Professional Documents
Culture Documents
also good for the gander , some of which occasionally amuses but none of which
amounts to much of a story .
4 This quiet , introspective and entertaining independent is worth seeking .
1 Even fans of Ismail Merchant 's work , I suspect , would have a hard time sitting
through this one .
3 A positively thrilling combination of ethnography and all the intrigue , betrayal
, deceit and murder of a Shakespearean tragedy or a juicy soap opera .
1 Aggressive self-glorification and a manipulative whitewash .
4 A comedy-drama of nearly epic proportions rooted in a sincere performance by the
title character undergoing midlife crisis .
1 Narratively , Trouble Every Day is a plodding mess .
3 The Importance of Being Earnest , so thick with wit it plays like a reading from
Bartlett 's Familiar Quotations
1 But it does n't leave you with much .
1 You could hate it for the same reason .
1 There 's little to recommend Snow Dogs , unless one considers cliched dialogue
and perverse escapism a source of high hilarity .
1 Kung Pow is Oedekerk 's realization of his childhood dream to be in a martial-
arts flick , and proves that sometimes the dreams of youth should remain just
that .
4 The performances are an absolute joy .
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 .
3 I still like Moonlight Mile , better judgment be damned .
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 bilingual charmer , just like the woman who inspired it
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 .
1 As inept as big-screen remakes of The Avengers and The Wild Wild West .
2 It 's everything you 'd expect -- but nothing more .
4 Best indie of the year , so far .
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 .
1 It 's like going to a house party and watching the host defend himself against a
frothing ex-girlfriend .
2 That the Chuck Norris grenade gag '' occurs about 7 times during Windtalkers is a
good indication of how serious-minded the film is .
2 The plot is romantic comedy boilerplate from start to finish .
2 It arrives with an impeccable pedigree , mongrel pep , and almost indecipherable
plot complications .
2 A film that clearly means to preach exclusively to the converted .
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 .
1 The latest vapid actor 's exercise to appropriate the structure of Arthur
Schnitzler 's Reigen .
2 More vaudeville show than well-constructed narrative , but on those terms it 's
inoffensive and actually rather sweet .
2 Nothing more than a run-of-the-mill action flick .
0 Hampered -- no , paralyzed -- by a self-indulgent script ... that aims for poetry
and ends up sounding like satire .
2 Ice Age is the first computer-generated feature cartoon to feel like other movies
, and that makes for some glacial pacing early on .
2 There 's very little sense to what 's going on here , but the makers serve up the
cliches with considerable dash .
2 Cattaneo should have followed the runaway success of his first film , The Full
Monty , with something different .
1 They 're the unnamed , easily substitutable forces that serve as whatever terror
the heroes of horror movies try to avoid .
1 It almost feels as if the movie is more interested in entertaining itself than in
amusing us .
0 The movie 's progression into rambling incoherence gives new meaning to the
phrase fatal script error .
3 don'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 So could young romantics out on a date .
0 Tartakovsky 's team has some freakish powers of visual charm , but the five
writers slip into the modern rut of narrative banality .
3 Vincent Gallo is right at home in this French shocker playing his usual bad boy
weirdo role .
4 If a horror movie 's primary goal is to frighten and disturb , then They works
spectacularly well ... A shiver-inducing , nerve-rattling ride .
1 This 100-minute movie only has about 25 minutes of decent material .
2 Fortunately , you still have that option .
3 Less the sensational true-crime hell-jaunt purists might like and more
experimental in its storytelling though no less horrifying for it .
3 As tricky and satisfying as any of David Mamet 's airless cinematic shell games .
1 I 'm sure the filmmaker would disagree , but , honestly , I don't see the point .
4 Jones has tackled a meaty subject and drawn engaging characters while peppering
the pages with memorable zingers .
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 .
1 Takes a clunky TV-movie approach to detailing a chapter in the life of the
celebrated Irish playwright , poet and drinker .
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 .
0 Thanks largely to Williams , all the interesting developments are processed in 60
minutes -- the rest is just an overexposed waste of film .
0 Comes across as a relic from a bygone era , and its convolutions ... feel silly
rather than plausible .
4 Perhaps it 's cliche to call the film refreshing , ' but it is .
4 Both lead performances are Oscar-size .
0 Run for your lives .
3 Mark Pellington 's latest pop thriller is as kooky and overeager as it is spooky
and subtly in love with myth .
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 .
3 Transforms one of Shakespeare 's deepest tragedies into a smart new comedy .
1 The screenplay by James Eric , James Horton and director Peter O'Fallon ... is so
pat it makes your teeth hurt .
3 But arriving at a particularly dark moment in history , it offers flickering
reminders of the ties that bind us .
1 Its generic villains lack any intrigue other than their funny accents and the
action scenes are poorly delivered .
3 The characters are more deeply thought through than in most right-thinking '
films .
3 The film , despite the gratuitous cinematic distractions impressed upon it , is
still good fun .
0 Downright transparent is the script 's endless assault of embarrassingly ham-
fisted sex jokes that reek of a script rewrite designed to garner the film a cooler
'' PG-13 rating .
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 .
1 It 's like a drive-by .
3 is many things -- stoner midnight flick , sci-fi deconstruction , gay fantasia --
but above all it 's a love story as sanguine as its title .
3 A very funny romantic comedy about two skittish New York middle-agers who stumble
into a relationship and then struggle furiously with their fears and foibles .
1 But it has an ambition to say something about its subjects , but not a
willingness .
3 Scherfig has made a movie that will leave you wondering about the characters '
lives after the clever credits roll .
3 An absorbing documentary .
2 Reeks of rot and hack work from start to finish .
1 Plays like a series of vignettes -- clips of a film that are still looking for a
common through-line .
1
1 The major problem with Windtalkers is that the bulk of the movie centers on the
wrong character .
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 This is a heartfelt story ... it just is n't a very involving one .
4 An unsettling , memorable cinematic experience that does its predecessors proud .
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 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 .
2 The Pianist lacks the quick emotional connections of Steven Spielberg 's
Schindler 's List .
3 Inventive , fun , intoxicatingly sexy , violent , self-indulgent and maddening .
4 Tells a fascinating , compelling story .
1 Written , flatly , by David Kendall and directed , barely , by There 's Something
About Mary co-writer Ed Decter .
4 Highly recommended viewing for its courage , ideas , technical proficiency and
great acting .
4 In IMAX in short , it 's just as wonderful on the big screen .
3 It shows us a slice of life that 's very different from our own and yet instantly
recognizable .
1 Amid the shock and curiosity factors , the film is just a corny examination of a
young actress trying to find her way .
2 It 's lazy for a movie to avoid solving one problem by trying to distract us with
the solution to another .
3 ... it 's as comprehensible as any Dummies guide , something even non-techies can
enjoy .
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 .
3 Writer/director Burr Steers emphasizes the Q in Quirky , with mixed results .
0 Scarcely worth a mention apart from reporting on the number of tumbleweeds
blowing through the empty theatres graced with its company .
4 Invigorating , surreal , and resonant with a rainbow of emotion .
0 Analyze That '' is one of those crass , contrived sequels that not only fails on
its own , but makes you second-guess your affection for the original .
1 Report card : Does n't live up to the exalted tagline - there 's definite room
for improvement .
2 It 's not a particularly good film , but neither is it a monsterous one .
2 Tsai may be ploughing the same furrow once too often .
1 Green is the comedy equivalent of Saddam Hussein , and I 'm just about ready to
go to the U.N. and ask permission for a preemptive strike .
3 A surprisingly solid ' achievement by director Malcolm D. Lee and writer John
Ridley .
2 Massoud 's story is an epic , but also a tragedy , the record of a tenacious ,
humane fighter who was also the prisoner and ultimately the victim of history .
3 Changing Lanes tries for more .
1 Shyamalan should stop trying to please his mom .
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 One of recent memory 's most thoughtful films about art , ethics , and the cost
of moral compromise .
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 3000
guys .
4 Filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang triumphantly returns to narrative filmmaking with a
visually masterful work of quiet power .
1 A mawkish self-parody that plays like some weird Masterpiece Theater sketch with
neither a point of view nor a compelling reason for being .
2 Takes one character we don't like and another we don't believe , and puts them
into a battle of wills that is impossible to care about and is n't very funny .
1 And if you appreciate the one-sided theme to Lawrence 's over-indulgent tirade ,
then knock yourself out and enjoy the big screen postcard that is a self-glorified
Martin Lawrence lovefest .
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 .
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 .
1 Swinging , the film makes it seem , is not a hobby that attracts the young and
fit .
2 But when it does , you 're entirely unprepared .
3 Devos delivers a perfect performance that captures the innocence and budding
demons within a wallflower .
4 300 years of Russian history and culture compressed into an evanescent , seamless
and sumptuous stream of consciousness .
3 The filmmakers want nothing else than to show us a good time , and in their cheap
, B movie way , they succeed .
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 Spider-man is better than any summer blockbuster we had to endure last summer ,
and hopefully , sets the tone for a summer of good stuff .
2 Absorbing character
1 Violent , vulgar and forgettably entertaining .
2 It 's the unsettling images of a war-ravaged land that prove more potent and
riveting than the unlikely story of Sarah and Harrison .
3 Winds up being both revelatory and narcissistic , achieving some honest insight
into relationships that most high-concept films candy-coat with pat storylines ,
precious circumstances and beautiful stars .
3 If Mostly Martha is mostly unsurprising , it 's still a sweet , even delectable
diversion .
4 A thoughtful and surprisingly affecting portrait of a screwed-up 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 .
3 Keenly observed and refreshingly natural , Swimming gets the details right , from
its promenade of barely clad bodies in Myrtle Beach , S.C. , to the adrenaline jolt
of a sudden lunch rush at the diner .
2 A brilliant gag at the expense of those who paid for it and those who pay to see
it .
4 A triumph , a film that hews out a world and carries us effortlessly from
darkness to light .
1 Just about everyone involved here seems to be coasting .
3 A fascinating , dark thriller that keeps you hooked on the delicious pulpiness of
its lurid fiction .
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 .
1 It 's hard to say who might enjoy this , are there Tolstoy groupies out there .
1 Daughter From Danang reveals that efforts toward closure only open new wounds .
4 One of the year 's most weirdly engaging and unpredictable character pieces .
4 Intriguing and downright intoxicating .
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 .
0 The movie is silly beyond comprehension , and even if it were n't silly , it
would still be beyond comprehension .
3 Sleek and arty .
0 Poor editing , bad bluescreen , and ultra-cheesy dialogue highlight the radical
action .
3 Cho 's face is an amazing slapstick instrument , creating a scrapbook of living
mug shots .
1 It gets the details of its time frame right but it completely misses its emotions
.
2 Initial strangeness inexorably gives way to rote sentimentality and mystical
tenderness becomes narrative expedience .
3 It lets you brush up against the humanity of a psycho , without making him any
less psycho .
1 Like the world of his film , Hartley created a monster but did n't know how to
handle it .
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 Too clumsy in key moments ... to make a big splash .
2 Because Eight Legged Freaks is partly an homage to Them , Tarantula and other low
- budget B-movie thrillers of the 1950s and '60s , the movie is a silly but not
sophomoric romp through horror and hellish conditions .
1 It feels like very light Errol Morris , focusing on eccentricity but failing ,
ultimately , to make something bigger out of its scrapbook of oddballs .
4 Spielberg 's realization of a near-future America is masterful .
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 .
3 He 's one of the few cool ' actors who never seems aware of his own coolness .
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 ... stale and uninspired .
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 , all-enveloping movie experience
it rhapsodizes .
3 Has the rare capability to soothe and break your heart with a single stroke .
1 Eerily accurate depiction of depression .
1 As a feature-length film , it wears out its welcome as tryingly as the title
character .
3 An uncluttered , resonant gem that relays its universal points without lectures
or confrontations .
1 The story alone could force you to scratch a hole in your head .
3 It 's the filmmakers ' post-camp comprehension of what made old-time B movies
good-bad that makes Eight Legged Freaks a perfectly entertaining summer diversion .
2 As any creature-feature fan knows , when you cross toxic chemicals with a bunch
of exotic creatures , you get a lot of running around , screaming and death .
2 You bet there is and it 's what makes this rather convoluted journey worth taking
.
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 .
1 Kim Ki-Deok seems to have in mind an emotionally at least adolescent audience
demanding regular shocks and bouts of barely defensible sexual violence to keep it
interested .
0 Has no reason to exist , other than to employ Hollywood kids and people who owe
favors to their famous parents .
2 A well-made but emotionally scattered film whose hero gives his heart only to the
dog .
2 Those who love Cinema Paradiso will find the new scenes interesting , but few
will find the movie improved .
3 Campanella gets the tone just right -- funny in the middle of sad in the middle
of hopeful .
0 Nothing more than an amiable but unfocused bagatelle that plays like a loosely-
connected string of acting-workshop exercises .
3 It 's a sharp movie about otherwise dull subjects .
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 Charming and funny but ultimately silly movie .
2 ... the one thing this Wild film has that other Imax films don't : chimps , lots
of chimps , all blown up to the size of a house .
0 Starts out mediocre , spirals downward , and thuds to the bottom of the pool with
an utterly incompetent conclusion .
3 This is a children 's film in the truest sense .
0 Horrendously amateurish filmmaking that is plainly dull and visually ugly when it
is n't incomprehensible .
4 Beautifully crafted , engaging filmmaking that should attract upscale audiences
hungry for quality and a nostalgic , twisty yarn that will keep them guessing .
1 An awkwardly contrived exercise in magic realism .
1 The punch lines that miss , unfortunately , outnumber the hits by three-to-one .
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 Evokes the style and flash of the double-cross that made Mamet 's House of Games
'' and last fall 's Heist '' so much fun .
3 The film aims to be funny , uplifting and moving , sometimes all at once .
2 At a brief 42 minutes , we need more X and less blab .
2 The Spalding Gray equivalent of a teen gross-out comedy .
1 There 's a great deal of corny dialogue and preposterous moments .
3 Uneven but a lot of fun .
2 The result might look like Vulgar .
0 The film rehashes several old themes and is capped with pointless extremes -- it
's insanely violent and very graphic .
3 The dragons are the real stars of Reign of Fire and you wo n't be disappointed .
1 It never plays as dramatic even when dramatic things happen to people .
3 Manages to please its intended audience -- children -- without placing their
parents in a coma-like state .
1 The movie generates plot points with a degree of randomness usually achieved only
by lottery drawing .
2 Though the film never veers from its comic course , its unintentional parallels
might inadvertently evoke memories and emotions which are anything but humorous .
1 The film can depress you about life itself .
1 If you saw it on TV , you 'd probably turn it off , convinced that you had
already seen that movie .
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 self-satisfaction
usually associated with the better private schools .
4 This is a superior horror flick .
2 The movie 's heavy-handed screenplay navigates a fast fade into pomposity and
pretentiousness .
1 A little weak -- and it is n't that funny .
1 But they don't fit well together and neither is well told .
2 Being latently gay and liking to read are hardly enough .
3 More sophisticated and literate than such pictures usually are ... an amusing
little catch .
1 Storytelling feels slight .
4 Monte Cristo smartly emphasizes the well-wrought story and omits needless chase
scenes and swordfights as the revenge unfolds .
4 It 's a fairy tale that comes from a renowned Indian film culture that allows
Americans to finally revel in its splendor .
3 Well-done supernatural thriller with keen insights into parapsychological
phenomena and the soulful nuances of the grieving process .
2 ... only Bond can save us from the latest eccentric , super-wealthy megalomaniac
bent on world domination and destruction .
0 It is depressing , ruthlessly pained and depraved , the movie equivalent of
staring into an open wound .
3 Damon brings the proper conviction to his role as Jason Bourne .
1 Parents beware ; this is downright movie penance .
3 When it 's this rich and luscious , who cares .
1 A singularly off-putting romantic comedy .
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 .
0 Would 've been nice if the screenwriters had trusted audiences to understand a
complex story , and left off the film 's predictable denouement .
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 .
3 An earnest , roughshod document , it serves as a workable primer for the region
's recent history , and would make a terrific 10th-grade learning tool .
1 Cloaks a familiar anti-feminist equation career - kids = misery in tiresome
romantic-comedy duds .
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 .
3 His work transcends the boy-meets-girl posturing of typical love stories .
1 An even more predictable , cliche-ridden endeavor than its predecessor .
0 Plays like a bad blend of an overripe episode of TV 's Dawson 's Creek and a
recycled and dumbed-down version of Love Story .
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 .
0 The film is so bad it does n't improve upon the experience of staring at a blank
screen .
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 difficult to imagine that a more confused , less interesting and more
sloppily made film could possibly come down the road in 2002 .
3 Though the film is well-intentioned , one could rent the original and get the
same love story and parable .
2 Jolting into Charleston rhythms , the story has the sizzle of old news that has
finally found the right vent accurate .
2 Or both .
2 Williams plays Sy , another of his open-faced , smiling madmen , like the killer
in Insomnia .
1 Phoned-in business as usual .
1 With its lackadaisical plotting and mindless action , All About the Benjamins
evokes the bottom tier of blaxploitation flicks from the 1970s .
0 Ah , yes , that would be me : fighting off the urge to doze .
0 Thoughtless , random , superficial humour and a lot of very bad Scouse accents
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 .
3 A rip-roaring comedy action fest that 'll put hairs on your chest .
4 ... a thoughtful what-if for the heart as well as the mind .
4 Miyazaki is one of world cinema 's most wondrously gifted artists and
storytellers .
3 A chronicle not only of one man 's quest to be president , but of how that man
single-handedly turned a plane full of hard-bitten , cynical journalists into what
was essentially , by campaign 's end , an extended publicity department .
4 Provides the kind of laugh therapy ' I need from movie comedies -- offbeat
humor , amusing characters , and a happy ending .
0 Feels strangely hollow at its emotional core .
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 .
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 .
3 Robert Harmon 's less-is-more approach delivers real bump-in - the-night chills
-- his greatest triumph is keeping the creepy crawlies hidden in the film 's thick
shadows .
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 Feral and uncomfortable .
4 Sillier , cuter , and shorter than the first as best I remember , but still a
very good time at the cinema .
3 It 's more enjoyable than I expected , though , and that 's because the laughs
come from fairly basic comedic constructs .
0 Black-and-white and unrealistic .
3 The film is predictable in the reassuring manner of a beautifully sung holiday
carol .
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 .
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 .
1 Some of the computer animation is handsome , and various amusing sidekicks add
much-needed levity to the otherwise bleak tale , but overall the film never rises
above mediocrity .
4 Offers the flash of rock videos fused with solid performances and eerie
atmosphere .
3 A breezy blend of art , history , esoteric musings and philosophy .
3 Now as a former Gong Show addict , I 'll admit it , my only complaint is that we
did n't get more re-creations of all those famous moments from the show .
3 Genuinely unnerving .
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 .
3 One of those joyous films that leaps over national boundaries and celebrates
universal human nature .
2 A difficult but worthy film that bites off more than it can chew by linking the
massacre of Armenians in 1915 with some difficult relationships in the present .
1 Halfway through the movie , the humor dwindles .
4 Witty and often surprising , a dark little morality tale disguised as a romantic
comedy .
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 fact , even better .
2 ... a preachy parable stylized with a touch of John Woo bullet ballet .
2 Proves that some movie formulas don't need messing with -- like the big-bug movie
.
2 An uplifting , largely bogus story .
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 Superbly photographed and staged by Mendes with a series of riveting set pieces
the likes of which mainstream audiences have rarely seen .
4 A mesmerizing cinematic poem from the first frame to the last .
3 After the first 10 minutes , which is worth seeing
1 It has become apparent that the franchise 's best years are long past .
2 Screenwriter Chris ver Weil 's directing debut is good-natured and never dull ,
but its virtues are small and easily overshadowed by its predictability .
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 .
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 .
0 The jokes are flat , and the action looks fake .
2 A mildly enjoyable if toothless adaptation of a much better book .
0 Festers in just such a dungpile that you 'd swear you were watching monkeys
flinging their feces at you .
0 In addition to the overcooked , ham-fisted direction , which has all the actors
reaching for the back row , the dialogue sounds like horrible poetry .
0 A vile , incoherent mess ... a scummy ripoff of David Cronenberg 's brilliant
Videodrome .
1 First , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .
2 I was sent a copyof this film to review on DVD .
1 ... silly humbuggery ...
1 Is n't as sharp as the original ... Despite some visual virtues , Blade II ' just
does n't cut it .
3 A smart , arch and rather cold-blooded comedy .
0 A rather thinly-conceived movie .
3 Its flame-like , roiling black-and-white inspires trembling and gratitude .
4 Robinson 's web of suspense matches the page-turning frenzy that Clancy creates .
1 It labours as storytelling .
1 Remember back when thrillers actually thrilled .
3 The otherwise good-naturedness of Mr. Deeds , with its embrace of sheer goofiness
and cameos of less - than-likely New York celebrities ... certainly raises the film
above anything Sandler 's been attached to before .
1 Fails so fundamentally on every conventional level that it achieves some kind of
goofy grandeur .
2 ... a ho-hum affair , always watchable yet hardly memorable .
1 I just saw this movie ... well , it 's probably not accurate to call it a movie .
2 Though uniformly well acted , especially by young Ballesta and Galan a first-
time actor , writer director Achero Manas 's film is schematic and obvious .
2 When you resurrect a dead man , Hard Copy should come a-knocking , no .
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 .
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 .
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 .
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 Too clever by about nine-tenths .
1 This is no Waterboy .
2 They 're going through the motions , but the zip is gone .
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 .
2 Not as good as the original , but what is ...
4 Those moviegoers who would automatically bypass a hip-hop documentary should give
Scratch '' a second look .
3 Bigelow offers some flashy twists and turns that occasionally fortify this turgid
fable .
1 An unsophisticated sci-fi drama that takes itself all too seriously .
0 Stupid , infantile , redundant , sloppy , over-the-top , and amateurish .
2 Resident Evil is what comes from taking John Carpenter 's Ghosts of Mars and
eliminating the beheadings .
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 .
4 With or without the sex , a wonderful tale of love and destiny , told well by a
master storyteller
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 .
3 A terrific date movie , whatever your orientation .
0 Once the expectation of laughter has been quashed by whatever obscenity is at
hand , even the funniest idea is n't funny .
1 How do you make a movie with depth about a man who lacked any .
1 Translation : We don't need to try very hard .
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 .
2 Less front-loaded and more shapely than the two-hour version released here in
1990 .
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 don't come off .
4 Some movies suck you in despite their flaws , and Heaven is one such beast .
4 Very well written and directed with brutal honesty and respect for its audience .
4 Twenty years after its first release , E.T. remains the most wondrous of all
Hollywood fantasies -- and the apex of Steven Spielberg 's misunderstood career .
1 Gooding offers a desperately ingratiating performance .
1 ... stumbles over every cheap trick in the book trying to make the outrage come
even easier .
3 Nicely combines the enigmatic features of Memento ' with the hallucinatory drug
culture of Requiem for a Dream .
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 .
0 Just a bunch of good actors flailing around in a caper that 's neither original
nor terribly funny .
0 This ill-conceived and expensive project winds up looking like a bunch of
talented thesps slumming it .
1 Broder 's screenplay is shallow , offensive and redundant , with pitifully few
real laughs .
4 Leguizamo and Jones are both excellent and the rest of the cast is uniformly
superb .
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 .
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 .
4 Delia , Greta , and Paula rank as three of the most multilayered and sympathetic
female characters of the year .
3 The beauty of Alexander Payne 's ode to the Everyman is in the details .
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 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 .
3 Much credit must be given to the water-camera operating team of Don King , Sonny
Miller , and Michael Stewart .
2 In this film , Aussie David Caesar channels the not-quite-dead career of Guy
Ritchie .
4 As averse as I usually am to feel-good , follow-your-dream Hollywood fantasies ,
this one got to me .
3 Maybe it is formula filmmaking , but there 's nothing wrong with that if the film
is well-crafted and this one is .
2 Would you laugh if a tuba-playing dwarf rolled down a hill in a trash can .
0 Loses its sense of humor in a vat of failed jokes , twitchy acting , and general
boorishness .
1 This misty-eyed Southern nostalgia piece , in treading the line between sappy and
sanguine , winds up mired in tear-drenched quicksand .
1 To be oblivious to the existence of this film would be very sweet indeed .
3 Despite its flaws ... Belinsky is still able to create an engaging story that
keeps you guessing at almost every turn .
2 A porn film without the sex scenes .
2 The movie plays up the cartoon 's more obvious strength of snazziness while
neglecting its less conspicuous writing strength .
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 -
1 Despite slick production values and director Roger Michell 's tick-tock pacing ,
the final effect is like having two guys yelling in your face for two hours .
3 Barbershop '' is a good-hearted ensemble comedy with a variety of quirky
characters and an engaging story .
1 A soulless jumble of ineptly assembled cliches and pabulum that plays like a 95-
minute commercial for NBA properties .
2 An ambitious , serious film that manages to do virtually everything wrong ;
sitting through it is something akin to an act of cinematic penance .
4 Consistently clever and suspenseful .
3 Soderbergh skims the fat from the 1972 film .
2 Hilarious musical comedy though stymied by accents thick as mud .
1 A movie like The Guys is why film criticism can be considered work .
0 Anyone who suffers through this film deserves , at the very least , a big box of
consolation candy .
2 Bearable .
3 Cremaster 3 is at once a tough pill to swallow and a minor miracle of self-
expression .
3 But Kouyate elicits strong performances from his cast , and he delivers a
powerful commentary on how governments lie , no matter who runs them .
3 See it for his performance if nothing else .
4 The asylum material is gripping , as are the scenes of Jia with his family .
4 I walked away from this new version of E.T. just as I hoped I would -- with moist
eyes .
0 Attal pushes too hard to make this a comedy or serious drama .
1 plays like some corny television production from a bygone era
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 .
1 Solondz may well be the only one laughing at his own joke
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 .
3 Any enjoyment will be hinge from a personal threshold of watching sad but
endearing characters do extremely unconventional things .
1 Some Body smacks of exhibitionism more than it does cathartic truth telling .
3 Though writer/director Bart Freundlich 's film ultimately becomes a simplistic
story about a dysfunctional parent-child relationship , it has some special
qualities and the soulful gravity of Crudup 's anchoring performance .
0 Carvey 's characters are both overplayed and exaggerated , but then again ,
subtlety has never been his trademark .
4 This beautifully animated epic is never dull .
3 Charming and witty , it 's also somewhat clumsy .
1 In one scene , we get a stab at soccer hooliganism , a double-barreled rip-off of
Quentin Tarantino 's climactic shootout -- and Meat Loaf explodes .
0 frustratingly refuses to give Pinochet 's crimes a political context
2 Paul Bettany playing Malcolm McDowell .
2 A serviceable Euro-trash action extravaganza , with a decent sense of humor and
plenty of things that go boom -- handguns , BMWs and seaside chateaus .
2 Veterans of the dating wars will smirk uneasily at the film 's nightmare versions
of everyday sex-in-the-city misadventures .
4 It sends you away a believer again and quite cheered at just that .
1 The rollerball sequences feel sanitised and stagey .
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 real-time roots .
4 It is most remarkable not because of its epic scope , but because of the
startling intimacy it achieves despite that breadth .
1 A nearly 21/2 hours , the film is way too indulgent .
1 Seems like something American and European gay movies were doing 20 years ago .
1 Claims to sort the bad guys from the good , which is its essential problem .
2 Mana gives us compelling , damaged characters who we want to help -- or hurt .
1 Good-looking but relentlessly lowbrow outing plays like Clueless Does South
Fork .
3 Evokes a palpable sense of disconnection , made all the more poignant by the
incessant use of cell phones .
3 The concept is a hoot .
4 A straight-shooting family film which awards animals the respect they 've rarely
been given .
2 The directive to protect the code at all costs also begins to blur as the
importance of the man and the code merge
2 What Eric Schaeffer has accomplished with Never Again may not , strictly speaking
, qualify as revolutionary .
0 Obvious , obnoxious and didactic burlesque .
2 What can one say about a balding 50-year-old actor playing an innocent boy carved
from a log .
2 Ca n't seem to get anywhere near the story 's center .
1 Even with its $ 50-million US budget , Pinocchio never quite achieves the feel of
a fanciful motion picture .
1 A little more intensity and a little less charm would have saved this film a
world of hurt .
1 Like most of Jaglom 's films , some of it is honestly affecting , but more of it
seems contrived and secondhand .
2 Maelstrom is a deliberately unsteady mixture of stylistic elements .
3 Just bring on the Battle Bots , please .
3 Sweet Home Alabama is n't going to win any Academy Awards , but this date-night
diversion will definitely win some hearts .
1 Love may have been in the air onscreen , but I certainly was n't feeling any of
it .
1 Too long , and larded with exposition , this somber cop drama ultimately feels as
flat as the scruffy sands of its titular community .
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 .
2 In some ways , Lagaan is quintessential Bollywood .
1 A characteristically engorged and sloppy coming-of-age movie .
4 A wry , affectionate delight .
3 Credit director Ramsay for taking the sometimes improbable story and making it
feel realistic .
3 The auteur 's ear for the way fears and slights are telegraphed in the most
blithe exchanges gives the film its lingering tug .
3 Gets better after Foster leaves that little room .
3 Despite its lavish formalism and intellectual austerity , the film manages to
keep you at the edge of your seat with its shape-shifting perils , political
intrigue and brushes with calamity .
1 Friday After Next is the kind of film that could only be made by African-
Americans because of its broad racial insensitivity towards African-Americans .
1 As lively an account as Seinfeld is deadpan .
2 Brings awareness to an issue often overlooked -- women 's depression .
1 Imagine a film that begins as a Seven rip-off , only to switch to a mix of The
Shining , The Thing , and any naked teenagers horror flick from the 1980s .
3 Definitely funny stuff , but it 's more of the laughing at ' variety than the
laughing with .
3 A heartening tale of small victories and enduring hope .
4 An emotionally strong and politically potent piece of cinema .
0 An extremely unpleasant film .
1 More intellectually scary than dramatically involving .
2 A puzzling experience .
2 Jonah is only so-so ... the addition of a biblical message will either improve
the film for you , or it will lessen it .
4 I hope the movie is widely seen and debated with appropriate ferocity and
thoughtfulness .
4 Intelligent and moving .
1 This film is too busy hitting all of its assigned marks to take on any life of
its own .
2 Mark Wahlberg ... may look classy in a '60s - homage pokepie hat , but as a
character he 's dry , dry , dry .
3 The moral shrapnel and mental shellshock will linger long after this film has
ended .
2 As Warren he stumbles in search of all the emotions and life experiences he 's
neglected over the years .
1 It should have stayed there .
0 ... in the pile of useless actioners from MTV schmucks who don't know how to tell
a story for more than four minutes .
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 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 .
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 Romantic , riveting and handsomely animated .
0 This overproduced piece of dreck is shockingly bad and absolutely unnecessary .
1 As saccharine as it is disposable .
4 Captures the raw comic energy of one of our most flamboyant female comics .
2 A subtle , poignant picture of goodness that is flawed , compromised and sad .
4 An exceptionally acted , quietly affecting cop drama .
1 Even in the summertime , the most restless young audience deserves the dignity of
an action hero motivated by something more than franchise possibilities .
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 self-absorption and insistently demanding otherness .
3 She nearly glows with enthusiasm , sensuality and a conniving wit .
3 Despite modest aspirations its occasional charms are not to be dismissed .
1 So exaggerated and broad that it comes off as annoying rather than charming .
4 Strange , funny , twisted , brilliant and macabre .
1 The film has the thrown-together feel of a summer-camp talent show : hastily
written , underrehearsed , arbitrarily plotted and filled with crude humor and
vulgar innuendo .
2 The cast comes through even when the movie does n't .
3 A rock-solid gangster movie with a fair amount of suspense , intriguing
characters and bizarre bank robberies , plus a heavy dose of father-and-son
dynamics .
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 .
2 Innocuous enough to make even Jean-Claude Van Damme look good .
0 But if the essence of magic is its make-believe promise of life that soars above
the material realm , this is the opposite of a truly magical movie .
1 But its storytelling prowess and special effects are both listless .
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 .
2 Newcomer helmer Kevin Donovan is hamstrung by a badly handled screenplay of what
is really an amusing concept -- a high-tech tux that transforms its wearer into a
superman .
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 self-conscious
scrutiny to happen , that finally get under your skin .
2 With a confrontational stance , Todd Solondz takes aim on political correctness
and suburban families .
1 A processed comedy chop suey .
3 eventually arrives at its heart , as simple self-reflection meditation .
1 Proves a lovely trifle that , unfortunately , is a little too in love with its
own cuteness .
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 .
4 An intelligent , multi-layered and profoundly humanist not to mention gently
political meditation on the values of knowledge , education , and the affects of
cultural and geographical displacement .
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 .
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 The Santa Clause 2 proves itself a more streamlined and thought out encounter
than the original could ever have hoped to be .
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 .
3 It 's a sweet , laugh-a-minute crowd pleaser that lifts your spirits as well as
the corners of your mouth .
3 Highly recommended as an engrossing story about a horrifying historical event and
the elements which contributed to it .
1 Goes on and on to the point of nausea .
2 Raimi 's matured quite a bit with Spider-Man , even though it 's one of the
most plain white toast comic book films you 'll ever see .
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 .
1 An unbelievably stupid film , though occasionally fun enough to make you forget
its absurdity .
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 .
3 A modestly surprising movie .
4 ... a powerful sequel and one of the best films of the year .
3 Combines improbable melodrama gored bullfighters , comatose ballerinas with
subtly kinky bedside vigils and sensational denouements , and yet at the end , we
are undeniably touched .
3 This is one of Mr. Chabrol 's subtlest works , but also one of his most uncanny .
2 The film 's darker moments become smoothed over by an overwhelming need to tender
inspirational tidings , especially in the last few cloying moments .
3 From the opening strains of the Average White Band 's Pick up the Pieces '' , you
can feel the love .
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 Triple X is a double agent , and he 's one bad dude .
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 if tragic note .
3 This is popcorn movie fun with equal doses of action , cheese , ham and cheek as
well as a serious debt to The Road Warrior , but it feels like unrealized
potential
4 As an actress , Madonna is one helluva singer .
1 Jaglom offers the none-too-original premise that everyone involved with
moviemaking is a con artist and a liar .
3 The filmmakers ' eye for detail and the high standards of performance convey a
strong sense of the girls ' environment .
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 or maybe How will you feel after an 88-minute rip-off of The Rock with action
confined to slo-mo gun firing and random glass-shattering .
3 Enough may pander to our basest desires for payback , but unlike many revenge
fantasies , it ultimately delivers .
1 How can such a cold movie claim to express warmth and longing .
2 Only at the prospect of Beck 's next project .
4 ... a vivid , thoughtful , unapologetically raw coming-of-age tale full of sex ,
drugs and rock 'n' roll .
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 .
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 .
3 They can and will turn on a dime from oddly humorous to tediously sentimental .
0 It 's a terrible movie in every regard , and utterly painful to watch .
0 Why spend $ 9 on the same stuff you can get for a buck or so in that greasy
little vidgame pit in the theater lobby .
3 Evokes the 19th century with a subtlety that is an object lesson in period
filmmaking .
4 All three actresses are simply dazzling , particularly Balk , who 's finally been
given a part worthy of her considerable talents .
2 The beautiful , unusual music is this film 's chief draw , but its dreaminess may
lull you to sleep .
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 .
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 Ver Wiel 's desperate attempt at wit is lost , leaving the character of Critical
Jim two-dimensional and pointless .
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 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 .
0 In other words , it 's badder than bad .
0 Wedding feels a bit anachronistic .
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 .
1 Little is done to support the premise other than fling gags at it to see which
ones shtick .
4 Brings to a spectacular completion one of the most complex , generous and
subversive artworks of the last decade .
3 With an obvious rapport with her actors and a striking style behind the camera
2 You can see where Big Bad Love is trying to go , but it never quite gets there .
1 A sleek advert for youthful anomie that never quite equals the sum of its
pretensions .
1 Statham employs an accent that I think is supposed to be an attempt at hardass
American but sometimes just lapses into unhidden British .
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 don't care about the truth .'
0 So boring that even its target audience talked all the way through it .
2 Wiser souls would have tactfully pretended not to see it and left it lying there
0 Rarely has sex on screen been so aggressively anti-erotic .
3 The Hours , a delicately crafted film , is an impressive achievement in spite of
a river of sadness that pours into every frame .
3 Delivers roughly equal amounts of beautiful movement and inside information .
2 Showtime 's starry cast could be both an asset and a detriment .
4 Dong 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 .
4 Light the candles , bring out the cake and don't fret about the calories because
there 's precious little substance in Birthday Girl -- it 's simply , and
surprisingly , a nice , light treat .
4 In his debut as a director , Washington has a sure hand .
4 -- but it makes for one of the most purely enjoyable and satisfying evenings at
the movies I 've had in a while .
2 This is not Chabrol 's best , but even his lesser works outshine the best some
directors can offer .
3 The heart of the film is a touching reflection on aging , suffering and the
prospect of death .
4 It 's a glorious spectacle like those D.W. Griffith made in the early days of
silent film .
1 The movie is undone by a filmmaking methodology that 's just experimental enough
to alienate the mainstream audience while ringing cliched to hardened indie-heads .
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 .
2 If this movie leaves you cool , it also leaves you intriguingly contemplative .
3 When all is said and done , she loves them to pieces -- and so , I trust , will
you .
3 It takes you somewhere you 're not likely to have seen before , but beneath the
exotic surface and exotic dancing it 's surprisingly old-fashioned .
3 Director Claude Chabrol has become the master of innuendo .
3 Woven together handsomely , recalling sixties ' rockumentary milestones from
Lonely Boy to don't Look Back .
0 It 's petty thievery like this that puts flimsy flicks like this behind bars
1 Paul Cox needed to show it .
2 A film that will probably please people already fascinated by Behan but leave
everyone else yawning with admiration .
3 The huskies are beautiful , the border collie is funny and the overall feeling is
genial and decent .
1 They ought to be a whole lot scarier than they are in this tepid genre offering .
3 moved
0 Nearly every attempt at humor here is DOA .
2 A piquant meditation on the things that prevent people from reaching happiness .
4 This movie is to be cherished .
4 The Bard as black comedy -- Willie would have loved it .
1 Too bland and fustily tasteful to be truly prurient .
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 human-scale
characters that suck the audience in .
1 Once he starts learning to compromise with reality enough to become comparatively
sane and healthy , the film becomes predictably conventional .
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
self-preservation .
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 .
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 .
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 .'
4 A real winner -- smart , funny , subtle , and resonant .
2 Ultimate X is a ride , basically the kind of greatest-hits reel that might come
with a subscription to ESPN the Magazine .
