolish and shallow rather than as was more likely a victim of mental illness 2, I 'm not saying that Ice Age does n't have some fairly pretty pictures but there 's not enough substance in the story to actually give them life 2, In the telling of a story largely untold Bui chooses to produce something that is ultimately suspiciously familiar 0, The plot is nothing but boilerplate clichés from start to finish and the script assumes that not only would subtlety be lost on the target audience but that it 's also too stupid to realize that they 've already seen this exact same movie a hundred times 0, Terminally brain dead production 1, Some episodes work some do n't 3, Beautifully filmed and well acted but admittedly problematic in its narrative specifics 3, J Lo will earn her share of the holiday box office pie although this movie makes one thing perfectly clear She 's a pretty woman but she 's no working girl 1, Rymer does n't trust laughs and does n't conjure proper respect for followers of the whole deadundead genre who deserve more from a vampire pic than a few shrieky special effects 0, Not only are the film 's Sopranos gags incredibly dated and unfunny they also demonstrate how desperate the makers of this we 're doingitfor thecash ' sequel were 3, Wow 0, I have not been this disappointed by a movie in a long time 1, Off the Hook is overlong and not wellacted but credit writerproducerdirector Adam Watstein with finishing it at all 0, It 's a drag how Nettelbeck sees working women or at least this working woman for whom she shows little understanding 2, Watching Harris ham it up while physically and emotionally disintegrating over the course of the movie has a certain poignancy in light of his recent death but Boyd 's film offers little else of consequence 0, It 's also curious to note that this film like the similarly illtimed Antitrust is easily as bad at a fraction the budget 0, Will probably be one of those movies barely registering a blip on the radar screen of 2, The problem is not that it 's all derivative because plenty of funny movies recycle old tropes 1, The problem is that Van Wilder does little that is actually funny with the material 0, There 's nothing interesting in Unfaithful whatsoever 1, None of this is half as moving as the filmmakers seem to think 1, A processed comedy chop suey 2, As spent screen series go Star Trek Nemesis is even more suggestive of a th class reunion mixer where only eight surviving members show up and there 's nothing to drink 0, Fails as a dystopian movie as a retooling of Fahrenheit and even as a ripoff of The Matrix 1, Full of the kind of obnoxious chitchat that only selfaware neurotics engage in 0, An erotic thriller that 's neither too erotic nor very thrilling either 1, The movie like Bartleby is something of a stiff an extradry office comedy that seems twice as long as its minutes 1, With its parade of almost perpetually wasted characters Margarita feels like a hazy high that takes too long to shake 0, If you value your time and money find an escape clause and avoid seeing this trite predictable rehash 2, The director and her capable cast appear to be caught in a heady whirl of New Ageinspired good intentions but the spell they cast is n't the least bit mesmerizing 2, Everything is pegged into the groove of a New York dating comedy with issues ' to simplify 1, A dramatic comedy as pleasantly dishonest and pat as any Hollywood fluff 2, The cameopacked M Ispoofing title sequence is the funniest minutes to date in this spy comedy franchise Then Mike Myers shows up and ruins everything 2, It comes off as so silly that you would n't be surprised if BA Murdock and rest of the ATeam were seen giving chase in a black and red van 0, The something lovebirds are too immature and unappealing to care about 3, So genial is the conceit this is one of those rare pictures that you root for throughout dearly hoping that the rich promise of the script will be realized on the screen 2, It never is not fully 1, Even in the summertime the most restless young audience deserves the dignity of an action hero motivated by something more than franchise possibilities 1, What with all the blanket statements and dimestore ruminations on vanity the worries of the rich and sudden wisdom the film becomes a sermon for most of its running time 0, As gamely as the movie tries to make sense of its title character there remains a huge gap between the film 's creepy cleancut Dahmer LRB Jeremy Renner RRB and fiendish acts that no amount of earnest textbook psychologizing can bridge 1, Plodding peevish and gimmicky 3, The Four Feathers is definitely horse feathers but if you go in knowing that you might have fun in this cinematic sandbox 2, Oozes condescension from every pore 0, Solaris '' is a shapeless inconsequential move relying on the viewer to do most of the work 1, The direction by George Hickenlooper has no snap to it no wiseacre crackle or hardbitten cynicism 3, Though this saga would be terrific to read about it is dicey screen material that only a genius should touch 3, It has plenty of laughs 2, It just does n't have much else especially in a moral sense 0, An awful lot like one of LRB Spears ' RRB music videos in content except that it goes on for at least more minutes and worse that you have to pay if you want to see it 0, Confusion is one of my least favourite emotions especially when I have to put up with minutes of it 1, LRB H RRB ad I suffered and bled on the hard ground of Ia Drang I 'd want something a bit more complex than We Were Soldiers to be remembered by 1, Occasionally loud and offensive but more often it simply lulls you into a gentle waking coma 2, it may play well as a double feature with mainstream foreign mush like My Big Fat Greek Wedding 0, By the time you reach the finale you 're likely wondering why you 've been watching all this strutting and posturing 0, Journalistically dubious inept and often lethally dull 1, Putting the primitive murderer inside a hightech space station unleashes a Pandora 's Box of special effects that run the gamut from cheesy to cheesier to cheesiest 3, At its best it 's Black Hawk Down with more heart 2, At its worst it 's Rambo meetsJohn Ford 2, Exactly what you 'd expect from a guy named Kaos 1, This movie does n't deserve the energy it takes to describe how bad it is 1, With or without ballast tanks K sinks to a Harrison Ford low 2, Director Oliver Parker labors so hard to whip life into The Importance of Being Earnest that he probably pulled a muscle or two 2, You might be shocked to discover that Seinfeld 's real life is boring 3, It 's not nearly as fresh or enjoyable as its predecessor but there are enough high points to keep this from being a complete waste of time 2, Walsh ca n't quite negotiate the many inconsistencies in Janice 's behavior or compensate for them by sheer force of charm 1, This th film in the series looks and feels tired 1, It leers offering next to little insight into its intriguing subject 1, I found myself growing more and more frustrated and detached as Vincent became more and more abhorrent 2, One of the oddest and most inexplicable sequels in movie history 0, There 's nothing to gain from watching They 1, It is n't scary 1, It hates its characters 1, It finds no way to entertain or inspire its viewers 3, Fear permeates the whole of Stortelling Todd Solondz ' oftentimes funny yet ultimately cowardly autocritique 1, The skirmishes for power waged among victims and predators settle into an undistinguished rhythm of artificial suspense 2, Ice Age treads predictably along familiar territory making it a passable family film that wo n't win many fans over the age of 3, Though the film is wellintentioned one could rent the original and get the same love story and parable 1, Just too silly and sophomoric to ensnare its target audience 2, The video work is so grainy and rough so dependent on being naturalistic ' rather than carefully lit and set up that it 's exhausting to watch 1, A cleverly crafted but ultimately hollow mockumentary 2, It gets bogged down by hitandmiss topical humour before getting to the truly good stuff 1, An achingly enthralling premise the film is hindered by uneven dialogue and plot lapses 1, It 's Tommy 's job to clean the peep booths surrounding her and after viewing this one you 'll feel like mopping up too 0, Rifkin no doubt fancies himself something of a Hubert Selby Jr but there is n't an ounce of honest poetry in his entire script it 's simply crude and unrelentingly exploitative 0, Such a bad movie that its luckiest viewers will be seated next to one of those ignorant pinheads who talk throughout the show 1, If you go into the theater expecting a scary actionpacked chiller you might soon be looking for a sign 1, An EXIT sign that is 2, Holds limited appeal to those who like explosions sadism and seeing people beat each other to a pulp 1, The dialogue is very choppy and monosyllabic despite the fact that it is being dubbed 2, A featurelength Rrated roadtrip version of Mama 's Family 2, What you end up getting is the Vertical Limit of surfing movies memorable stunts with lots of downtime in between 0, Stealing Harvard does n't care about cleverness wit or any other kind of intelligent humor 1, Bigelow handles the nuclear crisis sequences evenly but milks drama when she should be building suspense and drags out too many scenes toward the end that should move quickly 3, There 's undeniable enjoyment to be had from films crammed with movie references but the fun wears thin then out when there 's nothing else happening 0, Imagine Kevin Smith the blasphemous bad boy of suburban Jersey if he were stripped of most of his budget and all of his sense of humor 2, The result might look like Vulgar 0, Suffers from a lack of clarity and audacity that a subject as monstrous and pathetic as Dahmer demands 0, What soured me on The Santa Clause was that Santa bumps up against st century reality so hard it 's icky 0, It 's an minute highlight reel that 's minutes too long 2, The film favors the scientific over the spectacular LRB visually speaking RRB 0, Such an incomprehensible mess that it feels less like bad cinema than like being stuck in a dark pit having a nightmare about bad cinema 1, With the exception of McCoist the players do n't have a clue on the park 0, The acting is n't much better 2, The whole affair is as predictable as can be 1, A notsoDivine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood with a hefty helping of ReFried Green Tomatoes 1, This cloying voicesfromtheotherside story is hell 3, A suffocating rapepayback horror show that hinges on the subgenre 's most enabling victim and an ebullient affection for industrialmodel meat freezers 1, Star Trek was kind of terrific once but now it is a copy of a copy of a copy 0, LRB N RRB o matter how much good will the actors generate Showtime eventually folds under its own thinness 2, Every potential twist is telegraphed well in advance every performance respectably muted the movie itself seems to have been made under the influence of Rohypnol 1, Puts on airs of a Hal Hartley wannabe film without the vital comic ingredient of the hilarious writerdirector himself 1, Ver Wiel 's desperate attempt at wit is lost leaving the character of Critical Jim twodimensional and pointless 2, Despite a performance of sustained intelligence from Stanford and another of subtle humour from Bebe Neuwirth as an older woman who seduces Oscar the film founders on its lack of empathy for the social milieu rich New York intelligentsia and its off 1, Although Disney follows its standard formula in this animated adventure it feels more forced than usual 1, Gaghan has thrown every suspenseful cliché in the book at this nonsensical story 1, A sham construct based on theory sleightofhand and illwrought hypothesis 3, LRB P RRB artnering Murphy with Robert De Niro for the TVcops comedy Showtime would seem to be surefire casting 0, The catch is that they 're stuck with a script that prevents them from firing on all cylinders 2, You 'll laugh for not quite and hour and a half but come out feeling strangely unsatisfied 1, You 'll feel like you ate a Reeses without the peanut butter ' 1, Gooding offers a desperately ingratiating performance 2, Parker should be commended for taking a fresh approach to familiar material but his determination to remain true to the original text leads him to adopt a somewhat mannered tone that ultimately dulls the human tragedy at the story 's core 2, The director has injected selfconsciousness into the proceedings at every turn 1, The results are far more alienating than involving 1, Bogdanich is unashamedly proSerbian and makes little attempt to give voice to the other side 2, A lack of thesis makes Maryam in the end play out with the intellectual and emotional impact of an afterschool special 0, Without Shakespeare 's eloquent language the update is dreary and sluggish 2, If HG Wells had a time machine and could take a look at his kin 's reworked version what would he say 1, It looks good Sonny but you missed the point ' 1, During The Tuxedo 's minutes of screen time there is n't one true Chan moment ' 2, Bisset delivers a game performance but she is unable to save the movie 3, Watching Austin Powers in Goldmember is like binging on cotton candy 1, It 's sweet and fluffy at the time but it may leave you feeling a little sticky and unsatisfied 2, The most antihuman big studio picture since Miles to Graceland 1, The film can depress you about life itself 0, I 'm sure the filmmakers found this a remarkable and novel concept but anybody who has ever seen an independent film can report that it is instead a cheap cliché 1, The acting is fine but the script is about as interesting as a recording of conversations at the WalMart checkout line 1, Its weighty themes are too grave for youngsters but the story is too steeped in fairy tales and other childish things to appeal much to teenagers 2, The plot plummets into a comedy graveyard before Janice comes racing to the rescue in the final reel 1, Sometimes there are very very good reasons for certain movies to be sealed in a jar and left on a remote shelf indefinitely 1, At minutes this movie is short but it feels much longer 2, Here 's my advice Kev 1, Start reading your scripts before signing that dotted line 1, An alternately raucous and sappy ethnic sitcom you 'd be wise to send your regrets 0, An uglyduckling tale so hideously and clumsily told it feels accidental 0, Unfortunately it 's also not very good 2, Especially compared with the television series that inspired the movie 2, It wraps up a classic mother\/daughter struggle in recycled paper with a shiny new bow and while the audience can tell it 's not all new at least it looks pretty 0, Glazed with a tawdry Bmovie scum 0, This is the kind of movie during which you want to bang your head on the seat in front of you at its cluelessness at its idiocy at its utterly misplaced earnestness 1, It winds up moving in many directions as it searches LRB vainly I think RRB for something fresh to say 3, All in all Road to Perdition is more in love with strangeness than excellence 1, A big fat pain 1, A mimetic approximation of better films like Contempt and  \/ 2, Unintelligible poorly acted brainslappingly bad Harvard Man is ludicrous enough that it could become a cult classic 3, Watching The Powerpuff Girls Movie my mind kept returning to one anecdote for comparison the cartoon in Japan that gave people seizures 1, An inelegant combination of two unrelated shorts that falls far short of the director 's previous work in terms of both thematic content and narrative strength 0, To build a feelgood fantasy around a vain dictatormadman is offputting to say the least not to mention inappropriate and wildly undeserved 0, With the cheesiest monsters this side of a horror spoof which They is n't it is more likely to induce sleep than fright 2, Mild meandering teen flick 2, Though its atmosphere is intriguing the drama is finally too predictable to leave much of an impression 1, Though this rude and crude film does deliver a few gutbusting laughs its digs at modern society are all things we 've seen before 1, Although it tries to be much more it 's really just another Major League 0, Astonishing is n't the word neither is incompetent incoherent or just plain crap 2, Indeed none of these words really gets at the very special type of badness that is Deuces Wild 2, One thing is for sure This movie does not tell you a whole lot about Lily ChouChou 1, With a tone as variable as the cinematography Schaeffer 's film never settles into the lightfooted enchantment the material needs and the characters ' quirks and foibles never jell into charm 0, To better understand why this did n't connect with me would require another viewing and I wo n't be sitting through this one again that in itself is commentary enough 1, Cuba Gooding Jr valiantly mugs his way through Snow Dogs but even his boisterous energy fails to spark this leaden comedy 1, Diane Lane 's sophisticated performance ca n't rescue Adrian Lyne 's Unfaithful from its sleazy moralizing 0, Not at all clear what it 's trying to say and even if it were I doubt it would be all that interesting 0, LRB Swimfan RRB falls victim to sloppy plotting an insultingly unbelievable final act and a villainess who is too crazy to be interesting 1, This remake of Lina Wertmuller 's eroticomedy might just be the biggest husbandandwife disaster since John and Bo Derek made the ridiculous Bolero 2, Silly loud and goofy 0, Why spend $ on the same stuff you can get for a buck or so in that greasy little vidgame pit in the theater lobby 0, The French director has turned out nearly \/ hours of unfocused excruciatingly tedious cinema that half an hour in starts making water torture seem appealing 1, The basic premise is intriguing but quickly becomes distasteful and downright creepy 1, The Pool drowned me in boredom 1, It 's like an allstar salute to Disney 's cheesy commercialism 0, It 's hard to imagine any recent film independent or otherwise that makes as much of a mess as this one 1, Some of the computer animation is handsome and various amusing sidekicks add muchneeded levity to the otherwise bleak tale but overall the film never rises above mediocrity 1, There 's an excellent minute film here unfortunately it runs for 1, As saccharine movies go this is likely to cause massive cardiac arrest if taken in large doses 2, Die Another Day is only intermittently entertaining but it 's hard not to be a sucker for its charms or perhaps it 's just impossible not to feel nostalgia for movies you grew up with 1, As is often the case with ambitious eager firsttime filmmakers Mr Murray a prolific director of music videos stuffs his debut with more plot than it can comfortably hold 1, The mystery of Enigma is how a rich historical subject combined with so much firstrate talent could have yielded such a flat plodding picture 3, It throws quirky characters odd situations and offkilter dialogue at us all as if to say Look at this 4, This is an interesting movie '' 0, But the film itself is ultimately quite unengaging 1, The inherent limitations of using a video game as the source material movie are once again made all too clear in this schlocky horror\/action hybrid 1, It 's not only dull because we 've seen LRB Eddie RRB Murphy do the genialrogue shtick to death but because the plot is equally hackneyed 2, Avary 's film never quite emerges from the shadow of Ellis ' book 2, A poorly scripted preachy fable that forgets about unfolding a coherent believable story in its zeal to spread propaganda 1, While it is interesting to witness the conflict from the Palestinian side Longley 's film lacks balance and fails to put the struggle into meaningful historical context 1, Woo has as much right to make a huge action sequence as any director but how long will filmmakers copy the Saving Private Ryan '' battle scenes before realizing Steven Spielberg got it right the first time 2, It 's sincere to a fault but unfortunately not very compelling or much fun 2, Jones despite a definitely distinctive screen presence just is n't able to muster for a movie that its title notwithstanding should have been a lot nastier if it wanted to fully capitalize on its lead 's specific gifts 2, This followup seems so similar to the Disney classic that it makes one long for a geriatric Peter 1, Why you may ask why should you buy the movie milk when the TV cow is free 1, There 's no good answer to that one 2, This slowmoving Swedish film offers not even a hint of joy preferring to focus on the humiliation of Martin as he defecates in bed and urinates on the plants at his own birthday party 0, A muddled limp biscuit of a movie a vampire soap opera that does n't make much sense even on its own terms 1, There 's the plot and a maddeningly insistent and repetitive piano score that made me want to scream 1, This is a movie so insecure about its capacity to excite that it churns up not one but two flagrantly fake thunderstorms to underscore the action 2, This is amusing for about three minutes 1, Klein charming in comedies like American Pie and deadon in Election delivers one of the saddest action hero performances ever witnessed 1, It 's rare to see a movie that takes such a speedy swan dive from promising '' to interesting '' to familiar '' before landing squarely on stupid '' 0, This is the sort of lowgrade dreck that usually goes straight to video with a lousy script inept direction pathetic acting poorly dubbed dialogue and murky cinematography complete with visible boom mikes 1, The direction occasionally rises to the level of marginal competence but for most of the film it is hard to tell who is chasing who or why 1, There are few things more frustrating to a film buff than seeing an otherwise good movie marred beyond redemption by a disastrous ending 2, It wo n't harm anyone but neither can I think of a very good reason to rush right out and see it 1, After all it 'll probably be in video stores by Christmas and it might just be better suited to a night in the living room than a night at the movies 0, Looks more like a travelagency video targeted at people who like to ride bikes topless and roll in the mud than a worthwhile glimpse of independentcommunity guiding lights 0, Given too much time to consider the looseness of the piece the picture begins to resemble the shapeless grasping actors ' workshop that it is 1, They kept much of the plot but jettisoned the stuff that would make this a moving experience for people who have n't read the book 1, Just because A Walk to Remember is shrewd enough to activate girlish tear ducts does n't mean it 's good enough for our girls 0, LRB Carvey 's RRB characters are both overplayed and exaggerated but then again subtlety has never been his trademark 1, It 's mildly interesting to ponder the peculiar American style of justice that plays out here but it 's so muddled and derivative that few will bother thinking it all through 1, This dreadfully earnest inversion of the Concubine love triangle eschews the previous film 's historical panorama and roiling pathos for bugeyed mugging and gayniche condescension 2, Brown 's saga like many before his makes for snappy prose but a stumblebum of a movie 2, The boys ' sparring like the succession of blows dumped on Guei wears down the story 's more cerebral and likable plot elements 1, The script by Vincent R Nebrida tries to cram too many ingredients into one small pot 2, The story is so light and sugary that were it a Macy 's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon extra heavyduty ropes would be needed to keep it from floating away 0, Oedekerk mugs mercilessly and the genuinely funny jokes are few and far between 1, Since Dahmer resorts to standard slasher flick thrills when it should be most in the mind of the killer it misses a major opportunity to be truly revelatory about his psyche 2, Only those most addicted to film violence in all its forms will find anything here to appreciate 2, Cold and scattered Minority Report commands interest almost solely as an exercise in gorgeous visuals 2, That 's not vintage Spielberg and that finally is minimally satisfying 0, Every now and again a movie comes along to remind us of how very bad a motion picture can truly be 2, Frank McKlusky CI is that movie 2, It 's not difficult to spot the culprit earlyon in this predictable thriller 2, a mostly boring affair with a confusing sudden finale that 's likely to irk viewers 1, The trappings of I Spy are so familiar you might as well be watching a rerun 1, What starts off as a potentially incredibly twisting mystery becomes simply a monster chase film 1, In the wake of Saving Private Ryan Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers you are likely to be as heartily sick of mayhem as Cage 's warweary marine 0, It is messy uncouth incomprehensible vicious and absurd 1, Really does feel like a short stretched out to feature length 0, Hampered no paralyzed by a selfindulgent script that aims for poetry and ends up sounding like satire 1, Cheap vulgar dialogue and a plot that crawls along at a snail 's pace 1, And if you appreciate the onesided theme to Lawrence 's overindulgent tirade then knock yourself out and enjoy the big screen postcard that is a selfglorified Martin Lawrence lovefest 1, If you are willing to do this then you so crazy 1, Directed without the expected flair or imagination by Hong Kong master John Woo Windtalkers airs just about every cliche in the war movie compendium across its indulgent twohourandfifteenminute length 3, It 's a very tasteful rock and roll movie 2, You could put it on a coffee table anywhere 1, The movie is loaded with good intentions but in his zeal to squeeze the action and our emotions into the alltoofamiliar dramatic arc of the Holocaust escape story Minac drains his movie of all individuality 0, An infuriating film 1, Just when you think you are making sense of it something happens that tells you there is no sense 0, The entire movie is so formulaic and forgettable that it 's hardly over before it begins to fade from memory 1, The setting turns out to be more interesting than any of the character dramas which never reach satisfying conclusions 1, As an entertainment destination for the general public Kung Pow sets a new benchmark for lameness 1, This mistyeyed Southern nostalgia piece in treading the line between sappy and sanguine winds up mired in teardrenched quicksand 0, As pure overthetop trash any John Waters movie has it beat by a country mile 0, Wendigo wants to be a monster movie for the arthouse crowd but it falls into the trap of pretention almost every time 3, Bigelow offers some flashy twists and turns that occasionally fortify this turgid fable 1, But for the most part The Weight of Water comes off as a twoway timeswitching myopic mystery that stalls in its lackluster gear of emotional blandness 1, This film biggest problem 1, No laughs 2, Lessthancompelling documentary of a Yiddish theater clan 2, That the Chuck Norris grenade gag '' occurs about times during Windtalkers is a good indication of how seriousminded the film is 1, Viewers are asked so often to suspend belief that were it not for Holm 's performance the film would be a total washout 2, It 's not exactly worth the bucks to expend the full price for a date but when it comes out on video it 's well worth a rental 0, I ca n't begin to tell you how tedious how resolutely unamusing how thoroughly unrewarding all of this is and what a reckless squandering of four fine acting talents 3, Everybody loves a David and Goliath story and this one is told almost entirely from David 's point of view 1, Throw Smoochy from the train 0, Eventually they will have a showdown but by then your senses are as mushy as peas and you do n't care who fires the winning shot 0, Irwin and his director never come up with an adequate reason why we should pay money for what we can get on television for free 1, A light engaging comedy that fumbles away almost all of its accumulated enjoyment with a crucial third act miscalculation 3, Cedar somewhat defuses this provocative theme by submerging it in a hoary love triangle 0, To paraphrase a line from another Dickens ' novel Nicholas Nickleby is too much like a fragment of an underdone potato 2, The actresses may have worked up a back story for the women they portray so convincingly but viewers do n't get enough of that background for the characters to be involving as individuals rather than types 0, The result however wellintentioned is ironically just the sort of disposable kitchensink homage that illustrates why the whole is so often less than the sum of its parts in today 's Hollywood 0, An extremely unpleasant film 3, A movie just for Friday fans critics be damned 2, If you already like this sort of thing this is that sort of thing all over again 2, A sincere but dramatically conflicted gay comingofage tale 2, Wait for it to hit cable 2, Ultimately feels like just one more in the long line of films this year about the business of making movies 1, Nothing but one relentlessly depressing situation after another for its entire running time something that you could easily be dealing with right now in your lives 1, minutes of Pokemon may not last ever it just seems like it does 0, My only wish is that Celebi could take me back to a time before I saw this movie and I could just skip it 1, The one notsosmall problem with Expecting is that the entire exercise has no real point 1, A movie you observe rather than one you enter into 3, LRB At least RRB Moore is a real charmer 2, John Carlen 's script is full of unhappy twodimensional characters who are anything but compelling 2, LaBute ca n't avoid a fatal mistake in the modern era He 's changed the male academic from a lowerclass Brit to an American a choice that upsets the novel 's exquisite balance and shreds the fabric of the film 0, The notion of deleting emotion from people even in an advanced Prozac Nation is so insanely dysfunctional that the rampantly designed Equilibrium becomes a concept doofus 1, Stale first act Scrooge story blatant product placement some very good comedic songs strong finish dumb fart jokes 1, Unsurprisingly the way this all works out makes the women look more like stereotypical caretakers and moral teachers instead of serious athletes 1, A film that loses sight of its own story 0, Adam Sandler 's Eight Crazy Nights grows on you like a rash 0, The bigscreen Scooby makes the silly original cartoon seem smart and wellcrafted in comparison 2, Few of the increasingly farfetched events that firsttime writerdirector Neil Burger follows up with are terribly convincing which is a pity considering Barry 's terrific performance 3, Gets better after Foster leaves that little room 1, The movie is as padded as Allen 's jelly belly 1, Resident Evil is n't a product of its cinematic predecessors so much as an MTV sugar hysteria and PlayStation cocktail 2, A rather average action film that benefits from several funny moments supplied by Epps 0, unspeakably unbearably dull featuring reams of flatly delivered dialogue and a heroine who comes across as both shallow and dimwitted 1, Resembles a soft porn Brian De Palma pastiche 3, Bluto Blutarsky we miss you 2, Innocuous enough to make even JeanClaude Van Damme look good 1, It 's a glorified sitcom and a long unfunny one at that 4, Woody Allen can write and deliver a one liner as well as anybody 1, But I had a lot of problems with this movie 0, Devoid of any of the qualities that made the first film so special 1, All movie long City by the Sea swings from one approach to the other but in the end it stays in formula which is a waste of De Niro McDormand and the other good actors in the cast 0, Plotless collection of moronic stunts is by far the worst movie of the year 1, However sincere it may be The Rising Place never quite justifies its own existence 1, Parker updates the setting in an attempt to make the film relevant today without fully understanding what it was that made the story relevant in the first place 3, It 's sort of a st century morality play with a Latino hip hop beat 0, But the second half of the movie really goes downhill 2, Paxton 's uneven directorial debut fails to unlock the full potential of what is in many ways a fresh and dramatically substantial spin on the genre 1, The script becomes lifeless and falls apart like a cheap lawn chair 0, The script falls back on too many triedandtrue shenanigans that hardly distinguish it from the next teen comedy 1, The film starts promisingly but the ending is all too predictable and far too cliched to really work 3, Let 's issue a moratorium effective immediately on treacly films about inspirational prepschool professors and the children they so heartwarmingly motivate 0, It 's the element of condescension as the filmmakers look down on their workingclass subjects from their lofty perch that finally makes Sex With Strangers which opens today in the New York metropolitan area so distasteful 3, Alternately frustrating and rewarding 1, It 's impossible to even categorize this as a smutty guilty pleasure 1, Despite suffering a senseofhumour failure The Man Who Wrote Rocky does not deserve to go down with a ship as leaky as this 1, Swinging the film makes it seem is not a hobby that attracts the young and fit 2, Or intelligent 0, The most memorable moment was when Green threw medical equipment at a window not because it was particularly funny but because I had a serious urge to grab the old lady at the end of my aisle 's walker and toss it at the screen in frustration 1, See Clockstoppers if you have nothing better to do with minutes 2, But be warned you too may feel time has decided to stand still 2, Or that the battery on your watch has died 0, Suffers from overfamiliarity since hithungry British filmmakers have stripmined the Monty formula mercilessly since 3, There are enough throwaway references to faith and rainbows to plant smilebutton faces on that segment of the populace that made A Walk to Remember a niche hit 0, Yes I have given this movie a rating of zero 2, But fans of the show should not consider this a diss 4, Consider it perfection ' 0, The cumulative effect of the movie is repulsive and depressing 3, Children and adults enamored of all things Pokemon wo n't be disappointed 2, I do n't even care that there 's no plot in this Antonio BanderasLucy Liu faceoff 0, It 's still terrible 2, Children of the Century though well dressed and well made ultimately falls prey to the contradiction that afflicts so many movies about writers 1, It 's not so much a movie as a joint promotion for the National Basketball Association and teenaged rap and adolescent posterboy Lil ' Bow Wow 2, Peralta 's mythmaking could have used some informed adult hindsight 2, A closetosolid espionage thriller with the misfortune of being released a few decades too late 1, Cloaks a familiar antifeminist equation LRB career kids = misery RRB in tiresome romanticcomedy duds 1, The Good Girl is a film in which the talent is undeniable but the results are underwhelming 1, Just a collection of this and that whatever fills time with no unified whole 0, The animation and game phenomenon that peaked about three years ago is actually dying a slow death if the poor quality of Pokemon Ever is any indication 1, Only about as sexy and dangerous as an actress in a role that reminds at every turn of Elizabeth Berkley 's flopping dolphingasm 3, Kids who are into this Thornberry stuff will probably be in wedgie heaven 1, Anyone else who may for whatever reason be thinking about going to see this movie is hereby given fair warning 0, Mr Soderbergh 's direction and visual style struck me as unusually and unimpressively fussy and pretentious 2, Do you say hi '' to your lover when you wake up in the morning 1, It makes me feel weird \/ Thinking about all the bad things in the world \/ Like puppies with broken legs \/ And butterflies that die \/ And movies starring pop queens 3, Director Tom Dey demonstrated a knack for mixing action and idiosyncratic humor in his charming debut Shanghai Noon but Showtime 's uninspired sendup of TV cop show cliches mostly leaves him shooting blanks 3, Yes that 's right it 's Forrest Gump Angel Of Death ' 3, A wildly erratic drama with sequences that make you wince in embarrassment and others thanks to the actors that are quite touching 1, While easier to sit through than most of Jaglom 's selfconscious and gratingly irritating films it 's still tainted by cliches painful improbability and murky points 0, About as enjoyable I would imagine as searching for a quarter in a giant pile of elephant feces positively dreadful 1, A generic international version of a typical American horror film 1, while certainly clever in spots this toolong spoofy update of Shakespeare 's Macbeth does n't sustain a high enough level of invention 1, Lucas has in fact come closer than anyone could desire to the cheap graceless hackneyed scifi serials of the 's and 's 2, There 's a lot of good material here but there 's also a lot of redundancy and unsuccessful crudeness accompanying it 0, Absurdities and clichés accumulate like lint in a fat man 's navel 3, If you think it 's a riot to see Rob Schneider in a young woman 's clothes then you 'll enjoy The Hot Chick 0, The sheer dumbness of the plot LRB other than its one good idea RRB and the movie 's inescapable air of sleaziness get you down 3, Strangely comes off as a kingdom more mild than wild 2, The next big thing 's notsobig LRB and notsohot RRB directorial debut 1, Yet another iteration of what 's become one of the movies ' creepiest conventions in which the developmentally disabled are portrayed with almost supernatural powers to humble teach and ultimately redeem their mentally superior '' friends family 2, Bondinspired 2, Certainly 3, Likely to have decades of life as a classic movie franchise 2, Let 's hope not 0, This flat run at a hiphop Tootsie is so poorly paced you could fit all of Pootie Tang in between its punchlines 2, Davis has energy but she does n't bother to make her heroine 's book sound convincing the genderwar ideas original or the comic scenes fly 1, Surprisingly considering that Baird is a former film editor the movie is rather choppy 0, None of this is very original and it is n't particularly funny 0, a bland murderoncampus yawner 0, A humorless journey into a philosophical void 2, These two are generating about as much chemistry as an Iraqi factory poised to receive a UN inspector 1, Just as the lousy Tarantino imitations have subsided here comes the first lousy Guy Ritchie imitation 2, A passable romantic comedy in need of another couple of passes through the word processor 1, The movie attempts to mine laughs from a genre the gangster\/crime comedy that wore out its welcome with audiences several years ago and its cutesy reliance on moviespecific cliches is n't exactly endearing 1, shows Holmes has the screen presence to become a majorleague leading lady LRB but RRB the movie itself is an underachiever a psychological mystery that takes its sweet time building to a climax that 's scarcely a surprise by the time it arrives 1, Ultimately the movie is too heady for children and too preachy for adults 2, It 's just a little too selfsatisfied 2, Clever but not especially compelling 0, McKay seems embarrassed by his own invention and tries to rush through the intermediary passages apparently hoping that the audience will not notice the glaring triteness of the plot device he has put in service 1, A piece of mildly entertaining inoffensive fluff that drifts aimlessly for minutes before lodging in the cracks of that evergrowing category unembarrassing but unmemorable 2, LaBute was more fun when his characters were torturing each other psychologically and talking about their genitals in public 1, The movie weighs no more than a glass of flat champagne 0, The problem with ANTWONE FISHER is that it has a screenplay written by Antwone Fisher based on the book by Antwone Fisher 3, Alarms for Duvall 's throbbing sincerity and his elderly propensity for patting people while he talks 1, What little grace LRB Rifkin 's RRB tale of precarious skidrow dignity achieves is pushed into the margins by predictable plotting and tiresome histrionics 0, Tries to work in the same vein as the brilliance of Animal House but instead comes closer to the failure of the third Revenge of the Nerds sequel 0, Unfortunately Kapur modernizes AEW Mason 's story to suit the sensibilities of a young American a decision that plucks The Four Feathers '' bare 0, what a banal bore the preachy Circuit turns out to be 1, Falsehoods pile up undermining the movie 's reality and stifling its creator 's comic voice 0, A mechanical actioncomedy whose seeming purpose is to market the charismatic Jackie Chan to even younger audiences 0, One of the most incoherent features in recent memory 1, Low rent from frame one 1, Eight Legged Freaks 2, No big hairy deal 0, The issues are presented in such a lousy way complete with some of the year 's LRB unintentionally RRB funniest moments that it 's impossible to care 1, Laggard drama wending its way to an uninspired philosophical epiphany 2, The respective charms of Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant have worn threadbare 0, This movie sucks ' 1, None of this socalled satire has any sting to it as if Woody is afraid of biting the hand that has finally to some extent warmed up to him 3, A few nonbelievers may rethink their attitudes when they see the joy the characters take in this creed but skeptics are n't likely to enter the theater 2, Bad in such a bizarre way that it 's almost worth seeing if only to witness the crazy confluence of purpose and taste 1, There 's more repetition than creativity throughout the movie 3, Hugh Grant 's act is so consuming that sometimes it 's difficult to tell who the other actors in the movie are 0, Although the sequel has all the outward elements of the original the first film 's lovely flakiness is gone replaced by the forced funniness found in the dullest kiddie flicks 1, I 've had more interesting and dare I say thematically complex bowel movements than this longontheshelf pointandshoot exercise in gimmicky crime drama 2, What we get is Caddyshack crossed with the Loyal Order of Raccoons 0, The jokes are flat and the action looks fake 1, When a movie asks you to feel sorry for Mick Jagger 's sex life it already has one strike against it 0, There are now two signs that M Night Shyamalan 's debut feature sucked up all he has to give to the mystic genres of cinema Unbreakable and Signs 1, hokey art house pretension 0, a weak and ineffective ghost story without a conclusion or pay off 1, Gussied up with so many distracting special effects and visual party tricks that it 's not clear whether we 're supposed to shriek or laugh 0, Plodding poorly written murky and weakly acted the picture feels as if everyone making it lost their movie mojo 0, This is a fudged opportunity of gigantic proportions a lunar mission with no signs of life 1, A baffling subplot involving smuggling drugs inside Danish cows falls flat and if you 're going to alter the Bard 's ending you 'd better have a good alternative 2, Soderbergh seems capable only of delivering artfully lighted earnest inquiries that lack the kind of genuine depth that would make them redeemable 0, The only thing that distinguishes a Randall Wallace film from any other is the fact that there is nothing distinguishing in a Randall Wallace film 1, Silly stuff all mixed up together like a term paper from a kid who ca n't quite distinguish one scifi work from another 2, There is so much plodding sensitivity 1, The town has kind of an authentic feel but each one of these people stand out and everybody else is in the background and it just seems manufactured to me and artificial 1, too sappy for its own good 2, Circuit queens wo n't learn a thing they 'll be too busy cursing the film 's strategically placed white sheets 4, As an actress Madonna is one helluva singer 1, As the Mediterranean sparkles Swept Away ' sinks 1, Every so often a film comes along that is so insanely stupid so awful in so many ways that watching it leaves you giddy 4, Half Past Dead is just such an achievement 2, Expanded to minutes for theatrical release it still feels somewhat unfinished 1, It all looks and plays like a $ million version of a game you 're more likely to enjoy on a computer 2, LRB Javier Bardem is RRB one of the few reasons to watch the film which director Gerardo Vera has drenched in swoony music and feverpitched melodrama 1, Feels shrill simple and soapy 1, Adults other than the parents will be hard pressed to succumb to the call of the wild 2, Brady achieves the remarkable feat of squandering a topnotch foursome of actors by shoving them into every clichéd whitetrash situation imaginable 1, In the name of an allegedly inspiring and easily marketable flick The Emperor 's Club turns a blind eye to the very history it pretends to teach 1, No amount of blood and disintegrating vampire cadavers can obscure this movie 's lack of ideas 2, A directtovoid release heading nowhere 1, Typical animé with cheapo animation LRB like Saturday morning TV in the 's RRB a complex swordandsorcery plot and characters who all have big round eyes and Japanese names 0, Below is well below expectations 2, At no point during K The Widowmaker did this viewer feel enveloped in a story that though meant to be universal in its themes of loyalty courage and dedication to a common goal never seems to leave the lot 3, standard guns versus martial arts cliche with little new added 1, Empire ca n't make up its mind whether it wants to be a gangster flick or an art film 0, It does n't work as either 0, Given the fact that virtually no one is bound to show up at theatres for it the project should have been made for the tube 2, Possession is in the end an honorable interesting failure 3, It falls far short of poetry but it 's not bad prose 3, Jonathan Parker 's Bartleby should have been the beallendall of the modernoffice anomie films 1, There may have been a good film in Trouble Every Day '' but it is not what is on the screen 1, Unfortunately Carvey 's rubberface routine is no match for the insipid script he has crafted with Harris Goldberg 2, Viewed as a comedy a romance a fairy tale or a drama there 's nothing remotely triumphant about this motion picture 1, There 's something unintentionally comic in the film 's drumbeat about authenticity given the stale plot and pornographic way the film revels in swank apartments clothes and parties 2, The Master of Disguise is funny not ha ha '' funny dead circus performer '' funny 1, And for all the wrong reasons besides 1, A zippy minutes of mediocre special effects hoary dialogue fluxing accents and worst of all sillylooking Morlocks 0, A minute sample of puerile rubbish that is listless witless and devoid of anything resembling humor 1, You leave feeling like you 've endured a long workout without your pulse ever racing 0, The waterlogged script plumbs uncharted depths of stupidity incoherence and subsophomoric sexual banter 1, With McConaughey in an entirely ironyfree zone and Bale reduced mainly to batting his sensitive eyelids there 's not enough intelligence wit or innovation on the screen to attract and sustain an older crowd 2, It 's the type of stunt the Academy loves a powerful political message stuffed into an otherwise mediocre film 1, In theory a middleaged romance pairing Clayburgh and Tambor sounds promising but in practice it 's something else altogether clownish and offensive and nothing at all like real life 1, So mindnumbingly awful that you hope Britney wo n't do it one more time as far as movies are concerned 2, The images are usually abbreviated in favor of mushy obviousness and telegraphed pathos particularly where Whitaker 's misfit artist is concerned 1, If Welles was unhappy at the prospect of the human race splitting in two he probably would n't be too crazy with his greatgrandson 's movie splitting up in pretty much the same way 0, Sets animation back years musicals back years and Judaism back at least 1, Weirdly Broomfield has compelling new material but he does n't unveil it until the end after endless scenes of him wheedling reluctant witnesses and pointing his camera through the smeared windshield of his rental car 2, Might best be enjoyed as a daytime soaper 3, eventually arrives at its heart as simple selfreflection meditation 3, A showcase for both the scenic splendor of the mountains and for legendary actor Michel Serrault the film is less successful on other levels 2, Boy oh boy it 's a howler 1, A few pieces of the film buzz and whir very little of it actually clicks 0, The thing just never gets off the ground 1, contains very few laughs and even less surprises 1, The actors must indeed be good to recite some of this laughable dialogue with a straight face 0, Most of the storylines feel like time fillers between surf shots 2, The movie is n't horrible but you can see mediocre cresting on the next wave 2, However stale the material Lawrence 's delivery remains perfect his great gift is that he can actually trick you into thinking some of this wornout pandering palaver is actually funny 1, There 's nothing remotely topical or sexy here 1, The Tuxedo was n't just bad it was as my friend David Cross would call it HungryMan portions of bad ' 1, Blue Crush is so prolonged and boring it is n't even close to being the barnburningly bad movie it promised it would be 1, The sequel plays out like a flimsy excuse to give Blade fans another look at Wesley Snipes ' iconic hero doing battle with dozens of bad guys at once 2, While Van Wilder may not be the worst National Lampoon film it 's far from being this generation 's Animal House 0, So devoid of pleasure or sensuality that it can not even be dubbed hedonistic 2, Reeks of rot and hack work from start to finish 2, An exhausting family drama about a porcelain empire and just as hard a flick as its subject matter 4, Woody Allen has really found his groove these days 0, The problem is that it is one that allows him to churn out one mediocre movie after another 2, The bland outweighs the nifty and Cletis Tout never becomes the clever crime comedy it thinks it is 1, It 's such a mechanical endeavor LRB that RRB it never bothers to question why somebody might devote time to see it 4, The art direction is often exquisite and the anthropomorphic animal characters are beautifully realized through clever makeup design leaving one to hope that the eventual DVD release will offer subtitles and the original Italianlanguage soundtrack 1, If the predictability of bland comfort food appeals to you then the film is a pleasant enough dish 1, Ultimately in the history of the Academy people may be wondering what all that jazz was about Chicago '' in 1, Zellweger 's whiny poutylipped poof faced and spindly attempt at playing an ingenue makes her nomination as best actress even more of a an a 1, A seriously bad film with seriously warped logic by writerdirector Kurt Wimmer at the screenplay level 1, A pleasant and engaging enough sit but in trying to have the best of both worlds it ends up falling short as a whole 1, Its plot and animation offer daytime TV serviceability but little more 1, A tired unimaginative and derivative variation of that alreadyshallow genre 1, Human Nature in short is n't nearly as funny as it thinks it is neither is it as smart 3, A film with a great premise but only a great premise 1, Instead of building to a laugh riot we are left with a handful of disparate funny moments of no real consequence 0, Kirshner and Monroe seem to be in a contest to see who can outbadact the other 2, LRB Kirshner wins but it 's close RRB 0, A lame romantic comedy about an unsympathetic character and someone who would not likely be so stupid as to get involved with her 2, What started out as a taut contest of wills between Bacon and Theron deteriorates into a protracted and borderline silly chase sequence 0, LRB Sam 's RRB selfflagellation is more depressing than entertaining 0, An ugly pointless stupid movie 1, Simply put there should have been a more compelling excuse to pair Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn 1, The Master of Disguise represents Adam Sandler 's latest attempt to dumb down the universe 0, This is an ungainly movie illfitting with its elbows sticking out where the knees should be 1, Too silly to