depicts the sorriest and most sordid of human behavior on the screen , then laughs at how clever it 's being .


every moment crackles with tension , and by the end of the flick , you 're on the edge of your seat .


the movie 's heavy-handed screenplay navigates a fast fade into pomposity and pretentiousness .


a well-put-together piece of urban satire .


the script , the gags , the characters are all direct-to-video stuff , and that 's where this film should have remained .


take away the controversy , and it 's not much more watchable than a mexican soap opera .


it jumps around with little logic or continuity , presenting backstage bytes of information that never amount to a satisfying complete picture of this particular , anciently demanding métier .


... the kind of entertainment that parents love to have their kids see .


... a cheap , ludicrous attempt at serious horror .


it 's a glorious spectacle like those d.w. griffith made in the early days of silent film .


instead , he focuses on the anguish that can develop when one mulls leaving the familiar to traverse uncharted ground .


slackers ' jokey approach to college education is disappointingly simplistic -- the film 's biggest problem -- and there are no unforgettably stupid stunts or uproariously rude lines of dialogue to remember it by .


the film 's stagecrafts are intimate and therefore bolder than the otherwise calculated artifice that defines and overwhelms the film 's production design .


some body is a shaky , uncertain film that nevertheless touches a few raw nerves .


sheridan seems terrified of the book 's irreverent energy , and scotches most of its élan , humor , bile , and irony .


the real question this movie poses is not ` who ? '


i never thought i 'd say this , but i 'd much rather watch teens poking their genitals into fruit pies !


with a cast of a-list brit actors , it is worth searching out .


the picture does n't know it 's a comedy .


a well made indieflick in need of some trims and a more chemistry between its stars .


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 .


the film proves unrelentingly grim -- and equally engrossing .


a work that lacks both a purpose and a strong pulse .


an exhausting family drama about a porcelain empire and just as hard a flick as its subject matter .


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 .


drawing on an irresistible , languid romanticism , byler reveals the ways in which a sultry evening or a beer-fueled afternoon in the sun can inspire even the most retiring heart to venture forth .


connoisseurs of chinese film will be pleased to discover that tian 's meticulous talent has not withered during his enforced hiatus .


ash wednesday is not edward burns ' best film , but it is a good and ambitious film .


a poignant comedy that offers food for thought .


if i want music , i 'll buy the soundtrack .


the film 's most improbable feat ?


killing time , that 's all that 's going on here .


the movie is well done , but slow .


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 .


a uniquely sensual metaphorical dramatization of sexual obsession that spends a bit too much time on its fairly ludicrous plot .


there are a few modest laughs , but certainly no thrills .


screenwriter dan schneider and director shawn levy substitute volume and primary colors for humor and bite .


this fascinating look at israel in ferment feels as immediate as the latest news footage from gaza and , because of its heightened , well-shaped dramas , twice as powerful .


the film has the uncanny ability to right itself precisely when you think it 's in danger of going wrong .


every visual joke is milked , every set-up obvious and lengthy , every punchline predictable .


his work transcends the boy-meets-girl posturing of typical love stories .


hailed as a clever exercise in neo-hitchcockianism , this clever and very satisfying picture is more accurately chabrolian .


big mistake .


if you grew up on scooby -- you 'll love this movie .


-lrb- `` take care of my cat '' -rrb- is an honestly nice little film that takes us on an examination of young adult life in urban south korea through the hearts and minds of the five principals .


` if you are in the mood for an intelligent weepy , it can easily worm its way into your heart . '


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 .


-lrb- seems -rrb- even more uselessly redundant and shamelessly money-grubbing than most third-rate horror sequels .


love liza is a festival film that would have been better off staying on the festival circuit .


this is the kind of subject matter that could so easily have been fumbled by a lesser filmmaker , but ayres makes the right choices at every turn .


a film of delicate interpersonal dances .


the chateau ... is less concerned with cultural and political issues than doting on its eccentric characters .


as saccharine as it is disposable .


if you 're down for a silly hack-and-slash flick , you can do no wrong with jason x.


time out is existential drama without any of the pretension associated with the term .


a jewish ww ii doc that is n't trying simply to out-shock , out-outrage or out-depress its potential audience !


she boxes these women 's souls right open for us .


has not so much been written as assembled , frankenstein-like , out of other , marginally better shoot-em-ups .


kids who are into this thornberry stuff will probably be in wedgie heaven .


it 's very beavis and butthead , yet always seems to elicit a chuckle .


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 .


like mike is a harmlessly naïve slice of b-ball fantasy , fit for filling in during the real nba 's off-season .


after the first 10 minutes , which is worth seeing , the movie sinks into an abyss of clichés , depression and bad alternative music .


de niro cries .


it 's an experience in understanding a unique culture that is presented with universal appeal .


the movie 's thesis -- elegant technology for the masses -- is surprisingly refreshing .


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 .


would make an excellent companion piece to the similarly themed ` the french lieutenant 's woman . '


one suspects that craven endorses they simply because this movie makes his own look much better by comparison .


-lrb- evans is -rrb- a fascinating character , and deserves a better vehicle than this facetious smirk of a movie .


its sheer dynamism is infectious .


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 .


though jones and snipes are enthralling , the movie bogs down in rhetoric and cliché .


such an incomprehensible mess that it feels less like bad cinema than like being stuck in a dark pit having a nightmare about bad cinema .


equilibrium the movie , as opposed to the manifesto , is really , really stupid .


exploring value choices is a worthwhile topic for a film -- but here the choices are as contrived and artificial as kerrigan 's platinum-blonde hair .


if divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood suffers from a ploddingly melodramatic structure , it comes to life in the performances .


the problem with antwone fisher is that it has a screenplay written by antwone fisher based on the book by antwone fisher .


the sheer joy and pride they took in their work -- and in each other -- shines through every frame .


well , it probably wo n't have you swinging from the trees hooting it 's praises , but it 's definitely worth taking a look .


raimi crafted a complicated hero who is a welcome relief from the usual two-dimensional offerings .


i did n't find much fascination in the swinging .


swimfan , like fatal attraction , eventually goes overboard with a loony melodramatic denouement in which a high school swimming pool substitutes for a bathtub .


the auteur 's ear for the way fears and slights are telegraphed in the most blithe exchanges gives the film its lingering tug .


vampire epic succeeds as spooky action-packed trash of the highest order .


it 's that good .


-lrb- the digital effects -rrb- reminded me of terry gilliam 's rudimentary old monty python cartoons , in which he would cut out figures from drawings and photographs and paste them together .


this misty-eyed southern nostalgia piece , in treading the line between sappy and sanguine , winds up mired in tear-drenched quicksand .


nicks sustains the level of exaggerated , stylized humor throughout by taking your expectations and twisting them just a bit .


it never is , not fully .


while not all that bad of a movie , it 's nowhere near as good as the original .


`` white oleander , '' the movie , is akin to a reader 's digest condensed version of the source material .


watch barbershop again if you 're in need of a cube fix -- this is n't worth sitting through .


let 's hope not .


one of the most highly-praised disappointments i 've had the misfortune to watch in quite some time .


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 .


romantic , riveting and handsomely animated .


chouraqui brings documentary-like credibility to the horrors of the killing field and the barbarism of ` ethnic cleansing . '


humorous , artsy , and even cute , in an off-kilter , dark , vaguely disturbing way .


unlike most anime , whose most ardent fans outside japan seem to be introverted young men with fantasy fetishes , metropolis never seems hopelessly juvenile .


a miraculous movie , i 'm going home is so slight , yet overflows with wisdom and emotion .


the action quickly sinks into by-the-numbers territory .


a markedly inactive film , city is conversational bordering on confessional .


