in its dry and forceful way , it delivers the same message as jiri menzel 's closely watched trains and danis tanovic 's no man 's land .


sinks so low in a poorly played game of absurd plot twists , idiotic court maneuvers and stupid characters that even freeman ca n't save it .


this is the kind of movie that gets a quick release before real contenders arrive in september .


talk to her is not the perfect movie many have made it out to be , but it 's still quite worth seeing .


it 's also built on a faulty premise , one it follows into melodrama and silliness .


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


in fact , even better .


feels familiar and tired .


the movie is too impressed with its own solemn insights to work up much entertainment value .


but it 's worth the concentration .


a complex psychological drama about a father who returns to his son 's home after decades away .


the film 's intimate camera work and searing performances pull us deep into the girls ' confusion and pain as they struggle tragically to comprehend the chasm of knowledge that 's opened between them .


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


what lee does so marvelously compelling is present brown as a catalyst for the struggle of black manhood in restrictive and chaotic america ... sketchy but nevertheless gripping portrait of jim brown , a celebrated wonder in the spotlight


one thing you have to give them credit for : the message of the movie is consistent with the messages espoused in the company 's previous video work .


is not so much a work of entertainment as it is a unique , well-crafted psychological study of grief .


brosnan 's finest non-bondish performance yet fails to overcome the film 's manipulative sentimentality and annoying stereotypes .


an even more predictable , cliche-ridden endeavor than its predecessor .


the storytelling may be ordinary , but the cast is one of those all-star reunions that fans of gosford park have come to assume is just another day of brit cinema .


catch it ... if you can !


to say that this vapid vehicle is downright doltish and uneventful is just as obvious as telling a country skunk that he has severe body odor .


it 's not too much of anything .


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


everything was as superficial as the forced new jersey lowbrow accent uma had .


the bard as black comedy -- willie would have loved it .


memorable for a peculiar malaise that renders its tension flaccid and , by extension , its surprises limp and its resolutions ritual .


this is one of those rare docs that paints a grand picture of an era and makes the journey feel like a party .


the performances are remarkable .


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 .


not a strike against yang 's similarly themed yi yi , but i found what time ?


everything that was right about blade is wrong in its sequel .


both a beautifully made nature film and a tribute to a woman whose passion for this region and its inhabitants still shines in her quiet blue eyes .


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


-lrb- p -rrb- artnering murphy with robert de niro for the tv-cops comedy showtime would seem to be surefire casting .


i have a confession to make : i did n't particularly like e.t. the first time i saw it as a young boy .


a captivating new film .


it tends to remind one of a really solid woody allen film , with its excellent use of new york locales and sharp writing


you 'd have to be a most hard-hearted person not to be moved by this drama .


this is just lazy writing .


a movie that will surely be profane , politically charged music to the ears of cho 's fans .


while the ensemble player who gained notice in guy ritchie 's lock , stock and two smoking barrels and snatch has the bod , he 's unlikely to become a household name on the basis of his first starring vehicle .


coppola has made a film of intoxicating atmosphere and little else .


is one of this year 's very best pictures .


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 .


the strength of the film comes not from any cinematic razzle-dazzle but from its recovery of an historical episode that , in the simple telling , proves simultaneously harrowing and uplifting .


a compelling french psychological drama examining the encounter of an aloof father and his chilly son after 20 years apart .


ong 's promising debut is a warm and well-told tale of one recent chinese immigrant 's experiences in new york city .


satisfyingly scarifying , fresh and old-fashioned at the same time .


trailer trash cinema so uncool the only thing missing is the `` gadzooks ! ''


wo n't be placed in the pantheon of the best of the swashbucklers but it is a whole lot of fun and you get to see the one of the world 's best actors , daniel auteuil , have a whale of a good time .


because the genre is well established , what makes the movie fresh is smart writing , skewed characters , and the title performance by kieran culkin .


more sophisticated and literate than such pictures usually are ... an amusing little catch .


i found the ring moderately absorbing , largely for its elegantly colorful look and sound .


a graceful , moving tribute to the courage of new york 's finest and a nicely understated expression of the grief shared by the nation at their sacrifice .


and it 's harder still to believe that anyone in his right mind would want to see the it .


contrived as this may sound , mr. rose 's updating works surprisingly well .