2 Unfortunately , contrived plotting , stereotyped characters and Woo 's over-the-
top instincts as a director undermine the moral dilemma at the movie 's heart .
4 Jones ... makes a great impression as the writer-director of this little $ 1.8
million charmer , which may not be cutting-edge indie filmmaking but has a huge
heart .
0 Even a hardened voyeur would require the patience of Job to get through this
interminable , shapeless documentary about the swinging subculture .
4 I 'd watch these two together again in a New York minute .
0 You can practically hear George Orwell turning over .
4 Ferrara 's best film in years .
2 Possibly not since Grumpy Old Men have I heard a film so solidly connect with one
demographic while striking out with another .
3 No doubt the star and everyone else involved had their hearts in the right
place .
2 ... a visually seductive , unrepentantly trashy take on Rice 's second
installment of her Vampire Chronicles .
4 Poetry in motion captured on film .
1 Pretend like your SAT scores are below 120 and you might not notice the flaws .
1 None of Birthday Girl 's calculated events take us by surprise ...
1 Twenty-three movies into a mostly magnificent directorial career , Clint Eastwood
's efficiently minimalist style finally has failed him .
2 It 's like a Big Chill '' reunion of the Baader-Meinhof Gang , only these guys
are more harmless pranksters than political activists .
4 Ms. Hutchins is talented enough and charismatic enough to make us care about
Zelda 's ultimate fate .
3 Successfully blended satire , high camp and yet another sexual taboo into a
really funny movie .
3 Really is a pan-American movie , with moments of genuine insight into the urban
heart .
2 Same song , second verse , coulda been better , but it coulda been worse .
1 The superior plotline is n't quite enough to drag along the dead water weight
of the other .
2 Crikey indeed .
2 It 's exactly what you 'd expect .
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 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 .
3 A stirring road movie .
3 If you 've grown tired of going where no man has gone before , but several movies
have - take heart .
3 It has more than a few moments that are insightful enough to be fondly remembered
in the endlessly challenging maze of moviegoing .
1 It just goes to show , an intelligent person is n't necessarily an admirable
storyteller .
4 Perhaps the best sports movie I 've ever seen .
1 Just send it to Cranky .
1 Steven Soderbergh does n't remake Andrei Tarkovsky 's Solaris so much as distill
it .
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 In theory , a middle-aged 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 Works better in the conception than it does in the execution ... winds up seeming
just a little too clever .
2 New Yorkers always seem to find the oddest places to dwell ...
1 Vaguely interesting , but it 's just too too much .
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 Van Wilder has a built-in audience , but only among those who are drying out from
spring break and are still unconcerned about what they ingest .
1 No , even that 's too committed .
4 The large-frame 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 grown-up fish lovers .
1 Low comedy does n't come much lower .
1 The characterizations and dialogue lack depth or complexity , with the ironic
exception of Scooter .
3 dramatic snapshot
2 What we get ... is Caddyshack crossed with the Loyal Order of Raccoons .
3 It 'll keep you wide awake and ... very tense .
1 The movie is loaded with good intentions , but in his zeal to squeeze the action
and our emotions into the all-too-familiar dramatic arc of the Holocaust escape
story , Minac drains his movie of all individuality .
3 It may scream low budget , but this charmer has a spirit that can not be denied .
3 Less an examination of neo-Nazism than a probe into the nature of faith itself .
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 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 .
3 There are no special effects , and no Hollywood endings .
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 .
3 Not a schlocky creature feature but something far more stylish and cerebral --
and , hence , more chillingly effective .
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 .
2 The movie is obviously a labour of love so Howard appears to have had free rein
to be as pretentious as he wanted .
3 A stylish cast and some clever scripting solutions help Chicago make the
transition from stage to screen with considerable appeal intact .
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 .
3 It 's a movie that accomplishes so much that one viewing ca n't possibly be
enough .
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 .
3 A quiet , disquieting triumph .
0 A muddled limp biscuit of a movie , a vampire soap opera that does n't make much
sense even on its own terms .
2 It looks much more like a cartoon in the end than The Simpsons ever has .
3 Hugely accomplished slice of Hitchcockian suspense .
1 A generic international version of a typical American horror film .
2 The result is good gossip , entertainingly delivered , yet with a distinctly
musty odour , its expiry date long gone .
4 Just the labour involved in creating the layered richness of the imagery in this
chiaroscuro of madness and light is astonishing .
3 Charlotte Sometimes is a gem .
3 Stage director Sam Mendes showcases Tom Hanks as a depression era hit-man in this
dark tale of revenge .
3 Brady
1 Upper Teens may get cynical .
3 A gift to anyone who loves both dance and cinema
3 A small movie with a big heart .
1 Like a comedian who starts off promisingly but then proceeds to flop , Comedian
runs out of steam after a half hour .
3 feeling to it , but like the 1920 's , the trip there is a great deal of fun .
3 Essentially a collection of bits -- and they 're all naughty .
1 A cartoon .
2 Disney aficionados will notice distinct parallels between this story and the 1971
musical Bedknobs and Broomsticks , '' which also dealt with British children
rediscovering the power of fantasy during wartime .
1 These guys seem great to knock back a beer with but they 're simply not funny
performers .
0 It 's not a motion picture ; it 's an utterly static picture .
3 The Powerpuff Girls arrive on the big screen with their super-powers , their
super-simple animation and their super-dooper-adorability intact .
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 .
3 I love the opening scenes of a wintry New York City in 1899 .
3 If Jaglom 's latest effort is not the director at his most sparkling , some of
its repartee is still worth hearing .
2 It shares the first two films ' loose-jointed structure , but laugh-out-loud bits
are few and far between .
4 The movie is a trove of delights .
1 With Ichi the Killer '' , Takashi Miike , Japan 's wildest filmmaker gives us a
crime fighter carrying more emotional baggage than Batman ...
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 Thin period piece .
4 A well-executed spy-thriller .
2 The stripped-down dramatic constructs , austere imagery and abstract characters
are equal parts poetry and politics , obvious at times but evocative and
heartfelt .
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 .
0 More of the same old garbage Hollywood has been trying to pass off as acceptable
teen entertainment for some time now .
2 Strident and inelegant in its message-movie ' posturing .
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 A-list players .
3 Gives an intriguing twist to the French coming-of-age genre .
3 I 'd be lying if I said my ribcage did n't ache by the end of Kung Pow .
3 Has the capability of effecting change and inspiring hope .
0 Kitschy , flashy , overlong soap opera .
1 White has n't developed characters so much as caricatures , one-dimensional
buffoons that get him a few laughs but nothing else .
1 ... one resurrection too many .
0 Execrable .
3 It may be a no-brainer , but at least it 's a funny no-brainer .
3 I liked the movie , but I know I would have liked it more if it had just gone
that one step further .
3 Allen 's best works understand why snobbery is a better satiric target than
middle-America diversions could ever be .
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 .
2 Bernal and
2 An ambitious and moving but bleak film .
3 If cinema had been around to capture the chaos of France in the 1790 's , one
imagines the result would look like something like this .
3 Slight but enjoyable documentary .
2 Did the film inform and educate me .
1 If you are curious to see the darker side of what 's going on with young TV
actors Dawson Leery did what ... , or see some interesting storytelling devices ,
you might want to check it out , but there 's nothing very attractive about this
movie .
2 At the end of the movie , my 6-year-old nephew said , I guess I come from a
broken family , and my uncles are all aliens , too .'
2 All the actors are good in Pauline & Paulette but van der Groen , described as
Belgium 's national treasure , ' is especially terrific as Pauline .
2 Curling may be a unique sport but Men with Brooms is distinctly ordinary .
3 Yes , that 's right : it 's Forrest Gump , Angel Of Death .
3 Metaphors abound , but it is easy to take this film at face value and enjoy its
slightly humorous and tender story .
1 Comes across as a fairly weak retooling .
1 This Orange has some juice , but it 's far from fresh-squeezed .
3 By not averting his eyes , Solondz forces us to consider the unthinkable , the
unacceptable , the unmentionable .
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 .
1 Ultimately this is a frustrating patchwork : an uneasy marriage of Louis Begley
's source novel About Schmidt and an old Payne screenplay .
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 Chai 's structure and pacing are disconcertingly slack .
2 Or else a doggie winks .
3 You need n't be steeped in '50s sociology , pop culture or movie lore to
appreciate the emotional depth of Haynes ' work .
2 Decasia is what has happened already to so many silent movies , newsreels and the
like .
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 Fast and funny , an action cartoon that 's suspenseful enough for older kids but
not too scary for the school-age crowd .
2 After all the big build-up , the payoff for the audience , as well as the
characters , is messy , murky , unsatisfying .
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 .
2 Once again , the intelligence of gay audiences has been grossly underestimated ,
and a meaty plot and well-developed characters have been sacrificed for skin and
flash that barely fizzle .
1 A film without surprise geared toward maximum comfort and familiarity .
3 Definitely a crowd-pleaser , but then , so was the Roman Colosseum .
3 Here is a VH1 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 .
4 Kids will love its fantasy and adventure , and grownups should appreciate its
whimsical humor .
1 After all , he took three minutes of dialogue , 30 seconds of plot and turned
them into a 90-minute movie that feels five hours long .
0 Interminably bleak , to say nothing of boring .
4 A naturally funny film , Home Movie makes you crave Chris Smith 's next movie .
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 .
2 A Meatballs for the bare-midriff generation .
0 This movie is about the worst thing Chan has done in the United States .
3 Maintains your interest until the end and even leaves you with a few lingering
animated thoughts .
3 From blushing to gushing -- Imamura squirts the screen in Warm Water Under a Red
Bridge '
2 Entertainment more disposable than Hanna-Barbera 's half-hour cartoons ever
were .
1 The beautiful images and solemn words can not disguise the slack complacency of
Godard 's vision , any more than the gorgeous piano and strings on the soundtrack
can drown out the tinny self-righteousness of his voice .
1 Were Dylan Thomas alive to witness first-time 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 .
3 Affirms the gifts of all involved , starting with Spielberg and going right
through the ranks of the players -- on-camera and off -- that he brings together .
2 A somewhat disappointing and meandering saga .
1 It 's in the action scenes that things fall apart .
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 .
1 A cleverly crafted but ultimately hollow mockumentary .
1 The uneven movie does have its charms and its funny moments but not quite enough
of them .
1 An unintentionally surreal kid 's picture ... in which actors in bad bear suits
enact a sort of inter-species parody of a VH1 Behind the Music episode .
2 It will break your heart many times over .
1 This is as lax and limp a comedy as I 've seen in a while , a meander through
worn-out material .
1 It 's both sitcomishly predictable and cloying in its attempts to be poignant .
1 Though this rude and crude film does deliver a few gut-busting laughs , its digs
at modern society are all things we 've seen before .
1 A mess .
0 A work that lacks both a purpose and a strong pulse .
3 The sword fighting is well done and Auteuil is a goofy pleasure .
1 a stereotype
4 The IMAX screen enhances the personal touch of manual animation .
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 .
3 God bless Crudup and his aversion to taking the easy Hollywood road and cashing
in on his movie-star gorgeousness .
1 Is it a comedy .
3 Unlike most surf movies , Blue Crush thrillingly uses modern technology to take
the viewer inside the wave .
3 The best part about Gangs '' was Daniel Day-Lewis .
3 Waiting for Godard can be fruitful : In Praise of Love ' is the director 's
epitaph for himself .
3 An edgy thriller that delivers a surprising punch .
1 The movie would seem less of a trifle if Ms. Sugarman followed through on her
defiance of the saccharine .
0 The War of the Roses , ' trailer-trash style .
4 The result is a powerful , naturally dramatic piece of low-budget filmmaking .
0 A fifty car pileup of cliches .
1 Whole stretches of the film may be incomprehensible to moviegoers not already
clad in basic black .
0 ... pitiful , slapdash disaster .
4 Charlotte Sometimes is a brilliant movie .
2 You end up simply admiring this bit or that , this performance or that .
4 Godard has never made a more sheerly beautiful film than this unexpectedly moving
meditation on love , history , memory , resistance and artistic transcendence .
0 An erotic thriller that 's neither too erotic nor very thrilling , either .
3 Carrying off a spot-on Scottish burr , Duvall also a producer peels layers from
this character that may well not have existed on paper .
2 A solid piece of journalistic work that draws a picture of a man for whom
political expedience became a deadly foreign policy .
4 Hopkins , squarely fills the screen .
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 .
2 Everything its title implies , a standard-issue crime drama spat out from the
Tinseltown assembly line .
3 Unfolds as one of the most politically audacious films of recent decades from any
country , but especially from France .
0 Abandon '' will leave you wanting to abandon the theater .
3 Probably the best case for Christianity since Chesterton and Lewis .
0 Before long , you 're desperate for the evening to end .
2 It 's all a rather shapeless good time ...
0 Feels more like a rejected X-Files episode than a credible account of a puzzling
real-life happening .
0 No amount of good intentions is able to overcome the triviality of the story .
4 Ramsay visually transforms the dreary expanse of dead-end distaste the
characters inhabit into a poem of art , music and metaphor .
1 The film has its moments , but they are few and far between .
3 ... a sweetly affecting story about four sisters who are coping , in one way or
another , with life 's endgame .
2 A disturbing examination of what appears to be the definition of a bad ' police
shooting .
0 Distances you by throwing out so many red herrings , so many false scares , that
the genuine ones barely register .
2 Almost .
0 Every sequel you skip will be two hours gained .
1 Been there done that .
2 They exist for hushed lines like They 're back .
3 Somehow Ms. Griffiths and Mr. Pryce bring off this wild Welsh whimsy .
1 The densest distillation of Roberts ' movies ever made .
0 Lots of effort and intelligence are on display but in execution it is all awkward
, static , and lifeless rumblings .
4 This is one of the outstanding thrillers of recent years .
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 .
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 .
2 Opening with some contrived banter , cliches and some loose ends , the screenplay
only comes into its own in the second half .
4 A captivating new film .
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
.
3 Worth catching for Griffiths ' warm and winning central performance .
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 .
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 .
3 Davis is funny , charming and quirky in her feature film acting debut as Amy .
0 An uncomfortable movie , suffocating and sometimes almost senseless , The Grey
Zone does have a center , though a morbid one .
1 The lousy John Q all but spits out Denzel Washington 's fine performance in the
title role .
0 So devoid of pleasure or sensuality that it can not even be dubbed hedonistic .
3 Satin Rouge is not a new , or inventive , journey , but it 's encouraging to see
a three-dimensional , average , middle-aged woman 's experience of self-discovery
handled with such sensitivity .
3 A pointed , often tender , examination of the pros and cons of unconditional love
and familial duties .
3 Another trumpet blast that there may be a New Mexican Cinema a-bornin ' .
1 Gorgeous to look at but insufferably tedious and turgid ... a curiously
constricted epic .
1 Only about as sexy and dangerous as an actress in a role that reminds at every
turn of Elizabeth Berkley 's flopping dolphin-gasm .
1 Their contrast is neither dramatic nor comic -- it 's just a weird fizzle .
0 Collateral Damage is trash , but it earns extra points by acting as if it were
n't .
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 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 It 's packed to bursting with incident , and with scores of characters , some
fictional , some from history .
2 You want to call Domino 's .
2 The umpteenth summer skinny dip in Jerry Bruckheimer 's putrid pond of retread
action twaddle .
3 the road paved with good intentions leads to the video store ''
3 Chris Columbus ' sequel is faster , livelier and a good deal funnier than his
original .
1 Full of flatulence jokes and mild sexual references , Kung Pow .
2 The whole affair is as predictable as can be .
3 The film is a very good viewing alternative for young women .
3 To those who have not read the book , the film is a much better mother-daughter
tale than last summer 's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood , ' but that 's not
saying much .
3 But it also has many of the things that made the first one charming .
2 Sheridan
3 This slight premise ... works because of the ideal casting of the masterful
British actor Ian Holm as the aged Napoleon .
3 But never mind all that ; the boobs are fantasti
3 About Schmidt is Nicholson 's goofy , heartfelt , mesmerizing King Lear .
1 It is most of the things Costner movies are known for ; it 's sanctimonious ,
self-righteous and so eager to earn our love that you want to slap it .
4 This is a very funny , heartwarming film .
3 It 's a piece of handiwork that shows its indie tatters and self-conscious seams
in places , but has some quietly moving moments and an intelligent subtlety .
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 For most of the distance the picture provides a satisfyingly unsettling ride into
the dark places of our national psyche .
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 Being unique does n't necessarily equate to being good , no matter how admirably
the filmmakers have gone for broke .
2 The respective charms of Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant have worn threadbare .
1 Like the Hanks character , he 's a slow study : The action is stilted and the
tabloid energy embalmed .
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 What 's invigorating about it is that it does n't give a damn .
2 Cacoyannis is perhaps too effective in creating an atmosphere of dust-caked
stagnation and labored gentility .
3 An entertaining , if ultimately minor , thriller .
3 The real star of this movie is the score , as in the songs translate well to film
, and it 's really well directed .
2 Punitively affirmational parable .
1 Demme finally succeeds in diminishing his stature from Oscar-winning master to
lowly studio hack .
3 Horrid little propaganda film with fascinating connections not only to the Serbs
themselves but also to a network of American right-wing extremists .
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 .
3 This one is not nearly as dreadful as expected .
1 But ... in trying to capture the novel 's deeper intimate resonances , the film
has -- ironically - distanced us from the characters .
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 .
1 There 's a whole heap of nothing at the core of this slight coming-of-age/coming-
out tale .
4 A sensitive , moving , brilliantly constructed work .
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 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 Italian-language
soundtrack .
0 It 's probably not easy to make such a worthless film ...
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 .
2 An often unfunny romp .
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 Clever but not especially compelling .
1 An EXIT sign , that is .
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 .
4 The Emperor 's Club , ruthless in its own placid way , finds one of our most
conservative and hidebound movie-making traditions and gives it new texture , new
relevance , new reality .
1 ... if it had been only half-an-hour long or a TV special , the humor would have
been fast and furious -- at ninety minutes , it drags .
3 Its compelling mix of trial movie , escape movie and unexpected fable ensures the
film never feels draggy .
1 It drowns in sap .
2 Rare Birds ' tries to force its quirkiness upon the audience .
4 A solid and refined piece of moviemaking imbued with passion and attitude .
3 Red Dragon '' never cuts corners .
2 modeled
1 Alternative medicine obviously has its merits ... but Ayurveda does the field no
favors .
1 Bland but harmless .
1 Viewers are asked so often to suspend belief that were it not for Holm 's
performance , the film would be a total washout .
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 48
Hours and , for that matter , Shrek .
3 It 's good to see Michael Caine whipping out the dirty words and punching people
in the stomach again .
1 No Such Thing breaks no new ground and treads old turf like a hippopotamus
ballerina .
3 The film exudes the urbane sweetness that Woody Allen seems to have bitterly
forsaken .
1 The script is a dim-witted pairing of teen-speak and animal gibberish .
3 Cedar somewhat defuses this provocative theme by submerging it in a hoary love
triangle .
0 What might have emerged as hilarious lunacy in the hands of Woody Allen or Mel
Brooks at least during their '70s heyday comes across as lame and sophomoric in
this debut indie feature .
0 I have not been this disappointed by a movie in a long time .
0 There 's not a comedic moment in this romantic comedy .
1 I admire it and yet can not recommend it , because it overstays its natural
running time .
3 There 's plenty to enjoy -- in no small part thanks to Lau .
1 Action - mechanical .
1 None of this is half as moving as the filmmakers seem to think .
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 .
1 Wait to see it then .
0 None of this is very original , and it is n't particularly funny .
2 -- was a fad that had long since vanished .
1 An uneasy mix of run-of-the-mill raunchy humor and seemingly sincere personal
reflection .
1 Should have been worth cheering as a breakthrough but is devoid of wit and
humor .
2 I found myself more appreciative of what the director was trying to do than of
what he had actually done .
2 is clever enough , though thin writing proves its undoing .
1 Stone seems to have a knack for wrapping the theater in a cold blanket of urban
desperation .
0 Done in mostly by a weak script that ca n't support the epic treatment .
1 The whole thing plays like a tired Tyco ad .
1 That 's muy loco , but no more ridiculous than most of the rest of Dragonfly .'
2 Solondz creates some effective moments of discomfort for character and viewer
alike .
1 Includes too much obvious padding .
2 Well , they 're they ' .
1 Any attempts at nuance given by the capable cast is drowned out by director Jon
Purdy 's sledgehammer sap .
4 A wonderfully loopy tale of love , longing , and voting .
1 The characters , cast in impossibly contrived situations , are totally estranged
from reality .
3 For every cheesy scene , though , there is a really cool bit -- the movie 's
conception of a future-world holographic librarian Orlando Jones who knows
everything and answers all questions , is visually smart , cleverly written , and
nicely realized .
4 The mark of a respectable summer blockbuster is one of two things : unadulterated
thrills or genuine laughs .
2 As a hybrid teen thriller and murder mystery , Murder by Numbers fits the profile
too closely .
3 Alternately frustrating and rewarding .
2 I highly recommend Irwin , but not in the way this film showcases him .
1 It 's hard to believe that something so short could be so flabby .
4 Anyone who welcomes a dash of the avant-garde fused with their humor should take
pleasure in this crazed , joyous romp of a film .
1 It merely indulges in the worst elements of all of them .
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 .
2 Interesting , but not compelling .
3 Catch Me '' feels capable of charming the masses with star power , a pop-induced
score and sentimental moments that have become a Spielberg trademark .
2 An enigmatic film that 's too clever for its own good , it 's a conundrum not
worth solving .
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 .
2 Eh .
0 Highly uneven and inconsistent ... Margarita Happy Hour kinda resembles the el
cheapo margaritas served within .
2 The film tries to touch on spousal abuse but veers off course and becomes just
another revenge film .
3 Stephen 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 Glizty but formulaic and silly ... Cagney 's top of the world ' has been replaced
by the bottom of the barrel .
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 .
4 The modern master of the chase sequence returns with a chase to end all chases
2 into Scrooge .
1 A sub-formulaic slap in the face to seasonal cheer .
1 A baffling mixed platter of gritty realism and magic realism with a hard-to-
swallow premise .
1 I t 's certainly laudable that the movie deals with hot-button issues in a
comedic context , but Barbershop is n't as funny as it should be .
3 But once the falcon arrives in the skies above Manhattan , the adventure is on
red alert .
2 All the filmmakers are asking of us , is to believe in something that is
improbable .
4 A fascinating literary mystery story with multiple strands about the controversy
of who really wrote Shakespeare 's plays .
0 My own minority report is that it stinks .
1 Unless there are zoning ordinances to protect your community from the dullest
science fiction , Impostor is opening today at a theater near you .
1 A handsome but unfulfilling suspense drama more suited to a quiet evening on PBS
than a night out at an AMC .
0 Not only are the film 's Sopranos gags incredibly dated and unfunny , they also
demonstrate how desperate the makers of this we 're - doing-it-for - the-cash '
sequel were .
1 To the vast majority of more casual filmgoers , it will probably be a talky
bore .
4 finely crafted , finely written , exquisitely performed
2 There 's no real reason to see it , and no real reason not to .
2 Crystal and De Niro manage to squeeze out some good laughs but not enough to
make this silly con job sing .
0 Master of Disguise runs for only 71 minutes and feels like three hours .
4 ... a delightfully unpredictable , hilarious comedy with wonderful performances
that tug at your heart in ways that utterly transcend gender labels .
3 It does n't matter that the film is less than 90 minutes .
2 don't hate El Crimen del Padre Amaro because it 's anti-Catholic .
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 .
3 Its sheer dynamism is infectious .
2 Troll the cult section of your local video store for the real deal .
0 Bears is even worse than I imagined a movie ever could be .
0 Crush could be the worst film a man has made about women since Valley of the
Dolls .
1 With McConaughey in an entirely irony-free 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 .
1 A light , engaging comedy that fumbles away almost all of its accumulated
enjoyment with a crucial third act miscalculation .
1 They presume their audience wo n't sit still for a sociology lesson , however
entertainingly presented , so they trot out the conventional science-fiction
elements of bug-eyed monsters and futuristic women in skimpy clothes .
1 It does n't offer audiences any way of gripping what its point is , or even its
attitude toward its subject .
1 A loquacious and dreary piece of business .
1 Blue Crush is as predictable as the tides .
3 waydowntown manages to nail the spirit-crushing ennui of denuded urban living
without giving in to it .
1 Disturbing .
3 But it 's defiantly and delightfully against the grain .
3 A compelling coming-of-age 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 Strange it is , but delightfully so .
1 A clash between the artificial structure of the story and the more contemporary ,
naturalistic tone of the film .
4 Jagger , Stoppard and director Michael Apted ... deliver a riveting and
surprisingly romantic ride .
3 If the material is slight and admittedly manipulative , Jacquot preserves Tosca
's intoxicating ardor through his use of the camera .
1 A slummer .
1 Ultimately , in the history of the Academy , people may be wondering what all
that jazz was about Chicago '' in 2002 .
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 .
0 For a story set at sea , Ghost Ship is pretty landbound , with its leaden
acting , dull exposition and telegraphed surprises .
0 On its icy face , the new film is a subzero version of Monsters , Inc. , without
the latter 's imagination , visual charm or texture .
2 The 1960s rebellion was misdirected : you ca n't fight your culture .
1 Millions of dollars heaped upon a project of such vast proportions need to reap
more rewards than spiffy bluescreen technique and stylish weaponry .
3 Family portrait of need , neurosis and nervy negativity is a rare treat that
shows the promise of digital filmmaking .
4 A poignant and gently humorous parable that loves its characters and communicates
something rather beautiful about human nature .
2 Smug , artificial , ill-constructed and fatally overlong ... it never finds a
consistent tone and lacks bite , degenerating into a pious , preachy soap opera .
4 Charlie Hunnam has the twinkling eyes , repressed smile and determined face
needed to carry out a Dickensian hero .
4 Measured against practically any like-themed film other than its Oscar-sweeping
franchise predecessor The Silence of the Lambs , Red Dragon rates as an exceptional
thriller .
1 Watching a Brian DePalma movie is like watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie after
drinking twelve beers .
0 Guy gets girl , guy loses girl , audience falls asleep .
1 ... this story gets sillier , not scarier , as it goes along ...
2 You can thank me for this .
1 Despite its Hawaiian setting , the science-fiction trimmings and some moments of
rowdy slapstick , the basic plot of Lilo '' could have been pulled from a tear-
stained vintage Shirley Temple script .
4 Reassuring , retro uplifter .
1 An alternately raucous and sappy ethnic sitcom ... you 'd be wise to send your
regrets .
3 The sheer joy and pride they took in their work -- and in each other -- shines
through every frame .
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 .
0 The nonstop artifice ultimately proves tiresome , with the surface histrionics
failing to compensate for the paper-thin characterizations and facile situations .
1 TV skit-com material fervently deposited on the big screen .
0 Is there a group of more self-absorbed women than the mother and daughters
featured in this film .
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
.
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 Although commentary on Nachtwey is provided ... it 's the image that really tells
the tale .
1 Everyone 's to blame here .
3 Instead , she sees it as a chance to revitalize what is and always has been
remarkable about clung-to traditions .
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 .
3 Assured , glossy and shot through with brittle desperation .
1 Those who are only mildly curious , I fear , will be put to sleep or bewildered
by the artsy and often pointless visuals .
0 What ultimately makes Windtalkers a disappointment is the superficial way it
deals with its story .
4 At least it 's a fairly impressive debut from the director , Charles Stone III .
0 Instead , it 'll only put you to sleep .
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 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 .
0 Truly terrible .
4 LaBute masterfully balances both Traditional or Modern stories together in a
manner that one never overwhelms the other .
1 Perry 's good and his is an interesting character , but Serving Sara '' has n't
much more to serve than silly fluff .
1 Anemic , pretentious .
2 If the very concept makes you nervous ... you 'll have an idea of the film 's
creepy , scary effectiveness .
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 There might be some sort of credible gender-provoking philosophy submerged here ,
but who the hell cares .
1 Hopkins does n't so much phone in his performance as fax it .
1 The film is a confusing melange of tones and styles , one moment a romantic
trifle and the next a turgid drama .
4 The film is one of the year 's best .
3 A buoyant romantic comedy about friendship , love , and the truth that we 're all
in this together .
4 Davis ... gets vivid performances from her cast and pulls off some deft Ally
McBeal-style fantasy sequences .
2 The Sundance Film Festival has become so buzz-obsessed that fans and producers
descend upon Utah each January to ferret out The Next Great Thing .
4 One of the most slyly exquisite anti-adult movies ever made .
4 What a bewilderingly brilliant and entertaining movie this is .
2 The film will appeal to Discovery Channel fans and will surely widen the
perspective of those of us who see the continent through rose-colored glasses .
4 Matthew Lillard is born to play Shaggy .
4 Light , silly , photographed with colour and depth , and rather a good time .
4 ... is funny in the way that makes you ache with sadness the way Chekhov is
funny, profound without ever being self-important , warm without ever succumbing to
sentimentality .
1 Ultimately too repellent to fully endear itself to American art house audiences ,
but it is notable for its stylistic austerity and forcefulness .
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 .
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 One of the funniest motion pictures of the year , but ... also one of the most
curiously depressing .
3 A film that 's flawed and brilliant in equal measure .
1 An imponderably stilted and self-consciously arty movie .
3 ... the story , like Ravel 's Bolero , builds to a crescendo that encompasses
many more paths than we started with .
0 This thing is virtually unwatchable .
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 .
4 What a concept , what an idea , what a thrill ride .
3 And , thanks to the presence of the King , ' it also rocks .
3 I don'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 .
3 Everybody loves a David and Goliath story , and this one is told almost entirely
from David 's point of view .
3 The performances are strong , though the subject matter demands acting that
borders on hammy at times .
1 An inexperienced director , Mehta has much to learn .
2 Ryosuke has created a wry , winning , if languidly paced , meditation on the
meaning and value of family .
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 grade-grubbers to shame .
1 It 's just not very smart .
1 It wears its heart on the sleeve of its gaudy Hawaiian shirt .
4 Like a skillful fisher , the director uses the last act to reel in the audience
since its poignancy hooks us completely .
4 A wild ride with eight boarders from Venice Beach that was a deserved co-winner
of the Audience Award for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival .
0 But the 2002 film does n't really believe in it , and breaks the mood with
absurdly inappropriate comedy ' scenes .
3 Birot creates a drama with such a well-defined sense of place and age -- as in ,
15 years old -- that the torments and angst become almost as operatic to us as they
are to her characters .
1 Toward the end Sum of All Fears morphs into a mundane '70s disaster flick .
3 Your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , Madonna
's cameo does n't suck .
4 The production design , score and choreography are simply intoxicating .
3 For almost the first two-thirds of Martin Scorsese 's 168-minute Gangs of New
York , I was entranced .
1 A brutally dry satire of Middle American numbness .
2 A perfectly acceptable , perfectly bland , competently acted but by no means
scary horror movie .
3 The tasteful little revision works wonders , enhancing the cultural and economic
subtext , bringing richer meaning to the story 's morals .
1 And Diesel is n't the actor to save it .
0 Wendigo wants to be a monster movie for the art-house crowd , but it falls into
the trap of pretention almost every time .
4 Nothing short of wonderful with its ten-year-old female protagonist and its
steadfast refusal to set up a dualistic battle between good and evil .
3 Drumline is -- the mere suggestion , albeit a visually compelling one , of a
fully realized story .
2 With lesser talents , High Crimes would be entertaining , but forgettable .
4 The history is fascinating ; the action is dazzling .
1 I could n't help but feel the wasted potential of this slapstick comedy .
3 All in all , Road to Perdition is more in love with strangeness than excellence .
4 It 's all about Anakin ... and the lustrous polished visuals rich in color and
creativity and , of course , special effect .
1 ... the efforts of its star , Kline , to lend some dignity to a dumb story are
for naught .
1 A sometimes incisive and sensitive portrait that is undercut by its awkward
structure and a final veering toward melodrama .
3 That Alabama ' manages to be pleasant in spite of its predictability and
occasional slowness is due primarily to the perkiness of Witherspoon who is always
a joy to watch , even when her material is not first-rate ...
0 Starts out strongly before quickly losing its focus , point and purpose in a mess
of mixed messages , over-blown drama and Bruce Willis with a scar .
3 World Traveler might not go anywhere new , or arrive anyplace special , but it 's
certainly an honest attempt to get at something .
3 You would n't want to live waydowntown , but it is a hilarious place to visit .
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 .
4 A simple tale of an unlikely friendship , but thanks to the gorgeous locales and
exceptional lead performances , it has considerable charm .
3 Those who don't entirely get ' Godard 's distinctive discourse will still come
away with a sense of his reserved but existential poignancy .
3 Yes , soar .
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 .
0 Kirshner and Monroe seem to be in a contest to see who can out-bad-act the
other .
2 Qutting may be a flawed film , but it is nothing if not sincere .
3 has far more energy , wit and warmth than should be expected from any movie with
a 2 '' at the end of its title .
3 Throughout , Mr. Audiard 's direction is fluid and quick .
1 A painfully slow cliche-ridden film filled with more holes than Clyde Barrow 's
car .
0 A wishy-washy melodramatic movie that shows us plenty of sturm und drung , but
explains its characters ' decisions only unsatisfactorily .
4 One of the best looking and stylish animated movies in quite a while ...
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 It seems Grant does n't need the floppy hair and the self-deprecating stammers
after all .
2 Oops , she 's really done it this time .
4 The characters are complex and quirky , but entirely believable as the remarkable
ensemble cast brings them to life .
3 Jackson is always watchable .
4 Deep intelligence and a warm , enveloping affection breathe out of every frame .
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 .
1 Soderbergh 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 .
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 .
1 Predecessors The Mummy and The Mummy Returns stand as intellectual masterpieces
next to The Scorpion King .
1 A really good premise is frittered away in middle-of-the-road blandness .
1 Yet another entry in the sentimental oh-those-wacky-Brits genre that was ushered
in by The Full Monty and is still straining to produce another smash hit .
4 Time is a beautiful film to watch , an interesting and at times captivating take
on loss and loneliness .
1 In his role of observer of the scene , Lawrence sounds whiny and defensive , as
if his life-altering experiences made him bitter and less mature .
3 While Insomnia is in many ways a conventional , even predictable remake , Nolan
's penetrating undercurrent of cerebral and cinemantic flair lends it stimulating
depth .
4 The Pianist is a supremely hopeful cautionary tale of war 's madness remembered
that we , today , can prevent its tragic waste of life .
3 It does n't reach them , but the effort is gratefully received .
2 Jam-packed with literally bruising jokes .
1 Seems like someone going through the motions .
3 While I ca n't say it 's on par with the first one , Stuart Little 2 is a light ,
fun cheese puff of a movie .
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 .
3 The Chateau belongs to Rudd , whose portrait of a therapy-dependent flakeball
spouting French malapropisms ... is a nonstop hoot .
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 At once overly old-fashioned in its sudsy plotting and heavy-handed in its effort
to modernize it with encomia to diversity and tolerance .
2 What is the filmmakers ' point .
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 .
3 Wonderful fencing scenes and an exciting plot make this an eminently engrossing
film .
2 Another in a long line of ultra-violent war movies , this one is not quite what
it could have been as a film , but the story and theme make up for it .
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 Many of Benjamins ' elements feel like they 've been patched in from an episode
of Miami Vice .
3 There are a couple of things that elevate Glory '' above most of its ilk , most
notably the mere presence of Duvall .
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 .
1 An ugly , revolting movie .
3 It never quite makes it to the boiling point , but manages to sustain a good
simmer for most of its running time .
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 main problem being that it 's only a peek .
0 As predictable as the outcome of a Globetrotters-Generals game , Juwanna Mann is
even more ludicrous than you 'd expect from the guy-in-a-dress genre , and a
personal low for everyone involved .
0 But it 's hard to imagine a more generic effort in the genre .
4 Jason Patric and Ray Liotta make for one splendidly cast pair .
4 This often-hilarious farce manages to generate the belly laughs of lowbrow comedy
without sacrificing its high-minded appeal .
0 It 's simply stupid , irrelevant and deeply , truly , bottomlessly cynical .
3 The actresses find their own rhythm and protect each other from the script 's bad
ideas and awkwardness .
1 It 's just hard to believe that a life like this can sound so dull .
1 If you 're not fans of the adventues of Steve and Terri , you should avoid this
like the dreaded King Brown snake .
2 Wait for pay per view or rental but don't dismiss BarberShop out of hand .
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 .
3 The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys '' has flaws , but it also has humor and heart
and very talented young actors
1 This is not a classical dramatic animated feature , nor a hip , contemporary ,
in-jokey one .
2 A technically well-made suspenser ... but its abrupt drop in IQ points as it
races to the finish line proves simply too discouraging to let slide .
4 A funny and well-contructed black comedy where the old adage be careful what you
wish for '' is given a full workout .
2 Ram Dass Fierce Grace moulds itself as an example to up-and-coming documentarians
, of the overlooked pitfalls of such an endeavour .
4 A sun-drenched masterpiece , part parlor game , part psychological case study ,
part droll social satire .
0 So bland and utterly forgettable that it might as well have been titled Generic
Jennifer Lopez Romantic Comedy .
1 Cal is an unpleasantly shallow and immature character with whom to spend 110
claustrophobic minutes .
1 It lacks the compassion , good-natured humor and the level of insight that made
Eyre 's first film something of a sleeper success .
4 And thanks to Kline 's superbly nuanced performance , that pondering is highly
pleasurable .
2 The film was n't preachy , but it was feminism by the book .
3 A lot more dimensional and complex than its sunny disposition would lead you to
believe .
4 Miller comes at film with bracing intelligence and a vision both painterly and
literary .
4 Grenier is terrific , bringing an unforced , rapid-fire delivery to Toback 's
Heidegger - and Nietzsche-referencing dialogue .
3 Rubbo runs through a remarkable amount of material in the film 's short 90
minutes .
0 Deep down , I realized the harsh reality of my situation : I would leave the
theater with a lower I.Q. than when I had entered .
0 A story which fails to rise above its disgusting source material .
1 To Blandly Go Where We Went 8 Movies Ago ...
1 ... Liotta is put in an impossible spot because his character 's deceptions
ultimately undo him and the believability of the entire scenario .
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 An overly familiar scenario is made fresh by an intelligent screenplay and
gripping performances in this low-budget , video-shot , debut indie effort .
0 It 's still terrible .
2 Represents something very close to the nadir of the thriller/horror genre .
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 .
4 A man leaving the screening said the film was better than Saving Private Ryan .
3 Oddly compelling .
4 A soul-stirring documentary about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as revealed
through the eyes of some children who remain curious about each other against all
odds .
3 Certainly the performances are worthwhile .
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 .
4 It trusts the story it sets out to tell .
1 Bad company .
4 An engrossing and infectiously enthusiastic documentary .
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 Its gentle , touching story creeps into your heart .