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 .


in period costume and with a bigger budget .


evelyn 's strong cast and surehanded direction make for a winning , heartwarming yarn .


confusion is one of my least favourite emotions , especially when i have to put up with 146 minutes of it .


the material and the production itself are little more than routine .


the sight of the spaceship on the launching pad is duly impressive in imax dimensions , as are shots of the astronauts floating in their cabins .


i saw juwanna mann so you do n't have to .


cut through the layers of soap-opera emotion and you find a scathing portrayal of a powerful entity strangling the life out of the people who want to believe in it the most .


a thoroughly enjoyable , heartfelt coming-of-age comedy .


the film occasionally tries the viewer 's patience with slow pacing and a main character who sometimes defies sympathy , but it ultimately satisfies with its moving story .


fessenden has nurtured his metaphors at the expense of his narrative , but he does display an original talent .


not a stereotype is omitted nor a cliché left unsaid .


suffice to say its total promise is left slightly unfulfilled .


the movie 's messages are quite admirable , but the story is just too clichéd and too often strains credulity .


terrible .


the innate theatrics that provide its thrills and extreme emotions lose their luster when flattened onscreen .


this is a shrewd and effective film from a director who understands how to create and sustain a mood .


it 's a strange film , one that was hard for me to warm up to .


at its worst , the movie is pretty diverting ; the pity is that it rarely achieves its best .


if it were any more of a turkey , it would gobble in dolby digital stereo .


falsehoods pile up , undermining the movie 's reality and stifling its creator 's comic voice .


the issues are presented in such a lousy way , complete with some of the year 's -lrb- unintentionally -rrb- funniest moments , that it 's impossible to care .


symbolically , warm water under a red bridge is a celebration of feminine energy , a tribute to the power of women to heal .


a must see for all sides of the political spectrum


director jay russell weighs down his capricious fairy-tale with heavy sentiment and lightweight meaning .


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 .


limps along on a squirm-inducing fish-out-of-water formula that goes nowhere and goes there very , very slowly .


there is a certain sense of experimentation and improvisation to this film that may not always work , but it is nevertheless compelling .


on its own staggeringly unoriginal terms , this gender-bending comedy is generally quite funny .


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 .


it 's sweet ... but just a little bit too precious at the start and a little too familiar at the end .


as it stands it 's an opera movie for the buffs .


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 .


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 .


for a movie about the power of poetry and passion , there is precious little of either .


a screenplay more ingeniously constructed than `` memento ''


piccoli gives a superb performance full of deep feeling .


the movie is like a year late for tapping into our reality tv obsession , and even tardier for exploiting the novelty of the `` webcast . ''


i have no problem with `` difficult '' movies , or movies that ask the audience to meet them halfway and connect the dots instead of having things all spelled out .


a fantastically vital movie that manages to invest real humor , sensuality , and sympathy into a story about two adolescent boys .


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 .


there 's no denying that burns is a filmmaker with a bright future ahead of him .


this angst-ridden territory was covered earlier and much better in ordinary people .


perry 's good and his is an interesting character , but `` serving sara '' has n't much more to serve than silly fluff .


nothing more than a stifling morality tale dressed up in peekaboo clothing .


a smart little indie .


`` interview '' loses its overall sense of mystery and becomes a tv episode rather than a documentary that you actually buy into .


an average kid-empowerment fantasy with slightly above-average brains .


the most opaque , self-indulgent and just plain goofy an excuse for a movie as you can imagine .


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 .


do n't judge this one too soon - it 's a dark , gritty story but it takes off in totally unexpected directions and keeps on going .


the movie is ingenious fun .


an inept , tedious spoof of '70s kung fu pictures , it contains almost enough chuckles for a three-minute sketch , and no more .


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 .


the movie is pretty funny now and then without in any way demeaning its subjects .


some elements of it really blow the big one , but other parts are decent .


insightfully written , delicately performed


an enigmatic film that 's too clever for its own good , it 's a conundrum not worth solving .


when a movie has stuck around for this long , you know there 's something there .


in the end , tuck everlasting falls victim to that everlasting conundrum experienced by every human who ever lived : too much to do , too little time to do it in .


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 .


anyone not into high-tech splatterfests is advised to take the warning literally , and log on to something more user-friendly .


you end up simply admiring this bit or that , this performance or that .


the redeeming feature of chan 's films has always been the action , but the stunts in the tuxedo seem tired and , what 's worse , routine .


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 ?


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 .


wait for pay per view or rental but do n't dismiss barbershop out of hand .


once one experiences mr. haneke 's own sadistic tendencies toward his audience , one is left with a sour taste in one 's mouth , and little else .


watching the chemistry between freeman and judd , however , almost makes this movie worth seeing .


a chance to see three splendid actors turn a larky chase movie into an emotionally satisfying exploration of the very human need to be somebody , and to belong to somebody .


at its worst , it 's rambo - meets-john ford .


for once , a movie does not proclaim the truth about two love-struck somebodies , but permits them time and space to convince us of that all on their own .


crummy .


mendes still does n't quite know how to fill a frame .


delia , greta , and paula rank as three of the most multilayered and sympathetic female characters of the year .


` dragonfly ' dwells on crossing-over mumbo jumbo , manipulative sentimentality , and sappy dialogue .


in the not-too-distant future , movies like ghost ship will be used as analgesic balm for overstimulated minds .


the château would have been benefited from a sharper , cleaner script before it went in front of the camera .


what 's worse is that pelosi knows it .


this slight premise ... works because of the ideal casting of the masterful british actor ian holm as the aged napoleon .


this is as lax and limp a comedy as i 've seen in a while , a meander through worn-out material .


rarely has skin looked as beautiful , desirable , even delectable , as it does in trouble every day .


it 's difficult for a longtime admirer of his work to not be swept up in invincible and overlook its drawbacks .


this is one of those war movies that focuses on human interaction rather than battle and action sequences ... and it 's all the stronger because of it .


birthday girl does n't try to surprise us with plot twists , but rather seems to enjoy its own transparency .


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 .


a slow-moving police-procedural thriller that takes its title all too literally .


miyazaki 's nonstop images are so stunning , and his imagination so vivid , that the only possible complaint you could have about spirited away is that there is no rest period , no timeout .


probably the best case for christianity since chesterton and lewis .


a thriller without thrills and a mystery devoid of urgent questions .


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 .


-lrb- while the last metro -rrb- was more melodramatic , confined to a single theater company and its strategies and deceptions , while tavernier is more concerned with the entire period of history .


brisk hack job .


` lovely and amazing , ' unhappily , is neither ... excessively strained and contrived .


those of you who are not an eighth grade girl will most likely doze off during this one .


zellweger 's whiny pouty-lipped poof faced and spindly attempt at playing an ingenue makes her nomination as best actress even more of a an a


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 .


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 .


it 's so tedious that it makes you forgive every fake , dishonest , entertaining and , ultimately , more perceptive moment in bridget jones 's diary .


enjoyably dumb , sweet , and intermittently hilarious -- if you 've a taste for the quirky , steal a glimpse .


a bright , inventive , thoroughly winning flight of revisionist fancy .


no , i do n't know why steven seagal is considered a star , nor why he keeps being cast in action films when none of them are ever any good or make any money .


the performances are amiable and committed , and the comedy more often than not hits the bullseye .


by the end , you just do n't care whether that cold-hearted snake petrovich -lrb- that would be reno -rrb- gets his comeuppance .


so much about the film is loopy and ludicrous ... that it could have been a hoot in a bad-movie way if the laborious pacing and endless exposition had been tightened .


a lovely film for the holiday season .


his scenes are short and often unexpected .


a sensitive and astute first feature by anne-sophie birot .


the actors try hard but come off too amateurish and awkward .


it understands , in a way that speaks forcefully enough about the mechanisms of poverty to transcend the rather simplistic filmmaking .


in some ways , lagaan is quintessential bollywood .


in death to smoochy , we do n't get williams ' usual tear and a smile , just sneers and bile , and the spectacle is nothing short of refreshing .


the movie is a lumbering load of hokum but ... it 's at least watchable .


scarcely worth a mention apart from reporting on the number of tumbleweeds blowing through the empty theatres graced with its company .


to be more engaging on an emotional level , funnier , and on the whole less detached .


the screenplay by james eric , james horton and director peter o'fallon ... is so pat it makes your teeth hurt .


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 .


often overwrought and at times positively irritating , the film turns into an engrossing thriller almost in spite of itself .


... has its moments , but ultimately , its curmudgeon does n't quite make the cut of being placed on any list of favorites .


this seductive tease of a thriller gets the job done .


some movies suck you in despite their flaws , and heaven is one such beast .


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 -lrb- hey , do n't shoot the messenger -rrb- .


the entire film is one big excuse to play one lewd scene after another .


a mischievous visual style and oodles of charm make ` cherish ' a very good -lrb- but not great -rrb- movie .


a fresh , entertaining comedy that looks at relationships minus traditional gender roles .


exciting documentary .


those eternally devoted to the insanity of black will have an intermittently good time .