mr. deeds is not really a film as much as it is a loose collection of not-so-funny gags , scattered moments of lazy humor .


just a string of stale gags , with no good inside dope , and no particular bite .


it 's always enthralling .


one big blustery movie where nothing really happens .


one of those rare films that seems as though it was written for no one , but somehow manages to convince almost everyone that it was put on the screen , just for them .


diane lane works nothing short of a minor miracle in unfaithful .


one of the very best movies ever made about the life of moviemaking .


is many things -- stoner midnight flick , sci-fi deconstruction , gay fantasia -- but above all it 's a love story as sanguine as its title .


but if the essence of magic is its make-believe promise of life that soars above the material realm , this is the opposite of a truly magical movie .


a loud , brash and mainly unfunny high school comedy .


watching junk like this induces a kind of abstract guilt , as if you were paying dues for good books unread , fine music never heard .


an inuit masterpiece that will give you goosebumps as its uncanny tale of love , communal discord , and justice unfolds .


can be viewed as pure composition and form -- film as music


this is a remake by the numbers , linking a halfwit plot to a series of standup routines in which wilson and murphy show how funny they could have been in a more ambitious movie .


the jokes are telegraphed so far in advance they must have been lost in the mail .


a cruelly funny twist on teen comedy packed with inventive cinematic tricks and an ironically killer soundtrack


smarter than its commercials make it seem .


a reasonably entertaining sequel to 1994 's surprise family hit that may strain adult credibility .


could have been crisper and punchier , but it 's likely to please audiences who like movies that demand four hankies .


a french film with a more down-home flavor .


when a movie asks you to feel sorry for mick jagger 's sex life , it already has one strike against it .


an asian neo-realist treasure .


generic thriller junk .


an honest , sensitive story from a vietnamese point of view .


while some of the camera work is interesting , the film 's mid-to-low budget is betrayed by the surprisingly shoddy makeup work .


more than their unique residences , home movie is about the people who live in them , who have carved their own comfortable niche in the world and have been kind enough to share it .


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


thanks to confident filmmaking and a pair of fascinating performances , the way to that destination is a really special walk in the woods .


a compelling allegory about the last days of germany 's democratic weimar republic .


or maybe `` how will you feel after an 88-minute rip-off of the rock with action confined to slo-mo gun firing and random glass-shattering ? ''


it falls far short of poetry , but it 's not bad prose .


the things this movie tries to get the audience to buy just wo n't fly with most intelligent viewers .


sillier , cuter , and shorter than the first -lrb- as best i remember -rrb- , but still a very good time at the cinema .


by the time the surprise ending is revealed , interest can not be revived .


a sloppy slapstick throwback to long gone bottom-of-the-bill fare like the ghost and mr. chicken .


a beguiling evocation of the quality that keeps dickens evergreen : the exuberant openness with which he expresses our most basic emotions .


scotland , pa is entirely too straight-faced to transcend its clever concept .


i firmly believe that a good video game movie is going to show up soon .


chaiken ably balances real-time rhythms with propulsive incident .


the movie is about as deep as that sentiment .


brainless , but enjoyably over-the-top , the retro gang melodrama , deuces wild represents fifties teen-gang machismo in a way that borders on rough-trade homo-eroticism .


if you ever wanted to be an astronaut , this is the ultimate movie experience - it 's informative and breathtakingly spectacular .


even the digressions are funny .


and , thanks to the presence of ` the king , ' it also rocks .


in other words , about as bad a film you 're likely to see all year .


visually fascinating ... an often intense character study about fathers and sons , loyalty and duty .


as violent , profane and exploitative as the most offensive action flick you 've ever seen .


we 've seen the hippie-turned-yuppie plot before , but there 's an enthusiastic charm in fire that makes the formula fresh again .


gets better after foster leaves that little room .


compulsively watchable , no matter how degraded things get .


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


the plot grows thin soon , and you find yourself praying for a quick resolution .


this is rote spookiness , with nary an original idea -lrb- or role , or edit , or score , or anything , really -rrb- in sight , and the whole of the proceedings beg the question ` why ? '


manages to be wholesome and subversive at the same time .


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 .


a few zingers aside , the writing is indifferent , and jordan brady 's direction is prosaic .


the corpse count ultimately overrides what little we learn along the way about vicarious redemption .


a wishy-washy melodramatic movie that shows us plenty of sturm und drung , but explains its characters ' decisions only unsatisfactorily .