0 ... has about 3/4th the fun of its spry 2001 predecessor -- but it 's a rushed ,
slapdash , sequel-for-the-sake - of-a-sequel with less than half the plot and
ingenuity .
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 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 .
0 A cellophane-pop remake of the punk classic Ladies and Gentlemen , The Fabulous
Stains ... Crossroads is never much worse than bland or better than inconsequential
.
2 The Fast Runner ' transports the viewer into an unusual space
1 Every joke is repeated at least four times .
2 What you end up getting is the Vertical Limit of surfing movies - memorable
stunts with lots of downtime in between .
3 Should be required viewing for civics classes and would-be public servants
alike .
4 Noyce has worked wonders with the material .
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 .
3 , is a temporal inquiry that shoulders its philosophical burden lightly .
3 You may feel compelled to watch the film twice or pick up a book on the subject .
2 Some people want the ol' ball-and-chain and then there are those who just want
the Ball and Chain .
4 One of the funnier movies in town .
4 The universal theme of becoming a better person through love has never been
filmed more irresistibly than in Baran .
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 .
2 An elegant film
4 An example of quiet , confident craftsmanship that tells a sweet , charming tale
of intergalactic friendship .
0 A plodding teen remake that 's so mechanical you can smell the grease on the plot
twists .
4 A stylistic romp that 's always fun to watch .
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 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 .
2 Film ca n't quite maintain its initial momentum , but remains sporadically funny
throughout .
3 It seems impossible that an epic four-hour Indian musical about a cricket game
could be this good , but it is .
4 A zinger-filled crowd-pleaser that open-minded Elvis fans but by no means all
will have fun with .
1 Kicks off with an inauspicious premise , mopes through a dreary tract of
virtually plotless meanderings and then ends with a whimper .
0 Most of the problems with the film don't derive from the screenplay , but rather
the mediocre performances by most of the actors involved
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 .
1 The movie turns out to be Assayas ' homage to the Gallic tradition of quality ,
' in all its fusty squareness .
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 .
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 .
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 .
2 That is because - damn it .
0 It would be great to see this turd squashed under a truck , preferably a semi .
2 What a vast enterprise has been marshaled in the service of such a minute idea .
4 This may be Burns 's strongest film since The Brothers McMullen .
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 .
3 Deliciously mean-spirited and wryly observant .
3 When twentysomething hotsies make movies about their lives , hard-driving
narcissism is a given , but what a world we 'd live in if Argento 's Hollywood
counterparts ... had this much imagination and nerve .
3 But it 's worth the concentration .
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 Makes a joke out of car chases for an hour and then gives us half an hour of car
chases .
4 A knowing sense of humor and a lot of warmth ignite Son of the Bride .
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 .
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 Even if the Naipaul original remains the real masterpiece , the movie possesses
its own languorous charm .
3 Ambitious , unsettling psychodrama that takes full , chilling advantage of its
rough-around-the-edges , low-budget constraints .
3 Most of the things that made the original Men in Black such a pleasure are still
there .
3 At times a bit melodramatic and even a little dated depending upon where you
live , Ignorant Fairies is still quite good-natured and not a bad way to spend an
hour or two .
2 Or for the year , for that matter .
4 I had more fun watching Spy than I had with most of the big summer movies .
0 It 's just merely very bad .
2 the shackles
3 Watching this gentle , mesmerizing portrait of a man coming to terms with time ,
you barely realize your mind is being blown .
3 You can watch , giggle and get an adrenaline boost without feeling like you 've
completely lowered your entertainment standards .
2 Some movies blend together as they become distant memories .
0 Nair just does n't have the necessary self-control to guide a loose , poorly
structured film through the pitfalls of incoherence and redundancy .
3 Chouraqui brings documentary-like credibility to the horrors of the killing field
and the barbarism of ethnic cleansing .
1 Woody Allen used to ridicule movies like Hollywood Ending .
1 It 's mildly amusing , but I certainly ca n't recommend it .
0 And it 's not that funny -- which is just generally insulting .
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 .
1 They just have problems , which are neither original nor are presented in
convincing way .
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 .
3 Like the original , this version is raised a few notches above kiddie fantasy
pablum by Allen 's astringent wit .
4 A taut , sobering film .
2 Far-fetched premise , convoluted plot , and thematic mumbo jumbo about destiny
and redemptive love .
3 A muddle splashed with bloody beauty as vivid as any Scorsese has ever given us .
4 The way the roundelay of partners functions , and the interplay within
partnerships and among partnerships and the general air of Gator-bashing are
consistently delightful .
4 But while the highly predictable narrative falls short , Treasure Planet is truly
gorgeous to behold .
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 .
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 .
3 A wild ride juiced with enough energy and excitement for at least three films .
1 Nemesis suffers from a paunchy midsection , several plodding action sequences and
a wickedly undramatic central theme .
2 Lucky Break is perfectly inoffensive and harmless , but it 's also drab and inert
.
4 Elvira fans could hardly ask for more .
2 Exactly what you 'd expect from a guy named Kaos .
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 .
0 It 's pretentious in a way that verges on the amateurish .
0 ... unlike Scorsese 's Mean Streets , Ash Wednesday is essentially devoid of
interesting characters or even a halfway intriguing plot .
2 Only two-fifths of a satisfying movie experience .
1 ... the good and different idea of middle-aged romance is not handled well
and , except for the fine star performances , there is little else to recommend
Never Again .'
2 Murder by Numbers ' is n't a great movie , but it 's a perfectly acceptable
widget .
0 It may as well be called Jar-Jar Binks : The Movie .'
1 But it would be better to wait for the video .
4 Delirious fun .
1 There are some fairly unsettling scenes , but they never succeed in really
rattling the viewer .
4 Special P.O.V. camera mounts on bikes , skateboards , and motorcycles provide an
intense experience when splashed across the immense IMAX screen .
4 There are scenes of cinematic perfection that steal your heart away .
2 A fantastic premise anchors this movie , but what it needs is either a more rigid
, Blair Witch-style commitment to its mockumentary format , or a more
straightforward , dramatic treatment , with all the grandiosity that that implies .
0 Interview '' loses its overall sense of mystery and becomes a TV episode rather
than a documentary that you actually buy into .
4 ... the first 2/3 of the film are incredibly captivating and insanely funny ,
thanks in part to interesting cinematic devices cool visual backmasking , a solid
cast , and some wickedly sick and twisted humor ...
4 This is the best Star Trek movie in a long time .
2 Auto Focus is not your standard Hollywood bio-pic .
2 Not really as bad as you might think .
3 Beautifully filmed and well acted ... but admittedly problematic in its narrative
specifics .
1 Brainless , but enjoyably over-the-top , the retro gang melodrama , Deuces Wild
represents fifties teen-gang machismo in a way that borders on rough-trade homo-
eroticism .
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 .
2 I saw Juwanna Mann so you don't have to .
0 Why anyone who is not a character in this movie should care is beyond me .
1 What starts off as a potentially incredibly twisting mystery becomes simply a
monster chase film .
2 ... they missed the boat .
0 Characterisation has been sacrificed for the sake of spectacle .
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 A delightful , if minor , pastry of a movie .
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 .
1 Clockstoppers is one of those crazy , mixed-up films that does n't know what it
wants to be when it grows up .
1 Fear Dot Com is more frustrating than a modem that disconnects every 10 seconds .
3 Shyamalan turns the goose-pimple genre on its empty head and fills it with
spirit , purpose and emotionally bruised characters who add up to more than body
count .
1 I 'd be hard pressed to think of a film more cloyingly sappy than Evelyn this
year .
3 I know that I 'll never listen to Marvin Gaye or the Supremes the same way again
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 .
3 Saddled with an unwieldy cast of characters and angles , but the payoff is
powerful and revelatory .
1 I 'll stay with the stage versions , however , which bite cleaner , and deeper .
3 Tsai convincingly paints a specifically urban sense of disassociation here .
1 Despite the opulent lushness of every scene , the characters never seem to match
the power of their surroundings .
1 And people make fun of me for liking Showgirls .
2 You just know something terrible is going to happen .
3 Much of what we see is horrible but it 's also undeniably exceedingly clever .
3 Writer / director M. Night Shyamalan 's ability to pull together easily
accessible stories that resonate with profundity is undeniable .
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 .
1 This 10th film in the series looks and feels tired .
0 A long , dull procession of despair , set to cello music culled from a minimalist
funeral .
1 Cherish is a dud -- a romantic comedy that 's not the least bit romantic and only
mildly funny .
2 is now stretched to barely feature length , with a little more attention paid to
the animation .
0 For most movies , 84 minutes is short , but this one feels like a life sentence .
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 .
1 For a movie about the power of poetry and passion , there is precious little of
either .
2 Not to mention a sharper , cleaner camera lens .
2 would have been benefited from a sharper , cleaner script before it went in front
of the camera .
0 This Tuxedo ... should have been sent back to the tailor for some major
alterations .
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 .
3 Poignant and delicately complex .
4 Intriguing and stylish .
2 It was filled with shootings , beatings , and more cussing than you could shake a
stick at .
1 It 's a mindless action flick with a twist -- far better suited to video-viewing
than the multiplex .
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 .
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 With exquisite craftsmanship ... Olivier Assayas has fashioned an absorbing look
at provincial bourgeois French society .
1 However sincere it may be , The Rising Place never quite justifies its own
existence .
2 The central character is n't complex enough to hold our interest .
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 .
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 .
0 Skip this turd and pick your nose instead because you 're sure to get more out of
the latter experience .
2 You get the idea , though , that Kapur intended the film to be more than that .
2 O.K. , not really .
1 Both deserve better .
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 .
3 A tasty appetizer that leaves you wanting more .
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 .
2 Two hours of sepia-tinted heavy metal images and surround sound effects of people
moaning .
1 Even kids deserve better .
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 .
3 Meticulously mounted , exasperatingly well-behaved film , which ticks off Kahlo
's lifetime milestones with the dutiful precision of a tax accountant .
0 Men in Black II achieves ultimate insignificance -- it 's the sci-fi comedy
spectacle as Whiffle-Ball epic .
2 Those unfamiliar with Mormon traditions may find The Singles Ward occasionally
bewildering .
0 Stiff and schmaltzy and clumsily directed .
1 If The Last Man were the last movie left on earth , there would be a toss-up
between presiding over the end of cinema as we know it and another night of
delightful hand shadows .
2 I blame all men for war , '' the warden 's daughter tells her father .
2 If you don't laugh , flee .
3 that it 'll probably be the best and most mature comedy of the 2002 summer season
speaks more of the season than the picture
1 On its own , it 's not very interesting .
3 Leigh is n't breaking new ground , but he knows how a daily grind can kill love .
3 And it is .
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 .
0 Astonishing is n't the word -- neither is incompetent , incoherent or just plain
crap .
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 Anyone else who may , for whatever reason , be thinking about going to see this
movie is hereby given fair warning .
3 An edifying glimpse into the wit and revolutionary spirit of these performers and
their era .
0 ... about as exciting to watch as two last-place basketball teams playing one
another on the final day of the season .
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 .
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 .
2 Famuyiwa 's feature
2 Ruh-roh .
1 A beyond-lame satire , Teddy Bears ' Picnic ranks among the most pitiful
directing debuts by an esteemed writer-actor .
2 directed in a flashy , empty sub-music video style by a director so self-
possessed he actually adds a period to his first name
2 A dreary indulgence .
1 A gushy episode of M \* A \* S \* H '' only this time from an Asian perspective .
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 .
0 You can fire a torpedo through some of Clancy 's holes , and the scripters don't
deserve any Oscars .
1 A non-Britney person might survive a screening with little harm done , except
maybe for the last 15 minutes , which are as maudlin as any after-school special
you can imagine .
1 Obviously , a lot of people wasted a lot of their time including mine on
something very inconsequential .
1 A moving picture that does not move .
1 Just about all of the film is confusing on one level or another , making Ararat
far more demanding than it needs to be .
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 Hatosy ... portrays young Brendan with his usual intelligence and subtlety , not
to mention a convincing brogue .
3 A uniquely sensual metaphorical dramatization of sexual obsession that spends a
bit too much time on its fairly ludicrous plot .
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 .
4 Fudges fact and fancy with such confidence that we feel as if we 're seeing
something purer than the real thing .
3 Could have been crisper and punchier , but it 's likely to please audiences who
like movies that demand four hankies .
1 Naipaul fans may be disappointed .
1 The screenplay is hugely overwritten , with tons and tons of dialogue -- most of
it given to children .
4 A beautiful , entertaining two hours .
0 Enough said , except : Film overboard .
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 .
1 For all the time we spend with these people , we never really get inside of
them .
1 Eisenstein lacks considerable brio for a film about one of cinema 's directorial
giants .
3 Naomi Watts is terrific as Rachel ; her petite frame and vulnerable persona
emphasising her plight and isolation .
3 A giddy and provocative sexual romp that has something to say .
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 .
2 Life on the rez is no picnic : this picture shows you why .
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 .
2 It is there to give them a good time .
3 Sly , sophisticated and surprising .
3 All the pieces fall together without much surprise , but little moments give it a
boost .
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 Like coming into a long-running , well-written television series where you 've
missed the first half-dozen episodes and probably wo n't see the next six .
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 .
3 In its understanding , often funny way , it tells a story whose restatement is
validated by the changing composition of the nation .
2 The movie does has some entertainment value - how much depends on how well you
like Chris Rock .
4 Speaks eloquently about the symbiotic relationship between art and life .
3 Not everything in this ambitious comic escapade works , but Coppola , along with
his sister , Sofia , is a real filmmaker .
1 Nothing more than a stifling morality tale dressed up in peekaboo clothing .
1 A series of immaculately composed shots of Patch Adams quietly freaking out does
not make for much of a movie .
1 The movie does n't add anything fresh to the myth .
1 Upper West Sidey exercise in narcissism and self-congratulation disguised as a
tribute .
4 The entire cast is extraordinarily good .
2 Like shave ice without the topping , this cinematic snow cone is as innocuous as
it is flavorless .
1 Um ... is n't that the basis for the entire plot .
4 Cho 's timing is priceless .
3 Meyjes ... has done his homework and soaked up some jazzy new revisionist
theories about the origins of Nazi politics and aesthetics .
2 It 's a drawling , slobbering , lovable run-on sentence of a film , a Southern
Gothic with the emotional arc of its raw blues soundtrack .
0 ... a weak and ineffective ghost story without a conclusion or pay off .
2 Rabbit-Proof Fence will probably make you angry .
1 Time stands still in more ways that one in Clockstoppers , a sci-fi thriller as
lazy as it is interminable .
3 It cooks Conduct in a low , smoky and inviting sizzle .
2 This is the first film I 've ever seen that had no obvious directing involved .
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 12 .
4 One of the very best movies ever made about the life of moviemaking .
3 A perfectly pleasant if slightly pokey comedy .
3 A flawed but engrossing thriller .
3 Both damning and damned compelling .
2 The film sometimes flags ... but there is enough secondary action to keep things
moving along at a brisk , amusing pace .
2 ... creates a visceral sense of its characters ' lives and conflicted emotions
that carries it far above ... what could have been a melodramatic , Lifetime
Channel-style anthology .
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 .
3 A charming , banter-filled comedy ... one of those airy cinematic bon bons whose
aims -- and by extension , accomplishments -- seem deceptively slight on the
surface .
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 .
0 It just did n't mean much to me and played too skewed to ever get a hold on or
be entertained by .
3 The Four Feathers has rewards , from the exoticism of its seas of sand to the
fierce grandeur of its sweeping battle scenes .
3 A comedy that swings and jostles to the rhythms of life .
4 It 's never dull and always looks good .
0 Unfunny and lacking any sense of commitment to or affection for its characters ,
the Reginald Hudlin comedy relies on toilet humor , ethnic slurs .
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 gut-wrenching style of
Joseph Heller or Kurt Vonnegut .
3 Reggio and Glass put on an intoxicating show .
4 likeable thanks to its cast , its cuisine and its quirky tunes .
1 What with all the blanket statements and dime-store ruminations on vanity , the
worries of the rich and sudden wisdom , the film becomes a sermon for most of its
running time .
1 Breen 's script is sketchy with actorish notations on the margin of acting .
2 Has its moments , but it 's pretty far from a treasure .
0 This loud and thoroughly obnoxious comedy about a pair of squabbling working-
class spouses is a deeply unpleasant experience .
0 Not counting a few gross-out 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 10
minutes .
3 Witty , vibrant , and intelligent .
4 The best thing I can say about this film is that I ca n't wait to see what the
director does next .
1 May puzzle his most ardent fans .
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 .
1 Try this obscenely bad dark comedy , so crass that it makes Edward Burns '
Sidewalks of New York look like Oscar Wilde .
1 The Tuxedo was n't just bad ; it was , as my friend David Cross would call it ,
Hungry-Man portions of bad .
1 Human Nature , in short , is n't nearly as funny as it thinks it is ; neither is
it as smart .
3 It 's fun , splashy and entertainingly nasty .
2 A little objectivity could have gone a long way .
3 The film boasts at least a few good ideas and features some decent performances ,
but the result is disappointing .
0 Boll uses a lot of quick cutting and blurry step-printing to goose things up ,
but dopey dialogue and sometimes inadequate performances kill the effect .
0 ... unlikable , uninteresting , unfunny , and completely , utterly inept .
3 A creepy , intermittently powerful study of a self-destructive man ... about as
unsettling to watch as an exploratory medical procedure or an autopsy .
1 The crassness of this reactionary thriller is matched only by the ridiculousness
of its premise .
2 The Porky 's Revenge : Ultimate Edition .
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 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 .
1 In its chicken heart , Crush goes to absurd lengths to duck the very issues it
raises .
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 self-
mutilating sideshow geeks .
2 Worth seeing once , but its charm quickly fades .
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 .
0 There 's nothing interesting in Unfaithful whatsoever .
0 There 's already been too many of these films ...
1 Almost peerlessly unsettling .
3 Maybe he was reading the minds of the audience .
3 A sly female empowerment movie , although not in a way anyone would expect .
2 Go for La Salle 's performance , and make do as best you can with a stuttering
script .
1 ... The movie feels stitched together from stock situations and characters from
other movies .
2 It remains to be seen whether Statham can move beyond the crime-land action genre
, but then again , who says he has to .
4 Though in some ways similar to Catherine Breillat 's Fat Girl , Rain is the far
superior film .
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 girl-on-girl
action .
1 Potty-mouthed enough for PG-13 , yet not as hilariously raunchy as South Park ,
this strangely schizo cartoon seems suited neither to kids or adults .
2 A poorly scripted , preachy fable that forgets about unfolding a coherent ,
believable story in its zeal to spread propaganda .
2 A rare movie that makes us re-assess the basis for our lives and evaluate what
is truly ours in a world of meaningless activity .
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 As a director , Paxton is surprisingly brilliant , deftly sewing together what
could have been a confusing and horrifying vision into an intense and engrossing
head-trip .
3 But Toback 's deranged immediacy makes it seem fresh again .
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 .
2 There 's a neat twist , subtly rendered , that could have wrapped things up at 80
minutes , but Kang tacks on three or four more endings .
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 .
3 Amazingly dopey .
0 It 's hard to imagine that even very small children will be impressed by this
tired retread .
1 A beautifully shot but dull and ankle-deep epic .
3 The performances of the four main actresses bring their characters to life .
0 The emotional overload of female angst irreparably drags the film down .
3 Comedian , like its subjects , delivers the goods and audiences will have a fun ,
no-frills ride .
3 Woo 's most resonant film since The Killer .
3 Muccino seems to be exploring the idea of why human beings long for what they
don't have , and how this gets us in trouble .
4 Even when there are lulls , the emotions seem authentic , and the picture is so
lovely toward the end ... you almost don't notice the 129-minute running time .
3 In a movie full of surprises , the biggest is that Secret Ballot is a comedy ,
both gentle and biting .
4 A fascinating case study of flower-power liberation -- and the price that was
paid for it .
0 The pacing is deadly , the narration helps little and Naipaul , a juicy writer ,
is negated .
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 .
1 -- is a crime that should be punishable by chainsaw .
3 Delivers more than its fair share of saucy hilarity .
2 While the mystery unravels , the characters respond by hitting on each other .
3 Now here 's a sadistic bike flick that would have made Vittorio De Sica proud .
3 Meticulously uncovers a trail of outrageous force and craven concealment .
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 .
3 From both a great and a terrible story , Mr. Nelson has made a film that is an
undeniably worthy and devastating experience .
2 ... will always be remembered for the 9-11 terrorist attacks .
0 For the rest of us , sitting through Dahmer 's two hours amounts to little more
than punishment .
1 More tiring than anything .
3 If you 're not , you 'll still have a good time .'
2 Occasionally funny , sometimes inspiring , often boring .
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 .
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 .
2 ... delivers few moments of inspiration amid the bland animation and simplistic
story .
1 When not wallowing in its characters ' frustrations , the movie is busy
contriving false , sitcom-worthy solutions to their problems .
3 Fans of critics ' darling band Wilco will marvel at the sometimes murky , always
brooding look of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart .
4 A truly wonderful tale combined with stunning animation .
1 Just when you think you are making sense of it , something happens that tells you
there is no sense .
4 Easily one of the best and most exciting movies of the year .
4 Daring and beautifully made .
1 An impenetrable and insufferable ball of pseudo-philosophic twaddle .
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 .
2 At no point during K-19 : 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 .
1 A lightweight , uneven action comedy that freely mingles French , Japanese and
Hollywood cultures .
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 .
1 When a movie asks you to feel sorry for Mick Jagger 's sex life , it already has
one strike against it .
2 The movie 's gloomy atmosphere is fascinating , though , even if the movie itself
does n't stand a ghost of a chance .
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 .
4 a confident , richly acted , emotionally devastating piece of work and 2002 's
first great film
3 Starts slowly , but Adrien Brody -- in the title role -- helps make the film 's
conclusion powerful and satisfying .
4 Jeffs has created a breathtakingly assured and stylish work of spare dialogue and
acute expressiveness .
1 Those who are not acquainted with the author 's work , on the other hand , may
fall fast asleep .
2 in period costume and with a bigger budget .
3 But it could be , by its art and heart , a necessary one .
4 A generous , inspiring film that unfolds with grace and humor and gradually
becomes a testament to faith .
0 The project 's filmmakers forgot to include anything even halfway scary as they
poorly rejigger Fatal Attraction into a high school setting .
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 ...
2 When Seagal appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit , I wanted to stand up in the
theater and shout , Hey , Kool-Aid .
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 .
4 The film is impressive for the sights and sounds of the wondrous beats the world
has to offer .
4 Mr. Deeds is sure to give you a lot of laughs in this simple , sweet and romantic
comedy .
3 Pretty good little movie .
1 The story is also as unoriginal as they come , already having been recycled more
times than I 'd care to count .
3 Passionate , irrational , long-suffering but cruel as a tarantula , Helga figures
prominently in this movie , and helps keep the proceedings as funny for grown-ups
as for rugrats .
3 Initially gripping , eventually cloying POW drama .
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 .
3 Offers an interesting look at the rapidly changing face of Beijing .
3 Gaunt , silver-haired and leonine , Harris brings a tragic dimension and savage
full-bodied wit and cunning to the aging Sandeman .
2 Just plain silly .
3 When it 's not wallowing in hormonal melodrama , Real Women Have Curves '' is a
sweet , honest , and enjoyable comedy-drama about a young woman who wants many
things in life , but fears she 'll become her mother before she gets to fulfill her
dreams .
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 .
0 This flat run at a hip-hop Tootsie is so poorly paced you could fit all of Pootie
Tang in between its punchlines .
4 A triumph of pure craft and passionate heart .
3 imagine a scenario where Bergman approaches Swedish fatalism using Gary Larson 's
Far Side humor
2 It 's really just another silly Hollywood action film , one among a multitude of
simple-minded , yahoo-ing death shows .
0 This is a fudged opportunity of gigantic proportions -- a lunar mission with no
signs of life .
3 Deliberately and skillfully uses ambiguity to suggest possibilities which imbue
the theme with added depth and resonance .
4 All of it works smoothly under the direction of Spielberg , who does a convincing
impersonation here of a director enjoying himself immensely .
1 The whole thing 's fairly lame , making it par for the course for Disney
sequels .
3 Even at its worst , it 's not half-bad .
1 A visionary marvel , but it 's lacking a depth in storytelling usually found in
anime like this .
3 Graced with the kind of social texture and realism that would be foreign in
American teen comedies .
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 .
3 A three-hour cinema master class .
3 Beresford nicely mixes in as much humor as pathos to take us on his sentimental
journey of the heart .
4 If you can get past the taboo subject matter , it will be well worth your time .
3 While the now 72-year-old Robert Evans been slowed down by a stroke , he has at
least one more story to tell : his own .
1 More busy than exciting , more frantic than involving , more chaotic than
entertaining .
3 Precocious smarter-than-thou wayward teen struggles to rebel against his
oppressive , right-wing , propriety-obsessed family .
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 100 years .
3 Its adult themes of familial separation and societal betrayal are head and
shoulders above much of the director 's previous popcorn work .
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 .
1 I did n't smile .
1 While some will object to the idea of a Vietnam picture with such a rah-rah ,
patriotic tone , Soldiers ultimately achieves its main strategic objective :
dramatizing the human cost of the conflict that came to define a generation .
1 Return to Neverland manages to straddle the line between another classic for the
company and just another run-of-the-mill Disney sequel intended for the home video
market .
1 Shafer 's feature does n't offer much in terms of plot or acting .
2 Was I scared .
1 But Windtalkers does n't beat that one , either .
3 It 's funny .
2 A case in point : Doug Pray 's Scratch .
1 Contains a few big laughs but many more that graze the funny bone or miss it
altogether , in part because the consciously dumbed-down approach wears thin .
4 MacDowell ... gives give a solid , anguished performance that eclipses nearly
everything else she 's ever done .
1 This is a poster movie , a mediocre tribute to films like Them .
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 .
1 No , I don'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 .
1 In the era of The Sopranos , it feels painfully redundant and inauthentic .
0 You ca n't believe anyone would really buy this stuff .
1 Long on twinkly-eyed close-ups and short on shame .
1 It 's plotless , shapeless -- and yet , it must be admitted , not entirely
humorless .
1 Each scene drags , underscoring the obvious , and sentiment is slathered on top .
1 Outside of Burger 's desire to make some kind of film , it 's really unclear why
this project was undertaken
0 I 'd rather watch a rerun of The Powerpuff Girls
3 It 's a talking head documentary , but a great one .
2 C'mon .
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 .
4 This is DiCaprio 's best performance in anything ever , and easily the most
watchable film of the year .
1 Everything about it from the bland songs to the colorful but flat drawings is
completely serviceable and quickly forgettable .
3 Cineasts will revel in those visual in-jokes , 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 .
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 .
2 You have enough finely tuned acting to compensate for the movie 's failings .
0 All of the filmmakers ' calculations ca n't rescue Brown Sugar from the curse of
blandness .
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 .
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 .
0 There 's only one way to kill Michael Myers for good : stop buying tickets to
these movies .
4 It makes compelling , provocative and prescient viewing .
0 The Country Bears wastes an exceptionally good idea .
1 Conforms itself with creating a game of who 's who ' ... where the characters '
moves are often more predictable than their consequences .
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 .
1 Sure , I hated myself in the morning .
4 A rollicking ride , with jaw-dropping 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 .
0 Swims in mediocrity , sticking its head up for a breath of fresh air now and then
.
3 Happily , some things are immune to the folly of changing taste and attitude .
4 Great over-the-top moviemaking if you 're in a slap-happy mood .
0 Swiftly deteriorates into a terribly obvious melodrama and rough-hewn vanity
project for lead actress Andie MacDowell .
0 As gamely as the movie tries to make sense of its title character , there remains
a huge gap between the film 's creepy , clean-cut Dahmer Jeremy Renner and
fiendish acts that no amount of earnest textbook psychologizing can bridge .
2 foreshadowing
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 .
1 Sometimes makes less sense than the Bruckheimeresque American action flicks it
emulates .
0 Terrible .
0 Tiresomely derivative and hammily acted .
1 The film 's final hour , where nearly all the previous unseen material resides ,
is unconvincing soap opera that Tornatore was right to cut .
2 Witherspoon puts to rest her valley-girl image , but it 's Dench who really
steals the show .
1 Lookin ' for sin , American-style .
2 Dolman confines himself to shtick and sentimentality -- the one bald and the
other sloppy .
3 An intelligent romantic thriller of a very old-school kind of quality .
3 Even if The Ring has a familiar ring , it 's still unusually crafty and
intelligent for Hollywood horror .
3 The usual movie rah-rah , pleasantly and predictably delivered in low-key style
by director Michael Apted and writer Tom Stoppard .
4 An intelligent and deeply felt work about impossible , irrevocable choices and
the price of making them .
3 A diverse and astonishingly articulate cast of Palestinian and Israeli children .
1 One look at a girl in tight pants and big tits and you turn stupid .
4 This Chicago has hugely imaginative and successful casting to its great credit ,
as well as one terrific score and attitude to spare .
4 Pacino and Williams seem to keep upping the ante on each other , just as their
characters do in the film .
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 .
4 The best didacticism is one carried by a strong sense of humanism , and Bertrand
Tavernier 's oft-brilliant Safe Conduct Laissez-passer '' wears its heart on its
sleeve .
2 The movie is a little tired ; maybe the original inspiration has run its course .
1 Despite some charm and heart , this quirky soccer import is forgettable
1 The weird thing about The Santa Clause 2 , purportedly a children 's movie , is
that there is nothing in it to engage children emotionally .
2 This sci-fi techno-sex thriller starts out bizarre and just keeps getting weirder
.
1 Hip-hop rarely comes alive as its own fire-breathing entity in this picture .
2 The origin story is well told , and the characters will not disappoint anyone who
values the original comic books .
1 Inconsequential road-and-buddy pic .
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 This strenuously unfunny Showtime deserves the hook .
3 Jonathan Parker 's Bartleby should have been the be-all-end-all of the modern-
office anomie films .
4 He has a great cast and a great idea .
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 all-inclusive
world where uptight , middle class bores like Antonia can feel good about
themselves .
0 The movie fails to portray its literarily talented and notorious subject as
anything much more than a dirty old man .
4 Hailed as a clever exercise in neo-Hitchcockianism , this clever and very
satisfying picture is more accurately Chabrolian .
1 Synthetic ' is the best description of this well-meaning , beautifully produced
film that sacrifices its promise for a high-powered star pedigree .
4 A no-holds-barred cinematic treat .
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 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 The fetid underbelly of fame has never looked uglier .
2 Witless but watchable .
3 A sensitive and astute first feature by Anne-Sophie Birot .
3 The charms of the lead performances allow us to forget most of the film 's
problems .
1 A dark comedy that goes for sick and demented humor simply to do so .
3 Together , Miller , Kuras and the actresses make Personal Velocity into an
intricate , intimate and intelligent journey .
3 A very well-meaning movie , and it will stand in future years as an eloquent
memorial to the World Trade Center tragedy .
1 Though clearly well-intentioned , this cross-cultural soap opera is painfully
formulaic and stilted .
3 With so many bad romances out there , this is the kind of movie that deserves a
chance to shine .
3 Shyamalan continues to cut a swathe through mainstream Hollywood , while
retaining an integrity and refusing to compromise his vision .
3 What redeems the film is the cast , particularly the Ya-Yas themselves .
0 The only way to tolerate this insipid , brutally clueless film might be with a
large dose of painkillers .
2 One thing is for sure : This movie does not tell you a whole lot about Lily Chou-
Chou .
3 Birthday Girl '' is an actor 's movie first and foremost .
4 Despite its floating narrative , this is a remarkably accessible and haunting
film .
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 Now I can see why people thought I was too hard on The Mothman Prophecies '' .
2 The most anti-human big studio picture since 3000 Miles to Graceland .
0 The only thing swept away '' is the one hour and thirty-three minutes spent
watching this waste of time .
2 A preposterously melodramatic paean to gang-member teens in Brooklyn circa 1958 .
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 .
4 Visually captivating .
1 Unfortunately , that 's precisely what Arthur Dong 's Family Fundamentals does .
1 While Hollywood Ending has its share of belly laughs including a knockout of a
closing line , the movie winds up feeling like a great missed opportunity .
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 .
0 Our culture is headed down the toilet with the ferocity of a frozen burrito after
an all-night tequila bender -- and I know this because I 've seen jackass : the
movie .
4 Nothing short of a masterpiece -- and a challenging one .
0 Frankly , it 's kind of insulting , both to men and women .
2 A respectable but uninspired thriller that 's intelligent and considered in its
details , but ultimately weak in its impact .
0 One of the worst movies of the year .
1 Ignore the reputation , and ignore the film .
0 Predictably soulless techno-tripe .
2 This English-language version ... does full honor to Miyazaki 's teeming and
often unsettling landscape , and to the conflicted complexity of his characters .
1 The skills of a calculus major at M.I.T. are required to balance all the
formulaic equations in the long-winded heist comedy Who Is Cletis Tout .
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 .
4 Nicholson 's understated performance is wonderful .
1 It 's just that it 's so not-at-all-good .
1 I suspect that there are more interesting ways of dealing with the subject .
3 It 's a quirky , off-beat project .
1 We have poignancy jostling against farce , thoughtful dialogue elbowed aside by
one-liners , and a visual style that incorporates rotoscope animation for no
apparent reason except , maybe , that it looks neat .
1 Stuffy , full of itself , morally ambiguous and nothing to shout about .
3 As the dominant Christine , Sylvie Testud is icily brilliant .
0 The effort is sincere and the results are honest , but the film is so bleak that
it 's hardly watchable .
3 Viva le Resistance .
2 Every child 's story is what matters .
2 Spend your Benjamins on a matinee .
2 ... a lesson in prehistoric hilarity .
3 A tone of rueful compassion ... reverberates throughout this film , whose meaning
and impact is sadly heightened by current world events .
4 The overall fabric is hypnotic , and Mr. Mattei fosters moments of spontaneous
intimacy .
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 .
4 The animated sequences are well done and perfectly constructed to convey a sense
of childhood imagination and creating adventure out of angst .
1 Choppy , overlong documentary about The Lifestyle .
0 Due to stodgy , soap opera-ish dialogue , the rest of the cast comes across as
stick figures reading lines from a TelePrompTer .
4 I have n't laughed that hard in years .
4 With a cast of A-list Brit actors , it is worth searching out .
1 The new film of Anton Chekhov 's The Cherry Orchard puts the ick ' in classic .
4 The movie is well crafted , and well executed .
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 .
0 Would Benigni 's Italian Pinocchio have been any easier to sit through than this
hastily dubbed disaster .
3 Despite an overwrought ending , the film works as well as it does because of the
performances .
1 Cinematic pyrotechnics aside , the only thing Avary seems to care about are mean
giggles and pulchritude .
2 The good is very , very good ... The rest runs from mildly unimpressive to
despairingly awful .
3 Watching these two actors play against each other so intensely , but with
restraint , is a treat .
2 What 's the most positive thing that can be said about the new Rob Schneider
vehicle .
1 Too infuriatingly quirky and taken with its own style .
1 Watching Queen of the Damned is like reading a research paper , with special
effects tossed in .
0 Adam Sandler 's Eight Crazy Nights grows on you -- like a rash .
2 The actresses may have worked up a back story for the women they portray so
convincingly , but viewers don't get enough of that background for the characters
to be involving as individuals rather than types .
3 A complex psychological drama about a father who returns to his son 's home after
decades away .
0 The movie is so contrived , nonsensical and formulaic that , come to think of
it , the day-old shelf would be a more appropriate location to store it .
4 A minor film with major pleasures from Portuguese master Manoel de Oliviera ...
4 For VeggieTales fans , this is more appetizing than a side dish of asparagus .
4 If the real-life story is genuinely inspirational , the movie stirs us as well .
3 Gayton 's script telegraphs every discovery and layers on the gloss of
convenience .
3 No , it 's not as single-minded as John Carpenter 's original , but it 's sure a
lot smarter and more unnerving than the sequels .
1 This starts off with a 1950 's Doris Day feel and it gets very ugly , very fast .
1 While easier to sit through than most of Jaglom 's self-conscious and gratingly
irritating films , it 's still tainted by cliches , painful improbability and murky
points .
3 Poignant if familiar story of a young person suspended between two cultures .
1 Despite some comic sparks , Welcome to Collinwood never catches fire .
2 Even more baffling is that it 's funny .
3 An old-fashioned but emotionally stirring adventure tale of the kind they rarely
make anymore .
4 Not many movies have that kind of impact on me these days .
3 There 's a spontaneity to The Chateau , a sense of light-heartedness , that makes
it attractive throughout .
3 A very capable nailbiter .
3 It 's not just a feel-good movie , it 's a feel movie .
2 The sound of GUNFIRE and cell phones RINGING .
0 But one thing 's for sure : It never comes close to being either funny or scary .
2 Blade II is as estrogen-free 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 big-time .
2 What makes the movie work -- to an admittedly limited extent -- is the commitment
of two genuinely engaging performers .
1 And neither do cliches , no matter how inside ' they are .
2 In its own way
0 The movie is virtually without context -- journalistic or historical .
3 If it 's not entirely memorable , the movie is certainly easy to watch .
1 An odd , haphazard , and inconsequential romantic comedy .
1 Too much of Nemesis has a tired , talky feel .
1 How many more times will indie filmmakers subject us to boring , self-important
stories of how horrible we are to ourselves and each other .
1 While the transgressive trappings especially the frank sex scenes ensure that
the film is never dull , Rodrigues 's beast-within metaphor is ultimately rather
silly and overwrought , making the ambiguous ending seem goofy rather than
provocative .
1 An awkward hybrid of genres that just does n't work .
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 In Auteil 's less dramatic but equally incisive performance , he 's a charismatic
charmer likely to seduce and conquer .
4 Marvelously entertaining and deliriously joyous documentary .
3 It 's a square , sentimental drama that satisfies , as comfort food often can .
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
.
0 Sluggish , tonally uneven .
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 .
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 A bit of a downer and a little over-dramatic at times , but this is a beautiful
film for people who like their romances to have that French realism .
1 A big meal of cliches that the talented cast generally chokes on .
1 entertaining enough , but nothing new
4 Beautifully shot , delicately scored and powered by a set of heartfelt
performances , it 's a lyrical endeavour .
4 Hartley adds enough quirky and satirical touches in the screenplay to keep the
film entertaining .
3 Something for everyone .
0 The problem is that for the most part , the film is deadly dull .
4 A fine , rousing , G-rated family film , aimed mainly at little kids but with
plenty of entertainment value to keep grown-ups from squirming in their seats .
4 Fifty years after the fact , the world 's political situation seems little
different , and director Phillip Noyce brings out the allegory with remarkable
skill .