... one big laugh , three or four mild giggles , and a whole lot of not much else .


roman polanski 's autobiographical gesture at redemption is better than ` shindler 's list ' - it is more than merely a holocaust movie .


originality is sorely lacking .


the only young people who possibly will enjoy it are infants ... who might be distracted by the movie 's quick movements and sounds .


unfolds with such a wallop of you-are-there immediacy that when the bullets start to fly , your first instinct is to duck .


none of this is half as moving as the filmmakers seem to think .


it 's a tour de force , written and directed so quietly that it 's implosion rather than explosion you fear .


the question hanging over the time machine is not , as the main character suggests , ` what if ? '


the story , once it gets rolling , is nothing short of a great one .


jolting into charleston rhythms , the story has the sizzle of old news that has finally found the right vent -lrb- accurate ?


it 's always disappointing when a documentary fails to live up to -- or offer any new insight into -- its chosen topic .


with its lackadaisical plotting and mindless action , all about the benjamins evokes the bottom tier of blaxploitation flicks from the 1970s .


easily the most thoughtful fictional examination of the root causes of anti-semitism ever seen on screen .


though haynes ' style apes films from the period ... its message is not rooted in that decade .


it has the right approach and the right opening premise , but it lacks the zest and it goes for a plot twist instead of trusting the material .


while the new film is much more eye-catching than its blood-drenched stephen norrington-directed predecessor , the new script by the returning david s. goyer is much sillier .


alas , getting there is not even half the interest .


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 .


it should have stayed there .


too slick and manufactured to claim street credibility .


absolutely not .


an intense and effective film about loneliness and the chilly anonymity of the environments where so many of us spend so much of our time .


the adventures of pluto nash is a whole lot of nada .


familiar but utterly delightful .


an annoying orgy of excess and exploitation that has no point and goes nowhere .


the major problem with windtalkers is that the bulk of the movie centers on the wrong character .


jaglom offers the none-too-original premise that everyone involved with moviemaking is a con artist and a liar .


both heartbreaking and heartwarming ... just a simple fable done in an artless sytle , but it 's tremendously moving .


some writer dude , i think his name was , uh , michael zaidan , was supposed to have like written the screenplay or something , but , dude , the only thing that i ever saw that was written down were the zeroes on my paycheck .


a terrific insider look at the star-making machinery of tinseltown .


bound to appeal to women looking for a howlingly trashy time .


a faster paced family flick .


the film boasts dry humor and jarring shocks , plus moments of breathtaking mystery .


if you 're not totally weirded - out by the notion of cinema as community-therapy spectacle , quitting hits home with disorienting force .


... either you 're willing to go with this claustrophobic concept or you 're not .


this amiable picture talks tough , but it 's all bluster -- in the end it 's as sweet as greenfingers ...


should n't have been allowed to use the word `` new '' in its title , because there 's not an original character , siuation or joke in the entire movie .


disturbing .


a deeply felt and vividly detailed story about newcomers in a strange new world .


... overly melodramatic ...


made me feel uneasy , even queasy , because -lrb- solondz 's -rrb- cool compassion is on the border of bemused contempt .


the writing is clever and the cast is appealing .


apparently , romantic comedy with a fresh point of view just does n't figure in the present hollywood program .


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 .


a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .


what sets it apart is the vision that taymor , the avant garde director of broadway 's the lion king and the film titus , brings .


perhaps the best sports movie i 've ever seen .


mike white 's deft combination of serious subject matter and dark , funny humor make `` the good girl '' a film worth watching .


a preposterously melodramatic paean to gang-member teens in brooklyn circa 1958 .


has enough wit , energy and geniality to please not only the fanatical adherents on either side , but also people who know nothing about the subject and think they 're not interested .


but if you 've paid a matinee price and bought a big tub of popcorn , there 's guilty fun to be had here .


leigh makes these lives count .


borrows from other movies like it in the most ordinary and obvious fashion .


much credit must be given to the water-camera operating team of don king , sonny miller , and michael stewart .


rice never clearly defines his characters or gives us a reason to care about them .


this story of unrequited love does n't sustain interest beyond the first half-hour .


it offers a glimpse of the solomonic decision facing jewish parents in those turbulent times : to save their children and yet to lose them .


the respective charms of sandra bullock and hugh grant have worn threadbare .


oh , and more entertaining , too .


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 .


the whole mildly pleasant outing -- the r rating is for brief nudity and a grisly corpse -- remains aloft not on its own self-referential hot air , but on the inspired performance of tim allen .


enough said , except : film overboard !


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 .


stevens ' vibrant creative instincts are the difference between this and countless other flicks about guys and dolls .


i spied with my little eye ... a mediocre collection of cookie-cutter action scenes and occasionally inspired dialogue bits


tully is in many ways the perfect festival film : a calm , self-assured portrait of small town regret , love , duty and friendship that appeals to the storytelling instincts of a slightly more literate filmgoing audience .


quite simply , a joy to watch and -- especially -- to listen to .


` sophisticated ' viewers who refuse to admit that they do n't like it will likely call it ` challenging ' to their fellow sophisticates .


a moving and weighty depiction of one family 's attempts to heal after the death of a child .


-lrb- johnnie to and wai ka fai are -rrb- sure to find an enthusiastic audience among american action-adventure buffs , but the film 's interests may be too narrow to attract crossover viewers .


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 .


i liked about schmidt a lot , but i have a feeling that i would have liked it much more if harry & tonto never existed .


saved from being merely way-cool by a basic , credible compassion .


b picture , and i mean that as a compliment .


yes they can swim , the title is merely anne-sophie birot 's off-handed way of saying girls find adolescence difficult to wade through .


the trouble is , its filmmakers run out of clever ideas and visual gags about halfway through .


after you laugh once -lrb- maybe twice -rrb- , you will have completely forgotten the movie by the time you get back to your car in the parking lot .


thin period piece .


deliberately and devotedly constructed , far from heaven is too picture postcard perfect , too neat and new pin-like , too obviously a recreation to resonate .


an encouraging effort from mccrudden


... a funny yet dark and seedy clash of cultures and generations .


`` mr. deeds '' is suitable summer entertainment that offers escapism without requiring a great deal of thought .


lacks depth .


it 's probably worth catching solely on its visual merits .


a poignant lyricism runs through balzac and the little chinese seamstress that transforms this story about love and culture into a cinematic poem .


while centered on the life experiences of a particular theatrical family , this marvelous documentary touches -- ever so gracefully -- on the entire history of the yiddish theater , both in america and israel .


comedy troupe broken lizard 's first movie is very funny but too concerned with giving us a plot .


schütte 's dramatic snapshot of the artist three days before his death offers an interesting bit of speculation as to the issues brecht faced as his life drew to a close .


the difference is that i truly enjoyed most of mostly martha while i ne


what you end up getting is the vertical limit of surfing movies - memorable stunts with lots of downtime in between .


it works its magic with such exuberance and passion that the film 's length becomes a part of its fun .


certainly not a good movie , but it was n't horrible either .


it is most remarkable not because of its epic scope , but because of the startling intimacy it achieves despite that breadth .


it 's as raw and action-packed an experience as a ringside seat at a tough-man contest .


you 'll probably love it .


an interesting look behind the scenes of chicago-based rock group wilco ...


... while the humor aspects of ` jason x ' were far more entertaining than i had expected , everything else about the film tanks .


it 's tough to be startled when you 're almost dozing .


it may as well be called `` jar-jar binks : the movie . ''


i found the movie as divided against itself as the dysfunctional family it portrays .


like its title character , esther kahn is unusual but unfortunately also irritating .


a little less extreme than in the past , with longer exposition sequences between them , and with fewer gags to break the tedium .


it 's a visual delight and a decent popcorn adventure , as long as you do n't try to look too deep into the story


you watch for that sense of openness , the little surprises .


an overly familiar scenario is made fresh by an intelligent screenplay and gripping performances in this low-budget , video-shot , debut indie effort .


there is a general air of exuberance in all about the benjamins that 's hard to resist .


compellingly watchable .


we started to wonder if ... some unpaid intern had just typed ` chris rock , ' ` anthony hopkins ' and ` terrorists ' into some univac-like script machine .


intensely romantic , thought-provoking and even an engaging mystery .


adaptation is intricately constructed and in a strange way nails all of orlean 's themes without being a true adaptation of her book .


it 's funny , touching , dramatically forceful , and beautifully shot .


... the kind of movie you see because the theater has air conditioning .


a film in a class with spike lee 's masterful do the right thing .


a film really has to be exceptional to justify a three hour running time , and this is n't .


the amazing film work is so convincing that by movies ' end you 'll swear you are wet in some places and feel sand creeping in others .