take seriously 2, The inevitable double and triplecrosses arise but the only drama is in waiting to hear how John Malkovich 's reedy consigliere will pronounce his next line 1, Everything 's serious poetic earnest and sadly dull 3, I like it 0, No I hate it 3, No I love it hell I dunno 0, This mess of a movie is nothing short of a travesty of a transvestite comedy 0, It 's clotted with heavyhanded symbolism dimestore psychology and endless scenic shots that make minutes seem twice as long 0, A fifty car pileup of cliches 0, It 's a stale overused cocktail using the same olives since as garnish 0, Not only is entry number twenty the worst of the Brosnan bunch it 's one of the worst of the entire franchise 0, What ultimately makes Windtalkers a disappointment is the superficial way it deals with its story 3, As an actor 's showcase Hart 's War has much to recommend it even if the topbilled Willis is not the most impressive player 1, As a story of dramatic enlightenment the screenplay by Billy Ray and Terry George leaves something to be desired 1, A nonBritney person might survive a screening with little harm done except maybe for the last minutes which are as maudlin as any afterschool special you can imagine 2, It 's not hateful 0, It 's simply stupid irrelevant and deeply truly bottomlessly cynical 2, Possibly not since Grumpy Old Men have I heard a film so solidly connect with one demographic while striking out with another 0, The drama was so uninspiring that even a story immersed in love lust and sin could n't keep my attention 1, A rather tired exercise in nostalgia 0, The misery of these people becomes just another voyeuristic spectacle to be consumed and forgotten 1, Some Body often looks like an episode of the TV show Blind Date only less technically proficient and without the popup comments 1, Bad Company has one of the most moronic screenplays of the year full of holes that will be obvious even to those who are n't looking for them 1, Predecessors The Mummy and The Mummy Returns stand as intellectual masterpieces next to The Scorpion King 0, A markedly inactive film City is conversational bordering on confessional 2, While kids will probably eat the whole thing up most adults will be way ahead of the plot 1, Despite an impressive roster of stars and direction from Kathryn Bigelow The Weight of Water is oppressively heavy 0, We 've liked Klein 's other work but Rollerball left us cold 0, They were afraid to show this movie to reviewers before its opening afraid of the bad reviews they thought they 'd earn 2, They were right 0, It would be churlish to begrudge anyone for receiving whatever consolation that can be found in Dragonfly yet it is impossible to find the film anything but appalling shamelessly manipulative and contrived and totally lacking in conviction 0, Offers no new insight on the matter nor do its characters exactly spring to life 1, Nohe has made a decent intro ' documentary but he feels like a spectator and not a participant 1, Apparently designed as a reverie about memory and regret but the only thing you 'll regret is remembering the experience of sitting through it 0, A minute travesty of unparalleled proportions writerdirector Parker seems to go out of his way to turn the legendary wit 's classic mistaken identity farce into brutally labored and unfunny hokum 0, Guy gets girl guy loses girl audience falls asleep 2, Too ordinary to restore LRB Harmon RRB to prominence despite some creepy scenes that evoke childish night terrors and a praiseworthy attempt to generate suspense rather than gross out the audience 2, Stirs potentially enticing ingredients into an uneasy blend of Ghost and Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1, The weird thing about The Santa Clause purportedly a children 's movie is that there is nothing in it to engage children emotionally 0, It 's pretentious in a way that verges on the amateurish 1, Contains the humor characterization poignancy and intelligence of a bad sitcom 3, It does n't matter that the film is less than minutes 1, It still feels like a prison stretch 0, Partly a schmaltzy bythenumbers romantic comedy partly a shallow rumination on the emptiness of success and entirely soulless 2, Ong chooses to present Ah Na 's life as a slight weightless fairy tale whose most unpleasant details seem to melt away in the face of the character 's blankfaced optimism 1, The overall feel is not unlike watching a glorified episode of th Heaven '' 1, Just a Kiss is a just a waste 0, this is n't even a movie we can enjoy as mild escapism it is one in which fear and frustration are provoked to intolerable levels 0, Frankly it 's kind of insulting both to men and women 0, And it 's not that funny which is just generally insulting 1, As if Drop Dead Gorgeous was n't enough this equally derisive clunker is fixated on the spectacle of smalltown competition 1, A wretched movie that reduces the Second World War to one man 's quest to find an old flame 1, This is a remake by the numbers linking a halfwit plot to a series of standup routines in which Wilson and Murphy show how funny they could have been in a more ambitious movie 2, It 's better than midrange Steven Seagal but not as sharp as Jet Li on rollerblades 1, There 's a reason why halftime is only fifteen minutes long 2, The talkheavy film plays like one of Robert Altman 's lesser works 2, As happily glib and vicious as its characters 0, One of those films that started with a great premise and then just fell apart 1, No better or worse than Truth or Consequences NM ' or any other interchangeable actioner with imbecilic Mafia toolbags botching a routine assignment in a Western backwater 0, LRB MacDowell RRB ventures beyond her abilities several times here and reveals how bad an actress she is 1, I can imagine this movie as a b & w British comedy circa with Peter Sellers Kenneth Williams et al but at this time with this cast this movie is hopeless 0, Talky artificial and opaque an interesting technical exercise but a tedious picture 2, Kurys never shows why of all the period 's volatile romantic lives Sand and Musset are worth particular attention 2, Almost nothing else raunchy and graphic as it may be in presentation is onesided outwardly sexist or meanspirited 1, And in a sense that 's a liability 1, It 's easy to love Robin Tunney she 's pretty and she can act but it gets harder and harder to understand her choices 1, If you 've got a house full of tots do n't worry this will be on video long before they grow up and you can wait till then 1, The new film of Anton Chekhov 's The Cherry Orchard puts the ick ' in classic ' 2, Has an uppity musical beat that you can dance to but its energy ca n't compare to the wit humor and snappy dialogue of the original 1, If I want music I 'll buy the soundtrack 1, If I want a real movie I 'll buy the Criterion DVD 2, An unremarkable modern action\/comedy buddy movie whose only nod to nostalgia is in the title 2, Has all the right elements but completely fails to gel together 1, Writerdirector Stephen Gaghan has made the nearfatal mistake of being what the English call too clever by half ' 0, Seagal ran out of movies years ago and this is just the proof 0, The movie is so contrived nonsensical and formulaic that come to think of it the dayold shelf would be a more appropriate location to store it 0, An awkwardly garish showcase that diverges from anything remotely probing or penetrating 2, The name says it all 0, Jackass is a vulgar and cheaplooking version of Candid Camera staged for the Marquis de Sade set 3, Children Christian or otherwise deserve to hear the full story of Jonah 's despair in all its agonizing Catch glory even if they spend years trying to comprehend it 1, Pleasant but not more than recycled jock piffle 1, the kind of movie you see because the theater has air conditioning 1, With Zoe ClarkeWilliams 's lackluster thriller New Best Friend '' who needs enemies 1, Just another generic drama that has nothing going for it other than its exploitive array of obligatory cheap thrills 1, Hiphop prison thriller of stupefying absurdity 1, An uneven mix of dark satire and childhood awakening 2, aside from showing us in explicit detail how difficult it is to win over the twodrinkminimum crowd there 's little to be learned from watching Comedian ' 2, A perfectly acceptable perfectly bland competently acted but by no means scary horror movie 1, The film would have been more enjoyable had the balance shifted in favor of waterbound action over the landbased drama ' but the emphasis on the latter leaves Blue Crush waterlogged 0, The problem is the needlessly poor quality of its archival prints and film footage 1, The images lack contrast are murky and are frequently too dark to be decipherable 0, Like a soft drink that 's been sitting open too long it 's too much syrup and not enough fizz 0, As the movie dragged on I thought I heard a mysterious voice and felt myself powerfully drawn toward the light the light of the exit sign 0, I have returned from the beyond to warn you this movie is minutes long and life is too short 1, There are some fairly unsettling scenes but they never succeed in really rattling the viewer 2, The Emperor 's Club is one of those films that possesses all the good intentions in the world but 1, In the end The Weight of Water comes to resemble the kind of softcore twaddle you 'd expect to see on Showtime 's Red Shoe Diaries ' 1, A straightahead thriller that never rises above superficiality 1, Glizty but formulaic and silly Cagney 's top of the world ' has been replaced by the bottom of the barrel 1, The re enactments however fascinating they may be as history are too crude to serve the work especially well 1, Is anyone else out there getting tired of the whole slomo doublepistoled ballisticpyrotechnic Hong Kong action aesthetic 1, Once again director Chris Columbus takes a hatinhand approach to Rowling that stifles creativity and allows the film to drag on for nearly three hours 1, Serving Sara is little more than a mall movie designed to kill time 1, Too smart to ignore but a little too smugly superior to like this could be a movie that ends up slapping its target audience in the face by shooting itself in the foot 2, A wellmade but emotionally scattered film whose hero gives his heart only to the dog 1, The most repugnant adaptation of a classic text since Roland Joffé and Demi Moore 's The Scarlet Letter 2, The isolated moments of creative insanity finally are lost in the thin soup of canned humor 2, As a movie it never seems fresh and vital 1, It never plays as dramatic even when dramatic things happen to people 1, It labours as storytelling 0, The Adventures of Pluto Nash is a whole lot of nada 1, A really good premise is frittered away in middleoftheroad blandness 1, Lawrence should stick to his day job 3, He 's a better actor than a standup comedian 0, Despite the fact that this film was n't as bad as I thought it was going to be it 's still not a good movie 3, A well made indieflick in need of some trims and a more chemistry between its stars 1, I never thought I 'd say this but I 'd much rather watch teens poking their genitals into fruit pies 3, A film neither bitter nor sweet neither romantic nor comedic neither warm nor fuzzy 0, Tiresomely derivative and hammily acted 0, We never truly come to care about the main characters and whether or not they 'll wind up together and Michele 's spiritual quest is neither amusing nor dramatic enough to sustain interest 1, The plot grows thin soon and you find yourself praying for a quick resolution 1, Too bad Maggio could n't come up with a better script 1, Much of the cast is stiff or just plain bad 1, Rice is too pedestrian a filmmaker to bring any edge or personality to The Rising Place that would set it apart from other Deep South stories 1, At best Cletis Tout might inspire a trip to the video store in search of a better movie experience 1, Witless pointless tasteless and idiotic 1, Not really a thriller so much as a movie for teens to laugh groan and hiss at 0, As plain and pedestrian as catsup 3, An improvement on the feeble examples of bigscreen Pokemania that have preceded it 2, I know we 're not supposed to take it seriously but I ca n't shake the thought that Undercover Brother missed an opportunity to strongly present some profound social commentary 2, Your stomach for Heaven depends largely on your appetite for canned corn 2, A picture as erratic as its central character 1, Whatever satire Lucky Break was aiming for it certainly got lost in the soontobeforgettable '' section of the quirky ripoff prison romp pile 0, It 's petty thievery like this that puts flimsy flicks like this behind bars 1, The package in which this fascinating and timely content comes wrapped is disappointingly generic 1, Guys say mean things and shoot a lot of bullets 0, Some of the characters die and others do n't and the film pretends that those living have learned some sort of lesson and really nobody in the viewing audience cares 1, Wildly incompetent but brilliantly named Half Past Dead or for Seagal pessimists Totally Past His Prime 0, Just another combination of bad animation and mindless violence lacking the slightest bit of wit or charm 0, All the movie 's narrative gymnastics ca n't disguise the fact that it 's inauthentic at its core and that its story just is n't worth telling 0, Much like its easily dismissive take on the upscale lifestyle there is n't much there here 1, The film ultimately offers nothing more than people in an urban jungle needing other people to survive 1, For all its shootouts fistfights and car chases this movie is a phlegmatic bore so tedious it makes the silly spy vs spy film The Sum of All Fears starring Ben Affleck seem downright Hitchcockian 1, This mildmannered farce directed by one of its writers John C Walsh is corny in a way that bespeaks an expiration date passed a long time ago 1, A bit too eager to please 1, You 'd be hard put to find a movie character more unattractive or odorous LRB than Leon RRB 1, Kapur 's contradictory feelings about his material result in a movie that works against itself 3, the road paved with good intentions leads to the video store '' 1, Animated drivel meant to enhance the selfimage of drooling idiots 1, One scene after another in this supposedly funny movie falls to the floor with a sickening thud 0, The Château is never quite able to overcome the cultural moat surrounding its ludicrous and contrived plot ' 2, Meyjes focuses too much on Max when he should be filling the screen with this tortured dull artist and monsterinthe making 1, Jacobi the most fluent of actors is given relatively dry material from Nijinsky 's writings to perform and the visuals even erotically frank ones become dullingly repetitive 3, Crudup 's screen presence is the one thing that holds interest in the midst of a mushy existential exploration of why men leave their families 2, There is one surefire way to get a nomination for a bestforeignfilm Oscar Make a movie about whimsical folk who learn a nonchallenging lifeaffirming lesson while walking around a foreign city with stunning architecture 0, Despite terrific special effects and funnier gags Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets finds a way to make JK Rowling 's marvelous series into a deadly bore 1, An incredibly narrow injoke targeted to the tiniest segment of an already obscure demographic 1, The only thing I laughed at were the people who paid to see it 1, All of the elements are in place for a great film noir but director George Hickenlooper 's approach to the material is too upbeat 1, The hackneyed story about an affluent damsel in distress who decides to fight her bully of a husband is simply too overdone 2, the phone rings and a voice tells you you 've got seven days left to live 1, Then you get another phone call warning you that if the video is n't back at Blockbuster before midnight you 're going to face frightening late fees 2, OK not really 1, Possibly the most irresponsible picture ever released by a major film studio 2, The film 's overall mood and focus is interesting but constantly unfulfilling 0, a cheap ludicrous attempt at serious horror 0, Those of you who are not an eighth grade girl will most likely doze off during this one 1, Befuddled in its characterizations as it begins to seem as long as the two year affair which is its subject 2, From beginning to end this overheated melodrama plays like a student film 1, The movie would seem less of a trifle if Ms Sugarman followed through on her defiance of the saccharine 1, It 's just not very smart 1, Like the excruciating End of Days Collateral Damage presents Schwarzenegger as a tragic figure but sympathy really belongs with any viewer forced to watch him try out so many complicated facial expressions 0, Imagine LRB if possible RRB a Pasolini film without passion or politics or an Almodovar movie without beauty or humor and you have some idea of the glum numb experience of watching O Fantasma 2, In trying to be daring and original it comes off as only occasionally satirical and never fresh 0, punitive minutes of eardrumdicing gunplay screechingmetal smashups and flaccid oddcouple sniping 1, Sadly though many of the actors throw off a spark or two when they first appear they ca n't generate enough heat in this cold vacuum of a comedy to start a reaction 0, Never capitalizes on this concept and opts for the breezy and amateurish feel of an after school special on the subject of tolerance 1, After a while Hoffman 's quirks and mannerisms particularly his penchant for tearing up on cue things that seem so real in small doses become annoying and artificial 1, This wretchedly unfunny wannabe comedy is inane and awful no doubt it 's the worst movie I 've seen this summer 1, It 's drab 0, It 's uninteresting 1, It squanders Chan 's uniqueness it could even be said to squander Jennifer Love Hewitt 1, The movie keeps coming back to the achingly unfunny Phonce and his several silly subplots 1, This tale has been told and retold the races and rackets change but the song remains the same 0, A surprisingly flat retread hobbled by halfbaked setups and sluggish pacing 1, Forget the Psychology study of romantic obsession and just watch the procession of costumes in castles and this wo n't seem like such a bore 0, A film that should be relegated to a dark video store corner is somehow making its way instead to theaters 0, It 's hard to imagine acting that could be any flatter 0, New ways of describing badness need to be invented to describe exactly how bad it is 0, Lots of effort and intelligence are on display but in execution it is all awkward static and lifeless rumblings 4, When cowering and begging at the feet a scruffy Giannini Madonna gives her best performance since Abel Ferrara had her beaten to a pulp in his Dangerous Game 1, I suspect that there are more interesting ways of dealing with the subject 1, The film itself is about something very interesting and odd that would probably work better as a real documentary without the insinuation of mediocre acting or a fairly trite narrative 2, An unintentional parody of every teen movie made in the last five years 2, Only for young children if them 0, Their parents would do well to cram earplugs in their ears and put pillowcases over their heads for minutes 1, For all its violence the movie is remarkably dull with only Caine making much of an impression 2, No matter how firmly director John Stainton has his tongue in his cheek the fact remains that a wacky concept does not a movie make 1, A subformulaic slap in the face to seasonal cheer 2, The action is reasonably welldone yet story character and comedy bits are too ragged to ever fit smoothly together 0, Several uninteresting unlikeable people do bad things to and with each other in Unfaithful '' 0, Why anyone who is not a character in this movie should care is beyond me 1, Hill looks to be going through the motions beginning with the pale script 3, Howard conjures the past via surrealist flourishes so overwrought you 'd swear he just stepped out of a Buñuel retrospective 2, The best thing that can be said of the picture is that it does have a few cute moments 0, It 's not a bad premise just a bad movie 0, An already thin story boils down to surviving invaders seeking an existent antivirus 2, If only there were one for this kind of movie 1, By the time the surprise ending is revealed interest can not be revived 0, The heedless impetuousness of youth is on full irritating display in LRB this RRB meandering and pointless French comingofage import from writerdirector AnneSophie Birot 0, A peculiar misfire that even Tunney ca n't save 1, Watching Queen of the Damned is like reading a research paper with special effects tossed in 1, I ca n't remember the last time I saw worse stunt editing or cheaper action movie production values than in Extreme Ops 1, Too much of Nemesis has a tired talky feel 1, I felt trapped and with no obvious escape for the entire minutes 2, When Mr Hundert tells us in his narration that this is a story without surprises ' we nod in agreement 1, Leaves us wondering less about its ideas and more about its characterization of Hitler and the contrived nature of its provocative conclusion 0, It is that rare combination of bad writing bad direction and bad acting the trifecta of badness 2, Each scene wreaks of routine the film never manages to generate a single threat of suspense 1, A soulless jumble of ineptly assembled cliches and pabulum that plays like a minute commercial for NBA properties 0, Borstal Boy represents the worst kind of filmmaking the kind that pretends to be passionate and truthful but is really frustratingly timid and soggy 0, The film 's lack of personality permeates all its aspects from the TV movieesque affected child acting to the dullest Irish pub scenes ever filmed 1, works on the whodunit level as its larger themes get lost in the murk of its own making 0, Crush could be the worst film a man has made about women since Valley of the Dolls 3, Ever has the same sledgehammer appeal as Pokemon videos but it breathes more on the big screen and induces headaches more slowly 1, Feels like the work of someone who may indeed have finally aged past his prime and perhaps more than he realizes just wants to be liked by the people who can still give him work 2, Trailer park Magnolia too long too cutesy too sure of its own importance and possessed of that peculiar tension of being too dense & about nothing at all 1, Viewers of Barney 's crushingly selfindulgent spectacle will see nothing in it to match the ordeal of sitting through it 2, its stupidities wind up sticking in one 's mind a lot more than the cool bits 1, Sayles once again strands his superb performers in the same old story 1, The Piano Teacher like its title character is repellantly out of control 0, I have to admit I walked out of Runteldat 0, I did go back and check out the last minutes but these were more repulsive than the first or minutes 2, The filmmakers lack the nerve to fully exploit the script 's potential for sick humor 2, The film was n't preachy but it was feminism by the book 2, the same tired old gags modernized for the extreme sports generation 0, There 's already been too many of these films 3, Several of Steven Soderbergh 's earlier films were hailed as the works of an artist 1, Sadly Full Frontal plays like the work of a dilettante 1, Clockstoppers is one of those crazy mixedup films that does n't know what it wants to be when it grows up 2, Although bright wellacted and thoughtprovoking Tuck Everlasting suffers from a laconic pace and a lack of traditional action 0, The War of the Roses ' trailertrash style 2, Entertaining but like shooting fish in a barrel 1, Supposedly Pokemon ca n't be killed but Pokemon Ever practically assures that the pocket monster movie franchise is nearly ready to keel over 1, White has n't developed characters so much as caricatures onedimensional buffoons that get him a few laughs but nothing else 2, When you resurrect a dead man Hard Copy should come aknocking no 2, Cattaneo should have followed the runaway success of his first film The Full Monty with something different 0, The film feels formulaic its plot and pacing typical Hollywood warmovie stuff while the performances elicit more of a sense of deja vu than awe 0, This overproduced piece of dreck is shockingly bad and absolutely unnecessary 1, Hmmm might I suggest that the wayward wooden one end it all by stuffing himself into an electric pencil sharpener 1, The makers of Mothman Prophecies succeed in producing that most frightening of all movies a mediocre horror film too bad to be good and too good to be bad 0, Mr Deeds is not really a film as much as it is a loose collection of notsofunny gags scattered moments of lazy humor 1, How this one escaped the Lifetime network I 'll never know 1, Could n't someone take Rob Schneider and have him switch bodies with a funny person 1, One of these days Hollywood will come up with an original idea for a teen movie but until then there 's always these rehashes to feed to the younger generations 1, For all its brilliant touches Dragon loses its fire midway nearly flickering out by its perfunctory conclusion 1, I have to admit that I am baffled by Jason X 0, A meanspirited film made by someone who surely read The Catcher in the Rye but clearly suffers from dyslexia 1, Instead of a witty expose on the banality and hypocrisy of too much kidvid we get an ugly meanspirited lashing out by an adult who 's apparently been forced by his kids to watch too many Barney videos 1, This is a film living far too much in its own head 2, The umpteenth summer skinny dip in Jerry Bruckheimer 's putrid pond of retread action twaddle 2, National Lampoon 's Van Wilder may aim to be the next Animal House but it more closely resembles this year 's version of Tomcats 2, The film thrusts the inchoate but already eldritch Christian Right propaganda machine into national media circles 1, Dogtown is hollow selfindulgent and worst of all boring 0, A movie so bad that it quickly enters the pantheon of wreckage that includes Battlefield Earth and Showgirls 2, More of a career curio than a major work 0, It 's just too bad the screenwriters eventually shoot themselves in the feet with cop flick cliches like an oily arms dealer squad car pileups and the requisite screaming captain 2, Cox is far more concerned with aggrandizing madness not the man and the results might drive you crazy 0, To be influenced chiefly by humanity 's greatest shame reality shows reality shows for God 's sake 1, is a crime that should be punishable by chainsaw 2, As we have come to learn as many times as we have fingers to count on Jason is a killer who does n't know the meaning of the word quit ' 2, The filmmakers might want to look it up 0, A frustrating tweener ' too slick contrived and exploitative for the art houses and too cynical small and decadent for the malls 3, What 's surprising about this traditional thriller moderately successful but not completely satisfying is exactly how genteel and unsurprising the execution turns out to be 1, Drowning 's too good for this sucker 1, An instantly forgettable snowandstuntwork extravaganza that likely will be upstaged by an avalanche of more appealing holidayseason product 1, Frankly it 's pretty stupid 2, I had more fun with Ben Stiller 's Zoolander which I thought was rather clever 1, But there 's plenty to offend everyone 1, Love Liza is a festival film that would have been better off staying on the festival circuit 2, There are things to like about Murder By Numbers but in the end the disparate elements do n't gel 2, tackling a lowbudget movie in which inexperienced children play the two main characters might not be the best way to cut your teeth in the film industry 0, Quite frankly I ca n't see why any actor of talent would ever work in a McCulloch production again if they looked at how this movie turned out 0, My precious new Star Wars movie is a lumbering wheezy drag 2, The innocence of holiday cheer ai n't what it used to be 1, Too campy to work as straight drama and too violent and sordid to function as comedy Vulgar is truly and thankfully a oneofakind work 3, Horrid little propaganda film with fascinating connections not only to the Serbs themselves but also to a network of American rightwing extremists 0, Should have gone straight to video 0, It looks like an action movie but it 's so poorly made on all levels that it does n't even qualify as a spoof of such 0, It is supremely unfunny and unentertaining to watch middleage and older men drink to excess piss on trees bs one another and put on a show in drag 1, Consider the film a celluloid litmus test for the intellectual and emotional pedigree of your date and a giant step backward for a director I admire 0, A boring pretentious muddle that uses a sensational reallife thCentury crime as a metaphor for well I 'm not exactly sure what and has all the dramatic weight of a raindrop 1, Sheridan had a wonderful account to work from but curiously he waters it down turning grit and vulnerability into light reading 1, Heavy with flabby rolls of typical Toback machinations 0, It is very difficult to care about the character and that is the central flaw of the film 1, Snow Dogs finds its humour in a black man getting humiliated by a pack of dogs who are smarter than him 1, Whole stretches of the film may be incomprehensible to moviegoers not already clad in basic black 1, Reggio and Glass so rhapsodize cynicism with repetition and languorous slomo sequences that Glass 's dirgelike score becomes a fangbaring lullaby 1, Ends up offering nothing more than the latest Schwarzenegger or Stallone flick would 2, The film makes strong arguments regarding the social status of America 's indigenous people but really only exists to try to eke out an emotional tug of the heart one which it fails to get 2, Charlize CHASES Kevin with a GUN 2, Courtney CHASES Stuart with a CELL PHONE 2, The sound of GUNFIRE and cell phones RINGING 1, If The Tuxedo actually were a suit it would fit Chan like a $ bargainbasement special 1, Parents beware this is downright movie penance 0, a complete shambles of a movie so sloppy so uneven so damn unpleasant that I ca n't believe any viewer young or old would have a good time here 1, Has nothing good to speak about other than the fact that it is relatively short tries its best to hide the fact that Seagal 's overweight and out of shape 1, A pathetically inane and unimaginative cross between XXX and Vertical Limit 2, Impeccably filmed sexually charged but ultimately lacking in substance not to mention dragged down by a leaden closing act 0, Feels at times like a giant commercial for Universal Studios where much of the action takes place 2, While the mystery unravels the characters respond by hitting on each other 1, Britney Spears ' phoniness is nothing compared to the movie 's contrived lame screenplay and listless direction 0, Every sequel you skip will be two hours gained 2, Consider this review lifeaffirming 2, If the movie were all comedy it might work better 1, But it has an ambition to say something about its subjects but not a willingness 2, The movie while beautiful feels labored with a hint of the writing exercise about it 1, Twentythree movies into a mostly magnificent directorial career Clint Eastwood 's efficiently minimalist style finally has failed him 2, Big time 2, This heist flick about young Brooklyn hoods is off the shelf after two years to capitalize on the popularity of Vin Diesel Seth Green and Barry Pepper 1, It should have stayed there 2, The film has a childlike quality about it 1, But the feelings evoked in the film are lukewarm and quick to pass 1, The most opaque selfindulgent and just plain goofy an excuse for a movie as you can imagine 2, It 's not a film to be taken literally on any level but its focus always appears questionable 0, Big Fat Liar is little more than Home Alone raised to a new selfdeprecating level 2, The movie is gorgeously made but it is also somewhat shallow and artconscious 2, The only time Crazy Nights comes close to hitting a comedic or satirical target is during the offbeat musical numbers 0, Loses its sense of humor in a vat of failed jokes twitchy acting and general boorishness 1, There 's a delightfully quirky movie to be made from curling but Brooms is n't it 0, The story suffers a severe case of oversimplification superficiality and silliness 4, Chamber of Secrets will find millions of eager fans 0, But if the essence of magic is its makebelieve promise of life that soars above the material realm this is the opposite of a truly magical movie 3, Too clever by about ninetenths 1, Has all the hallmarks of a movie designed strictly for children 's home video a market so insatiable it absorbs all manner of lame entertainment as long as yearolds find it diverting 1, Bears about as much resemblance to the experiences of most battered women as SpiderMan does to the experiences of most teenagers 1, Toward the end Sum of All Fears morphs into a mundane 's disaster flick 3, Director Carl Franklin so crisp and economical in One False Move bogs down in genre cliches here 1, Mendes still does n't quite know how to fill a frame 1, Like the Hanks character he 's a slow study The action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed 0, This thing is just garbage 2, As crimes go writerdirector Michael Kalesniko 's How to Kill Your Neighbor 's Dog is slight but unendurable 0, There must be an audience that enjoys the Friday series but I would n't be interested in knowing any of them personally 3, A bold LRB and lovely RRB experiment that will almost certainly bore most audiences into their own brightly colored dreams 2, An uplifting largely bogus story 1, An empty exercise a florid but ultimately vapid crime melodrama with lots of surface flash but little emotional resonance 1, If you are curious to see the darker side of what 's going on with young TV actors LRB Dawson Leery did what RRB or see some interesting storytelling devices you might want to check it out but there 's nothing very attractive about this movie 0, My own minority report is that it stinks 1, Trying to make head or tail of the story in the hiphop indie Snipes is enough to give you brain strain and the payoff is negligible 3, The script is high on squaddie banter low on shocks 0, if you like me think an action film disguised as a war tribute is disgusting to begin with then you 're in for a painful ride 1, While Solondz tries and tries hard Storytelling fails to provide much more insight than the inside column of a torn book jacket 1, With very little to add beyond the dark visions already relayed by superb recent predecessors like Swimming With Sharks and The Player this latest skewering may put off insiders and outsiders alike 1, LRB Davis RRB wants to cause his audience an epiphany yet he refuses to give us real situations and characters 1, Without a fresh infusion of creativity Ever is neither a promise nor a threat so much as wishful thinking 0, unlike LRB Scorsese 's Mean Streets RRB Ash Wednesday is essentially devoid of interesting characters or even a halfway intriguing plot 1, Being unique does n't necessarily equate to being good no matter how admirably the filmmakers have gone for broke 1, A few hours after you 've seen it you forget you 've been to the movies 3, waydowntown may not be an important movie or even a good one but it provides a nice change of mindless pace in collision with the hot Oscar season currently underway 0, Yes I suppose it 's lovely that Cal works out his issues with his dad and comes to terms with his pictureperfect life but World Traveler gave me no reason to care so I did n't 2, Shadyac who belongs with the damned for perpetrating Patch Adams trots out every ghost trick from The Sixth Sense to The Mothman Prophecies 2, The photographer 's showdon ttell stance is admirable but it can make him a problematic documentary subject 0, It is not the first time that director Sara Sugarman stoops to having characters drop their pants for laughs and not the last time she fails to provoke them 1, I 'd be hard pressed to think of a film more cloyingly sappy than Evelyn this year 0, Nothing more than an amiable but unfocused bagatelle that plays like a looselyconnected string of actingworkshop exercises 2, meanders between its powerful moments 0, What remains is a variant of the nincompoop Benigni persona here a more annoying though less angry version of the irresponsible Sandlerian manchild undercut by the voice of the star of Road Trip 1, A backhanded ode to female camaraderie penned by a man who has little clue about either the nature of women or of friendship 2, Pure of intention and passably diverting His Secret Life is light innocuous and unremarkable 2, delivers few moments of inspiration amid the bland animation and simplistic story 0, Take away the controversy and it 's not much more watchable than a Mexican soap opera 1, It 's got the brawn but not the brains 1, Mindless and boring martial arts and gunplay with too little excitement and zero compelling storyline 0, A lot of talent is wasted in this crass lowwattage endeavor 2, To show these characters in the act and give them no feelings of remorse and to cut repeatedly to the flashback of the original rape is overkill to the highest degree 1, LRB T RRB oo many of these gross out scenes 1, About one in three gags in White 's intermittently wise script hits its mark the rest are padding unashamedly appropriated from the teenexploitation playbook 1, Little is done to support the premise other than fling gags at it to see which ones shtick 2, Reno does what he can in a thankless situation the film ricochets from humor to violence and back again and Ryoko Hirosue makes us wonder if she is always like that 2, If Jews were Catholics this would be Catechism 1, One of those films that seems tailor made to air on pay cable to offer some modest amusements when one has nothing else to watch 3, The big ending surprise almost saves the movie 2, It 's too bad that the rest is n't more compelling 2, Charming if overly complicated 2, Schneider 's mugging is relentless and his constant need to suddenly transpose himself into another character undermines the story 's continuity and progression 2, All very stylish and beautifully photographed but far more trouble than it 's worth with fantasy mixing with reality and actors playing more than one role just to add to the confusion 0, It 's probably not easy to make such a worthless film 2, Hope keeps arising that the movie will live up to the apparent skills of its makers and the talents of its actors but it does n't 0, Has no reason to exist other than to employ Hollywood kids and people who owe favors to their famous parents 0, For a guy who has waited three years with breathless anticipation for a new Hal Hartley movie to pore over No Such Thing is a big letdown 0, Constantly slips from the grasp of its maker 2, Smothered by its own solemnity 1, Christian Bale 's Quinn LRB is RRB a leather clad grungepirate with a hairdo like Gandalf in a windtunnel and a simply astounding corblimeyluvaduck cockney accent ' 2, Might be one of those vanity projects in which a renowned filmmaker attempts to show off his talent by surrounding himself with untalented people 0, After you laugh once LRB maybe twice RRB you will have completely forgotten the movie by the time you get back to your car in the parking lot 2, Not one moment in the enterprise did n't make me want to lie down in a dark room with something cool to my brow 1, In the era of The Sopranos it feels painfully redundant and inauthentic 1, The overall vibe is druggy and selfindulgent like a springbreak orgy for pretentious arts majors 1, Breen 's script is sketchy with actorish notations on the margin of acting 2, There 's no question that Epps scores once or twice but it 's telling that his funniest moment comes when he falls about ten feet onto his head 1, If only Merchant paid more attention the story 0, At the onehour mark Herzog simply runs out of ideas and the pace turns positively leaden as the movie sputters to its inevitable tragic conclusion 1, too contrived to be as naturally charming as it needs to be 1, A simpler leaner treatment would have been preferable after all being about nothing is sometimes funnier than being about something 1, The characters are based on stock clichés and the attempt to complicate the story only defies credibility 1, Everything about it from the bland songs to the colorful but flat drawings is completely serviceable and quickly forgettable 3, Not the Great American Comedy but if you liked the previous movies in the series you 'll have a good time with this one too 1, A domestic melodrama with weak dialogue and biopic cliches 0, Mr Goyer 's loose unaccountable direction is technically sophisticated in the worst way 3, The movie is so thoughtlessly assembled 2, Benigni presents himself as the boy puppet Pinocchio complete with receding hairline weathered countenance and American Breckin Meyer 's ridiculously inappropriate Valley Boy voice 1, plays like some corny television production from a bygone era 1, The end result is like cold porridge with only the odd enjoyably chewy lump 3, For all the charm of Kevin Kline and a story that puts oldfashioned values under the microscope there 's something creepy about this movie 1, I was feeling this movie until it veered off too far into the Exxon zone and left me behind at the station looking for a return ticket to realism 3, Producer John Penotti surveyed high school students and came back with the astonishing revelation that they wanted to see something that did n't talk down to them '' 1, Ignoring that he made Swimfan anyway 1, Naipaul fans may be disappointed 1, Those who are not acquainted with the author 's work on the other hand may fall fast asleep 1, Hoffman waits too long to turn his movie in an unexpected direction and even then his tone retains a genteel prepschool quality that feels dusty and leatherbound 2, If you 're a Crocodile Hunter fan you 'll enjoy at least the real '' portions of the film 1, If you 're looking for a story do n't bother 1, Full Frontal had no effect and elicited no sympathies for any of the characters 0, By that measure it is a failure 1, A baffling mixed platter of gritty realism and magic realism with a hardtoswallow premise 1, An affable but undernourished romantic comedy that fails to match the freshness of the actressproducer and writer 's previous collaboration Miss Congeniality 2, Sometimes this modest little number clicks and sometimes it does n't 1, Like a pack of dynamite sticks built for controversy 2, The film is explosive but a few of those sticks are wet 2, Has its charming quirks and its dull spots 1, An admitted egomaniac Evans is no Hollywood villain and yet this grating showcase almost makes you wish he 'd gone the way of Don Simpson 1, The audience when I saw this one was chuckling at all the wrong times and that 's a bad sign when they 're supposed to be having a collective heart attack 1, Everyone 's to blame here 1, You get the impression that writer and director Burr Steers knows the territory but his sense of humor has yet to lose the smug selfsatisfaction usually associated with the better private schools 1, Less a study in madness or love than a study in schoolgirl obsession 1, Rice never clearly defines his characters or gives us a reason to care about them 2, It 's a bizarre curiosity memorable mainly for the way it fritters away its potentially interesting subject matter via a banal script unimpressive acting and indifferent direction 2, A slight and obvious effort even for one whose target demographic is likely still in the single digits agewise 2, Sex With Strangers will shock many with its unblinking frankness 1, But what is missing from it all is a moral 2, What is the filmmakers ' point 1, Why did they deem it necessary to document all this emotional misery 2, You see Robin Williams and psycho killer and you think hmmmmm 0, You see the movie and you think zzzzzzzzz 0, Downright transparent is the script 's endless assault of embarrassingly hamfisted sex jokes that reek of a script rewrite designed to garner the film a cooler '' PG rating 0, The movie slides downhill as soon as macho action conventions assert themselves 1, Formulaic to the st power more like 2, Draggin ' about dragons 1, Howard and his costars all give committed performances but they 're often undone by Howard 's selfconscious attempts to find a literary ' filmmaking style to match his subject 2, A respectable but uninspired thriller that 's intelligent and considered in its details but ultimately weak in its impact 2, Jones helps breathe some life into the insubstantial plot but even he is overwhelmed by predictability 2, The movie just has too much on its plate to really stay afloat for its just under ninety minute running time 1, Comes off more like a misdemeanor a flat unconvincing drama that never catches fire 1, Offers absolutely nothing I had n't already seen 0, Analyze That '' is one of those crass contrived sequels that not only fails on its own but makes you secondguess your affection for the original 2, You might say Tykwer has done all that Heaven allows if you wanted to make as antiKieslowski a pun as possible 1, Suffice to say its total promise is left slightly unfulfilled 1, Complex sinuously plotted and somehow offputtingly cold 3, Firsttime writerdirector Dylan Kidd also has a good ear for dialogue and the characters sound like real people 0, an airless prepackaged Julia Roberts wannabe that stinks so badly of hardsell imagemongering you 'll wonder if Lopez 's publicist should share screenwriting credit 0, Goldmember has none of the visual wit of the previous pictures and it looks as though Jay Roach directed the film from the back of a taxicab 1, Could as easily have been called Under Siege In Alcatraz ' a cinematic corpse that never springs to life 0, In comparison to his earlier films it seems a disappointingly thin slice of lowerclass London life despite the title amounts to surprisingly little 1, Lame Sweet Home leaves no Southern stereotype unturned 2, Slow dry poorly cast but beautifully shot 0, The jokes are sophomoric stereotypes are sprinkled everywhere and the acting ranges from bad to bodacious 3, Will give many ministers and Biblestudy groups hours of material to discuss 1, But mainstream audiences will find little of interest in this film which is often preachy and poorly acted 1, In its chicken heart Crush goes to absurd lengths to duck the very issues it raises 0, This long and relentlessly saccharine film is a clear case of preaching to the converted 1, The film is flat 1, The movie is a lumbering load of hokum but it 's at least watchable 2, It 's a boombox of a movie that might have been titled The Loud and the Ludicrous ' the pandering to a moviegoing audience dominated by young males is all too calculated 1, An unbelievably stupid film though occasionally fun enough to make you forget its absurdity 0, The first Fatal Attraction was vile enough 1, Do we really need the Tiger Beat version 1, This Bond film goes off the beaten path not necessarily for the better 1, The problem is that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not 1, When the fire burns out we 've only come facetoface with a couple dragons and that 's where the film ultimately fails 2, It would work much better as a onehour TV documentary 1, The elements were all there but lack of a pyschological center knocks it flat 2, Anemic chronicle of money grubbing New Yorkers and their serial loveless hook ups 2, Simply does n't have sufficient heft to justify its twohour running time 1, An unsuccessful attempt at a movie of ideas 1, Queen of the Damned as you might have guessed makes sorry use of Aaliyah in her one and only starring role she does little here but point at things that explode into flame 1, This toothless Dog already on cable loses all bite on the big screen 0, It made me feel unclean and I 'm the guy who liked There 's Something About Mary and both American Pie movies 2, Oh and Booty Call 1, Not only is it hokey manipulative and as bland as Wonder Bread dipped in milk but it also does the absolute last thing we need Hollywood doing to us It preaches 1, It 's so crammed with scenes and vistas and pretty moments that it 's left a few crucial things out like character development and coherence 1, Serving Sara should be served an eviction notice at every theater stuck with it 2, Director Roger Michell does so many of the little things right that it 's difficult not to cuss him out severely for bungling the big stuff 0, A loud lowbudget and tired formula film that arrives cloaked in the euphemism urban drama ' 0, The movie has a script LRB by Paul Pender RRB made of wood and it 's relentlessly folksy a procession of stagy set pieces stacked with binary oppositions 0, A pathetic exploitation film that tries to seem sincere and just seems worse for the effort 1, At some point all this visual trickery stops being clever and devolves into flashy vaguely silly overkill 1, Despite some charm and heart this quirky soccer import is forgettable 1, Meyjes 's movie like Max Rothman 's future does not work 1, What 's needed so badly but what is virtually absent here is either a saving dark humor or the feel of poetic tragedy 1, Schneidermeister Makin ' a fool of himself Losin ' his fan base 2, An ambitious serious film that manages to do virtually everything wrong sitting through it is something akin to an act of cinematic penance 1, Not once does it come close to being exciting 2, A Frankenstein mishmash that careens from dark satire to cartoonish slapstick Bartleby performs neither one very well 2, It plays like a bigbudget afterschool special with a generous cast who at times lift the material from its wellmeaning clunkiness 2, There 's something not entirely convincing about The Quiet American 2, And that holds true for both the movie and the title character played by Brendan Fraser 0, One of those strained caper movies that 's hardly any fun to watch and begins to vaporize from your memory minutes after it ends 1, Needed a little less blingbling and a lot more romance 2, The ending does n't work but most of the movie works so well I 'm almost recommending it anyway maybe not to everybody but certainly to people with a curiosity about how a movie can go very right and then step wrong 1, It 's hard to believe these jokers are supposed to have pulled off four similar kidnappings before 1, I 'm not exactly sure what this movie thinks it is about 1, Cal is an unpleasantly shallow and immature character with whom to spend claustrophobic minutes 2, So brisk is Wang 's pacing that none of the excellent cast are given air to breathe 1, The bottom line at least in my opinion is Imposter makes a better short story than it does a film 2, Some elements of it really blow the big one but other parts are decent 1, It is just too bad the film 's story does not live up to its style 1, Unless you 're a fanatic the best advice is Scooby ' do n't 1, A cautionary tale about the folly of superficiality that is itself endlessly superficial 2, For single digits kidlets Stuart Little is still a no brainer 1, If you 're looking to rekindle the magic of the first film you 'll need a stronger stomach than us 1, Shreve 's graceful dual narrative gets clunky on the screen and we keep getting torn away from the compelling historical tale to a lesscompelling soap opera 1, Contains a few big laughs but many more that graze the funny bone or miss it altogether in part because the consciously dumbeddown approach wears thin 1, Nothing more than a widget cranked out on an assembly line to see if stupid Americans will get a kick out of goofy Brits with cute accents performing agesold slapstick and unfunny tricks 1, This is a film tailormade for those who when they were in high school would choose the CliffNotes over reading a fulllength classic 1, The movie is undone by a filmmaking methodology that 's just experimental enough to alienate the mainstream audience while ringing cliched to hardened indieheads 1, A jumbled fantasy comedy that did not figure out a coherent game plan at scripting shooting or postproduction stages 1, A sad and rote exercise in milking a playedout idea a straight guy has to dress up in drag that shockingly manages to be even worse than its title would imply 2, Personal Velocity