4 Australian filmmaker David Flatman uses the huge-screen format to make an old-
fashioned nature film that educates viewers with words and pictures while
entertaining them .
1 Thoroughly engrossing and ultimately tragic .
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 .
1 Has all the complexity and realistic human behavior of an episode of General
Hospital .
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 .
2 Sitting through the last reel spoiler alert .
4 A small gem from Belgium .
4 Hugh Grant , who has a good line in charm , has never been more charming than in
About a Boy .
0 In addition to sporting one of the worst titles in recent cinematic history ,
Ballistic : Ecks Vs. Sever also features terrible , banal dialogue ; convenient ,
hole-ridden plotting ; superficial characters and a rather dull , unimaginative car
chase .
3 For proof of that on the cinematic front , look no further than this 20th
anniversary edition of the film that Spielberg calls , retrospectively , his most
personal work yet .
1 Carrying this wafer-thin 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 .
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 .
2 The bland outweighs the nifty , and Cletis Tout never becomes the clever crime
comedy it thinks it is .
2 While Hoffman 's performance is great , the subject matter goes nowhere .
1 It 's impossible to indulge the fanciful daydreams of Janice Beard Eileen Walsh
when her real-life persona is so charmless and vacant .
3 Otto-Sallies has a real filmmaker 's eye .
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 A jaw-droppingly beautiful work
1 A supernatural mystery that does n't know whether it wants to be a suspenseful
horror movie or a weepy melodrama .
4 There 's no denying that Burns is a filmmaker with a bright future ahead of him .
2 There are far worse messages to teach a young audience , which will probably be
perfectly happy with the sloppy slapstick comedy .
2 It may sound like a mere disease-of - the-week TV movie , but A Song For Martin
is made infinitely more wrenching by the performances of real-life spouses Seldahl
and Wollter .
1 Resurrection has the dubious distinction of being a really bad imitation of the
really bad Blair Witch Project .
0 A very depressing movie of many missed opportunities .
0 This is a fragmented film , once a good idea that was followed by the bad idea to
turn it into a movie .
0 A stupid , derivative horror film that substitutes extreme gore for suspense .
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 .
2 The funny thing is , I did n't mind all this contrived nonsense a bit .
3 The charm of Revolution OS is rather the way it introduces you to new , fervently
held ideas and fanciful thinkers .
1 With or without ballast tanks , K-19 sinks to a Harrison Ford low .
2 Screenwriter Pimental took the Farrelly Brothers comedy and feminized it , but
it is a rather poor imitation .
3 A surprisingly sweet and gentle comedy .
2 While kids will probably eat the whole thing up , most adults will be way ahead
of the plot .
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 .
4 It 's about individual moments of mood , and an aimlessness that 's actually sort
of amazing .
2 Hollywood 's answer to an air ball .
4 It 's a smart , solid , kinetically-charged spy flick worthy of a couple hours of
summertime and a bucket of popcorn .
4 A sensitive , cultivated treatment of Greene 's work as well as a remarkably
faithful one .
4 A stylish thriller .
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 hour-and-a-half .
3 As refreshing as a drink from a woodland stream .
0 But the movie that does n't really deliver for country music fans or for family
audiences
3 Alternates between deadpan comedy and heartbreaking loneliness and is n't afraid
to provoke introspection in both its characters and its audience .
3 Unfolds in a low-key , organic way that encourages you to accept it as life and
go with its flow .
2 Brown 's saga , like many before his , makes for snappy prose but a stumblebum of
a movie .
2 A perfectly competent and often imaginative film that lacks what little Lilo &
Stitch had in spades -- charisma .
4 The one-liners are snappy , the situations volatile and the comic opportunities
richly rewarded .
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 .
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 .
2 Whatever about warning kids about the dangers of ouija boards , someone should
dispense the same advice to film directors .
1 Siegel and co-writers Lisa Bazadona and Grace Woodard have relied too much on
convention in creating the characters who surround Frankie .
2 What Bloody Sunday lacks in clarity , it makes up for with a great , fiery
passion .
1 Supposedly , Pokemon ca n't be killed , but Pokemon 4Ever practically assures
that the pocket monster movie franchise is nearly ready to keel over .
3 Allen 's underestimated charm delivers more goodies than lumps of coal .
3 The hook is the drama within the drama , as an unsolved murder and an unresolved
moral conflict jockey for the spotlight .
4 I thought the relationships were wonderful , the comedy was funny , and the love
real ' .
3 There are moments of hilarity to be had .
1 One problem with the movie , directed by Joel Schumacher , is that it jams too
many prefabricated story elements into the running time .
1 It 's one long bore .
1 In spite of featuring a script credited to no fewer than five writers ,
apparently nobody here bothered to check it twice .
1 The scriptwriters are no less a menace to society than the film 's characters .
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 .
4 The most wondrous love story in years , it is a great film .
1 A prison comedy that never really busts out of its comfy little cell .
1 Writer-director Randall Wallace has bitten off more than he or anyone else could
chew , and his movie veers like a drunken driver through heavy traffic .
3 Contrived as this may sound , Mr. Rose 's updating works surprisingly well .
0 If it were any more of a turkey , it would gobble in Dolby Digital stereo .
3 A culture-clash comedy that , in addition to being very funny , captures some of
the discomfort and embarrassment of being a bumbling American in Europe .
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 What the audience feels is exhaustion , from watching a movie that is dark dark
green , to be exact , sour , bloody and mean .
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 .
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 7th-century oral traditions is also a pointed political allegory .
4 Arteta directs one of the best ensemble casts of the year
1 Nothing happens , and it happens to flat characters .
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 .
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 .
3 It is an unstinting look at a collaboration between damaged people that may or
may not qual
1 The milieu is wholly unconvincing ... and the histrionics reach a truly annoying
pitch .
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 .
2 Men in Black II creates a new threat for the MIB , but recycles the same
premise .
3 A bracing , unblinking work that serves as a painful elegy and sobering
cautionary tale .
4 Pacino is the best he 's been in years and Keener is marvelous .
0 An awkwardly garish showcase that diverges from anything remotely probing or
penetrating .
4 His work with actors is particularly impressive .
1 ... while Dark Water is n't a complete wash no pun intended , watched side-by-
side with Ringu , it ultimately comes off as a pale successor .
0 ... bibbidy-bobbidi-bland .
3 It 's light on the chills and heavy on the atmospheric weirdness , and there are
moments of jaw-droppingly odd behavior -- yet I found it weirdly appealing .
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 .
3 Oh , and more entertaining , too .
0 This little film is so slovenly done , so primitive in technique , that it ca n't
really be called animation .
1 the film never rises above a conventional , two dimension tale
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 .
3 This is historical filmmaking without the balm of right-thinking ideology ,
either liberal or conservative .
2 Sayles is making a statement about the inability of dreams and aspirations to
carry forward into the next generation .
0 Extremely bad .
0 The somber pacing and lack of dramatic fireworks make Green Dragon seem more like
medicine than entertainment .
3 Handsome and sophisticated approach to the workplace romantic comedy .
4 A moving and solidly entertaining comedy/drama that should bolster director and
co-writer
2 More of a career curio than a major work .
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 .
2 It 's obvious Je-Gyu is trying for poetry ; what he gets instead has all the
lyricism of a limerick scrawled in a public restroom .
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 .
0 Ringu is a disaster of a story , full of holes and completely lacking in chills .
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 Red Dragon makes one appreciate Silence of the Lambs .
2 Made me feel uneasy , even queasy , because Solondz 's cool compassion is on
the border of bemused contempt .
3 Brown Sugar admirably aspires to be more than another Best Man clone by weaving
a theme throughout this funny film .
1 A bland , obnoxious 88-minute infomercial for Universal Studios and its ancillary
products.
4 Astonishingly skillful and moving ... it could become a historically significant
work as well as a masterfully made one .
1 It is too bad that this likable movie is n't more accomplished .
1 The Importance of Being Earnest movie seems to be missing a great deal of the
acerbic repartee of the play .'
0 The lead actors share no chemistry or engaging charisma .
4 A much better documentary -- more revealing , more emotional and more surprising
-- than its pedestrian English title would have you believe .
3 The most audacious , outrageous , sexually explicit , psychologically probing ,
pure libido film of the year has arrived from Portugal .
2 If H.G. Wells had a time machine and could take a look at his kin 's reworked
version , what would he say .
0 Less funny than it should be and less funny than it thinks it is .
2 A thriller made from a completist 's checklist rather than with a cultist 's
passion .
3 Sharp edges and a deep vein of sadness run through its otherwise comic
narrative .
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 .
1 The Christ allegory does n't work because there is no foundation for it
4 Apart from anything else , this is one of the best-sustained ideas I have ever
seen on the screen .
3 Tambor and Clayburgh make an appealing couple -- he 's understated and sardonic ,
she 's appealingly manic and energetic .
3 A headline-fresh 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 The formula is familiar but enjoyable .
0 It is dark , brooding and slow , and takes its central idea way too seriously .
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 .
4 Sweet and memorable film .
1 While not all that bad of a movie , it 's nowhere near as good as the original .
2 As crimes go , writer-director Michael Kalesniko 's How to Kill Your Neighbor 's
Dog is slight but unendurable .
2 Eastwood winces , clutches his chest and gasps for breath .
3 It deserves to be seen everywhere .
3 Her film
2 An uplifting drama ... What Antwone Fisher is n't , however , is original .
3 And the positive change in tone here seems to have recharged him .
0 Shot like a postcard and overacted with all the boozy self-indulgence that brings
out the worst in otherwise talented actors ...
2 Please see previous answer .
4 I love the robust middle of this picture .
3 Drama of temptation , salvation and good intentions is a thoughtful examination
of faith , love and power .
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 .
0 Less a movie than an appalling , odoriferous thing ... so rotten in almost
every single facet of production that you 'll want to crawl up your own \*\*\* in
embarrassment .
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 great companion piece to other Napoleon films .
3 The ending feels at odds with the rest of the film .
3 There 's plenty to impress about E.T.
4 This film puts Wang at the forefront of China 's Sixth Generation of film
makers .
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 .
2 The actors pull out all the stops in nearly every scene , but to diminishing
effect .
3 The concept behind Kung Pow : Enter the Fist is hilarious .
4 It zips along with B-movie verve while adding the rich details and go-for-broke
acting that heralds something special .
3 An uncomfortable experience , but one as brave and challenging as you could
possibly expect these days from American cinema .
2 displays the potential for a better movie than what Bailly manages to deliver
2 The Emperor 's Club is one of those films that possesses all the good intentions
in the world , but ...
1 The pretensions -- and disposable story -- sink the movie .
0 Depressingly thin and exhaustingly contrived .
4 Showtime is a fine-looking film with a bouncy score and a clutch of lively songs
for deft punctuation .
3 It 's fun , wispy , wise and surprisingly inoffensive for a film about a teen in
love with his stepmom .
1 Well , Jason 's gone to Manhattan and Hell , I guess a space station in the year
2455 can be crossed off the list of ideas for the inevitable future sequels hey ,
don't shoot the messenger .
2 The filmmakers lack the nerve ... to fully exploit the script 's potential for
sick humor .
3 Crammed with incident , and bristles with passion and energy .
3 This 90-minute postmodern voyage was more diverting and thought-provoking than I
'd expected it to be .
0 It makes me say the obvious : Abandon all hope of a good movie ye who enter
here .
1 Can I admit XXX is as deep as a Petri dish and as well-characterized as a
telephone book but still say it was a guilty pleasure .
3 It 's a testament to the film 's considerable charm that it succeeds in
entertaining , despite playing out like a feature-length sitcom replete with
stereotypical familial quandaries .
1 Its audacious ambitions sabotaged by pomposity , Steven Soderbergh 's space opera
emerges as a numbingly dull experience .
0 A boring , pretentious muddle that uses a sensational , real-life 19th-Century
crime as a metaphor for -- well , I 'm not exactly sure what -- and has all the
dramatic weight of a raindrop .
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 Jackie Chan movies are a guilty pleasure - he 's easy to like and always leaves
us laughing .
3 Thoroughly enjoyable .
4 Leigh has a true talent for drawing wrenching performances from his actors
improvised over many months and for conveying the way tiny acts of kindness make
ordinary life survivable .
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 .
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 .
3 Smith finds amusing juxtapositions that justify his exercise .
2 Less-than-compelling documentary of a Yiddish theater clan .
1 Everything about Girls Ca n't Swim , even its passages of sensitive observation ,
feels secondhand , familiar -- and not in a good way .
2 B picture , and I mean that as a compliment .
2 Examines its explosive subject matter as nonjudgmentally as Wiseman 's previous
studies of inner-city high schools , hospitals , courts and welfare centers .
2 What started out as a taut contest of wills between Bacon and Theron ,
deteriorates into a protracted and borderline silly chase sequence .
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 .
4 Kline 's 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 .
0 One of the most unpleasant things the studio has ever produced .
2 In the end , all you can do is admire the ensemble players and wonder what the
point of it is .
2 Rodriguez ... was unable to reproduce the special spark between the characters
that made the first film such a delight .
4 He nonetheless appreciates the art and reveals a music scene that transcends
culture and race .
4 The unique niche of self-critical , behind-the-scenes navel-gazing Kaufman has
carved from Orleans ' story and his own infinite insecurity is a work of
outstanding originality .
2 Possession is in the end an honorable , interesting failure .
2 This is n't a terrible film by any means , but it 's also far from being a
realized work .
4 Will warm your heart without making you feel guilty about it .
3 F rom the performances and the cinematography to the outstanding soundtrack and
unconventional narrative , the film is blazingly alive and admirable on many levels
.
3 It 's the perfect star vehicle for Grant , allowing him to finally move away from
his usual bumbling , tongue-tied screen persona .
1 It 's a pedestrian , flat drama that screams out amateur ' in almost every
frame .
3 Always destined to be measured against Anthony Asquith 's acclaimed 1952 screen
adaptation .
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 .
4 There is greatness here .
1 Although it tries to be much more , it 's really just another Major League .
1 It 's a glorified sitcom , and a long , unfunny one at that .
3 Mama Africa pretty much delivers on that promise .
3 Adolescents will be adequately served by the movie 's sophomoric blend of
shenanigans and slapstick , although the more lascivious-minded might be
disappointed in the relative modesty of a movie that sports a topless tutorial
service .
1 Sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger , with a physique to match , Ahola has a
wooden delivery and encounters a substantial arc of change that does n't produce
any real transformation .
0 Has the disjointed feel of a bunch of strung-together TV episodes .
4 Director Nancy Savoca 's no-frills record of a show forged in still-raw emotions
captures the unsettled tenor of that post 9-11 period far better than a more
measured or polished production ever could .
0 As it is , it 's too long and unfocused .
1 Lyne 's latest , the erotic thriller Unfaithful , further demonstrates just how
far his storytelling skills have eroded .
2 When the heroes were actually under 40 .
3 Another love story in 2002 's remarkable procession of sweeping pictures that
have reinvigorated the romance genre .
0 A cheap scam put together by some cynical creeps at Revolution Studios and
Imagine Entertainment to make the suckers out there surrender $ 9 and 93 minutes of
unrecoverable life .
2 It ca n't escape its past , and it does n't want to .
0 This one aims for the toilet and scores a direct hit .
2 A picture as erratic as its central character .
3 An ideal love story for those intolerant of the more common saccharine genre .
3 A gorgeously strange movie , Heaven is deeply concerned with morality , but it
refuses to spell things out for viewers .
3 Its spirit of iconoclastic abandon -- however canned -- makes for unexpectedly
giddy viewing .
3 ... a great , participatory spectator sport .
0 It 's the element of condescension , as the filmmakers look down on their
working-class subjects from their lofty perch , that finally makes Sex With
Strangers , which opens today in the New York metropolitan area , so distasteful .
1 Ararat feels like a book report
4 it 's refreshing to see a movie that embraces its old-fashioned themes and in the
process comes out looking like something wholly original .
3 Its metaphors are opaque enough to avoid didacticism , and the film succeeds as
an emotionally accessible , almost mystical work .
1 Evans is a fascinating character , and deserves a better vehicle than this
facetious smirk of a movie .
2 Silly , loud and goofy .
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 .
4 A moving and important film .
2 You wo n't exactly know what 's happening but you 'll be blissfully exhausted .
2 I realized that no matter how fantastic Reign of Fire looked , its story was
making no sense at all .
1 Heavy with flabby rolls of typical Toback machinations .
4 The world needs more filmmakers with passionate enthusiasms like Martin
Scorsese .
1 Russell lacks the visual panache , the comic touch , and perhaps the budget of
Sommers 's title-bout features .
3 And educational .
4 It 's dark but has wonderfully funny moments ; you care about the characters ;
and the action and special effects are first-rate .
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 There 's nothing exactly wrong here , but there 's not nearly enough that 's
right .
2 I don't even care that there 's no plot in this Antonio Banderas-Lucy Liu faceoff
.
0 This movie feel more like a non-stop cry for attention , than an attempt at any
kind of satisfying entertainment .
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 .
3 I liked this film a lot ...
0 Not only is entry number twenty the worst of the Brosnan bunch , it 's one of the
worst of the entire franchise .
2 Largely , this is a movie that also does it by the numbers .
1 We never feel anything for these characters , and as a result the film is
basically just a curiosity .
1 I suspect that you 'll be as bored watching Morvern Callar as the characters are
in it .
1 Stealing Harvard ca n't even do that much .
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 .
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 .
4 Amid the new populist comedies that underscore the importance of family tradition
and familial community , one would be hard-pressed to find a movie with a bigger ,
fatter heart than Barbershop .
2 There are a few modest laughs , but certainly no thrills .
4 Gay or straight , Kissing Jessica Stein is one of the greatest date movies in
years .
3 It has its faults , but it is a kind , unapologetic , sweetheart of a movie , and
Mandy Moore leaves a positive impression .
4 ... bright , intelligent , and humanly funny film .
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 .
1 Quitting , however , manages just to be depressing , as the lead actor phones in
his autobiographical performance .
3 A fine effort , an interesting topic , some intriguing characters and a sad
ending .
2 Muddled , trashy and incompetent
3 Time Out is existential drama without any of the pretension associated with the
term .
2 And a very rainy day .
3 Maintains your sympathy for this otherwise challenging soul by letting you share
her one-room world for a while .
1 The story has little wit and no surprises .
1 Decent but dull .
4 Mr. Deeds is , as comedy goes , very silly -- and in the best way .
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 .
1 Go back to sleep .
3 You live the mood rather than savour the story .
1 A painfully flat gross-out comedy ...
1 Bean drops the ball too many times ... hoping the nifty premise will create
enough interest to make up for an unfocused screenplay .
1 Grating and tedious .
0 Utter mush ... conceited pap .
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 .
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 .
0 This is standard crime drama fare ... instantly forgettable and thoroughly dull .
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 .
1 A sleep-inducing thriller with a single twist that everyone except the characters
in it can see coming a mile away .
2 Expanded to 65 minutes for theatrical release , it still feels somewhat
unfinished .
3 And yet , it still works .
0 What more can be expected from a college comedy that 's target audience has n't
graduated from junior high school .
4 A fresh , entertaining comedy that looks at relationships minus traditional
gender roles .
1 While some of the camera work is interesting , the film 's mid-to-low budget is
betrayed by the surprisingly shoddy makeup work .
1 I think it was Plato who said , ' I think , therefore I know better than to rush
to the theatre for this one .
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 .
2 Count on his movie to work at the back of your neck long after you leave the
theater .
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
0 Lazy filmmaking , with the director taking a hands-off approach when he should
have shaped the story to show us why it 's compelling .
1 Would that Greengrass had gone a tad less for grit and a lot more for
intelligibility .
3 Although some viewers will not be able to stomach so much tongue-in-cheek
weirdness , those who do will have found a cult favorite to enjoy for a lifetime .
3 Reno delivers a monologue that manages to incorporate both the horror and the
absurdity of the situation in a well-balanced fashion .
1 The story is -- forgive me -- a little thin , and the filmmaking clumsy and
rushed .
1 Kids don't mind crappy movies as much as adults , provided there 's lots of cute
animals and clumsy people .
3 Has an unmistakable , easy joie de vivre .
3 The movie 's thesis -- elegant technology for the masses -- is surprisingly
refreshing .
2 It 's deep-sixed by a compulsion to catalog every bodily fluids gag in There 's
Something About Mary and devise a parallel clone-gag .
1 It 's virtually impossible to like any of these despicable characters .
3 When you 've got the wildly popular Vin Diesel in the equation , it adds up to
big box office bucks all but guaranteed .
1 The premise of Abandon holds promise , ... but its delivery is a complete mess .
0 The Adventures of Pluto Nash is a whole lot of nada .
2 the phone rings and a voice tells you you 've got seven days left to live .
1 The whole talking-animal thing is grisly .
1 Adults , other than the parents ... will be hard pressed to succumb to the call
of the wild .
4 With Spy Kids 2 : The Island of Lost Dreams , however , Robert Rodriguez adorns
his family-film plot with an elegance and maturity that even most contemporary
adult movies are lacking .
4 Scherfig 's light-hearted profile of emotional desperation is achingly honest and
delightfully cheeky .
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 .
1 A kilted Jackson is an unsettling sight , and indicative of his , if you will ,
out-of-kilter character , who rambles aimlessly through ill-conceived action pieces
.
1 Just the sort of lazy tearjerker that gives movies about ordinary folk a bad name
.
3 It treats Ana 's journey with honesty that is tragically rare in the depiction of
young women in film .
3 Together writer-director Danny Verete 's three tales comprise a powerful and
reasonably fulfilling gestalt .
2 Though not for everyone , The Guys is a somber trip worth taking .
4 Top-notch action powers this romantic drama .
1 Denis ' bare-bones narrative more closely resembles an outline for a '70s
exploitation picture than the finished product .
0 For its 100 minutes running time , you 'll wait in vain for a movie to happen .
1 I could have used my two hours better watching Being John Malkovich again .
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 .
4 Romanek 's themes are every bit as distinctive as his visuals .
4 A comedy that is warm , inviting , and surprising .
4 It has fun with the quirks of family life , but it also treats the subject with
fondness and respect .
3 Blade II merges bits and pieces from fighting games , wire fu , horror movies ,
mystery , James Bond , wrestling , sci-fi and anime into one big bloody stew .
1 Despite engaging offbeat touches , Knockaround Guys rarely seems interested in
kicking around a raison d'etre that 's as fresh-faced as its young-guns cast .
3 Worth a salute just for trying to be more complex than your average film .
0 Build some robots , haul 'em to the theatre with you for the late show , and put
on your own Mystery Science Theatre 3000 tribute to what is almost certainly going
to go down as the worst -- and only -- killer website movie of this or any other
year .
4 Brims with passion : for words , for its eccentric , accident-prone characters ,
and for the crazy things that keep people going in this crazy life .
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 .
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 .
4 ... a delicious crime drama on par with the slickest of Mamet .
4 A heartbreakingly thoughtful minor classic , the work of a genuine and singular
artist .
2 But it does n't need Gangs of New York .
2 This slow-moving 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 .
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 Return to Never Land is reliable , standard Disney animated fare , with enough
creative energy and wit to entertain all ages .
3 Escapes the precious trappings of most romantic comedies , infusing into the
story very real , complicated emotions .
4 Bittersweet comedy/drama full of life , hand gestures , and some really adorable
Italian guys .
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 .
1 Solondz is so intent on hammering home his message that he forgets to make it
entertaining .
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 .
2 Stuart 's poor-me persona needs a whole bunch of Snowball 's cynicism to cut
through the sugar coating .
3 The viewer takes great pleasure in watching the resourceful Molly stay a step
ahead of her pursuers .
3 What 's most refreshing about Real Women Have Curves is its unforced comedy-drama
and its relaxed , natural-seeming actors .
1 If you 're looking to rekindle the magic of the first film , you 'll need a
stronger stomach than us .
4 The wonder of Mostly Martha is the performance of Gedeck , who makes Martha
enormously endearing .
1 A selection of scenes in search of a movie .
4 The rare movie that 's as crisp and to the point as the novel on which it 's
based .
2 Or intelligent .
3 This film can only point the way -- but thank goodness for this signpost .
4 Hawn and Sarandon form an acting bond that makes The Banger Sisters a fascinating
character study with laughs to spare .
3 By the end of it all I sort of loved the people onscreen , even though I could
not stand them .
1 One big blustery movie where nothing really happens .
3 Plummer steals the show without resorting to camp as Nicholas ' wounded and
wounding Uncle Ralph .
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 .
3 This is a movie that is what it is : a pleasant distraction , a Friday night
diversion , an excuse to eat popcorn .
1 More trifle than triumph .
1 This u-boat does n't have a captain .
1 You leave the same way you came -- a few tasty morsels under your belt , but no
new friends .
3 A little better than Sorcerer 's Stone .
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 .
1 I 'm not exactly sure what this movie thinks it is about .
2 Most of the film feels conceived and shot on the fly -- like between lunch breaks
for Shearer 's radio show and his Simpson voice-overs .
1 The main story ... is compelling enough , but it 's difficult to shrug off the
annoyance of that chatty fish .
1 Chan 's stunts are limited and so embellished by editing that there 's really not
much of a sense of action or even action-comedy .
0 The script , the gags , the characters are all direct-to-video stuff , and that
's where this film should have remained .
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 .
3 May not be a breakthrough in filmmaking , but it is unwavering and arresting .
4 Awesome work : ineffable , elusive , yet inexplicably powerful
3 I was impressed by how many tit-for-tat retaliatory responses the filmmakers
allow before pulling the plug on the conspirators and averting an American-Russian
Armageddon .
2 Just like Igby .
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 .
1 Queen of the Damned is too long with too little going on .
2 A charming and funny story of clashing cultures and a clashing mother/daughter
relationship .
1 It 's loud and boring ; watching it is like being trapped at a bad rock concert .
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 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 All leather pants & augmented boobs , Hawn is hilarious as she tries to
resuscitate the fun-loving libertine lost somewhere inside the conservative ,
handbag-clutching Sarandon .
3 Cremaster 3 should come with the warning For serious film buffs only .
3 Both exuberantly romantic and serenely melancholy , What Time Is It There .
2 This is mostly well-constructed fluff , which is all it seems intended to be .
4 It 's something of the ultimate Scorsese film , with all the stomach-turning
violence , colorful New York gang lore and other hallmarks of his personal cinema
painted on their largest-ever historical canvas .
1 It takes a really long , slow and dreary time to dope out what TUCK EVERLASTING
is about .
0 Call me a cold-hearted 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 .
3 This is a dark , gritty , sometimes funny little gem .
0 Shallow , noisy and pretentious .
3 Strange occurrences build in the mind of the viewer and take on extreme urgency .
3 It 's bright , pristine style and bold colors make it as much fun as reading an
oversized picture book before bedtime .
1 In the process of trimming the movie to an expeditious 84 minutes , director
Roger Kumble seems to have dumped a whole lot of plot in favor of ... outrageous
gags .
0 Bad and baffling from the get-go .
1 A big , loud , bang-the-drum bore .
2 So riddled with unanswered questions that it requires gargantuan leaps of faith
just to watch it plod along .
1 You leave feeling like you 've endured a long workout without your pulse ever
racing .
0 An inept , tedious spoof of '70s kung fu pictures , it contains almost enough
chuckles for a three-minute sketch , and no more .
4 This is a movie that refreshes the mind and spirit along with the body , so
original is its content , look , and style .
2 Maybe Thomas Wolfe was right : You ca n't go home again .
1 The dramatic scenes are frequently unintentionally funny , and the action
sequences -- clearly the main event -- are surprisingly uninvolving .
0 The movie has a script by Paul Pender made of wood , and it 's relentlessly
folksy , a procession of stagy set pieces stacked with binary oppositions .
0 After seeing the film , I can tell you that there 's no other reason why anyone
should bother remembering it .
2 It 's supposed to be a humorous , all-too-human look at how hope can breed a
certain kind of madness -- and strength -- but it never quite adds up .
2 There are moments of real pleasure to be found in Sara Sugarman 's whimsical
comedy Very Annie-Mary but not enough to sustain the film .
3 The script is high on squaddie banter , low on shocks .
2 As directed by Dani Kouyate of Burkina Faso , Sia lacks visual flair .
4 Spinning a web of dazzling entertainment may be overstating it , but Spider-Man
certainly delivers the goods .
0 Solaris is a shapeless inconsequential move relying on the viewer to do most of
the work .
2 It 's fitfully funny but never really takes off .
2 If you 're a Crocodile Hunter fan , you 'll enjoy at least the real portions of
the film .
3 A compelling story of musical passion against governmental odds .
4 A riveting story well told .
2 Um , no. .
4 He makes you realize that deep inside righteousness can be found a tough beauty .
4 Features what is surely the funniest and most accurate depiction of writer 's
block ever .
1 The movie is a negligible work of manipulation , an exploitation piece doing its
usual worst to guilt-trip parents .
2 Well-meaning to a fault , Antwone Fisher manages the dubious feat of turning one
man 's triumph of will into everyman 's romance comedy .
3 The bottom line is the piece works brilliantly .
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 .
1 Everything -- even life on an aircraft carrier -- is sentimentalized .
4 Working from a surprisingly sensitive script co-written by Gianni Romoli ...
Ozpetek avoids most of the pitfalls you 'd expect in such a potentially sudsy set-
up .
1 Plot , characters , drama , emotions , ideas -- all are irrelevant to the
experience of seeing The Scorpion King .
1 It 's not helpful to listen to extremist name-calling , regardless of whether you
think Kissinger was a calculating fiend or just a slippery self-promoter .
4 The film is visually dazzling , the depicted events dramatic , funny and poignant
.
3 Both an admirable reconstruction of terrible events , and a fitting memorial to
the dead of that day , and of the thousands thereafter .
3 Mindless yet impressively lean spinoff of last summer 's bloated effects fest The
Mummy Returns .
1 even after 90 minutes of playing opposite each other Bullock and Grant still look
ill at ease sharing the same scene .
4 Kudos to the most enchanting film of the year .
0 I ca n't recommend it .
3 Russian Ark is a new treasure of the Hermitage .
3 The Rock is destined to be the 21st Century 's new Conan and that he 's going to
make a splash even greater than Arnold Schwarzenegger , Jean-Claud Van Damme or
Steven Segal .
4 The film is darkly funny in its observation of just how much more grueling and
time-consuming the illusion of work is than actual work .
3 The picture 's fascinating byways are littered with trenchant satirical jabs at
the peculiar egocentricities of the acting breed .
2 It 's Jagger 's bone-dry , mournfully brittle delivery that gives the film its
bittersweet bite .
1 Lin Chung 's voice is rather unexceptional , even irritating at least to this
Western ear , making it awfully hard to buy the impetus for the complicated love
triangle that develops between the three central characters .
1 It 's coherent , well shot , and tartly acted , but it wears you down like a
dinner guest showing off his doctorate .
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 .
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 .
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 .
1 Disjointed parody .
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 .
2 It 's tough being a black man in America , especially when the Man has taken away
your car , your work-hours and denied you health insurance .
2 The kind of trifle that date nights were invented for .
1 The plot has a number of holes , and at times it 's simply baffling .
3 Seen in that light , Moonlight Mile should strike a nerve in many .
2 Wobbly Senegalese updating of Carmen which is best for the stunning star turn by
Djeinaba Diop Gai
3 Plus , like I already mentioned ... it 's Robert Duvall .
4 Laugh-out-loud lines , adorably ditsy but heartfelt performances , and
sparkling , bittersweet dialogue that cuts to the chase of the modern girl 's
dilemma .
1 - greaseballs mob action-comedy .
2 Explosions , jokes , and sexual innuendoes abound .
1 It gets old quickly .
4 A thoughtful , visually graceful work .
1 A standard police-oriented drama that , were it not for De Niro 's
participation , would have likely wound up a TNT Original .
2 He may have meant the Internet short Saving Ryan 's Privates .
1 It 's a long way from Orwell 's dark , intelligent warning cry 1984 to the
empty stud knockabout of Equilibrium , and what once was conviction is now
affectation .
4 Raimi crafted a complicated hero who is a welcome relief from the usual two-
dimensional offerings .
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 .
2 The plot 's clearly mythic structure may owe more to Disney 's strong sense of
formula than to the original story .
4 A poignant lyricism runs through Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress that
transforms this story about love and culture into a cinematic poem .
0 Unfortunately , One Hour Photo lives down to its title .
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 .
2 Gere gives a good performance in a film that does n't merit it .
3 Rarely has skin looked as beautiful , desirable , even delectable , as it does in
Trouble Every Day .
0 The pacing is often way off and there are too many bona fide groaners among too
few laughs .
2 Reyes ' word processor .
2 In capturing the understated comedic agony of an ever-ruminating , genteel yet
decadent aristocracy that can no longer pay its bills , the film could just as well
be addressing the turn of the 20th century into the 21st .
0 In that setting , their struggle is simply too ludicrous and borderline insulting
.
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 Robert John Burke as The Monster horns in and steals the show .
0 The result , however well-intentioned , is ironically just the sort of disposable
, kitchen-sink homage that illustrates why the whole is so often less than the sum
of its parts in today 's Hollywood .
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 .
0 An incoherent jumble of a film that 's rarely as entertaining as it could have
been .
4 Is not so much a work of entertainment as it is a unique , well-crafted
psychological study of grief .
1 Just is n't as weird as it ought to be .
3 With Spy Kids 2 : 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 .
1 Something must have been lost in the translation .
0 Degenerates into hogwash .
0 It 's a shame that the storyline and its underlying themes ... finally seem so
impersonal or even shallow .
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 flip-flop of courtship , we often reel
in when we should be playing out .
1 There 's some outrageously creative action in The Transporter ... b ut by the
time Frank parachutes down onto a moving truck , it 's just another cartoon with an
unstoppable superman .
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 .
0 ... a cheap , ludicrous attempt at serious horror .
1 I ca n't say this enough : This movie is about an adult male dressed in pink
jammies .
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 It 's the kind of effectively creepy-scary 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 .
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 .
3 If S&M seems like a strange route to true love , maybe it is , but it 's to this
film 's and its makers ' credit that we believe that that 's exactly what these
two people need to find each other -- and themselves .
4 A dark , quirky road movie that constantly defies expectation .
3 Scott Baio is turning in some delightful work on indie projects .
2 A frustrating yet deeply watchable melodrama that makes you think it 's a tougher
picture than it is .
2 Enchanted with low-life 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 .
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 .
0 The 50-something lovebirds are too immature and unappealing to care about .
2 A life-size reenactment of those Jack Chick cartoon tracts that always ended with
some hippie getting tossed into the lake of fire .
3 Eyre is on his way to becoming the American Indian Spike Lee .
1 Set in a 1986 Harlem that does n't look much like anywhere in New York .
1 A well-crafted letdown .
3 An unusually dry-eyed , even analytical approach to material that is generally
played for maximum moisture .
0 an appalling Ace Ventura ' rip-off that somehow manages to bring together Kevin
Pollak , former wrestler Chyna and Dolly Parton .
3 I simply ca n't recommend it enough .
3 There 's lots of cool stuff packed into ESPN 's Ultimate X.
1 A negligible British comedy .
0 don't even bother to rent this on video .
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 Faithful without being forceful , sad without being shrill , A Walk to Remember
succeeds through sincerity .
4 A passionately inquisitive film determined to uncover the truth and hopefully
inspire action .
3 We want the funk - and this movie 's got it .
3 The best of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films to date .
2 A decidedly mixed bag .
1 This is Sandler running on empty , repeating what he 's already done way too
often .
0 I like my Christmas movies with more elves and snow and less pimps and ho 's .
0 Their parents would do well to cram earplugs in their ears and put pillowcases
over their heads for 87 minutes .
0 ... Blade II is still top-heavy 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 .
3 A spiffy animated feature about an unruly adolescent boy who is yearning for
adventure and a chance to prove his worth .
1 Everything 's serious , poetic , earnest and -- sadly -- dull .
1 Nothing here seems as funny as it did in Analyze This , not even Joe Viterelli as
De Niro 's right-hand goombah .
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 .
3 A portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake .
1 The modern remake of Dumas 's story is long on narrative and too short on
action .
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 .
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 .
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 .
4 Duvall is strong as always .
2 But his showboating wise-cracker stock persona sure is getting old .
1 The Master of Disguise may have made a great Saturday Night Live sketch , but a
great movie it is not .
3 A true pleasure .
1 With nary a glimmer of self-knowledge , Crane becomes more specimen than
character -- and Auto Focus remains a chilly , clinical lab report .
1 Qualities that were once amusing are becoming irritating .
4 Moore provides an invaluable service by sparking debate and encouraging thought .
1 Even when Crush departs from the 4W formula ... it feels like a glossy rehash .
2 By the end , you just don't care whether that cold-hearted snake Petrovich that
would be Reno gets his comeuppance .
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 .
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 A cross between Blow and Boyz N The Hood , this movie strives to be more , but
does n't quite get there .
0 Talky , artificial and opaque ... an interesting technical exercise , but a
tedious picture .
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 Effective in all its aspects , Margarita Happy Hour represents an auspicious
feature debut for Chaiken .
1 Meandering and confusing .
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 .
2 To the degree that ivans xtc .
2 Pure of intention and passably diverting , His Secret Life is light , innocuous
and unremarkable .
2 Matches neorealism 's impact by showing the humanity of a war-torn land filled
with people who just want to live their lives .
3 The performances are amiable and committed , and the comedy more often than not
hits the bullseye .
3 A rich tale of our times , very well told with an appropriate minimum of means .
0 Bread , My Sweet has so many flaws it would be easy for critics to shred it .
3 While Bollywood/Hollywood will undoubtedly provide its keenest pleasures to those
familiar with Bombay musicals , it also has plenty for those like me who are
n't .
2 You could put it on a coffee table anywhere .
1 At 90 minutes this movie is short , but it feels much longer .
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 Ya-Ya .
1 If only it were , well , funnier .
3 No , I love it ... hell , I dunno .
4 It 's an exhilarating place to visit , this laboratory of laughter .
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 .
2 Like these Russo guys lookin ' for their Mamet instead found their Sturges .
2 Culkin turns his character into what is basically an anti-Harry Potter -- right
down to the Gryffindor scarf .
3 Family fare .
1 Beware the quirky Brit-com .
1 But the cinematography is cloudy , the picture making becalmed .
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 .
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 .
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 .
1 Suspend your disbelief here and now , or you 'll be shaking your head all the way
to the credits .
3 The banter between Calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise
McLaughlin Group ... and never fails to entertain .
4 The film was immensely enjoyable thanks to great performances by both Steve
Buscemi and Rosario Dawson ...
0 Looks more like a travel-agency video targeted at people who like to ride bikes
topless and roll in the mud than a worthwhile glimpse of independent-community
guiding lights .