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 .


instead of simply handling conventional material in a conventional way , secretary takes the most unexpected material and handles it in the most unexpected way .


the umpteenth summer skinny dip in jerry bruckheimer 's putrid pond of retread action twaddle .


sayles ... once again strands his superb performers in the same old story .


the problem with movies about angels is they have a tendency to slip into hokum .


it may be a somewhat backhanded compliment to say that the film makes the viewer feel like the movie 's various victimized audience members after a while , but it also happens to be the movie 's most admirable quality


but mainstream audiences will find little of interest in this film , which is often preachy and poorly acted .


like these russo guys lookin ' for their mamet instead found their sturges .


sometimes we feel as if the film careens from one colorful event to another without respite , but sometimes it must have seemed to frida kahlo as if her life did , too .


the hackneyed story about an affluent damsel in distress who decides to fight her bully of a husband is simply too overdone .


feels at times like a giant commercial for universal studios , where much of the action takes place .


brims with passion : for words , for its eccentric , accident-prone characters , and for the crazy things that keep people going in this crazy life .


... a vivid , thoughtful , unapologetically raw coming-of-age tale full of sex , drugs and rock 'n' roll .


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 .


or that the battery on your watch has died .


while kids will probably eat the whole thing up , most adults will be way ahead of the plot .


the film is strictly routine .


absorbing character study by andré turpin .


what might have emerged as hilarious lunacy in the hands of woody allen or mel brooks -lrb- at least during their '70s heyday -rrb- comes across as lame and sophomoric in this debut indie feature .


hopkins , squarely fills the screen .


their contrast is neither dramatic nor comic -- it 's just a weird fizzle .


pipe dream does have its charms .


it 's a very valuable film ...


... expands the horizons of boredom to the point of collapse , turning into a black hole of dullness , from which no interesting concept can escape .


not too fancy , not too filling , not too fluffy , but definitely tasty and sweet .


transforms one of -lrb- shakespeare 's -rrb- deepest tragedies into a smart new comedy .


a movie that the less charitable might describe as a castrated cross between highlander and lolita .


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 . '


has its share of arresting images .


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 .


supposedly based upon real , or at least soberly reported incidents , the film ends with a large human tragedy .


go .


a terrific b movie -- in fact , the best in recent memory .


a pathetically inane and unimaginative cross between xxx and vertical limit .


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. .


take care is nicely performed by a quintet of actresses , but nonetheless it drags during its 112-minute length .


a stirring road movie .


some of the most inventive silliness you are likely to witness in a movie theatre for some time .


there 's a heavy stench of ` been there , done that ' hanging over the film .


while most films these days are about nothing , this film seems to be about everything that 's plaguing the human spirit in a relentlessly globalizing world .


and more than that , it 's an observant , unfussily poetic meditation about identity and alienation .


a so-so , made-for-tv something posing as a real movie .


you would n't want to live waydowntown , but it is a hilarious place to visit .


believes so fervently in humanity that it feels almost anachronistic , and it is too cute by half .


i ca n't recommend it .


you live the mood rather than savour the story .


mattei 's underdeveloped effort here is nothing but a convenient conveyor belt of brooding personalities that parade about as if they were coming back from stock character camp -- a drowsy drama infatuated by its own pretentious self-examination .


a breathtaking adventure for all ages , spirit tells its poignant and uplifting story in a stunning fusion of music and images .


rife with the rueful , wry humor springing out of yiddish culture and language .


the movie plays up the cartoon 's more obvious strength of snazziness while neglecting its less conspicuous writing strength .


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 .


it 's just rather leaden and dull .


ranges from laugh-out-loud hilarious to wonder-what - time-it-is tedious .


indeed , none of these words really gets at the very special type of badness that is deuces wild .


for a film that 's being advertised as a comedy , sweet home alabama is n't as funny as you 'd hoped .


what could have been a daytime soap opera is actually a compelling look at a young woman 's tragic odyssey .


an ideal love story for those intolerant of the more common saccharine genre .


i 'm not a fan of the phrase ` life affirming ' because it usually means ` schmaltzy , ' but real women have curves truly is life affirming .


what a great way to spend 4 units of your day .


... the movie feels stitched together from stock situations and characters from other movies .


the film is a confusing melange of tones and styles , one moment a romantic trifle and the next a turgid drama .


we never feel anything for these characters , and as a result the film is basically just a curiosity .


bond-inspired ?


gently humorous and touching .


a beautifully tooled action thriller about love and terrorism in korea .


the end result is like cold porridge with only the odd enjoyably chewy lump .


others , more attuned to the anarchist maxim that ` the urge to destroy is also a creative urge ' , or more willing to see with their own eyes , will find morrison 's iconoclastic uses of technology to be liberating .


spectators will indeed sit open-mouthed before the screen , not screaming but yawning .


opening with some contrived banter , cliches and some loose ends , the screenplay only comes into its own in the second half .


gosling creates a staggeringly compelling character , a young man whose sharp intellect is at the very root of his contradictory , self-hating , self-destructive ways .


anemic chronicle of money grubbing new yorkers and their serial loveless hook ups .


a boring masquerade ball where normally good actors , even kingsley , are made to look bad .


vividly conveys the shadow side of the 30-year friendship between two english women .


parker can not sustain the buoyant energy level of the film 's city beginnings into its country conclusion '


tiresomely derivative and hammily acted .


sweetly sexy , funny and touching .


the documentary is much too conventional -- lots of boring talking heads , etc. -- to do the subject matter justice .


the actors are simply too good , and the story too intriguing , for technical flaws to get in the way .


the locations go from stark desert to gorgeous beaches .


the emperor 's club is one of those films that possesses all the good intentions in the world , but ...


the scorpion king is more fun than conan the barbarian .


this is an exercise not in biography but in hero worship .


if you 're looking for an intelligent movie in which you can release your pent up anger , enough is just the ticket you need .


nijinsky says , ' i know how to suffer ' and if you see this film you 'll know too .


a great companion piece to other napoleon films .


i ca n't .


aside from showing us in explicit detail how difficult it is to win over the two-drink-minimum crowd , there 's little to be learned from watching ` comedian '


this cloying , voices-from-the-other-side story is hell .


the problem is that it is one that allows him to churn out one mediocre movie after another .


you 'll find yourself wishing that you and they were in another movie .


the journey to the secret 's eventual discovery is a separate adventure , and thrill enough .


but even with the two-wrongs-make-a-right chemistry between jolie and burns ... this otherwise appealing picture loses its soul to screenwriting for dummies conformity .


that is made almost impossible by events that set the plot in motion .


the film oozes craft .


shafer 's feature does n't offer much in terms of plot or acting .


like a tarantino movie with heart , alias betty is richly detailed , deftly executed and utterly absorbing .


witty , contemplative , and sublimely beautiful .


the master of disguise may have made a great saturday night live sketch , but a great movie it is not .


... salaciously simplistic .


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 .


a film of quiet power .


worth a look as a curiosity .


i ca n't remember the last time i saw worse stunt editing or cheaper action movie production values than in extreme ops .


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 .


for those who like quirky , slightly strange french films , this is a must !


a flick about our infantilized culture that is n't entirely infantile .


the real star of this movie is the score , as in the songs translate well to film , and it 's really well directed .


a generic international version of a typical american horror film .


it 's clear why deuces wild , which was shot two years ago , has been gathering dust on mgm 's shelf .


while this movie , by necessity , lacks fellowship 's heart , two towers outdoes its spectacle .


it 's the brilliant surfing photography bringing you right inside the massive waves that lifts blue crush into one of the summer 's most pleasurable movies .


is an inexpressible and drab wannabe looking for that exact niche .


it sticks rigidly to the paradigm , rarely permitting its characters more than two obvious dimensions and repeatedly placing them in contrived , well-worn situations .


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 .


bill morrison 's decasia is uncompromising , difficult and unbearably beautiful .


the film is so bad it does n't improve upon the experience of staring at a blank screen .


a blair witch - style adventure that plays like a bad soap opera , with passable performances from everyone in the cast .


like the english patient and the unbearable lightness of being , the hours is one of those reputedly `` unfilmable '' novels that has bucked the odds to emerge as an exquisite motion picture in its own right .


while the plot follows a predictable connect-the-dots course ... director john schultz colors the picture in some evocative shades .


rarely has a film 's title served such dire warning .


tends to plod .


stands as a document of what it felt like to be a new yorker -- or , really , to be a human being -- in the weeks after 9\/11 .


moretti plays giovanni , a psychiatrist who predictably finds it difficult to sustain interest in his profession after the family tragedy .


the beautiful images and solemn words can not disguise the slack complacency of -lrb- godard 's -rrb- vision , any more than the gorgeous piano and strings on the soundtrack can drown out the tinny self-righteousness of his voice .


two hours of junk .


includes too much obvious padding .


ritchie may not have a novel thought in his head , but he knows how to pose madonna .