ought to be exploring these women 's inner lives but it never moves beyond their surfaces 1, We hate LRB Madonna RRB within the film 's first five minutes and she lacks the skill or presence to regain any ground 1, Sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a physique to match LRB Ahola RRB has a wooden delivery and encounters a substantial arc of change that does n't produce any real transformation 1, Two big things are missing anything approaching a visceral kick and anything approaching even a vague reason to sit through it all 2, A fascinating but choppy documentary 0, Scarcely worth a mention apart from reporting on the number of tumbleweeds blowing through the empty theatres graced with its company 2, The doofuson theloose banter of Welcome to Collinwood has a cocky afterhours loopiness to it 1, And as with most latenight bull sessions eventually the content is n't nearly as captivating as the rowdy participants think it is 1, Too stagey talky and long for its own good 1, Apparently reassembled from the cuttingroom floor of any given daytime soap 0, The sinister inspiration that fuelled DeVito 's early work is confused in Death to Smoochy into something both ugly and mindless 1, Despite Auteuil 's performance it 's a rather listless amble down the middle of the road where the thematic ironies are too obvious and the sexual politics too smug 2, Director Boris von Sychowski instead opts for a routine slasher film that was probably more fun to make than it is to sit through 2, little more than a wellacted television melodrama shot for the big screen 1, Never comes together as a coherent whole 1, An unintentionally surreal kid 's picture in which actors in bad bear suits enact a sort of interspecies parody of a VH Behind the Music episode 1, First for a movie that tries to be smart it 's kinda dumb 1, And second what 's with all the shooting 0, Do n't even bother to rent this on video 1, There is something in Full Frontal I guess about artifice and acting and how it distorts reality for people who make movies and watch them but like most movie riddles it works only if you have an interest in the characters you see 0, This is the kind of movie that gets a quick release before real contenders arrive in September 0, Not counting a few grossout comedies I 've been trying to forget this is the first film in a long time that made me want to bolt the theater in the first minutes 1, Plays like one long meandering sketch inspired by the works of John Waters and Todd Solondz rather than a fully developed story 0, The film does n't have enough innovation or pizazz to attract teenagers and it lacks the novel charm that made Spy Kids a surprising winner with both adults and younger audiences 1, A mawkish selfparody that plays like some weird Masterpiece Theater sketch with neither a point of view nor a compelling reason for being 1, An average Bmovie with no aspirations to be anything more 2, Bartlett 's hero remains a reactive cipher when opening the man 's head and heart is the only imaginable reason for the film to be made 2, Gibney and Jarecki just want to string the bastard up 1, The plot is plastered with one Hollywood cliche after another most of which involve precocious kids getting the better of obnoxious adults 2, Less worrying about covering all the drama in Frida 's life and more time spent exploring her process of turning pain into art would have made this a superior movie 1, A film that suffers because of its many excesses 1, Too bland and fustily tasteful to be truly prurient 1, In any case I would recommend Big Bad Love only to Winger fans who have missed her since 's Forget Paris 1, But even then I 'd recommend waiting for DVD and just skipping straight to her scenes 0, Depicts the sorriest and most sordid of human behavior on the screen then laughs at how clever it 's being 1, Nijinsky says ' I know how to suffer ' and if you see this film you 'll know too 1, CQ may one day be fondly remembered as Roman Coppola 's brief pretentious period before going on to other films that actually tell a story worth caring about 0, The only thing scary about feardotcom is that the filmmakers and studio are brazen enough to attempt to pass this stinker off as a scary movie 1, the story simply putters along looking for astute observations and coming up blank 1, Instead of contriving a climactic hero 's death for the belovedmajor characterwhoshall remainnameless why not invite some genuine spontaneity into the film by having the evil aliens ' laser guns actually hit something for once 0, It just did n't mean much to me and played too skewed to ever get a hold on LRB or be entertained by RRB 1, This actionthriller\/dark comedy is one of the most repellent things to pop up in a cinematic year already littered with celluloid garbage 0, MIB II is a movie that makes it possible for the viewer to doze off for a few minutes or make several runs to the concession stand and\/or restroom and not feel as if he or she has missed anything 1, That 's because relatively nothing happens 0, No amount of arty theorizing the special effects are GermanExpressionist ' according to the press notes can render it anything but laughable 1, Blue Crush follows the formula but throws in too many conflicts to keep the story compelling 1, Boyd 's screenplay LRB cowritten with Guardian hack Nick Davies RRB has a florid turn of phrase that owes more to Guy Ritchie than the Bard of Avon 1, There 's not a spark of new inspiration in it just more of the same done with noticeably less energy and imagination 1, Jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder 1, A moving picture that does not move 2, Ruhroh 1, Romething 's really wrong with this ricture 1, Its salient points are simultaneously buried drowned and smothered in the excesses of writerdirector Roger Avary 0, I 'm not sure these words have ever been together in the same sentence This erotic cannibal movie is boring 1, God help us but Capra and Cooper are rolling over in their graves ' 0, an hourandahalf of inoffensive unmemorable filler 1, Is it a comedy 2, A drama 2, A romance 1, A cartoon 2, Ze movie starts out so funny then she is nothing 2, Did the film inform and educate me 3, Yes 2, Did it move me to care about what happened in Armenia 1, No 1, And that is where Ararat went astray 1, It 's a bad sign in a thriller when you instantly know whodunit 1, Has a customarily jovial air but a deficit of flimflam inventiveness 1, Eight Legged Freaks wo n't join the pantheon of great monster\/science fiction flicks that we have come to love 1, It gets the details of its time frame right but it completely misses its emotions 1, Who exactly is fighting whom here 0, Ah yes that would be me fighting off the urge to doze 1, A kilted Jackson is an unsettling sight and indicative of his if you will outofkilter character who rambles aimlessly through illconceived action pieces 0, Contrived awkward and filled with unintended laughs the film shows signs that someone other than the director got into the editing room and tried to improve things by making the movie go faster 1, Starts out with tremendous promise introducing an intriguing and alluring premise only to fall prey to a boatload of screenwriting cliches that sink it faster than a leaky freighter 1, The film lapses too often into sugary sentiment and withholds delivery on the pellmell pyrotechnics its punchy style promises 1, The only question is to determine how well the schmaltz is manufactured to assess the quality of the manipulative engineering 1, Average at best I 'm afraid 1, This movie is so bad that it 's almost worth seeing because it 's so bad 2, A crisply made movie that is no more than mildly amusing 0, This movie feel more like a nonstop cry for attention than an attempt at any kind of satisfying entertainment 2, Overall it 's a pretty mediocre family film 1, Love may have been in the air onscreen but I certainly was n't feeling any of it 0, In addition to the overcooked hamfisted direction which has all the actors reaching for the back row the dialogue sounds like horrible poetry 1, The very definition of what critics have come to term an ambitious failure '' 0, It 's as if De Palma spent an hour setting a fancy table and then served up Kraft Macaroni and Cheese 1, The movie ends with outtakes in which most of the characters forget their lines and just utter uhhh ' which is better than most of the writing in the movie 1, Worthy of the gong 1, While certainly more naturalistic than its Australian counterpart Amari 's film falls short in building the drama of Lilia 's journey 1, I found the movie as divided against itself as the dysfunctional family it portrays 1, The soulsearching deliberateness of the film although leavened nicely with dry absurdist wit eventually becomes too heavy for the plot 1, The movie does n't add anything fresh to the myth 1, As inept as bigscreen remakes of The Avengers and The Wild Wild West 0, Comes across as a relic from a bygone era and its convolutions feel silly rather than plausible 1, Moves in such odd plot directions and descends into such messagemongering moralism that its good qualities are obscured 3, It 's a very sincere work but it would be better as a diary or documentary 0, Once one experiences Mr Haneke 's own sadistic tendencies toward his audience one is left with a sour taste in one 's mouth and little else 2, Oops she 's really done it this time 0, That chirpy songbird Britney Spears has popped up with more mindless drivel 0, It 's a loathsome movie it really is and it makes absolutely no sense 0, A chiller resolutely without chills 1, For those of us who respond more strongly to storytelling than computergenerated effects the new Star Wars installment has n't escaped the rut dug by the last one 1, The director mostly plays it straight turning Leys ' fable into a listless climb down the social ladder 0, Bad '' is the operative word for Bad Company '' and I do n't mean that in a good way 1, Though Frida is easier to swallow than Julie Taymor 's preposterous Titus the eye candy here lacks considerable brio 3, Drumline is the mere suggestion albeit a visually compelling one of a fully realized story 1, The whole movie is simply a lazy exercise in bad filmmaking that asks you to not only suspend your disbelief but your intelligence as well 2, The film affords us intriguing glimpses of the insights gleaned from a lifetime of spiritual inquiry but Ram Dass Fierce Grace does n't organize it with any particular insight 1, Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro sleepwalk through vulgarities in a sequel you can refuse 1, It 's loud and boring watching it is like being trapped at a bad rock concert 0, Merely LRB and literally RRB tosses around sex toys and offers halfhearted paeans to empowerment that are repeatedly undercut by the brutality of the jokes most at women 's expense 1, If you want a movie time trip the version is a far smoother ride 2, Traffics in the kind of prechewed racial clichés that have already been through the corporate standupcomedy mill 1, The story is forgive me a little thin and the filmmaking clumsy and rushed 0, grows decidedly flimsier with its many outsized out of character and logically porous action set pieces 2, I wish Windtalkers had had more faith in the dramatic potential of this true story 1, This would have been better than the fiction it has concocted and there still could have been room for the war scenes 1, Aggressive selfglorification and a manipulative whitewash 4, Stay for the credits and see a devastating comic impersonation by Dustin Hoffman that is revelatory 1, None of the characters or plotlines are fleshedout enough to build any interest 2, As social exposé Skins has its heart in the right place but that 's not much to hang a soap opera on 0, The whole film has this sneaky feel to it as if the director is trying to dupe the viewer into taking it all as Very Important simply because the movie is ugly to look at and not a Hollywood product 2, There 's a bit of thematic meat on the bones of Queen of the Damned as its origins in an Anne Rice novel dictate but generally it 's a movie that emphasizes style over character and substance 0, The only way to tolerate this insipid brutally clueless film might be with a large dose of painkillers 2, This one is certainly wellmeaning but it 's also simpleminded and contrived 3, Coppola has made a film of intoxicating atmosphere and little else 0, Bad and baffling from the getgo 1, A series of immaculately composed shots of Patch Adams quietly freaking out does not make for much of a movie 1, At a time when we 've learned the hard way just how complex international terrorism is Collateral Damage paints an absurdly simplistic picture 2, The impulses that produced this project are commendable but the results are uneven 2, A wellacted movie that simply does n't gel 0, Like a can of day old Coke 1, You can taste it but there 's no fizz 1, There 's no excuse for following up a delightful wellcrafted family film with a computergenerated cold fish 2, Both the crime story and the love story are unusual 1, But they do n't fit well together and neither is well told 1, It 's both sitcomishly predictable and cloying in its attempts to be poignant 0, Other than a mildly engaging central romance Hospital is sickly entertainment at best and minddestroying cinematic pollution at worst 1, Jaglom offers the nonetoooriginal premise that everyone involved with moviemaking is a con artist and a liar 1, Outside of Burger 's desire to make some kind of film it 's really unclear why this project was undertaken 2, Was I scared 2, Only at the prospect of Beck 's next project 1, Let 's see a haunted house a haunted ship what 's next Ghost Blimp 1, A fragile framework upon which to hang broad mildly fleshedout characters that seem to have been conjured up only minutes prior to filming 0, By the time the plot grinds itself out in increasingly incoherent fashion you might be wishing for a watch that makes time go faster rather than the other way around 2, Since Lee is a sentimentalist the film is more worshipful than your random E 2, True Hollywood Story 1, Wes Craven 's presence is felt not the Craven of ' A Nightmare on Elm Street ' or The Hills Have Eyes ' but the sad schlock merchant of Deadly Friend ' 2, Sunshine State surveys the landscape and assesses the issues with a clear passion for sociology 1, But the cinematography is cloudy the picture making becalmed 1, It 's one long bore 1, It gets old quickly 1, Watch Barbershop again if you 're in need of a Cube fix this is n't worth sitting through 1, It 's leaden and predictable and laughs are lacking 1, a cinematic disaster so inadvertently sidesplitting it 's worth the price of admission for the ridicule factor alone 1, Skip this dreck rent Animal House and go back to the source 0, The movie is a desperate miscalculation 1, It gives poor Dana Carvey nothing to do that is really funny and then expects us to laugh because he acts so goofy all the time 1, We just do n't really care too much about this love story 0, In that setting their struggle is simply too ludicrous and borderline insulting 1, The Transporter bombards the viewer with so many explosions and side snap kicks that it ends up being surprisingly dull 1, Uzumaki 's interesting social parallel and defiant aesthetic seems a prostituted muse 2, Men in Black II creates a new threat for the MIB but recycles the same premise 3, Large budget notwithstanding the movie is such a blip on the year 's radar screen that it 's tempting just to go with it for the ride 1, But this time the old MIB label stands for Milder Is n't Better 1, Feels familiar and tired 1, A retread of material already thoroughly plumbed by Martin Scorsese 0, Instead of making his own style director Marcus Adams just copies from various sources good sources bad mixture 3, Criminal conspiracies and true romances move so easily across racial and cultural lines in the film that it makes My Big Fat Greek Wedding look like an apartheid drama 1, A bore that tends to hammer home every one of its points 0, A story which fails to rise above its disgusting source material 0, It 's fitting that a movie as artificial and soulless as The Country Bears owes its genesis to an animatronic display at Disneyland 0, Starts as an intense political and psychological thriller but is sabotaged by ticking time bombs and other Hollywoodaction cliches 0, Completely creatively stillborn and executed in a manner that I 'm not sure could be a single iota worse a soulless hunk of exploitative garbage 1, An uneven look into a grim future that does n't come close to the level of intelligence and visual splendour that can be seen in other films based on Philip K Dick stories 0, Horrible 0, The disjointed mess flows as naturally as Jolie 's hideous yellow do 3, Bolstered by an astonishing voice cast LRB excepting Love Hewitt RRB an interesting racial tension and a storyline that I have n't encountered since at least Pete 's Dragon 1, An authentically vague but ultimately purposeless study in total pandemonium 0, Makes a joke out of car chases for an hour and then gives us half an hour of car chases 1, As the sulking moody male hustler in the title role LRB Franco RRB has all of Dean 's mannerisms and selfindulgence but none of his sweetness and vulnerability 0, The only thing to fear about Fear Dot Com '' is hitting your head on the theater seat in front of you when you doze off thirty minutes into the film 0, It 's too interested in jerking off in all its Byzantine incarnations to bother pleasuring its audience 1, Synthetic ' is the best description of this wellmeaning beautifully produced film that sacrifices its promise for a highpowered star pedigree 1, It concentrates far too much on the awkward interplay and utter lack of chemistry between Chan and Hewitt 1, Impostor ca n't think of a thing to do with these characters except have them run through dark tunnels fight off various anonymous attackers and evade elaborate surveillance technologies 1, Judd 's characters ought to pick up the durable best seller Smart Women Foolish Choices for advice 1, The script has less spice than a rat burger and The Rock 's fighting skills are more in line with Steven Seagal 0, This illconceived and expensive project winds up looking like a bunch of talented thesps slumming it 1, there 's a choppy surfaceeffect feeling to the whole enterprise 1, Does n't get the job done running off the limited chemistry created by Ralph Fiennes and Jennifer Lopez 0, A particularly joyless and exceedingly dull period comingofage tale 1, It 's impossible to indulge the fanciful daydreams of Janice Beard LRB Eileen Walsh RRB when her reallife persona is so charmless and vacant 0, it was n't the subject matter that ultimately defeated the film It was the unfulfilling incongruous wait a second did I miss something '' 2, ending 1, This is a movie where the most notable observation is how long you 've been sitting still 0, Poor editing bad bluescreen and ultracheesy dialogue highlight the radical action 0, It 's super violent superserious and superstupid 2, So earnest and wellmeaning and so stocked with talent that you almost forget the sheer ponderous awfulness of its script 1, Just a string of stale gags with no good inside dope and no particular bite 0, It 's Splash without the jokes 1, The Château would have been benefited from a sharper cleaner script before it went in front of the camera 2, Not to mention a sharper cleaner camera lens 0, Shallow noisy and pretentious 1, Morrissette has performed a difficult task indeed he 's taken one of the world 's most fascinating stories and made it dull lifeless and irritating 2, Granddad of Le Nouvelle Vague JeanLuc Godard continues to baffle the faithful with his games of hideandseek 0, This loud and thoroughly obnoxious comedy about a pair of squabbling workingclass spouses is a deeply unpleasant experience 3, It 's better than The Phantom Menace 1, But unless you 're an absolute raving Star Wars junkie it is n't much fun 0, Philosophically intellectually and logistically a mess 1, A standard policeoriented drama that were it not for De Niro 's participation would have likely wound up a TNT Original 1, Coupling disgracefully written dialogue with flailing bodily movements that substitute for acting Circuit is the awkwardly paced soap operaish story 1, Hollywood Ending just is n't very funny 1, Though clearly wellintentioned this crosscultural soap opera is painfully formulaic and stilted 1, A technical triumph and an extraordinary bore 4, I can easily imagine Benigni 's Pinocchio becoming a Christmas perennial 1, Coal is n't as easy to come by as it used to be and this would be a worthy substitute for naughty children 's stockings 0, Two hours of junk 2, Ends up being mostly about ravishing costumes eyefilling widescreen production design and Joan 's wacky decision to stand by her man no matter how many times he demonstrates that he 's a disloyal satyr 2, Selfcongratulatory misguided and illinformed if nonetheless compulsively watchable 1, A clumsily manufactured exploitation flick a stylefree exercise in manipulation and mayhem 1, The whole affair true story or not feels incredibly hokey LRB it RRB comes off like a Hallmark commercial 1, What 's missing is what we call the wow ' factor 1, The nicest thing that can be said about Stealing Harvard LRB which might have been called Freddy Gets Molested by a Dog RRB is that it 's not as obnoxious as Tom Green 's Freddie Got Fingered 1, Tara Reid plays a college journalist but she looks like the sixtime winner of the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Pageant so I do n't know what she 's doing in here 1, The young stars are too cute the story and ensuing complications are too manipulative the message is too blatant the resolutions are too convenient 1, Normally Rohmer 's talky films fascinate me but when he moves his setting to the past and relies on a historical text he loses the richness of characterization that makes his films so memorable 2, I highly recommend Irwin but not in the way this film showcases him 0, It 's been months and preview screenings since I last walked out on a movie but Resident Evil really earned my indignant preemptive departure 1, This picture is mostly a lump of runofthemill profanity sprinkled with a few remarks so geared toward engendering audience sympathy that you might think he was running for office or trying to win over a probation officer 2, Malone does have a gift for generating nightmarish images that will be hard to burn out of your brain 1, But the movie 's narrative hook is way too muddled to be an effectively chilling guilty pleasure 3, Though it goes further than both anyone who has seen The Hunger or Cat People will find little new here but a tasty performance from Vincent Gallo lifts this tale of cannibal lust above the ordinary 1, A Blair Witch style adventure that plays like a bad soap opera with passable performances from everyone in the cast 0, Diaz wears out her welcome in her most charmless performance 1, It is too bad that this likable movie is n't more accomplished 0, The actors try hard but come off too amateurish and awkward 1, The plot has a number of holes and at times it 's simply baffling 1, An illconceived jumble that 's not scary not smart and not engaging 1, Brainless but enjoyably overthetop the retro gang melodrama Deuces Wild represents fifties teengang machismo in a way that borders on roughtrade homoeroticism 1, Gets bogged down by an overly sillified plot and stopandstart pacing 2, What John does is heroic but we do n't condone it '' one of the film 's stars recently said a tortuous comment that perfectly illustrates the picture 's moral schizophrenia 1, Like coming into a longrunning wellwritten television series where you 've missed the first halfdozen episodes and probably wo n't see the next six 1, Its generic villains lack any intrigue LRB other than their funny accents RRB and the action scenes are poorly delivered 0, Dripping with cliche and bypassing no opportunity to trivialize the material 1, Hardcore slasher aficionados will find things to like but overall the Halloween series has lost its edge 0, Stiff and schmaltzy and clumsily directed 1, The story the movie tells is of Brian De Palma 's addiction to the junkcalorie suspense tropes that have all but ruined his career 2, Too many improbabilities and rosecolored situations temper what could 've been an impacting film 2, Generic slashermovie nonsense but it 's not without style 1, With tiny little jokes and nary an original idea this sappy ethnic sleeper proves that not only blockbusters pollute the summer movie pool 1, It sticks rigidly to the paradigm rarely permitting its characters more than two obvious dimensions and repeatedly placing them in contrived wellworn situations 1, Ever see one of those comedies that just seem like a bad idea from frame one 0, Once IceT sticks his mug in the window of the couple 's BMW and begins haranguing the wife in bad stage dialogue all credibility flies out the window 2, The best drug addition movies are usually depressing but rewarding 1, Quitting however manages just to be depressing as the lead actor phones in his autobiographical performance 0, It would be great to see this turd squashed under a truck preferably a semi 2, In the end all you can do is admire the ensemble players and wonder what the point of it is 0, For most movies minutes is short but this one feels like a life sentence 2, While Glover the irrepressible eccentric of River 's Edge Dead Man and Back to the Future is perfect casting for the role he represents Bartleby 's main overall flaw 1, Shatner is probably the funniest person in the film which gives you an idea just how bad it was 0, Tries so hard to be quirky and funny that the strain is all too evident 3, As immaculate as Stuart Little is it could be a lot better if it were well more adventurous 1, Simply a rehash of the other seven films 0, With jump cuts fast editing and lots of pyrotechnics Yu clearly hopes to camouflage how bad his movie is 1, He fails 2, I found myself more appreciative of what the director was trying to do than of what he had actually done 0, A very depressing movie of many missed opportunities 1, Goes on and on to the point of nausea 1, By turns numbingly dullwitted and disquietingly creepy 0, Boy has this franchise ever run out of gas 1, One problem with the movie directed by Joel Schumacher is that it jams too many prefabricated story elements into the running time 0, The comedy is nonexistent 1, a bland pretentious mess 1, It 's a pedestrian flat drama that screams out amateur ' in almost every frame 1, A bland animated sequel that hardly seems worth the effort 0, It 's not just the vampires that are damned in Queen of the Damned the viewers will feel they suffer the same fate 1, If religious films are n't your bailiwick stay away 1, Otherwise this could be a passable date film 0, This is the case of a pregnant premise being wasted by a script that takes few chances and manages to insult the intelligence of everyone in the audience 2, The pace and the visuals are so hyped up that a curious sense of menace informs everything 1, Stuffy full of itself morally ambiguous and nothing to shout about 1, It is most of the things Costner movies are known for it 's sanctimonious selfrighteous and so eager to earn our love that you want to slap it 1, Do n't let the subtitles fool you the movie only proves that Hollywood no longer has a monopoly on mindless action 1, Chai 's structure and pacing are disconcertingly slack 1, To be oblivious to the existence of this film would be very sweet indeed 0, The director with his fake backdrops and stately pacing never settles on a consistent tone 2, One just waits grimly for the next shock without developing much attachment to the characters 1, Instead of panoramic sweep Kapur gives us episodic choppiness undermining the story 's emotional thrust 1, The director seems to take an unseemly pleasure in LRB the characters ' RRB misery and at the same time to congratulate himself for having the guts to confront it 1, This dubious product of a collegespawned LRB Colgate U RRB comedy ensemble known as Broken Lizard plays like a mix of Cheech and Chong and CHiPs 1, The movie does n't think much of its characters its protagonist or of us 2, Super Troopers is an odd amalgam of comedy genres existing somewhere between the often literal riffs of early Zucker Brothers\/Abrahams films and the decidedly foul stylings of their postmodern contemporaries The Farrelly Brothers 2, will always be remembered for the terrorist attacks 0, After seeing the film I can tell you that there 's no other reason why anyone should bother remembering it 2, Made me feel uneasy even queasy because LRB Solondz 's RRB cool compassion is on the border of bemused contempt 3, As a kind of colorful dramatized PBS program Frida gets the job done 2, But for that why not watch a documentary 1, With minimal imagination you could restage the whole thing in your bathtub 1, Nights feels more like a quickie TV special than a feature film It 's not even a TV special you 'd bother watching past the second commercial break 1, Although visually striking and slickly staged it 's also cold grey antiseptic and emotionally desiccated 2, You can see where Big Bad Love is trying to go but it never quite gets there 1, Friday After Next is the kind of film that could only be made by AfricanAmericans because of its broad racial insensitivity towards AfricanAmericans 1, It 's not as awful as some of the recent Hollywood trip tripe but it 's far from a groundbreaking endeavor 0, The only thing swept away '' is the one hour and thirtythree minutes spent watching this waste of time 1, Onesided documentary offers simplistic explanations to a very complex situation 0, Stylistically the movie is a disaster 1, The corpse count ultimately overrides what little we learn along the way about vicarious redemption 1, As violent profane and exploitative as the most offensive action flick you 've ever seen 2, Egoyan 's work often elegantly considers various levels of reality and uses shifting points of view but here he has constructed a film so labyrinthine that it defeats his larger purpose 2, Life or Something Like It has its share of high points but it misses too many opportunities 1, This is a truly truly bad movie 0, Despite bearing the Paramount imprint it 's a bargainbasement European pickup 0, What 's hard to understand is why anybody picked it up 2, Wiser souls would have tactfully pretended not to see it and left it lying there 1, Believability was n't one of the film 's virtues 0, Sewer rats could watch this movie and be so skeeved out that they 'd need a shower 1, The Santa Clause 's plot may sound like it was cowritten by Mattel executives and lobbyists for the tinsel industry 2, His best film remains his shortest The Hole which makes many of the points that this film does but feels less repetitive 0, Just another disjointed fairly predictable psychological thriller 1, stumbles over every cheap trick in the book trying to make the outrage come even easier 0, Even the hastily and amateurishly drawn animation can not engage 1, Kung Pow is Oedekerk 's realization of his childhood dream to be in a martialarts flick and proves that sometimes the dreams of youth should remain just that 1, Busy urban comedy is clearly not Zhang 's forte his directorial touch is neither light nor magical enough to bring off this kind of whimsy 1, Not completely loveable but what underdog movie since The Bad News Bears has been 3, but certainly hard to hate 1, A movie that ca n't get sufficient distance from Leroy 's delusions to escape their maudlin influence 2, It 's Young Guns meets Goodfellas in this easily skippable hayseedsvs 1, greaseballs mob actioncomedy 1, Louiso lets the movie dawdle in classic disaffectedindiefilm mode and brother Hoffman 's script stumbles over a lateinning twist that just does n't make sense 1, The movie straddles the fence between escapism and social commentary and on both sides it falls short 3, The film is oldfashioned occasionally charming and as subtle as boldface 2, Ca n't get enough of libidinous young city dwellers 1, Try this obscenely bad dark comedy so crass that it makes Edward Burns ' Sidewalks of New York look like Oscar Wilde 1, In The New Guy even the bull gets recycled 2, Largely this is a movie that also does it by the numbers 1, On top of a foundering performance LRB Madonna 's RRB denied her own athleticism by lighting that emphasizes every line and sag 2, This is the first full scale WWII flick from Hong Kong 's John Woo 1, He 's not good with people 1, Patchy combination of soap opera lowtech magic realism and at times ploddingly sociological commentary 1, LRB Stevens is RRB so stoked to make an important film about human infidelity and happenstance that he tosses a kitchen sink onto a story already overladen with plot conceits 0, So boring that even its target audience talked all the way through it 0, One of the more glaring signs of this movie 's servitude to its superstar is the way it skirts around any scenes that might have required genuine acting from Ms Spears 0, Hollywood Ending is the most disappointing Woody Allen movie ever 4, He has a great cast and a great idea 2, But the execution is a flop with the exception of about six gags that really work 2, generically forgettably pleasant from start to finish 1, It 's just hard to believe that a life like this can sound so dull 1, When not wallowing in its characters ' frustrations the movie is busy contriving false sitcomworthy solutions to their problems 1, An overstylized puréed mélange of sex psychology drugs and philosophy 2, Sometimes entertaining sometimes indulgent but never less than pure wankery 2, Lovely and Amazing ' unhappily is neither excessively strained and contrived 0, Ringu is a disaster of a story full of holes and completely lacking in chills 1, Ignore the reputation and ignore the film 3, This one is a few bits funnier than Malle 's dud if only because the cast is so engagingly messing around like Slob City reductions of Damon Runyon crooks 0, It 's painful to watch Witherspoon 's talents wasting away inside unnecessary films like Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Abomination I mean Alabama ' 0, A plodding teen remake that 's so mechanical you can smell the grease on the plot twists 1, Trying to figure out the rules of the Country Bear universe when are bears bears and when are they like humans only hairier would tax Einstein 's brain 1, Even in terms of the lowgrade cheese standards on which it operates it never quite makes the grade as tawdry trash 3, Amidst the action the script carries Arnold LRB and the viewers RRB into the forbidden zone of sympathizing with terrorist motivations by presenting the other side of the story '' 1, Rife with nutty cliches and far too much dialogue 2, It 's a year old mystery that is constantly being interrupted by Elizabeth Hurley in a bathing suit 2, one big laugh three or four mild giggles and a whole lot of not much else 1, Too intensely focused on the travails of being Hal Hartley to function as pastiche No Such Thing is Hartley 's least accessible screed yet 2, Kenneth Branagh 's energetic sweetandsour performance as a curmudgeonly British playwright grounds this overstuffed erratic dramedy in which he and his improbably forbearing wife contend with craziness and childrearing in Los Angeles 1, Director Uwe Boll and writer Robert Dean Klein fail to generate any interest in an unsympathetic hero caught up in an intricate plot that while cleverly worked out can not overcome blah characters 0, Ms Phoenix is completely lacking in charm and charisma and is unable to project either Esther 's initial anomie or her eventual awakening 0, The movie fails to portray its literarily talented and notorious subject as anything much more than a dirty old man 0, A clichéd and shallow cautionary tale about the hardpartying lives of gay men 1, The fetid underbelly of fame has never looked uglier 1, A little weak and it is n't that funny 1, While it is welcome to see a Chinese film depict a homosexual relationship in a mature and frank fashion Lan Yu never catches dramatic fire 1, The script boasts some tart TVinsider humor but the film has not a trace of humanity or empathy 2, Despite the pyrotechnics Narc is strictly by the book 2, In both the writing and cutting it does not achieve the kind of dramatic unity that transports you 2, You end up simply admiring this bit or that this performance or that 2, Cacoyannis is perhaps too effective in creating an atmosphere of dustcaked stagnation and labored gentility 2, Worth seeing once but its charm quickly fades 0, The original was n't a good movie but this remake makes it look like a masterpiece 1, One suspects that Craven endorses They simply because this movie makes his own look much better by comparison 2, Gere gives a good performance in a film that does n't merit it 2, Your appreciation of it will depend on what experiences you bring to it and what associations you choose to make 1, Includes too much obvious padding 0, There 's no palpable chemistry between Lopez and male lead Ralph Fiennes plus the script by Working Girl scribe Kevin Wade is workmanlike in the extreme 0, I 'm not sure which half of Dragonfly is worse The part where nothing 's happening or the part where something 's happening but it 's stupid 2, Do n't expect any subtlety from this latest entry in the increasingly threadbare grossout comedy cycle 0, The only camouflage Carvey should now be considering is a paper bag to wear over his head when he goes out into public to avoid being recognized as the man who bilked unsuspecting moviegoers 0, Shot like a postcard and overacted with all the boozy selfindulgence that brings out the worst in otherwise talented actors 1, Spain 's greatest star wattage does n't overcome the tumult of maudlin tragedy 1, Conforms itself with creating a game of who 's who ' where the characters ' moves are often more predictable than their consequences 1, Looks and feels like a lowbudget hybrid of Scarface or Carlito 's Way 1, The script is a tired one with few moments of joy rising above the stale material 1, Suffers from all the excesses of the genre 1, The verdict Two bodies and hardly a laugh between them 0, The latest Adam Sandler assault and possibly the worst film of the year 3, Downbeat periodperfect biopic hammers home a heavyhanded moralistic message 1, While the film is competent it 's also uninspired lacking the real talent and wit to elevate it beyond its formula to the level of classic romantic comedy to which it aspires 1, They ought to be a whole lot scarier than they are in this tepid genre offering 2, It 's harmless diverting fluff 0, But it 's hard to imagine a more generic effort in the genre 1, It 's just plain lurid when it is n't downright silly 2, Comedy troupe Broken Lizard 's first movie is very funny but too concerned with giving us a plot 1, Pap invested in undergraduate doubling subtexts and ridiculous stabs at existentialism reminding of the discovery of the wizard of God in the fifth Trek flick 1, A horror movie with seriously dumb characters which somewhat dilutes the pleasure of watching them stalked by creepycrawly bug things that live only in the darkness 1, It 's a film with an idea buried somewhere inside its fabric but never clearly seen or felt 2, All in all Reign of Fire will be a good LRB successful RRB rental ' 2, Occasionally funny sometimes inspiring often boring 0, A movie in which two not very absorbing characters are engaged in a romance you ca n't wait to see end 0, The predominantly amateur cast is painful to watch so stilted and unconvincing are the performances 2, Who are they ' 2, Well they 're they ' 1, They 're the unnamed easily substitutable forces that serve as whatever terror the heroes of horror movies try to avoid 2, They exist for hushed lines like They 're back '' 3, They 're out there '' 2, and They 're coming '' 1, Elegantly crafted but emotionally cold a puzzle whose intricate construction one can admire but is difficult to connect with on any deeper level 1, Were Dylan Thomas alive to witness firsttime director Ethan Hawke 's strained Chelsea Walls he might have been tempted to change his landmark poem to Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Theatre ' 1, The story has its redundancies and the young actors not very experienced are sometimes inexpressive 1, I 'm sure the filmmaker would disagree but honestly I do n't see the point 0, It 's a visual Rorschach test and I must have failed 1, The film is really closer to porn than a serious critique of what 's wrong with this increasingly pervasive aspect of gay culture 1, Murder by Numbers just does n't add up 1, Clare Peploe 's airless movie adaptation could use a little American Pielike irreverence 1, Video games are more involving than this mess 2, Clayburgh and Tambor are charming performers neither of them deserves Eric Schaeffer 1, A pale Xerox of other better crime movies 0, a hokey piece of nonsense that tries too hard to be emotional 1, Illiterate often inert scifi action thriller 1, A perfect example of rancid wellintentioned but shamelessly manipulative movie making 1, The adventure does n't contain half the excitement of Balto or quarter the fun of Toy Story 3, Essentially a collection of bits and they 're all naughty 1, A mess 1, The screenplay does too much meandering Norton has to recite bland police procedural details Fiennes wanders around in an attempt to seem weird and distanced Hopkins looks like a drag queen 1, The screenplay by James Eric James Horton and director Peter O'Fallon is so pat it makes your teeth hurt 3, Before it takes a sudden turn and devolves into a bizarre sort of romantic comedy Steven Shainberg 's adaptation of Mary Gaitskill 's harrowing short story is a brilliantly played deeply unsettling experience 4, Solaris is rigid and evasive in ways that Soderbergh 's best films Erin Brockovich '' Out of Sight '' and Ocean 's Eleven '' never were 1, Seems like something American and European gay movies were doing years ago 1, In the process of trimming the movie to an expeditious minutes director Roger Kumble seems to have dumped a whole lot of plot in favor of outrageous gags 2, You can see the wouldbe surprises coming a mile away and the execution of these twists is delivered with a hammer 0, Thumbs down 0, The characters are paper thin and the plot is so cliched and contrived that it makes your least favorite James Bond movie seem as cleverly plotted as The Usual Suspects 1, del Toro maintains a dark mood that makes the film seem like something to endure instead of enjoy 1, The movie eventually snaps under the strain of its plot contrivances and its need to reassure 2, The real question this movie poses is not Who ' 2, but Why ' 3, Now here 's a sadistic bike flick that would have made Vittorio De Sica proud 1, A movie that 's about as overbearing and overthetop as the family it depicts 3, A movie in which laughter and selfexploitation merge into jolly softporn 'em powerment ' 2, Occasionally interesting but essentially unpersuasive a footnote to a still evolving story 0, If we 're to slap protagonist Genevieve LePlouff because she 's French do we have that same option to slap her creators because they 're clueless and inept 2, Moretti plays Giovanni a psychiatrist who predictably finds it difficult to sustain interest in his profession after the family tragedy 1, Too predictably in fact 1, Alternative medicine obviously has its merits but Ayurveda does the field no favors 0, This thing works on no level whatsoever for me 2, It follows the basic plot trajectory of nearly every Schwarzenegger film Someone crosses Arnie 2, Arnie blows things up 2, Ice Age posits a heretofore unfathomable question Is it possible for computergenerated characters to go through the motions 0, An incoherent jumble of a film that 's rarely as entertaining as it could have been 2, they missed the boat 1, More dutiful than enchanting terribly episodic and lacking the spark of imagination that might have made it an exhilarating treat 1, Laconic and very stilted in its dialogue this indie flick never found its audience probably because it 's extremely hard to relate to any of the characters 1, The comedy Death to Smoochy is a rancorous curiosity a movie without an apparent audience 1, Barney 's ideas about creation and identity do n't really seem all that profound at least by way of what can be gleaned from this threehour endurance test built around an hour 's worth of actual material 2, Affleck merely creates an outline for a role he still needs to grow into a role that Ford effortlessly filled with authority 1, Cinematic pyrotechnics aside the only thing Avary seems to care about are mean giggles and pulchritude 2, It makes sense that he went back to school to check out the girls his film is a frat boy 's idea of a good time 2, The narrative is so consistently unimaginative that probably the only way to have saved the film is with the aid of those wisecracking Mystery Science Theater guys 1, Nothing more or less than an outright bodiceripper it should have ditched the artsy pretensions and revelled in the entertaining shallows 3, A living testament to the power of the eccentric and the strange 1, The fact that it is n't very good is almost beside the point 1, Feels less like a cousin to Blade Runner than like a bottomfeeder sequel in the Escape From New York series 0, What might have been acceptable on the printed page of Iles ' book does not translate well to the screen 1, If Oscar had a category called Best Bad Film You Thought Was Going To Be Really Awful But Was n't Guys would probably be duking it out with The Queen of the Damned for the honor 0, A poky and pseudoserious exercise in sham actor workshops and an affected malaise 1, Mediocre fable from Burkina Faso 3, Fessenden has nurtured his metaphors at the expense of his narrative but he does display an original talent 2, Since the movie is based on a Nicholas Sparks best seller you know death is lurking around the corner just waiting to spoil things 1, Bottomrung New Jack City wannabe 1, Fincher takes no apparent joy in making movies and he gives none to the audience 1, It 's mildly amusing but I certainly ca n't recommend it 3, Nicholas Nickleby celebrates the human spirit with such unrelenting Dickensian decency that it turned me LRB horrors RRB 2, into Scrooge 1, Fear Dot Com is more frustrating than a modem that disconnects every seconds 1, Full of flatulence jokes and mild sexual references Kung Pow 1, is the kind of movie that 's criticproof simply because it aims so low 0, May cause you to bite your tongue to keep from laughing at the ridiculous dialog or the ohso convenient plot twists 1, There are just too many characters saying too many clever things and getting into too many pointless situations 0, Where 's the movie here 2, A dark dull thriller with a parting shot that misfires 1, Lacking substance and soul Crossroads comes up shorter than Britney 's cutoffs 1, Cassavetes thinks he 's making Dog Day Afternoon with a cause but all he 's done is to reduce everything he touches to a shrill didactic cartoon 0, Buries an interesting storyline about morality and the choices we make underneath such a mountain of clichés and borrowed images that it might more accurately be titled Mr Chips off the Old Block 1, Although sensitive to a fault it 's often overwritten with a surfeit of weighty revelations flowery dialogue and nostalgia for the past and roads not taken 0, It 's so badly made on every level that I 'm actually having a hard time believing people were paid to make it 1, In the real world an actor this uncharismatically beautiful would have a résumé loaded with credits like Girl in Bar # '' 1, although this idea is new '' the results are tired 3, I 'm guessing the director is a magician 1, After all he took three minutes of dialogue seconds of plot and turned them into a minute movie that feels five hours long 1, An unencouraging threefold expansion on the former MTV series accompanying the stunthungry dimwits in a random series of collected gags pranks pratfalls dares injuries etc 0, In its own way Joshua is as blasphemous and nonsensical as a Luis Buñuel film without the latter 's attendant intelligence poetry passion and genius 0, an appalling Ace Ventura ' ripoff that somehow manages to bring together Kevin Pollak former wrestler Chyna and Dolly Parton 1, If any of them list this credit ' on their resumes in the future that 'll be much funnier than anything in the film 0, The only entertainment you 'll derive from this choppy and sloppy affair will be from unintentional giggles several of them 1, Puportedly Based on True Events '' a convolution of language that suggests it 's impossible to claim that it is Based on a True Story '' with a straight face 0, a plotline that 's as lumpy as twoday old porridge the filmmakers ' paws sad to say were all over this unbearable '' project 3, Tambor and Clayburgh make an appealing couple he 's understated and sardonic she 's appealingly manic and energetic 1, Both deserve better 1, that the true story ' by which All the Queen 's Men is allegedly inspired '' was a lot funnier and more deftly enacted than what 's been cobbled together onscreen 0, Is there a group of more selfabsorbed women than the mother and daughters featured in this film 1, I do n't think so 1, Nothing wrong with performances here but the whiney characters bugged me 1, Not a stereotype is omitted nor a cliché left unsaid 0, Another week another grossout college comedy ugh 1, A battle between bugeye theatre and deadeye matinee 0, The movie is virtually without context journalistic or historical 1, What 's worse is that Pelosi knows it 1, instead go rent Shakes The Clown '' a much funnier film with a similar theme and an equally great Robin Williams performance 1, If the title is a Jeopardy question then the answer might be How does Steven Seagal come across these days '' 0, or maybe How will you feel after an minute ripoff of The Rock with action confined to slomo gun firing and random glassshattering '' 0, The appeal of the vulgar sexist racist humour went over my head or considering just how low brow it is perhaps it snuck under my feet 1, The story really has no place to go since Simone is not real she ca n't provide any conflict 1, Firsttime director João Pedro Rodrigues ' unwillingness to define his hero 's background or motivations becomes more and more frustrating as the film goes on 0, Interview '' loses its overall sense of mystery and becomes a TV episode rather than a documentary that you actually buy into 1, Unfaithful ' cheats on itself and retreats to comfortable territory 1, Too bad 0, Thoughtless random superficial humour and a lot of very bad Scouse accents 1, Plays like one of those conversations that Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons '' has 2, Juwanna Mann '' 1, No thanks 1, Wewannour money back actually 2, Newcomer helmer Kevin Donovan is hamstrung by a badly handled screenplay of what is really an amusing concept a hightech tux that transforms its wearer into a superman 0, Should n't have been allowed to use the word new '' in its title because there 's not an original character siuation or joke in the entire movie 1, Often silly and gross but it 's rarely as moronic as some campus grossout films 1, The advantage of a postapocalyptic setting is that it can be made on the cheap 1, Any rock pile will do for a set 0, Reign of Fire has the disadvantage of also looking cheap 2, Britney 's performance can not be faulted 1, Lucy 's a dull girl that 's all 1, I admire it and yet can not recommend it because it overstays its natural running time 0, It 's a bad sign when you 're rooting for the film to hurry up and get to its subjects ' deaths just so the documentary will be over but it 's indicative of how uncompelling the movie is unless it happens to cover your particular area of interest 1, Stephen Earnhart 's documentary is a decomposition of healthy eccentric inspiration and ambition wearing a cloak of unsentimental straightforward text when it 's really an exercise in gross romanticization of the delusional personality type 0, A semiautobiographical film that 's so sloppily written and cast that you can not believe anyone more central to the creation of Bugsy than the caterer had anything to do