1 A small independent film suffering from a severe case of Hollywood-itis .
3 A much more successful translation than its most famous previous film
adaptation , writer-director Anthony Friedman 's similarly updated 1970 British
production .
4 Writer-director 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 .
2 A portrait of an artist .
3 A fun ride .
4 This makes Minority Report necessary viewing for sci-fi fans , as the film has
some of the best special effects ever .
1 ... while each moment of this broken character study is rich in emotional texture
, the journey does n't really go anywhere .
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 .
0 This is one of the biggest disappointments of the year .
3 But it is entertaining on an inferior level .
2 It 's sincere to a fault , but , unfortunately , not very compelling or much
fun .
2 The movie has generic virtues , and despite a lot of involved talent , seems done
by the numbers .
2 A road trip that will get you thinking , Are we there yet .
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 Watching War Photographer , you come to believe that Nachtwey hates the wars he
shows and empathizes with the victims he reveals .
0 To paraphrase a line from another Dickens ' novel , Nicholas Nickleby is too much
like a fragment of an underdone potato .
3 Rises above its oh-so-Hollywood rejiggering and its conventional direction to
give the film a soul and an unabashed sense of good old-fashioned escapism .
2 Like its predecessor , it 's no classic , but it provides a reasonably attractive
holiday contraption , one that families looking for a clean , kid-friendly outing
should investigate .
3 The direction has a fluid , no-nonsense authority , and the performances by
Harris , Phifer and Cam ron seal the deal .
2 Self-congratulatory , misguided , and ill-informed , if nonetheless compulsively
watchable .
0 An infuriating film .
4 Hayek throws herself into this dream Hispanic role with a teeth-clenching gusto
, she strikes a potent chemistry with Molina and she gradually makes us believe she
is Kahlo .
4 Call it magic realism or surrealism , but Miss Wonton floats beyond reality with
a certain degree of wit and dignity .
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 .
1 Rymer does n't trust laughs -- and does n't conjure proper respect for followers
of the whole dead-undead genre , who deserve more from a vampire pic than a few
shrieky special effects .
2 But here 's a glimpse at his life .
1 Shreve 's graceful dual narrative gets clunky on the screen , and we keep getting
torn away from the compelling historical tale to a less-compelling soap opera .
0 To the civilized mind , a movie like Ballistic : Ecks Vs. Sever is more of an
ordeal than an amusement .
3 Ludicrous , but director Carl Franklin adds enough flourishes and freak-outs to
make it entertaining .
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 .
1 They just don't work in concert .
3 Robin Williams has thankfully ditched the saccharine sentimentality of
Bicentennial Man in favour of an altogether darker side .
2 The fourth in a series that I 'll bet most parents had thought -- hoped .
2 I ca n't .
4 A whale of a good time for both children and parents seeking Christian-themed fun
.
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 Terminally bland , painfully slow and needlessly confusing ... The movie , shot
on digital videotape rather than film , is frequently indecipherable .
1 The movie 's blatant derivativeness is one reason it 's so lackluster .
3 A reasonably entertaining sequel to 1994 's surprise family hit that may strain
adult credibility .
0 What a great shame that such a talented director as Chen Kaige has chosen to make
his English-language debut with a film so poorly plotted and scripted .
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 No amount of blood and disintegrating vampire cadavers can obscure this movie 's
lack of ideas .
4 A well-rounded tribute to a man whose achievements -- and complexities -- reached
far beyond the end zone .
1 Ice Cube is n't quite out of ripe screwball ideas , but Friday After Next spreads
them pretty thin .
2 ... a fairly disposable yet still entertaining B picture .
3 Lawrence plumbs personal tragedy and also the human comedy .
1 Romething 's really wrong with this ricture .
3 Performances all around are tops , with the two leads delivering Oscar-caliber
performances .
2 While Van Wilder may not be the worst National Lampoon film , it 's far from
being this generation 's Animal House .
3 It 's not particularly well made , but since I found myself howling more than
cringing , I 'd say the film works .
3 A sweet-tempered comedy that forgoes the knee-jerk misogyny that passes for humor
in so many teenage comedies .
4 Smart , sassy interpretation of the Oscar Wilde play .
3 Significantly better than its 2002 children 's - movie competition .
2 Though its atmosphere is intriguing ... the drama is finally too predictable to
leave much of an impression .
0 The big-screen Scooby makes the silly original cartoon seem smart and well-
crafted in comparison .
0 A depraved , incoherent , instantly disposable piece of hackery .
2 You wo n't look at religious fanatics -- or backyard sheds -- the same way
again .
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 .
0 The following things are not at all entertaining : The bad sound , the lack of
climax and , worst of all , watching Seinfeld who is also one of the film 's
producers do everything he can to look like a good guy .
2 Chances are you wo n't , either .
3 Chaiken ably balances real-time rhythms with propulsive incident .
2 An exhilarating serving of movie fluff .
0 The obnoxious special effects , the obligatory outbursts of flatulence and the
incessant , so-five-minutes-ago pop music on the soundtrack overwhelm what is left
of the scruffy , dopey old Hanna-Barbera charm .
3 The movie is so thoughtlessly assembled .
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 .
2 Goldmember is funny enough to justify the embarrassment of bringing a barf bag to
the moviehouse .
1 ... Pray does n't have a passion for the material .
4 It works its magic with such exuberance and passion that the film 's length
becomes a part of its fun .
1 The hackneyed story about an affluent damsel in distress who decides to fight her
bully of a husband is simply too overdone .
0 All the Queen 's Men is a throwback war movie that fails on so many levels , it
should pay reparations to viewers .
1 Blue Crush has all the trappings of an energetic , extreme-sports adventure , but
ends up more of a creaky Pretty Woman retread , with the emphasis on self-
empowering schmaltz and big-wave surfing that gives pic its title an afterthought .
2 Yes they can swim , the title is merely Anne-Sophie Birot 's off-handed way of
saying girls find adolescence difficult to wade through .
3 It establishes its ominous mood and tension swiftly , and if the suspense never
rises to a higher level , it is nevertheless maintained throughout .
3 The script is smart and dark - hallelujah for small favors .
3 As part of Mr. Dong 's continuing exploration of homosexuality in America ,
Family Fundamentals is an earnest study in despair .
3 Makes the case for a strong education and good teachers being more valuable in
the way they help increase an average student 's self-esteem , and not strictly in
the knowledge imparted .
1 Diane Lane 's sophisticated performance ca n't rescue Adrian Lyne 's Unfaithful
from its sleazy moralizing .
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 .
2 Even with Harris 's strong effort , the script gives him little to effectively
probe Lear 's soul-stripping breakdown .
0 A zombie movie in every sense of the word -- mindless , lifeless , meandering ,
loud , painful , obnoxious .
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 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 Straightforward and old-fashioned 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 .
2 Performances are potent , and the women 's stories are ably intercut and
involving .
2 It has the feel of a summer popcorn movie .
3 My Big Fat Greek Wedding is that rare animal known as ' a perfect family film , '
because it 's about family .
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 .
3 Like its bizarre heroine , it irrigates our souls .
2 But this is Lohman 's film .
0 If this is cinema , I pledge allegiance to Cagney and Lacey .
0 Constantly slips from the grasp of its maker .
2 In trying to be daring and original , it comes off as only occasionally satirical
and never fresh .
3 Rouge is less about a superficial midlife crisis than it is about the need to
stay in touch with your own skin , at 18 or 80 .
1 A simpler , leaner treatment would have been preferable ; after all , being about
nothing is sometimes funnier than being about something .
1 The April 2002 instalment of the American War for Independence , complete with
loads of CGI and bushels of violence , but not a drop of human blood .
3 By the end you ca n't help but feel stoked .
4 Colorful , energetic and sweetly whimsical ... the rare sequel that 's better
than its predecessor .
2 Eccentric enough to stave off doldrums , Caruso 's self-conscious debut is also
eminently forgettable .
1 Originality is sorely lacking .
3 Polished , well-structured film .
0 Lazy , miserable and smug .
4 It 's funny , touching , dramatically forceful , and beautifully shot .
0 Each scene immediately succumbs to gravity and plummets to earth .
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 This version of H.G. Wells ' Time Machine was directed by H.G. Wells ' great-
grandson .
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 .
0 An amateurish , quasi-improvised acting exercise shot on ugly digital video .
2 Anyone else seen this before .
3 A meditation on faith and madness , Frailty is blood-curdling stuff .
3 If you like blood , guts and crazy beasts stalking men with guns though ... you
will likely enjoy this monster .
1 It 's only in fairy tales that princesses that are married for political reason
live happily ever after .
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 .
3 There 's much tongue in cheek in the film and there 's no doubt the filmmaker is
having fun with it all .
0 A listless sci-fi comedy in which Eddie Murphy deploys two guises and elaborate
futuristic sets to no particularly memorable effect .
0 It 's so badly made on every level that I 'm actually having a hard time
believing people were paid to make it .
2 Twist open the Ouzo .
0 Sewer rats could watch this movie and be so skeeved out that they 'd need a
shower .
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 The film jolts the laughs from the audience -- as if by cattle prod .
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 .
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 .
3 It 's a setup so easy it borders on facile , but keeping the film from cheap-shot
mediocrity is its crack cast .
1 If swimfan does catch on , it may be because teens are looking for something to
make them laugh .
3 A hard look at one man 's occupational angst and its subsequent reinvention , a
terrifying study of bourgeois desperation worthy of Claude Chabrol .
2 Granddad of Le Nouvelle Vague , Jean-Luc Godard continues to baffle the faithful
with his games of hide-and-seek .
2 Like an episode of MTV 's Undressed , with 20 times the creativity but without
any more substance ... indulgently entertaining but could have and should have been
deeper .
0 A grand fart coming from a director beginning to resemble someone 's crazy French
grandfather .
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 .
1 Like a medium-grade network sitcom -- mostly inoffensive , fitfully amusing , but
ultimately so weightless that a decent draft in the auditorium might blow it off
the screen .
4 A film in a class with Spike Lee 's masterful Do The Right Thing .
1 Is it possible for a documentary to be utterly entranced by its subject and still
show virtually no understanding of it .
3 Scotland looks wonderful , the fans are often funny fanatics , the showdown sure
beats a bad day of golf .
3 has a whip-smart sense of narrative bluffs .
3 A solidly entertaining little film .
3 Films about loss , grief and recovery are pretty valuable these days .
0 I found it slow , predictable and not very amusing .
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 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 .
3 out ballsy and stylish
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 .
3 An undeniably gorgeous , terminally smitten document of a troubadour , his
acolytes , and the triumph of his band .
1 the attempt to complicate the story only defies credibility
0 If you 're over 25 , have an IQ over 90 , and have a driver 's license , you
should be able to find better entertainment .
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
and no one .
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 Ice-T in a major role .
4 The film is moody , oozing , chilling and heart-warming all at once ... a
twisting , unpredictable , cat-and-mouse thriller .
1 Believability was n't one of the film 's virtues .
4 Much of All About Lily Chou-Chou is mesmerizing : some of its plaintiveness could
make you weep .
2 Mandel Holland 's direction is uninspired , and his scripting unsurprising , but
the performances by Phifer and Black are ultimately winning .
1 We don't even like their characters .
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
3 It 's full of cheesy dialogue , but great trashy fun that finally returns De
Palma to his pulpy thrillers of the early '80s .
1 It 's bedeviled by labored writing and slack direction .
0 Comes off as a long , laborious whine , the bellyaching of a paranoid and
unlikable man .
2 There has to be a few advantages to never growing old .
3 An often watchable , though goofy and lurid , blast of a costume drama set in the
late 15th century .
3 For his first attempt at film noir , Spielberg presents a fascinating but flawed
look at the near future .
4 Every moment crackles with tension , and by the end of the flick , you 're on the
edge of your seat .
3 K-19 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 Angel presents events partly from the perspective of Aurelie and Christelle , and
infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .
1 Guys say mean things and shoot a lot of bullets .
4 Like blended shades of lipstick , these components combine into one terrific
story with lots of laughs .
1 Solondz may be convinced that he has something significant to say , but he is n't
talking a talk that appeals to me .
2 The obligatory break-ups and hook-ups don't seem to have much emotional impact on
the characters .
3 It may ... work as a jaunt down memory lane for teens and young adults who grew
up on televised Scooby-Doo shows or reruns .
1 Could as easily have been called Under Siege 3 : In Alcatraz ' ... a cinematic
corpse that never springs to life .
4 Whatever one makes of its political edge , this is beautiful filmmaking from one
of French cinema 's master craftsmen .
3 Much of it is funny , but there are also some startling , surrealistic
moments ...
0 Has all the scenic appeal of a cesspool .
3 works , it 's thanks to Huston 's revelatory performance .
1 What 's worse is that Pelosi knows it .
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 .
1 The Mothman Prophecies , which is mostly a bore , seems to exist only for its
climactic setpiece .
3 The action sequences are fun and reminiscent of combat scenes from the Star Wars
series .
2 An easy watch , except for the annoying demeanour of its lead character .
3 A bittersweet drama about the limbo of grief and how truth-telling can open the
door to liberation .
4 Ferrara 's strongest and most touching movie of recent years .
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 .
3 Hardly a film that comes along every day .
3 By the end of the movie , you 're definitely convinced that these women are
spectacular .
2 Your appreciation of it will depend on what experiences you bring to it and what
associations you choose to make .
1 Here , common sense flies out the window , along with the hail of bullets , none
of which ever seem to hit Sascha .
1 To get at the root psychology of this film would require many sessions on the
couch of Dr. Freud .
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 must-see .
3 It 's hard to quibble with a flick boasting this many genuine cackles , but
Notorious C.H.O. still feels like a promising work-in-progress .
1 One-sided documentary offers simplistic explanations to a very complex
situation .
3 All in all , an interesting look at the life of the campaign-trail press ,
especially ones that don't really care for the candidate they 're forced to
follow .
3 Hugh Grant 's act is so consuming that sometimes it 's difficult to tell who the
other actors in the movie are .
3 Although Frailty fits into a classic genre , in its script and execution it is a
remarkably original work .
0 Brisk hack job .
3 Malcolm McDowell is cool .
2 Your taste for Jonah - A Veggie Tales Movie may well depend on your threshold for
pop manifestations of the Holy Spirit .
4 An exhilarating experience .
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 ... Myers has turned his franchise into the movie version of an adolescent dirty-
joke book done up in post-Tarantino pop-culture riffs ...
2 Especially compared with the television series that inspired the movie .
3 More of the same from Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang , which is good news to
anyone who 's fallen under the sweet , melancholy spell of this unique director 's
previous films .
3 Worth seeing just for Weaver and LaPaglia .
0 This 90-minute dud could pass for Mike Tyson 's E .
1 But mainstream audiences will find little of interest in this film , which is
often preachy and poorly acted .
2 With miscast leads , banal dialogue and an absurdly overblown climax , Killing Me
Softly belongs firmly in the so-bad-it 's - good camp .
3 An encouraging effort from McCrudden
4 Watching these eccentrics is both inspiring and pure joy .
0 Suffers from a lack of clarity and audacity that a subject as monstrous and
pathetic as Dahmer demands .
1 It has the air of a surprisingly juvenile lark , a pop-influenced prank whose
charms are immediately apparent and wear thin with repetition .
4 Transcends its agenda to deliver awe-inspiring , at times sublime , visuals and
offer a fascinating glimpse into the subculture of extreme athletes whose derring-
do puts the X into the games .
3 The people in Jessica are so recognizable and true that , as in real life , we
're never sure how things will work out .
2 Thanks to Ice Cube , Benjamins feels an awful lot like Friday in Miami .
3 The work of a filmmaker who has secrets buried at the heart of his story and
knows how to take time revealing them .
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 .
3 While Broomfield 's film does n't capture the effect of these tragic deaths on
hip-hop culture , it succeeds as a powerful look at a failure of our justice system
.
1 When it comes to the battle of Hollywood vs. Woo , it looks like Woo 's a P.O.W.
3 The sentimental cliches mar an otherwise excellent film .
3 An extremely funny , ultimately heartbreaking look at life in contemporary
China .
3 Finally , the French-produced Read My Lips is a movie that understands
characters must come first .
2 The movie just has too much on its plate to really stay afloat for its just under
ninety minute running time .
2 Gaghan
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 .
0 Long before it 's over , you 'll be thinking of 51 ways to leave this loser .
3 According to the script , Grant and Bullock 's characters are made for each other
.
1 This low-rent -- and even lower-wit -- rip-off of the Farrelly brothers ' oeuvre
gets way too mushy -- and in a relatively short amount of time .
2 The real question this movie poses is not Who .
3 It does give a taste of the Burning Man ethos , an appealing blend of counter-
cultural idealism and hedonistic creativity .
4 delightfully rendered
1 Seagal 's strenuous attempt at a change in expression could very well clinch
him this year 's Razzie .
0 A crushing disappointment .
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 .
1 A battle between bug-eye theatre and dead-eye matinee .
0 No amount of burning , blasting , stabbing , and shooting can hide a weak
script .
1 Not a strike against Yang 's similarly themed Yi Yi , but I found What Time .
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 co-operative interaction .
3 A film of ideas and wry comic mayhem .
3 There 's something to be said for a studio-produced film that never bothers to
hand viewers a suitcase full of easy answers .
1 All too familiar ... basically the sort of cautionary tale that was old when
Angels With Dirty Faces ' appeared in 1938 .
4 A gem of a romantic crime comedy that turns out to be clever , amusing and
unpredictable .
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 .
1 Even Murphy 's expert comic timing and famed charisma ca n't rescue this effort .
3 That old adage about women being unknowable gets an exhilarating new
interpretation in Morvern Callar .
3 Pray has really done his subject justice .
1 It 's a shame the marvelous first 101 minutes have to be combined with the
misconceived final 5 .
1 Are we dealing with dreams , visions or being told what actually happened as if
it were the third ending of Clue .
3 As dumb and cheesy as they may be , the cartoons look almost Shakespearean --
both in depth and breadth -- after watching this digital-effects-heavy , supposed
family-friendly comedy .
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 .
3 A well-put-together piece of urban satire .
1 A few zingers aside , the writing is indifferent , and Jordan Brady 's direction
is prosaic .
3 Deflated ending aside , there 's much to recommend the film .
0 To call this film a lump of coal would only be to flatter it .
4 A weird and wonderful comedy .
1 Wishy-washy .
0 Hypnotically dull , relentlessly downbeat , laughably predictable wail pitched to
the cadence of a depressed fifteen-year-old 's suicidal poetry .
1 Writer-director Stephen Gaghan has made the near-fatal mistake of being what the
English call too clever by half .
4 A compelling pre-WWII drama with vivid characters and a warm , moving message .
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 .
0 is never quite able to overcome the cultural moat surrounding its ludicrous and
contrived plot .
3 Savvy director Robert J. Siegel and his co-writers keep the story subtle and us
in suspense .
1 The script has less spice than a rat burger and The Rock 's fighting skills are
more in line with Steven Seagal .
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 .
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 .
1 I felt trapped and with no obvious escape for the entire 100 minutes .
1 The action quickly sinks into by-the-numbers territory .
3 Some Body is a shaky , uncertain film that nevertheless touches a few raw
nerves .
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 Rarely , a movie is more than a movie .
0 Lacks the inspiration of the original and has a bloated plot that stretches the
running time about 10 minutes past a child 's interest and an adult 's patience .
3 A strong and confident work which works so well for the first 89 minutes , but
ends so horrendously confusing in the final two
2 Merchant has n't directed this movie so much as produced it -- like sausage .
3 Everything in Maid in Manhattan is exceedingly pleasant , designed not to
offend .
3 The series ' message about making the right choice in the face of tempting
alternatives remains prominent , as do the girls ' amusing personalities .
2 Adam SANDLER .
1 The problem is that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not .
1 It 's just weirdness for the sake of weirdness , and where Human Nature should be
ingratiating , it 's just grating .
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 .
4 Spectacularly beautiful , not to mention mysterious , sensual , emotionally
intense , and replete with virtuoso throat-singing .
0 Thoroughly awful .
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 .
3 A summer entertainment adults can see without feeling embarrassed , but it could
have been more .
3 Intimate and panoramic .
4 These people are really going to love The Piano Teacher .
4 , The Sum of All Fears is simply a well-made and satisfying thriller .
3 It is philosophy , illustrated through everyday events .
1 Another useless recycling of a brutal mid - '70s American sports movie .
2 A plodding look at the French Revolution through the eyes of aristocrats .
2 Ali 's graduation from little screen to big is far less painful than his opening
scene encounter with an over-amorous terrier .
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 .
1 Could this be the first major studio production shot on video tape instead of
film .
2 Ice Age posits a heretofore unfathomable question : Is it possible for computer-
generated characters to go through the motions .
2 Walsh ca n't quite negotiate the many inconsistencies in Janice 's behavior or
compensate for them by sheer force of charm .
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
.
3 There 's real visual charge to the filmmaking , and a strong erotic spark to the
most crucial lip-reading sequence .
0 Does n't add up to much .
0 Please , someone , stop Eric Schaeffer before he makes another film .
3 Tsai Ming-liang 's witty , wistful new film , What Time Is It There .
4 A lively and engaging examination of how similar obsessions can dominate a family
.
4 With each of her three protagonists , Miller eloquently captures the moment when
a woman 's life , out of a deep-seated , emotional need , is about to turn onto a
different path .
2 I did n't think so .
4 There are n't too many films that can be as simultaneously funny , offbeat and
heartwarming without a thick shmear of the goo , at least , but Elling manages
to do all three quite well , making it one of the year 's most enjoyable releases .
1 It all looks and plays like a $ 40 million version of a game you 're more likely
to enjoy on a computer .
1 The movie is about as deep as that sentiment .
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 .
1 Unfaithful ' cheats on itself and retreats to comfortable territory .
3 High drama , Disney-style - a wing and a prayer and a hunky has-been pursuing his
castle in the sky .
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 .
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 .
1 The very definition of what critics have come to term an ambitious failure .'
2 Ah , the travails of metropolitan life .
0 No film could possibly be more contemptuous of the single female population .
0 It 's Splash without the jokes .
2 Despite its raucous intent , XXX is as conventional as a Nike ad and as
rebellious as spring break .
4 This is a finely written , superbly acted offbeat thriller .
3 If not a home run , then at least a solid base hit .
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 .
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 .
2 You 'll get the enjoyable basic minimum .
4 A shimmeringly lovely coming-of-age portrait , shot in artful , watery tones of
blue , green and brown .
3 The Salton Sea has moments of inspired humour , though every scrap is of the
darkest variety .
1 Bears about as much resemblance to the experiences of most battered women as
Spider-Man does to the experiences of most teenagers .
1 Has all the values of a straight-to-video movie , but because it has a bigger-
name cast , it gets a full theatrical release .
4 The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission .
3 It 's very Beavis and Butthead , yet always seems to elicit a chuckle .
3 Connoisseurs of Chinese film will be pleased to discover that Tian 's meticulous
talent has not withered during his enforced hiatus .
4 Taymor utilizes the idea of making Kahlo 's art a living , breathing part of
the movie , often catapulting the artist into her own work .
0 This is rote spookiness , with nary an original idea or role , or edit , or
score , or anything , really in sight , and the whole of the proceedings beg the
question Why .
3 Beautiful , angry and sad , with a curious sick poetry , as if the Marquis de
Sade had gone in for pastel landscapes .
1 Fluffy neo-noir hiding behind cutesy film references .
1 ... a cinematic disaster so inadvertently sidesplitting it 's worth the price of
admission for the ridicule factor alone .
2 An overwrought Taiwanese soaper about three people and their mixed-up
relationship .
1 What little grace Rifkin 's tale of precarious skid-row dignity achieves is
pushed into the margins by predictable plotting and tiresome histrionics .
1 The locale ... remains far more interesting than the story at hand .
4 The story ... is inspiring , ironic , and revelatory of just how ridiculous and
money-oriented the record industry really is .
2 Though Frodo 's quest remains unfulfilled , a hardy group of determined New
Zealanders has proved its creative mettle .
4 Brutally honest and told with humor and poignancy , which makes its message
resonate .
3 Human Nature is a goofball movie , in the way that Malkovich was , but it tries
too hard .
3 It 's rare for any movie to be as subtle and touching as The Son 's Room .
0 A low-budget affair , Tadpole was shot on digital video , and the images often
look smeary and blurry , to the point of distraction .
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 .
1 Stale first act , Scrooge story , blatant product placement , some very good
comedic songs , strong finish , dumb fart jokes .
0 Manipulative claptrap , a period-piece movie-of-the-week , plain old blarney ...
take your pick .
2 the Venezuelans say things like si , pretty much and por favor , go home when
talking to Americans .
1 It 's not original enough .
3 Confessions is n't always coherent , but it 's sharply comic and surprisingly
touching , so hold the gong .
1 An empty exercise , a florid but ultimately vapid crime melodrama with lots of
surface flash but little emotional resonance .
3 Possession , ' based on the book by A.S. Byatt , demands that LaBute deal with
the subject of love head-on ; trading in his cynicism for reverence and a little
wit
3 Terrific as Nadia , a Russian mail-order 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 .
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 .
3 Probes in a light-hearted way the romantic problems of individuals for whom the
yearning for passion spells discontent .
1 At some point , all this visual trickery stops being clever and devolves into
flashy , vaguely silly overkill .
1 A rambling ensemble piece with loosely connected characters and plots that never
quite gel .
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
voice-over narrator in the manner of French New Wave films .
2 A movie that feels like the pilot episode of a new teen-targeted action TV series
.
1 It 's replaced by some dramatic scenes that are jarring and deeply out of place
in what could have and probably should have been a lighthearted comedy .
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 .
4 It 's a funny little movie with clever dialogue and likeable characters .
1 A retread of material already thoroughly plumbed by Martin Scorsese .
1 There is a difference between movies with the courage to go over the top and
movies that don't care about being stupid
1 Barney 's ideas about creation and identity don't really seem all that profound ,
at least by way of what can be gleaned from this three-hour endurance test built
around an hour 's worth of actual material .
3 Holm does his sly , intricate magic , and Iben Hjelje is entirely appealing as
Pumpkin .
3 Even with all its botches , Enigma offers all the pleasure of a handsome and
well-made entertainment .
1 Watching this film , what we feel is n't mainly suspense or excitement .
3 It gives devastating testimony to both people 's capacity for evil and their
heroic capacity for good .
4 A damn fine and a truly distinctive and a deeply pertinent film .
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 Meyjes ' provocative film might be called an example of the haphazardness of evil
.
2 Observant intelligence constantly vies with pretension -- and sometimes plain
wacky implausibility -- throughout Maelstrom .
4 This gorgeous epic is guaranteed to lift the spirits of the whole family .
3 Land , people and narrative flow together in a stark portrait of motherhood
deferred and desire explored .
1 It collapses when Mr. Taylor tries to shift the tone to a thriller 's rush .
3 A tone poem of transgression .
0 A mean-spirited film made by someone who surely read The Catcher in the Rye but
clearly suffers from dyslexia
0 The secrets of time travel will have been discovered , indulged in and rejected
as boring before I see this piece of crap again .
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 3-
year-olds find it diverting .
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 .
2 Sophisticated ' viewers who refuse to admit that they don't like it will likely
call it challenging ' to their fellow sophisticates .
3 Sometimes charming , sometimes infuriating , this Argentinean dramedy ' succeeds
mainly on the shoulders of its actors .
0 The story suffers a severe case of oversimplification , superficiality and
silliness .
3 Featherweight romantic comedy has a few nice twists in a standard plot and the
charisma of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock .
1 Flashy gadgets and whirling fight sequences may look cool , but they ca n't
distract from the flawed support structure holding Equilibrium up .
3 Able to provide insight into a fascinating part of theater history .
1 The movie straddles the fence between escapism and social commentary , and on
both sides it falls short .
2 The story is virtually impossible to follow here , but there 's a certain style
and wit to the dialogue .
3 It reaffirms life as it looks in the face of death .
1 It is a popcorn film , not a must-own , or even a must-see .
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 Believes so fervently in humanity that it feels almost anachronistic , and it is
too cute by half .
3 With We Were Soldiers , Hollywood makes a valiant attempt to tell a story about
the Vietnam War before the pathology set in .
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 .
0 Partly a schmaltzy , by-the-numbers romantic comedy , partly a shallow rumination
on the emptiness of success -- and entirely soulless .
2 With this new Rollerball , sense and sensibility have been overrun by what can
only be characterized as robotic sentiment .
4 A beautifully tooled action thriller about love and terrorism in Korea .
4 An escapist confection that 's pure entertainment .
3 One of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of
acting , direction , story and pace .
1 What they see in each other also is difficult to fathom .
1 Where This was lazy but enjoyable , a formula comedy redeemed by its stars , That
is even lazier and far less enjoyable .
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 .
2 So-so entertainment .
1 Taken as a whole , The Tuxedo does n't add up to a whole lot .
3 The structure is simple , but in its own way , Rabbit-Proof Fence is a quest
story as grand as The Lord of the Rings .
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 .
4 You feel good , you feel sad , you feel pissed off , but in the end , you feel
alive - which is what they did .
3 Takashi Miike keeps pushing the envelope : Ichi the Killer
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 .
0 Rob Schneider 's infantile cross-dressing routines fill The Hot Chick , the
latest gimmick from this unimaginative comedian .
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 lazily and glumly settles into a most traditional , reserved kind of filmmaking .
4 Michael Moore 's latest documentary about America 's thirst for violence is his
best film yet ...
4 One of the best rock documentaries ever .
0 A terrible movie that some people will nevertheless find moving .
2 This is more a case of Sacre bleu .
1 Reggio and Glass so rhapsodize cynicism , with repetition and languorous slo-mo
sequences , that Glass 's dirgelike score becomes a fang-baring lullaby .
4 With Dickens ' words and writer-director Douglas McGrath 's even-toned
direction , a ripping good yarn is told .
1 A dramatic comedy as pleasantly dishonest and pat as any Hollywood fluff .
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 .
2 Sa da TAY .
1 Simplistic , silly and tedious .
3 Russell makes good B movies The Mask , The Blob , and The Scorpion King more
than ably meets those standards .
1 The movie wavers between Hallmark card sentimentality and goofy , life-affirming
moments straight out of a cellular phone commercial .
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 .
1 The overall feel is not unlike watching a glorified episode of 7th Heaven .'
1 The story itself is actually quite vapid .
2 This new Time Machine is hardly perfect ... yet it proves surprisingly
serviceable .
0 Even by the intentionally low standards of frat-boy humor , Sorority Boys is a
bowser .
0 Rather , pity anyone who sees this mishmash .
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 If horses could fly , this is surely what they 'd look like .
3 A big-budget/all-star movie as unblinkingly pure as The Hours is a distinct
rarity , and an event .
3 A huge box-office hit in Korea , Shiri is a must for genre fans .
2 Don Michael Paul uses quick-cuts , very large shadows and wide-angle shots
taken from a distance to hide the liberal use of a body double for Seagal .
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 cheese-laced
spectacles that pack 'em in on the subcontinent .
3 A wonderful , ghastly film .
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 .
2 Instead , he focuses on the anguish that can develop when one mulls leaving the
familiar to traverse uncharted ground .
3 A timely look back at civil disobedience , anti-war movements and the power of
strong voices .
3 It 's stylishly directed with verve ...
4 I had a dream that a smart comedy would come along to rescue me from a summer of
teen-driven , toilet-humor codswallop , and its name was Earnest .
3 Demonstrates a vivid imagination and an impressive style that result in some
terrific setpieces .
3 It is a strength of a documentary to disregard available bias , especially as
temptingly easy as it would have been with this premise .
0 The predominantly amateur cast is painful to watch , so stilted and unconvincing
are the performances .
1 Hmmm ... might I suggest that the wayward wooden one end it all by stuffing
himself into an electric pencil sharpener .
3 A pretty decent kid-pleasing , tolerable-to-adults lark of a movie .
3 A tightly directed , highly professional film that 's old-fashioned in all the
best possible ways .
4 You 're not merely watching history , you 're engulfed by it .
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 .
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 The film does n't show enough of the creative process or even of what was created
for the non-fan to figure out what makes Wilco a big deal .
2 A drama .
2 A fast-paced , glitzy but extremely silly piece .
1 Even if it made its original release date last fall , it would 've reeked of a
been-there , done-that sameness .
0 It 's hard to imagine acting that could be any flatter .
2 I 'm sure the filmmakers found this a remarkable and novel concept , but
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 The events of the film are just so WEIRD that I honestly never knew what the hell
was coming next .
1 The problem is that Van Wilder does little that is actually funny with the
material .
0 The Ya-Ya 's have many secrets and one is - the books are better .
1 his Nelson 's screenplay needs some serious re-working to show more of the
dilemma , rather than have his characters stage shouting matches about it .
1 Over and over again .
1 This is not a Jackie Chan movie .
2 It 's quite another to feel physically caught up in the process .
1 But there 's plenty to offend everyone ...
1 He thinks the film is just as much a document about him as it is about the
subject .
3 What emerges is an unsettling picture of childhood innocence combined with
indoctrinated prejudice .
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 .
1 This is n't a new idea .
3 A tour de force drama about the astonishingly pivotal role of imagination in the
soulful development of two rowdy teenagers .
2 That death is merely a transition is a common tenet in the world 's religions .
2 Wiseman reveals the victims of domestic abuse in all of their pity and terror .
0 It 's all surface psychodramatics .
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 Amy and Matthew have a bit of a phony relationship , but the film works in spite
of it .
1 One can only assume that the jury who bestowed star Hoffman 's brother Gordy with
the Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at 2002 's Sundance Festival were honoring an
attempt to do something different over actually pulling it off
1 An affable but undernourished romantic comedy that fails to match the freshness
of the actress-producer and writer 's previous collaboration , Miss Congeniality .
4 A thoroughly entertaining comedy that uses Grant 's own twist of acidity to
prevent itself from succumbing to its own bathos .
3 Spielberg 's picture is smarter and subtler than Total Recall and Blade
Runner , although its plot may prove too convoluted for fun-seeking summer
audiences .
4 Chamber of Secrets will find millions of eager fans .
1 An instantly forgettable snow-and-stuntwork extravaganza that likely will be
upstaged by an avalanche of more appealing holiday-season product .
0 After sitting through this sloppy , made-for-movie comedy special , it makes me
wonder if Lawrence hates criticism so much that he refuses to evaluate his own work
.
2 A chick flick for guys .
3 If you 've the patience , there are great rewards here .
3 Among the many pleasures are the lively intelligence of the artists and their
perceptiveness about their own situations .
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 .
2 Harvard Man is a semi-throwback , a reminiscence without nostalgia or
sentimentality .
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 .
0 Plotless collection of moronic stunts is by far the worst movie of the year .
3 It all plays out ... like a high-end John Hughes comedy , a kind of Elder Bueller
's Time Out .
0 A smug and convoluted action-comedy that does n't allow an earnest moment to pass
without reminding audiences that it 's only a movie .
1 Love Liza is a festival film that would have been better off staying on the
festival circuit .
3 Simple , poignant and leavened with humor , it 's a film that affirms the
nourishing aspects of love and companionship .
2 Presents a good case while failing to provide a reason for us to care beyond the
very basic dictums of human decency .
3 This seductive tease of a thriller gets the job done .
4 The movie is ingenious fun .
2 Noyce creates a film of near-hypnotic physical beauty even as he tells a story as
horrifying as any in the heart-breakingly extensive annals of white-on-black racism
.
2 It 's a fanboy what if .
4 Melds derivative elements into something that is often quite rich and exciting ,
and always a beauty to behold .
0 As plain and pedestrian as catsup --
2 Like a child with an important message to tell ... Skins ' faults are easy to
forgive because the intentions are lofty .
0 It is n't that Stealing Harvard is a horrible movie -- if only it were that grand
a failure .
1 When your subject is illusion versus reality , should n't the reality seem at
least passably real .
0 This is the kind of movie that gets a quick release before real contenders arrive
in September .
4 For devotees of French cinema , Safe Conduct is so rich with period minutiae it
's like dying and going to celluloid heaven .
2 You can see the would-be surprises coming a mile away , and the execution of
these twists is delivered with a hammer .
1 If only Merchant paid more attention the story .
3 As the princess , Sorvino glides gracefully from male persona to female without
missing a beat .
1 The things this movie tries to get the audience to buy just wo n't fly with most
intelligent viewers .
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 .
2 It 's a brilliant , honest performance by Nicholson , but the film is an
agonizing bore except when the fantastic Kathy Bates turns up .
2 cynical and serious look at teenage boys doing what they do best - being
teenagers .
1 This is for the most part a useless movie , even with a great director at the
helm .
0 Mr. Deeds is not really a film as much as it is a loose collection of not-so-
funny gags , scattered moments of lazy humor .
4 Secretary manages a neat trick , bundling the flowers of perversity , comedy and
romance into a strangely tempting bouquet of a movie .
0 It 's dull , spiritless , silly and monotonous : an ultra-loud blast of pointless
mayhem , going nowhere fast .
2 Yet another weepy Southern bore-athon .
2 It 's actually pretty funny , but in all the wrong places .
0 Madonna has made herself over so often now , there 's apparently nothing left to
work with , sort of like Michael Jackson 's nose .
1 Bottom-rung New Jack City wannabe .
3 There is a general air of exuberance in All About The Benjamins that 's hard to
resist .
3 There is a certain sense of experimentation and improvisation to this film that
may not always work , but it is nevertheless compelling .
2 The film is a masterpiece of nuance and characterization , marred only by an
inexplicable , utterly distracting blunder at the very end .
3 Playfully profound ... and crazier than Michael Jackson on the top floor of a
skyscraper nursery surrounded by open windows .
3 Gosling 's combination of explosive physical energy and convincing intelligence
helps create a complex , unpredictable character .
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 Dense , exhilarating documentary .
0 Not even Steven Spielberg has dreamed up such blatant and sickening product
placement in a movie .
1 As it stands , Crocodile Hunter has the hurried , badly cobbled look of the 1959
Godzilla , which combined scenes of a Japanese monster flick with canned shots of
Raymond Burr commenting on the monster 's path of destruction .
0 Those of you who are not an eighth grade girl will most likely doze off during
this one .
0 is that it 's a crime movie made by someone who obviously knows nothing about
crime .
3 The movie , despite its rough edges and a tendency to sag in certain places , is
wry and engrossing .
1 A noble failure .
0 Becomes a bit of a mishmash : a tearjerker that does n't and a thriller that wo
n't .
3 As ex-Marine Walter , who may or may not have shot Kennedy , actor Raymond J.
Barry is perfectly creepy and believable .
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 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 .
3 I liked a lot of the smaller scenes .
3 Beautifully reclaiming the story of Carmen and recreating it an in an African
idiom .
0 but rather , How can you charge money for this .
3 What could have been a daytime soap opera is actually a compelling look at a
young woman 's tragic odyssey .