-lrb- garbus -rrb- discards the potential for pathological study , exhuming instead , the skewed melodrama of the circumstantial situation .


this film is not a love letter for the slain rappers , it 's a taunt - a call for justice for two crimes from which many of us have not yet recovered .


though it 's not very well shot or composed or edited , the score is too insistent and the dialogue is frequently overwrought and crudely literal , the film shatters you in waves .


he may have meant the internet short saving ryan 's privates .


if you want a movie time trip , the 1960 version is a far smoother ride .


an amateurish , quasi-improvised acting exercise shot on ugly digital video .


an unsettling , memorable cinematic experience that does its predecessors proud .


much of the digitally altered footage appears jagged , as if filmed directly from a television monitor , while the extensive use of stock footage quickly becomes a tiresome cliché .


with freeman and judd , i 'll at least remember their characters .


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 .


k-19 : the widowmaker is derivative , overlong , and bombastic -- yet surprisingly entertaining .


a compelling story of musical passion against governmental odds .


succeeds as a well-made evocation of a subculture .


the structure is simple , but in its own way , rabbit-proof fence is a quest story as grand as the lord of the rings .


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 .


in the telling of a story largely untold , bui chooses to produce something that is ultimately suspiciously familiar .


manipulative claptrap , a period-piece movie-of-the-week , plain old blarney ... take your pick .


a thoroughly entertaining comedy that uses grant 's own twist of acidity to prevent itself from succumbing to its own bathos .


solondz may be convinced that he has something significant to say , but he is n't talking a talk that appeals to me .


a subtle , poignant picture of goodness that is flawed , compromised and sad .


it is a strength of a documentary to disregard available bias , especially as temptingly easy as it would have been with this premise .


an intriguing look at the french film industry during the german occupation ; its most delightful moments come when various characters express their quirky inner selves .


off the hook is overlong and not well-acted , but credit writer-producer-director adam watstein with finishing it at all .


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 .


what with the incessant lounge music playing in the film 's background , you may mistake love liza for an adam sandler chanukah song .


all movie long , city by the sea swings from one approach to the other , but in the end , it stays in formula -- which is a waste of de niro , mcdormand and the other good actors in the cast .


devolves into the derivative , leaning on badly-rendered cgi effects .


it 's a visual rorschach test and i must have failed .


his best film remains his shortest , the hole , which makes many of the points that this film does but feels less repetitive .


entertaining but like shooting fish in a barrel .


this is not one of the movies you 'd want to watch if you only had a week to live .


a sugar-coated rocky whose valuable messages are forgotten 10 minutes after the last trombone honks .


ensemble movies , like soap operas , depend on empathy .


an ambitious , serious film that manages to do virtually everything wrong ; sitting through it is something akin to an act of cinematic penance .


`` ... something appears to have been lost in the translation this time .


and educational !


the kind of movie that leaves vague impressions and a nasty aftertaste but little clear memory of its operational mechanics .


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 .


one ca n't deny its seriousness and quality .


despite the fact that this film was n't as bad as i thought it was going to be , it 's still not a good movie


this slender plot feels especially thin stretched over the nearly 80-minute running time .


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 .


the obligatory break-ups and hook-ups do n't seem to have much emotional impact on the characters .


an ambitious , guilt-suffused melodrama crippled by poor casting .


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 .


... although this idea is `` new '' the results are tired .


throughout , mr. audiard 's direction is fluid and quick .


and yet , it still works .


burns ' fifth beer-soaked film feels in almost every possible way -- from the writing and direction to the soggy performances -- tossed off .


meyjes ' provocative film might be called an example of the haphazardness of evil .


a stylish cast and some clever scripting solutions help chicago make the transition from stage to screen with considerable appeal intact .


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 .


that works .


the pretensions -- and disposable story -- sink the movie .


steadfastly uncinematic but powerfully dramatic .


there 's just something about watching a squad of psychopathic underdogs whale the tar out of unsuspecting lawmen that reaches across time and distance .


while holm is terrific as both men and hjejle quite appealing , the film fails to make the most out of the intriguing premise .


it 's virtually impossible to like any of these despicable characters .


juliette binoche 's sand is vivacious , but it 's hard to sense that powerhouse of 19th-century prose behind her childlike smile .


a muddy psychological thriller rife with miscalculations .


` what 's the russian word for wow !? '


... pays tribute to heroes the way julia roberts hands out awards -- with phony humility barely camouflaging grotesque narcissism .


the soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission .


the filmmakers keep pushing the jokes at the expense of character until things fall apart .


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 .


this mistaken-identity picture is so film-culture referential that the final product is a ghost .


almost as offensive as `` freddy got fingered . ''


about as original as a gangster sweating bullets while worrying about a contract on his life .


the story that emerges has elements of romance , tragedy and even silent-movie comedy .


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 .


the movie 's plot is almost entirely witless and inane , carrying every gag two or three times beyond its limit to sustain a laugh .


though it inspires some -lrb- out-of-field -rrb- creative thought , the film is -- to its own detriment -- much more a cinematic collage than a polemical tract .


uplifting as only a document of the worst possibilities of mankind can be , and among the best films of the year .


enriched by a strong and unforced supporting cast .


nicks and steinberg match their own creations for pure venality -- that 's giving it the old college try .


it 's ... worth the extra effort to see an artist , still committed to growth in his ninth decade , change while remaining true to his principles with a film whose very subject is , quite pointedly , about the peril of such efforts .


from its nauseating spinning credits sequence to a very talented but underutilized supporting cast , bartleby squanders as much as it gives out .


there 's no clear picture of who killed bob crane .


... one of the more influential works of the ` korean new wave ' .


a confluence of kiddie entertainment , sophisticated wit and symbolic graphic design .


fontaine 's direction , especially her agreeably startling use of close-ups and her grace with a moving camera , creates sheerly cinematic appeal .


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 .


davis ' candid , archly funny and deeply authentic take on intimate relationships comes to fruition in her sophomore effort .


the first hour is tedious though ford and neeson capably hold our interest , but its just not a thrilling movie .


as a girl-meets-girl romantic comedy , kissing jessica steinis quirky , charming and often hilarious .


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 .


fairy-tale formula , serves as a paper skeleton for some very good acting , dialogue , comedy , direction and especially charm .


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 .


... liotta is put in an impossible spot because his character 's deceptions ultimately undo him and the believability of the entire scenario .


a captivating coming-of-age story that may also be the first narrative film to be truly informed by the wireless age .


another wholly unnecessary addition to the growing , moldering pile of , well , extreme stunt pictures .


but it does have one saving grace .


he 's one of the few ` cool ' actors who never seems aware of his own coolness .


every joke is repeated at least four times .


it 's only in fairy tales that princesses that are married for political reason live happily ever after .


narc can only remind us of brilliant crime dramas without becoming one itself .


unlike trey parker , sandler does n't understand that the idea of exploiting molestation for laughs is funny , not actually exploiting it yourself .


funny and also heartwarming without stooping to gooeyness .


what little grace -lrb- rifkin 's -rrb- tale of precarious skid-row dignity achieves is pushed into the margins by predictable plotting and tiresome histrionics .


i 'm not generally a fan of vegetables but this batch is pretty cute .


but tongue-in-cheek preposterousness has always been part of for the most part wilde 's droll whimsy helps `` being earnest '' overcome its weaknesses and parker 's creative interference ...


roman polanski directs the pianist like a surgeon mends a broken heart ; very meticulously but without any passion .


they do a good job of painting this family dynamic for the audience but they tried to squeeze too many elements into the film .


if you thought tom hanks was just an ordinary big-screen star , wait until you 've seen him eight stories tall .


the film is hampered by its predictable plot and paper-thin supporting characters .


starts out mediocre , spirals downward , and thuds to the bottom of the pool with an utterly incompetent conclusion .


if the movie were all comedy , it might work better .


though it was made with careful attention to detail and is well-acted by james spader and maggie gyllenhaal , i felt disrespected .


a vibrant whirlwind of love , family and all that goes with it , my big fat greek wedding is a non-stop funny feast of warmth , colour and cringe .


in the real world , an actor this uncharismatically beautiful would have a résumé loaded with credits like `` girl in bar # 3 . ''


what a dumb , fun , curiously adolescent movie this is .


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 .


a puzzle whose pieces do not fit .