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


is n't as sharp as the original ... despite some visual virtues , ` blade ii ' just does n't cut it .


enigma lacks it .


mr. caine and mr. fraser are the whole show here , with their memorable and resourceful performances .


too bad none of it is funny .


overcomes its visual hideousness with a sharp script and strong performances .


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 .


yet in its own aloof , unreachable way it 's so fascinating you wo n't be able to look away for a second .


this film puts wang at the forefront of china 's sixth generation of film makers .


a sobering and powerful documentary about the most severe kind of personal loss : rejection by one 's mother .


like the full monty , this is sure to raise audience 's spirits and leave them singing long after the credits roll .


i have always appreciated a smartly written motion picture , and , whatever flaws igby goes down may possess , it is undeniably that .


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


not many movies have that kind of impact on me these days .


after sitting through this sloppy , made-for-movie comedy special , it makes me wonder if lawrence hates criticism so much that he refuses to evaluate his own work .


texan director george ratliff had unlimited access to families and church meetings , and he delivers fascinating psychological fare .


obviously , a lot of people wasted a lot of their time -lrb- including mine -rrb- on something very inconsequential .


should have gone straight to video .


maryam is more timely now than ever .


koepp 's screenplay is n't nearly surprising or clever enough to sustain a reasonable degree of suspense on its own .


it deserves to be seen everywhere .


a timely look back at civil disobedience , anti-war movements and the power of strong voices .


you do n't need to know your ice-t 's from your cool-j 's to realize that as far as these shootings are concerned , something is rotten in the state of california .


by turns very dark and very funny .


completely awful iranian drama ... as much fun as a grouchy ayatollah in a cold mosque .


suspend your disbelief here and now , or you 'll be shaking your head all the way to the credits .


nothing more than four or five mild chuckles surrounded by 86 minutes of overly-familiar and poorly-constructed comedy .


uneven but a lot of fun .


the satire is just too easy to be genuinely satisfying .


the biggest problem i have -lrb- other than the very sluggish pace -rrb- is we never really see her esther blossom as an actress , even though her talent is supposed to be growing .


... it 's as comprehensible as any dummies guide , something even non-techies can enjoy .


a zombie movie in every sense of the word -- mindless , lifeless , meandering , loud , painful , obnoxious .


-lrb- moore 's -rrb- better at fingering problems than finding solutions .


... fuses the events of her life with the imagery in her paintings so vividly that the artist 's work may take on a striking new significance for anyone who sees the film .


is there a group of more self-absorbed women than the mother and daughters featured in this film ?


there are cheesy backdrops , ridiculous action sequences , and many tired jokes about men in heels .


-lrb- green is -rrb- the comedy equivalent of saddam hussein , and i 'm just about ready to go to the u.n. and ask permission for a preemptive strike .


once again , director chris columbus takes a hat-in-hand approach to rowling that stifles creativity and allows the film to drag on for nearly three hours .


some of the characters die and others do n't , and the film pretends that those living have learned some sort of lesson , and , really , nobody in the viewing audience cares .


brave and sweetly rendered love story .


for decades we 've marveled at disney 's rendering of water , snow , flames and shadows in a hand-drawn animated world .


the level of acting elevates the material above pat inspirational status and gives it a sturdiness and solidity that we 've long associated with washington the actor .


while tattoo borrows heavily from both seven and the silence of the lambs , it manages to maintain both a level of sophisticated intrigue and human-scale characters that suck the audience in .


long before it 's over , you 'll be thinking of 51 ways to leave this loser .


the film belongs to the marvelous verdu , a sexy slip of an earth mother who mourns her tragedies in private and embraces life in public


a thought-provoking and often-funny drama about isolation .


bittersweet comedy\/drama full of life , hand gestures , and some really adorable italian guys .


the town has kind of an authentic feel , but each one of these people stand out and everybody else is in the background and it just seems manufactured to me and artificial .


this is a sincerely crafted picture that deserves to emerge from the traffic jam of holiday movies .


remarkable for its intelligence and intensity .


a complete waste of time .


should be required viewing for civics classes and would-be public servants alike .


an intimate contemplation of two marvelously messy lives .


you never know where changing lanes is going to take you but it 's a heck of a ride .