1 For a film about action , Ultimate X is the gabbiest giant-screen movie ever ,
bogging down in a barrage of hype .
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 .
4 Insanely hilarious .
0 There is no psychology here , and no real narrative logic -- just a series of
carefully choreographed atrocities , which become strangely impersonal and abstract
.
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 .
0 The cumulative effect of watching this 65-minute trifle is rather like being
trapped while some weird relative trots out the video he took of the family
vacation to Stonehenge .
1 A waterlogged version of Fatal Attraction ' for the teeny-bopper set ... a sad ,
soggy potboiler that wastes the talents of its attractive young leads .
2 Indeed , none of these words really gets at the very special type of badness that
is Deuces Wild .
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 .
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 .
0 Aside from the fact that the film idiotically uses the website feardotcom.com 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 Insufferably naive .
1 Animated drivel meant to enhance the self-image of drooling idiots .
4 The performances are remarkable .
0 Tries so hard to be quirky and funny that the strain is all too evident .
2 it may play well as a double feature with mainstream foreign mush like My Big Fat
Greek Wedding
0 Creates the worst kind of mythologizing , the kind that sacrifices real heroism
and abject suffering for melodrama .
3 The wonderfully lush Morvern Callar is pure punk existentialism , and Ms. Ramsay
and her co-writer , Liana Dognini , have dramatized the Alan Warner novel , which
itself felt like an answer to Irvine Welsh 's book Trainspotting .
1 Too bad writer-director Adam Rifkin situates it all in a plot as musty as one of
the Golden Eagle 's carpets .
4 A smart , sassy and exceptionally charming romantic comedy .
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 ...
1 A droll , bitchy frolic which pokes fun at the price of popularity and small-town
pretension in the Lone Star State .
1 These self-styled 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 self-preservation .
1 No amount of good acting is enough to save Oleander 's uninspired story .
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 .
0 ... pays tribute to heroes the way Julia Roberts hands out awards -- with phony
humility barely camouflaging grotesque narcissism .
1 More likely to have you scratching your head than hiding under your seat .
3 The beauty of the piece is that it counts heart as important as humor .
2 This is NOT a retread of Dead Poets ' Society .'
2 Pumpkin struts about with courage pinned to its huckster lapel while a yellow
streak a mile wide decorates its back .
3 A directorial tour de force by Bernard Rose , ivans xtc .
2 May be the most undeserving victim of critical overkill since Town and Country .
1 A straight-ahead thriller that never rises above superficiality .
4 It tends to remind one of a really solid Woody Allen film , with its excellent
use of New York locales and sharp writing
2 Films are made of little moments .
2 In a strange way , Egoyan has done too much .
3 Wise and deadpan humorous .
1 Instead of panoramic sweep , Kapur gives us episodic choppiness , undermining the
story 's emotional thrust .
0 It 's too interested in jerking off in all its Byzantine incarnations to bother
pleasuring its audience .
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 pseudo-educational stuff we all ca n't stand .
3 What 's the Russian word for Wow ..
2 Pascale Bailly 's rom-com
2 A very pretty after-school special .
3 Catch it ... if you can .
3 This real-life Hollywood fairy-tale is more engaging than the usual fantasies
Hollywood produces .
3 It is Scott 's convincing portrayal of Roger the sad cad that really gives the
film its oomph .
1 Shallow .
3 Screenwriter Dan Schneider and director Shawn Levy substitute volume and primary
colors for humor and bite .
3 A film that will enthrall the whole family .
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 The filmmakers are playing to the Big Boys in New York and L.A. To that end ,
they mock the kind of folks they don't understand , ones they figure the power-
lunchers don't care to understand , either .
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 .
1 T oo many of these gross out scenes ...
4 It 's a head-turner -- thoughtfully written , beautifully read and , finally ,
deeply humanizing .
3 To others , it will remind them that Hong Kong action cinema is still alive and
kicking .
4 A poignant comedy that offers food for thought .
2 About as original as a gangster sweating bullets while worrying about a contract
on his life .
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 .
3 While the story 's undeniably hard to follow , Iwai 's gorgeous visuals seduce .
4 Extraordinary debut from Josh Koury .
2 Smothered by its own solemnity .
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 .
1 Writer-director Walter Hill and co-writer David Giler try to create characters
out of the obvious cliches , but wind up using them as punching bags .
4 Secret Ballot is a funny , puzzling movie ambiguous enough to be engaging and
oddly moving .
0 It 's as sorry a mess as its director 's diabolical debut , Mad Cows .
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 .
1 As for children , they wo n't enjoy the movie at all .
4 It 's no lie -- Big Fat Liar is a real charmer .
4 A witty , low-key romantic comedy .
2 Streamlined to a tight , brisk 85-minute screwball thriller , Big Trouble is
funny , harmless and as substantial as a tub of popcorn with extra butter .
1 Death might be a release .
3 Spirit is a visual treat , and it takes chances that are bold by studio standards
, but it lacks a strong narrative .
0 If you go , pack your knitting needles .
3 Implicitly acknowledges and celebrates the glorious chicanery and self-delusion
of this most American of businesses , and for that reason it may be the most oddly
honest Hollywood document of all .
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 .
3 The movie is pretty funny now and then without in any way demeaning its
subjects .
1 A movie that 's held captive by mediocrity .
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 .
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 .
3 It 's probably worth catching solely on its visual merits .
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 .
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 .
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 .
0 A major waste ... generic .
1 Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai are sure to find an enthusiastic audience among
American action-adventure buffs , but the film 's interests may be too narrow to
attract crossover viewers .
0 The movie is a dud .
4 It 's a fun adventure movie for kids of all ages that like adventure .
3 It 's the type of film about growing up that we don't see often enough these days
: realistic , urgent , and not sugarcoated in the least .
1 A great script brought down by lousy direction .
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 It 's so downbeat and nearly humorless that it becomes a chore to sit through --
despite some first-rate performances by its lead .
4 No Such Thing is sort of a minimalist Beauty and the Beast , but in this case the
Beast should definitely get top billing .
1 This picture is mostly a lump of run-of-the-mill 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 Tells the story with such atmospheric ballast that shrugging off the plot 's
persnickety problems is simply a matter of being in a shrugging mood .
4 Fast-paced and wonderfully edited , the film is extremely thorough .
4 Gives everyone something to shout about .
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 .
1 There are few things more frustrating to a film buff than seeing an otherwise
good movie marred beyond redemption by a disastrous ending .
1 into How Long Is This Movie .
1 When the fire burns out , we 've only come face-to-face with a couple dragons and
that 's where the film ultimately fails .
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 .
1 But what is missing from it all is a moral .
2 OK arthouse .
3 The film , while not exactly assured in its execution , is notable for its sheer
audacity and openness .
3 Not only a reminder of how they used to make movies , but also how they sometimes
still can be made .
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 .
2 It follows the basic plot trajectory of nearly every Schwarzenegger film :
Someone crosses Arnie .
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 .
1 contrasting the original Ringu with the current Americanized adaptation is akin
to comparing The Evil Dead with Evil Dead II
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 Director Paul Cox 's unorthodox , abstract approach to visualizing Nijinsky 's
diaries is both stimulating and demanding .
3 While there 's likely very little crossover appeal to those without much interest
in the Elizabethans as well as rank frustration from those in the know about Rubbo
's dumbed-down tactics , Much Ado About Something is an amicable endeavor .
3 The film is a fierce dance of destruction .
1 It 's impossible to even categorize this as a smutty guilty pleasure .
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 ages-old
slapstick and unfunny tricks .
3 And that makes all the difference .
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 .
2 Like being invited to a classy dinner soiree and not knowing anyone .
0 What we get in FearDotCom is more like something from a bad Clive Barker movie .
1 Knockaround Guys plays like a student film by two guys who desperately want to be
Quentin Tarantino when they grow up .
0 The story is lacking any real emotional impact , and the plot is both contrived
and cliched .
4 You 'll probably love it .
0 One sloughs one 's way through the mire of this alleged psychological thriller in
search of purpose or even a plot .
2 Cynics need not apply .
2 An involving , inspirational drama that sometimes falls prey to its sob-story
trappings .
3 A sense of real magic , perhaps .
4 Bouquet gives a performance that is masterly .
1 Yes , Spirited Away is a triumph of imagination , but it 's also a failure of
storytelling .
2 s face is chillingly unemotive , yet he communicates a great deal in his
performance .
1 Shrewd but pointless .
3 A heady , biting , be-bop 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 .
2 If all of Eight Legged Freaks was as entertaining as the final hour , I would
have no problem giving it an unqualified recommendation .
3 A weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine
acting moments and pungent insights into modern L.A .s show-biz and media
subcultures .
2 A lack of thesis makes Maryam , in the end , play out with the intellectual and
emotional impact of an after-school special .
1 A high-minded snoozer .
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 .
1 A little less extreme than in the past , with longer exposition sequences between
them , and with fewer gags to break the tedium .
2 The camera twirls .
3 This version does justice both to Stevenson and to the sci-fi genre .
1 A boring masquerade ball where normally good actors , even Kingsley , are made to
look bad .
3 If you are into splatter movies , then you will probably have a reasonably good
time with The Salton Sea .
3 They 're just a couple of cops in Copmovieland , these two , but in Narc , they
find new routes through a familiar neighborhood .
0 Hate it because it 's lousy .
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 gross-out comedy .
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 .
0 ... a movie that , quite simply , should n't have been made .
3 - style cross-country adventure ... it has sporadic bursts of liveliness , some
so-so slapstick and a few ear-pleasing songs on its soundtrack .
1 Howard and his co-stars all give committed performances , but they 're often
undone by Howard 's self-conscious attempts to find a literary ' filmmaking style
to match his subject .
3 The film has the uncanny ability to right itself precisely when you think it 's
in danger of going wrong .
4 ... an enjoyably frothy date movie ' ...
3 ... certainly an entertaining ride , despite many talky , slow scenes .
4 ... a series of tales told with the intricate preciseness of the best short story
writing .
4 It 's a wonderful , sobering , heart-felt drama .
3 The cast , collectively a successful example of the lovable-loser protagonist ,
shows deft comic timing .
1 Its plot and animation offer daytime TV serviceability , but little more .
1 On the evidence before us , the answer is clear : Not easily and , in the end ,
not well enough .
2 It is not what you see , it is what you think you see .
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 .
0 Several uninteresting , unlikeable people do bad things to and with each other in
Unfaithful .'
1 Plays like the old disease-of-the-week small-screen melodramas .
3 Alternating between facetious comic parody and pulp melodrama , this smart-aleck
movie ... tosses around some intriguing questions about the difference between
human and android life .
1 If I want a real movie , I 'll buy the Criterion DVD .
3 A deliberative account of a lifestyle characterized by its surface-obsession --
one that typifies the delirium of post , pre , and extant stardom .
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 .
1 Video games are more involving than this mess .
3 Features Fincher 's characteristically startling visual style and an almost
palpable sense of intensity .
1 None of the characters or plot-lines are fleshed-out enough to build any interest
.
1 Otherwise , this could be a passable date film .
2 Are monsters born , or made .
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 .
3 A little melodramatic , but with enough hope to keep you engaged .
2 Generic slasher-movie nonsense , but it 's not without style .
3 A superlative B movie -- funny , sexy , and rousing .
2 It did n't go straight to video .
0 The misery of these people becomes just another voyeuristic spectacle , to be
consumed and forgotten .
1 Aan opportunity wasted .
0 This stuck pig of a movie flails limply between bizarre comedy and pallid
horror .
1 It is bad , but certainly not without merit as entertainment .
4 One of the most original American productions this year , you 'll find yourself
remembering this refreshing visit to a Sunshine State .
1 A bland animated sequel that hardly seems worth the effort .
1 Maybe LeBlanc thought , Hey , the movie about the baseball-playing monkey was
worse .'
3 From its invitingly upbeat overture to its pathos-filled but ultimately life-
affirming finale , Martin is a masterfully conducted work .
3 Poignant Japanese epic about adolescent anomie and heartbreak .
3 Great fun both for sports aficionados and for ordinary louts whose idea of
exercise is climbing the steps of a stadium-seat megaplex .
1 An excruciating demonstration of the unsalvageability of a movie saddled with an
amateurish screenplay .
1 Trying to make head or tail of the story in the hip-hop indie Snipes is enough to
give you brain strain -- and the pay-off is negligible .
1 It reduces the complexities to bromides and slogans and it gets so preachy-keen
and so tub-thumpingly loud it makes you feel like a chump just for sitting through
it .
3 Uneven , self-conscious but often hilarious spoof .
1 Feeble comedy .
4 Many a parent and their teen or preteen kid could bond while watching A Walk To
Remember .
2 A Jewish WW II doc that is n't trying simply to out-shock , out-outrage or out-
depress its potential audience .
4 It 's no surprise that as a director Washington demands and receives excellent
performances , from himself and from newcomer Derek Luke .
3 Austin Powers for the most part is extremely funny , the first part making up for
any flaws that come later .
2 A collage
3 Psychologically revealing .
1 Serving Sara should be served an eviction notice at every theater stuck with it .
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 .
3 All three women deliver remarkable performances .
3 Leigh makes these lives count .
3 This is a nicely handled affair , a film about human darkness but etched with a
light yet unsentimental touch .
2 Meant to reduce Blake 's philosophy into a tragic coming-of-age saga punctuated
by bursts of animator Todd McFarlane 's superhero dystopia .
1 But it also comes with the laziness and arrogance of a thing that already knows
it 's won .
3 What 's really so appealing about the characters is their resemblance to everyday
children .
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 ...
1 A bore that tends to hammer home every one of its points .
0 ... an airless , prepackaged Julia Roberts wannabe that stinks so badly of hard-
sell image-mongering you 'll wonder if Lopez 's publicist should share
screenwriting credit .
3 It is quite a vision .
4 I like this movie a lot .
3 An old-fashioned 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 .
0 An ugly , pointless , stupid movie .
2 Ritchie may not have a novel thought in his head , but he knows how to pose
Madonna .
3 Manages to delight without much of a story .
1 The histrionic muse still eludes Madonna and , playing a charmless witch , she is
merely a charmless witch .
3 If you 're down for a silly hack-and-slash flick , you can do no wrong with Jason
X.
2 If you thought Tom Hanks was just an ordinary big-screen star , wait until you
've seen him eight stories tall .
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 .
3 Bluto Blutarsky , we miss you .
2 You Should Pay Nine Bucks for This : Because you can hear about suffering Afghan
refugees on the news and still be unaffected .
2 Eric Byler 's nuanced pic avoids easy sentiments and explanations ...
3 While obviously aimed at kids , The Country Bears ... should keep parents amused
with its low groan-to-guffaw ratio .
1 Wildly incompetent but brilliantly named Half Past Dead -- or for Seagal
pessimists : Totally Past His Prime .
1 Most fish stories are a little peculiar , but this is one that should be thrown
back in the river .
3 You may leave the theater with more questions than answers , but darned if your
toes wo n't still be tapping .
3 While it has definite weaknesses -- like a rather unbelievable love interest and
a meandering ending -- this '60s caper film is a riveting , brisk delight .
0 There 's no disguising this as one of the worst films of the summer .
3 Coy but exhilarating , with really solid performances by Ving Rhames and Wesley
Snipes .
1 Nijinsky says , ' I know how to suffer ' and if you see this film you 'll know
too .
2 There ai n't a lot more painful than an unfunny movie that thinks it 's hilarious
.
3 No worse a film than Breaking Out , and Breaking Out was utterly charming .
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 .
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 .
4 Third time 's the charm ... yeah , baby .
3 Quietly engaging .
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 Sometimes this modest little number clicks , and sometimes it does n't .
4 It 's always enthralling .
1 Yet why it fails is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma .
4 Morvern Callar confirms Lynne Ramsay as an important , original talent in
international cinema .
1 If only it had the story to match .
2 to be more engaging on an emotional level , funnier , and on the whole less
detached .
1 about gays in what is essentially an extended soap opera
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 .
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 The turntable is now outselling the electric guitar .. .'
3 Strip it of all its excess debris , and you 'd have a 90-minute , four-star movie
.
1 Sadly , as Blood Work proves , that was a long , long time ago .
1 Like Showgirls and Glitter , the most entertaining moments here are unintentional
.
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 Some Body will take you places you have n't been , and also places you have .
0 The director , with his fake backdrops and stately pacing , never settles on a
consistent tone .
3 A little uneven to be the cat 's meow , but it 's good enough to be the purr .
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 , brain-deadening hangover .
1 It 's surprisingly bland despite the heavy doses of weird performances and
direction .
1 Disreputable doings and exquisite trappings are dampened by a lackluster script
and substandard performances .
1 An unencouraging threefold expansion on the former MTV series , accompanying the
stunt-hungry dimwits in a random series of collected gags , pranks , pratfalls ,
dares , injuries , etc. .
1 This is a movie that starts out like Heathers , then becomes Bring it On , then
becomes unwatchable .
2 Director Chris Eyre is going through the paces again with his usual high
melodramatic style of filmmaking .
3 The observations of this social/economic/urban environment are canny and spiced
with irony .
0 Suffers from over-familiarity since hit-hungry British filmmakers have strip-
mined the Monty formula mercilessly since 1997 .
3 Generates an enormous feeling of empathy for its characters .
2 It 's all about the image .'
0 Sheridan is painfully bad , a fourth-rate Jim Carrey who does n't understand the
difference between dumb fun and just plain dumb .
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 Amidst the action , the script carries Arnold and the viewers into the
forbidden zone of sympathizing with terrorist motivations by presenting the other
side of the story .'
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 .
0 The film feels formulaic , its plot and pacing typical Hollywood war-movie
stuff , while the performances elicit more of a sense of deja vu than awe .
3 One of the smarter offerings the horror genre has produced in recent memory ,
even if it 's far tamer than advertised .
0 The issues are presented in such a lousy way , complete with some of the year 's
unintentionally funniest moments , that it 's impossible to care .
3 A funny film .
4 Sayles has a knack for casting , often resurrecting performers who rarely work in
movies now ... and drawing flavorful performances from bland actors .
2 The photographer 's show-don t-tell stance is admirable , but it can make him a
problematic documentary subject .
2 It is a testament of quiet endurance , of common concern , of reconciled survival
.
3 If you 're in the right B-movie frame of mind , it may just scare the pants off
you .
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 coming-of-age genre .
2 Weiss and Speck never make a convincing case for the relevance of these two 20th-
century footnotes .
3 Even before it builds up to its insanely staged ballroom scene , in which 3000
actors appear in full regalia , it 's waltzed itself into the art film pantheon .
3 Australia : Land Beyond Time is an enjoyable Big Movie primarily because
Australia is a weirdly beautiful place .
4 Even if you 've seen Stomp the stage show , you still have to see this .
0 There is nothing funny in this every-joke-has - been-told-a - thousand-times -
before 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 .
3 that works .
1 Although ... visually striking and slickly staged , it 's also cold , grey ,
antiseptic and emotionally desiccated .
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 Overall , Cletis Tout is a winning comedy that excites the imagination and
tickles the funny bone .
0 Rollerball IS as bad as you think , and worse than you can imagine .
4 may prove to be Tsai 's masterpiece .
1 Donovan ... squanders his main asset , Jackie Chan , and fumbles the vital action
sequences .
2 Dense and enigmatic ... elusive ... stagy and stilted
2 If the movie were all comedy , it might work better .
3 May lack the pungent bite of its title , but it 's an enjoyable trifle
nonetheless .
2 There are problems with this film that even 3 Oscar winners ca n't overcome , but
it 's a nice girl-buddy movie once it gets rock-n-rolling .
3 Rodriguez does a splendid job of racial profiling Hollywood style -- casting
excellent Latin actors of all ages -- a trend long overdue .
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 .
3 Interesting both as a historical study and as a tragic love story .
2 Clayburgh and Tambor are charming performers ; neither of them deserves Eric
Schaeffer .
1 One key problem with these ardently Christian storylines is that there is never
any question of how things will turn out .
0 It 's so devoid of joy and energy it makes even Jason X ... look positively
Shakesperean by comparison .
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 .
1 Predictably melodramatic .
3 Tends to pile too many serious issues on its plate at times , yet remains fairly
light , always entertaining , and smartly written .
4 A marvel of production design .
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
chick-flicks by treating female follies with a satirical style .
2 But something seems to be missing .
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 I have returned from the beyond to warn you : this movie is 90 minutes long , and
life is too short .
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 .
4 Ozpetek 's effort has the scope and shape of an especially well-executed
television movie .
1 Less a study in madness or love than a study in schoolgirl obsession .
0 ... really horrible drek .
2 It 's not particularly subtle ... However , it still manages to build to a
terrifying , if obvious , conclusion .
3 A terrific insider look at the star-making machinery of tinseltown .
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 .
1 Has enough gun battles and throwaway humor to cover up the yawning chasm where
the plot should be .
4 Filled with honest performances and exceptional detail , Baran is a gentle film
with dramatic punch , a haunting ode to humanity .
3 Though Nijinsky 's words grow increasingly disturbed , the film maintains a
beguiling serenity and poise that make it accessible for a non-narrative feature .
0 The entire movie is so formulaic and forgettable that it 's hardly over before it
begins to fade from memory .
2 Yet another movie which presumes that high school social groups are at war , let
alone conscious of each other 's existence .
0 A dim-witted and lazy spin-off of the Animal Planet documentary series ,
Crocodile Hunter is entertainment opportunism at its most glaring .
1 In the not-too-distant future , movies like Ghost Ship will be used as analgesic
balm for overstimulated minds .
3 It 's truly awful and heartbreaking subject matter , but one whose lessons are
well worth revisiting as many times as possible .
4 A fascinating , bombshell documentary that should shame Americans , regardless of
whether or not ultimate blame finally lies with Kissinger .
3 And the reason for that is a self-aware , often self-mocking , intelligence .
3 For those who are intrigued by politics of the '70s , the film is every bit as
fascinating as it is flawed .
4 Could I have been more geeked when I heard that Apollo 13 was going to be
released in IMAX format .
3 If the film fails to fulfill its own ambitious goals , it nonetheless sustains
interest during the long build-up of expository material .
1 ... a confusing drudgery .
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 .
2 Until the superfluous ... epilogue that leaks suspension of disbelief like a
sieve , Die Another Day is as stimulating & heart-rate-raising as any James Bond
thriller .
2 Ensemble movies , like soap operas , depend on empathy .
4 Mostly honest , this somber picture reveals itself slowly , intelligently ,
artfully .
3 I could n't recommend this film more .
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 .
4 Nair 's cast is so large it 's Altman-esque , but she deftly spins the multiple
stories in a vibrant and intoxicating fashion .
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 The artwork is spectacular and unlike most animaton from Japan , the characters
move with grace and panache .
3 It strikes hardest ... when it reminds you how pertinent its dynamics remain .
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 .
2 Marinated
4 A film about female friendship that men can embrace and women will talk about for
hours .
1 Hollywood Ending just is n't very funny .
2 The film may not hit as hard as some of the better drug-related pictures , but it
still manages to get a few punches in .
1 Before it collapses into exactly the kind of buddy cop comedy it set out to
lampoon , anyway .
3 Unlike lots of Hollywood fluff , this has layered , well-developed characters and
some surprises .
2 An unflinching look at the world 's dispossessed .
1 Ultimately ... the movie is too heady for children , and too preachy for adults .
4 Forget about one Oscar nomination for Julianne Moore this year - she should get
all five .
2 The boys ' sparring , like the succession of blows dumped on Guei , wears down
the story 's more cerebral , and likable , plot elements .
3 At its most basic , this cartoon adventure is that wind-in-the-hair
exhilarating .
3 Simone is not a bad film .
4 Graphic sex may be what 's attracting audiences to Unfaithful , but gripping
performances by Lane and Gere are what will keep them awake .
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 .
1 There may have been a good film in Trouble Every Day , but it is not what is on
the screen .
1 Full Frontal had no effect and elicited no sympathies for any of the characters .
0 - spy action flick with Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu never comes together .
1 Dragonfly ' dwells on crossing-over mumbo jumbo , manipulative sentimentality ,
and sappy dialogue .
3 Sayles has an eye for the ways people of different ethnicities talk to and about
others outside the group .
3 It 's always fascinating to watch Marker the essayist at work .
3 Mr. Deeds is suitable summer entertainment that offers escapism without
requiring a great deal of thought .
4 Just about the best straight-up , old-school horror film of the last 15 years .
1 The verdict : Two bodies and hardly a laugh between them .
3 D espite its familiar subject matter , Ice Age is consistently amusing and
engrossing ...
4 Here is a divine monument to a single man 's struggle to regain his life , his
dignity and his music .
3 Schaeffer is n't in this film , which may be why it works as well as it does .
3 Your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .
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 .
2 A pint-sized 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 .
4 This documentary is a dazzling , remarkably unpretentious reminder of what Evans
had , lost , and got back .
1 As earnest as a community-college advertisement , American Chai is enough to make
you put away the guitar , sell the amp , and apply to medical school .
3 A thoroughly enjoyable , heartfelt coming-of-age comedy .
3 It 's better than The Phantom Menace .
2 An unintentional parody of every teen movie made in the last five years .
0 This ludicrous film is predictable at every turn .
1 The movie is n't painfully bad , something to be fully experienced ' ; it 's just
tediously bad , something to be fully forgotten .
2 This will go on so long as there are moviegoers anxious to see strange young guys
doing strange guy things .
3 Alternately hilarious and sad , aggravating and soulful , scathing and joyous .
4 The year 2002 has conjured up more coming-of-age stories than seem possible , but
Take Care of My Cat emerges as the very best of them .
2 It briefly flirts with player masochism , but the point of real interest - --
audience sadism -- is evaded completely .
3 The best film of the year 2002 .
4 A moving and not infrequently breathtaking film .
3 An ambitious what if .
4 A slam-bang extravaganza that is all about a wild-and-woolly , wall-to-wall good
time .
1 overstylized
0 Vulgar is too optimistic a title .
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 A refreshingly realistic , affectation-free coming-of-age tale .
1 What 's needed so badly but what is virtually absent here is either a saving dark
humor or the feel of poetic tragedy .
3 Left me with the visceral sensation of longing , lasting traces of Charlotte 's
web of desire and desperation .
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 .
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 .
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 ...
3 A fascinating examination of the joyous , turbulent self-discovery made by a
proper , middle-aged woman .
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 Visually exciting sci-fi film which suffers from a lackluster screenplay .
2 A sterling film - a cross between Boys don't Cry , Deliverance , and Ode to Billy
Joe - lies somewhere in the story of Matthew Shepard , but that film is yet to be
made .
2 Narc can only remind us of brilliant crime dramas without becoming one itself .
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 .
1 Kapur weighs down the tale with bogus profundities .
2 Provides a porthole into that noble , trembling incoherence that defines us all .
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 .
3 Splendidly illustrates the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity .
3 The filmmakers know how to please the eye , but it is not always the prettiest
pictures that tell the best story .
2 A fine film , but it would be a lot better if it stuck to Betty Fisher and left
out the other stories .
2 But not a whit more .
1 It 's not a great monster movie .
2 Might best be enjoyed as a daytime soaper .
2 A drama of great power , yet some members of the audience will leave the theater
believing they have seen a comedy .
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 .
4 A must-see for fans of thoughtful war films and those interested in the sights
and sounds of battle .
4 An enthralling aesthetic experience , one that 's steeped in mystery and a
ravishing , baroque beauty .
2 Berling and
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 .
1 ZigZag might have been richer and more observant if it were less densely
plotted .
0 Despite all the closed-door hanky-panky , the film is essentially juiceless .
3 American musical comedy as we know it would n't exist without the precedent of
Yiddish theater , whose jolly , fun-for-fun 's - sake communal spirit goes to the
essence of Broadway .
0 A Girls Gone Wild ' video for the boho art-house crowd , The Burning Sensation is
n't a definitive counter-cultural document -- its makers are n't removed and
inquisitive enough for that .
2 Kurys never shows why , of all the period 's volatile romantic lives , Sand and
Musset are worth particular attention .
1 Skip this dreck , rent Animal House and go back to the source .
1 Reign of Fire never comes close to recovering from its demented premise , but it
does sustain an enjoyable level of ridiculousness .
2 An overly melodramatic but somewhat insightful French coming-of-age film ...
1 ... a rather bland affair .
2 Only for young children , if them .
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 .
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 .
1 ... comes alive only when it switches gears to the sentimental .
2 It may even fall into the category of Films You Love to Hate .
2 Those of you who don't believe in Santa Claus probably also think that sequels
can never capture the magic of the original .
3 Grant carries the day with impeccable comic timing , raffish charm and piercing
intellect .
4 Good fun , good action , good acting , good dialogue , good pace , good
cinematography .
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 .
2 For all the complications , it 's all surprisingly predictable .
3 Michael Moore has perfected the art of highly entertaining , self-aggrandizing ,
politically motivated documentary-making , and he 's got as potent a topic as ever
here .
2 Sometimes entertaining , sometimes indulgent -- but never less than pure
wankery .
3 The difference between Cho and most comics is that her confidence in her material
is merited .
3 Delivers the sexy razzle-dazzle that everyone , especially movie musical fans ,
has been hoping for .
1 Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant make a great team , but this predictable romantic
comedy should get a pink slip .
4 The film offers an intriguing what-if premise .
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
0 Very stupid and annoying .
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 .
3 If you are in the mood for an intelligent weepy , it can easily worm its way into
your heart .
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 .
0 The picture emerges as a surprisingly anemic disappointment .
1 Though Impostor deviously adopts the guise of a modern motion picture , it too is
a bomb .
1 It looks good , Sonny , but you missed the point .
0 Crummy .
2 Essentially , the film is weak on detail and strong on personality
3 Cold , nervy and memorable .
4 A captivating coming-of-age story that may also be the first narrative film to be
truly informed by the wireless age .
0 Nothing about this movie works .
2 If Mr. Zhang 's subject matter is , to some degree at least , quintessentially
American , his approach to storytelling might be called Iranian .
2 It comes off as so silly that you would n't be surprised if BA , Murdock and rest
of the A-Team were seen giving chase in a black and red van .
3 It 's sort of in-between , and it works .
2 Impeccably filmed , sexually charged , but ultimately lacking in substance , not
to mention dragged down by a leaden closing act .
2 Tobey Maguire is a poster boy for the geek generation .
2 With Freeman and Judd , I 'll at least remember their characters .
2 A Lifetime movie about men .
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 .
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 .
1 Parker can not sustain the buoyant energy level of the film 's city beginnings
into its country conclusion '
2 Kenneth Branagh 's energetic sweet-and-sour performance as a curmudgeonly British
playwright grounds this overstuffed , erratic dramedy in which he and his
improbably forbearing wife contend with craziness and child-rearing in Los
Angeles .
0 Just another disjointed , fairly predictable psychological thriller .
1 Pretend it 's a werewolf itself by avoiding eye contact and walking slowly away .
3 Passion , melodrama , sorrow , laugther , and tears cascade over the screen
effortlessly ...
0 Banal and predictable .
0 You expect more from director Michael Apted Enigma and screenwriter Nicholas
Kazan Reversal of Fortune than this cliche pileup .
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 .
3 The Chateau is a risky venture that never quite goes where you expect and often
surprises you with unexpected comedy .
3 Watching Austin Powers in Goldmember is like binging on cotton candy .
1 In the wrong hands , i.e. Peploe 's , it 's simply unbearable
0 Two hours of junk .
2 A perfectly respectable , perfectly inoffensive , easily forgettable film .
4 A colorful , joyous celebration of life ; a tapestry woven of romance , dancing ,
singing , and unforgettable characters .
2 So here it is : It 's about a family of sour immortals .
1 The film falls short on tension , eloquence , spiritual challenge -- things that
have made the original New Testament stories so compelling for 20 centuries .
2 A cautionary tale about the grandiosity of a college student who sees himself as
impervious to a fall .
3 An affectionately goofy satire that 's unafraid to throw elbows when
necessary ...
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 .
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 .
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 flip-flop .
3 ... a funny yet dark and seedy clash of cultures and generations .
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 .
4 Everyone 's insecure in Lovely and Amazing , a poignant and wryly amusing film
about mothers , daughters and their relationships .
0 It is n't quite one of the worst movies of the year .
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 .
3 Hard to resist .
0 An almost unbearably morbid love story .
3 Dark and unrepentant , this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental
instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten .
3 A pleasing , often-funny comedy .
1 There 's not a spark of new inspiration in it , just more of the same , done with
noticeably less energy and imagination .
1 Murphy and Wilson actually make a pretty good team ... but the project
surrounding them is distressingly rote .
1 It 's one thing to read about or rail against the ongoing - and unprecedented -
construction project going on over our heads .
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 .
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 .
4 Arguably the best script that Besson has written in years .
4 It 's a lovely , eerie film that casts an odd , rapt spell .
0 Unfortunately , it 's also not very good .
3 Like Kubrick , Soderbergh is n't afraid to try any genre and to do it his own way
.
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 ill-advised and poorly
executed idea .
1 Writer-director Ritchie reduces Wertmuller 's social mores and politics to
tiresome jargon .
3 The pleasures that it does afford may be enough to keep many moviegoers occupied
amidst some of the more serious-minded concerns of other year-end movies .
2 Dull and mechanical , kinda like a very goofy museum exhibit
2 You know that ten bucks you 'd spend on a ticket .
3 It puts Washington , as honest working man John Q. Archibald , on a pedestal ,
then keeps lifting the pedestal higher .
1 Content merely to lionize its title character and exploit his anger - all for
easy sanctimony , formulaic thrills and a ham-fisted sermon on the need for
national health insurance .
3 A realistically terrifying movie that puts another notch in the belt of the long
list of renegade-cop tales .
4 That Storytelling has value can not be denied .
0 The main characters are simply named The Husband , The Wife and The Kidnapper ,
emphasizing the disappointingly generic nature of the entire effort .
4 Brilliantly written and well-acted , Yellow Asphalt is an uncompromising film .
3 Miller tells this very compelling tale with little fuss or noise , expertly
plucking tension from quiet .
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 Almost everything about the film is unsettling , from the preposterous hairpiece
worn by Lai 's villainous father to the endless action sequences .
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 .
1 Often demented in a good way , but it is an uneven film for the most part .
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 The advantage of a postapocalyptic setting is that it can be made on the cheap .
2 meanders between its powerful moments .
4 As commander-in-chief 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 .
3 It may not be a great piece of filmmaking , but its power comes from its soul 's
- eye view of how well-meaning patronizing masked a social injustice , at least as
represented by this case .
4 The entire cast is first-rate , especially Sorvino .
3 Walter Hill 's Undisputed is like a 1940s Warner Bros. .
4 ... could easily be called the best Korean film of 2002 .
0 A predictable , manipulative stinker .
2 The plot plummets into a comedy graveyard before Janice comes racing to the
rescue in the final reel .
3 Alice 's adventure through the looking glass and into zombie-land ' is filled
with strange and wonderful creatures .
4 Part of the film 's cheeky charm comes from its vintage schmaltz .
3 Yes , it 's as good as you remember .
1 As the Mediterranean sparkles , Swept Away ' sinks .
0 This painfully unfunny farce traffics in tired stereotypes and encumbers itself
with complications ... that have no bearing on the story .
4 ... once the true impact of the day unfolds , the power of this movie is
undeniable .
4 An interesting psychological game of cat-and-mouse , three-dimensional characters
and believable performances all add up to a satisfying crime drama .
4 Nicole Kidman makes it a party worth attending .
2 The Balkans provide the obstacle course for the love of a good woman .
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 art-house moviegoer is
likely to find compelling .
2 The Ring is worth a look , if you don't demand much more than a few cheap thrills
from your Halloween entertainment .
0 Make like the title and dodge this one .
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 .
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 It 's a solid movie about people whose lives are anything but .
3 Nicks sustains the level of exaggerated , stylized humor throughout by taking
your expectations and twisting them just a bit .
1 The problem with XXX is that its own action is n't very effective .
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 .
3 The film is delicately narrated by Martin Landau and directed with sensitivity
and skill by Dana Janklowicz-Mann .
1 SC2 is an autopilot Hollywood concoction lacking in imagination and authentic
Christmas spirit , yet it 's geared toward an audience full of masters of both .
3 Remove Spider-Man the movie from its red herring surroundings and it 's apparent
that this is one summer film that satisfies .
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 ... a triumph of emotionally and narratively complex filmmaking .
4 A winning comedy with its wry observations about long-lived friendships and the
ways in which we all lose track of ourselves by trying to please others .
4 Fantastic .
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 .
0 It 's uninteresting .
1 Little more than a well-mounted history lesson .
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 Although the film boils down to a lightweight story about matchmaking , the
characters make Italian for Beginners worth the journey
0 Will probably be one of those movies barely registering a blip on the radar
screen of 2002 .
1 An incredibly narrow in-joke targeted to the tiniest segment of an already
obscure demographic .
3 Hoffman 's performance is authentic to the core of his being .
4 Bluer than the Atlantic and more biologically detailed than an autopsy , the
movie ... is , also , frequently hilarious .
3 Some remarkable achival film about how Shanghai of all places served Jews who
escaped the Holocaust .
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 .
1 Somewhere inside the mess that is World Traveler , there is a mediocre movie
trying to get out .
3 Everything about The Quiet American is good , except its timing .
3 This rich , bittersweet Israeli documentary , about the life of song-and-dance-
man Pasach ke Burstein and his family , transcends ethnic lines .
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 well-made
pizza .
1 I have to admit that I am baffled by Jason X.
4 A smart , compelling drama .
3 Drumline ably captures the complicated relationships in a marching band .
2 Oh , and Booty Call .
0 It is messy , uncouth , incomprehensible , vicious and absurd .
3 Confessions is without a doubt a memorable directorial debut from King Hunk .
2 don't expect any subtlety from this latest entry in the increasingly threadbare
gross-out comedy cycle .
4 Canadian filmmaker Gary Burns ' inventive and mordantly humorous take on the
soullessness of work in the city .
0 New ways of describing badness need to be invented to describe exactly how bad it
is .
1 A film that suffers because of its many excesses .
4 Brings an irresistible blend of warmth and humor and a consistent embracing
humanity in the face of life 's harshness .
1 The film 's taste for shock humor will wear thin on all but those weaned on
the comedy of Tom Green and the Farrelly Brothers .
1 Its screenplay serves as auto-critique , and its clumsiness as its own most
damning censure .
4 Uplifting as only a document of the worst possibilities of mankind can be , and
among the best films of the year .
1 The film is flat .
3 A fascinating , unnerving examination of the delusions of one unstable man .
2 Feels as if the inmates have actually taken over the asylum .
3 This is unusual , food-for-thought cinema that 's as entertaining as it is
instructive .
3 Watching The Powerpuff Girls Movie , my mind kept returning to one anecdote for
comparison : the cartoon in Japan that gave people seizures .