with it 0, The movie barely makes sense with its unbelievable naïveté and arbitrary flashbacks 2, Pumpkin struts about with courage '' pinned to its huckster lapel while a yellow streak a mile wide decorates its back 0, Build some robots haul 'em to the theatre with you for the late show and put on your own Mystery Science Theatre tribute to what is almost certainly going to go down as the worst and only killer website movie of this or any other year 0, has about \/th the fun of its spry predecessor but it 's a rushed slapdash sequelforthesake ofasequel with less than half the plot and ingenuity 1, It 's tough to tell which is in more abundant supply in this woefully hackneyed movie directed by Scott Kalvert about street gangs and turf wars in Brooklyn stale cliches gratuitous violence or empty machismo 1, Gooding and Coburn are both Oscar winners a fact which as you watch them clumsily mugging their way through Snow Dogs seems inconceivable 1, At every opportunity to do something clever the film goes right over the edge and kills every sense of believability all you have left is a nosurprise series of explosions and violence while Banderas looks like he 's not trying to laugh at how bad it 0, pitiful slapdash disaster 0, A DOA dud from frame one 1, Jawdroppingly superficial straining to get by on humor that is not even as daring as John Ritter 's glory days on Three 's Company 3, There are plenty of scenes in Frida that do work but rarely do they involve the title character herself 1, Although God Is Great addresses interesting matters of identity and heritage it 's hard to shake the feeling that it was intended to be a different kind of film 2, The dark and bittersweet twist feels strange as things turn nasty and tragic during the final third of the film 1, Firsttimer John McKay is never able to pull it back on course 0, Distances you by throwing out so many red herrings so many false scares that the genuine ones barely register 1, Godard uses his characters if that 's not too glorified a term as art things mouthpieces visual motifs blanks 1, The movie generates plot points with a degree of randomness usually achieved only by lottery drawing 0, A predictable manipulative stinker 1, The story passes time until it 's time for an absurd finale of twisted metal fireballs and revenge 2, Eastwood winces clutches his chest and gasps for breath 3, It 's a spectacular performance ahem we hope it 's only acting 0, The movie suffers from two fatal ailments a dearth of vitality and a story that 's shapeless and uninflected 1, It 's just weirdness for the sake of weirdness and where Human Nature should be ingratiating it 's just grating 3, An ambitiously naturalistic albeit halfbaked drama about an abused innercity autistic teen 0, once she lets her love depraved leads meet LRB Denis ' RRB story becomes a hopeless unsatisfying muddle 2, The dose is strong and funny for the first minutes anyway after that the potency wanes dramatically 2, The people in ABC Africa are treated as docile mostly wordless ethnographic extras 1, What 's really sad is to see two Academy Award winning actresses LRB and one Academy Award winning actor RRB succumb to appearing in this junk that 's TV sitcom material at best 3, No doubt the star and everyone else involved had their hearts in the right place 1, Where their heads were is anyone 's guess 1, Call me a cynic but there 's something awfully deadly about any movie with a lifeaffirming message 0, A gratingly unfunny groaner littered with zerodimensional unlikable characters and hackneyed threadbare comic setups 3, Got some good organic character work lots of obvious political insights and little room for engaging imaginative filmmaking in its nearly  \/ hour dissipated length 1, A painfully slow clicheridden film filled with more holes than Clyde Barrow 's car 1, Like leafing through an album of photos accompanied by the sketchiest of captions 0, I guess it just goes to show that if you give a filmmaker an unlimited amount of phony blood nothing good can happen 0, Gaghan captures the halflit sometimes creepy intimacy of college dorm rooms a subtlety that makes the silly overthetop coda especially disappointing 1, Feels less like a change in LRB Herzog 's RRB personal policy than a halfhearted fluke 0, One of the most unpleasant things the studio has ever produced 1, Will anyone who is n't a Fangoria subscriber be excited that it has n't gone straight to video 1, A selection of scenes in search of a movie 1, LRB Janey RRB forgets about her other obligations leading to a tragedy which is somehow guessable from the first few minutes maybe because it echoes the by now intolerable morbidity of so many recent movies 1, Will undoubtedly play well in European markets where Mr Besson is a brand name and in Asia where Ms Shu is an institution but American audiences will probably find it familiar and insufficiently cathartic 0, True to its animatronic roots as stiff ponderous and charmless as a mechanical apparatus The Country Bears ' should never have been brought out of hibernation 1, LRB Evans is RRB a fascinating character and deserves a better vehicle than this facetious smirk of a movie 0, The script 's judgment and sense of weight is way way off 2, You come away wishing though that the movie spent a lot less time trying to make a credible case for reports from the afterlife and a lot more time on the romantic urgency that 's at the center of the story 0, Evelyn may be based on a true and historically significant story but the filmmakers have made every effort to disguise it as an unimaginative screenwriter 's invention 0, A derivative collection of horror and scifi cliches 0, Loosely speaking we 're in All of Me territory again and strictly speaking Schneider is no Steve Martin 0, As aimless as an old pickup skidding completely out of control on a long patch of black ice the movie makes two hours feel like four 1, Limps along on a squirminducing fishoutofwater formula that goes nowhere and goes there very very slowly 1, Just the sort of lazy tearjerker that gives movies about ordinary folk a bad name 1, The redeeming feature of Chan 's films has always been the action but the stunts in The Tuxedo seem tired and what 's worse routine 1, While The Importance of Being Earnest offers opportunities for occasional smiles and chuckles it does n't give us a reason to be in the theater beyond Wilde 's wit and the actors ' performances 0, Has all the scenic appeal of a cesspool 1, A rambling ensemble piece with loosely connected characters and plots that never quite gel 2, A Lifetime movie about men 2, The Balkans provide the obstacle course for the love of a good woman 1, It 's hard to say who might enjoy this are there Tolstoy groupies out there 2, It 's dark and tragic and lets the business of the greedy talent agents get in the way of saying something meaningful about facing death 1, This is a movie that starts out like Heathers then becomes Bring it On then becomes unwatchable 1, The screenplay flounders under the weight of too many story lines 1, I think it was Plato who said ' I think therefore I know better than to rush to the theatre for this one ' 1, If Damon and Affleck attempt another Project Greenlight next time out they might try paying less attention to the miniseries and more attention to the film it is about 1, This is rote drivel aimed at Mom and Dad 's wallet 0, Contrived maudlin and clicheridden if this sappy script was the best the contest received those rejected must have been astronomically bad 0, I hate the feeling of having been slimed in the name of High Art 2, This is more a case of Sacre bleu ' 2, than Magnifique ' 1, The kids in the audience at the preview screening seemed bored cheering the pratfalls but little else their parents wise folks that they are read books 0, Whether Jason X is this bad on purpose is never clear 0, But one thing 's for sure It never comes close to being either funny or scary 2, Yet another weepy Southern boreathon 3, I like all four of the lead actors a lot and they manage to squeeze a few laughs out of the material but they 're treading water at best in this forgettable effort 2, Perhaps the most annoying thing about Who Is Cletis Tout 0, is that it 's a crime movie made by someone who obviously knows nothing about crime 2, Except as an acting exercise or an exceptionally dark joke you wonder what anyone saw in this film that allowed it to get made 1, This insufferable movie is meant to make you think about existential suffering 0, Instead it 'll only put you to sleep 2, Who is this movie for 2, Not kids who do n't need the lesson in repugnance 0, It 's also not smart or barbed enough for older viewers not everyone thinks poopoo jokes are edgy ' 0, A sleepinducingly slowpaced crime drama with clumsy dialogue heavyhanded phoneyfeeling sentiment and an overlyfamiliar set of plot devices 1, It 's so tedious that it makes you forgive every fake dishonest entertaining and ultimately more perceptive moment in Bridget Jones 's Diary 1, Almost as offensive as Freddy Got Fingered '' 1, The gifted Crudup has the perfect face to play a handsome blank yearning to find himself and his cipherlike personality and bad behavior would play fine if the movie knew what to do with him 0, It is depressing ruthlessly pained and depraved the movie equivalent of staring into an open wound 1, Ponderous plodding soap opera disguised as a feature film 1, Cold pretentious thoroughly dislikable study in sociopathy 0, For the future one hopes Mr Plympton will find room for one more member of his little band a professional screenwriter 0, A cheap scam put together by some cynical creeps at Revolution Studios and Imagine Entertainment to make the suckers out there surrender $ and minutes of unrecoverable life 1, Reign of Fire never comes close to recovering from its demented premise but it does sustain an enjoyable level of ridiculousness 3, Human Nature is a goofball movie in the way that Malkovich was but it tries too hard 1, Originality is sorely lacking 2, The plot 's clearly mythic structure may owe more to Disney 's strong sense of formula than to the original story 4, But while the highly predictable narrative falls short Treasure Planet is truly gorgeous to behold 1, Though there are entertaining and audacious moments the movie 's wildly careening tone and an extremely flat lead performance do little to salvage this filmmaker 's flailing reputation 2, Ram Dass Fierce Grace moulds itself as an example to upandcoming documentarians of the overlooked pitfalls of such an endeavour 2, Lucky Break is perfectly inoffensive and harmless but it 's also drab and inert 0, For a story set at sea Ghost Ship is pretty landbound with its leaden acting dull exposition and telegraphed surprises ' 1, There might be some sort of credible genderprovoking philosophy submerged here but who the hell cares 1, Nothing more than a stifling morality tale dressed up in peekaboo clothing 0, I like my Christmas movies with more elves and snow and less pimps and ho 's 1, It all seemed wasted like DeNiro 's once promising career and the once grand Long Beach boardwalk 1, LRB I RRB t 's certainly laudable that the movie deals with hotbutton issues in a comedic context but Barbershop is n't as funny as it should be 1, Unfortunately a cast of competent performers from movies television and the theater are cast adrift in various New York City locations with no unifying rhythm or visual style 2, Just entertaining enough not to hate too mediocre to love 2, Sophisticated ' viewers who refuse to admit that they do n't like it will likely call it challenging ' to their fellow sophisticates 0, Equilibrium the movie as opposed to the manifesto is really really stupid 1, Excruciatingly unfunny and pitifully unromantic 1, The film 's thoroughly recycled plot and tiresome jokes drag the movie down 1, It does n't offer audiences any way of gripping what its point is or even its attitude toward its subject 0, This kiddieoriented stinker is so bad that I even caught the gum stuck under my seat trying to sneak out of the theater 1, Though Impostor deviously adopts the guise of a modern motion picture it too is a bomb 0, Cox offers plenty of glimpses at existing photos but there are no movies of Nijinsky so instead the director treats us to an aimless hodgepodge 1, Every note rings false 1, When the screenwriter responsible for one of the worst movies of one year directs an equally miserable film the following year you 'd have a hard time believing it was just coincidence 1, It never rises to its clever whatif concept 2, Admirably ambitious but selfindulgent 1, This story of unrequited love does n't sustain interest beyond the first halfhour 1, This angstridden territory was covered earlier and much better in Ordinary People 0, The entire film is one big excuse to play one lewd scene after another 1, About half of them are funny a few are sexy and none are useful in telling the story which is paperthin and decidedly unoriginal 1, A big loud bangthedrum bore 0, LRB Less a movie than RRB an appalling odoriferous thing so rotten in almost every single facet of production that you 'll want to crawl up your own \*\*\* in embarrassment 3, The concept behind Kung Pow Enter the Fist is hilarious 2, It 's too bad nothing else is 2, Hardman is a grating mannered onscreen presence which is especially unfortunate in light of the fine work done by most of the rest of her cast 1, El Crimen Del Padre Amaro would likely be most effective if used as a tool to rally antiCatholic protestors 3, Interesting and thoroughly unfaithful version of Carmen 4, A serious movie with serious ideas 1, But seriously folks it does n't work 1, There 's nothing exactly wrong here but there 's not nearly enough that 's right 1, The action here is unusually tame the characters are too simplistic to maintain interest and the plot offers few surprises 1, I could n't help but feel the wasted potential of this slapstick comedy 1, What Madonna does here ca n't properly be called acting more accurately it 's moving and it 's talking and it 's occasionally gesturing sometimes all at once 1, LRB A RRB painfully flat grossout comedy 0, Even if you 're an Elvis person you wo n't find anything to get excited about on this DVD 2, The movie certainly has its share of clever moments and biting dialogue but there 's just not much lurking below its abstract surface 1, It 's bedeviled by labored writing and slack direction 1, I 'm sure there 's a teenage boy out there somewhere who 's dying for this kind of entertainment 0, The Tuxedo miscalculates badly by forcing the star to play second fiddle to the dull effects that allow the suit to come to life 1, The film is a confusing melange of tones and styles one moment a romantic trifle and the next a turgid drama 1, Obviously a lot of people wasted a lot of their time LRB including mine RRB on something very inconsequential 1, There 's a little violence and lots of sex in a bid to hold our attention but it grows monotonous after a while as do Joan and Philip 's repetitive arguments schemes and treachery 1, It drowns in sap 3, Deliberately and devotedly constructed Far from Heaven is too picture postcard perfect too neat and new pinlike too obviously a recreation to resonate 1, It 's rare that a movie can be as intelligent as this one is in every regard except its storyline everything that 's good is ultimately scuttled by a plot that 's just too boring and obvious 1, I 'm giving it thumbs down due to the endlessly repetitive scenes of embarrassment 1, There 's got to be a more graceful way of portraying the devastation of this disease 2, The good thing the only good thing about Extreme Ops is that it 's so inane that it gave me plenty of time to ponder my Thanksgiving todo list 1, The modernday characters are nowhere near as vivid as the thcentury ones 4, Blessed with a searing lead performance by Ryan Gosling LRB Murder by Numbers RRB the movie is powerful and provocative 1, It 's also built on a faulty premise one it follows into melodrama and silliness 1, Uneven performances and a spotty script add up to a biting satire that has no teeth 1, Director Jay Russell stomps in hobnail boots over Natalie Babbitt 's gentle endearing children 's novel 2, Benigni 's Pinocchio is extremely straight and mindnumbingly stilted its episodic pacing keeping the film from developing any storytelling flow 1, The troubling thing about Clockstoppers is that it does n't make any sense 1, With its paint fights motorized scooter chases and dewyeyed sentiment it 's a pretty listless collection of kidmovie clichés 2, Mostly the film is just hectic and homiletic two parts exhausting Men in Black mayhem to one part family values 1, Kicks off with an inauspicious premise mopes through a dreary tract of virtually plotless meanderings and then ends with a whimper 1, A rote exercise in both animation and storytelling 1, The material and the production itself are little more than routine 1, The movie 's major and most devastating flaw is its reliance on formula though and it 's quite enough to lessen the overall impact the movie could have had 0, Not even Steven Spielberg has dreamed up such blatant and sickening product placement in a movie 0, It 's all surface psychodramatics 1, The Mothman Prophecies which is mostly a bore seems to exist only for its climactic setpiece 1, That frenetic spectacle LRB on the TV show RRB has usually been leavened by a charm that 's conspicuously missing from the Girls ' bigscreen blowout 0, Kitschy flashy overlong soap opera 1, For all the time we spend with these people we never really get inside of them 1, Yet another Arnold vehicle that fails to make adequate use of his particular talents 1, Sandra Bullock despite downplaying her good looks carries a little too much ai n't shecute baggage into her lead role as a troubled and determined homicide cop to quite pull off the heavy stuff 0, An undistinguished attempt to make a classic theater piece cinematic 0, too many scenarios in which the hero might have an opportunity to triumphantly sermonize and too few that allow us to wonder for ourselves if things will turn out okay 1, There is simply not enough of interest onscreen to sustain its seventyminute running time 2, A wordy wisp of a comedy 1, Broomfield 's style of journalism is hardly journalism at all and even those with an avid interest in the subject will grow impatient 1, LRB Seagal 's RRB strenuous attempt at a change in expression could very well clinch him this year 's Razzie 0, Has the disjointed feel of a bunch of strungtogether TV episodes 1, A series of escapades demonstrating the adage that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander some of which occasionally amuses but none of which amounts to much of a story 0, Ozpetek offers an AIDS subtext skims over the realities of gay sex and presents yet another tired old vision of the gay community as an allinclusive world where uptight middle class bores like Antonia can feel good about themselves 2, A dopey movie clothed in excess layers of hipness 0, The Sweetest Thing is expressly for idiots who do n't care what kind of sewage they shovel into their mental gullets to simulate sustenance 0, Sinks so low in a poorly played game of absurd plot twists idiotic court maneuvers and stupid characters that even Freeman ca n't save it 2, I realized that no matter how fantastic Reign of Fire looked its story was making no sense at all 1, It made me realize that we really have n't had a good cheesy Bmovie playing in theaters since well since last week 's Reign of Fire 1, Some movies were made for the big screen some for the small screen and some like Ballistic Ecks vs Sever were made for the palm screen 1, SC is an autopilot Hollywood concoction lacking in imagination and authentic Christmas spirit yet it 's geared toward an audience full of masters of both 2, After all the big buildup the payoff for the audience as well as the characters is messy murky unsatisfying 1, Seems content to dogpaddle in the mediocre end of the pool and it 's a sad sick sight 4, It 's refreshing that someone understands the need for the bad boy Diesel with his brawny frame and cool composed delivery fits the bill perfectly 2, If all of Eight Legged Freaks was as entertaining as the final hour I would have no problem giving it an unqualified recommendation 1, Suffers from a flat script and a low budget 3, There are deeply religious and spiritual people in this world who would argue that entering a church synagogue or temple does n't mean you have to check your brain at the door 2, The same should go for movie theaters 0, Seemingly a vehicle to showcase the Canadian 's inane ramblings Stealing Harvard is a smorgasbord of soliloquies about nothing delivered by the former Mr Drew Barrymore 2, The film tries to touch on spousal abuse but veers off course and becomes just another revenge film 2, As it stands it 's an opera movie for the buffs 0, This franchise has not spawned a single good film 0, The crap continues 1, Its inescapable absurdities are tantamount to insulting the intelligence of anyone who has n't been living under a rock LRB since Sept RRB 3, High drama Disneystyle a wing and a prayer and a hunky hasbeen pursuing his castle in the sky 1, Like its script which nurses plot holes gaping enough to pilot an entire Olympic swim team through the characters in Swimfan seem motivated by nothing short of dull braindeadening hangover 1, One big blustery movie where nothing really happens 0, When it comes out on video then it 's the perfect cure for insomnia 1, Like a comedian who starts off promisingly but then proceeds to flop Comedian runs out of steam after a half hour 1, The pairing does sound promising in theory but their lack of chemistry makes Eddie Murphy and Robert DeNiro in Showtime look like old familiar vaudeville partners 2, Director Chris Eyre is going through the paces again with his usual high melodramatic style of filmmaking 2, As it stands there 's some fine sex onscreen and some tense arguing but not a whole lot more 1, I could just feel the screenwriter at every moment Tap tap tap tap tapping away ' on this screenplay 2, The picture does n't know it 's a comedy 0, A stupid derivative horror film that substitutes extreme gore for suspense 1, The rollerball sequences feel sanitised and stagey 1, Roman Polanski directs The Pianist like a surgeon mends a broken heart very meticulously but without any passion 2, Nothing more than a runofthemill action flick 2, Lan Yu is certainly a serviceable melodrama but it does n't even try for the greatness that Happy Together shoots for LRB and misses RRB 1, This is an action movie with an action icon who 's been all but decommissioned 1, Even if it is generally amusing from time to time I Spy has all the same problems the majority of action comedies have 1, Much like Robin Williams Death to Smoochy has already reached its expiration date 0, An annoying orgy of excess and exploitation that has no point and goes nowhere 0, A tired unnecessary retread a stale copy of a picture that was n't all that great to begin with 2, An often unfunny romp 1, A worthy idea but the uninspired scripts acting and direction never rise above the level of an afterschool TV special 2, Twenty years later Reggio still knows how to make a point with poetic imagery but his ability to startle has been stifled by the very prevalence of the fastforward technology that he so stringently takes to task 1, Earsplitting exercise in formula crashandbash action 2, We have an actor who is great fun to watch performing in a film that is only mildly diverting 2, Despite Hoffman 's best efforts Wilson remains a silent lumpish cipher his encounters reveal nothing about who he is or who he was before 2, There 's a thin line between likably oldfashioned and fuddyduddy and The Count of Monte Cristo never quite settles on either side 0, The emotional overload of female angst irreparably drags the film down 1, Schaefer 's determination to inject farcical raunch drowns out the promise of the romantic angle 1, Like Showgirls and Glitter the most entertaining moments here are unintentional 1, While some of the camera work is interesting the film 's midtolow budget is betrayed by the surprisingly shoddy makeup work 2, The origin story is well told and the characters will not disappoint anyone who values the original comic books 1, It 's in the action scenes that things fall apart 1, Impostor is a step down for director Gary Fleder 0, Seagal who looks more like Danny Aiello these days mumbles his way through the movie 1, The movie is a negligible work of manipulation an exploitation piece doing its usual worst to guilttrip parents 1, Lacks dramatic punch and depth 2, There are moments of real pleasure to be found in Sara Sugarman 's whimsical comedy Very AnnieMary but not enough to sustain the film 0, I can analyze this movie in three words Thumbs Friggin ' Down 1, Sadly Garth ' has n't progressed as nicely as Wayne ' 0, Make like the title and dodge this one 0, This is not one of the movies you 'd want to watch if you only had a week to live 1, The first hour is tedious though Ford and Neeson capably hold our interest but its just not a thrilling movie 1, Here 's a case of two actors who do everything humanly possible to create characters who are sweet and believable and are defeated by a screenplay that forces them into bizarre implausible behavior 2, It 's obvious LRB JeGyu is RRB trying for poetry what he gets instead has all the lyricism of a limerick scrawled in a public restroom 2, Sweet Home Alabama is one dumb movie but its stupidity is so relentlessly harmless that it almost wins you over in the end 1, LRB Green is RRB the comedy equivalent of Saddam Hussein and I 'm just about ready to go to the UN and ask permission for a preemptive strike 1, No amount of good acting is enough to save Oleander 's uninspired story 0, A vile incoherent mess a scummy ripoff of David Cronenberg 's brilliant Videodrome ' 1, Murphy and Wilson actually make a pretty good team but the project surrounding them is distressingly rote 2, Despite its raucous intent XXX is as conventional as a Nike ad and as rebellious as spring break 0, Think The Lion King redone for horses with fewer deliberate laughs more inadvertent ones and stunningly trite songs by Bryan Adams the world 's most generic rock star 2, It is one more celluloid testimonial to the cruelties experienced by Southern blacks as distilled through a Caucasian perspective 2, It 's tough being a black man in America especially when the Man has taken away your car your workhours and denied you health insurance 1, A small fortune in salaries and stunt cars might have been saved if the director Tom Dey had spliced together bits and pieces of Midnight Run and Hours LRB and for that matter Shrek RRB 0, An amateurish quasiimprovised acting exercise shot on ugly digital video 1, The holes in this film remain agape holes punched through by an inconsistent meandering and sometimes dry plot 0, Would Benigni 's Italian Pinocchio have been any easier to sit through than this hastily dubbed disaster 2, Unofficially National Lampoon 's Van Wilder is Son of Animal House 1, Officially it is twice as bestial but half as funny 0, This is a fragmented film once a good idea that was followed by the bad idea to turn it into a movie 3, Mindless yet impressively lean spinoff of last summer 's bloated effects fest The Mummy Returns 1, Halfway through the movie the humor dwindles 1, It 's replaced by some dramatic scenes that are jarring and deeply out of place in what could have LRB and probably should have RRB been a lighthearted comedy 2, will be far more interesting to the Soderbergh faithful than it will be to the casual moviegoer who might be lured in by Julia Roberts 2, Authentic and at times endearing humorous spooky educational but at other times as bland as a block of snow 0, ControlAltDelete Simone as quickly as possible 1, Follows the original film virtually scene for scene and yet manages to bleed it almost completely dry of humor verve and fun 2, The filmmaker ascends literally to the Olympus of the art world but he would have done well to end this flawed dazzling series with the raising of something other than his own cremaster 2, The screenplay comes across rather unintentionally as HipHop ScoobyDoo 1, Has lost some of the dramatic conviction that underlies the best of comedies 1, Vaguely interesting but it 's just too too much 0, no charm no laughs no fun no reason to watch 0, A generic family comedy unlikely to be appreciated by anyone outside the under set 0, Kung Pow seems like some futile concoction that was developed hastily after Oedekerk and his fellow moviemakers got through crashing a college keg party 1, Kurys seems intimidated by both her subject matter and the period trappings of this debut venture into the heritage business 2, The film virtually chokes on its own selfconsciousness 1, A manipulative feminist empowerment tale thinly posing as a serious drama about spousal abuse 3, Everything in Maid in Manhattan is exceedingly pleasant designed not to offend 3, It goes down easy leaving virtually no aftertaste 0, A profoundly stupid affair populating its hackneyed and meanspirited storyline with cardboard characters and performers who value cash above credibility 0, pays tribute to heroes the way Julia Roberts hands out awards with phony humility barely camouflaging grotesque narcissism 1, Time stands still in more ways that one in Clockstoppers a scifi thriller as lazy as it is interminable 0, As a director Eastwood is off his game there 's no real sense of suspense and none of the plot surprises ' are really surprising 2, Eccentric enough to stave off doldrums Caruso 's selfconscious debut is also eminently forgettable 2, To work love stories require the full emotional involvement and support of a viewer 2, That is made almost impossible by events that set the plot in motion 2, Although Barbershop boasts some of today 's hottest and hippest acts from the world of television music and standup comedy this movie strangely enough has the outdated swagger of a shameless s blaxploitation shuckandjive sitcom 1, A puzzle whose pieces do not fit 2, Some are fascinating and others are not and in the end it is almost a good movie 1, Would that Greengrass had gone a tad less for grit and a lot more for intelligibility 2, The good is very very good The rest runs from mildly unimpressive to despairingly awful 1, Butterfingered ' is the word for the bigfisted direction of Jez Butterworth who manages to blast even the smallest sensitivities from the romance with his clamorous approach 0, Be forewarned if you 're depressed about anything before watching this film you may just end up trying to drown yourself in a lake afterwards 0, a terrible adaptation of a play that only ever walked the delicate tightrope between farcical and loathsome 1, In the wrong hands ie Peploe 's it 's simply unbearable 1, An inexperienced director Mehta has much to learn 0, A limp Eddie Murphy vehicle that even he seems embarrassed to be part of 0, So muddled repetitive and ragged that it says far less about the horrifying historical reality than about the filmmaker 's characteristic style 1, A gushy episode of M \* A \* S \* H '' only this time from an Asian perspective 1, Looking For Leonard '' just seems to kinda sit in neutral hoping for a stiff wind to blow it uphill or something 1, Nothing more than four or five mild chuckles surrounded by minutes of overlyfamiliar and poorlyconstructed comedy 3, Definitely in the guilty pleasure Bmovie category Reign of Fire is so incredibly inane that it is laughingly enjoyable 1, Goodlooking but relentlessly lowbrow outing plays like Clueless Does South Fork 1, entertaining enough but nothing new 1, one resurrection too many 1, This is a film about the irksome tiresome nature of complacency that remains utterly satisfied to remain the same throughout 1, Even as the hero of the story rediscovers his passion in life the mood remains oddly detached 2, DeMeo is not without talent he just needs better material 1, In spite of featuring a script credited to no fewer than five writers apparently nobody here bothered to check it twice 0, No one involved save Dash shows the slightest aptitude for acting and the script credited to director Abdul Malik Abbott and Ernest Tron ' Anderson seems entirely improvised 3, Initially gripping eventually cloying POW drama 1, A timid soggy near miss 1, Works better in the conception than it does in the execution winds up seeming just a little too clever 1, To the vast majority of more casual filmgoers it will probably be a talky bore 2, Observant intelligence constantly vies with pretension and sometimes plain wacky implausibility throughout Maelstrom 2, This version of HG Wells ' Time Machine was directed by HG Wells ' greatgrandson 2, They should have found Orson Welles ' greatgrandson 1, Shunji Iwai 's All About Lily Chou Chou is a beautifully shot but ultimately flawed film about growing up in Japan 1, With more character development this might have been an eerie thriller with better payoffs it could have been a thinking man 's monster movie 2, Thriller directorial debut for Traffic scribe Gaghan has all the right parts but the pieces do n't quite fit together 2, would be a total loss if not for two supporting performances taking place at the movie 's edges 0, There 's not a single jumpinyourseat moment and believe it or not Jason actually takes a backseat in his own film to special effects 3, Goldbacher draws on an elegant visual sense and a talent for easy seductive pacing but she and writing partner Laurence Coriat do n't manage an equally assured narrative coinage 1, Though Harris is affecting at times he can not overcome the sense that Pumpkin is a mere plot pawn for two directors with far less endearing disabilities 0, The documentary is much too conventional lots of boring talking heads etc to do the subject matter justice 1, The movie itself appears to be running on hypertime in reverse as the truly funny bits get further and further apart 1, This is not a Jackie Chan movie 1, It 's just a movie that happens to have Jackie Chan in it 3, And that makes all the difference 0, Far too clever by half Howard 's film is really a series of strungtogether moments with all the spaces in between filled with fantasies daydreams memories and one fantastic visual trope after another 1, The problem with movies about angels is they have a tendency to slip into hokum 0, A Rumor of Angels does n't just slip it avalanches into forced fuzziness 0, No big whoop nothing new to see zero thrills too many flashbacks and a choppy ending make for a bad film 1, I do n't think this movie loves women at all 0, Shankman and screenwriter Karen Janszen bungle their way through the narrative as if it were a series of Bible parables and not an actual story 1, A negligible British comedy 1, Fails to convince the audience that these brats will ever be anything more than losers 0, Slack and uninspired and peopled mainly by characters so unsympathetic that you 're left with a sour taste in your mouth 0, Skip this turd and pick your nose instead because you 're sure to get more out of the latter experience 2, What can one say about a balding yearold actor playing an innocent boy carved from a log 1, Trailer trash cinema so uncool the only thing missing is the Gadzooks '' 1, Her film is like a beautiful food entrée that is n't heated properly so that it ends up a bit cold and relatively flavorless 1, Like the world of his film Hartley created a monster but did n't know how to handle it 1, No new plot conceptions or environmental changes just different bodies for sharp objects to rip through 1, Needs more impressionistic cinematography and exhilarating pointofview shots and fewer slowmotion grandeur ' shots and quickcut edits that often detract from the athleticism 0, In the end there is n't much to it 1, A waste of fearless purity in the acting craft 1, The film is ultimately about as inspiring as a Hallmark card 1, Anyone not into hightech splatterfests is advised to take the warning literally and log on to something more userfriendly 1, Disreputable doings and exquisite trappings are dampened by a lackluster script and substandard performances 0, You could easily mistake it for a sketchy workinprogress that was inexplicably rushed to the megaplexes before its time 2, Directors Harry Gantz and Joe Gantz have chosen a fascinating subject matter but the couples exposing themselves are n't all that interesting 1, Yet another entry in the sentimental ohthosewackyBrits genre that was ushered in by The Full Monty and is still straining to produce another smash hit 0, for those for whom the name Woody Allen was once a guarantee of something fresh sometimes funny and usually genuinely worthwhile Hollywood Ending is a depressing experience 1, Femme Fatale offers nothing more than a baitandswitch that is beyond playing fair with the audience 1, Are we dealing with dreams visions or being told what actually happened as if it were the third ending of Clue 0, It could have been something special but two things drag it down to mediocrity director Clare Peploe 's misunderstanding of Marivaux 's rhythms and Mira Sorvino 's limitations as a classical actress 1, Fluffy neonoir hiding behind cutesy film references 1, Imagine Susan Sontag falling in love with Howard Stern 2, Like being trapped inside a huge video game where exciting inane images keep popping past your head and the same illogical things keep happening over and over again 1, Should have been worth cheering as a breakthrough but is devoid of wit and humor 3, The best thing about the movie is its personable amusing cast 1, These guys seem great to knock back a beer with but they 're simply not funny performers 0, Everything was as superficial as the forced New Jersey lowbrow accent Uma had 1, Director David Fincher and writer David Koepp ca n't sustain it 2, Finally coming down off of Miramax 's deep shelves after a couple of aborted attempts Waking Up in Reno makes a strong case for letting sleeping dogs lie 2, A movie that feels like the pilot episode of a new teentargeted action TV series 0, One of the most highlypraised disappointments I 've had the misfortune to watch in quite some time 2, The animation and backdrops are lush and inventive yet Return to Neverland never manages to take us to that elusive lovely place where we suspend our disbelief 1, Director Shekhar Kapur and screenwriters Michael Schiffer and Hossein Amini have tried hard to modernize and reconceptualize things but the barriers finally prove to be too great 0, Strong filmmaking requires a clear sense of purpose and in that ohsoimportant category The Four Feathers comes up short 0, The thought of watching this film with an audience full of teenagers fixating on its body humour and reinforcement of stereotypes LRB of which they 'll get plenty RRB fills me with revulsion 1, Devolves into the derivative leaning on badlyrendered CGI effects 2, Anyone who gets chills from movies with giant plot holes will find plenty to shake and shiver about in The Ring ' 0, A grand fart coming from a director beginning to resemble someone 's crazy French grandfather 1, The script is a disaster with cloying messages and irksome characters 2, both overstuffed and undernourished The film ca n't be called a solid success although there 's plenty of evidence here to indicate Clooney might have better luck next time 2, Plods along minus the twisted humor and eyepopping visuals that have made Miike a cult hero 1, Hollywood has taken quite a nosedive from Alfred Hitchcock 's imaginative flight to Shyamalan 's selfimportant summer fluff 1, The film 's maudlin focus on the young woman 's infirmity and her naive dreams play like the worst kind of Hollywood heartstring plucking 3, I firmly believe that a good video game movie is going to show up soon 1, I also believe that Resident Evil is not it 1, It has the air of a surprisingly juvenile lark a popinfluenced prank whose charms are immediately apparent and wear thin with repetition 2, The plot meanders from gripping to plodding and back 1, This is cruel misanthropic stuff with only weak claims to surrealism and black comedy 0, No amount of nostalgia for Carvey 's glory days can disguise the fact that the new film is a lame kiddie flick and that Carvey 's considerable talents are wasted in it 2, Best described as I Know What You Did Last Winter 2, LRB Taylor RRB takes us on a ride that 's consistently surprising easy to watch but oh so dumb 2, It 's difficult for a longtime admirer of his work to not be swept up in Invincible and overlook its drawbacks 1, Lazily directed by Charles Stone III from a leaden script by Matthew Cirulnick and novelist Thulani Davis 1, Though Jones and Snipes are enthralling the movie bogs down in rhetoric and cliché 2, The most remarkable LRB and frustrating RRB thing about World Traveler which opens today in Manhattan is that its protagonist after being an object of intense scrutiny for minutes remains a complete blank 0, An artsploitation movie with too much exploitation and too little art 0, The pacing is often way off and there are too many bona fide groaners among too few laughs 2, With lines that feel like long soliloquies even as they are being framed in conversation Max is static stilted 1, Barely manages for but a few seconds over its seemingly eternal running time to pique your interest your imagination your empathy or anything really save your disgust and your indifference 3, Writer\/director Burr Steers emphasizes the Q in Quirky with mixed results 1, One senses in World Traveler and in his earlier film that Freundlich bears a grievous but obscure complaint against fathers and circles it obsessively without making contact 3, In between the icy stunts the actors spout hilarious dialogue about following your dream and just letting the mountain tell you what to do ' 2, The obligatory breakups and hookups do n't seem to have much emotional impact on the characters 2, Make no mistake ivans xtc 0, is a mess 0, Hypnotically dull relentlessly downbeat laughably predictable wail pitched to the cadence of a depressed fifteenyearold 's suicidal poetry 3, The concept is a hoot 4, The trailer is a riot 0, The movie is a dud 3, It 's a boring movie about a boring man made watchable by a bravura performance from a consummate actor incapable of being boring 0, Because the intelligence level of the characters must be low very low very very low for the masquerade to work the movie contains no wit only labored gags 0, It 's hard to imagine another director ever making his wife look so bad in a major movie 2, Some stunning visuals and some staggeringly boring cinema 1, These characters become wearisome 1, A hit andmiss affair consistently amusing but not as outrageous or funny as Cho may have intended or as imaginative as one might have hoped 1, This may be the first cartoon ever to look as if it were being shown on the projection television screen of a sports bar 1, Kim KiDeok seems to have in mind an LRB emotionally at least RRB adolescent audience demanding regular shocks and bouts of barely defensible sexual violence to keep it interested 2, A sterling film a cross between Boys Do n't Cry Deliverance and Ode to Billy Joe lies somewhere in the story of Matthew Shepard but that film is yet to be made 0, After sitting through this sloppy madeformovie comedy special it makes me wonder if Lawrence hates criticism so much that he refuses to evaluate his own work 1, Contrived pastiche of caper clichés 2, Many shallower movies these days seem too long but this one is egregiously short 2, Just a Kiss wants desperately to come off as a fanciful film about the typical problems of average people 2, But it is set in a world that is very very far from the one most of us inhabit 2, The most illconceived animated comedy since the dog Rover Dangerfield 2, Like shave ice without the topping this cinematic snow cone is as innocuous as it is flavorless 1, Despite its sincere acting Signs is just another unoriginal run of the mill scifi film with a flimsy ending and lots of hype 2, Yet another movie which presumes that high school social groups are at war let alone conscious of each other 's existence 0, Loud chaotic and largely unfunny 2, I ca n't remember the last time I saw an audience laugh so much during a movie but there 's only one problem it 's supposed to be a drama 1, Qualities that were once amusing are becoming irritating 1, Well Jason 's gone to Manhattan and Hell I guess a space station in the year can be crossed off the list of ideas for the inevitable future sequels LRB hey do n't shoot the messenger RRB 1, Donovan squanders his main asset Jackie Chan and fumbles the vital action sequences 0, There is no psychology here and no real narrative logic just a series of carefully choreographed atrocities which become strangely impersonal and abstract 0, Bread My Sweet has so many flaws it would be easy for critics to shred it 2, It may even fall into the category of Films You Love to Hate 2, I admit it I hate to like it 2, Frida is certainly no disaster but neither is it the Kahlo movie Frida fans have been looking for 1, Leaks treacle from every pore 0, The characters are so generic and the plot so bland that even as rogue CIA assassins working for Chris Cooper 's agency boss close in on the resourceful amnesiac we do n't feel much for Damon\/Bourne or his predicament 1, Kapur weighs down the tale with bogus profundities 2, While we want MacDowell 's character to retrieve her husband we have to ask whether her personal odyssey trumps the carnage that claims so many lives around her 1, Blue Crush is as predictable as the tides 1, The movie feels stitched together from stock situations and characters from other movies 0, If you enjoy being rewarded by a script that assumes you are n't very bright then Blood Work is for you 1, Trouble Every Day is a success in some sense but it 's hard to like a film so cold and dead 2, The film 's stagecrafts are intimate and therefore bolder than the otherwise calculated artifice that defines and overwhelms the film 's production design 1, A wellintentioned effort that 's still too burdened by the actor 's offbeat sensibilities for the earnest emotional core to emerge with any degree of accessibility 2, A familyfriendly fantasy that ends up doing very little with its imaginative premise 2, A plodding look at the French Revolution through the eyes of aristocrats 2, Tom Shadyac has learned a bit more craft since directing Adams but he still lingers over every point until the slowest viewer grasps it 2, Unspools like a highbrow lowkey minute infomercial blending entrepreneurial zeal with the testimony of satisfied customers 2, A fastpaced glitzy but extremely silly piece 0, Any reasonably creative eighthgrader could have written a more credible script though with the same number of continuity errors 1, while the humor aspects of Jason X ' were far more entertaining than I had expected everything else about the film tanks 2, Your taste for Jonah A Veggie Tales Movie may well depend on your threshold for pop manifestations of the Holy Spirit 1, Like an Afterschool Special with costumes by Gianni Versace Mad Love looks better than it feels 2, While certain cues like the happy music suggest that this movie is supposed to warm our hearts JeongHyang Lee 's film is just as likely to blacken that organ with cold vengefulness 0, The script the gags the characters are all directtovideo stuff and that 's where this film should have remained 1, A thriller without thrills and a mystery devoid of urgent questions 1, A collage of clichés and a dim echo of allusions to other films 1, The film is hampered by its predictable plot and paperthin supporting characters 2, Jonah is only soso the addition of a biblical message will either improve the film for you or it will lessen it 1, An excruciating demonstration of the unsalvageability of a movie saddled with an amateurish screenplay 1, How many more times will indie filmmakers subject us to boring selfimportant stories of how horrible we are to ourselves and each other 1, There are some laughs in this movie but Williams ' anarchy gets tiresome the satire is weak 0, As steamy as last week 's pork dumplings 0, The somber pacing and lack of dramatic fireworks make Green Dragon seem more like medicine than entertainment 1, The filmmakers needed more emphasis on the storytelling and less on the glamorous machine that thrusts the audience into a future they wo n't much care about 0, Another wholly unnecessary addition to the growing moldering pile of well extreme stunt pictures 0, This strenuously unfunny Showtime deserves the hook 1, The whole thing 's fairly lame making it par for the course for Disney sequels 1, its solemn pretension prevents us from sharing the awe in which it holds itself 1, the good and different idea LRB of middleaged romance RRB is not handled well and except for the fine star performances there is little else to recommend Never Again '' 1, If Disney 's Cinderella proved that ' a dream is a wish your heart makes ' then Cinderella II proves that a nightmare is a wish a studio 's wallet makes 0, Features nonsensical and laughable plotting wooden performances ineptly directed action sequences and some of the worst dialogue in recent memory 2, With Rare Birds as with The Shipping News before it an attempt is made to transplant a Hollywood star into Newfoundland 's wild soil and The Rock once again resists the intrusion 0, Nothing about this movie works 2, If the idea of the white man arriving on foreign shores to show wary natives the true light is abhorrent to you the simplistic Heaven will quite likely be more like hell 1, A spooky yarn of demonic doings on the high seas that works better the less the brain is engaged 1, None of Birthday Girl 's calculated events take us by surprise 2, Are monsters born or made 1, Lisa Rinzler 's cinematography may be lovely but Love Liza 's tale itself virtually collapses into an inhalant blackout maintaining consciousness just long enough to achieve callow pretension 1, The narrator and the other characters try to convince us that acting transfigures Esther but she 's never seen speaking on stage one feels cheated and Esther seems to remain an unchanged dullard 1, It 's exactly the kind of movie Toback 's detractors always accuse him of making 1, With the dog days of August upon us think of this dog of a movie as the cinematic equivalent of high humidity 2, Less about Shakespeare than the spawn of fools who saw Quentin Tarantino 's handful of raucous gangster films and branched out into their own pseudowitty copycat interpretations 0, The film is like sitting in a downtown café overhearing a bunch of typical latetwentysomethings natter on about nothing and desperately wishing you could change tables 1, This rather unfocused alloverthemap movie would be a lot better if it pared down its plots and characters to a few rather than dozens or if it were subtler or if it had a sense of humor 1, Takes a clunky TVmovie approach to detailing a chapter in the life of the celebrated Irish playwright poet and drinker 0, Not only does the thoroughly formulaic film represent totally exemplify middleoftheroad mainstream it also represents glossy Hollywood at its laziest 0, A shame that Stealing Harvard is too busy getting in its own way to be anything but frustrating boring and forgettable 0, Nearly every attempt at humor here is DOA 1, Collapses under its own meager weight 2, This is mildmannered beenthere material given a pedestrian spin by a director who needed a touch of the flamboyant the outrageous 2, If you adored The Full Monty so resoundingly that you 're dying to see the same old thing in a tired old setting then this should keep you reasonably entertained 1, Technically and artistically inept 1, Those who are only mildly curious I fear will be put to sleep or bewildered by the artsy and often pointless visuals 1, Though Tom Shadyac 's film kicks off spookily enough around the halfway mark it takes an abrupt turn into glucose sentimentality and laughable contrivance 0, A long dull procession of despair set to cello music culled from a minimalist funeral 0, Call me a coldhearted curmudgeon for not being able to enjoy a mindless action movie but I believe a movie can be mindless without being the peak of all things insipid 1, Death might be a release 1, LRB Hopkins RRB does n't so much