-lrb- n -rrb- o matter how much good will the actors generate , showtime eventually folds under its own thinness .


a cautionary tale about the grandiosity of a college student who sees himself as impervious to a fall .


i suspect that there are more interesting ways of dealing with the subject .


maybe you 'll be lucky , and there 'll be a power outage during your screening so you can get your money back .


it has a dashing and resourceful hero ; a lisping , reptilian villain ; big fights ; big hair ; lavish period scenery ; and a story just complicated enough to let you bask in your own cleverness as you figure it out .


with minimal imagination , you could restage the whole thing in your bathtub .


worse than ` silence of the lambs ' better than ` hannibal '


as a hybrid teen thriller and murder mystery , murder by numbers fits the profile too closely .


it 's surprisingly decent , particularly for a tenth installment in a series .


-lrb- clooney 's -rrb- debut can be accused of being a bit undisciplined , but it has a tremendous , offbeat sense of style and humor that suggests he was influenced by some of the filmmakers who have directed him , especially the coen brothers and steven soderbergh .


the only thing i laughed at were the people who paid to see it .


a beautifully shot but dull and ankle-deep ` epic . '


a sharp and quick documentary that is funny and pithy , while illuminating an era of theatrical comedy that , while past , really is n't .


if you recognize zeus -lrb- the dog from snatch -rrb- it will make you wish you were at home watching that movie instead of in the theater watching this one .


dog soldiers does n't transcend genre -- it embraces it , energizes it and takes big bloody chomps out of it .


innocuous enough to make even jean-claude van damme look good .


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 .


provides a very moving and revelatory footnote to the holocaust .


despite its floating narrative , this is a remarkably accessible and haunting film .


if festival in cannes nails hard - boiled hollywood argot with a bracingly nasty accuracy , much about the film , including some of its casting , is frustratingly unconvincing .


the predominantly amateur cast is painful to watch , so stilted and unconvincing are the performances .


during the tuxedo 's 90 minutes of screen time , there is n't one true ` chan moment ' .


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 .


we want the funk - and this movie 's got it .


it 's not just a feel-good movie , it 's a feel movie .


why did they deem it necessary to document all this emotional misery ?


the performances of the four main actresses bring their characters to life .


generates an enormous feeling of empathy for its characters .


as an actress , madonna is one helluva singer .


the self-serious equilibrium makes its point too well ; a movie , like life , is n't much fun without the highs and lows .


murder by numbers just does n't add up .


with little visible talent and no energy , colin hanks is in bad need of major acting lessons and maybe a little coffee .


it sucked .


mastering its formidable arithmetic of cameras and souls , group articulates a flood of emotion .


despite its flaws , crazy as hell marks an encouraging new direction for la salle .


reeboir varies between a sweet smile and an angry bark , while said attempts to wear down possible pupils through repetition .


in its understanding , often funny way , it tells a story whose restatement is validated by the changing composition of the nation .


except it 's much , much better .


big fat liar is little more than home alone raised to a new , self-deprecating level .


plays like an unbalanced mixture of graphic combat footage and almost saccharine domestic interludes that are pure hollywood .


that haynes can both maintain and dismantle the facades that his genre and his character construct is a wonderous accomplishment of veracity and narrative grace .


funny , though .


this is sandler running on empty , repeating what he 's already done way too often .


hartley adds enough quirky and satirical touches in the screenplay to keep the film entertaining .


a worthy addition to the cinematic canon , which , at last count , numbered 52 different versions .


dense and enigmatic ... elusive ... stagy and stilted


this mess of a movie is nothing short of a travesty of a transvestite comedy .


the actresses may have worked up a back story for the women they portray so convincingly , but viewers do n't get enough of that background for the characters to be involving as individuals rather than types .


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


the movie eventually snaps under the strain of its plot contrivances and its need to reassure .


scott delivers a terrific performance in this fascinating portrait of a modern lothario .


none of the characters or plot-lines are fleshed-out enough to build any interest .


stealing harvard will dip into your wallet , swipe 90 minutes of your time , and offer you precisely this in recompense : a few early laughs scattered around a plot as thin as it is repetitious .


there 's a lot of tooth in roger dodger .


rife with nutty cliches and far too much dialogue .


an ugly-duckling tale so hideously and clumsily told it feels accidental .


the sentimental script has problems , but the actors pick up the slack .


then again , in a better movie , you might not have noticed .


i admire the closing scenes of the film , which seem to ask whether our civilization offers a cure for vincent 's complaint .


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 .


swinging , the film makes it seem , is not a hobby that attracts the young and fit .


this is a film living far too much in its own head .


the power of shanghai ghetto , a documentary by dana janklowicz-mann and amir mann , rests in the voices of men and women , now in their 70s , who lived there in the 1940s .


patchy combination of soap opera , low-tech magic realism and , at times , ploddingly sociological commentary .


should have been worth cheering as a breakthrough but is devoid of wit and humor .


violent , vulgar and forgettably entertaining .


a lot of the credit for the film 's winning tone must go to grant , who has n't lost a bit of the dry humor that first made audiences on both sides of the atlantic love him .


this is a third-person story now , told by hollywood , and much more ordinary for it .


wow , so who knew charles dickens could be so light-hearted ?


it is an unstinting look at a collaboration between damaged people that may or may not qual


the movie 's biggest shocks come from seeing former nymphette juliette lewis playing a salt-of-the-earth mommy named minnie and watching slim travel incognito in a ridiculous wig no respectable halloween costume shop would ever try to sell .


unspeakable , of course , barely begins to describe the plot and its complications .


bottom-rung new jack city wannabe .


the mark of a respectable summer blockbuster is one of two things : unadulterated thrills or genuine laughs .


suffice to say that after seeing this movie in imax form , you 'll be more acquainted with the tiniest details of tom hanks ' face than his wife is .


parts seem like they were lifted from terry gilliam 's subconscious , pressed through kafka 's meat grinder and into buñuel 's casings


any enjoyment will be hinge from a personal threshold of watching sad but endearing characters do extremely unconventional things .


each scene immediately succumbs to gravity and plummets to earth .


lucas has in fact come closer than anyone could desire to the cheap , graceless , hackneyed sci-fi serials of the '30s and '40s .


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 .


what puzzles me is the lack of emphasis on music in britney spears ' first movie .


a. . .


it goes down easy , leaving virtually no aftertaste .


if the real-life story is genuinely inspirational , the movie stirs us as well .


and adults will at least have a dream image of the west to savor whenever the film 's lamer instincts are in the saddle .


things really get weird , though not particularly scary : the movie is all portent and no content .


just because a walk to remember is shrewd enough to activate girlish tear ducts does n't mean it 's good enough for our girls .


if you can push on through the slow spots , you 'll be rewarded with some fine acting .


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 .


you wo n't have any trouble getting kids to eat up these veggies .


the only upside to all of this unpleasantness is , given its labor day weekend upload , feardotcom should log a minimal number of hits .


pascale bailly 's rom-com provides amélie 's audrey tautou with another fabuleux destin -- i.e. , a banal spiritual quest .


there is simply not enough of interest onscreen to sustain its seventy-minute running time .


graced with the kind of social texture and realism that would be foreign in american teen comedies .


a savage john waters-like humor that dances on the edge of tastelessness without ever quite falling over .


journalistically dubious , inept and often lethally dull .


a stylish but steady , and ultimately very satisfying , piece of character-driven storytelling .


... only bond can save us from the latest eccentric , super-wealthy megalomaniac bent on world domination and destruction .


if ever a concept came handed down from the movie gods on a silver platter , this is it .


laggard drama wending its way to an uninspired philosophical epiphany .


it arrives with an impeccable pedigree , mongrel pep , and almost indecipherable plot complications .


uplifting , funny and wise .


that chirpy songbird britney spears has popped up with more mindless drivel .


but the talented cast alone will keep you watching , as will the fight scenes .


kapur 's contradictory feelings about his material result in a movie that works against itself .


like shave ice without the topping , this cinematic snow cone is as innocuous as it is flavorless .


the work of an exhausted , desiccated talent who ca n't get out of his own way .


disreputable doings and exquisite trappings are dampened by a lackluster script and substandard performances .


would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial new yorker if 26-year-old reese witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character , melanie carmichael , with a massive infusion of old-fashioned hollywood magic .


the direction has a fluid , no-nonsense authority , and the performances by harris , phifer and cam ` ron seal the deal .


so earnest and well-meaning , and so stocked with talent , that you almost forget the sheer , ponderous awfulness of its script .


a particularly joyless , and exceedingly dull , period coming-of-age tale .


most folks with a real stake in the american sexual landscape will find it either moderately amusing or just plain irrelevant .


just another disjointed , fairly predictable psychological thriller .


a touching drama about old age and grief with a tour de force performance by michel piccoli .


the slapstick is labored , and the bigger setpieces flat .


a conventional but heartwarming tale .


a funny and well-contructed black comedy where the old adage `` be careful what you wish for '' is given a full workout .


not so much farcical as sour .