4 A funny , triumphant , and moving documentary .
3 Just when you think that every possible angle has been exhausted by
documentarians , another new film emerges with yet another remarkable yet
shockingly little-known perspective .
2 A witty , trenchant , wildly unsentimental but flawed look at the ins and outs of
modern moviemaking .
2 Please .
3 A thriller with an edge -- which is to say that it does n't follow the stale ,
standard , connect-the-dots storyline which has become commonplace in movies that
explore the seamy underbelly of the criminal world .
2 No matter how you slice it , Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton are not Hepburn and
Grant , two cinematic icons with chemistry galore .
1 Death to Smoochy tells a moldy-oldie , not-nearly - as-nasty - as-it - thinks-it-
is joke .
0 Dripping with cliche and bypassing no opportunity to trivialize the material .
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 .
1 Unfortunately , there is almost nothing in this flat effort that will amuse or
entertain them , either .
4 Not to mention absolutely refreshed .
0 My precious new Star Wars movie is a lumbering , wheezy drag ...
1 Boyd 's screenplay co-written with Guardian hack Nick Davies has a florid turn
of phrase that owes more to Guy Ritchie than the Bard of Avon .
2 Bacon keeps things interesting , but don't go out of your way to pay full price .
2 This is a nervy , risky film , and Villeneuve has inspired Croze to give herself
over completely to the tormented persona of Bibi .
0 It 's a barely tolerable slog over well-trod ground .
0 That such a horrible movie could have sprung from such a great one is one of the
year 's worst cinematic tragedies .
0 That chirpy songbird Britney Spears has popped up with more mindless drivel .
1 The Master of Disguise falls under the category of should have been a sketch on
Saturday Night Live .
1 A good-natured ensemble comedy that tries hard to make the most of a bumper
cast , but never quite gets off the ground .
3 Like a precious and finely cut diamond , magnificent to behold in its sparkling
beauty yet in reality it 's one tough rock .
1 Overall tomfoolery like this is a matter of taste .
4 What results is the best performance from either in years .
0 You 'll trudge out of the theater feeling as though you rode the Zipper after
eating a corn dog and an extra-large cotton candy .
4 The actors are simply too good , and the story too intriguing , for technical
flaws to get in the way .
3 Yes , but also intriguing and honorable , a worthwhile addition to a
distinguished film legacy .
2 It may be about drug dealers , kidnapping , and unsavory folks , but the tone and
pacing are shockingly intimate .
1 Laggard drama wending its way to an uninspired philosophical epiphany .
4 When a movie has stuck around for this long , you know there 's something there .
4 A funny and touching film that is gorgeously acted by a British cast to rival
Gosford Park 's .
0 There 's not a single jump-in-your-seat moment and believe it or not , Jason
actually takes a backseat in his own film to special effects .
1 Elegantly crafted but emotionally cold , a puzzle whose intricate construction
one can admire but is difficult to connect with on any deeper level .
0 It is that rare combination of bad writing , bad direction and bad acting -- the
trifecta of badness .
1 Off the Hook is overlong and not well-acted , but credit writer-producer-director
Adam Watstein with finishing it at all .
1 An occasionally interesting but mostly repetitive look at a slice of
counterculture that might be best forgotten .
0 You have no affinity for most of the characters .
1 A perfect example of rancid , well-intentioned , but shamelessly manipulative
movie making .
3 ... a quietly introspective portrait of the self-esteem of employment and the
shame of losing a job ...
2 Handsome and sincere but slightly awkward in its combination of entertainment and
evangelical boosterism .
3 The storytelling may be ordinary , but the cast is one of those all-star reunions
that fans of Gosford Park have come to assume is just another day of Brit cinema .
2 Barely .
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 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 .
1 Too campy to work as straight drama and too violent and sordid to function as
comedy , Vulgar is , truly and thankfully , a one-of-a-kind work .
1 Gets bogged down by an overly sillified plot and stop-and-start pacing .
1 Theological matters aside , the movie is so clumsily sentimental and ineptly
directed it may leave you speaking in tongues .
1 Comes off more like a misdemeanor , a flat , unconvincing drama that never
catches fire .
3 Offers laughs and insight into one of the toughest ages a kid can go through .
2 At its best and it does have some very funny sequences Looking for Leonard
reminds you just how comically subversive silence can be .
2 The picture does n't know it 's a comedy .
2 The Armenian genocide deserves a more engaged and honest treatment .
1 One scene after another in this supposedly funny movie falls to the floor with a
sickening thud .
2 I have two words to say about Reign of Fire .
1 Why did they deem it necessary to document all this emotional misery .
4 A first-class road movie that proves you can run away from home , but your ego
and all your problems go with you .
4 The story itself it mostly told through on-camera interviews with several
survivors , whose riveting memories are rendered with such clarity that it 's as if
it all happened only yesterday .
0 It ends up being neither , and fails at both endeavors .
4 A coming-of-age movie that Hollywood would n't have the guts to make .
2 Tennessee Williams by way of Oprah 's Book Club .
2 A brain twister , less a movie-movie than a funny and weird meditation on
Hollywood , success , artistic integrity and intellectual bankruptcy .
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 mean-spirited .
4 One of the most exciting action films to come out of China in recent years .
2 A well-acted movie that simply does n't gel .
0 A real snooze .
0 One of those films that started with a great premise and then just fell apart .
3 The success of Undercover Brother is found in its ability to spoof both black and
white stereotypes equally .
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 .
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 .
4 The film boasts dry humor and jarring shocks , plus moments of breathtaking
mystery .
1 El Crimen Del Padre Amaro would likely be most effective if used as a tool to
rally anti-Catholic protestors .
2 ... salaciously simplistic .
4 A fanciful drama about Napoleon 's last years and his surprising discovery of
love and humility .
4 Excellent performances from Jacqueline Bisset and Martha Plimpton grace this
deeply touching melodrama .
1 The film 's thoroughly recycled plot and tiresome jokes ... drag the movie down .
2 The film favors the scientific over the spectacular visually speaking .
3 It is life affirming and heartbreaking , sweet without the decay factor , funny
and sad .
2 The film is explosive , but a few of those sticks are wet .
0 Jackass is a vulgar and cheap-looking version of Candid Camera staged for the
Marquis de Sade set .
3 It rapidly develops into a gut-wrenching examination of the way cultural
differences and emotional expectations collide .
1 Attal 's hang-ups surrounding infidelity are so old-fashioned and , dare I say ,
outdated , it 's a wonder that he could n't have brought something fresher to the
proceedings simply by accident .
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 .
3 Then you 'd do well to check this one out because it 's straight up Twin Peaks
action ...
2 In the real world
3 an original and highly cerebral examination of the psychopathic mind
1 There is no solace here , no entertainment value , merely a fierce lesson in
where filmmaking can take us .
2 So earnest and well-meaning , and so stocked with talent , that you almost forget
the sheer , ponderous awfulness of its script .
2 My Wife 's plotting is nothing special ; it 's the delivery that matters here .
3 Likely to have decades of life as a classic movie franchise .
3 Although shot with little style , Skins is heartfelt and achingly real .
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 Those with a modicum of patience will find in these characters ' foibles a
timeless and unique perspective .
3 An unflinching , complex portrait of a modern Israel that is rarely seen on-
screen .
3 Efteriades gives the neighborhood -- scenery , vibe and all -- the cinematic
equivalent of a big , tender hug .
1 Though it pretends to expose the life of male hustlers , it 's exploitive without
being insightful .
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 .
4 Serious and thoughtful .
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 .
0 This thing works on no level whatsoever for me .
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 .
3 For all the charm of Kevin Kline and a story that puts old-fashioned values under
the microscope , there 's something creepy about this movie .
0 McKay shows crushingly little curiosity about , or is ill-equipped to examine ,
the interior lives of the characters in his film , much less incorporate them into
his narrative .
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 .
1 I don't think this movie loves women at all .
1 If you are willing to do this , then you so crazy .
3 A bodice-ripper for intellectuals .
2 The Master of Disguise is funny -- not ha ha funny , dead circus performer
funny .
1 Made to be Jaglomized is the Cannes Film Festival , the annual Riviera spree of
flesh , buzz , blab and money .
3 At once a testament to the divine calling of education and a demonstration of the
painstaking process of imparting knowledge .
1 Plays like one long , meandering sketch inspired by the works of John Waters and
Todd Solondz , rather than a fully developed story .
0 An unholy mess , driven by the pathetic idea that if you shoot something on
crummy-looking videotape , it must be labelled hip ' , innovative ' and realistic '
.
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 .
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 Cold , pretentious , thoroughly dislikable study in sociopathy .
3 Puts a refreshing and comical spin on the all-too-familiar saga of the
contemporary single woman .
4 The cast is top-notch and I predict there will be plenty of female audience
members drooling over Michael Idemoto as Michael .
2 A romance .
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 .
1 The biggest problem I have other than the very sluggish pace is we never really
see her Esther blossom as an actress , even though her talent is supposed to be
growing .
2 Has the marks of a septuagenarian ; it 's a crusty treatment of a clever
gimmick .
2 The problems of the people in Love in the Time of Money are hardly specific to
their era .
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 .
2 It 's a good film , but it falls short of its aspiration to be a true epic ' .
4 Quite simply , a joy to watch and -- especially -- to listen to .
3 As an actor 's showcase , Hart 's War has much to recommend it , even if the top-
billed Willis is not the most impressive player .
2 It 's too bad nothing else is .
0 The crap continues .
1 Something has been lost in the translation ... another routine Hollywood
frightfest in which the slack execution italicizes the absurdity of the premise .
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 Though her fans will assuredly have their funny bones tickled , others will find
their humor-seeking dollars best spent elsewhere .
0 The movie is almost completely lacking in suspense , surprise and consistent
emotional conviction .
4 Wickedly funny , visually engrossing , never boring , this movie challenges us to
think about the ways we consume pop culture .
1 The Piano Teacher , like its title character , is repellantly out of control .
2 Director-chef Gabriele Muccino keeps it fast -- zippy , comin ' at ya -- as if
fearing that his film is molto superficiale .
2 Veers uncomfortably close to pro-Serb propaganda .
1 It 's makes a better travelogue than movie .
3 Bravo for history rewritten , and for the uncompromising knowledge that the
highest power of all is the power of love .
1 It 's also built on a faulty premise , one it follows into melodrama and
silliness .
3 This is the stuff that Disney movies are made of .
3 For those who like quirky , slightly strange French films , this is a must .
3 This is one of the rarest kinds of films : a family-oriented non-Disney film that
is actually funny without hitting below the belt .
0 Horrible .
4 A strong first act and absolutely , inescapably gorgeous , skyscraper-trapeze
motion of the amazing Spider-Man .
1 Moves in such odd plot directions and descends into such message-mongering
moralism that its good qualities are obscured .
3 An energetic , violent movie with a momentum that never lets up .
3 He allows his cast members to make creative contributions to the story and
dialogue .
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 .
2 Simultaneously heartbreakingly beautiful and exquisitely sad .
0 The exclamation point seems to be the only bit of glee you 'll find in this
dreary mess .
2 So verbally flatfooted and so emotionally predictable or bland that it plays like
the standard made-for-TV movie .
2 Wow , a jump cut .
3 It has a way of seeping into your consciousness , with lingering questions about
what the film is really getting at .
2 Apparently writer-director Attal thought he need only cast himself and his movie-
star wife sitting around in their drawers to justify a film .
1 A jumbled fantasy comedy that did not figure out a coherent game plan at
scripting , shooting or post-production stages .
1 Neither as scary-funny as Tremors nor demented-funny as Starship Troopers , the
movie is n't tough to take as long as you 've paid a matinee price .
3 Barry gives Assassin a disquieting authority .
0 Without Shakespeare 's eloquent language , the update is dreary and sluggish .
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 .
2 It 's the type of stunt the Academy loves : a powerful political message stuffed
into an otherwise mediocre film .
3 Much of the movie 's charm lies in the utter cuteness of Stuart and Margolo .
3 Both Garcia and Jagger turn in perfectly executed and wonderfully sympathetic
characters , who are alternately touching and funny .
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 .
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 Payne has created a beautiful canvas , and Nicholson proves once again that he 's
the best brush in the business .
1 I did n't find much fascination in the swinging .
1 Insomnia loses points when it surrenders to a formulaic bang-bang , shoot-em-up
scene at the conclusion .
2 Affleck merely creates an outline for a role he still needs to grow into , a role
that Ford effortlessly filled with authority .
0 Reign of Fire has the disadvantage of also looking cheap .
2 It 's another retelling of Alexandre Dumas ' classic .
3 The first shocking thing about Sorority Boys is that it 's actually watchable .
4 A fantastically vital movie that manages to invest real humor , sensuality , and
sympathy into a story about two adolescent boys .
3 Even though the film does n't manage to hit all of its marks , it 's still
entertaining to watch the target practice .
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 This rather unfocused , all-over-the-map 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 .
2 A creaky staircase gothic .
1 White Oleander , the movie , is akin to a Reader 's Digest condensed version of
the source material .
1 This dreadfully earnest inversion of the Concubine love triangle eschews the
previous film 's historical panorama and roiling pathos for bug-eyed mugging and
gay-niche condescension .
1 The direction , by George Hickenlooper , has no snap to it , no wiseacre crackle
or hard-bitten cynicism .
3 Beautifully directed and convincingly acted .
1 The movie is a lumbering load of hokum but ... it 's at least watchable .
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 .
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 .
1 It 's not the least of Afghan tragedies that this noble warlord would be
consigned to the dustbin of history .
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 This romantic/comedy asks the question how much souvlaki can you take before
indigestion sets in .
3 Jae-eun Jeong 's Take Care of My Cat brings a beguiling freshness to a coming-of-
age story with such a buoyant , expressive flow of images that it emerges as
another key contribution to the flowering of the South Korean cinema .
0 Depicts the sorriest and most sordid of human behavior on the screen , then
laughs at how clever it 's being .
3 Wow .
3 Whenever you think you 've figured out Late Marriage , it throws you for a loop .
3 Anyone who ever fantasized about space travel but ca n't afford the $ 20 million
ticket to ride a Russian rocket should catch this IMAX offering .
1 The only thing I laughed at were the people who paid to see it .
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 .
3 A suffocating rape-payback horror show that hinges on the subgenre 's most
enabling victim ... and an ebullient affection for industrial-model meat freezers .
4 With Bowling for Columbine , ' Michael Moore gives us the perfect starting point
for a national conversation about guns , violence , and fear .
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 .
2 The name says it all .
1 Fails to satisfactorily exploit its gender politics , genre thrills or inherent
humor .
2 The pace and the visuals are so hyped up that a curious sense of menace informs
everything .
1 I 'm giving it thumbs down due to the endlessly repetitive scenes of
embarrassment .
1 shows Holmes has the screen presence to become a major-league leading lady , but
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 .
0 Time literally stops on a dime in the tries-so-hard-to-be-cool Clockstoppers ,
but that does n't mean it still wo n't feel like the longest 90 minutes of your
movie-going life .
2 Collateral Damage offers formula payback and the Big Payoff , but the explosions
tend to simply hit their marks , pyro-correctly .
3 K-19 : The Widowmaker is a great yarn .
3 It 's funny , as the old saying goes , because it 's true .
4 A sexy , surprising romance ... Idemoto and Kim make a gorgeous pair ... their
scenes brim with sexual possibility and emotional danger .
3 A psychic journey deep into the very fabric of Iranian ... life .
2 See it now , before the inevitable Hollywood remake flattens out all its odd ,
intriguing wrinkles .
1 A distinctly minor effort that will be seen to better advantage on cable ,
especially considering its barely feature-length running time of one hour .
1 Rosenthal Halloween II seems to have forgotten everything he ever knew about
generating suspense .
1 The acting is fine but the script is about as interesting as a recording of
conversations at the Wal-Mart checkout line .
4 Fresh and raw like a blown-out vein , Narc takes a walking-dead , cop-flick
subgenre and beats new life into it .
0 Once Ice-T 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 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 Ear-splitting exercise in formula crash-and-bash action .
4 A strangely stirring experience that finds warmth in the coldest environment and
makes each crumb of emotional comfort feel like a 10-course banquet .
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 .
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 .
1 It 's leaden and predictable , and laughs are lacking .
1 Fincher takes no apparent joy in making movies , and he gives none to the
audience .
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 .
1 Like its title character , Esther Kahn is unusual but unfortunately also
irritating .
2 The message of such reflections -- intentional or not -- is that while no art
grows from a vacuum , many artists exist in one .
4 Viveka Seldahl and Sven Wollter will touch you to the core in a film you will
never forget -- that you should never forget .
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 A black Austin Powers .
4 A burst of color , music , and dance that only the most practiced curmudgeon
could fail to crack a smile at .
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 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 .
0 Stale and
4 Moving and vibrant .
3 A penetrating , potent exploration of sanctimony , self-awareness , self-hatred
and self-determination .
2 Sum is Jack Ryan 's do-over .'
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 .
4 The Pianist is Polanski 's best film .
4 A compelling , gut-clutching piece of advocacy cinema that carries you along in a
torrent of emotion as it explores the awful complications of one terrifying day .
0 It 's a stale , overused cocktail using the same olives since 1962 as garnish .
4 Enormously enjoyable , high-adrenaline documentary .
3 the past via surrealist flourishes
3 A different movie -- sometimes tedious -- by a director many viewers would like
to skip but film buffs should get to know .
1 An absurdist spider web .
4 Twenty years later , E.T. is still a cinematic touchstone .
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 Red Dragon is less baroque and showy than Hannibal , and less emotionally
affecting than Silence .
3 It 's affecting , amusing , sad and reflective .
3 By turns gripping , amusing , tender and heart-wrenching , Laissez-passer has all
the earmarks of French cinema at its best .
1 The dialogue is very choppy and monosyllabic despite the fact that it is being
dubbed .
1 ... hokey art house pretension .
3 Khouri manages , with terrific flair , to keep the extremes of screwball farce
and blood-curdling family intensity on one continuum .
2 Then Nadia 's birthday might not have been such a bad day after all .
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 .
0 It 's a frightful vanity film that , no doubt , pays off what debt Miramax felt
they owed to Benigni .
4 An excellent sequel .
1 Never comes together as a coherent whole .
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 prechewed
3 The first five minutes will have you talking 'til the end of the year .
0 A loud , ugly , irritating movie without any of its satirical salvos hitting a
discernible target .
4 Last Orders nurtures the multi-layers of its characters , allowing us to remember
that life 's ultimately a gamble and last orders are to be embraced .
0 The Sweetest Thing is expressly for idiots who don't care what kind of sewage
they shovel into their mental gullets to simulate sustenance .
0 Ultimately the , yes , snail-like pacing and lack of thematic resonance make the
film more silly than scary , like some sort of Martha Stewart decorating program
run amok .
4 Seems based on ugly ideas instead of ugly behavior , as Happiness was ... Hence ,
Storytelling is far more appealing .
2 Weird , vulgar comedy that 's definitely an acquired taste .
2 Director-writer Bille August ... depicts this relationship with economical
grace , letting his superb actors convey Martin 's deterioration and Barbara 's
sadness -- and , occasionally , anger .
3 Unlike most anime , whose most ardent fans outside Japan seem to be introverted
young men with fantasy fetishes , Metropolis never seems hopelessly juvenile .
4 ... wise and elegiac ...
3 It certainly wo n't win any awards in the plot department but it sets out with no
pretensions and delivers big time .
0 Very much a home video , and so devoid of artifice and purpose that it appears
not to have been edited at all .
4 The story gives ample opportunity for large-scale action and suspense , which
director Shekhar Kapur supplies with tremendous skill .
4 What makes How I Killed My Father compelling , besides its terrific
performances , is Fontaine 's willingness to wander into the dark areas of parent-
child relationships without flinching .
1 Without De Niro , City By The Sea would slip under the waves .
1 It made me realize that we really have n't had a good cheesy B-movie playing in
theaters since ... well ... since last week 's Reign of Fire .
4 A movie of riveting power and sadness .
2 More of an intriguing curiosity than a gripping thriller .
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 .
1 ... instead go rent Shakes The Clown , a much funnier film with a similar theme
and an equally great Robin Williams performance .
3 While we no longer possess the lack-of-attention span that we did at seventeen ,
we had no trouble sitting for Blade II .
1 This action-thriller/dark comedy is one of the most repellent things to pop up in
a cinematic year already littered with celluloid garbage .
3 Brown Sugar signals director Rick Famuyiwa 's emergence as an articulate , grown-
up voice in African-American cinema .
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 .
1 Such a fine idea for a film , and such a stultifying , lifeless execution .
2 Avary 's film never quite emerges from the shadow of Ellis ' book .
1 What should have been a painless time-killer becomes instead a grating endurance
test .
4 It 's endlessly inventive , consistently intelligent and sickeningly savage .
3 The journey is worth your time , especially if you have Ellen Pompeo sitting next
to you for the ride .
1 While the performances are often engaging , this loose collection of largely
improvised numbers would probably have worked better as a one-hour TV documentary .
1 Leaves viewers out in the cold and undermines some phenomenal performances .
1 A tired , unimaginative and derivative variation of that already-shallow genre .
3 Yes , MIBII is rote work and predictable , but with a philosophical visual coming
right at the end that extravagantly redeems it .
1 A bit too eager to please .
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 .
4 10 minutes into the film you 'll be white-knuckled and unable to look away .
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 .
3 Writer/director Alexander Payne Election and his co-writer Jim Taylor
brilliantly employ their quirky and fearless ability to look American angst in the
eye and end up laughing .
3 The Movie is clever , offbeat and even gritty enough to overcome my resistance .
3 The film presents visceral and dangerously honest revelations about the men and
machines behind the curtains of our planet .
3 It manages to squeeze by on Angelina Jolie 's surprising flair for self-
deprecating comedy .
4 A delicious and delicately funny look at the residents of a Copenhagen
neighborhood coping with the befuddling complications life tosses at them .
2 Will no doubt delight Plympton 's legion of fans ; others may find 80 minutes of
these shenanigans exhausting .
0 Behind the glitz , Hollywood is sordid and disgusting .
3 Once folks started hanging out at the barbershop , they never wanted to leave .
3 Has an immediacy and an intimacy that sucks you in and dares you not to believe
it 's all true .
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 don't feel much for Damon/Bourne or his predicament .
2 Malone does have a gift for generating nightmarish images that will be hard to
burn out of your brain .
2 Arty gay film .
3 There 's a part of us that can not help be entertained by the sight of someone
getting away with something .
3 Mention Solaris five years from now and I 'm sure those who saw it will have an
opinion to share .
4 Provides a very moving and revelatory footnote to the Holocaust .
3 Mastering its formidable arithmetic of cameras and souls , Group articulates a
flood of emotion .
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 The leads are natural and lovely , the pace is serene , the humor wry and
sprightly .
3 Cantet beautifully illuminates what it means sometimes to be inside looking out ,
and at other times outside looking in .
2 journalism of the 1960s .
1 Pretty much sucks , but has a funny moment or two .
3 It 's not like having a real film of Nijinsky , but at least it 's better than
that eponymous 1980 biopic that used soap in the places where the mysteries
lingered .
1 A shoddy male hip hop fantasy filled with guns , expensive cars , lots of naked
women and Rocawear clothing .
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 .
3 Baby-faced Renner is eerily convincing as this bland blank of a man with
unimaginable demons within .
2 A different kind of love story - one that is dark , disturbing , painful to watch
, yet compelling .
3 Even if you don'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 .
4 Funny , somber , absurd , and , finally , achingly sad , Bartleby is a fine ,
understated piece of filmmaking .
0 T his slop does n't even have potential as a cult film , as it 's too loud to
shout insults at the screen .
2 In the telling of a story largely untold , Bui chooses to produce something that
is ultimately suspiciously familiar .
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 Provides a satisfactory overview of the bizarre world of extreme athletes as
several daredevils express their own views .
1 Not exaggerated enough to be a parody of gross-out flicks , college flicks , or
even flicks in general .
1 Looks and feels like a low-budget hybrid of Scarface or Carlito 's Way .
4 and your reward will be a thoughtful , emotional movie experience .
3 Kwan is a master of shadow , quietude , and room noise , and Lan Yu is a
disarmingly lived-in movie .
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 Komediant is a tale worth catching .
3 Even when it drags , we are forced to reflect that its visual imagination is
breathtaking
2 Feeling like a dope has rarely been more fun than it is in Nine Queens .
0 Of all the Halloween 's , this is the most visually unappealing .
4 Funny , sexy , devastating and incurably romantic .
4 Directors Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein have put together a bold biographical
fantasia .
1 As if trying to grab a lump of Play-Doh , the harder that Liman tries to squeeze
his story , the more details slip out between his fingers .
3 It 's consistently funny , in an irresistible junior-high way , and consistently
free of any gag that would force you to give it a millisecond of thought .
0 I did go back and check out the last 10 minutes , but these were more repulsive
than the first 30 or 40 minutes .
1 You can drive right by it without noticing anything special , save for a few
comic turns , intended and otherwise .
0 MacDowell ventures beyond her abilities several times here and reveals how bad
an actress she is .
2 The question hanging over The Time Machine is not , as the main character
suggests , what if .
3 More good than great but Freeman and Judd make it work .
4 This is a story that zings all the way through with originality , humour and
pathos .
2 When in doubt , the film ratchets up the stirring soundtrack , throws in a fish-
out-of-water gag and lets the cliched dialogue rip .
1 A movie that 's about as overbearing and over-the-top as the family it depicts .
3 I liked it because it was so endlessly , grotesquely , inventive .
1 This story of unrequited love does n't sustain interest beyond the first half-
hour .
2 The smash 'em - up , crash 'em - up , shoot 'em - up ending comes out of nowhere
substituting mayhem for suspense .
0 Suffers from unlikable characters and a self-conscious sense of its own quirky
hipness .
1 A fragile framework upon which to hang broad , mildly fleshed-out characters that
seem to have been conjured up only 10 minutes prior to filming .
4 Offers a guilt-free trip into feel-good territory .
4 One of the most important and exhilarating forms of animated filmmaking since old
Walt doodled Steamboat Willie .
3 While not quite Shrek or Monsters , Inc .' , it 's not too bad .
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 .
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 .
3 As simple and innocent a movie as you can imagine .
1 I have a confession to make : I did n't particularly like E.T. the first time I
saw it as a young boy .
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 The Hanukkah spirit seems fried in pork .
0 Eventually , they will have a showdown , but , by then , your senses are as mushy
as peas and you don't care who fires the winning shot .
3 Witty dialog between realistic characters showing honest emotions .
2 13 Conversations may be a bit too enigmatic and overly ambitious to be fully
successful , but Sprecher and her screenwriting partner and sister , Karen Sprecher
, don't seem ever to run out of ideas .
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 Viewers of Barney 's crushingly self-indulgent spectacle will see nothing in it
to match the ordeal of sitting through it .
2 In many ways , reminiscent of 1992 's Unforgiven which also utilized the
scintillating force of its actors to draw out the menace of its sparse dialogue .
3 I admire the closing scenes of the film , which seem to ask whether our
civilization offers a cure for Vincent 's complaint .
4 Berry 's saucy , full-bodied performance gives this aging series a much needed
kick , making Die Another Day one of the most entertaining Bonds in years
1 The film 's needlessly opaque intro takes its doe-eyed Crudup out of pre-9 / 11
New York and onto a cross-country road trip of the Homeric kind .
3 Boomers and their kids will have a Barrie good time .
4 Flamboyant in some movies and artfully restrained in others , 65-year-old Jack
Nicholson could be looking at his 12th Oscar nomination by proving that he 's now ,
more than ever , choosing his roles with the precision of the insurance actuary .
1 Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro sleepwalk through vulgarities in a sequel you
can refuse .
3 Its rawness and vitality give it considerable punch .
0 It 's the kind of under-inspired , overblown enterprise that gives Hollywood
sequels a bad name .
3 Whatever complaints I might have , I 'd take its earnest errors and hard-won
rewards over the bombastic self-glorification of other feel-good fiascos like
Antwone Fisher or The Emperor 's Club any time .
1 It 's not so much a movie as a joint promotion for the National Basketball
Association and teenaged rap and adolescent poster-boy Lil ' Bow Wow .
4 Ryan Gosling ... is at 22 a powerful young actor .
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 .
1 Every joke is repeated at least -- annoying , is n't it .
2 Made-Up lampoons the moviemaking process itself , while shining a not
particularly flattering spotlight on America 's skin-deep notions of pulchritude .
1 It 's a strange film , one that was hard for me to warm up to .
3 A haunting tale of murder and mayhem .
3 If you 're part of her targeted audience , you 'll cheer .
2 Director Kevin Bray excels in breaking glass and marking off the Miami Vice
checklist of power boats , Latin music and dog tracks .
3 A brilliant , absurd collection of vignettes that , in their own idiosyncratic
way , sum up the strange horror of life in the new millennium .
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 blank-
faced optimism .
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 -- damaged-goods people whose
orbits will inevitably and dangerously collide .
4 If you 're not deeply touched by this movie , check your pulse .
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 , media-soaked fears .
3 I 'm guessing the director is a magician .
3 For the most part , it works beautifully as a movie without sacrificing the
integrity of the opera .
3 Both a detective story and a romance spiced with the intrigue of academic
skullduggery and politics .
3 It 's touching and tender and proves that even in sorrow you can find humor .
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 .
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 Occasionally loud and offensive , but more often , it simply lulls you into a
gentle waking coma .
1 ... Tara Reid plays a college journalist , but she looks like the six-time winner
of the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Pageant , so I don't know what she 's doing in here ...
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 Any reasonably creative eighth-grader could have written a more credible script ,
though with the same number of continuity errors .
2 Little more than a super-sized infomercial for the cable-sports channel and its
Summer X Games .
1 As original and insightful as last week 's episode of Behind the Music .
0 A dull , simple-minded and stereotypical tale of drugs , death and mind-numbing
indifference on the inner-city streets .
1 mired in a shabby script
0 What 's hard to understand is why anybody picked it up .
0 Some of the characters die and others don't , and the film pretends that those
living have learned some sort of lesson , and , really , nobody in the viewing
audience cares .
2 Its juxtaposition of overwrought existentialism and stomach-churning gore will
have you forever on the verge of either cracking up or throwing up .
3 The film 's gamble to occasionally break up the live-action scenes with animated
sequences pays off , as does its sensitive handling of some delicate subject matter
.
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 .
1 The problematic characters and overly convenient plot twists foul up Shum 's good
intentions .
0 The film desperately sinks further and further into comedy futility .
4 The story 's scope and pageantry are mesmerizing , and Mr. Day-Lewis roars with
leonine power .
0 What ensues are much blood-splattering , mass drug-induced bowel evacuations ,
and none-too-funny commentary on the cultural distinctions between Americans and
Brits .
1 With a romantic comedy plotline straight from the ages , this Cinderella story
does n't have a single surprise up its sleeve .
2 Director Oliver Parker labors so hard to whip life into The Importance of Being
Earnest that he probably pulled a muscle or two .
3 Extreme Ops exceeds expectations .
3 I know I should n't have laughed , but hey , those farts got to my inner nine-
year-old .
1 Uzumaki 's interesting social parallel and defiant aesthetic seems a prostituted
muse ...
2 The film 's stagecrafts are intimate and therefore bolder than the otherwise
calculated artifice that defines and overwhelms the film 's production design .
3 A real audience-pleaser that will strike a chord with anyone who 's ever waited
in a doctor 's office , emergency room , hospital bed or insurance company office .
4 Huppert and Girardot give performances of exceptional honesty .
3 Tense , terrific , sweaty-palmed fun .
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 .
3 A lovely film for the holiday season .
3 Though Jones and Snipes are enthralling
0 Devoid of any of the qualities that made the first film so special .
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 .
0 A thoroughly awful movie -- dumb , narratively chaotic , visually sloppy ... a
weird amalgam of The Thing ' and a geriatric Scream .
3 A film of epic scale with an intimate feeling , a saga of the ups and downs of
friendships .
2 A pure participatory event that malnourished intellectuals will gulp down in a
frenzy .
2 Ah , what the hell .
3 Parris ' performance is credible and remarkably mature .
2 God is great , the movie 's not .
4 Great performances , stylish cinematography and a gritty feel help make Gangster
No. 1 a worthwhile moviegoing experience .
4 Highly engaging .
2 Will you go ape over this movie .
0 ... an hour-and-a-half of inoffensive , unmemorable filler .
0 It 's not a bad premise , just a bad movie .
2 Schnitzler 's film has a great hook , some clever bits and well-drawn , if
standard issue , characters , but is still only partly satisfying .
1 Unfortunately , Carvey 's rubber-face routine is no match for the insipid script
he has crafted with Harris Goldberg .
1 ... begins with promise , but runs aground after being snared in its own tangled
plot .
4 insightfully written , delicately performed
1 There 's nothing remotely topical or sexy here .
2 The movie 's messages are quite admirable , but
2 In a 102-minute film , Aaliyah gets at most 20 minutes of screen time .
1 The results are far more alienating than involving .
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 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 .
3 Graham Greene 's novel of colonialism and empire is elevated by Michael Caine 's
performance as a weary journalist in a changing world .
0 If that does n't clue you in that something 's horribly wrong , nothing will .
2 Has all the right elements but completely fails to gel together .
3 Never Again , while nothing special , is pleasant , diverting and modest --
definitely a step in the right direction .
3 The magic and original running time of ace Japanimator Hayao Miyazaki 's
Spirited Away survives intact in BV 's re-voiced version .
3 A tasty masala .
1 Cherish would 've worked a lot better had it been a short film .
3 You 'll end up moved .
3 A sweet , tender sermon about a 12-year-old Welsh boy more curious about God than
girls , who learns that believing in something does matter .
3 What it lacks in substance it makes up for in heart .
0 Distinctly sub-par ... more likely to drown a viewer in boredom than to send any
shivers down his spine .
1 Reyes ' directorial debut has good things to offer , but ultimately it 's undone
by a sloppy script
1 The trashy teen-sleaze equivalent of Showgirls .
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 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 .
2 Buries an interesting storyline
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 .
3 The film has several strong performances .
3 I have a new favorite musical -- and I 'm not even a fan of the genre
0 This movie plays like an extended dialogue exercise in Retard 101 .
2 Ninety minutes of Viva Castro .
3 An indispensable peek at the art and the agony of making people laugh .
3 Judging by those standards , Scratch ' is a pretty decent little documentary .
3 Does point the way for adventurous Indian filmmakers toward a crossover into
nonethnic markets .
2 A direct-to-void release , heading nowhere .
0 Whether Jason X is this bad on purpose is never clear .
2 Davis has energy , but she does n't bother to make her heroine 's book sound
convincing , the gender-war ideas original , or the comic scenes fly .
4 Soderbergh , like Kubrick before him , may not touch the planet 's skin , but
understands the workings of its spirit .
0 ... an incredibly heavy-handed , manipulative dud that feels all too familiar .
1 Unlike Trey Parker , Sandler does n't understand that the idea of exploiting
molestation for laughs is funny , not actually exploiting it yourself .
3 Visually engrossing , seldom hammy , honorably Mexican and burns its Kahlories
with conviction .
2 A Sha-Na-Na sketch punctuated with graphic violence .
4 It 's a technically superb film , shining with all the usual Spielberg flair ,
expertly utilizing the talents of his top-notch creative team .
1 Everything is off .
3 Here 's yet another cool crime movie that actually manages to bring something new
into the mix .
0 What a stiflingly unfunny and unoriginal mess this is .
1 Its inescapable absurdities are tantamount to insulting the intelligence of
anyone who has n't been living under a rock since Sept. 11 .
1 Jackson and Bledel seem to have been picked not for their acting chops , but
for their looks and appeal to the pre-teen crowd .
3 A lovely and beautifully photographed romance .
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 Serviceable at best , slightly less than serviceable at worst .
3 It 's sort of a 21st century morality play with a Latino hip hop beat .
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 .
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 But the performances of Pacino , Williams , and Swank keep the viewer wide-awake
all the way through .
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 There are enough throwaway references to faith and rainbows to plant smile-button
faces on that segment of the populace that made A Walk to Remember a niche hit .
1 Rife with nutty cliches and far too much dialogue .
1 It has the requisite faux-urban vibe and hotter-two-years-ago rap and R&B names
and references .
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 .
1 Leaks treacle from every pore .
2 The best thing that can be said of the picture is that it does have a few cute
moments .
1 One lousy movie .
1 A rather tired exercise in nostalgia .
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 .
4 One-of-a-kind near-masterpiece .
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 .
2 Alas , the black-and-white archival footage of their act showcases pretty
mediocre shtick .
3 Remember it .
0 Skip the film and buy the Philip Glass soundtrack CD .
1 essentially Fatal Attraction remade for viewers who were in diapers when the
original was released in 1987 .
1 Does n't do more than expand a TV show to movie length .
2 Mushes the college-friends genre The Big Chill together with the contrivances
and overwrought emotion of soap operas .
2 Meyjes focuses too much on Max when he should be filling the screen with this
tortured , dull artist and monster-in-the - making .
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 .
2 Fubar is very funny , but not always in a laugh-out-loud way .
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 If you saw Benigni 's Pinocchio at a public park , you 'd grab your kids and run
and then probably call the police .
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 .
2 Harris is supposed to be the star of the story , but comes across as pretty dull
and wooden .
3 It celebrates the group 's playful spark of nonconformity , glancing vividly back
at what Hibiscus grandly called his angels of light .
2 And I expect much more from a talent as outstanding as director Bruce McCulloch .
3 Tres Greek writer and star Nia Vardalos has crafted here a worldly-wise and very
funny script .
2 Summer 's far too fleeting to squander on offal like this .
1 Baran is shockingly devoid of your typical Majid Majidi shoe-loving , crippled
children .
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 .
2 Post 9/11 the philosophical message of Personal Freedom First might not be as
palatable as intended .
0 Slap me , I saw this movie .
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 .
1 The film 's maudlin focus on the young woman 's infirmity and her naive dreams
play like the worst kind of Hollywood heart-string plucking .
3 Maryam is more timely now than ever .
1 A feel-good movie that does n't give you enough to feel good about .
3 The Ring never lets you off the hook .
1 Like most movies about the pitfalls of bad behavior ... Circuit gets drawn into
the party .
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 .
0 The heedless impetuousness of youth is on full , irritating display in this
meandering and pointless French coming-of-age import from writer-director Anne-
Sophie Birot .
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 or cinema
seats .
1 Low rent from frame one .
3 The film fits into a genre that has been overexposed , redolent of a thousand
cliches , and yet remains uniquely itself , vibrant with originality .
0 The most repugnant adaptation
0 Glazed with a tawdry B-movie scum .
0 A decided lack of spontaneity in its execution and a dearth of real poignancy in
its epiphanies .