phone in his performance as fax it 1, No even that 's too committed 2, He gets his secretary to fax it '' 1, Sodden and glum even in those moments where it 's supposed to feel funny and light 0, Priggish lethargically paced parable of renewal 1, A beautifully shot but dull and ankledeep epic ' 1, Even with its $ million US budget Pinocchio never quite achieves the feel of a fanciful motion picture 1, This is a thirdperson story now told by Hollywood and much more ordinary for it 3, The filmmakers know how to please the eye but it is not always the prettiest pictures that tell the best story 1, Written flatly by David Kendall and directed barely by There 's Something About Mary cowriter Ed Decter 2, The characters are interesting and the relationship between Yosuke and Saeko is worth watching as it develops but there 's not enough to the story to fill two hours 2, Very well made but does n't generate a lot of tension 2, Like being invited to a classy dinner soiree and not knowing anyone 1, You leave the same way you came a few tasty morsels under your belt but no new friends 1, It 's depressing to see how far Herzog has fallen 2, The question hanging over The Time Machine is not as the main character suggests what if ' 0, but rather How can you charge money for this ' 1, Millions of dollars heaped upon a project of such vast proportions need to reap more rewards than spiffy bluescreen technique and stylish weaponry 1, Freaky Friday '' it 's not 1, Perhaps a better celebration of these unfairly dismissed heroes would be a film that is n't this painfully forced false and fabricated 1, Although no pastry is violated this nasty comedy pokes fun at the same easy targets as other rowdy raunchfests farts boobs unmentionables without much success 2, In this film Aussie David Caesar channels the notquitedead career of Guy Ritchie 0, Maybe you 'll be lucky and there 'll be a power outage during your screening so you can get your money back 1, The characterizations and dialogue lack depth or complexity with the ironic exception of Scooter 2, This film was made by and for those folks who collect the serial killer cards and are fascinated by the mere suggestion of serial killers 0, For the rest of us sitting through Dahmer 's two hours amounts to little more than punishment 2, Narc can only remind us of brilliant crime dramas without becoming one itself 1, Somewhere inside the mess that is World Traveler there is a mediocre movie trying to get out 2, A tedious parable about honesty and good sportsmanship 2, Its strengths and weaknesses play off each other virtually to a standoff with the unfortunate trump card being the dreary midsection of the film 1, An artful yet depressing film that makes a melodramatic mountain out of the molehill of a missing bike 0, The movie 's ultimate point that everyone should be themselves is trite but the screenwriter and director Michel Gondry restate it to the point of ridiculousness 2, A glossy knockoff of a Bmovie revenge flick 1, expands the horizons of boredom to the point of collapse turning into a black hole of dullness from which no interesting concept can escape 2, It 's just plain boring 1, Sad nonsense this 3, But not without cheesy fun factor 1, One of those decadesspanning historical epics that strives to be intimate and socially encompassing but fails to do justice to either effort in three hours of screen time 2, Really dumb but occasionally really funny 1, The movie wavers between Hallmark card sentimentality and goofy lifeaffirming moments straight out of a cellular phone commercial 1, The director 's many dodges and turns add up to little more than a screenful of gamesmanship that 's low on both suspense and payoff 1, While the transgressive trappings LRB especially the frank sex scenes RRB ensure that the film is never dull Rodrigues 's beastwithin metaphor is ultimately rather silly and overwrought making the ambiguous ending seem goofy rather than provocative 0, The satire is unfocused while the story goes nowhere 1, They threw loads of money at an idea that should 've been so much more even if it was only made for teenage boys and wrestling fans 0, It 's mired in a shabby script that piles layer upon layer of Action Man cliché atop wooden dialogue and a shifting tone that falls far short of the peculiarly moral amorality of LRB Woo 's RRB best work 1, Reyes ' directorial debut has good things to offer but ultimately it 's undone by a sloppy script 0, If you 're over have an IQ over and have a driver 's license you should be able to find better entertainment 1, The darker elements of misogyny and unprovoked violence suffocate the illumination created by the two daughters and the sparse instances of humor meant to shine through the gloomy film noir veil 2, the picture 's cleverness is ironically muted by the very people who are intended to make it shine 1, Never does Lilo & Stitch '' reach the emotion or timelessness of Disney 's great past or even that of more recent successes such as Mulan '' or Tarzan '' 1, One of those soso films that could have been much better 0, Crossroads feels like a teenybopper Ed Wood film replete with the pubescent scandalous innuendo and the highstrung but flaccid drama 1, Fails to satisfactorily exploit its gender politics genre thrills or inherent humor 1, Interview With the Assassin is structured less as a documentary and more as a found relic and as such the film has a difficult time shaking its Blair Witch Project realtime roots 1, Cacoyannis ' vision is far less mature interpreting the play as a call for pity and sympathy for anachronistic phantasms haunting the imagined glory of their own pasts 1, It has more in common with a fireworks display than a movie which normally is expected to have characters and a storyline 0, It appears to have been made by people to whom the idea of narrative logic or cohesion is an entirely foreign concept 2, Less a heartfelt appeal for the handicapped than a nice Belgian waffle 1, It 's not helpful to listen to extremist namecalling regardless of whether you think Kissinger was a calculating fiend or just a slippery selfpromoter 1, Abandon spends minutes trying figure out whether or not some cocky pseudointellectual kid has intentionally left college or was killed 0, The only problem is that by the end no one in the audience or the film seems to really care 4, No Such Thing is sort of a minimalist Beauty and the Beast but in this case the Beast should definitely get top billing 3, Robert John Burke as The Monster horns in and steals the show 0, Due to stodgy soap operaish dialogue the rest of the cast comes across as stick figures reading lines from a TelePrompTer 1, LRB T RRB he film is never sure to make a clear point even if it seeks to rely on an ambiguous presentation 3, While it may not add up to the sum of its parts Holofcener 's film offers just enough insight to keep it from being simpleminded and the ensemble cast is engaging enough to keep you from shifting in your chair too often 2, An overwrought Taiwanese soaper about three people and their mixedup relationship 0, Nobody seems to have cared much about any aspect of it from its cheesy screenplay to the grayish quality of its lighting to its lastminute haphazard theatrical release 0, A thoroughly awful movie dumb narratively chaotic visually sloppy a weird amalgam of The Thing ' and a geriatric Scream ' 1, another example of how Sandler is losing his touch 0, Nothing sticks really except a lingering creepiness one feels from being dragged through a sad sordid universe of guns drugs avarice and damaged dreams 1, What goes on for the minutes of Panic Room '' is a battle of witlessness between a notsobright mother and daughter and an even less capable trio of criminals 1, The plot 's contrivances are uncomfortably strained 0, Guilty of the worst sin of attributable to a movie like this it 's not scary in the slightest 1, Schnieder bounces around with limp wrists wearing tight tummy tops and hip huggers twirling his hair on his finger and assuming that 's enough to sustain laughs 1, Its simplicity puts an exclamation point on the fact that this is n't something to be taken seriously but it also wrecks any chance of the movie rising above similar fare 1, By the final whistle you 're convinced that this Mean Machine was a decent TV outing that just does n't have big screen magic 0, To say that this vapid vehicle is downright doltish and uneventful is just as obvious as telling a country skunk that he has severe body odor 0, A film of empty fetishistic violence in which murder is casual and fun 1, Pretend it 's a werewolf itself by avoiding eye contact and walking slowly away 3, It 's fun but it 's a real howler 1, Some fine acting but ultimately a movie with no reason for being 1, It 's difficult to feel anything much while watching this movie beyond mild disturbance or detached pleasure at the acting 1, A waterlogged version of Fatal Attraction ' for the teenybopper set a sad soggy potboiler that wastes the talents of its attractive young leads 2, It tells its story in a flat manner and leaves you with the impression that you should have gotten more out of it than you did 1, Sweet gentle Jesus did the screenwriters just do a cutandpaste of every bad actionmovie line in history 2, It 's not the worst comedy of the year but it certainly wo n't win any honors 1, This is for the most part a useless movie even with a great director at the helm 0, A loud witless mess that has none of the charm and little of the intrigue from the TV series 0, Even on its own ludicrous terms The Sum of All Fears generates little narrative momentum and invites unflattering comparisons to other installments in the Ryan series 2, Though it inspires some LRB outoffield RRB creative thought the film is to its own detriment much more a cinematic collage than a polemical tract 0, As predictable as the outcome of a GlobetrottersGenerals game Juwanna Mann is even more ludicrous than you 'd expect from the guyinadress genre and a personal low for everyone involved 2, Sinks into the usual cafeteria goulash of fart jokes masturbation jokes and racist Japanese jokes 1, Where Tom Green stages his gags as assaults on America 's kneejerk moral sanctimony Jackass lacks aspirations of social upheaval 2, More of an intriguing curiosity than a gripping thriller 1, The April instalment of the American War for Independence complete with loads of CGI and bushels of violence but not a drop of human blood 1, Contains all the substance of a Twinkie easy to swallow but scarcely nourishing 1, Return to Neverland manages to straddle the line between another classic for the company and just another runofthemill Disney sequel intended for the home video market 0, Rarely does a film so graceless and devoid of merit as this one come along 1, It 's a thin notion repetitively stretched out to feature length awash in selfconsciously flashy camera effects droning house music and flat flat dialogue 2, On a certain base level Blue Crush delivers what it promises just not well enough to recommend it 1, The colorful Masseur wastes its time on mood rather than riding with the inherent absurdity of Ganesh 's rise up the social ladder 0, an incredibly heavyhanded manipulative dud that feels all too familiar 1, Wimps out by going for that PG rating so the more graphic violence is mostly offscreen and the sexuality is muted 3, Trapped presents a frightening and compelling What if ' 2, scenario that will give most parents pause Then something terrible happens 0, Madonna has made herself over so often now there 's apparently nothing left to work with sort of like Michael Jackson 's nose 0, Never having seen the first two films in the series I ca n't compare Friday After Next to them but nothing would change the fact that what we have here is a load of clams left in the broiling sun for a good three days 0, The story is lacking any real emotional impact and the plot is both contrived and cliched 0, A depraved incoherent instantly disposable piece of hackery 0, It 's a bad action movie because there 's no rooting interest and the spectacle is grotesque and boring 1, LRB Soderbergh RRB tends to place most of the psychological and philosophical material in italics rather than trust an audience 's intelligence and he creates an overall sense of brusqueness 2, Handsome and sincere but slightly awkward in its combination of entertainment and evangelical boosterism 1, So aggressively cheery that Pollyana would reach for a barf bag 1, ScoobyDoo does n't know if it wants to be a retrorefitting exercise in campy recall for older fans or a silly Nickelodeonesque kiddie flick 1, Russell lacks the visual panache the comic touch and perhaps the budget of Sommers 's titlebout features 0, Highly uneven and inconsistent Margarita Happy Hour kinda resembles the el cheapo margaritas served within 0, Very stupid and annoying 0, The Sum of All Fears pretends to be a serious exploration of nuclear terrorism but it 's really nothing more than warmedover Cold War paranoia 1, A listless and desultory affair 1, Represents the depths to which the girlsbehavingbadly film has fallen 0, How inept is Serving Sara 0, It makes even Elizabeth Hurley seem graceless and ugly 2, Jampacked with literally bruising jokes 2, Every five minutes or so someone gets clocked 2, Wins my vote for The Enemy of Cinema ' Award 2, Any Chekhov is better than no Chekhov but it would be a shame if this was your introduction to one of the greatest plays of the last years 1, Helmer Hudlin tries to make a hip comedy but his dependence on slapstick defeats the possibility of creating a more darkly edged tome 0, Lazy miserable and smug 0, This is one of the biggest disappointments of the year 2, Formula has dulled your senses faster and deeper than any recreational drug on the market 1, Every visual joke is milked every setup obvious and lengthy every punchline predictable 0, There 's no energy 2, Apparently writerdirector Attal thought he need only cast himself and his moviestar wife sitting around in their drawers to justify a film 2, After the setup the air leaks out of the movie flattening its momentum with about an hour to go 1, This is a poster movie a mediocre tribute to films like Them 1, At three hours and with very little story or character development there is plenty of room for editing and a much shorter cut surely would have resulted in a smoother more focused narrative without sacrificing any of the cultural intrigue 2, A bit too derivative to stand on its own as the psychological thriller it purports to be 2, A crude teenoriented variation on a theme that the playwright Craig Lucas explored with infinitely more grace and eloquence in his Prelude to a Kiss 2, The film 's darker moments become smoothed over by an overwhelming need to tender inspirational tidings especially in the last few cloying moments 1, If you recognize Zeus LRB the dog from Snatch RRB it will make you wish you were at home watching that movie instead of in the theater watching this one 0, This is the kind of movie that you only need to watch for about thirty seconds before you say to yourself Ah yes here we have a bad bad bad movie ' 2, Shanghai Ghetto should be applauded for finding a new angle on a tireless story but you might want to think twice before booking passage 2, Plays like a checklist of everything Rob Reiner and his cast were sending up 0, There 's too much forced drama in this wildly uneven movie about a young man 's battle with his inescapable past and uncertain future in a very shapable but largely unfulfilling present 3, It 's at once laughable and compulsively watchable in its committed dumbness 1, All the sensuality all the eroticism of a good vampire tale has been pardon the pun sucked out and replaced by goth goofiness 1, A cross between Blow and Boyz N The Hood this movie strives to be more but does n't quite get there 3, Good performances keep it from being a total rehash 1, The screenplay is hugely overwritten with tons and tons of dialogue most of it given to children 2, Troll the cult section of your local video store for the real deal 4, At times the movie looks genuinely pretty 2, Your nightmares on the other hand will be anything but 0, Not even Felinni would know what to make of this Italian freakshow 2, Elmo touts his drug as being times stronger than coke 2, If you 're looking for a tale of Brits behaving badly watch Snatch again 2, It 's times better than this 0, It 's difficult to conceive of anyone who has reached puberty actually finding the characters in Slackers or their antics amusing let alone funny 1, Despite its promising cast of characters Big Trouble remains a loosely tied series of vignettes which only prove that zany ' does n't necessarily mean funny ' 0, Both shrill and soporific and because everything is repeated five or six times it can seem tiresomely simpleminded 1, Does not go far enough in its humor or stock ideas to stand out as particularly memorable or even all that funny 0, Neither revelatory nor truly edgy merely crassly flamboyant and comedically labored 1, Just about everyone involved here seems to be coasting 2, There are a few modest laughs but certainly no thrills 1, Fails so fundamentally on every conventional level that it achieves some kind of goofy grandeur 1, There 's a persistent theatrical sentiment and a woozy quality to the manner of the storytelling which undercuts the devastatingly telling impact of utter loss personified in the film 's simple title 2, While Howard 's appreciation of Brown and his writing is clearly wellmeaning and sincere the movie would be impossible to sit through were it not for the supporting cast 0, A preposterous prurient whodunit 1, Go girls right down the reality drain 1, Boasting some of the most poorly staged and lit action in memory Impostor is as close as you can get to an imitation movie 1, Can be classified as one of those alternate reality ' movies except that it would have worked so much better dealing in only one reality 3, Predictable and cloying though Brown Sugar is so earnest in its yearning for the days before rap went nihilistic that it summons more spirit and bite than your average formulaic romantic quadrangle 0, unlikable uninteresting unfunny and completely utterly inept 0, The film is so busy making reference to other films and trying to be other films that it fails to have a heart mind or humor of its own 1, An imponderably stilted and selfconsciously arty movie 0, Muddled melodramatic paranormal romance is an alltime low for Kevin Costner 1, Too clumsy in key moments to make a big splash 0, Just a bunch of good actors flailing around in a caper that 's neither original nor terribly funny 1, Matrix ' style massacres erupt throughout but the movie has a tougher time balancing its violence with Kafkainspired philosophy 4, At least it 's a fairly impressive debut from the director Charles Stone III 0, It all unfolds predictably and the adventures that happen along the way seem repetitive and designed to fill time providing no real sense of suspense 2, Wanker Goths are on the loose 0, Run for your lives 1, Why would anyone cast the magnificent Jackie Chan in a movie full of stunt doubles and special effects 1, A grating emaciated flick 1, Unambitious writing emerges in the movie using a plot that could have come from an animatedmovie screenwriting textbook 2, Presents a good case while failing to provide a reason for us to care beyond the very basic dictums of human decency 1, We have poignancy jostling against farce thoughtful dialogue elbowed aside by oneliners and a visual style that incorporates rotoscope animation for no apparent reason except maybe that it looks neat 3, According to the script Grant and Bullock 's characters are made for each other 2, But you 'd never guess that from the performances 2, The animation merely serves up a predictable maudlin story that swipes heavily from Bambi and The Lion King yet lacks the emotional resonance of either of those movies 1, Ararat feels like a book report 1, Steve Oedekerk is alas no Woody Allen 1, A lot like the imaginary sport it projects onto the screen loud violent and mindless 2, An amalgam of The Fugitive Blade Runner and Total Recall only without much energy or tension 0, The acting is amateurish the cinematography is atrocious the direction is clumsy the writing is insipid and the violence is at once luridly graphic and laughably unconvincing 1, Shows that Jackie Chan is getting older and that 's something I would rather live in denial about 2, With miscast leads banal dialogue and an absurdly overblown climax Killing Me Softly belongs firmly in the sobadit 's good camp 2, Alas the blackandwhite archival footage of their act showcases pretty mediocre shtick 0, The slapstick is labored and the bigger setpieces flat 1, This is the kind of movie where people who have never picked a lock do so easily after a few tries and become expert fighters after a few weeks 1, The problem with the mayhem in Formula is not that it 's offensive but that it 's boring 1, Much of the digitally altered footage appears jagged as if filmed directly from a television monitor while the extensive use of stock footage quickly becomes a tiresome cliché 1, the film never rises above a conventional two dimension tale 2, Mark Wahlberg may look classy in a 's homage pokepie hat but as a character he 's dry dry dry 1, Told in scattered fashion the movie only intermittently lives up to the stories and faces and music of the men who are its subject 3, The irony is that this film 's cast is uniformly superb their performances could have should have been allowed to stand on their own 2, Now I can see why people thought I was too hard on The Mothman Prophecies '' 4, If ever a concept came handed down from the movie gods on a silver platter this is it 0, If ever such a dependable concept was botched in execution this is it 3, With an unusual protagonist LRB a kiltwearing Jackson RRB and subject matter the improbable Formula '' is somewhat entertaining but it could have been much stronger 2, Sandra Bullock 's best dramatic performance to date LRB is RRB almost enough to lift LRB this RRB thrillkill catandmouser above its paintbynumbers plot 1, A feelgood movie that does n't give you enough to feel good about 3, Adolescents will be adequately served by the movie 's sophomoric blend of shenanigans and slapstick although the more lasciviousminded might be disappointed in the relative modesty of a movie that sports a topless tutorial service ' 1, This mistakenidentity picture is so filmculture referential that the final product is a ghost 0, The picture emerges as a surprisingly anemic disappointment 2, De Niro cries 0, You 'll cry for your money back 0, Slap me I saw this movie 1, LRB The kid 's RRB just too bratty for sympathy and as the film grows to its finale his little changes ring hollow 0, Behind the glitz Hollywood is sordid and disgusting 2, Quelle surprise 1, Scherfig who has had a successful career in TV tackles more than she can handle 1, Just consider what New Best Friend does not have beginning with the minor omission of a screenplay 1, Oscar caliber cast does n't live up to material 2, The problems of the people in Love in the Time of Money are hardly specific to their era 1, They just have problems which are neither original nor are presented in convincing way 1, Carrying this waferthin movie on his nimble shoulders Chan wades through putrid writing direction and timing with a smile that says If I stay positive maybe I can channel one of my greatest pictures Drunken Master ' 0, So putrid it is not worth the price of the match that should be used to burn every print of the film 0, In the end the movie bogs down in insignificance saying nothing about Kennedy 's assassination and revealing nothing about the pathology it pretends to investigate 1, Starts out ballsy and stylish but fails to keep it up and settles into clichés 1, Sometimes makes less sense than the Bruckheimeresque American action flicks it emulates 1, One of those films where the characters inhabit that special annex of hell where adults behave like kids children behave like adults and everyone screams at the top of their lungs no matter what the situation 0, There 's only one way to kill Michael Myers for good stop buying tickets to these movies 2, Rare Birds ' tries to force its quirkiness upon the audience 0, The movie is about as humorous as watching your favorite pet get buried alive 2, Resident Evil is what comes from taking John Carpenter 's Ghosts of Mars and eliminating the beheadings 0, In other words about as bad a film you 're likely to see all year 1, Five screenwriters are credited with the clichéladen screenplay it seems as if each watered down the version of the one before 1, The whole thing comes off like a particularly amateurish episode of Bewitched that takes place during Spring Break 1, Well made but uninvolving Bloodwork is n't a terrible movie just a stultifyingly obvious one an unrewarding collar for a murder mystery 1, So we got Ten Little Indians meets Friday the th by way of Clean and Sober filmed on the set of Carpenter 's The Thing and loaded with actors you 're most likely to find on the next inevitable incarnation of The Love Boat 1, The movie 's blatant derivativeness is one reason it 's so lackluster 1, Kids do n't mind crappy movies as much as adults provided there 's lots of cute animals and clumsy people 2, Snow Dogs ' has both 2, It 's almost as if it 's an elaborate dare more than a fullblooded film 2, Wobbly Senegalese updating of Carmen '' which is best for the stunning star turn by Djeinaba Diop Gai 1, It 's the humanizing stuff that will probably sink the film for anyone who does n't think about percentages all day long 3, Ken Russell would love this 1, In one scene we get a stab at soccer hooliganism a doublebarreled ripoff of Quentin Tarantino 's climactic shootout and Meat Loaf explodes 2, Bella is the picture of health with boundless energy until a few days before she dies 0, This is absolutely and completely ridiculous and an insult to every family whose mother has suffered through the horrible pains of a death by cancer 1, The premise of Abandon '' holds promise but its delivery is a complete mess 2, What could have been a pointed little chiller about the frightening seductiveness of new technology loses faith in its own viability and succumbs to joyless specialeffects excess 1, A little too ponderous to work as shallow entertainment not remotely incisive enough to qualify as drama Monsoon Wedding serves mostly to whet one 's appetite for the Bollywood films 1, Unless Bob Crane is someone of particular interest to you this film 's impressive performances and adept direction are n't likely to leave a lasting impression 2, The Rock has a great presence but one battle after another is not the same as one battle followed by killer CGI effects 3, The bottom line with Nemesis is the same as it has been with all the films in the series Fans will undoubtedly enjoy it and the uncommitted need n't waste their time on it 1, The lousy John Q all but spits out Denzel Washington 's fine performance in the title role 0, The whole thing feels like a ruse a tactic to cover up the fact that the picture is constructed around a core of flimsy or worse yet nonexistent ideas 0, What a stiflingly unfunny and unoriginal mess this is 1, The film is so packed with subplots involving the various Silbersteins that it feels more like the pilot episode of a TV series than a feature film 1, Opera on film is never satisfactory 3, The art demands live viewing 0, The innate theatrics that provide its thrills and extreme emotions lose their luster when flattened onscreen 0, Despite all the closeddoor hankypanky the film is essentially juiceless 1, It is parochial accessible to a chosen few standoffish to everyone else and smugly suggests a superior moral tone is more important than filmmaking skill 1, The Sweetest Thing leaves an awful sour taste 1, It 's lost the politics and the social observation and become just another situation romance about a couple of saps stuck in an inarticulate screenplay 1, Terminally bland painfully slow and needlessly confusing The movie shot on digital videotape rather than film is frequently indecipherable 3, As dumb and cheesy as they may be the cartoons look almost Shakespearean both in depth and breadth after watching this digitaleffectsheavy supposed familyfriendly comedy 0, Aloof and lacks any real raw emotion which is fatal for a film that relies on personal relationships 1, A lowrent retread of the Alien pictures 2, Serviceable at best slightly less than serviceable at worst 1, Its initial excitement settles into a warmed over pastiche 1, A big meal of cliches that the talented cast generally chokes on 1, The story has little wit and no surprises 1, The MerchantIvory team continues to systematically destroy everything we hold dear about cinema only now it 's begun to split up so that it can do even more damage 0, What should have been a cutting Hollywood satire is instead about as fresh as last week 's issue of Variety 0, Hey everybody wanna watch a movie in which a guy dressed as a children 's party clown gets violently gangraped 2, I did n't think so 1, A little more intensity and a little less charm would have saved this film a world of hurt 0, LRB T RRB his slop does n't even have potential as a cult film as it 's too loud to shout insults at the screen 0, The movie 's plot is almost entirely witless and inane carrying every gag two or three times beyond its limit to sustain a laugh 1, may work as an addictive guilty pleasure but the material never overcomes its questionable satirical ambivalence 2, This Scarlet 's letter is A 1, as in aimless arduous and arbitrary 1, Plays like a glossy melodrama that occasionally verges on camp 2, The central character is n't complex enough to hold our interest 2, A modestly comic modestly actionoriented World War II adventure that in terms of authenticity is one of those films that requires the enemy to never shoot straight 1, A puppy dog so desperate for attention it nearly breaks its little neck trying to perform entertaining tricks 1, Just about all of the film is confusing on one level or another making Ararat far more demanding than it needs to be 1, A little less extreme than in the past with longer exposition sequences between them and with fewer gags to break the tedium 1, There 's a heavy stench of been there done that ' hanging over the film 2, It 's everything you 'd expect but nothing more 1, The biggest problem with Satin Rouge is Lilia herself 2, She 's a cipher played by an actress who smiles and frowns but does n't reveal an inner life 3, A quaint romanticized rendering 2, What with the incessant lounge music playing in the film 's background you may mistake Love Liza for an Adam Sandler Chanukah song 2, The movie 's heavyhanded screenplay navigates a fast fade into pomposity and pretentiousness 1, A potentially good comic premise and excellent cast are terribly wasted 1, Woody Allen used to ridicule movies like Hollywood Ending 2, Now he makes them 2, She 's not yet an actress not quite a singer 2, Not a bad premise but the execution is lackluster at best 1, Been there done that 1, There is only so much baked cardboard I need to chew 1, A movie like The Guys is why film criticism can be considered work 2, Schnitzler 's film has a great hook some clever bits and welldrawn if standard issue characters but is still only partly satisfying 1, Even if it made its original release date last fall it would 've reeked of a beenthere donethat sameness 2, Only twofifths of a satisfying movie experience 0, A loud ugly irritating movie without any of its satirical salvos hitting a discernible target 0, A movie version of a paintbynumbers picture 1, We can tell what it is supposed to be but ca n't really call it a work of art 2, It 's a brilliant honest performance by Nicholson but the film is an agonizing bore except when the fantastic Kathy Bates turns up 3, Bravado Kathy 1, Liotta is put in an impossible spot because his character 's deceptions ultimately undo him and the believability of the entire scenario 1, Too bad 2, You can thank me for this 2, I saw Juwanna Mann so you do n't have to 0, Unfunny and lacking any sense of commitment to or affection for its characters the Reginald Hudlin comedy relies on toilet humor ethnic slurs 2, Basically it 's pretty but dumb 1, This romantic\/comedy asks the question how much souvlaki can you take before indigestion sets in 1, Squandering his opportunity to make absurdist observations Burns gets caught up in the rush of slapstick thoroughfare 2, There 's a neat twist subtly rendered that could have wrapped things up at minutes but Kang tacks on three or four more endings 2, Reeboir varies between a sweet smile and an angry bark while Said attempts to wear down possible pupils through repetition 1, It has no affect on the Kurds but it wore me down 0, The actors improvise and scream their way around this movie directionless lacking any of the rollicking dark humor so necessary to make this kind of idea work on screen 0, Cowriter\/director Jonathan Parker 's attempts to fashion a Brazillike hyperreal satire fall dreadfully short 2, If this silly little cartoon can inspire a few kids not to grow up to be greedy bastards more power to it 1, A superfluous sequel plagued by that old familiar feeling of let 's get this thing over with ' Everyone has shown up at the appointed time and place but visible enthusiasm is mighty hard to find 0, If there 's a heaven for bad movies Deuces Wild is on its way 1, Comes off like a bad imitation of the Bard 0, What 's missing in Murder by Numbers is any real psychological grounding for the teens ' deviant behaviour 2, Being latently gay and liking to read are hardly enough 1, An uninspired preachy and clichéd war film 0, Horrendously amateurish filmmaking that is plainly dull and visually ugly when it is n't incomprehensible 1, A movie that harps on mediaconstructed issues ' like whether compromise is the death of self this Orgasm LRB wo n't be an RRB exceedingly memorable one for most people 2, Slackers ' jokey approach to college education is disappointingly simplistic the film 's biggest problem and there are no unforgettably stupid stunts or uproariously rude lines of dialogue to remember it by 1, If Festival in Cannes nails hard boiled Hollywood argot with a bracingly nasty accuracy much about the film including some of its casting is frustratingly unconvincing 1, The movie is too impressed with its own solemn insights to work up much entertainment value 1, I have n't seen such selfamused trash since Freddy Got Fingered 1, Little more than a wellmounted history lesson 0, Rob Schneider 's infantile crossdressing routines fill The Hot Chick the latest gimmick from this unimaginative comedian 0, A horrible minute stink bomb 1, The film is weighed down by supporting characters who are either too goodly wise and knowing or downright comically evil 0, The film is so bad it does n't improve upon the experience of staring at a blank screen 0, Sheridan 's take on the author 's schoolboy memoir is a rather toothless take on a hard young life 0, It jumps around with little logic or continuity presenting backstage bytes of information that never amount to a satisfying complete picture of this particular anciently demanding métier 2, How I Killed My Father is one of those art house films that makes you feel like you 're watching an iceberg melt only it never melts 1, When it comes to the battle of Hollywood vs Woo it looks like Woo 's a POW 2, There are a few chuckles but not a single gag sequence that really scores and the stars seem to be in two different movies 1, The Chateau has one very funny joke and a few other decent ones but all it amounts to is a mildly funny sometimes tedious ultimately insignificant film 0, It 's dull spiritless silly and monotonous an ultraloud blast of pointless mayhem going nowhere fast 3, The mushy finale turns John Q into a movieoftheweek tearjerker 1, Content merely to lionize its title character and exploit his anger all for easy sanctimony formulaic thrills and a hamfisted sermon on the need for national health insurance 1, The movie turns out to be LRB Assayas ' RRB homage to the Gallic tradition of quality ' in all its fusty squareness 1, Its message has merit and in the hands of a brutally honest individual like Prophet Jack might have made a point or two regarding life 1, LRB Seems RRB even more uselessly redundant and shamelessly moneygrubbing than most thirdrate horror sequels 0, It 's hard to imagine that even very small children will be impressed by this tired retread 1, Neither as scaryfunny as Tremors nor dementedfunny as Starship Troopers the movie is n't tough to take as long as you 've paid a matinee price 1, If swimfan does catch on it may be because teens are looking for something to make them laugh 2, What might 've been an exhilarating exploration of an odd love triangle becomes a sprawl of uncoordinated vectors 1, The Master of Disguise may have made a great Saturday Night Live sketch but a great movie it is not 0, It 's quite an achievement to set and shoot a movie at the Cannes Film Festival and yet fail to capture its visual appeal or its atmosphere 0, Boll uses a lot of quick cutting and blurry stepprinting to goose things up but dopey dialogue and sometimes inadequate performances kill the effect 0, It 's always disappointing when a documentary fails to live up to or offer any new insight into its chosen topic 1, Unfortunately that 's precisely what Arthur Dong 's Family Fundamentals does 2, Has the marks of a septuagenarian it 's a crusty treatment of a clever gimmick 1, Like a mediumgrade network sitcom mostly inoffensive fitfully amusing but ultimately so weightless that a decent draft in the auditorium might blow it off the screen 1, Something must have been lost in the translation 1, Becomes the last thing you would expect from a film with this title or indeed from any Plympton film boring 1, In the end the film feels homogenized and a bit contrived as if we 're looking back at a tattered and ugly past with rosetinted glasses 1, Chan 's stunts are limited and so embellished by editing that there 's really not much of a sense of action or even actioncomedy 1, Rock 's standup magic wanes 4, Hopkins squarely fills the screen 1, Action mechanical 2, The Tuxedo '' should have been the vehicle for Chan that The Mask '' was for Jim Carrey 3, Alas it 's the man that makes the clothes 1, For casual moviegoers who stumble into Rules expecting a slice of American Pie hijinks starring the kid from Dawson 's Creek they 'll probably run out screaming 1, The biggest problem I have LRB other than the very sluggish pace RRB is we never really see her Esther blossom as an actress even though her talent is supposed to be growing 2, What puzzles me is the lack of emphasis on music in Britney Spears ' first movie 1, Plot characters drama emotions ideas all are irrelevant to the experience of seeing The Scorpion King 3, City by the Sea is a gritty police thriller with all the dysfunctional family dynamics one could wish for 1, But how it washed out despite all of that is the project 's prime mystery 1, Whatever the movie 's sentimental hypocritical lessons about sexism its true colors come out in various wet Tshirt and shower scenes 2, As a hybrid teen thriller and murder mystery Murder by Numbers fits the profile too closely 2, There ai n't a lot more painful than an unfunny movie that thinks it 's hilarious 3, I enjoyed the movie in a superficial way while never sure what its purpose was 1, What a pity that the material is so secondrate 1, Does n't deliver a great story nor is the action as gripping as in past Seagal films 0, The kind of film that leaves you scratching your head in amazement over the fact that so many talented people could participate in such an illadvised and poorly executed idea 3, Nicks refuses to let Slackers be seen as just another teen movie which means he can be forgiven for frequently pandering to fans of the grossout comedy 0, Nothing about the film with the possible exception of Elizabeth Hurley 's breasts is authentic 2, Amid the cliché and foreshadowing Cage manages a degree of casual realism that is routinely dynamited by Blethyn 1, Mostly Shafer and cowriter Gregory Hinton lack a strongminded viewpoint or a sense of humor 1, No cliche escapes the perfervid treatment of gang warfare called ces Wild 1, Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson have a cute partnership in I Spy but the movie around them is so often nearly nothing that their charm does n't do a load of good 1, Strictly a guy 's film ' in the worst sense of the expression 1, There 's some good material in their story about a retail clerk wanting more out of life but the movie too often spins its wheels with familiar situations and repetitive scenes 1, It 's a lot to ask people to sit still for two hours and change watching such a character especially when rendered in as flat and impassive a manner as Phoenix 's 1, There 's something fishy about a seasonal holiday kids ' movie that derives its moment of most convincing emotional gravity from a scene where Santa gives gifts to grownups 1, We 're left with a story that tries to grab us only to keep letting go at all the wrong moments 0, Like many such biographical melodramas it suffers from the awkwardness that results from adhering to the messiness of true stories 0, There is nothing redeeming about this movie 1, The film has LRB its RRB moments but they are few and far between 0, I was trying to decide what annoyed me most about God is Great I 'm Not and then I realized that I just did n't care 0, Derailed by bad writing and possibly also by some of that extensive postproduction reworking to aim the film at young males in the throes of their first full flush of testosterone 2, Deserves high marks for political courage but barely gets by on its artistic merits 1, comes alive only when it switches gears to the sentimental 1, Brosnan 's finest nonBondish performance yet fails to overcome the film 's manipulative sentimentality and annoying stereotypes 3, A film that will be best appreciated by those willing to endure its extremely languorous rhythms Waiting for Happiness is ultimately thoughtful without having much dramatic impact 1, To me it sounds like a cruel deception carried out by men of marginal intelligence with reactionary ideas about women and a total lack of empathy 2, Tsai may be ploughing the same furrow once too often 1, Flashy gadgets and whirling fight sequences may look cool but they ca n't distract from the flawed support structure holding Equilibrium up 1, ZigZag might have been richer and more observant if it were less densely plotted 1, How can such a cold movie claim to express warmth and longing 1, In truth it has all the heart of a porno flick LRB but none of the sheer lust RRB 1, Nicks and Steinberg match their own creations for pure venality that 's giving it the old college try 1, Episode II Attack of the Clones is a technological exercise that lacks juice and delight 1, The problem with all of this It 's not really funny 1, LRB Denis ' RRB barebones narrative more closely resembles an outline for a 's exploitation picture than the finished product 1, Wanders all over the map thematically and stylistically and borrows heavily from Lynch Jeunet and von Trier while failing to find a spark of its own 2, Viewing this underdramatized but overstated film is like watching a transcript of a therapy session brought to humdrum life by some Freudian puppet 1, Overall tomfoolery like this is a matter of taste 1, The mantra behind the project seems to have been it 's just a kids ' flick ' 1, Translation We do n't need to try very hard ' 0, In all the annals of the movies few films have been this odd inexplicable and unpleasant 1, It takes a really long slow and dreary time to dope out what TUCK EVERLASTING is about 2, So here it is It 's about a family of sour immortals 1, an essentially awkward version of the lightweight female empowerment picture we 've been watching for decades 1, The author 's devotees will probably find it fascinating others may find it baffling 1, Writerdirector Walter Hill and cowriter David Giler try to create characters out of the obvious cliches but wind up using them as punching bags 0, There 's a scientific law to be discerned here that producers would be well to heed Mediocre movies start to drag as soon as the action speeds up when the explosions start they fall to pieces 1, A cockeyed shot all the way 1, Lush and beautifully photographed LRB somebody suggested the stills might make a nice coffee table book RRB but ultimately you 'll leave the theater wondering why these people mattered 0, Unfortunately One Hour Photo lives down to its title 0, Thanks largely to Williams all the interesting developments are processed in minutes the rest is just an overexposed waste of film 0, Cold Sterile And Lacking Any Color Or Warmth 1, The film is undone by anachronistic quick edits and occasional jarring glimpses of a modern theater audience watching the events unfold 1, Seems like someone going through the motions 1, For a film about explosions and death and spies Ballistic Ecks vs Sever '' seems as safe as a children 's film 1, Well in some of those the mother deer even dies 2, Wallace gets a bit heavy handed with his message at times and has a visual flair that waxes poetic far too much for our taste 2, Impostor does n't do much with its template despite a remarkably strong cast 2, Wraps itself in the guise of a dark and quirky comedy but it is n't as quirky as it thinks it is and its comedy is generally meanspirited 1, Choppy overlong documentary about The Lifestyle ' 0, One sloughs one 's way through the mire of this alleged psychological thriller in search of purpose or even a plot 1, A film which presses familiar Herzog tropes into the service of a limpid and conventional historical fiction when really what we demand of the director is to be mesmerised 2, It 's a fanboy what if ' 3, brought to life on the big screen 1, The story itself is actually quite vapid 1, It 's a hellish numbing experience to watch and it does n't offer any insights that have n't been thoroughly debated in the media already back in the Dahmer heyday of the mid 's 2, Wait for pay per view or rental but do n't dismiss BarberShop out of hand 1, A few zingers aside the writing is indifferent and Jordan Brady 's direction is prosaic 1, Each scene drags underscoring the obvious and sentiment is slathered on top 0, Would 've been nice if the screenwriters had trusted audiences to understand a complex story and left off the film 's predictable denouement 2, Then Nadia 's birthday might not have been such a bad day after all 2, One of those staggeringly wellproduced joylessly extravagant pictures that keep whooshing you from one visual marvel to the next hastily emptily 0, Nair just does n't have the necessary selfcontrol to guide a loose poorly structured film through the pitfalls of incoherence and redundancy 3, Enthusiastically taking up the current teen movie concern with bodily functions Walt Becker 's film pushes all the demographically appropriate comic buttons 4, It 's the funniest American comedy since Graffiti Bridge 1, That neither protagonist has a distinguishable condition hardly matters because both are just actory concoctions defined by childlike dimness and a handful of quirks 0, What starts off as a possible Argentine American Beauty reeks like a room stacked with pungent flowers 0, The project 's filmmakers forgot to include anything even halfway scary as they poorly rejigger Fatal Attraction into a high school setting 1, In oldfashioned screenwriting parlance Ms Shreve 's novel proved too difficult a text to lick ' despite the efforts of a firstrate cast 1, Solondz may well be the only one laughing at his own joke 0, Stitch is a bad mannered ugly and destructive little \*\*\*\* 0, No cute factor here Not that I mind ugly the problem is he has no character loveable or otherwise 0, Deep down I realized the harsh reality of my situation I would leave the theater with a lower IQ than when I had entered 2, A really funny fifteenminute short stretched beyond its limits to fill an almost featurelength film 0, Aside from the fact that the film idiotically uses the website feardotcomcom or the improperly hammy performance from poor Stephen Rea the film gets added disdain for the fact that it is nearly impossible to look at or understand 1, It is bad but certainly not without merit as entertainment 0, For its minutes running time you 'll wait in vain for a movie to happen 0, A work that lacks both a purpose and a strong pulse 3, A faster paced family flick 1, Upper Teens may get cynical 3, Smaller numbered kidlets will enjoy 1, While this film has an A ' list cast and some strong supporting players the tale like its central figure Vivi is just a little bit hard to love 0, It 's a roadtrip drama with too many wrong turns 1, Most fish stories are a little peculiar but this is one that should be thrown back in the river 2, It 's all gratuitous before long as if Schwentke were fulfilling a grossout quota for an anticipated audience demographic instead of shaping the material to fit the story 2, I blame all men for war '' LRB the warden 's daughter RRB tells her father 1, The movie is about as deep as that sentiment 2, It 's fitfully funny but never really takes off 1, I 've seen some bad singerturned actors but Lil Bow Wow takes the cake 3, By halfway through this picture I was beginning to hate it and of course feeling guilty for it Then miracle of miracles the movie does a flipflop 2, For all the complications it 's all surprisingly predictable 2, It 's been years since Hrs 3, made Eddie Murphy a movie star and the man has n't aged a day 2, But his showboating wisecracker stock persona sure is getting old 2, If Deuces Wild had been tweaked up a notch it would have become a camp adventure one of those movies that 's so bad it starts to become good 1, But it was n't 1, For a film about action Ultimate X is the gabbiest giantscreen movie ever bogging down in a barrage of hype 1, a low rate Annie featuring some kid who ca n't act only echoes of Jordan and weirdo actor Crispin Glover screwing things up old school 0, It might not be s animation but everything else about it is straight from the Saturday morning cartoons a retread story bad writing and the same old silliness 1, The picture seems uncertain whether it wants to be an acidic allmale All About Eve or a lush swooning melodrama in the Intermezzo strain 1, A nearly \/ hours the film is way too indulgent 1, Gorgeous to look at but insufferably tedious and turgid a curiously constricted epic 2, It looks much more like a cartoon in the end than The Simpsons ever has 1, With a tighter editorial process and firmer direction this material could work especially since the actresses in the lead roles are all more than competent but as is Personal Velocity seems to be idling in neutral 1, Does n't really add up to much 1, It 's better suited for the history or biography channel but there 's no arguing the tone of the movie it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and questions on your mind 1, An entertainment so in love with its overinflated mythology that it no longer recognizes the needs of moviegoers for real characters and compelling plots 1, A prolonged extrusion of psychopathic pulp 1, Borrows from other movies like it in the most ordinary and obvious fashion 1, It 's surprisingly bland despite the heavy doses of weird performances and direction 0, A chilly remote emotionally distant piece so dull that its tagline should be In space no one can hear you snore ' 1, The characters seem onedimensional and the film is superficial and will probably be of interest primarily to its target audience 1, Sorvino makes the princess seem smug and cartoonish and the film only really comes alive when poor Hermocrates and Leontine pathetically compare notes about their budding amours 1, It 's like a driveby 1, You can drive right by it without noticing anything special save for a few comic turns intended and otherwise 1, Everything even life on an aircraft carrier is sentimentalized 0, This wouldbe James Bond for the Extreme Generation ' pic is one big dumb action movie 1, Stress dumb ' 2, The movie has generic virtues and despite a lot of involved talent seems done by the numbers 