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 .


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 .


none of this so-called satire has any sting to it , as if woody is afraid of biting the hand that has finally , to some extent , warmed up to him .


you have enough finely tuned acting to compensate for the movie 's failings .


narratively , trouble every day is a plodding mess .


a moving and not infrequently breathtaking film .


there 's a great deal of corny dialogue and preposterous moments .


master of disguise runs for only 71 minutes and feels like three hours .


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 .


there 's no point in extracting the bare bones of byatt 's plot for purposes of bland hollywood romance .


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 .


check your brain and your secret agent decoder ring at the door because you do n't want to think too much about what 's going on .


the movie is our story as much as it is schmidt 's , no matter if it 's viewed as a self-reflection or cautionary tale .


a creepy , intermittently powerful study of a self-destructive man ... about as unsettling to watch as an exploratory medical procedure or an autopsy .


a good-natured ensemble comedy that tries hard to make the most of a bumper cast , but never quite gets off the ground .


the most amazing super-sized dosage of goofball stunts any `` jackass '' fan could want .


self-congratulatory , misguided , and ill-informed , if nonetheless compulsively watchable .


visually sumptuous but intellectually stultifying .


a grand fart coming from a director beginning to resemble someone 's crazy french grandfather .


it 's sweet and fluffy at the time , but it may leave you feeling a little sticky and unsatisfied .


there 's no excuse for following up a delightful , well-crafted family film with a computer-generated cold fish .


insufferably naive .


a tired , unnecessary retread ... a stale copy of a picture that was n't all that great to begin with .


goofy , nutty , consistently funny .


the director , with his fake backdrops and stately pacing , never settles on a consistent tone .


it 's not a great monster movie .


over the years , hollywood has crafted a solid formula for successful animated movies , and ice age only improves on it , with terrific computer graphics , inventive action sequences and a droll sense of humor .


what elevates the movie above the run-of-the-mill singles blender is its surreal sense of humor and technological finish .


chen films the resolutely downbeat smokers only with every indulgent , indie trick in the book .


that 's muy loco , but no more ridiculous than most of the rest of `` dragonfly . ''


changing lanes is an anomaly for a hollywood movie ; it 's a well-written and occasionally challenging social drama that actually has something interesting to say .


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 .


sensual , funny and , in the end , very touching .


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 .


a gem , captured in the unhurried , low-key style favored by many directors of the iranian new wave .


a summer entertainment adults can see without feeling embarrassed , but it could have been more .


there 's something fishy about a seasonal holiday kids ' movie ... that derives its moment of most convincing emotional gravity from a scene where santa gives gifts to grownups .


same song , second verse , coulda been better , but it coulda been worse .


eight legged freaks falls flat as a spoof .


contrived , maudlin and cliche-ridden ... if this sappy script was the best the contest received , those rejected must have been astronomically bad .


the problem is that the movie has no idea of it is serious or not .


staggers between flaccid satire and what is supposed to be madcap farce .


a dull , somnambulant exercise in pretension whose pervasive quiet is broken by frequent outbursts of violence and noise .


an unremarkable , modern action\/comedy buddy movie whose only nod to nostalgia is in the title .


loses its sense of humor in a vat of failed jokes , twitchy acting , and general boorishness .


a simpler , leaner treatment would have been preferable ; after all , being about nothing is sometimes funnier than being about something .


humorous and heartfelt , douglas mcgrath 's version of ` nicholas nickleby ' left me feeling refreshed and hopeful .


what 's missing in murder by numbers is any real psychological grounding for the teens ' deviant behaviour .


essentially `` fatal attraction '' remade for viewers who were in diapers when the original was released in 1987 .


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 .


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 .


a smart , arch and rather cold-blooded comedy .


this ready-made midnight movie probably wo n't stand the cold light of day , but under the right conditions , it 's goofy -lrb- if not entirely wholesome -rrb- fun .


unpretentious , charming , quirky , original


this is a movie that starts out like heathers , then becomes bring it on , then becomes unwatchable .


what more can be expected from a college comedy that 's target audience has n't graduated from junior high school ?


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 .


bielinsky is a filmmaker of impressive talent .


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 .


-- but it makes for one of the most purely enjoyable and satisfying evenings at the movies i 've had in a while .


the lousy john q all but spits out denzel washington 's fine performance in the title role .


even at its worst , it 's not half-bad .


they were right .


we admire this film for its harsh objectivity and refusal to seek our tears , our sympathies .


there 's real visual charge to the filmmaking , and a strong erotic spark to the most crucial lip-reading sequence .


since lee is a sentimentalist , the film is more worshipful than your random e !


fairly run-of-the-mill .


it 's pretty linear and only makeup-deep , but bogdanovich ties it together with efficiency and an affection for the period .


a minor-league soccer remake of the longest yard .


the leanest and meanest of solondz 's misanthropic comedies .


what 's not to like about a movie with a ` children 's ' song that includes the line ` my stepdad 's not mean , he 's just adjusting ' ?


ultimately , clarity matters , both in breaking codes and making movies .


a portrait of an artist .


too daft by half ... but supremely good natured .


grant carries the day with impeccable comic timing , raffish charm and piercing intellect .


it 's a long way from orwell 's dark , intelligent warning cry -lrb- 1984 -rrb- to the empty stud knockabout of equilibrium , and what once was conviction is now affectation .


a thunderous ride at first , quiet cadences of pure finesse are few and far between ; their shortage dilutes the potency of otherwise respectable action .


it 's a road-trip drama with too many wrong turns .


thanks to ice cube , benjamins feels an awful lot like friday in miami .


this flat run at a hip-hop tootsie is so poorly paced you could fit all of pootie tang in between its punchlines .


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 .


the impulses that produced this project ... are commendable , but the results are uneven .


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 .


with its parade of almost perpetually wasted characters ... margarita feels like a hazy high that takes too long to shake .


the huskies are beautiful , the border collie is funny and the overall feeling is genial and decent .


runs on the pure adrenalin of pacino 's performance .


the universal theme of becoming a better person through love has never been filmed more irresistibly than in ` baran . '


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 .


a movie that ca n't get sufficient distance from leroy 's delusions to escape their maudlin influence .


funny , somber , absurd , and , finally , achingly sad , bartleby is a fine , understated piece of filmmaking .


amari has dressed up this little parable in a fairly irresistible package full of privileged moments and memorable performances .


excruciatingly unfunny and pitifully unromantic .


there is n't one moment in the film that surprises or delights .


the chateau is a risky venture that never quite goes where you expect and often surprises you with unexpected comedy .


charlotte sometimes is a brilliant movie .


a low-rent retread of the alien pictures .


the slam-bang superheroics are kinetic enough to engross even the most antsy youngsters .


full frontal had no effect and elicited no sympathies for any of the characters .


family togetherness takes a back seat to inter-family rivalry and workplace ambition ... whole subplots have no explanation or even plot relevance .


watching war photographer , you come to believe that nachtwey hates the wars he shows and empathizes with the victims he reveals .


this is a nervy , risky film , and villeneuve has inspired croze to give herself over completely to the tormented persona of bibi .


... manages to deliver a fair bit of vampire fun .


a fascinating documentary about the long and eventful spiritual journey of the guru who helped launch the new age .


secretary is just too original to be ignored .


we hate -lrb- madonna -rrb- within the film 's first five minutes , and she lacks the skill or presence to regain any ground .


compulsively watchable , no matter how degraded things get .


a drama of great power , yet some members of the audience will leave the theater believing they have seen a comedy .


we do n't even like their characters .


a few nonbelievers may rethink their attitudes when they see the joy the characters take in this creed , but skeptics are n't likely to enter the theater .


some body will take you places you have n't been , and also places you have .


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 .


the adventure does n't contain half the excitement of balto , or quarter the fun of toy story 2 .


veterans of the dating wars will smirk uneasily at the film 's nightmare versions of everyday sex-in-the-city misadventures .


ends up offering nothing more than the latest schwarzenegger or stallone flick would .


the screenplay is hugely overwritten , with tons and tons of dialogue -- most of it given to children .


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 .


-lrb- tries -rrb- to parody a genre that 's already a joke in the united states .


igby goes down is one of those movies .


the drama discloses almost nothing .


allegiance to chekhov , which director michael cacoyannis displays with somber earnestness in the new adaptation of the cherry orchard , is a particularly vexing handicap .


an unbelievably stupid film , though occasionally fun enough to make you forget its absurdity .