2 Comedy troupe Broken Lizard 's first movie is very funny but too concerned with
giving us a plot .
3 If you 're willing to have fun with it , you wo n't feel cheated by the high
infidelity of Unfaithful .
1 If you want a movie time trip , the 1960 version is a far smoother ride .
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 .
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 Will anyone who is n't a Fangoria subscriber be excited that it has n't gone
straight to video .
2 Most of the characters come off as pantomimesque sterotypes .
4 A gripping drama .
4 Darkly funny and frequently insightful .
1 A spooky yarn of demonic doings on the high seas that works better the less the
brain is engaged .
1 The only young people who possibly will enjoy it are infants ... who might be
distracted by the movie 's quick movements and sounds .
1 Sayles ... once again strands his superb performers in the same old story .
3 An unforgettable look at morality , family , and social expectation through the
prism of that omnibus tradition called marriage .
4 Weaver and LaPaglia are both excellent , in the kind of low-key way that allows
us to forget that they are actually movie folk .
4 smart , funny and just honest enough to provide the pleasures of a slightly
naughty , just-above-average off - Broadway play .
0 This is an ungainly movie , ill-fitting , with its elbows sticking out where the
knees should be .
2 For a debut film , Skin of Man , Heart of Beast feels unusually assured .
0 It sucked .
1 But how it washed out despite all of that is the project 's prime mystery .
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 .
3 Take Care of My Cat 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 .
1 More successful at relating history than in creating an emotionally complex ,
dramatically satisfying heroine
1 Imagine the CleanFlicks version of Love Story , ' with Ali MacGraw 's profanities
replaced by romance-novel platitudes .
1 ... built on the premise that middle-class Arkansas consists of monster truck-
loving good ol' boys and peroxide blond honeys whose worldly knowledge comes from
TV reruns and supermarket tabloids .
0 Oversexed , at times overwrought comedy/drama that offers little insight into the
experience of being forty , female and single .
3 Cho continues her exploration of the outer limits of raunch with considerable
brio .
3 Even if you don'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 21st Century .
3 An off-beat and fanciful film about the human need for monsters to blame for all
that is amiss in the world .
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 .
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 A sharp satire of desperation and cinematic deception .
1 Stale , futile scenario .
1 With a tone as variable as the cinematography , Schaeffer 's film never settles
into the light-footed enchantment the material needs , and the characters ' quirks
and foibles never jell into charm .
3 Frailty has been written so well , that even a simple Goddammit .
1 Feels familiar and tired .
2 Despite the holes in the story and the somewhat predictable plot , moments of the
movie caused me to jump in my chair ...
4 Runs on the pure adrenalin of Pacino 's performance .
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 .
3 Mr. Scorsese 's bravery and integrity in advancing this vision can hardly be
underestimated .
1 The movie is a mess from start to finish .
4 A distinguished and thoughtful film , marked by acute writing and a host of
splendid performances .
4 Demonstrates the unusual power of thoughtful , subjective filmmaking .
0 In other words , about as bad a film you 're likely to see all year .
4 A fine production with splendid singing by Angela Gheorghiu , Ruggero Raimondi ,
and Roberto Alagna .
2 The most ill-conceived animated comedy since the 1991 dog Rover Dangerfield .
3 Even during the climactic hourlong cricket match , boredom never takes hold .
2 Aptly named , this shimmering , beautifully costumed and filmed production does
n't work for me .
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 Meant for Star Wars fans .
0 It 's that painful .
1 The film , like Jimmy 's routines , could use a few good laughs .
4 Highly watchable stuff .
2 The faithful will enjoy this sometimes wry adaptation of V.S. Naipaul 's novel ,
but newcomers may find themselves stifling a yawn or two during the first hour .
3 Sweet Home Alabama is what it is -- a nice , harmless date film ...
2 It 's not difficult to spot the culprit early-on in this predictable thriller .
2 I found myself liking the film , though in this case one man 's treasure could
prove to be another man 's garbage .
0 Diaz wears out her welcome in her most charmless performance
3 The script manages the rare trick of seeming at once both refreshingly different
and reassuringly familiar .
3 It 's a clear-eyed portrait of an intensely lived time , filled with nervous
energy , moral ambiguity and great uncertainties .
4 an admirable , sometimes exceptional film
1 A mediocre exercise in target demographics , unaware that it 's the butt of its
own joke .
4 Well cast and well directed - a powerful drama with enough sardonic wit to keep
it from being maudlin .
2 This big screen caper has a good bark , far from being a bow-wow .
2 The doofus-on - the-loose banter of Welcome to Collinwood has a cocky , after-
hours loopiness to it .
0 The comedy is nonexistent .
3 The first Bond movie in ages that is n't fake fun .
1 A wretched movie that reduces the Second World War to one man 's quest to find an
old flame .
3 Death to Smoochy is often very funny , but what 's even more remarkable is the
integrity of DeVito 's misanthropic vision .
4 Armed with a game supporting cast , from the pitch-perfect Forster to the always
hilarious Meara and Levy , Like Mike shoots and scores , doing its namesake proud .
3 Claire is a terrific role for someone like Judd , who really ought to be playing
villains .
1 Too bad Kramer could n't make a guest appearance to liven things up .
1 If Hill is n't quite his generation 's Don Siegel or Robert Aldrich , it 's
because there 's no discernible feeling beneath the chest hair ;
2 But you 'd never guess that from the performances .
3 Cannon 's confidence and laid-back good spirits are , with the drumming
routines , among the film 's saving graces .
3 The movie is hardly a masterpiece , but it does mark Ms. Bullock 's best work in
some time .
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 .
1 Nearly all the fundamentals you take for granted in most films are mishandled
here .
3 Clooney 's 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 .
2 The pitch must have read like a discarded House Beautiful spread .
2 Go .
2 For free .
3 Bring tissues .
1 The Piano Teacher is not an easy film .
0 By the time you reach the finale , you 're likely wondering why you 've been
watching all this strutting and posturing .
1 Lawrence should stick to his day job .
2 Sparkles in its deft portrait of Tinseltown 's seasoned veterans of gossip ,
wealth , paranoia , and celebrityhood .
2 Sex With Strangers will shock many with its unblinking frankness .
2 Plays like a checklist of everything Rob Reiner and his cast were sending up .
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 .
1 As if Drop Dead Gorgeous was n't enough , this equally derisive clunker is
fixated on the spectacle of small-town competition .
0 It 's a drag how Nettelbeck sees working women -- or at least this working woman
-- for whom she shows little understanding .
0 Such a bad movie that its luckiest viewers will be seated next to one of those
ignorant pinheads who talk throughout the show .
4 Promises is one film that 's truly deserving of its Oscar nomination .
2 13 Conversations holds its goodwill close , but is relatively slow to come to
the point .
3 some good , organic character work , lots of obvious political insights and
1 Such a wildly uneven hit-and-miss enterprise , you ca n't help suspecting that it
was improvised on a day-to-day basis during production .
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 one-night swim turns into an ocean of trouble .
3 , They 're out there .
0 In the end , there is n't much to it .
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
0 Collapses after 30 minutes into a slap-happy series of adolescent violence .
1 What starts off as a satisfying kids flck becomes increasingly implausible as it
races through contrived plot points .
3 It 's absolutely amazing how first-time director Kevin Donovan managed to find
something new to add to the canon of Chan .
4 Really quite funny .
3 Prepare to marvel again .
3 It 's definitely an improvement on the first Blade , since it does n't take
itself so deadly seriously .
4 But mostly it 's a work that , with humor , warmth , and intelligence , captures
a life interestingly lived .
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 Succeeds as a well-made evocation of a subculture .
2 It may not be history -- but then again , what if it is .
4 A backstage must-see for true fans of comedy .
4 Allen 's funniest and most likeable movie in years .
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 .
2 Well-meaning but inert .
1 An inconsequential , barely there bit of piffle .
2 Do you chuckle at the thought of an ancient librarian whacking a certain part of
a man 's body .
3 How good this film might be , depends if you believe that the shocking conclusion
is too much of a plunge or not .
1 For something as splendid-looking as this particular film , the viewer expects
something special but instead gets sci-fi rehash .
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 .
4 But the talented cast alone will keep you watching , as will the fight scenes .
3 If we sometimes need comforting fantasies about mental illness , we also need
movies like Tim McCann 's Revolution No. 9 .
4 One of the finest , most humane and important Holocaust movies ever made .
3 Cage makes an unusual but pleasantly haunting debut behind the camera .
3 ... flat-out amusing , sometimes endearing and often fabulous , with a solid cast
, noteworthy characters , delicious dialogue and a wide supply of effective sight
gags .
3 Two tedious acts light on great scares and a good surprise ending .
3 Japanese director Shohei Imamura 's latest film is an odd but ultimately
satisfying blend of the sophomoric and the sublime .
3 It 's a treat watching Shaw , a British stage icon , melting under the heat of
Phocion 's attentions .
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 A chilly , remote , emotionally distant piece ... so dull that its tagline should
be : In space , no one can hear you snore .
3 Just offbeat enough to keep you interested without coming close to bowling you
over .
2 Unofficially , National Lampoon 's Van Wilder is Son of Animal House .
1 Lurid and less than lucid work .
1 Deuces Wild treads heavily into Romeo and Juliet/West Side Story territory ,
where it plainly has no business going .
2 The isolated moments of creative insanity finally are lost in the thin soup of
canned humor .
3 Hollywood Ending is not show-stoppingly hilarious , but scathingly witty
nonetheless .
0 If there 's a heaven for bad movies , Deuces Wild is on its way .
2 Call this The Full Monty on ice , the underdog sports team formula redux .
1 Ever see one of those comedies that just seem like a bad idea from frame one .
1 Despite its sincere acting , Signs is just another unoriginal run of the mill
sci-fi film with a flimsy ending and lots of hype .
3 A manically generous Christmas vaudeville .
1 It 's as if Allen , at 66 , has stopped challenging himself .
1 Mendes still does n't quite know how to fill a frame .
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 .
3 While the filmmaking may be a bit disjointed , the subject matter is so
fascinating that you wo n't care .
2 Still , not every low-budget movie must be quirky or bleak , and a happy ending
is no cinematic sin .
0 The movie is a desperate miscalculation .
1 the film does n't sustain its initial promise with a jarring , new-agey tone
creeping into the second half
1 It irritates and saddens me that Martin Lawrence 's latest vehicle can explode
obnoxiously into 2,500 screens while something of Bubba Ho-Tep 's clearly evident
quality may end up languishing on a shelf somewhere .
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 nit-picky about the
hypocrisies of our time .
2 A tedious parable about honesty and good sportsmanship .
2 Draggin ' about dragons
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 .
4 Kinnear and Dafoe give what may be the performances of their careers .
1 It 's difficult to feel anything much while watching this movie , beyond mild
disturbance or detached pleasure at the acting .
1 Like being able to hit on a 15-year old when you 're over 100 .
0 The thought of watching this film with an audience full of teenagers fixating on
its body humour and reinforcement of stereotypes of which they 'll get plenty
fills me with revulsion .
1 There 's not a fresh idea at the core of this tale .
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 .
4 But Mr. Polanski creates images even more haunting than those in Mr. Spielberg 's
1993 classic .
1 A mimetic approximation of better films
3 The closest thing to the experience of space travel
1 This would have been better than the fiction it has concocted , and there still
could have been room for the war scenes .
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 .
3 If you can read the subtitles the opera is sung in Italian and you like
Masterpiece Theatre ' type costumes , you 'll enjoy this movie .
4 Frailty starts out like a typical Bible killer story , but it turns out to be
significantly different and better than most films with this theme .
4 Diane Lane works nothing short of a minor miracle in Unfaithful .
4 A mix of gritty realism , crisp storytelling and radiant compassion that
effortlessly draws you in .
3 If you love reading and/or poetry , then by all means check it out .
2 Did it move me to care about what happened in 1915 Armenia .
3 A highly watchable , giggly little story with a sweet edge to it .
2 Quelle surprise .
0 The film 's trailer also looked like crap , so crap is what I was expecting .
2 The biggest problem with this movie is that it 's not nearly long enough .
2 The movie , while beautiful , feels labored , with a hint of the writing exercise
about it .
3 Unexpected , and often contradictory , truths emerge .
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 A film with a great premise but only a great premise .
1 One of those so-so films that could have been much better .
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 Circuit queens wo n't learn a thing , they 'll be too busy cursing the film 's
strategically placed white sheets .
4 LaBute 's careful handling makes the material seem genuine rather than
pandering .
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 80 minutes from seeming like 800 .
1 The great pity is that those responsible did n't cut their losses -- and ours --
and retitle it The Adventures of Direct-to-Video Nash , and send it to its proper
home .
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 .
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 .
3 made Eddie Murphy a movie star and the man has n't aged a day .
3 Even when he 's not at his most critically insightful , Godard can still be
smarter than any 50 other filmmakers still at work .
1 But , like Silence , it 's a movie that gets under your skin .
2 Wanker Goths are on the loose .
1 It sounds like another clever if pointless excursion into the abyss , and that 's
more or less how it plays out .
4 A must for fans of British cinema , if only because so many titans of the
industry are along for the ride .
4 It 's a fine , focused piece of work that reopens an interesting controversy and
never succumbs to sensationalism .
4 Romantic comedy and Dogme 95 filmmaking may seem odd bedfellows , but they turn
out to be delightfully compatible here .
1 At a time when we 've learned the hard way just how complex international
terrorism is , Collateral Damage paints an absurdly simplistic picture .
4 A fascinating documentary about the long and eventful spiritual journey of the
guru who helped launch the New Age .
3 Rodriguez has the chops of a smart-aleck film school brat and the imagination of
a big kid ...
0 The film 's lack of personality permeates all its aspects -- from the TV movie-
esque , affected child acting to the dullest Irish pub scenes ever filmed .
1 Eight Legged Freaks wo n't join the pantheon of great monster/science fiction
flicks that we have come to love ...
3 There is a beautiful , aching sadness to it all .
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 .
3 The kind of primal storytelling that George Lucas can only dream of .
1 The actors must indeed be good to recite some of this laughable dialogue with a
straight face .
1 Stress dumb .
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 .
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 .
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 .
4 The hard-to-predict and absolutely essential chemistry between the down-to-earth
Bullock and the nonchalant Grant proves to be sensational , and everything meshes
in this elegant entertainment .
2 Norton holds the film together .
0 There 's not one decent performance from the cast and not one clever line of
dialogue .
4 The film brilliantly shines on all the characters , as the direction is
intelligently accomplished .
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 .
1 ... the maudlin way its story unfolds suggests a director fighting against the
urge to sensationalize his material .
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 .
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 .
1 It would n't matter so much that this arrogant Richard Pryor wannabe 's routine
is offensive , puerile and unimaginatively foul-mouthed if it was at least funny .
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 Epps has neither the charisma nor the natural affability that has made Tucker a
star .
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 .
3 I am not generally a huge fan of cartoons derived from TV shows , but Hey
Arnold .
4 This is a fascinating film because there is no clear-cut hero and no all-out
villain .
3 Rehearsals are frequently more fascinating than the results .
2 The dark and bittersweet twist feels strange as things turn nasty and tragic
during the final third of the film .
2 The film thrusts the inchoate but already eldritch Christian Right propaganda
machine into national media circles .
3 The engagingly primitive animated special effects contribute to a mood that 's
sustained through the surprisingly somber conclusion .
1 Hip-hop prison thriller of stupefying absurdity .
1 is a question for philosophers , not filmmakers ; all the filmmakers need to do
is engage an audience .
0 If you enjoy being rewarded by a script that assumes you are n't very bright ,
then Blood Work is for you .
3 Nair does n't treat the issues lightly .
3 By and large this is Mr. Kilmer 's movie , and it 's his strongest performance
since The Doors .
3 This masterfully calibrated psychological thriller thrives on its taut
performances and creepy atmosphere even if the screenplay falls somewhat short .
3 The charming result is Festival in Cannes .
2 Home Movie is the film equivalent of a lovingly rendered coffee table book .
1 Cherry Orchard is badly edited , often awkwardly directed and suffers from the
addition of a wholly unnecessary pre-credit sequence designed to give some of the
characters a back story .
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 .
2 So brisk is Wang 's pacing that none of the excellent cast are given air to
breathe .
2 The only time 8 Crazy Nights comes close to hitting a comedic or satirical target
is during the offbeat musical numbers .
4 Me Without You has a bracing truth that 's refreshing after the phoniness of
female-bonding pictures like Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood .
3 Some of the most ravaging , gut-wrenching , frightening war scenes since Saving
Private Ryan have been recreated by John Woo in this little-known story of Native
Americans and their role in the second great war .
0 ... a plotline that 's as lumpy as two-day old porridge ... the filmmakers ' paws
, sad to say , were all over this un-bear-able project .
1 The story has some nice twists but the ending and some of the back-story is a
little tired .
1 There 's no excuse for following up a delightful , well-crafted family film with
a computer-generated cold fish .
1 On top of a foundering performance , Madonna 's denied her own athleticism by
lighting that emphasizes every line and sag .
3 Shiner can certainly go the distance , but is n't world championship material
4 The film is bright and flashy in all the right ways .
3 If anything , see it for Karen Black , who camps up a storm as a fringe feminist
conspiracy theorist named Dirty Dick .
4 The AAA of action , XXX is a blast of adrenalin , rated EEE for excitement .
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 .
4 A well-done film of a self-reflexive , philosophical nature .
3 An old-fashioned scary movie , one that relies on lingering terror punctuated by
sudden shocks and not constant bloodshed punctuated by flying guts .
2 Although melodramatic and predictable , this romantic comedy explores the
friendship between five Filipino-Americans and their frantic efforts to find love .
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 .
4 Brosnan gives a portrayal as solid and as perfect as his outstanding performance
as Bond in Die Another Day .
2 Goes a long way on hedonistic gusto .
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 .
1 I 'm sure there 's a teenage boy out there somewhere who 's dying for this kind
of entertainment .
1 The acting is just fine , but there 's not enough substance here to sustain
interest for the full 90 minutes , especially with the weak payoff .
1 The first hour is tedious though Ford and Neeson capably hold our interest , but
its just not a thrilling movie .
3 Steven Soderbergh 's digital video experiment is a clever and cutting , quick and
dirty look at modern living and movie life .
0 Weighted down with slow , uninvolving storytelling and flat acting .
1 Sheridan had a wonderful account to work from , but , curiously , he waters it
down , turning grit and vulnerability into light reading .
0 No amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are German-Expressionist , '
according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable .
1 What goes on for the 110 minutes of Panic Room is a battle of witlessness
between a not-so-bright mother and daughter and an even less capable trio of
criminals .
1 Illiterate , often inert sci-fi action thriller .
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 The best thing about the movie is its personable , amusing cast .
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 Heaven is a haunting dramatization of a couple 's moral ascension .
0 Haneke 's script from Elfriede Jelinek 's novel is contrived , unmotivated ,
and psychologically unpersuasive , with an inconclusive ending .
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 .
4 A modestly made but profoundly moving documentary .
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 .
4 It is , however , a completely honest , open-hearted film that should appeal to
anyone willing to succumb to it .
0 Movies like High Crimes flog the dead horse of surprise as if it were an
obligation .
1 A zippy 96 minutes of mediocre special effects , hoary dialogue , fluxing accents
, and -- worst of all -- silly-looking Morlocks .
1 The movie does n't generate a lot of energy .
1 One of those decades-spanning historical epics that strives to be intimate and
socially encompassing but fails to do justice to either effort in three hours of
screen time .
3 A captivatingly quirky hybrid of character portrait , romantic comedy and beat-
the-clock thriller .
1 The plot is plastered with one Hollywood cliche after another , most of which
involve precocious kids getting the better of obnoxious adults .
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 .
0 Loud , chaotic and largely unfunny .
1 Abandon spends 90 minutes trying figure out whether or not some cocky pseudo-
intellectual kid has intentionally left college or was killed .
1 The script is a disaster , with cloying messages and irksome characters .
3 The art demands live viewing .
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 .
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 This mild-mannered 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 .
2 Visually sumptuous but intellectually stultifying .
3 But that they are doing it is thought-provoking .
3 Vera has created a provocative , absorbing drama that reveals the curse of a
self-hatred instilled by rigid social mores .
0 It aimlessly and unsuccessfully attempts to fuse at least three dull plots into
one good one .
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 .
3 A moving and weighty depiction of one family 's attempts to heal after the death
of a child .
3 As I settled into my World War II memories , I found myself strangely moved by
even the corniest and most hackneyed contrivances .
2 This is amusing for about three minutes .
2 Its strengths and weaknesses play off each other virtually to a stand-off , with
the unfortunate trump card being the dreary mid-section of the film .
2 As happily glib and vicious as its characters .
4 Mr. Caine and Mr. Fraser are the whole show here , with their memorable and
resourceful performances .
3 It really is a shame that more wo n't get an opportunity to embrace small , sweet
Evelyn .
1 The problem with the film is whether these ambitions , laudable in themselves ,
justify a theatrical simulation of the death camp of Auschwitz II-Birkenau .
1 Too much of the movie feels contrived , as if the filmmakers were worried the
story would n't work without all those gimmicks .
3 The picture runs a mere 84 minutes , but it 's no glance .
3 An elegant and sly deadpan comedy .
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
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 .
3 Best enjoyed as a work of fiction inspired by real-life events .
0 Mr. Soderbergh 's direction and visual style struck me as unusually and
unimpressively fussy and pretentious .
2 Debate it .
4 A wildly entertaining scan of Evans ' career .
4 Like The Full Monty , this is sure to raise audience 's spirits and leave them
singing long after the credits roll .
3 But not without cheesy fun factor .
3 Upsetting and thought-provoking , the film has an odd purity that does n't bring
you into the characters so much as it has you study them .
3 A live-action cartoon , a fast-moving and cheerfully simplistic 88 minutes of
exaggerated action put together with the preteen boy in mind .
3 A dazzling thing to behold -- as long as you 're wearing the somewhat cumbersome
3D goggles the theater provides .
3 Could use a little more humanity , but it never lacks in eye-popping visuals .
1 Mostly , Shafer and co-writer Gregory Hinton lack a strong-minded viewpoint , or
a sense of humor .
0 I 'm not sure these words have ever been together in the same sentence : This
erotic cannibal movie is boring .
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 .
4 With an admirably dark first script by Brent Hanley , Paxton , making his
directorial feature debut , does strong , measured work .
4 Bolstered by exceptional performances and a clear-eyed take on the economics of
dealing and the pathology of ghetto fabulousness .
4 Douglas McGrath 's Nicholas Nickleby does Dickens as it should be done
cinematically .
2 How I Killed My Father would be a rarity in Hollywood .
2 The problem is not that it 's all derivative , because plenty of funny movies
recycle old tropes .
3 That the e-graveyard holds as many good ideas as bad is the cold comfort that
Chin 's film serves up with style and empathy .
1 Ends up offering nothing more than the latest Schwarzenegger or Stallone flick
would .
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 .
1 At best this is a film for the under-7 crowd .
4 A thoughtful movie , a movie that is concerned with souls and risk and schemes
and the consequences of one 's actions .
1 Jaw-droppingly superficial , straining to get by on humor that is not even as
daring as John Ritter 's glory days on Three 's Company .
3 Even through its flaws , Revolution # 9 proves to be a compelling , interestingly
told film .
2 It 's still Adam Sandler , and it 's not Little Nicky .
3 Sorvino is delightful in the central role .
2 Bogs down badly as we absorb Jia 's moody , bad-boy behavior which he portrays
himself in a one-note performance .
0 An awful movie that will only satisfy the most emotionally malleable of filmgoers
.
3 Exhilarating but blatantly biased .
0 The story of Trouble Every Day ... is so sketchy it amounts to little more than
preliminary notes for a science-fiction horror film , and the movie 's fragmentary
narrative style makes piecing the story together frustrating difficult .
1 Lame Sweet Home leaves no Southern stereotype unturned .
3 First-time writer-director Dylan Kidd also has a good ear for dialogue , and the
characters sound like real people .
0 It is very difficult to care about the character , and that is the central flaw
of the film .
3 What makes it worth watching is Quaid 's performance .
3 By turns pretentious , fascinating , ludicrous , provocative and vainglorious .
2 An empty , ugly exercise in druggy trance-noir and trumped-up street
credibility .
4 Especially give credit to Affleck .
3 If you grew up on Scooby -- you 'll love this movie .
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 .
0 After you laugh once maybe twice , you will have completely forgotten the movie
by the time you get back to your car in the parking lot .
1 The screenplay flounders under the weight of too many story lines .
1 Snipes is both a snore and utter tripe .
1 The troubling thing about Clockstoppers is that it does n't make any sense .
1 There 's no good answer to that one .
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 .
0 It 's a road-trip drama with too many wrong turns .
1 Seriously , rent the Disney version .
0 You 'll forget about it by Monday , though , and if they 're old enough to have
developed some taste , so will your kids .
0 Like many such biographical melodramas , it suffers from the awkwardness that
results from adhering to the messiness of true stories .
0 No cute factor here ... Not that I mind ugly ; the problem is he has no character
, loveable or otherwise .
3 A remarkable movie with an unsatisfying ending , which is just the point .
4 If you 're a fan of the series you 'll love it and probably want to see it
twice .
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 .
1 It does n't flinch from its unsettling prognosis , namely , that the legacy of
war is a kind of perpetual pain .
1 If you recognize Zeus the dog from Snatch it will make you wish you were at
home watching that movie instead of in the theater watching this one .
2 ... a trashy little bit of fluff stuffed with enjoyable performances and a
bewildering sense of self-importance
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 .
0 Like a can of 2-day old Coke .
1 What Jackson has done is proven that no amount of imagination , no creature , no
fantasy story and no incredibly outlandish scenery
4 As a girl-meets-girl romantic comedy , Kissing Jessica Steinis quirky , charming
and often hilarious .
4 Humorous and heartfelt , Douglas McGrath 's version of Nicholas Nickleby ' left
me feeling refreshed and hopeful .
4 ... a solid , well-formed satire .
1 May offend viewers not amused by the sick sense of humor .
2 The Lady and the Duke is Eric Rohmer 's economical antidote to the bloated
costume drama
3 Assayas ' ambitious , sometimes beautiful adaptation of Jacques Chardonne 's
novel .
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 .
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 A cautionary tale about the folly of superficiality that is itself endlessly
superficial .
0 It should be doing a lot of things , but does n't .
2 I was hoping that it would be sleazy and fun , but it was neither .
0 The logic of it all will be Greek to anyone not predisposed to the movie 's rude
and crude humor .
4 About as big a crowdpleaser as they possibly come .
4 Thumbs up to Paxton for not falling into the Hollywood trap and making a vanity
project with nothing new to offer .
1 Why they were here and what they wanted and quite honestly , I did n't care .
3 Together Time Out and Human Resources establish Mr. Cantet as France 's
foremost cinematic poet of the workplace .
3 It 's mildly entertaining , especially if you find comfort in familiarity .
1 The chocolate factory without Charlie .
1 Why , you may ask , why should you buy the movie milk when the TV cow is free .
1 The trappings of I Spy are so familiar you might as well be watching a rerun .
0 We 've liked Klein 's other work but Rollerball left us cold .
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 .
3 But the actors make this worth a peek .
0 This mess of a movie is nothing short of a travesty of a transvestite comedy .
1 A determined , ennui-hobbled slog that really does n't have much to say beyond
the news flash that loneliness can make people act weird .
0 The satire is unfocused , while the story goes nowhere .
4 Easily the most thoughtful fictional examination of the root causes of anti-
Semitism ever seen on screen .
3 Conceptually brilliant ... Plays like a living-room War Of The Worlds , gaining
most of its unsettling force from the suggested and the unknown .
0 I have to admit I walked out of Runteldat .
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 .
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 .
4 This is a movie full of grace and , ultimately , hope .
4 Ferrera has the charisma of a young woman who knows how to hold the screen .
2 We get an image of Big Papa spanning history , rather than suspending it .
2 On Guard .
1 Average , at best , I 'm afraid .
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 .
3 Fortunately , Elling never gets too cloying thanks to the actors ' perfect comic
timing and sweet , genuine chemistry .
4 Tully is worth a look for its true-to-life characters , its sensitive acting ,
its unadorned view of rural life and the subtle direction of first-timer Hilary
Birmingham .
1 Two badly interlocked stories drowned by all too clever complexity .
3 - I also wanted a little alien as a friend .
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 .
1 Forget the misleading title , what 's with the unexplained baboon cameo .
1 Though an important political documentary , this does not really make the case
the Kissinger should be tried as a war criminal .
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 .
0 It 's always disappointing when a documentary fails to live up to -- or offer any
new insight into -- its chosen topic .
0 A frustrating tweener ' -- too slick , contrived and exploitative for the art
houses and too cynical , small and decadent for the malls .
0 Muddled , simplistic and more than a little pretentious .
3 The Mothman Prophecies is best when illustrating the demons bedevilling the
modern masculine journey .
3 An oddity , to be sure , but one that you might wind up remembering with a degree
of affection rather than revulsion .
2 Although bright , well-acted and thought-provoking , Tuck Everlasting suffers
from a laconic pace and a lack of traditional action .
0 Feel free to go get popcorn whenever he 's not onscreen .
0 The very simple story seems too simple and the working out of the plot almost
arbitrary .
3 Allen manages to breathe life into this somewhat tired premise .
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 .
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 .
1 Who cares .
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 .
1 Exploitative and largely devoid of the depth or sophistication that would make
watching such a graphic treatment of the crimes bearable .
3 A sentimental but entirely irresistible portrait of three aging sisters .
2 A typically observant , carefully nuanced and intimate French coming-of-age film
that is an encouraging debut feature but has a needlessly downbeat ending that is
too heavy for all that has preceded it .
4 Good , solid storytelling .
4 As gory as the scenes of torture and self-mutilation may be , they are pitted
against shimmering cinematography that lends the setting the ethereal beauty of an
Asian landscape painting .
3 We 're drawn in by the dark luster .
2 A pleasant , if forgettable , romp of a film .
4 A classic fairy tale that perfectly captures the wonders and worries of childhood
in a way that few movies have ever approached .
4 Congrats Disney on a job well done , I enjoyed it just as much .
2 Some movies can get by without being funny simply by structuring the scenes as if
they were jokes : a setup , delivery and payoff .
2 Big time .
1 I wish it would have just gone more over-the-top instead of trying to have it
both ways .
1 It just does n't have anything really interesting to say .
2 ... would be a total loss if not for two supporting performances taking place at
the movie 's edges .
2 Cox is far more concerned with aggrandizing madness , not the man , and the
results might drive you crazy .
3 A rather brilliant little cult item : a pastiche of children 's entertainment ,
superhero comics , and Japanese animation .
2 Oozes condescension from every pore .
0 Clumsy , obvious , preposterous , the movie will likely set the cause of woman
warriors back decades .
1 The result is an action film ' mired in stasis .
1 Hollywood has taken quite a nosedive from Alfred Hitchcock 's imaginative flight
to Shyamalan 's self-important summer fluff .
4 Takes a simple premise and carries it to unexpected heights .
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 .
3 The film 's plot may be shallow , but you 've never seen the deep like you see it
in these harrowing surf shots .
1 This is a movie where the most notable observation is how long you 've been
sitting still .
3 The film is hard to dismiss -- moody , thoughtful , and lit by flashes of mordant
humor .
2 If Jews were Catholics , this would be Catechism
4 Hard , endearing , caring , warm .
3 Shanghai Ghetto , much stranger than any fiction , brings this unknown slice of
history affectingly to life .
0 Boy , has this franchise ever run out of gas .
1 I 've seen some bad singer-turned actors , but Lil Bow Wow takes the cake .
1 Follows the original film virtually scene for scene and yet manages to bleed it
almost completely dry of humor , verve and fun .
1 A pathetically inane and unimaginative cross between XXX and Vertical Limit .
3 Arteta paints a picture of lives lived in a state of quiet desperation .
4 Shot largely in small rooms , the film has a gentle , unforced intimacy that
never becomes claustrophobic .
1 But I had a lot of problems with this movie .
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 ... the plot weaves us into a complex web .
2 The messy emotions raging throughout this three-hour effort are instantly
recognizable , allowing the film to paradoxically feel familiar and foreign at the
same time .
2 Plods along , minus the twisted humor and eye-popping visuals that have made
Miike ... a cult hero .
3 The Cockettes provides a window into a subculture hell-bent on expressing
itself in every way imaginable .
1 An exceptionally dreary and overwrought bit of work , every bit as imperious as
Katzenberg 's The Prince of Egypt from 1998 .
3 In its treatment of the dehumanizing and ego-destroying process of unemployment ,
Time Out offers an exploration that is more accurate than anything I have seen in
an American film .
4 Renner carries much of the film with a creepy and dead-on performance .
2 ... if you 're just in the mood for a fun -- but bad -- movie , you might want to
catch Freaks as a matinee .
1 Feels like a cold old man going through the motions .
2 Vampire epic succeeds as spooky action-packed trash of the highest order .
3 The film 's images give a backbone to the company and provide an emotional edge
to its ultimate demise .
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 .
1 Hoffman waits too long to turn his movie in an unexpected direction , and even
then his tone retains a genteel , prep-school quality that feels dusty and
leatherbound .
3 The dirty jokes provide the funniest moments in this oddly sweet comedy about
jokester highway patrolmen .
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
24/7 .
4 A delicious , quirky movie with a terrific screenplay and fanciful direction by
Michael Gondry .
1 It does n't really know or care about the characters , and uses them as markers
for a series of preordained events .
3 Jackson and co have brought back the value and respect for the term epic cinema .
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 And as with most late-night bull sessions , eventually the content is n't nearly
as captivating as the rowdy participants think it is .
4 The kind of sweet-and-sour insider movie that film buffs will eat up like so much
gelati .
1 Ill-considered , unholy hokum .
2 Or that the battery on your watch has died .
3 Competently directed but terminally cute drama .
0 This pathetic junk is barely an hour long .
2 Taylor takes us on a ride that 's consistently surprising , easy to watch --
but , oh , so dumb .
1 Feels less like a change in Herzog 's personal policy than a half-hearted fluke
.
1 Just too silly and sophomoric to ensnare its target audience .
3 Familiar but utterly delightful .
1 For those of us who respond more strongly to storytelling than computer-generated
effects , the new Star Wars installment has n't escaped the rut dug by the last one
.
4 Consider it perfection .
0 At the one-hour mark , Herzog simply runs out of ideas and the pace turns
positively leaden as the movie sputters to its inevitable tragic conclusion .
3 This is a more fascinating look at the future than Bladerunner and one of the
most high-concept sci fi adventures attempted for the screen .
4 Samuel L. Jackson is one of the best actors there is .
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 8 Women 's
Augustine .
1 But no. .
1 Even in terms of the low-grade cheese standards on which it operates , it never
quite makes the grade as tawdry trash .
3 If you love him , you 'll like it .
4 A new film from Bill Plympton , the animation master , is always welcome .
2 There 's no getting around the fact that this is Revenge Of The Nerds Revisited
-- again .
1 The idea is more interesting than the screenplay , which lags badly in the middle
and lurches between not-very-funny comedy , unconvincing dramatics and some last-
minute action strongly reminiscent of Run Lola Run .
1 Woefully pretentious .
1 Lacks the visual flair and bouncing bravado that characterizes better hip-hop
clips and is content to recycle images and characters that were already tired 10
years ago .
3 Makes one thing abundantly clear .
3 A flick about our infantilized culture that is n't entirely infantile .
1 Still , it just sits there like a side dish no one ordered .
1 We can tell what it is supposed to be , but ca n't really call it a work of art .
0 A ragbag of cliches .
3 It made me want to get made-up and go see this movie with my sisters .
3 Visually , Santa Clause 2 ' is wondrously creative .
1 Girlfriends are bad , wives are worse and babies are the kiss of death in this
bitter Italian comedy .
3 And we don't avert our eyes for a moment .
4 Exudes the fizz of a Busby Berkeley musical and the visceral excitement of a
sports extravaganza .
1 For all its brilliant touches , Dragon loses its fire midway , nearly flickering
out by its perfunctory conclusion .
3 An engaging , formulaic sports drama that carries a charge of genuine
excitement .
2 with a couple of burnt-out cylinders
3 Tackles the difficult subject of grief and loss with such life-embracing spirit
that the theme does n't drag an audience down .
4 A moving story of determination and the human spirit .
4 We admire this film for its harsh objectivity and refusal to seek our tears , our
sympathies .
0 Disgusting .
1 Moore is like a progressive bull in a china shop , a provocateur crashing into
ideas and special-interest groups as he slaps together his own brand of liberalism
.
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 The culmination of everyone 's efforts is given life when A Selection appears in
its final form in Last Dance .
3 It goes down easy , leaving virtually no aftertaste .
0 Crossroads feels like a teenybopper Ed Wood film , replete with the pubescent
scandalous innuendo and the high-strung but flaccid drama .
2 Certainly beautiful to look at , but its not very informative about its titular
character and no more challenging than your average television biopic .
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
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 .
1 Does not go far enough in its humor or stock ideas to stand out as particularly
memorable or even all that funny .
3 It 's refreshing to see a romance this smart .
3 Like the chilled breath of oral storytelling frozen onto film .
3 Shattering , devastating documentary on two maladjusted teens in a downward
narcotized spiral .
0 As exciting as all this exoticism might sound to the typical Pax viewer , the
rest of us will be lulled into a coma .
3 The film is reasonably entertaining , though it begins to drag two-thirds through
, when the melodramatic aspects start to overtake the comedy .
1 It never rises to its clever what-if concept .
3 Much has been written about those years when the psychedelic '60s grooved over
into the gay '70s , but words don't really do the era justice .
2 A sly dissection of the inanities of the contemporary music business and a rather
sad story of the difficulties of artistic collaboration .
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 .
0 Every conceivable mistake a director could make in filming opera has been
perpetrated here .
4 It 's the kind of movie that , aside from Robert Altman , Spike Lee , the Coen
Brothers and a few others , our moviemakers don't make often enough .
4 Williams creates a stunning , Taxi Driver-esque portrayal of a man teetering on
the edge of sanity .
3 Campbell Scott finds the ideal outlet for his flick-knife diction in the role of
Roger Swanson .
3 Has a certain ghoulish fascination , and generates a fair amount of B-movie
excitement .
1 With its parade of almost perpetually wasted characters ... Margarita feels like
a hazy high that takes too long to shake .
3 Bolstered by an astonishing voice cast excepting Love Hewitt , an interesting
racial tension , and a storyline that I have n't encountered since at least Pete 's
Dragon .
3 A witty , whimsical feature debut .
4 Exhilarating , funny and fun .
1 As an entertainment destination for the general public , Kung Pow sets a new
benchmark for lameness .
3 Downbeat , period-perfect biopic hammers home a heavy-handed moralistic message .