1, When your subject is illusion versus reality should n't the reality seem at least passably real 0, It 's a terrible movie in every regard and utterly painful to watch 0, This is rote spookiness with nary an original idea LRB or role or edit or score or anything really RRB in sight and the whole of the proceedings beg the question Why ' 1, A fan film that for the uninitiated plays better on video with the sound turned down 1, Too infuriatingly quirky and taken with its own style 1, There 's a whole heap of nothing at the core of this slight comingofage\/comingout tale 3, As much as I laughed throughout the movie I can not mount a cogent defense of the film as entertainment or even performance art although the movie does leave you marveling at these guys ' superhuman capacity to withstand pain 1, The type of dumbeddown exercise in stereotypes that gives the LRB teen comedy RRB genre a bad name 0, Distinctly subpar more likely to drown a viewer in boredom than to send any shivers down his spine 0, Plays like a bad blend of an overripe episode of TV 's Dawson 's Creek and a recycled and dumbeddown version of Love Story 1, Unless you come in to the film with a skateboard under your arm you 're going to feel like you were n't invited to the party 1, When the casting call for this movie went out it must have read seeking anyone with acting ambition but no sense of pride or shame ' 1, Just is n't as weird as it ought to be 1, A Home Alone '' film that is staged like Rosemary 's Baby '' but is not as wellconceived as either of those films 1, LRB Siegel RRB and cowriters Lisa Bazadona and Grace Woodard have relied too much on convention in creating the characters who surround Frankie 0, No film could possibly be more contemptuous of the single female population 2, Hey Arnold ' 2, has some visual wit but little imagination elsewhere 2, They 're going through the motions but the zip is gone 1, A sluggish pace and lack of genuine narrative hem the movie in every bit as much as life hems in the spirits of these young women 0, A lowbudget affair Tadpole was shot on digital video and the images often look smeary and blurry to the point of distraction 0, Then again in a better movie you might not have noticed 2, It 's mindless junk like this that makes you appreciate original romantic comedies like PunchDrunk Love 1, The movie is like a year late for tapping into our reality tv obsession and even tardier for exploiting the novelty of the webcast '' 1, tale will be all too familiar for anyone who 's seen George Roy Hill 's film The Sting '' 1, Gets the look and the period trappings right but it otherwise drowns in a sea of visual and verbal clichés 3, It 's hard to quibble with a flick boasting this many genuine cackles but Notorious CHO still feels like a promising workinprogress 1, Anyone who wants to start writing screenplays can just follow the same blueprint from hundreds of other films sell it to the highest bidder and walk away without anyone truly knowing your identity 1, The problem with The Bread My Sweet is that it 's far too sentimental 2, A latenight cable sexploitation romp masquerading as a thriller about the ruthless social order that governs college cliques 2, Falls short in explaining the music and its roots 1, Never inspires more than an interested detachment 0, What might have emerged as hilarious lunacy in the hands of Woody Allen or Mel Brooks LRB at least during their 's heyday RRB comes across as lame and sophomoric in this debut indie feature 1, Despite slick production values and director Roger Michell 's ticktock pacing the final effect is like having two guys yelling in your face for two hours 1, Pretty much sucks but has a funny moment or two 2, They do a good job of painting this family dynamic for the audience but they tried to squeeze too many elements into the film 1, A supernatural mystery that does n't know whether it wants to be a suspenseful horror movie or a weepy melodrama 0, It ends up being neither and fails at both endeavors 1, Two badly interlocked stories drowned by all too clever complexity 2, It is so earnest so overwrought and so wildly implausible that it begs to be parodied 1, These are textbook lives of quiet desperation 2, Swimfan like Fatal Attraction eventually goes overboard with a loony melodramatic denouement in which a high school swimming pool substitutes for a bathtub 1, Claims to sort the bad guys from the good which is its essential problem 0, Purposefully shocking in its eroticized gore if unintentionally dull in its lack of poetic frissons 1, Feels like pieces a bunch of other better movies slapped together 2, Almost everything about the film is unsettling from the preposterous hairpiece worn by Lai 's villainous father to the endless action sequences 1, Writerdirector Randall Wallace has bitten off more than he or anyone else could chew and his movie veers like a drunken driver through heavy traffic 1, It follows the Blair Witch formula for an hour in which we 're told something creepy and vague is in the works and then it goes awry in the final minutes 0, One ca n't shake the feeling that Crossroads is nothing more than an hourandahalflong commercial for Britney 's latest album 1, Phonedin business as usual 2, There 's an epic here but you have to put it together yourself 0, What little atmosphere is generated by the shadowy lighting macabre sets and endless rain is offset by the sheer ugliness of everything else 2, Directorchef Gabriele Muccino keeps it fast zippy comin ' at ya as if fearing that his film is molto superficiale 0, Tartakovsky 's team has some freakish powers of visual charm but the five writers slip into the modern rut of narrative banality 0, The most horrific movie experience I 've had since Ca n't Stop The Music '' 0, It may as well be called JarJar Binks The Movie '' 0, It 's that painful 2, God is great the movie 's not 1, Like a threering circus there are side stories aplenty none of them memorable 2, When in doubt the film ratchets up the stirring soundtrack throws in a fishoutofwater gag and lets the cliched dialogue rip 2, Or else a doggie winks 0, A Girls Gone Wild ' video for the boho arthouse crowd The Burning Sensation is n't a definitive countercultural document its makers are n't removed and inquisitive enough for that 1, As original and insightful as last week 's episode of Behind the Music 1, Plays like John Le Carré with a couple of burntout cylinders 0, You may be galled that you 've wasted nearly two hours of your own precious life with this silly little puddle of a movie 3, It 's neither as sappy as Big Daddy nor as anarchic as Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy but it has its moments 3, Despite the surface attractions Conrad L Hall 's cinematography will likely be nominated for an Oscar next year there 's something impressive and yet lacking about everything 0, A smug and convoluted actioncomedy that does n't allow an earnest moment to pass without reminding audiences that it 's only a movie 2, LRB Crystal and De Niro RRB manage to squeeze out some good laughs but not enough to make this silly con job sing 0, Worthless from its pseudorockvideo opening to the idiocy of its last frames 1, The Christ allegory does n't work because there is no foundation for it 2, Go for La Salle 's performance and make do as best you can with a stuttering script 1, It 's hard to care about a film that proposes as epic tragedy the plight of a callow rich boy who is forced to choose between his beautiful selfsatisfied yearold girlfriend and an equally beautiful selfsatisfied yearold mistress 1, Tries too hard to be funny in a way that 's too loud too goofy and too short of an attention span 1, I did n't find much fascination in the swinging 1, What they 're doing is a matter of plumbing arrangements and mind games of no erotic or sensuous charge 3, But that they are doing it is thoughtprovoking 1, The acting is just fine but there 's not enough substance here to sustain interest for the full minutes especially with the weak payoff 0, After Collateral Damage you might imagine that most every aggrieved father cliché has been unturned 1, But no 0, Ultimately the yes snaillike pacing and lack of thematic resonance make the film more silly than scary like some sort of Martha Stewart decorating program run amok 1, Releasing a film with the word dog ' in its title in January lends itself to easy jokes and insults and Snow Dogs deserves every single one of them 1, Tedious Norwegian offering which somehow snagged an Oscar nomination 2, It was a dark and stormy night 1, A darkaspitch comedy that frequently veers into corny sentimentality probably would not improve much after a therapeutic zap of shock treatment 2, This sort of cute and cloying material is far from Zhang 's forte and it shows 0, Bray is completely at sea with nothing but a Savage Garden music video on his resume he has no clue about making a movie 2, Freundlich 's made LRB Crudup RRB a suburban architect and a cipher 0, a huge disappointment coming as it does from filmmakers and performers of this calibre 1, Though it pretends to expose the life of male hustlers it 's exploitive without being insightful 2, Aimed squarely at the least demanding of demographic groups very small children who will be delighted simply to spend more time with familiar cartoon characters 1, What starts off as a satisfying kids flck becomes increasingly implausible as it races through contrived plot points 1, Exhibits the shallow sensationalism characteristic of soap opera more salacious telenovela than serious drama 1, Seagal is painfully foolish in trying to hold onto what 's left of his passe ' chopsocky glory 2, Even with Harris 's strong effort the script gives him little to effectively probe Lear 's soulstripping breakdown 0, The story is bogus and its characters tissuethin 2, Whereas the extremely competent hitman films such as Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty resonate a sardonic verve to their caustic purpose for existing Who Is Cletis Tout 1, is an inexpressible and drab wannabe looking for that exact niche 1, While American Adobo has its heart LRB and its palate RRB in the right place its brain is a little scattered ditsy even 1, Imagine a film that begins as a Seven ripoff only to switch to a mix of The Shining The Thing and any naked teenagers horror flick from the s 0, Most of the dialogue made me want to pack raw dough in my ears 1, Costner 's warmmilk persona is just as illfitting as Shadyac 's perfunctory directing chops and some of the more overtly silly dialogue would sink Laurence Olivier 1, It 's coherent well shot and tartly acted but it wears you down like a dinner guest showing off his doctorate 3, Directed by Kevin Bray whose crisp framing edgy camera work and wholesale ineptitude with acting tone and pace very obviously mark him as a video helmer making his feature debut 0, turns a potentially interesting idea into an excruciating film school experience that plays better only for the film 's publicists or for people who take as many drugs as the film 's characters 2, Robin Williams departs from his fun friendly demeanor in exchange for a darker unnerving role 0, High Crimes is a cinematic misdemeanor a routine crime thriller remarkable only for its lack of logic and misuse of two fine actors Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd 1, Set in a Harlem that does n't look much like anywhere in New York 1, The chocolate factory without Charlie 1, Long on twinklyeyed closeups and short on shame 1, Hiphop rarely comes alive as its own firebreathing entity in this picture 0, A dull somnambulant exercise in pretension whose pervasive quiet is broken by frequent outbursts of violence and noise 1, Deserving of its critical backlash and more 2, Neither a rousing success nor a blinding embarrassment 1, Still it just sits there like a side dish no one ordered 1, The Sum of All Fears is remarkably fuddled about motives and context which drains it of the dramatic substance that would shake us in our boots LRB or cinema seats RRB 1, The movie spends more time with Schneider than with newcomer McAdams even though her performance is more interesting LRB and funnier RRB than his 1, This lowrent and even lowerwit ripoff of the Farrelly brothers ' oeuvre gets way too mushy and in a relatively short amount of time 0, It recycles every cliché about gays in what is essentially an extended soap opera 2, I 'm all for the mentally challenged getting their fair shot in the movie business but surely it does n't have to be as a collection of keening and selfmutilating sideshow geeks 1, May offend viewers not amused by the sick sense of humor 2, Many of Benjamins ' elements feel like they 've been patched in from an episode of Miami Vice 0, It aimlessly and unsuccessfully attempts to fuse at least three dull plots into one good one 2, Most folks with a real stake in the American sexual landscape will find it either moderately amusing or just plain irrelevant 1, If you 're not fans of the adventues of Steve and Terri you should avoid this like the dreaded King Brown snake 0, Personally I 'd rather watch them on the Animal Planet 1, Cherish is a dud a romantic comedy that 's not the least bit romantic and only mildly funny 2, Feels as if the inmates have actually taken over the asylum 0, All of the filmmakers ' calculations ca n't rescue Brown Sugar from the curse of blandness 2, The movie 's gloomy atmosphere is fascinating though even if the movie itself does n't stand a ghost of a chance 0, postSeptember The Sum Of All Fears '' seems more tacky and reprehensible manipulating our collective fear without bestowing the subject with the intelligence or sincerity it unequivocally deserves 0, The exclamation point seems to be the only bit of glee you 'll find in this dreary mess 2, No matter how you slice it Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton are not Hepburn and Grant two cinematic icons with chemistry galore 0, Godard 's ode to tackling life 's wonderment is a rambling and incoherent manifesto about the vagueness of topical excess In Praise of Love remains a ponderous and pretentious endeavor that 's unfocused and tediously exasperating 0, Humorless selfconscious art drivel made without a glimmer of intelligence or invention 0, The movie 's progression into rambling incoherence gives new meaning to the phrase fatal script error ' 1, Solondz may be convinced that he has something significant to say but he is n't talking a talk that appeals to me 1, More tiring than anything 1, Nelson 's intentions are good but the end result does no justice to the story itself 0, It 's horribly depressing and not very well done 1, the efforts of its star Kline to lend some dignity to a dumb story are for naught 1, A goodnatured ensemble comedy that tries hard to make the most of a bumper cast but never quite gets off the ground 1, Is n't it a bit early in his career for director Barry Sonnenfeld to do a homage to himself 0, And it 's a lousy one at that 1, Overly long and worshipful biodoc 3, I 'll go out on a limb 0, It is n't quite one of the worst movies of the year 0, It 's just merely very bad 1, Writerdirector Ritchie reduces Wertmuller 's social mores and politics to tiresome jargon 2, About Amy 's cuteness Amy 's career success LRB she 's a bestselling writer of selfhelp books who ca n't help herself RRB and Amy 's neuroses when it comes to men 1, Everything about Girls Ca n't Swim even its passages of sensitive observation feels secondhand familiar and not in a good way 1, Feels aimless for much of its running time until late in the film when a tidal wave of plot arrives leaving questions in its wake 0, In my own very humble opinion In Praise of Love lacks even the most fragmented charms I have found in almost all of his previous works 1, The script is too mainstream and the psychology too textbook to intrigue 0, Muddled simplistic and more than a little pretentious 2, Meandering and glacially paced and often just plain dull 1, A disaster of a drama saved only by its winged assailants 2, A road trip that will get you thinking Are we there yet ' 1, Director Elie Chouraqui who cowrote the script catches the chaotic horror of war but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tearjerking demands of soap opera 1, Dong never pushes for insights beyond the superficial tensions of the dynamic he 's dissecting and the film settles too easily along the contours of expectation 0, If there was any doubt that Peter O'Fallon did n't have an original bone in his body A Rumor of Angels should dispel it 1, An occasionally interesting but mostly repetitive look at a slice of counterculture that might be best forgotten 1, What could have been right at home as a nifty plot line in Steven Soderbergh 's Traffic fails to arrive at any satisfying destination 1, The movie is like Scorsese 's Mean Streets redone by someone who ignored it in favor of old juvenile delinquent ' paperbacks with titles like Leather Warriors and Switchblade Sexpot 0, This pathetic junk is barely an hour long 1, Nevertheless it still seems endless 0, It is n't that Stealing Harvard is a horrible movie if only it were that grand a failure 1, It 's just that it 's so notatallgood 2, And I expect much more from a talent as outstanding as director Bruce McCulloch 2, Dolman confines himself to shtick and sentimentality the one bald and the other sloppy 1, Is it possible for a documentary to be utterly entranced by its subject and still show virtually no understanding of it 1, It 's supposed to be a romantic comedy it suffers from too much Norma Rae and not enough Pretty Woman 0, The leads are so unmemorable despite several attempts at lengthy dialogue scenes that one eventually resents having to inhale this gutter romancer 's secondhand material 0, Staggers between flaccid satire and what is supposed to be madcap farce 1, Not that any of us should be complaining when a film clocks in around minutes these days but the plotting here leaves a lot to be desired 2, Brainy artistic and muted almost to the point of suffocation 1, Plays like the old diseaseoftheweek smallscreen melodramas 0, Like life on the island the movie grows boring despite the scenery 1, The truth about Charlie is that it 's a brazenly misguided project 2, displays the potential for a better movie than what Bailly manages to deliver 1, So exaggerated and broad that it comes off as annoying rather than charming 1, An awkward hybrid of genres that just does n't work 1, The latest vapid actor 's exercise to appropriate the structure of Arthur Schnitzler 's Reigen 1, Snipes is both a snore and utter tripe 1, Ritchie 's film is easier to swallow than Wertmuller 's polemical allegory but it 's selfdefeatingly decorous 0, Chalk it up as the worst kind of hubristic folly 0, It 's the kind of underinspired overblown enterprise that gives Hollywood sequels a bad name 1, Rosenthal LRB Halloween II RRB seems to have forgotten everything he ever knew about generating suspense 1, Even Murphy 's expert comic timing and famed charisma ca n't rescue this effort 2, Rodriguez was unable to reproduce the special spark between the characters that made the first film such a delight 1, A sleek advert for youthful anomie that never quite equals the sum of its pretensions 1, Some Body smacks of exhibitionism more than it does cathartic truth telling 2, This is n't a terrible film by any means but it 's also far from being a realized work 0, Apparently romantic comedy with a fresh point of view just does n't figure in the present Hollywood program 0, Depressingly thin and exhaustingly contrived 1, Only masochistic moviegoers need apply 1, A movie that 's held captive by mediocrity 2, Not bad but not all that good 2, Bacon keeps things interesting but do n't go out of your way to pay full price 3, What 's next 2, Rob Schneider Dana Carvey and Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Philadelphia Story 1, David Spade as Citizen Kane 2, Ca n't seem to get anywhere near the story 's center 1, The problem amazingly enough is the screenplay 1, It 's a Frankensteinmonster of a film that does n't know what it wants to be 1, Upper West Sidey exercise in narcissism and selfcongratulation disguised as a tribute 0, On its icy face the new film is a subzero version of Monsters Inc without the latter 's imagination visual charm or texture 1, I ca n't say this enough This movie is about an adult male dressed in pink jammies 1, It 's a mindless action flick with a twist far better suited to videoviewing than the multiplex 1, After a while the only way for a reasonably intelligent person to get through The Country Bears is to ponder how a whole segment of popmusic history has been allowed to get wet fuzzy and sticky 2, We get light showers of emotion a couple of times but then strangely these wane to an inconsistent and ultimately unsatisfying drizzle 2, Summer 's far too fleeting to squander on offal like this 1, The film is grossly contradictory in conveying its social message if indeed there is one 1, Often lingers just as long on the irrelevant as on the engaging which gradually turns What Time Is It There 1, into How Long Is This Movie 1, Too bad Kramer could n't make a guest appearance to liven things up 1, Deuces Wild is an encyclopedia of cliches that shoplifts shamelessly from farewelltoinnocence movies like The Wanderers and A Bronx Tale without cribbing any of their intelligence 0, It 's a barely tolerable slog over welltrod ground 0, Epps has neither the charisma nor the natural affability that has made Tucker a star 2, It 's sweet but just a little bit too precious at the start and a little too familiar at the end 0, A dull dumb and derivative horror film 1, An awkwardly contrived exercise in magic realism 1, Demme gets a lot of flavor and spice into his Charade remake but he ca n't disguise that he 's spiffing up leftovers that are n't so substantial or fresh 1, This is a heartfelt story it just is n't a very involving one 1, These selfstyled athletes have banged their brains into the ground so frequently and furiously their capacity to explain themselves has gone the same way as their natural instinct for selfpreservation 1, The fact that the best part ' of the movie comes from a second homage to one of Demme 's good films does n't bode well for the rest of it 1, Richard Pryor mined his personal horrors and came up with a treasure chest of material but Lawrence gives us mostly fool 's gold 2, The band performances featured in Drumline are red hot LRB but RRB from a mere story point of view the film 's ice cold 1, built on the premise that middleclass Arkansas consists of monster truckloving good ol' boys and peroxide blond honeys whose worldly knowledge comes from TV reruns and supermarket tabloids 0, A laughable or rather unlaughable excuse for a film 2, The sequel is everything the original was not contrived overblown and tiein ready 1, Like a grinning Jack O ' Lantern its apparent glee is derived from a lobotomy having had all its vital essence scooped out and discarded 3, A sentimental hybrid that could benefit from the spice of specificity 1, familiar and predictable and \/ths of it might as well have come from a Xerox machine rather than LRB writerdirector RRB Franc 2, Reyes ' word processor 1, Give Shapiro Goldman and Bolado credit for good intentions but there 's nothing here that they could n't have done in half an hour 0, It 's so devoid of joy and energy it makes even Jason X look positively Shakesperean by comparison 2, A little objectivity could have gone a long way 0, One of the worst films of 2, I believe Silberling had the best intentions here but he just does n't have the restraint to fully realize them 1, plays like an unbalanced mixture of graphic combat footage and almost saccharine domestic interludes that are pure Hollywood 1, McTiernan 's remake may be lighter on its feet the soberminded original was as graceful as a tapdancing rhino but it is just as boring and as obvious 1, High Crimes carries almost no organic intrigue as a government \/ Marine\/legal mystery and that 's because the movie serves up all of that stuff nearly subliminally as the oldhat province of male intrigue 0, This movie is about the worst thing Chan has done in the United States 1, The explosion essentially ruined or rather overpowered the fiction of the movie for me 0, This ludicrous film is predictable at every turn 0, An incredibly irritating comedy about thoroughly vacuous people manages to embody the worst excesses of nouvelle vague without any of its sense of fun or energy 0, The film desperately sinks further and further into comedy futility 0, Instead of a balanced film that explains the zeitgeist that is the X Games we get a cinematic postcard that 's superficial and unrealized 1, The crassness of this reactionary thriller is matched only by the ridiculousness of its premise 1, I wish it would have just gone more overthetop instead of trying to have it both ways 1, The superior plotline is n't quite enough to drag along the dead LRB water RRB weight of the other 1, The film does n't really care about the thousands of Americans who die hideously it cares about how Ryan meets his future wife and makes his start at the CIA 1, Adrift Bentley and Hudson stare and sniffle respectively as Ledger attempts in vain to prove that moviestar intensity can overcome bad hair design 1, After an hour and a half of wondering sometimes amusedly sometimes impatiently just what this strenuously unconventional movie is supposed to be you discover that the answer is as conventional as can be 1, Linklater fans or pretentious types who want to appear avantgarde will suck up to this project ' 0, A woefully dull redundant concept that bears more than a whiff of exploitation despite Iwai 's vaunted empathy 2, Screenwriter Chris ver Weil 's directing debut is goodnatured and never dull but its virtues are small and easily overshadowed by its predictability 0, If you really want to understand what this story is really all about you 're far better served by the source material 1, It 's mildly sentimental unabashedly consumerist studiously inoffensive and completely disposable 1, Like its title character Esther Kahn is unusual but unfortunately also irritating 1, The star who helped give a spark to Chasing Amy '' and Changing Lanes '' falls flat as thinking man CIA agent Jack Ryan in this summer 's new action film The Sum of All Fears '' 0, A summary of the plot does n't quite do justice to the awfulness of the movie for that comes through all too painfully in the execution 0, Every conceivable mistake a director could make in filming opera has been perpetrated here 1, Snoots will no doubt rally to its cause trotting out threadbare standbys like masterpiece ' and triumph ' and all that malarkey but rarely does an established filmmaker so ardently waste viewers ' time with a gobbler like this 1, LRB The film 's RRB taste for shock humor '' will wear thin on all but those weaned on the comedy of Tom Green and the Farrelly Brothers 3, Any enjoyment will be hinge from a personal threshold of watching sad but endearing characters do extremely unconventional things 2, If legendary shlockmeister Ed Wood had ever made a movie about a vampire it probably would look a lot like this alarming production adapted from Anne Rice 's novel The Vampire Chronicles 2, Hardly a nuanced portrait of a young woman 's breakdown the film nevertheless works up a few scares 0, Interminably bleak to say nothing of boring 1, Things really get weird though not particularly scary the movie is all portent and no content 2, It 's difficult to discern if this is a crazy work of disturbed genius or merely minutes of postadolescent Electra rebellion 2, Bogs down badly as we absorb Jia 's moody badboy behavior which he portrays himself in a onenote performance 2, The camera whirls 2, The camera twirls 3, Oh look at that clever angle 2, Wow a jump cut 1, Demme finally succeeds in diminishing his stature from Oscarwinning master to lowly studio hack 0, The action scenes have all the suspense of a car pileup while the plot holes are big enough for a train car to drive through if Kaos had n't blown them all up 1, It almost feels as if the movie is more interested in entertaining itself than in amusing us 3, It puts Washington as honest working man John Q Archibald on a pedestal then keeps lifting the pedestal higher 1, Ultimately the film amounts to being lectured to by techgeeks if you 're up for that sort of thing 4, Far more enjoyable than its predecessor 3, LRB Gayton 's script RRB telegraphs every discovery and layers on the gloss of convenience 1, Full Frontal which opens today nationwide could almost be classified as a movieindustry satire but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre 's definitive if disingenuous feature 0, A ragbag of cliches 2, This rough trade PunchandJudy act did n't play well then and it plays worse now 0, The three leads produce adequate performances but what 's missing from this material is any depth of feeling 0, It 's possible that something hip and transgressive was being attempted here that stubbornly refused to gel but the result is more puzzling than unsettling 0, This painfully unfunny farce traffics in tired stereotypes and encumbers itself with complications that have no bearing on the story 3, Short and sweet but also more than anything else slight Tadpole pulls back from the consequences of its own actions and revelations 2, Has its moments but it 's pretty far from a treasure 0, What more can be expected from a college comedy that 's target audience has n't graduated from junior high school 2, Collateral Damage offers formula payback and the Big Payoff but the explosions tend to simply hit their marks pyrocorrectly 0, The plan to make Enough into an inspiring tale of survival wrapped in the heartpounding suspense of a stylish psychological thriller ' has flopped as surely as a soufflé gone wrong 0, Instead of letting the laughs come as they may Lawrence unleashes his trademark misogyny er comedy like a human volcano or an overflowing septic tank take your pick 2, You know that ten bucks you 'd spend on a ticket 1, Just send it to Cranky 0, We do n't get paid enough to sit through crap like this 1, An even more predictable clicheridden endeavor than its predecessor 1, The whole thing plays like a tired Tyco ad 1, The film does n't show enough of the creative process or even of what was created for the nonfan to figure out what makes Wilco a big deal 2, The soupy end result has the odd distinction of being playful without being fun too 1, No I do n't know why Steven Seagal is considered a star nor why he keeps being cast in action films when none of them are ever any good or make any money 0, Even by the intentionally low standards of fratboy humor Sorority Boys is a bowser 1, One welltimed explosion in a movie can be a knockout but a hundred of them can be numbing 2, Proof of this is Ballistic Ecks vs Sever 1, Halfway through however having sucked dry the undead action flick formula Blade II mutates into a grossout monster movie with effects that are more silly than scary 0, Weighted down with slow uninvolving storytelling and flat acting 0, We ca n't accuse Kung Pow for misfiring since it is exactly what it wants to be an atrociously mindnumbingly indescribably bad movie 1, Unfortunately we 'd prefer a simple misfire 0, There is n't one moment in the film that surprises or delights 2, Would n't it be nice if all guys got a taste of what it 's like on the other side of the bra ' 2, The movie is essentially a series of fleetingly interesting actors ' moments 1, Most of the information has already appeared in one forum or another and no matter how Broomfield dresses it up it tends to speculation conspiracy theories or at best circumstantial evidence 0, This movie a certain scene in particular brought me uncomfortably close to losing my lunch 0, The secrets of time travel will have been discovered indulged in and rejected as boring before I see this piece of crap again 2, Smug artificial illconstructed and fatally overlong it never finds a consistent tone and lacks bite degenerating into a pious preachy soap opera 1, Chelsea Walls is a case of too many chefs fussing over too weak a recipe 1, Every joke is repeated at least four times 1, Every joke is repeated at least four times 1, Every joke is repeated at least annoying is n't it 1, Comes across as a fairly weak retooling 1, The lousy lead performances keep the movie from ever reaching the comic heights it obviously desired 1, Its and pieces of The Hot Chick are so hilarious and Schneider 's performance is so fine it 's a real shame that so much of the movie again as in The Animal is a slapdash mess 0, LRB Creates RRB the worst kind of mythologizing the kind that sacrifices real heroism and abject suffering for melodrama 0, The movie resolutely avoids all the comic possibilities of its situation and becomes one more dumb high school comedy about sex gags and prom dates 3, Earnest and heartfelt but undernourished and plodding 1, A sugarcoated Rocky whose valuable messages are forgotten minutes after the last trombone honks 1, Romanek keeps adding flourishes artsy fantasy sequences that simply feel wrong 1, They cheapen the overall effect 1, Has all the complexity and realistic human behavior of an episode of General Hospital 1, An acceptable way to pass a little over an hour with moviegoers ages but it 's unlikely to inspire anything more than a visit to McDonald 's let alone some savvy street activism 2, LRB Allen 's RRB been making piffle for a long while and Hollywood Ending may be his way of saying that piffle is all that the airhead movie business deserves from him right now 0, An exercise in cynicism every bit as ugly as the shabby digital photography and muddy sound 1, Not good enough to pass for a litmus test of the generation gap and not bad enough to repulse any generation of its fans 0, The movie is silly beyond comprehension and even if it were n't silly it would still be beyond comprehension 1, Watchable up until the point where the situations and the dialogue spin hopelessly out of control that is to say when Carol Kane appears on the screen 1, The scriptwriters are no less a menace to society than the film 's characters 2, Merchant has n't directed this movie so much as produced it like sausage 0, The film has a nearly terminal case of the cutes and it 's neither as funny nor as charming as it thinks it is 1, More a gunfest than a Rock concert 0, It 's a frightful vanity film that no doubt pays off what debt Miramax felt they owed to Benigni 1, A muddy psychological thriller rife with miscalculations 0, It makes me say the obvious Abandon all hope of a good movie ye who enter here 1, It 's not original enough 0, A listless scifi comedy in which Eddie Murphy deploys two guises and elaborate futuristic sets to no particularly memorable effect 2, Little more than a supersized infomercial for the cablesports channel and its Summer X Games 0, A generic bloodbath that often becomes laughably unbearable when it is n't merely offensive 1, Julie Davis is the Kathie Lee Gifford of film directors sadly proving once again ego does n't always go hand in hand with talent 0, An unholy mess driven by the pathetic idea that if you shoot something on crummylooking videotape it must be labelled hip ' innovative ' and realistic ' 0, The story 's pathetic and the gags are puerile 1, Curiously Super Troopers suffers because it does n't have enough vices to merit its minute length 0, So bland and utterly forgettable that it might as well have been titled Generic Jennifer Lopez Romantic Comedy 2, I was sent a copyof this film to review on DVD 2, For free 0, I still want my money back 1, It plods along methodically somehow under the assumption that its dead wife communicating from beyond the grave '' framework is even remotely new or interesting 2, It 's hard to believe that a relationship like Holly and Marina 's could survive the hothouse emotions of teendom and its longevity gets more inexplicable as the characterizations turn more crassly reductive 1, All too familiar basically the sort of cautionary tale that was old when Angels With Dirty Faces ' appeared in 2, passable enough for a shootout in the ok court house of life type of flick 2, Strictly middle of the road 1, Although purportedly a study in modern alienation it 's really little more than a particularly slanted gay s\/m fantasy enervating and deadeningly drawnout 1, After the first minutes which is worth seeing the movie sinks into an abyss of clichés depression and bad alternative music 1, No one can doubt the filmmakers ' motives but The Guys still feels counterproductive 1, A very slow uneventful ride around a pretty tattered old carousel 0, With little visible talent and no energy Colin Hanks is in bad need of major acting lessons and maybe a little coffee 2, Feardotcom '' has the makings of an interesting meditation on the ethereal nature of the internet and the otherworldly energies it could channel but it simply becomes a routine shocker 2, A Meatballs for the baremidriff generation 2, Wellmeaning to a fault Antwone Fisher manages the dubious feat of turning one man 's triumph of will into everyman 's romance comedy 1, Seemingly disgusted with the lazy material and the finished product 's unshapely look director Fisher Stevens inexplicably dips key moments from the film in Waking Life water colors 1, Formula promises a new kind of high but delivers the same old bad trip 1, Everything that was right about Blade is wrong in its sequel 2, A few energetic stunt sequences briefly enliven the film but the wheezing terrorist subplot has n't the stamina for the minute running time and the protagonists ' bohemian boorishness mars the spirit of good clean fun 1, The film was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Joel Schumacher and reflects the worst of their shallow styles wildly overproduced inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one LRB and no one RRB 1, Disney again ransacks its archives for a quickbuck sequel 0, Coarse cliched and clunky this trifling romantic comedy in which opposites attract for no better reason than that the screenplay demands it squanders the charms of stars Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock 0, Anyone who suffers through this film deserves at the very least a big box of consolation candy 2, How much you are moved by the emotional tumult of LRB François and Michèle 's RRB relationship depends a lot on how interesting and likable you find them 1, They presume their audience wo n't sit still for a sociology lesson however entertainingly presented so they trot out the conventional sciencefiction elements of bugeyed monsters and futuristic women in skimpy clothes 0, Collapses after minutes into a slaphappy series of adolescent violence 0, The following things are not at all entertaining The bad sound the lack of climax and worst of all watching Seinfeld LRB who is also one of the film 's producers RRB do everything he can to look like a good guy 1, Attal 's hangups surrounding infidelity are so oldfashioned and dare I say outdated it 's a wonder that he could n't have brought something fresher to the proceedings simply by accident 0, Obvious obnoxious and didactic burlesque 0, The most surprising thing about this film is that they are actually releasing it into theaters 1, Michele is a such a brainless flibbertigibbet that it 's hard to take her spiritual quest at all seriously 2, Ultimately clarity matters both in breaking codes and making movies 1, Enigma lacks it 1, Pottymouthed enough for PG yet not as hilariously raunchy as South Park this strangely schizo cartoon seems suited neither to kids or adults 2, has its moments but ultimately its curmudgeon does n't quite make the cut of being placed on any list of favorites 1, A distinctly minor effort that will be seen to better advantage on cable especially considering its barely featurelength running time of one hour 0, Most of the movie is so deadly dull that watching the proverbial paint dry would be a welcome improvement 1, In the end Tuck Everlasting falls victim to that everlasting conundrum experienced by every human who ever lived too much to do too little time to do it in 1, Rather less than the sum of its underventilated pèrefils confrontations 0, McKay shows crushingly little curiosity about or is illequipped to examine the interior lives of the characters in his film much less incorporate them into his narrative 1, Plays like a series of vignettes clips of a film that are still looking for a common throughline 2, New Yorkers always seem to find the oddest places to dwell 1, Amid the shock and curiosity factors the film is just a corny examination of a young actress trying to find her way 1, Yes Spirited Away is a triumph of imagination but it 's also a failure of storytelling 1, A characteristically engorged and sloppy comingofage movie 2, A somewhat disappointing and meandering saga 1, Whenever you think you 've seen the end of the movie we cut to a new scene which also appears to be the end 2, But no we get another scene and then another 0, You begin to long for the end credits as the desert does for rain 2, An empty ugly exercise in druggy trancenoir and trumpedup street credibility 1, The screenplay cowritten by director Imogen Kimmel lacks the wit necessary to fully exploit the comic elements of the premise making the proceedings more bizarre than actually amusing 1, The milieu is wholly unconvincing and the histrionics reach a truly annoying pitch 0, Unfunny comedy with a lot of static set ups not much camera movement and most of the scenes take place indoors in formal settings with motionless characters 1, Each story is built on a potentially interesting idea but the first two are ruined by amateurish writing and acting while the third feels limited by its short running time 2, Except for Paymer as the boss who ultimately expresses empathy for Bartleby 's pain the performances are so stylized as to be drained of human emotion 2, Will no doubt delight Plympton 's legion of fans others may find minutes of these shenanigans exhausting 1, The laughs are as rare as snake foo yung 2, For a film that celebrates radical nonconformist values What to Do in Case of Fire 1, lazily and glumly settles into a most traditional reserved kind of filmmaking 1, Knockaround Guys plays like a student film by two guys who desperately want to be Quentin Tarantino when they grow up 1, But they lack their idol 's energy and passion for detail 1, Mattei so completely loses himself to the film 's circular structure to ever offer any insightful discourse on well Love in the Time of Money 2, It briefly flirts with player masochism but the point of real interest audience sadism is evaded completely 3, Holland lets things peter out midway but it 's notably better acted and far less crass than some other recent efforts in the burgeoning genre of films about black urban professionals 1, For every articulate player such as skateboarder Tony Hawk or BMX rider Mat Hoffman are about a half dozen young Turks angling to see how many times they can work the words radical '' or suck '' into a sentence 1, There 's not a fresh idea at the core of this tale 1, An impenetrable and insufferable ball of pseudophilosophic twaddle 1, It 's unfortunate that Wallace who wrote Gibson 's Braveheart as well as the recent Pearl Harbor has such an irrepressible passion for sappy situations and dialogue 3, I liked the movie but I know I would have liked it more if it had just gone that one step further 1, I 'm left slightly disappointed that it did n't 1, Dreary tale of middleclass angst 1, For a movie about the power of poetry and passion there is precious little of either 1, LRB Jackson and Bledel RRB seem to have been picked not for their acting chops but for their looks and appeal to the preteen crowd 2, Lillard and Cardellini earn their Scooby Snacks but not anyone else 1, Like Schindler 's List The Grey Zone attempts to be grandiloquent but ends up merely pretentious in a grisly sort of way 0, An unremittingly ugly movie to look at listen to and think about it is quite possibly the sturdiest example yet of why the DV revolution has cheapened the artistry of making a film 2, LRB Screenwriter RRB Pimental took the Farrelly Brothers comedy and feminized it but it is a rather poor imitation 1, It 's kind of sad that so many people put so much time and energy into this turkey 1, Friday After Next is a lot more bluster than bite 2, Its juxtaposition of overwrought existentialism and stomachchurning gore will have you forever on the verge of either cracking up or throwing up 2, A decidedly mixed bag 0, There are cheesy backdrops ridiculous action sequences and many tired jokes about men in heels 1, Ice Cube is n't quite out of ripe screwball ideas but Friday After Next spreads them pretty thin 2, Not everything in the film works including its somewhat convenient ending 1, The characters cast in impossibly contrived situations are totally estranged from reality 2, Everything else about High Crimes is like the military system of justice it portrays tiresomely regimented 0, Just dreadful 0, I do n't blame Eddie Murphy but should n't Owen Wilson know a movie must have a story and a script 1, Sweet Home Alabama certainly wo n't be remembered as one of LRB Witherspoon 's RRB better films 1, hard as this may be to believe Here on Earth a surprisingly similar teen drama was a better film 0, This is just lazy writing 1, Even kids deserve better 1, The pretensions and disposable story sink the movie 1, And Diesel is n't the actor to save it 2, Bravo reveals the true intent of her film by carefully selecting interview subjects who will construct a portrait of Castro so predominantly charitable it can only be seen as propaganda 2, a preachy parable stylized with a touch of John Woo bullet ballet 3, Frank Capra played this story straight 0, But the film does n't really believe in it and breaks the mood with absurdly inappropriate comedy ' scenes 2, How about starting with a more original story instead of just slapping extreme humor and grossout gags on top of the same old crap 0, The problem is that for the most part the film is deadly dull 4, Handled correctly Wilde 's play is a masterpiece of elegant wit and artifice 0, Here alas it collapses like an overcooked soufflé 0, Sorority Boys '' was funnier and that movie was pretty bad 1, A bizarre piece of work with premise and dialogue at the level of kids ' television and plot threads as morose as teen pregnancy rape and suspected murder 1, Paul Bettany is good at being the ultraviolent gangster wannabe but the movie is certainly not number 2, It 's a gag that 's worn a bit thin over the years though Do n't Ask still finds a few chuckles 2, An uplifting drama What Antwone Fisher is n't however is original 3, Often likable but just as often it 's meandering low on energy and too eager to be quirky at moments when a little oldfashioned storytelling would come in handy 0, Certain to be distasteful to children and adults alike Eight Crazy Nights is a total misfire 3, Elaborate special effects take centre screen so that the human story is pushed to one side 1, Showtime is n't particularly assaultive but it can still make you feel that you never want to see another car chase explosion or gunfight again 1, All the characters are clinically depressed and have abandoned their slim hopes and dreams 0, This Tuxedo should have been sent back to the tailor for some major alterations 2, I have no problem with difficult '' movies or movies that ask the audience to meet them halfway and connect the dots instead of having things all spelled out 1, But first you have to give the audience a reason to want to put for that effort 1, Been there done that a thousand times already and better 0, What 's most offensive is n't the waste of a good cast but the film 's denial of sincere grief and mourning in favor of bogus spiritualism 0, Sunk by way too much indulgence of scenechewing teethgnashing actorliness 1, Fans of Plympton 's shorts may marginally enjoy the film but it is doubtful this listless feature will win him any new viewers 2, Barrels along at the start before becoming mired in sentimentality 0, None of this sounds promising and indeed the first half of Sorority Boys is as appalling as any comedy ' to ever spill from a projector 's lens 1, The kind of movie that leaves vague impressions and a nasty aftertaste but little clear memory of its operational mechanics 0, PunchDrunk Love is so convinced of its own brilliance that if it were a person you 'd want to smash its face in ' 1, At once overly oldfashioned in its sudsy plotting and heavyhanded in its effort to modernize it with encomia to diversity and tolerance 1, The trashy teensleaze equivalent of Showgirls 1, While the production details are lavish film has little insight into the historical period and its artists particularly in how Sand developed a notorious reputation 0, A crass and insulting homage to great films like Some Like It Hot and the John Wayne classics 2, What 's the most positive thing that can be said about the new Rob Schneider vehicle 2, Well it 's not as pathetic as The Animal 1, With all the sympathy empathy and pity fogging up the screen His Secret Life enters the land of unintentional melodrama and tiresome love triangles 1, The problematic characters and overly convenient plot twists foul up Shum 's good intentions 1, What Blade Runner ' would 've looked like as a lowbudget series on a UHF channel 1, Has all the values of a straighttovideo movie but because it has a biggername cast it gets a full theatrical release 1, With its lackadaisical plotting and mindless action All About the Benjamins evokes the bottom tier of blaxploitation flicks from the s 3, It never quite makes it to the boiling point but manages to sustain a good simmer for most of its running time 0, Loud silly stupid and pointless 2, Mandel Holland 's direction is uninspired and his scripting unsurprising but the performances by Phifer and Black are ultimately winning 0, You 'll find yourself wishing that you and they were in another movie 0, A yawnprovoking little farm melodrama 1, Did no one on the set have a sense of humor or did they not have the nerve to speak up 1, Seriously rent the Disney version 0, As David Letterman and The Onion have proven the worst of tragedies can be fertile sources of humor but Lawrence has only a fleeting grasp of how to develop them 3, Like its parade of predecessors this Halloween is a gory slashfest 2, It ca n't escape its past and it does n't want to 0, Abandon '' will leave you wanting to abandon the theater 1, Problem is we have no idea what in creation is going on 3, A liveaction cartoon a fastmoving and cheerfully simplistic minutes of exaggerated action put together with the preteen boy in mind 1, A loquacious and dreary piece of business 1, What the audience feels is exhaustion from watching a movie that is dark LRB dark green to be exact RRB sour bloody and mean 0, director Hoffman his writer and Kline 's agent should serve detention 2, Dodgy mixture of cutesy romance dark satire and murder mystery 3, Meticulously mounted exasperatingly wellbehaved film which ticks off Kahlo 's lifetime milestones with the dutiful precision of a tax accountant 1, Time of Favor could have given audiences the time of day by concentrating on the elements of a revealing alienation among a culture of people who sadly are at hostile odds with one another through recklessness and retaliation 0, I 'm not sure which will take longer to heal the welt on Johnny Knoxville 's stomach from a riotcontrol projectile or my own tortured psyche 2, While Serving Sara does have a long way to go before it reaches the level of crudity in the latest Austin Powers extravaganza there 's nothing here to match that movie 's intermittent moments of inspiration 0, I 'm not sure which is worse the poor acting by the ensemble cast the flat dialogue by Vincent R Nebrida or the gutless direction by Laurice Guillen 1, The only reason you should see this movie is if you have a case of masochism and an hour and a half to blow 2, Whatever about warning kids about the dangers of ouija boards someone should dispense the same advice to film directors 1, As with so many merchandisedtothemax movies of this type more time appears to have gone into recruiting the right bands for the playlist and the costuming of the stars than into the