... 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 .


you should pay nine bucks for this : because you can hear about suffering afghan refugees on the news and still be unaffected .


it 's a testament to de niro and director michael caton-jones that by movie 's end , we accept the characters and the film , flaws and all .


although i did n't hate this one , it 's not very good either .


spreads itself too thin , leaving these actors , as well as the members of the commune , short of profound characterizations


... 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 .


it uses some of the figures from the real-life story to portray themselves in the film .


bogdanich is unashamedly pro-serbian and makes little attempt to give voice to the other side .


is now stretched to barely feature length , with a little more attention paid to the animation .


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 .


a fascinating examination of the joyous , turbulent self-discovery made by a proper , middle-aged woman .


a reality-snubbing hodgepodge .


just offbeat enough to keep you interested without coming close to bowling you over .


several uninteresting , unlikeable people do bad things to and with each other in `` unfaithful . ''


this is dicaprio 's best performance in anything ever , and easily the most watchable film of the year .


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 .


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 .


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 .


a little objectivity could have gone a long way .


sometimes charming , sometimes infuriating , this argentinean ` dramedy ' succeeds mainly on the shoulders of its actors .


while certain cues , like the happy music , suggest that this movie is supposed to warm our hearts , jeong-hyang lee 's film is just as likely to blacken that organ with cold vengefulness .


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 .


avary 's film never quite emerges from the shadow of ellis ' book .


it 's got all the familiar bruckheimer elements , and schumacher does probably as good a job as anyone at bringing off the hopkins\/rock collision of acting styles and onscreen personas .


becomes a fascinating study of isolation and frustration that successfully recreates both the physical setting and emotional tensions of the papin sisters .


the 50-something lovebirds are too immature and unappealing to care about .


exploitative and largely devoid of the depth or sophistication that would make watching such a graphic treatment of the crimes bearable .


it 's a fairy tale that comes from a renowned indian film culture that allows americans to finally revel in its splendor .


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 .


hollywood 's answer to an air ball .


tries so hard to be quirky and funny that the strain is all too evident .


as exciting as all this exoticism might sound to the typical pax viewer , the rest of us will be lulled into a coma .


a damn fine and a truly distinctive and a deeply pertinent film .


demeo is not without talent ; he just needs better material .


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 .


what they 're doing is a matter of plumbing arrangements and mind games , of no erotic or sensuous charge .


bring on the sequel .


if you can keep your eyes open amid all the blood and gore , you 'll see del toro has brought unexpected gravity to blade ii .


an invaluable historical document thanks to the filmmaker 's extraordinary access to massoud , whose charm , cultivation and devotion to his people are readily apparent .


possibly not since grumpy old men have i heard a film so solidly connect with one demographic while striking out with another .


stinks from start to finish , like a wet burlap sack of gloom .


for more than two decades mr. nachtwey has traveled to places in the world devastated by war , famine and poverty and documented the cruelty and suffering he has found with an devastating , eloquent clarity .


rock 's stand-up magic wanes .


that rare film whose real-life basis is , in fact , so interesting that no embellishment is needed .


features what is surely the funniest and most accurate depiction of writer 's block ever .


the only thing `` swept away '' is the one hour and thirty-three minutes spent watching this waste of time .


light-years ahead of paint-by-number american blockbusters like pearl harbor , at least artistically .


it 's technically sumptuous but also almost wildly alive .


it 's been 20 years since 48 hrs .


this makes minority report necessary viewing for sci-fi fans , as the film has some of the best special effects ever .


chilling in its objective portrait of dreary , lost twenty-first century america .


the concept behind kung pow : enter the fist is hilarious .


the porky 's revenge : ultimate edition ?


it 's sort of in-between , and it works .


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 .


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 .


a little too ponderous to work as shallow entertainment , not remotely incisive enough to qualify as drama , monsoon wedding serves mostly to whet one 's appetite for the bollywood films .


it 's a quirky , off-beat project .


for every cheesy scene , though , there is a really cool bit -- the movie 's conception of a future-world holographic librarian -lrb- orlando jones -rrb- who knows everything and answers all questions , is visually smart , cleverly written , and nicely realized .


walsh ca n't quite negotiate the many inconsistencies in janice 's behavior or compensate for them by sheer force of charm .


often demented in a good way , but it is an uneven film for the most part .


-lrb- h -rrb- ad i suffered and bled on the hard ground of ia drang , i 'd want something a bit more complex than we were soldiers to be remembered by .


the tasteful little revision works wonders , enhancing the cultural and economic subtext , bringing richer meaning to the story 's morals .


it picked me up , swung me around , and dropped me back in my seat with more emotional force than any other recent film .


if you are willing to do this , then you so crazy !


schnitzler 's film has a great hook , some clever bits and well-drawn , if standard issue , characters , but is still only partly satisfying .


like showgirls and glitter , the most entertaining moments here are unintentional .


writer \/ director m. night shyamalan 's ability to pull together easily accessible stories that resonate with profundity is undeniable .


flat , misguided comedy .


some remarkable achival film about how shanghai -lrb- of all places -rrb- served jews who escaped the holocaust .


but arriving at a particularly dark moment in history , it offers flickering reminders of the ties that bind us .


execrable .


williams creates a stunning , taxi driver-esque portrayal of a man teetering on the edge of sanity .


another love story in 2002 's remarkable procession of sweeping pictures that have reinvigorated the romance genre .


one of the most genuinely sweet films to come along in quite some time .


this new zealand coming-of-age movie is n't really about anything .


crossroads feels like a teenybopper ed wood film , replete with the pubescent scandalous innuendo and the high-strung but flaccid drama .


when all is said and done , she loves them to pieces -- and so , i trust , will you .


do we really need another film that praises female self-sacrifice ?


has no reason to exist , other than to employ hollywood kids and people who owe favors to their famous parents .


almost everything about the film is unsettling , from the preposterous hairpiece worn by lai 's villainous father to the endless action sequences .


great fun both for sports aficionados and for ordinary louts whose idea of exercise is climbing the steps of a stadium-seat megaplex .


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 .


humor in i spy is so anemic .


the beauty of alexander payne 's ode to the everyman is in the details .


like the tuck family themselves , this movie just goes on and on and on and on


feels aimless for much of its running time , until late in the film when a tidal wave of plot arrives , leaving questions in its wake .


maintains your interest until the end and even leaves you with a few lingering animated thoughts .


what 's left is a rich stew of longing .


`` home movie '' is the film equivalent of a lovingly rendered coffee table book .


meanders between its powerful moments .


a perfectly pleasant if slightly pokey comedy .


shrewd but pointless .


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 .


the smash 'em - up , crash 'em - up , shoot 'em - up ending comes out of nowhere substituting mayhem for suspense .


a compassionate , moving portrait of an american -lrb- and an america -rrb- always reaching for something just outside his grasp .


dramatically lackluster .


in this film we at least see a study in contrasts ; the wide range of one actor , and the limited range of a comedian .


coarse , cliched and clunky , this trifling romantic comedy in which opposites attract for no better reason than that the screenplay demands it squanders the charms of stars hugh grant and sandra bullock .


it merely indulges in the worst elements of all of them .


your response to its new sequel , analyze that , may hinge on what you thought of the first film .


i do n't think most of the people who loved the 1989 paradiso will prefer this new version .


likely to have decades of life as a classic movie franchise ?


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 .


broomfield is energized by volletta wallace 's maternal fury , her fearlessness , and because of that , his film crackles .


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 .


written , flatly , by david kendall and directed , barely , by there 's something about mary co-writer ed decter .


it 's full of cheesy dialogue , but great trashy fun that finally returns de palma to his pulpy thrillers of the early '80s .


boring and meandering .


secretary manages a neat trick , bundling the flowers of perversity , comedy and romance into a strangely tempting bouquet of a movie .


as quiet , patient and tenacious as mr. lopez himself , who approaches his difficult , endless work with remarkable serenity and discipline .


there 's surely something wrong with a comedy where the only belly laughs come from the selection of outtakes tacked onto the end credits .


impresses as a skillfully assembled , highly polished and professional adaptation ... just about as chilling and unsettling as ` manhunter ' was .


soulless and -- even more damning -- virtually joyless , xxx achieves near virtuosity in its crapulence .


remember back when thrillers actually thrilled ?


mr. soderbergh 's direction and visual style struck me as unusually and unimpressively fussy and pretentious .


i had more fun watching spy than i had with most of the big summer movies .


there 's the plot , and a maddeningly insistent and repetitive piano score that made me want to scream .


if the full monty was a freshman fluke , lucky break is -lrb- cattaneo -rrb- sophomore slump .