script which has a handful of smart jokes and not much else 0, The Irwins ' scenes are fascinating the movie as a whole is cheap junk and an insult to their deathdefying efforts 1, If routine action and jokes like this are your cup of tea then pay your $ and get ready for the big shear 0, This is one baaaaaaaaad movie 4, A man leaving the screening said the film was better than Saving Private Ryan 2, He may have meant the Internet short Saving Ryan 's Privates 1, But Windtalkers does n't beat that one either 1, May puzzle his most ardent fans 1, Starts as a tart little lemon drop of a movie and ends up as a bitter pill 1, We never feel anything for these characters and as a result the film is basically just a curiosity 2, Those unfamiliar with Mormon traditions may find The Singles Ward occasionally bewildering 2, Ritchie may not have a novel thought in his head but he knows how to pose Madonna 2, The story touching though it is does not quite have enough emotional resonance or variety of incident to sustain a feature and even at minutes it feels a bit long 1, Feels like the work of an artist who is simply tired of fighting the same fights of putting the weight of the world on his shoulders of playing with narrative form 1, While you have to admit it 's semiamusing to watch Robert DeNiro belt out When you 're a Jet you 're a Jet all the way '' it 's equally distasteful to watch him sing the lyrics to Tonight '' 0, The whole mess boils down to a transparently hypocritical work that feels as though it 's trying to set the women 's liberation movement back years ' 1, the cast portrays their cartoon counterparts well but quite frankly Scoob and Shag do n't eat enough during the film ' 0, More of the same old garbage Hollywood has been trying to pass off as acceptable teen entertainment for some time now 1, TV skitcom material fervently deposited on the big screen 1, LRB Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai are RRB sure to find an enthusiastic audience among American actionadventure buffs but the film 's interests may be too narrow to attract crossover viewers 1, If there was ever a movie where the upbeat ending feels like a copout this is the one 0, It 's as sorry a mess as its director 's diabolical debut Mad Cows 1, Any attempts at nuance given by the capable cast is drowned out by director Jon Purdy 's sledgehammer sap 1, Its audacious ambitions sabotaged by pomposity Steven Soderbergh 's space opera emerges as a numbingly dull experience 1, Despite some strong performances never rises above the level of a telanovela 2, This is a picture that Maik the firebrand turned savvy ad man would be envious of it hijacks the heat of revolution and turns it into a sales tool 2, Feels slight as if it were an extended short albeit one made by the smartest kids in class 0, Unspeakable of course barely begins to describe the plot and its complications 0, Vulgar is too optimistic a title 2, The actors pull out all the stops in nearly every scene but to diminishing effect 1, The characters never change 1, If The Last Man were the last movie left on earth there would be a tossup between presiding over the end of cinema as we know it and another night of delightful hand shadows 3, Welles groupie\/scholar Peter Bogdanovich took a long time to do it but he 's finally provided his own broadside at publishing giant William Randolph Hearst 1, Makes the same mistake as the music industry it criticizes becoming so slick and watereddown it almost loses what made you love it in the first place 0, Even as I valiantly struggled to remain interested or at least conscious I could feel my eyelids getting very heavy 0, A bad movie that happened to good actors 1, Boasts eyecatching art direction but has a forcefully quirky tone that quickly wears out its limited welcome 3, Screenwriter Dan Schneider and director Shawn Levy substitute volume and primary colors for humor and bite 0, Oversexed at times overwrought comedy\/drama that offers little insight into the experience of being forty female and single 0, That such a horrible movie could have sprung from such a great one is one of the year 's worst cinematic tragedies 1, It all starts to smack of a Hallmark Hall of Fame with a few four letter words thrown in that are generally not heard on television 0, Rarely has a film 's title served such dire warning 1, If you saw Benigni 's Pinocchio at a public park you 'd grab your kids and run and then probably call the police 2, The animation is competent and some of the gags are quite funny but Jonah never shakes the oppressive morally superior goodforyou quality that almost automatically accompanies didactic entertainment 2, The pace of the film is very slow LRB for obvious reasons RRB and that too becomes offputting 1, Mr Wollter and Ms Seldhal give strong and convincing performances but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion grief and fear 1, Shafer 's feature does n't offer much in terms of plot or acting 1, In his role of observer of the scene Lawrence sounds whiny and defensive as if his lifealtering experiences made him bitter and less mature 1, LRB T RRB he ideas of Revolution # are more compelling than the execution 1, The film did n't convince me that Calvin Jr 's Barbershop represents some sort of beacon of hope in the middle of Chicago 's South Side 1, What happens when something goes bump in the night and nobody cares 1, Despite some comic sparks Welcome to Collinwood never catches fire 1, Director George Hickenlooper has had some success with documentaries but here his sense of story and his juvenile camera movements smack of a film school undergrad and his maudlin ending might not have gotten him into film school in the first place 1, Shows moments of promise but ultimately succumbs to cliches and pat storytelling 1, Even accepting this in the right frame of mind can only provide it with so much leniency 3, Some Body is a shaky uncertain film that nevertheless touches a few raw nerves 1, All the small moments and flashbacks do n't add up to much more than trite observations on the human condition 1, LRB A RRB stale retread of the ' original 1, One thing 's for sure if George Romero had directed this movie it would n't have taken the protagonists a full hour to determine that in order to kill a zombie you must shoot it in the head 0, For dance completists only 0, Spreads itself too thin leaving these actors as well as the members of the commune short of profound characterizations 1, It would n't matter so much that this arrogant Richard Pryor wannabe 's routine is offensive puerile and unimaginatively foulmouthed if it was at least funny 1, The locale remains far more interesting than the story at hand 2, Yo it 's The Days Of Our Lives meets Electric Boogaloo 0, I liked the original short story but this movie even at an hour and twentysome minutes it 's too long and it goes nowhere 0, This little film is so slovenly done so primitive in technique that it ca n't really be called animation 0, Makes minutes feel like three hours 1, Hawke 's film a boring pretentious waste of nearly two hours does n't tell you anything except that the Chelsea Hotel today is populated by whiny pathetic starving and untalented artistes 1, Aspires to the cracked lunacy of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai but thanks to an astonishingly witless script ends up more like The Adventures of Ford Fairlane 1, Reallife strongman Ahola lacks the charisma and ability to carry the film on his admittedly broad shoulders 0, The title alone should scare any sane person away 1, Low comedy does n't come much lower 1, Appropriately cynical social commentary aside # never quite ignites 0, It 's crap on a leash far too polite to scale the lunatic heights of Joe Dante 's similarly styled Gremlins 1, One of the most depressing moviegoing experiences I can think of is to sit through about minutes of a socalled comedy ' and not laugh once 1, This is the kind of movie where the big scene is a man shot out of a cannon into a vat of ice cream 2, Let 's face it there are n't many reasons anyone would want to see Crossroads if they 're not big fans of teen pop kitten Britney Spears 0, A loud brash and mainly unfunny high school comedy 1, An exceptionally dreary and overwrought bit of work every bit as imperious as Katzenberg 's The Prince of Egypt from 0, The movie is so resolutely cobbled together out of older movies that it even uses a totally unnecessary prologue just because it seems obligatory 1, The movie 's vision of a white American zealously spreading a Puritanical brand of Christianity to South Seas islanders is one only a true believer could relish 0, Maid in Manhattan proves that it 's easier to change the sheets than to change hackneyed concepts when it comes to dreaming up romantic comedies 1, A fairly harmless but ultimately lifeless featurelength afterschool special 2, I ca n't remember the last time I saw a movie where I wanted so badly for the protagonist to fail 1, the whole thing succeeded only in making me groggy 1, Like most of Jaglom 's films some of it is honestly affecting but more of it seems contrived and secondhand 1, One long numbing action sequence made up mostly of routine stuff Yuen has given us before 1, Forgettable if goodhearted movie 1, The film 's most improbable feat 2, It did n't go straight to video 0, about as exciting to watch as two lastplace basketball teams playing one another on the final day of the season 1, The Chateau is less concerned with cultural and political issues than doting on its eccentric characters 0, Cruel and inhuman cinematic punishment simultaneously degrades its characters its stars and its audience 3, It 's not too fast and not too slow 2, It 's not too racy and it 's not too offensive 1, It 's not too much of anything 1, The great pity is that those responsible did n't cut their losses and ours and retitle it The Adventures of DirecttoVideo Nash and send it to its proper home 2, About as original as a gangster sweating bullets while worrying about a contract on his life 1, An empty shell of an epic rather than the real deal 2, We could have expected a little more human being and a little less product 1, Instead of using George and Lucy 's most obvious differences to ignite sparks Lawrence desperately looks elsewhere seizing on George 's haplessness and Lucy 's personality tics 2, Whether Quitting will prove absorbing to American audiences is debatable 0, Becomes a bit of a mishmash a tearjerker that does n't and a thriller that wo n't 1, Family togetherness takes a back seat to interfamily rivalry and workplace ambition whole subplots have no explanation or even plot relevance 1, Grant is n't Cary and Bullock is n't Katherine 1, Like a fish that 's lived too long Austin Powers in Goldmember has some unnecessary parts and is kinda wrong in places 3, Two tedious acts light on great scares and a good surprise ending 1, Shyamalan should stop trying to please his mom 0, The entire movie is in need of a scented bath 1, I 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal Arnold is not nor will he be back 0, The story of Trouble Every Day is so sketchy it amounts to little more than preliminary notes for a sciencefiction horror film and the movie 's fragmentary narrative style makes piecing the story together frustrating difficult 1, A Movie to Forget 0, For all of its insights into the dream world of teen life and its electronic expression through cyber culture the film gives no quarter to anyone seeking to pull a cohesive story out of its  \/ hour running time 1, Enough is not a bad movie just mediocre 0, The performances are so overstated the effect comes off as selfparody 1, It looks good but it is essentially empty 1, The film never finds its tone and several scenes run too long 1, The idea is more interesting than the screenplay which lags badly in the middle and lurches between notveryfunny comedy unconvincing dramatics and some lastminute action strongly reminiscent of Run Lola Run 1, Van Wilder has a builtin audience but only among those who are drying out from spring break and are still unconcerned about what they ingest 1, It 's hard to believe that something so short could be so flabby 1, Do we really need another film that praises female selfsacrifice 1, The major problem with Windtalkers is that the bulk of the movie centers on the wrong character 2, Tennessee Williams by way of Oprah 's Book Club 2, So verbally flatfooted and so emotionally predictable or bland that it plays like the standard madeforTV movie 1, The entire point of a shaggy dog story of course is that it goes nowhere and this is classic nowheresville in every sense 0, Stale and clichéd to a fault 1, This film is too busy hitting all of its assigned marks to take on any life of its own 1, Watching junk like this induces a kind of abstract guilt as if you were paying dues for good books unread fine music never heard 2, The script feels as if it started to explore the obvious voyeuristic potential of hypertime ' but then backed off when the producers saw the grosses for Spy Kids 1, Starts off witty and sophisticated and you want to love it but filmmaker Yvan Attal quickly writes himself into a corner 1, Some Like It Hot on the Hardwood proves once again that a man in drag is not in and of himself funny 2, Unfortunately contrived plotting stereotyped characters and Woo 's overthetop instincts as a director undermine the moral dilemma at the movie 's heart 1, Witless and utterly pointless 1, When science fiction ' takes advantage of the fact that its intended audience has n't yet had much science it does a disservice to the audience and to the genre 2, Show me the mugging 2, Represents something very close to the nadir of the thriller\/horror genre 2, Visually sumptuous but intellectually stultifying 1, As a featurelength film it wears out its welcome as tryingly as the title character 2, A guilty pleasure at best and not worth seeing unless you want to laugh at it 1, A sleepinducing thriller with a single twist that everyone except the characters in it can see coming a mile away 1, With a Spy Kids '' sequel opening next week why bother with a contemptible imitator starring a SNL '' hasbeen acting like an yearold channeling Roberto Benigni 0, It 's just rather leaden and dull 1, Lacks the visual flair and bouncing bravado that characterizes better hiphop clips and is content to recycle images and characters that were already tired years ago 1, Statham employs an accent that I think is supposed to be an attempt at hardass American but sometimes just lapses into unhidden British 1, Instead of trying to bust some blondes LRB Diggs RRB should be probing why a guy with his talent ended up in a movie this bad 2, Initial strangeness inexorably gives way to rote sentimentality and mystical tenderness becomes narrative expedience 2, De Ayala is required to supply too much of the energy in a film that is overall far too staid for its subject matter 0, Dismally dull scifi comedy 0, There 's surely something wrong with a comedy where the only belly laughs come from the selection of outtakes tacked onto the end credits 3, When one hears Harry Shearer is going to make his debut as a film director one would hope for the best 1, The leads we are given here are simply too bland to be interesting 1, LRB Toback 's RRB fondness for fancy splitscreen stuttering editing and pompous references to Wittgenstein and Kirkegaard blends uneasily with the titillating material 1, Adam Sandler 's Crazy Nights is wasted minutes of Sandler as the voiceover hero in Columbia Pictures ' perverse idea of an animated holiday movie 1, essentially Fatal Attraction '' remade for viewers who were in diapers when the original was released in 1, this story gets sillier not scarier as it goes along 0, Even a hardened voyeur would require the patience of Job to get through this interminable shapeless documentary about the swinging subculture 1, The film 's hero is a bore and his innocence soon becomes a questionable kind of inexcusable dumb innocence 1, A singularly offputting romantic comedy 1, This is an exercise not in biography but in hero worship 1, It all comes down to whether you can tolerate Leon Barlow 2, I ca n't 1, In the spirit of the season I assign one bright shining star to Roberto Benigni 's Pinocchio but I guarantee that no wise men will be following after it 1, Check your brain and your secret agent decoder ring at the door because you do n't want to think too much about what 's going on 2, The movie does has some entertainment value how much depends on how well you like Chris Rock 2, A movie that seems motivated more by a desire to match mortarboards with Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting than by its own story 1, A culture clash comedy only half as clever as it thinks it is 0, The logic of it all will be Greek to anyone not predisposed to the movie 's rude and crude humor 2, As selfaware movies go Who is Cletis Tout 2, is clever enough though thin writing proves its undoing 0, Starts out strongly before quickly losing its focus point and purpose in a mess of mixed messages overblown drama and Bruce Willis with a scar 1, a fascinating curiosity piece fascinating that is for about ten minutes 0, After that it becomes long and tedious like a classroom play in a college history course 0, Director Jay Russell weighs down his capricious fairytale with heavy sentiment and lightweight meaning 2, There are many things that solid acting can do for a movie but crafting something promising from a mediocre screenplay is not one of them 1, Its screenplay serves as autocritique and its clumsiness as its own most damning censure 0, At times it actually hurts to watch 1, Nemesis suffers from a paunchy midsection several plodding action sequences and a wickedly undramatic central theme 1, The jokes are telegraphed so far in advance they must have been lost in the mail 1, LRB Tries RRB to parody a genre that 's already a joke in the United States 0, The movie is the equivalent of French hiphop which also seems to play on a year delay 1, A beyondlame satire Teddy Bears ' Picnic ranks among the most pitiful directing debuts by an esteemed writeractor 0, I 've never seen LRB a remake RRB do anything as stomachturning as the way Adam Sandler 's new movie rapes pillages and incinerates Frank Capra 's classic 2, Hollywood 's answer to an air ball 1, And people make fun of me for liking Showgirls 1, Such a wildly uneven hitandmiss enterprise you ca n't help suspecting that it was improvised on a daytoday basis during production 3, A weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern LA 's showbiz and media subcultures 1, But it does n't leave you with much 1, I 'm convinced I could keep a family of five blind crippled Amish people alive in this situation better than these British soldiers do at keeping themselves kicking 1, Like Mike is a slight and uninventive movie Like the exalted Michael Jordan referred to in the title many can aspire but none can equal 0, There is nothing funny in this everyjokehas beentolda thousandtimes before movie 3, Always destined to be measured against Anthony Asquith 's acclaimed screen adaptation 0, This is standard crime drama fare instantly forgettable and thoroughly dull 1, There 's some outrageously creative action in The Transporter LRB b RRB ut by the time Frank parachutes down onto a moving truck it 's just another cartoon with an unstoppable superman 2, One of those basedontruth stories that persuades you with every scene that it could never really have happened this way 1, From its nauseating spinning credits sequence to a very talented but underutilized supporting cast Bartleby squanders as much as it gives out 1, Yet another genre exercise Gangster No is as generic as its title 2, Despite the holes in the story and the somewhat predictable plot moments of the movie caused me to jump in my chair 1, There 's an admirable rigor to Jimmy 's relentless anger and to the script 's refusal of a happy ending but as those monologues stretch on and on you realize there 's no place for this story to go but down 2, Once again the intelligence of gay audiences has been grossly underestimated and a meaty plot and welldeveloped characters have been sacrificed for skin and flash that barely fizzle 1, A lightweight uneven action comedy that freely mingles French Japanese and Hollywood cultures 1, Such a fine idea for a film and such a stultifying lifeless execution 3, LRB Allen 's RRB best works understand why snobbery is a better satiric target than middleAmerica diversions could ever be 1, This overlong infomercial due out on video before month 's end is tepid and tedious 1, An ambitious guiltsuffused melodrama crippled by poor casting 0, Rarely has sex on screen been so aggressively antierotic 0, A dull inconsistent dishonest female bonding picture 1, So much about the film is loopy and ludicrous that it could have been a hoot in a badmovie way if the laborious pacing and endless exposition had been tightened 1, A disappointment for a movie that should have been the ultimate IMAX trip 2, Does little to elaborate the conceit of setting this bloodsoaked tragedy of murderous ambition in the era of Richard Nixon 1, This Sade is hardly a perverse dangerous libertine and agitator which would have made for better drama 1, He 's just a sad aristocrat in tattered finery and the film seems as deflated as he does 1, The film 's needlessly opaque intro takes its doeeyed Crudup out of pre \/ New York and onto a crosscountry road trip of the Homeric kind 0, It 's as if a bored Cage spent the duration of the film 's shooting schedule waiting to scream Got AIDS yet '' 2, In a strange way Egoyan has done too much 2, He 's worked too hard on this movie 1, The film has the throwntogether feel of a summercamp talent show hastily written underrehearsed arbitrarily plotted and filled with crude humor and vulgar innuendo 2, The last three narcissists left on earth compete for each others ' affections 1, A clash between the artificial structure of the story and the more contemporary naturalistic tone of the film 1, The movie 's messages are quite admirable but the story is just too clichéd and too often strains credulity 1, What we have here is n't a disaster exactly but a very handsomely produced letdown 0, The script was reportedly rewritten a dozen times either times too many or else too few 1, A shoddy male hip hop fantasy filled with guns expensive cars lots of naked women and Rocawear clothing 1, To the filmmakers Ivan is a prince of a fellow but he comes across as shallow and glib though not meanspirited and there 's no indication that he 's been responsible for putting together any movies of particular value or merit 0, This is a movie filled with unlikable spiteful idiots whether or not their friendship is salvaged makes no difference in the least 1, It 's as if Allen at has stopped challenging himself 1, Scotland PA is entirely too straightfaced to transcend its clever concept 1, A movie that the less charitable might describe as a castrated cross between Highlander and Lolita 1, Not only does LeBlanc make one spectacularly uglylooking broad but he appears miserable throughout as he swaggers through his scenes 1, There 's little to recommend Snow Dogs unless one considers cliched dialogue and perverse escapism a source of high hilarity 2, It 's deepsixed by a compulsion to catalog every bodily fluids gag in There 's Something About Mary and devise a parallel clonegag 0, The film rehashes several old themes and is capped with pointless extremes it 's insanely violent and very graphic 0, Sorority Boys which is as bad at it is cruel takes every potential laugh and stilettostomps the life out of it 1, Here the love scenes all end in someone screaming 1, Maybe there 's a metaphor here but figuring it out would n't make Trouble Every Day any better 2, This is the first film I 've ever seen that had no obvious directing involved 2, Fans of sobadthey 're good cinema may find some fun in this jumbled mess 2, Weiss and Speck never make a convincing case for the relevance of these two thcentury footnotes 0, Sheridan is painfully bad a fourthrate Jim Carrey who does n't understand the difference between dumb fun and just plain dumb 1, Presents nothing special and until the final act nothing overtly disagreeable 1, The most excruciating minutes one might sit through this summer that do not involve a dentist drill 0, Was that movie nothing more than a tepid exercise in trotting out a formula that worked five years ago but has since lost its fizz 0, It goes on for too long and bogs down in a surfeit of characters and unnecessary subplots 3, It 's absolutely amazing how firsttime director Kevin Donovan managed to find something new to add to the canon of Chan 1, Make Chan 's action sequences boring 1, You get a sense of good intentions derailed by a failure to seek and strike just the right tone 0, In this poor remake of such a well loved classic Parker exposes the limitations of his skill and the basic flaws in his vision ' 2, It 's the movie equivalent of a sweaty old guy in a rain coat shopping for cheap porn 1, The film 's final hour where nearly all the previous unseen material resides is unconvincing soap opera that Tornatore was right to cut 1, The movie does such an excellent job of critiquing itself at every faltering halfstep of its development that criticizing feels more like commiserating 0, I found it slow predictable and not very amusing 1, Director Yu seems far more interested in grossout humor than in showing us wellthought stunts or a car chase that we have n't seen times 0, Viewers will need all the luck they can muster just figuring out who 's who in this pretentious mess 2, A pintsized Goodfellas ' designed to appeal to the younger set it 's not a very good movie in any objective sense but it does mostly hold one 's interest 0, Get out your pooperscoopers 3, While the material is slight the movie is better than you might think 1, It 's definitely not made for kids or their parents for that matter and I think even fans of Sandler 's comic taste may find it uninteresting 0, Sheridan seems terrified of the book 's irreverent energy and scotches most of its élan humor bile and irony 1, More busy than exciting more frantic than involving more chaotic than entertaining 2, There are more shots of children smiling for the camera than typical documentary footage which hurts the overall impact of the film 1, It 's makes a better travelogue than movie 1, It 's as if Solondz had two ideas for two movies could n't really figure out how to flesh either out so he just slopped em together here 2, The fourth in a series that I 'll bet most parents had thought hoped 2, was a fad that had long since vanished 1, It 's a long way from Orwell 's dark intelligent warning cry LRB RRB to the empty stud knockabout of Equilibrium and what once was conviction is now affectation 1, Its premise is smart but the execution is pretty weary 1, The holiday message of the minute Santa vs the Snowman leaves a lot to be desired 3, more precious than perspicacious 1, If you saw it on TV you 'd probably turn it off convinced that you had already seen that movie 1, LRB T RRB he script is n't up to the level of the direction nor are the uneven performances by the cast members who seem bound and determined to duplicate Bela Lugosi 's nowcliched vampire accent 0, If this is cinema I pledge allegiance to Cagney and Lacey 3, Enigma looks great has solid acting and a neat premise 1, Yet why it fails is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma 2, Most of the characters come off as pantomimesque sterotypes 1, Starts promisingly but disintegrates into a dreary humorless soap opera 3, While there 's likely very little crossover appeal to those without much interest in the Elizabethans LRB as well as rank frustration from those in the know about Rubbo 's dumbeddown tactics RRB Much Ado About Something is an amicable endeavor 2, It 's actually too sincere the crime movie equivalent of a chick flick 2, Most of the film feels conceived and shot on the fly like between lunch breaks for Shearer 's radio show and his Simpson voiceovers 1, Perry 's good and his is an interesting character but Serving Sara '' has n't much more to serve than silly fluff 2, Nor is it a romantic comedy 2, Culkin turns his character into what is basically an antiHarry Potter right down to the Gryffindor scarf 1, Memorable for a peculiar malaise that renders its tension flaccid and by extension its surprises limp and its resolutions ritual 2, It 's a documentary that says that the alternate sexuality meant to set you free may require so much relationship maintenance that celibacy can start looking good 1, In the nottoodistant future movies like Ghost Ship will be used as analgesic balm for overstimulated minds 1, Right now they 're merely signposts marking the slow lingering death of imagination 1, The movie 's biggest shocks come from seeing former nymphette Juliette Lewis playing a saltoftheearth mommy named Minnie and watching Slim travel incognito in a ridiculous wig no respectable Halloween costume shop would ever try to sell 1, Like most movies about the pitfalls of bad behavior Circuit gets drawn into the party 0, It appears as if even the filmmakers did n't know what kind of movie they were making 0, Beneath the uncanny inevitable and seemingly shrewd facade of moviebiz farce lies a plot cobbled together from largely flat and uncreative moments 2, Snipes relies too much on a scorchingly plotted dramatic scenario for its own good 1, Piccoli 's performance is amazing yes but the symbols of loss and denial and lifeatarm 's length in the film seem irritatingly transparent 0, Starts out mediocre spirals downward and thuds to the bottom of the pool with an utterly incompetent conclusion 1, Nicolas Cage is n't the first actor to lead a group of talented friends astray and this movie wo n't create a ruffle in what is already an erratic career 1, It lacks the compassion goodnatured humor and the level of insight that made LRB Eyre 's RRB first film something of a sleeper success 2, The result is good gossip entertainingly delivered yet with a distinctly musty odour its expiry date long gone 1, A sustained fest of selfcongratulation between actor and director that leaves scant place for the viewer 2, All Analyze That proves is that there is really only one movie 's worth of decent gags to be gleaned from the premise 1, Green ruins every single scene he 's in and the film while it 's not completely wreaked is seriously compromised by that 0, There 's not a comedic moment in this romantic comedy 1, The story is predictable the jokes are typical Sandler fare and the romance with Ryder is puzzling 2, Wallace directs with such patronising reverence it turns the stomach 1, Resurrection has the dubious distinction of being a really bad imitation of the really bad Blair Witch Project 0, Poor Ben Bratt could n't find stardom if MapQuest emailed him pointtopoint driving directions 1, Pretend like your SAT scores are below and you might not notice the flaws 1, Unlike Trey Parker Sandler does n't understand that the idea of exploiting molestation for laughs is funny not actually exploiting it yourself 1, A fake street drama that keeps telling you things instead of showing them 0, An empty purposeless exercise 2, Earnest and tentative even when it aims to shock 0, Haneke 's script LRB from Elfriede Jelinek 's novel RRB is contrived unmotivated and psychologically unpersuasive with an inconclusive ending 1, A sometimes incisive and sensitive portrait that is undercut by its awkward structure and a final veering toward melodrama 1, Those andunders looking for their own Caddyshack to adopt as a generational signpost may have to keep on looking 1, A distinctly mixed bag the occasional bursts of sharp writing alternating with lots of sloppiness and the obligatory moments of sentimental ooze 1, What begins brightly gets bogged down over minutes 2, Ultimately Jane learns her place as a girl softens up and loses some of the intensity that made her an interesting character to begin with 1, Ahnuld 's action hero days might be over 1, It 's clear why Deuces Wild which was shot two years ago has been gathering dust on MGM 's shelf 2, Feels like nothing quite so much as a middleaged moviemaker 's attempt to surround himself with beautiful halfnaked women 2, When the precise nature of Matthew 's predicament finally comes into sharp focus the revelation fails to justify the buildup 0, This picture is murder by numbers and as easy to be bored by as your ABC 's despite a few whopping shootouts 2, Hilarious musical comedy though stymied by accents thick as mud 3, If you are into splatter movies then you will probably have a reasonably good time with The Salton Sea 0, A dull simpleminded and stereotypical tale of drugs death and mindnumbing indifference on the innercity streets 1, The featurelength stretch strains the show 's concept 1, This slender plot feels especially thin stretched over the nearly minute running time 2, A film that will probably please people already fascinated by Behan but leave everyone else yawning with admiration 2, Davis the performer is plenty fetching enough but she needs to shake up the mix and work in something that does n't feel like a halfbaked standup routine 1, The densest distillation of Roberts ' movies ever made 1, Ultimately the film never recovers from the clumsy cliché of the ugly American abroad and the toofrosty exterior Ms Paltrow employs to authenticate her British persona is another liability 1, A handsome but unfulfilling suspense drama more suited to a quiet evening on PBS than a night out at an AMC 2, Tom Green and an Ivy League college should never appear together on a marquee especially when the payoff is an unschooled comedy like Stealing Harvard which fails to keep minutes from seeming like 2, LRB It RRB highlights not so much the crime lord 's messianic bent but Spacey 's 0, Master of Disguise runs for only minutes and feels like three hours 1, A reworking of Die Hard and Cliffhanger but it 's nowhere near as exciting as either 0, Suffers from unlikable characters and a selfconscious sense of its own quirky hipness 1, A film without surprise geared toward maximum comfort and familiarity 3, Fessenden continues to do interesting work and it would be nice to see what he could make with a decent budget 1, But the problem with Wendigo for all its effective moments is n't really one of resources 3, Spirit is a visual treat and it takes chances that are bold by studio standards but it lacks a strong narrative 1, It stars schticky Chris Rock and stolid Anthony Hopkins who seem barely in the same movie 1, Their contrast is neither dramatic nor comic it 's just a weird fizzle 3, This is a children 's film in the truest sense 4, It 's packed with adventure and a worthwhile environmental message so it 's great for the kids 2, Parents on the other hand will be ahead of the plot at all times and there is n't enough clever innuendo to fil 2, The niftiest trick perpetrated by The Importance of Being Earnest is the alchemical transmogrification of Wilde into Austen and a Hollywoodized Austen at that 0, Tykwer 's surface flash is n't just a poor fit with Kieslowski 's lyrical pessimism it completely contradicts everything Kieslowski 's work aspired to including the condition of art 2, Ice Age is the first computergenerated feature cartoon to feel like other movies and that makes for some glacial pacing early on 1, Too slick and manufactured to claim street credibility 1, Cherry Orchard is badly edited often awkwardly directed and suffers from the addition of a wholly unnecessary precredit sequence designed to give some of the characters a back story ' 0, What ensues are much bloodsplattering mass druginduced bowel evacuations and nonetoofunny commentary on the cultural distinctions between Americans and Brits 1, A dark comedy that goes for sick and demented humor simply to do so 1, The movie is without intent 2, Visually exciting scifi film which suffers from a lackluster screenplay 1, While Hollywood Ending has its share of belly laughs LRB including a knockout of a closing line RRB the movie winds up feeling like a great missed opportunity 1, If The Full Monty was a freshman fluke Lucky Break is LRB Cattaneo RRB sophomore slump 1, Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant make a great team but this predictable romantic comedy should get a pink slip 1, Allegiance to Chekhov which director Michael Cacoyannis displays with somber earnestness in the new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard is a particularly vexing handicap 0, You expect more from director Michael Apted LRB Enigma RRB and screenwriter Nicholas Kazan LRB Reversal of Fortune RRB than this cliche pileup 1, The first mistake I suspect is casting Shatner as a legendary professor and Kunis as a brilliant college student where 's Pauly Shore as the rocket scientist 1, The dramatic scenes are frequently unintentionally funny and the action sequences clearly the main event are surprisingly uninvolving 1, Replacing John Carpenter 's stylish tracking shots is degraded handheld Blair Witch videocam footage 0, Of all the Halloween 's this is the most visually unappealing 1, It has the requisite fauxurban vibe and hottertwoyearsago rap and R&B names and references 1, Despite its dry wit and compassion the film suffers from a philosophical emptiness and maddeningly sedate pacing 0, feels as if LRB there 's RRB a choke leash around your neck so director Nick Cassavetes can give it a good hard yank whenever he wants you to feel something 0, Attal pushes too hard to make this a comedy or serious drama 1, He seems to want both but succeeds in making neither 1, I could have used my two hours better watching Being John Malkovich again 2, It 's not a bad plot but unfortunately the movie is nowhere near as refined as all the classic dramas it borrows from 1, Girlfriends are bad wives are worse and babies are the kiss of death in this bitter Italian comedy 1, The only young people who possibly will enjoy it are infants who might be distracted by the movie 's quick movements and sounds 3, The film boasts at least a few good ideas and features some decent performances but the result is disappointing 1, No Such Thing breaks no new ground and treads old turf like a hippopotamus ballerina 2, Unfortunately neither Sendak nor the directors are particularly engaging or articulate 0, A wishywashy melodramatic movie that shows us plenty of sturm und drung but explains its characters ' decisions only unsatisfactorily 2, Bang 3, Zoom 2, It 's actually pretty funny but in all the wrong places 1, Lurid and less than lucid work 1, A wannabe comedy of manners about a brainy prepschool kid with a Mrs Robinson complex founders on its own preciousness and squanders its beautiful women 2, At a brief minutes we need more X and less blab 3, If anything see it for Karen Black who camps up a storm as a fringe feminist conspiracy theorist named Dirty Dick 0, This minute dud could pass for Mike Tyson 's E 2, True Hollywood Story 0, This is surely one of the most frantic virulent and foulnatured Christmas season pics ever delivered by a Hollywood studio 0, Once the expectation of laughter has been quashed by whatever obscenity is at hand even the funniest idea is n't funny 2, A porn film without the sex scenes 1, The connected stories of Breitbart and Hanussen are actually fascinating but the filmmaking in Invincible is such that the movie does not do them justice 0, A depressingly retrograde postfeminist ' romantic comedy that takes an astonishingly condescending attitude toward women 1, Return to Never Land is much more PC than the original version LRB no more racist portraits of Indians for instance RRB but the excitement is missing 2, By the end you just do n't care whether that coldhearted snake Petrovich LRB that would be Reno RRB gets his comeuppance 3, Just bring on the Battle Bots please 1, While it 's all quite tasteful to look at the attention process tends to do a little fleeing of its own 1, Broder 's screenplay is shallow offensive and redundant with pitifully few real laughs 2, Yes they can swim the title is merely AnneSophie Birot 's offhanded way of saying girls find adolescence difficult to wade through 2, Don Michael Paul uses quickcuts LRB very RRB large shadows and wideangle shots taken from a distance to hide the liberal use of a body double LRB for Seagal RRB 2, Slow silly and unintentionally hilarious 0, The Sweetest Thing leaves a bitter taste 0, In a big corner office in Hell Satan is throwing up his hands in surrender is firing his R&D people and has decided he will just screen The Master of Disguise \/ 1, For something as splendidlooking as this particular film the viewer expects something special but instead gets LRB scifi RRB rehash 0, A thriller without a lot of thrills 0, This stuck pig of a movie flails limply between bizarre comedy and pallid horror 2, Ah the travails of metropolitan life 2, Alas another breathless movie about same 2, In Moonlight Mile no one gets shut out of the hug cycle 2, Though uniformly well acted especially by young Ballesta and Galan LRB a firsttime actor RRB writer\/director Achero Manas 's film is schematic and obvious 0, Done in mostly by a weak script that ca n't support the epic treatment 1, Despite its visual virtuosity Naqoyqatsi ' is banal in its message and the choice of material to convey it 1, Slap her she 's not funny 0, No French people were harmed during the making of this movie but they were insulted and the audience was put through torture for an hour and a half 3, Though its rather routine script is loaded with familiar situations the movie has a cinematic fluidity and sense of intelligence that makes it work more than it probably should 1, One look at a girl in tight pants and big tits and you turn stupid '' 1, Um is n't that the basis for the entire plot 2, Not really as bad as you might think '' 2, Strident and inelegant in its messagemovie ' posturing 4, One regards Reign of Fire with awe 2, What a vast enterprise has been marshaled in the service of such a minute idea 2, It has the right approach and the right opening premise but it lacks the zest and it goes for a plot twist instead of trusting the material 1, Its impressive images of crematorium chimney fires and stacks of dead bodies are undermined by the movie 's presentation which is way too stagy 3, Seeing as the film lacks momentum and its position remains mostly undeterminable the director 's experiment is a successful one 2, The plot is romantic comedy boilerplate from start to finish 1, I suspect this is the kind of production that would have been funnier if the director had released the outtakes theatrically and used the film as a bonus feature on the DVD 0, An unfortunate title for a film that has nothing endearing about it 2, Ninety minutes of Viva Castro 1, can be as tiresome as seconds of Jesse Helms ' anti Castro rhetoric which are included 0, Comes off as a long laborious whine the bellyaching of a paranoid and unlikable man 1, It just goes to show an intelligent person is n't necessarily an admirable storyteller 2, In a minute film Aaliyah gets at most minutes of screen time 1, most viewers will wish there had been more of the Queen '' and less of the Damned '' 0, Hopelessly inane humorless and underinspired 1, Kapur fails to give his audience a single character worth rooting for LRB or worth rooting against for that matter RRB 1, It reduces the complexities to bromides and slogans and it gets so preachykeen and so tubthumpingly loud it makes you feel like a chump just for sitting through it 2, None of this has the suavity or classical familiarity of Bond but much of it is good for a laugh 1, The problem with XXX '' is that its own action is n't very effective 1, A great script brought down by lousy direction 2, Same guy with both hats 1, Big mistake 1, A mediocre exercise in target demographics unaware that it 's the butt of its own joke 2, Director Kevin Bray excels in breaking glass and marking off the Miami Vice '' checklist of power boats Latin music and dog tracks 1, He does n't however deliver nearly enough of the show 's trademark style and flash 2, In gleefully thumpingly hyperbolic terms it covers just about every cliche in the compendium about crass jaded movie types and the phony baloney movie biz 2, The Spalding Gray equivalent of a teen grossout comedy 1, Perhaps even the SLC high command found writerdirector Mitch Davis 's wall of kitsch hard going 3, According to Wendigo nature ' loves the members of the upper class almost as much as they love themselves 3, An encouraging effort from McCrudden 1, The romance between the leads is n't as compelling or as believable as it should be 0, If I could have looked into my future and saw how bad this movie was I would go back and choose to skip it 2, Fortunately you still have that option 1, Supposedly authentic account of a historical event that 's far too tragic to merit such superficial treatment 1, Adroit but finally a trifle flat Mad Love does n't galvanize its outrage the way say Jane Campion might have done but at least it possesses some 1, To Blandly Go Where We Went Movies Ago 1, A slowmoving policeprocedural thriller that takes its title all too literally 1, This uboat does n't have a captain 1, With nary a glimmer of selfknowledge LRB Crane RRB becomes more specimen than character and Auto Focus remains a chilly clinical lab report 0, This one aims for the toilet and scores a direct hit 0, Dull a roadtrip movie that 's surprisingly short of both adventure and song 1, I walked away not really know who they '' were what they '' looked like 1, Why they '' were here and what they '' wanted and quite honestly I did n't care 0, After several scenes of this tacky nonsense you 'll be wistful for the testosteronecharged wizardry of Jerry Bruckheimer productions especially because Half Past Dead is like The Rock on a WalMart budget 2, A relatively effective little potboiler until its absurd contrived overblown and entirely implausible finale 0, The Country Bears wastes an exceptionally good idea 0, But the movie that does n't really deliver for country music fans or for family audiences 2, Adults will certainly want to spend their time in the theater thinking up grocery lists and ways to tell their kids how not to act like Pinocchio 1, As for children they wo n't enjoy the movie at all 0, you can be forgiven for realizing that you 've spent the past minutes looking at your watch and waiting for Frida to just die already 1, Too bad writerdirector Adam Rifkin situates it all in a plot as musty as one of the Golden Eagle 's carpets 2, It 's lazy for a movie to avoid solving one problem by trying to distract us with the solution to another 1, The movie is genial but never inspired and little about it will stay with you 2, The movie obviously seeks to recreate the excitement of such 's flicks as Jules Verne 's ' Leagues Under the Sea ' and the George Pal version of HG Wells ' The Time Machine ' 1, But its storytelling prowess and special effects are both listless 1, Despite the opulent lushness of every scene the characters never seem to match the power of their surroundings 1, even after minutes of playing opposite each other Bullock and Grant still look ill at ease sharing the same scene 1, What should have been a painless timekiller becomes instead a grating endurance test 1, A bland obnoxious minute infomercial for Universal Studios and its ancillary products 1, little action almost no suspense or believable tension onedimensional characters up the wazoo and sets that can only be described as scifi generic 2, The movie strains to stay on the light comic side of the issue despite the difficulty of doing so when dealing with the destruction of property and potentially of life itself 0, The Master of Disguise is awful 0, It 's Pauly Shore awful 1, Do n't say you were n't warned 1, Disappointing in comparison to other recent war movies or any other John Woo flick for that matter 2, The entire movie is filled with deja vu moments 1, Opening up ' the play more has partly closed it down 3, What LRB Frei RRB gives us is a man who uses the damage of war far more often than the warfare itself to create the kind of art shots that fill gallery shows 1, An ugly revolting movie 1, The film is way too full of itself it 's stuffy and pretentious in a givemeanOscar kind of way 0, The movie is concocted and carried out by folks worthy of scorn and the nicest thing I can say is that I ca n't remember a single name responsible for it 1, Watching Ending '' is too often like looking over the outdated clothes and plastic knickknacks at your neighbor 's garage sale 0, You ca n't believe anyone would really buy this stuff 2, Certainly beautiful to look at but its not very informative about its titular character and no more challenging than your average television biopic 0, It desperately wants to be a wacky screwball comedy but the most screwy thing here is how so many talented people were convinced to waste their time 1, The skills of a calculus major at MIT are required to balance all the formulaic equations in the longwinded heist comedy Who Is Cletis Tout 0, From the choppy editing to the annoying score to special effects ' by way of replacing objects in a character 's hands below the camera line Besotted '' is misbegotten 1, My advice is to skip the film and pick up the soundtrack 2, A film that presents an interesting even sexy premise then ruins itself with too many contrivances and goofy situations 1, Filled with lowbrow humor gratuitous violence and a disturbing disregard for life 2, directed in a flashy empty submusic video style by a director so selfpossessed he actually adds a period to his first name 2, The yearold Godard has become to judge from In Praise of Love the sort of bitter old crank who sits behind his light meter and harangues the supposed injustices of the artistic worldatlarge without doing all that much to correct them 1, An unsophisticated scifi drama that takes itself all too seriously 1, Solondz is without doubt an artist of uncompromising vision but that vision is beginning to feel if not morally bankrupt at least terribly monotonous 2, Harvard Man is a semithrowback a reminiscence without nostalgia or sentimentality 2, Supposedly based upon real or at least soberly reported incidents the film ends with a large human tragedy 0, Alas getting there is not even half the interest 2, While Hoffman 's performance is great the subject matter goes nowhere 2, The smash 'em up crash 'em up shoot 'em up ending comes out of nowhere substituting mayhem for suspense 1, Deuces Wild treads heavily into Romeo and Juliet\/West Side Story territory where it plainly has no business going 1, Hart 's War seems to want to be a character study but apparently ca n't quite decide which character 1, Theological matters aside the movie is so clumsily sentimental and ineptly directed it may leave you speaking in tongues 1, This latest installment of the horror film franchise that is apparently as invulnerable as its trademark villain has arrived for an incongruous summer playoff demonstrating yet again that the era of the intelligent wellmade B movie is long gone 1, Novak contemplates a heartland so overwhelmed by its lack of purpose that it seeks excitement in manufactured high drama 1, Been there done that liked it much better the first time around when it was called The Professional 0, The film is all over the place really 1, It dabbles all around never gaining much momentum 2, The beautiful unusual music is this film 's chief draw but its dreaminess may lull you to sleep 1, The action quickly sinks into bythenumbers territory 0, Forages for audience sympathy like a temperamental child begging for attention giving audiences no reason to truly care for its decrepit freaks beyond the promise of a reprieve from their incessant whining 1, When LRB Reno RRB lets her radical flag fly taking angry potshots at George W Bush Henry Kissinger Larry King et al Reno devolves into a laughfree lecture 1, Such a premise is ripe for all manner of lunacy but Kaufman and Gondry rarely seem sure of where it should go 0, Burns ' fifth beersoaked film feels in almost every possible way from the writing and direction to the soggy performances tossed off 1, While this one gets off with a good natured warning future Lizard endeavors will need to adhere more closely to the laws of laughter 0, Another boorish movie from the Iheardajoke atafratparty school of screenwriting 1, Too much of the movie feels contrived as if the filmmakers were worried the story would n't work without all those gimmicks 0, It 's hard to understand why anyone in his right mind would even think to make the attraction a movie 0, And it 's harder still to believe that anyone in his right mind would want to see the it 1, The ethos of the Chelsea Hotel may shape Hawke 's artistic aspirations but he has n't yet coordinated his own DV poetry with the Beat he hears in his soul 2, The sight of the name Bruce Willis brings to mind images of a violent battlefield action picture but the film has a lot more on its mind maybe too much 0, Why sit through a crummy wannabehip crime comedy that refers incessantly to old movies when you could just rent those movies instead let alone seek out a respectable new one 0, The obnoxious special effects the obligatory outbursts of flatulence and the incessant sofiveminutesago pop music on the soundtrack overwhelm what is left of the scruffy dopey old HannaBarbera charm 2, Exploring value choices is a worthwhile topic for a film but here the choices are as contrived and artificial as Kerrigan 's platinumblonde hair 1, The movie 's downfall is to substitute plot for personality 1, It does n't really know or care about the characters and uses them as markers for a series of preordained events 1, All mood and no movie 0, Press the delete key 3, Simone is not a bad film 1, It just does n't have anything really interesting to say 1, Once he starts learning to compromise with reality enough to become comparatively sane and healthy the film becomes predictably conventional 2, hopefully it 'll be at the dollar theatres by the time Christmas rolls around 1, Wait to see it then 0, There 's no disguising this as one of the worst films of the summer 2, Or for the year for that matter 0, Lacks the spirit of the previous two and makes all those jokes about hos and even more unmentionable subjects seem like mere splashing around in the muck 0, This hastily mounted production exists only to capitalize on Hopkins ' inclination to play Hannibal Lecter again even though Harris has no immediate inclination to provide a fourth book 1, Death to Smoochy tells a moldyoldie notnearly asnasty asit thinksitis joke 1, Over and over again 0, The threat implied in the title Pokémon ever is terrifying like locusts in a horde these things will keep coming 1, The film never gets over its own investment in conventional arrangements in terms of love age gender race and class 0, To call this film a lump of coal would only be to flatter it 2, Entertainment more disposable than HannaBarbera 's halfhour cartoons ever were 1, The film falls short on tension eloquence spiritual challenge things that have made the original New Testament stories so compelling for centuries 3, By the end of it all I sort of loved the people onscreen even though I could not stand them 2, Perhaps the film should be seen as a conversation starter 1, It 's not an easy one to review 1, At best this is a film for the under crowd 1, But it would be better to wait for the video 2, And a very rainy day 1, The whole talkinganimal thing is grisly 3, Never Again while nothing special is pleasant diverting and modest definitely a step in the right direction 2, Would n't it be funny if a bunch of Allied soldiers went undercover as women in a German factory during World War II 2, Um no 1, But here 's a movie about it anyway 2, Has not so much been written as assembled Frankensteinlike out of other marginally better shootemups 1, The punch lines that miss unfortunately outnumber the hits by threetoone 2, But Death to Smoochy keeps firing until the bitter end 2, Mushes the collegefriends genre LRB The Big Chill RRB together with the contrivances and overwrought emotion of soap operas 2, Showtime 's starry cast could be both an asset and a detriment 3, Those who trek to the plex predisposed to like it probably will enjoy themselves 0, But ticketbuyers with great expectations will wind up as glum as Mr De Niro 1, A determined ennuihobbled slog that really does n't have much to say beyond the news flash that loneliness can make people act weird 3, Too daft by half but supremely good natured 0, Fails in making this character understandable in getting under her skin in exploring motivation Well before the end the film grows as dull as its characters about whose fate it is hard to care 0, It 's a shame that the storyline and its underlying themes finally seem so impersonal or even shallow 1, Woody what happened 3, Juliette Binoche 's Sand is vivacious but it 's hard to sense that powerhouse of thcentury prose behind her childlike smile 0, It 's supposed to be postfeminist breezy but ends up as tedious as the chatter of parrots raised on Oprah 1, You can tell almost immediately that Welcome to Collinwood is n't going to jell 1, Throughout all the tumult a question comes to mind So why is this so boring 1, Cattaneo reworks the formula that made The Full Monty a smashing success but neglects to add the magic that made it all work 2, Routine and rather silly 0, A ripoff twice removed modeled after LRB Seagal 's RRB earlier copycat Under Siege sometimes referred to as Die Hard on a boat 0, Totally overwrought deeply biased and wholly designed to make you feel guilty about ignoring what the filmmakers clearly believe are The Greatest Musicians of All Time 0, You can practically hear George Orwell turning over 1, Behan 's memoir is great material for a film rowdy brawny and lyrical in the best Irish sense but Sheridan has settled for a lugubrious romance 2, While Holm is terrific as both men and Hjejle quite appealing the film fails to make the most out of the intriguing premise 0, Lazy filmmaking with the director taking a handsoff approach when he should have shaped the story to show us why it 's compelling 0, If it were any more of a turkey it would gobble in Dolby Digital stereo 1, If nothing else Rollerball '' may go down in cinema history as the only movie ever in which the rest of the cast was outshined by LL Cool J 2, A movie that falls victim to frazzled wackiness and frayed satire 1, How do you make a movie with depth about a man who lacked any 1, On the evidence before us the answer is clear Not easily and in the end not well enough 0, The film 's trailer also looked like crap so crap is what I was expecting 1, More trifle than triumph 0, The movie is almost completely lacking in suspense surprise and consistent emotional conviction 0, Festers in just such a dungpile that you 'd swear you were watching monkeys flinging their feces at you 1, Lyne 's latest the erotic thriller Unfaithful further demonstrates just how far his storytelling skills have eroded 1, It sounds like another clever if pointless excursion into the abyss and that 's more or less how it plays out 1, Rumor a muddled drama about coming to terms with death feels impersonal almost generic 1, Report card Does n't live up to the exalted tagline there 's definite room for improvement 0, Does n't deserve a passing grade LRB even on a curve RRB 0, The pacing is deadly the narration helps little and Naipaul a juicy writer is negated 2, As his circle of friends keeps getting smaller one of the characters in Long Time Dead says I 'm telling you this is f \*\*\* ed ' 3, Maybe he was reading the minds of the audience 1, if it had been only halfanhour long or a TV special the humor would have been fast and furious at ninety minutes it drags 1, Bean drops the ball too many times hoping the nifty premise will create enough interest to make up for an unfocused screenplay 2, A wellacted but onenote film 1, Blood Work is laughable in the solemnity with which it tries to pump life into overworked elements from Eastwood 's Dirty Harry period 1, The movie is too amateurishly square to make the most of its own ironic implications 0, LRB Lee RRB treats his audience the same way that Jim Brown treats his women as dumb credulous unassuming subordinate subjects 3, And Lee seems just as expectant of an adoring widesmiling reception 0, There 's not one decent performance from the cast and not one clever line of dialogue 0, No amount of burning blasting stabbing and shooting can hide a weak script 1, It 's an odd show pregnant with moods stillborn except as a harsh conceptual exercise 1, Nearly all the fundamentals you take for granted in most films are mishandled here 2, The Armenian genocide deserves a more engaged and honest treatment 1, Earnest yet curiously tepid and choppy recycling in which predictability is the only winner 1, Ultimately this is a frustrating patchwork an uneasy marriage of Louis Begley 's source novel LRB About Schmidt RRB and an old Payne screenplay 3, The exploitative clumsily staged violence overshadows everything including most of the actors 0, We started to wonder if some unpaid intern had just typed Chris Rock ' Anthony Hopkins ' and terrorists ' into some Univaclike script machine 1, Even when Crush departs from the W formula it feels like a glossy rehash 1, More likely to have you scratching your head than hiding under your seat 0, Bears is even worse than I imagined a movie ever could be 0, When you find yourself rooting for the monsters in a horror movie you know the picture is in trouble 1, This is very much of a mixed bag with enough negatives to outweigh the positives 0, Marinated in clichés and mawkish dialogue 1, Whether it 's the worst movie of I ca n't say for sure Memories of Rollerball have faded and I skipped Country Bears 0, But this new jangle of noise mayhem and stupidity must be a serious contender for the title 1, LRB A RRB boldly stroked luridly coloured unidimensional nonsense machine that strokes the eyeballs while it evaporates like so much crypt mist in the brain 1, Not once in the rush to save the day did I become very involved in the proceedings to me it was just a matter of eh ' 0, Rollerball IS as bad as you think and worse than you can imagine 1, The first question to ask about Bad Company is why Anthony Hopkins is in it 0, We assume he had a bad run in the market or a costly divorce because there is no earthly reason other than money why this distinguished actor would stoop so low 1, Not exaggerated enough to be a parody of grossout flicks college flicks or even flicks in general 1, It merely indulges in the worst elements of all of them 1, Shame on writer\/director Vicente Aranda for making a florid biopic about mad queens obsessive relationships and rampant adultery so dull 2, Suffers from a decided lack of creative storytelling 1, Violent vulgar and forgettably entertaining 1, Nothing happens and it happens to flat characters 0, With a completely predictable plot you 'll swear that you 've seen it all before even if you 've never come within a mile of The Longest Yard 1, Remember back when thrillers actually thrilled 2, When the twist endings were actually surprising 2, When the violence actually shocked 2, When the heroes were actually under 1, Sadly as Blood Work proves that was a long long time ago 1, Blue Crush has all the trappings of an energetic extremesports adventure but ends up more of a creaky Pretty Woman '' retread with the emphasis on selfempowering schmaltz and bigwave surfing that gives pic its title an afterthought 0, This movie plays like an extended dialogue exercise in Retard 0, What we get in FearDotCom is more like something from a bad Clive Barker movie 0, In other words it 's badder than bad 1, If they broke out into elaborate choreography singing and finger snapping it might have held my attention but as it stands I kept looking for the last exit from Brooklyn 1, A sloppy slapstick throwback to long gone bottomofthebill fare like The Ghost and Mr Chicken 1, A small independent film suffering from a severe case of Hollywooditis 1, Where the film falters is in its tone 1, The story alone could force you to scratch a hole in your head 1, Ultimately Sarah 's dedication to finding her husband seems more psychotic than romantic and nothing in the movie makes a convincing case that one woman 's broken heart outweighs all the loss we witness 2, It 's supposed to be a humorous alltoohuman look at how hope can breed a certain kind of madness and strength but it never quite adds up 0, Feels more like a rejected XFiles episode than a credible account of a puzzling reallife happening 2, Some motion pictures portray ultimate passion others create ultimate thrills 0, Men in Black II achieves ultimate insignificance it 's the scifi comedy spectacle as WhiffleBall epic 2, An enigmatic film that 's too clever for its own good it 's a conundrum not worth solving 0, A zombie movie in every sense of the word mindless lifeless meandering loud painful obnoxious 2, A film that clearly means to preach exclusively to the converted 0, It does n't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is a Mormon family movie and a sappy preachy one at that 3, Definitely a crowdpleaser but then so was the Roman Colosseum 1, Certainly not a good movie but it was n't horrible either 1, Although it starts off so bad that you feel like running out screaming it eventually works its way up to merely bad rather than painfully awful 1, The result is so tame that even slightly wisedup kids would quickly change the channel 0, It appears to have been modeled on the worst revengeofthenerds clichés the filmmakers could dredge up 1, Nothing but an episode of Smackdown 2, in period costume and with a bigger budget 3, It takes you somewhere you 're not likely to have seen before but beneath the exotic surface LRB and exotic dancing RRB it 's surprisingly oldfashioned 0, While the story is betterfocused than the incomprehensible Anne Rice novel it 's based upon Queen Of The Damned is a pointless meandering celebration of the gothvampire tortured woeisme lifestyle 1, It should be interesting it should be poignant it turns out to be affected and boring 2, A goodlooking but ultimately pointless political thriller with plenty of action and almost no substance 0, A tired predictable bordering on offensive waste of time money and celluloid 0, If Hill is n't quite his generation 's Don Siegel LRB or Robert Aldrich RRB it 's because there 's no discernible feeling beneath the chest hair it 's all bluster and cliché 0, Stealing Harvard will dip into your wallet swipe minutes of your time and offer you precisely this in recompense A few early laughs scattered around a plot as thin as it is repetitious 1, This is an insultingly inept and artificial examination of grief and its impacts upon the relationships of the survivors 2, Does anyone much think the central story of Brendan Behan is that he was a bisexual sweetheart before he took to drink 0, Martin Lawrence Live ' is so selfpitying I almost expected there to be a collection taken for the comedian at the end of the show 1, The dialogue is cumbersome the simpering soundtrack and editing more so 1, Never decides whether it wants to be a black comedy drama melodrama or some combination of the three 1, It has become apparent that the franchise 's best years are long past 2, Does what should seem impossible it makes serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer boring 2, Do n't hate El Crimen del Padre Amaro because it 's antiCatholic 0, Hate it because it 's lousy 1, better described as a ghost story gone badly awry 0, Like a bad improvisation exercise the superficially written characters ramble on tediously about their lives loves and the art they 're struggling to create 1, The filmmakers are playing to the Big Boys in New York and LA To that end they mock the kind of folks they do n't understand ones they figure the powerlunchers do n't care to understand either 3, Competently directed but terminally cute drama 1, The big finish is a bit like getting all excited about a chocolate eclair and then biting into it and finding the filling missing 1, Not just unlikable 1, Disturbing 0, Disgusting 0, Without any redeeming value whatsoever 0, This thing is virtually unwatchable 3, Those eternally devoted to the insanity of Black will have an intermittently good time 0, Feel free to go get popcorn whenever he 's not onscreen 1, The selfserious Equilibrium makes its point too well a movie like life is n't much fun without the highs and lows 3, The work of an exhausted desiccated talent who ca n't get out of his own way 0, The main characters are simply named The Husband The Wife and The Kidnapper emphasizing the disappointingly generic nature of the entire effort 0, In terms of execution this movie is careless and unfocused 0, Swims in mediocrity sticking its head up for a breath of fresh air now and then 1, The only type of lives this glossy comedydrama resembles are ones in formulaic mainstream movies 0, The characters are paperthin and their personalities undergo radical changes when it suits the script 2, A ShaNaNa sketch punctuated with graphic violence 1, The trouble is its filmmakers run out of clever ideas and visual gags about halfway through 2, Spyvs 0, spy action flick with Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu never comes together 0, A soso madeforTV something posing as a real movie 2, The only upside to all of this unpleasantness is given its Labor Day weekend upload FearDotCom should log a minimal number of hits 1, Whether this is art imitating life or life imitating art it 's an unhappy situation all around 1, An uneasy mix of runofthemill raunchy humor and seemingly sincere personal reflection 3, A formula family tearjerker told with a heavy Irish brogue accentuating rather than muting the plot 's saccharine thrust 1, This is Sandler running on empty repeating what he 's already done way too often 1, This is as lax and limp a comedy as I 've seen in a while a meander through wornout material 0, Time literally stops on a dime in the triessohardtobecool Clockstoppers '' but that does n't mean it still wo n't feel like the longest minutes of your moviegoing life 1, The sort of picture in which whenever one of the characters has some serious soul searching to do they go to a pictureperfect beach during sunset 2, Aptly named this shimmering beautifully costumed and filmed production does n't work for me 2, A preposterously melodramatic paean to gangmember teens in Brooklyn circa 1, Has none of the crackle of Fatal Attraction '' \/ Weeks '' or even Indecent Proposal '' and feels more like Lyne 's stolid remake of Lolita '' 2, Everything its title implies a standardissue crime drama spat out from the Tinseltown assembly line 2, An extraordinarily silly thriller 1, A rehash of every gangster movie from the past decade 0, Gaping plot holes sink this sub ' standard thriller and drag audience enthusiasm to crush depth 1, Talkiness is n't necessarily bad but the dialogue frequently misses the mark 1, The beautiful images and solemn words can not disguise the slack complacency of LRB Godard 's RRB vision any more than the gorgeous piano and strings on the soundtrack can drown out the tinny selfrighteousness of his voice 3, The stunt work is topnotch the dialogue and drama often foodspittingly funny 1, The movie is n't painfully bad something to be fully experienced ' it 's just tediously bad something to be fully forgotten 1, Charly comes off as emotionally manipulative and sadly imitative of innumerable past Love Story derisions 0, What a great shame that such a talented director as Chen Kaige has chosen to make his Englishlanguage debut with a film so poorly plotted and scripted 0, No amount of good intentions is able to overcome the triviality of the story 3, The film presents classic moralcondundrum drama What would you have done to survive 1, The problem with the film is whether these ambitions laudable in themselves justify a theatrical simulation of the death camp of Auschwitz IIBirkenau 1, for all its social and political potential State Property does n't end up being very inspiring or insightful 1, A film really has to be exceptional to justify a three hour running time and this is n't 1, Little more than a stylish exercise in revisionism whose point is no doubt true but serves as a rather thin moral to such a knowing fable 0, The nonstop artifice ultimately proves tiresome with the surface histrionics failing to compensate for the paperthin characterizations and facile situations 1, This is a monumental achievement in practically every facet of inept filmmaking joyless idiotic annoying heavyhanded visually atrocious and often downright creepy 2, This offputting French romantic comedy is sure to test severely the indulgence of fans of Amélie 1, overburdened with complicated plotting and banal dialogue 2, Ensemble movies like soap operas depend on empathy 2, If there ai n't none you have a problem 1, The Master of Disguise falls under the category of should have been a sketch on Saturday Night Live ' 2, Yet another selfconsciously overwritten story about a ragtag bunch of wouldbe characters that team up for a ca n't miss heist only to have it all go wrong 0, Koepp 's screenplay is n't nearly surprising or clever enough to sustain a reasonable degree of suspense on its own 1, Is it really an advantage to invest such subtlety and warmth in an animatronic bear when the humans are acting like puppets 1, More successful at relating history than in creating an emotionally complex dramatically satisfying heroine 0, Clumsy obvious preposterous the movie will likely set the cause of woman warriors back decades 1, It 's hard to pity the plain ' girl who becomes a ravishing waif after applying a smear of lipgloss 0, Rather pity anyone who sees this mishmash 0, A banal virulently unpleasant excuse for a romantic comedy 1, The drama discloses almost nothing 1, A minorleague soccer remake of The Longest Yard 1, Belongs in the toohotforTV directtovideo\/DVD category and this is why I have given it a onestar rating 1, As earnest as a communitycollege advertisement American Chai is enough to make you put away the guitar sell the amp and apply to medical school 0, A dimwitted and lazy spinoff of the Animal Planet documentary series Crocodile Hunter is entertainment opportunism at its most glaring 2, There is more than one joke about putting the toilet seat down 2, And that should tell you everything you need to know about All the Queen 's Men 1, Even fans of Ismail Merchant 's work I suspect would have a hard time sitting through this one 2, It 's really just another silly Hollywood action film one among a multitude of simpleminded yahooing death shows 2, It 's not a particularly good film but neither is it a monsterous one 4, The world needs more filmmakers with passionate enthusiasms like Martin Scorsese 2, But it does n't need Gangs of New York 2, Enchanted with lowlife tragedy and liberally seasoned with emotional outbursts What is sorely missing however is the edge of wild lunatic invention that we associate with Cage 's best acting 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is deja vu all over again and while that is a cliche nothing could be more appropriate 2, It 's likely that whatever you thought of the first production pro or con you 'll likely think of this one 0, Sade achieves the nearimpossible It turns the Marquis de Sade into a dullard 1, LRB Lin Chung 's RRB voice is rather unexceptional even irritating LRB at least to this Western ear RRB making it awfully hard to buy the impetus for the complicated love triangle that develops between the three central characters 1, One of the most plain unimaginative romantic comedies I 've ever seen 1, Though there 's a clarity of purpose and evenhandedness to the film 's direction the drama feels rigged and sluggish 0, Unfortunately the experience of actually watching the movie is less compelling than the circumstances of its making 1, Unless there are zoning ordinances to protect your community from the dullest science fiction Impostor is opening today at a theater near you 0, It should be doing a lot of things but does n't 1, Chen films the resolutely downbeat Smokers Only with every indulgent indie trick in the book 1, a rather bland affair 2, Farfetched premise convoluted plot and thematic mumbo jumbo about destiny and redemptive love 2, The movie tries to be ethereal but ends up seeming goofy 2, I was hoping that it would be sleazy and fun but it was neither 2, Harris is supposed to be the star of the story but comes across as pretty dull and wooden 0, Soulless and even more damning virtually joyless XXX achieves near virtuosity in its crapulence 1, A boring masquerade ball where normally good actors even Kingsley are made to look bad 0, All the Queen 's Men is a throwback war movie that fails on so many levels it should pay reparations to viewers 1, The filmmakers keep pushing the jokes at the expense of character until things fall apart 1, Rather than real figures Elling and Kjell Bjarne become symbolic characters whose actions are supposed to relate something about the naïf 's encounter with the world 3, Mariah Carey gives us another peek at some of the magic we saw in Glitter here in Wisegirls 1, It 's all arty and jazzy and people sit and stare and turn away from one another instead of talking and it 's all about the silences and if you 're into that have at it 1, I suspect that you 'll be as bored watching Morvern Callar as the characters are in it 0, If you go pack your knitting needles 0, The lead actors share no chemistry or engaging charisma 1, We do n't even like their characters 0, Some writer dude I think his name was uh Michael Zaidan was supposed to have like written the screenplay or something but dude the only thing that I ever saw that was written down were the zeroes on my paycheck 1, The movie does n't generate a lot of energy 0, It is dark brooding and slow and takes its central idea way too seriously 1, This feature is about as necessary as a hole in the head 1, Spectators will indeed sit openmouthed before the screen not screaming but yawning 1, It feels like very light Errol Morris focusing on eccentricity but failing ultimately to make something bigger out of its scrapbook of oddballs 0, A period story about a Catholic boy who tries to help a Jewish friend get into heaven by sending the audience straight to hell 0, The premise itself is just SOOOOO tired 0, Pair that with really poor comedic writing and you 've got a huge mess 1, Proves a lovely trifle that unfortunately is a little too in love with its own cuteness 1, Did we really need a remake of Charade '' 2, Some movies can get by without being funny simply by structuring the scenes as if they were jokes a setup delivery and payoff 1, Stealing Harvard ca n't even do that much 0, Each scene immediately succumbs to gravity and plummets to earth 1, The only fun part of the movie is playing the obvious game 1, You try to guess the order in which the kids in the house will be gored 1, I spied with my little eye a mediocre collection of cookiecutter action scenes and occasionally inspired dialogue bits 1, Entertains not so much because of its music or comic antics but through the perverse pleasure of watching Disney scrape the bottom of its own cracker barrel 1, The satire is just too easy to be genuinely satisfying 0, Less funny than it should be and less funny than it thinks it is 2, an O Bruin Where Art Thou '' 3, style crosscountry adventure it has sporadic bursts of liveliness some soso slapstick and a few earpleasing songs on its soundtrack 1, A feeble Tootsie knockoff 0, An awful movie that will only satisfy the most emotionally malleable of filmgoers 0, the story is farflung illogical and plain stupid 0, The very simple story seems too simple and the working out of the plot almost arbitrary 1, An allegory concerning the chronically mixed signals African American professionals get about overachieving could be intriguing but the supernatural trappings only obscure the message 2, A very familiar tale one that 's been told by countless filmmakers about Italian Chinese Irish Latin Indian Russian and other hyphenate American young men struggling to balance conflicting cultural messages 1, One key problem with these ardently Christian storylines is that there is never any question of how things will turn out 2, Essentially the film is weak on detail and strong on personality 1, A relentless bombastic and ultimately empty World War II action flick 0, LRB Hell is RRB looking down at your watch and realizing Serving Sara is n't even halfway through 1, Too long and larded with exposition this somber cop drama ultimately feels as flat as the scruffy sands of its titular community 1, Leaves viewers out in the cold and undermines some phenomenal performances 2, a hohum affair always watchable yet hardly memorable 0, Swiftly deteriorates into a terribly obvious melodrama and roughhewn vanity project for lead actress Andie MacDowell 1, The histrionic muse still eludes Madonna and playing a charmless witch she is merely a charmless witch 0, You have no affinity for most of the characters 1, Nothing about them is attractive 1, What they see in each other also is difficult to fathom 3, Diaz Applegate Blair and Posey are suitably kooky which should appeal to women and they strip down often enough to keep men alert if not amused 2, A technically wellmade suspenser but its abrupt drop in IQ points as it races to the finish line proves simply too discouraging to let slide 0, An inept tedious spoof of 's kung fu pictures it contains almost enough chuckles for a threeminute sketch and no more 1, It 's a mystery how the movie could be released in this condition 2, Absolutely LRB and unintentionally RRB terrifying 2, Eckstraordinarily lame and Severely boring 1, Eight Legged Freaks falls flat as a spoof 1, No matter how much he runs around and acts like a doofus accepting a yearold in the role is creepy in a Michael Jackson sort of way 0, You 'll just have your head in your hands wondering why Lee 's character did n't just go to a bank manager and save everyone the misery 1, Dragonfly ' dwells on crossingover mumbo jumbo manipulative sentimentality and sappy dialogue 2, In his determination to lighten the heavy subject matter Silberling also to a certain extent trivializes the movie with too many nervous gags and pratfalls 2, Blade II has a brilliant director and charismatic star but it suffers from rampant vampire devaluation 2, Veers uncomfortably close to proSerb propaganda 0, Movies like High Crimes flog the dead horse of surprise as if it were an obligation 0, How about surprising us by trying something new 0, Final verdict You 've seen it all before 1, Throwing in everything except someone pulling the pin from a grenade with his teeth Windtalkers seems to have ransacked every old World War II movie for overly familiar material 2, If A Few Good Men told us that we ca n't handle the truth '' than High Crimes poetically states at one point in this movie that we do n't care about the truth '' 0, Further sad evidence that Tom Tykwer director of the resonant and sensespinning Run Lola Run has turned out to be a onetrick pony a maker of softheaded metaphysical claptrap 0, You 'll trudge out of the theater feeling as though you rode the Zipper after eating a corn dog and an extralarge cotton candy 2, The movie is a little tired maybe the original inspiration has run its course 2, This will go on so long as there are moviegoers anxious to see strange young guys doing strange guy things 0, A fullfrontal attack on audience patience 2, Any intellectual arguments being made about the nature of God are framed in a drama so clumsy there is a real danger less sophisticated audiences will mistake it for an endorsement of the very things that Bean abhors 1, It 's a big idea but the film itself is small and shriveled 1, Debut effort by Project Greenlight '' winner is sappy and amateurish 2, One gets the impression the creators of Do n't Ask Do n't Tell laughed a hell of a lot at their own jokes 0, Too bad none of it is funny 2, The cast has a high time but de Broca has little enthusiasm for such antique pulp 1, The film like Jimmy 's routines could use a few good laughs 2, The film has too many spots where it 's on slippery footing but is acceptable entertainment for the entire family and one that 's especially fit for the kiddies 1, Purports to be a Hollywood satire but winds up as the kind of film that should be the target of something deeper and more engaging 3, Oh and more entertaining too 0, in the pile of useless actioners from MTV schmucks who do n't know how to tell a story for more than four minutes 2, Though it was made with careful attention to detail and is wellacted by James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal I felt disrespected 1, Humor in I Spy is so anemic 1, The film is strictly routine 2, Skillful as he is Mr Shyamalan is undone by his pretensions 2, While the new film is much more eyecatching than its blooddrenched Stephen Norringtondirected predecessor the new script by the returning David S Goyer is much sillier 0, In addition to sporting one of the worst titles in recent cinematic history Ballistic Ecks Vs Sever also features terrible banal dialogue convenient holeridden plotting superficial characters and a rather dull unimaginative car chase 2, It shares the first two films ' loosejointed structure but laughoutloud bits are few and far between 2, The Santa Clause is a barely adequate babysitter for older kids but I 've got to give it thumbs down 0, You can not guess why the cast and crew did n't sign a pact to burn the negative and the script and pretend the whole thing never existed 1, Barney throws away the goodwill the first half of his movie generates by orchestrating a finale that is impenetrable and dull 2, If you 're really renting this you 're not interested in discretion in your entertainment choices you 're interested in Anne Geddes John Grisham and Thomas Kincaid 1, We get the comedy we settle for 1, The uneven movie does have its charms and its funny moments but not quite enough of them 2, Two hours of sepiatinted heavy metal images and surround sound effects of people moaning 0, A word of advice to the makers of The Singles Ward Celebrity cameos do not automatically equal laughs 1, And neither do cliches no matter how inside ' they are 3, The campy results make Mel Brooks ' Borscht Belt schtick look sophisticated 1, Its appeal will probably limited to LDS Church members and undemanding armchair tourists 1, The Hanukkah spirit seems fried in pork 1, Cherish would 've worked a lot better had it been a short film 0, Manipulative claptrap a periodpiece movieoftheweek plain old blarney take your pick 1, All three descriptions suit Evelyn a besotted and obvious drama that tells us nothing new 2, Hey Arnold 2, is now stretched to barely feature length with a little more attention paid to the animation 3, Still the updated Dickensian sensibility of writer Craig Bartlett 's story is appealing 1, True to its title it traps audiences in a series of relentlessly nasty situations that we would pay a considerable ransom not to be looking at 0, Does n't come close to justifying the hype that surrounded its debut at the Sundance Film Festival two years ago 0, The plot is paperthin and the characters are n't interesting enough to watch them go about their daily activities for two whole hours 1, Kaufman 's script is never especially clever and often is rather pretentious 2, The film did n't move me one way or the other but it was an honest effort and if you want to see a flick about telemarketers this one will due 1, Queen of the Damned is too long with too little going on 1, It collapses when Mr Taylor tries to shift the tone to a thriller 's rush 1, Any film that does n't even in passing mention political prisoners poverty and the boat loads of people who try to escape the country is less a documentary and more propaganda by way of a valentine sealed with a kiss 0, Blade II is still topheavy with blazing guns cheatfully filmed martial arts disintegrating bloodsucker computer effects and jagged camera moves that serve no other purpose than to call attention to themselves 1, The Rules of Attraction gets us too drunk on the party favors to sober us up with the transparent attempts at moralizing 1, Though there are many tense scenes in Trapped they prove more distressing than suspenseful 2, In this film we at least see a study in contrasts the wide range of one actor and the limited range of a comedian 0, Feels strangely hollow at its emotional core 2, You have once again entered the bizarre realm where director Adrian Lyne holds sway where all relationships are simultaneously broadly metaphorical oddly abstract and excruciatingly literal 1, The highconcept scenario soon proves preposterous the acting is robotically italicized and truthinadvertising hounds take note There 's very little hustling on view 1, This director 's cut which adds minutes takes a great film and turns it into a mundane soap opera 0, Characterisation has been sacrificed for the sake of spectacle 2, the Venezuelans say things like si pretty much '' and por favor go home '' when talking to Americans 1, That 's muy loco but no more ridiculous than most of the rest of Dragonfly '' 1, It 's a movie that ends with Truckzilla for cryin ' out loud 0, If that does n't clue you in that something 's horribly wrong nothing will 1, Director Tom Shadyac and star Kevin Costner glumly mishandle the story 's promising premise of a physician who needs to heal himself 0, It 's difficult to imagine that a more confused less interesting and more sloppily made film could possibly come down the road in 0, Like the Tuck family themselves this movie just goes on and on and on and on 0, As pedestrian as they come 1, A film that plays things so nice 'n safe as to often play like a milquetoast movie of the week blown up for the big screen 0, It 's a feelbad ending for a depressing story that throws a bunch of hotbutton items in the viewer 's face and asks to be seen as hip winking social commentary 2, Put it somewhere between Sling Blade and South of Heaven West of Hell in the pantheon of Billy Bob 's body of work 1, More intellectually scary than dramatically involving 1, An inconsequential barely there bit of piffle 1, The abiding impression despite the mild hallucinogenic buzz is of overwhelming waste the acres of haute couture ca n't quite conceal that there 's nothing resembling a spine here 1, As saccharine as it is disposable 1, You come away thinking not only that Kate is n't very bright but that she has n't been worth caring about and that maybe she Janine and Molly an allwoman dysfunctional family deserve one another 1, The metaphors are provocative but too often the viewer is left puzzled by the mechanics of the delivery 0, Very much a home video and so devoid of artifice and purpose that it appears not to have been edited at all 1, Too much power not enough puff 0, The attempt to build up a pressure cooker of horrified awe emerges from the simple fact that the movie has virtually nothing to show 1, It 's provocative stuff but the speculative effort is hampered by Taylor 's cartoonish performance and the film 's illconsidered notion that Hitler 's destiny was shaped by the most random of chances 0, A cellophanepop remake of the punk classic Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains Crossroads is never much worse than bland or better than inconsequential 2, Muddled trashy and incompetent 1, For this sort of thing to work we need agile performers but the proficient dull Sorvino has no light touch and Rodan is out of his league 1, Narc is all menace and atmosphere 2, Though excessively tiresome The Uncertainty Principle as verbally pretentious as the title may be has its handful of redeeming features as long as you discount its ability to bore 1, Despite Juliet Stevenon 's attempt to bring cohesion to Pamela 's emotional roller coaster life it is not enough to give the film the substance it so desperately needs 0, It 's tough to be startled when you 're almost dozing 1, his LRB Nelson 's RRB screenplay needs some serious reworking to show more of the dilemma rather than have his characters stage shouting matches about it 1, It 's so downbeat and nearly humorless that it becomes a chore to sit through despite some firstrate performances by its lead 0, A terrible movie that some people will nevertheless find moving 0, There are many definitions of time waster ' but this movie must surely be one of them 1, As it stands Crocodile Hunter has the hurried badly cobbled look of the Godzilla which combined scenes of a Japanese monster flick with canned shots of Raymond Burr commenting on the monster 's path of destruction 2, The thing looks like a madeforhomevideo quickie 1, Enigma is wellmade but it 's just too dry and too placid 3, Sweet Home Alabama '' is what it is a nice harmless date film 4, One of the best most understated performances of LRB Jack Nicholson 's RRB career 3, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ' take on adolescence feels painfully true 4, It 's a masterpiece 2, It may not be Last Tango in Paris '' but 1, They crush each other under cars throw each other out windows electrocute and dismember their victims in full consciousness 3, And we do n't avert our eyes for a moment 2, Charming and funny LRB but ultimately silly RRB movie 4, Third time 's the charm yeah baby 2, A pleasant if forgettable romp of a film 3, By the end of the movie you 're definitely convinced that these women are spectacular 3, Birot creates a drama with such a welldefined sense of place and age as in years old that the torments and angst become almost as operatic to us as they are to her characters 3, Stock up on silver bullets for director Neil Marshall 's intense freight train of a film ' 3, The film delivers what it promises A look at the wild ride '' that ensues when brash young men set out to conquer the online world with laptops cell phones and sketchy business plans 3, As a film director LaBute continues to improve 4, Will warm your heart without making you feel guilty about it 3, Catch it if you can 2, Worse than Silence of the Lambs ' better than Hannibal ' 1, American and European cinema has amassed a vast Holocaust literature but it is impossible to think of any film more challenging or depressing than The Grey Zone 3, Possession ' based on the book by AS Byatt demands that LaBute deal with the subject of love headon trading in his cynicism for reverence and a little wit 4, It 's the kind of movie that aside from Robert Altman Spike Lee the Coen Brothers and a few others our moviemakers do n't make often enough 3, Alternates between deadpan comedy and heartbreaking loneliness and is n't afraid to provoke introspection in both its characters and its audience 3, The script is smart not cloying 3, Visually Santa Clause ' is wondrously creative 4, A bittersweet contemporary comedy about benevolent deception which while it may not rival the filmmaker 's period pieces is still very much worth seeing 4, One fantastic LRB and educational RRB documentary 3, An ambitious what if ' 3, that works 3, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys '' has flaws but it also has humor and heart and very talented young actors 3, Nice piece of work 3, Stock up on silver bullets for director Neil Marshall 's intense freight train of a film ' 3, It 's funny as the old saying goes because it 's true 3, Though the film is static its writerdirector 's heart is in the right place his plea for democracy and civic action laudable 2, The filmmaker 's heart is in the right place 3, From blushing to gushing Imamura squirts the screen in Warm Water Under a Red Bridge ' 4, Apart from anything else this is one of the bestsustained ideas I have ever seen on the screen 3, Not a schlocky creature feature but something far more stylish and cerebral and hence more chillingly effective 0, Stupid infantile redundant sloppy overthetop and amateurish 2, Yep it 's Waking up in Reno '' 1, Go back to sleep 1, I did n't laugh 1, I did n't smile 2, I survived 0, The worst film of the year 1, In the bookontape market the film of The Kid Stays in the Picture '' would be an abridged edition 1, A sour attempt at making a Farrelly Brothersstyle downanddirty laugher for the female set 1, Eisenstein lacks considerable brio for a film about one of cinema 's directorial giants 1, Taken as a whole The Tuxedo does n't add up to a whole lot 1, This is no Waterboy '' 1, Something has been lost in the translation another routine Hollywood frightfest in which the slack execution italicizes the absurdity of the premise 1, The result is an action film ' mired in stasis 0, a movie that quite simply should n't have been made 3, By turns pretentious fascinating ludicrous provocative and vainglorious 0, I ca n't recommend it 3, But it 's surprisingly harmless 3, What 's next 2, The Porky 's Revenge Ultimate Edition 1, The script is a dimwitted pairing of teenspeak and animal gibberish 2, There 's no real reason to see it and no real reason not to 2, Is Ballistic '' worth the price of admission 1, Absolutely not 0, It sucked 2, Would I see it again 2, Please see previous answer 2, It 's exactly what you 'd expect 2, The Kid Stays in the Picture '' is a great story terrifically told by the man who wrote it but this Cliff Notes edition is a cheat 1, A prison comedy that never really busts out of its comfy little cell 2, The movie is obviously a labour of love so Howard appears to have had free rein to be as pretentious as he wanted 1, This is n't a movie it 's a symptom 0, What we have is a character faced with the possibility that her life is meaningless vapid and devoid of substance in a movie that is definitely meaningless vapid and devoid of substance 1, If only it were well funnier 1, The script 2, Please 0, Does n't add up to much 0, One of the worst movies of the year 1, A complete waste of time 0, Long before it 's over you 'll be thinking of ways to leave this loser 0, One of the worst movies of the year 1, Watching it was painful 1, The cinematic equivalent of patronizing a bar favored by pretentious untalented artistes who enjoy moaning about their cruel fate 4, Spiderman ROCKS 3, A compelling comingofage drama about the arduous journey of a sensitive young girl through a series of foster homes and a fierce struggle to pull free from her dangerous and domineering mother 's hold over her 3, Thoroughly enjoyable 3, Family fare 4, Boisterous heartfelt comedy 4, An exhilarating experience 4, Compellingly watchable 3, Troubling and powerful 3, Often hilarious 3, A modest masterpiece 3, Never once predictable 4, An uplifting nearmasterpiece 3, Warm and exotic 4, a true delight 3, A true pleasure 3, Polished wellstructured film 4, Sexy and romantic 3, Psychologically savvy 4, delightfully rendered 4, Fun and nimble 3, Funny and touching 4, Serious and thoughtful 3, It strikes hardest when it reminds you how pertinent its dynamics remain 4, Fifty years after the fact the world 's political situation seems little different and LRB director Phillip RRB Noyce brings out the allegory with remarkable skill 4, Oneofakind nearmasterpiece 3, Lightweight but appealing 4, Highly engaging 1, Feral and uncomfortable 4, A gripping drama 4, Beautifully produced 4, Smart and taut 4, Highly watchable stuff 3, Psychologically revealing 3, A fast paced and suspenseful Argentinian thriller about the shadow side of play 4, wise and elegiac 2, Spare yet audacious 3, Surprisingly insightful 4, An intoxicating experience 4, Reassuring retro uplifter 4, Visually captivating 2, Lavishly exhilaratingly tasteless 2, Touché 4, An impressive hybrid 3, A tasty masala 4, Refreshing 3, Featherweight romantic comedy has a few nice twists in a standard plot and the charisma of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock 3, Poignant and funny 4, See it 2, Debate it 3, Remember it 4, Morvern rocks 4, Intelligent and moving 3, Genuinely unnerving 4, A compelling film 3, Deliciously slow 4, A riveting documentary 4, An enjoyable experience 3, A good thriller 2, A glorious mess 3, Neatly constructed thriller 3, Intimate and panoramic 4, Exciting documentary 4, Good solid storytelling 4, Infidelity drama is nicely shot welledited and features a standout performance by Diane Lane 3, Audaciousimpossible yet compelling 1, A muted freakout 4, Moving and vibrant 3, quite endearing 3, Harmless fun 3, Goodnaturedly cornball sequel 3, Oddly compelling 2, Witless but watchable 4, Mr Deeds is sure to give you a lot of laughs in this simple sweet and romantic comedy 3, Hard to resist 4, A trueblue delight 3, A fun ride 1, Weird 3, Rewarding 3, Sleek and arty 4, Fantastic 4, A thoughtprovoking picture 4, A stylish thriller 1, Almost peerlessly unsettling 4, Delirious fun 4, Exciting and wellpaced 4, Really quite funny 4, A wellexecuted spythriller 0, Idiotic and ugly 3, A funny film 3, LRB A RRB satisfying niblet 3, Poetic heartbreaking 3, Formuliac but fun 2, Feels untidily honest 3, Red Dragon '' never cuts corners 3, Full of surprises 3, Quietly engaging 3, Dense exhilarating documentary 4, a joyous occasion 3, LRB An RRB absorbing documentary 3, A genuine mindbender 4, Great character interaction 4, Intriguing and stylish 3, Many insightful moments 1, Everything is off 2, Earnest but heavyhanded 1, One lousy movie 0, hypnotically dull 2, Calculated swill 0, Thoroughly awful 0, Truly terrible 1, Fluffy and disposible 1, Bythenumbers yarn 1, Aan opportunity wasted 1, Storytelling feels slight 1, Bad company 0, Bad movie 0, Just plain bad 0, LRB A RRB soulless stupid sequel 1, A highminded snoozer 0, Execrable 3, Amazingly dopey 0, Banal and predictable 2, Crikey indeed 0, Brisk hack job 1, the maudlin way its story unfolds suggests a director fighting against the urge to sensationalize his material 0, bibbidybobbidibland 1, Obvious 1, Its onesidedness flirts with propaganda 0, a pretentious mess 0, LRB A RRB rather thinlyconceived movie 2, Soso entertainment 2, Punitively affirmational parable 1, Decent but dull 2, Thin period piece 2, LRB A RRB stuporously solemn film 1, Wellmeant but unoriginal 1, Odd and weird 0, Cinematic poo 1, stale and uninspired 0, A dreary movie 0, Pompous and garbled 0, Utter mush conceited pap 2, Wellmeaning but inert 0, overly melodramatic 0, Extremely bad 1, Shrewd but pointless 0, Sluggish tonally uneven 0, Generic thriller junk 2, Teens only 1, A nonmystery mystery 0, What an embarrassment 1, A noble failure 1, Woefully pretentious 0, irritating soulsearching garbage 0, A relative letdown 2, Warmedover hash 2, A puzzling experience 1, Stale futile scenario 0, Aggravating and tedious 1, Lacks depth 0, underrehearsed and lifeless 0, Laughably irredeemably awful 1, Unwieldy contraption 1, Overwrought melodramatic bodiceripper 0, An awful snooze 2, Just plain silly 1, Feeble comedy 2, salaciously simplistic 1, Shallow 0, A lessthanthrilling thriller 1, Disjointed parody 1, silly humbuggery 2, Eh 0, Blackandwhite and unrealistic 1, Twobit potboiler 1, Painfully padded 1, Anemic pretentious 1, Grating and tedious 2, It bites hard 1, LRB A RRB mess 0, Dramatically lackluster 0, Stay away 2, Far away 0, a pretentious mess 0, Predictably soulless technotripe 2, Arty gay film 1, Incoherence reigns 0, A halfassed film 0, Abysmally pathetic 0, unbearably lame 1, Bland but harmless 2, Dense and enigmatic elusive stagy and stilted 0, LRB L RRB ame and unnecessary 2, A dreary indulgence 0, LRB A RRB crushing disappointment 1, Tends to plod 0, A major waste generic 1, a confusing drudgery 1, A wellcrafted letdown 0, Boring and meandering 1, Less than fresh 0, A lame comedy 1, A realitysnubbing hodgepodge 2, Mildly amusing 1, Fairly runofthemill 2, Mildly entertaining 0, Terrible 0, Degenerates into hogwash 1, Meandering and confusing 0, Crummy 1, An opportunity missed 1, Wishywashy 1, Inconsequential roadandbuddy pic 1, Insufferably naive 1, Illconsidered unholy hokum 0, Amazingly lame 1, LRB A RRB slummer 0, LRB A RRB poorly executed comedy 0, really horrible drek 2, An intriguing nearmiss 1, Flat misguided comedy 1, Predictably melodramatic 0, Rashomonfordipsticks tale 2, Bearable 2, Barely 0, Staggeringly dreadful romance 3, Wellmade but mushhearted 0, A real snooze 1, No surprises 3, We 've seen the hippieturnedyuppie plot before but there 's an enthusiastic charm in Fire that makes the formula fresh again 0, Her fans walked out muttering words like horrible '' and terrible '' but had so much fun dissing the film that they did n't mind the ticket cost 1, In this case zero