resident evil is n't a product of its cinematic predecessors so much as an mtv , sugar hysteria , and playstation cocktail .


that works .


what 's most memorable about circuit is that it 's shot on digital video , whose tiny camera enables shafer to navigate spaces both large ... and small ... with considerable aplomb .


the journey is worth your time , especially if you have ellen pompeo sitting next to you for the ride .


a classy , sprightly spin on film .


frankly , it 's kind of insulting , both to men and women .


in addition to the overcooked , ham-fisted direction , which has all the actors reaching for the back row , the dialogue sounds like horrible poetry .


watching austin powers in goldmember is like binging on cotton candy .


nothing overly original , mind you , but solidly entertaining .


it ends up being neither , and fails at both endeavors .


so putrid it is not worth the price of the match that should be used to burn every print of the film .


one of the finest , most humane and important holocaust movies ever made .


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 .


if villainous vampires are your cup of blood , blade 2 is definitely a cut above the rest .


if swimfan does catch on , it may be because teens are looking for something to make them laugh .


a shame that stealing harvard is too busy getting in its own way to be anything but frustrating , boring , and forgettable .


refreshing .


a clichéd and shallow cautionary tale about the hard-partying lives of gay men .


by the end of it all i sort of loved the people onscreen , even though i could not stand them .


the waterlogged script plumbs uncharted depths of stupidity , incoherence and sub-sophomoric sexual banter .


... a rich and intelligent film that uses its pulpy core conceit to probe questions of attraction and interdependence and how the heart accomodates practical needs .


while the film is competent , it 's also uninspired , lacking the real talent and wit to elevate it beyond its formula to the level of classic romantic comedy to which it aspires .


the locale ... remains far more interesting than the story at hand .


releasing a film with the word ` dog ' in its title in january lends itself to easy jokes and insults , and snow dogs deserves every single one of them .


alternating between facetious comic parody and pulp melodrama , this smart-aleck movie ... tosses around some intriguing questions about the difference between human and android life .


director todd solondz has made a movie about critical reaction to his two previous movies , and about his responsibility to the characters that he creates .


shankman ... and screenwriter karen janszen bungle their way through the narrative as if it were a series of bible parables and not an actual story .


cinematic poo .


she 's as rude and profane as ever , always hilarious and , most of the time , absolutely right in her stinging social observations .


i ca n't begin to tell you how tedious , how resolutely unamusing , how thoroughly unrewarding all of this is , and what a reckless squandering of four fine acting talents ...


buries an interesting storyline about morality and the choices we make underneath such a mountain of clichés and borrowed images that it might more accurately be titled mr. chips off the old block .


in an art film !


presents a side of contemporary chinese life that many outsiders will be surprised to know exists , and does so with an artistry that also smacks of revelation .


after watching it , you can only love the players it brings to the fore for the gifted but no-nonsense human beings they are and for the still-inestimable contribution they have made to our shared history .


promises is a compelling piece that demonstrates just how well children can be trained to live out and carry on their parents ' anguish .


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


robin williams has thankfully ditched the saccharine sentimentality of bicentennial man in favour of an altogether darker side .


the sweetest thing is expressly for idiots who do n't care what kind of sewage they shovel into their mental gullets to simulate sustenance .


the film would have been more enjoyable had the balance shifted in favor of water-bound action over the land-based ` drama , ' but the emphasis on the latter leaves blue crush waterlogged .


tackles the difficult subject of grief and loss with such life-embracing spirit that the theme does n't drag an audience down .


a disaster of a drama , saved only by its winged assailants .


playfully profound ... and crazier than michael jackson on the top floor of a skyscraper nursery surrounded by open windows .


the story itself is actually quite vapid .


this orange has some juice , but it 's far from fresh-squeezed .


he does n't , however , deliver nearly enough of the show 's trademark style and flash .


no amount of good intentions is able to overcome the triviality of the story .


the film has several strong performances .


nothing here seems as funny as it did in analyze this , not even joe viterelli as de niro 's right-hand goombah .


the wild thornberrys movie has all the sibling rivalry and general family chaos to which anyone can relate .


too predictably , in fact .


what makes how i killed my father compelling , besides its terrific performances , is fontaine 's willingness to wander into the dark areas of parent-child relationships without flinching .


it is that rare combination of bad writing , bad direction and bad acting -- the trifecta of badness .


japanese director shohei imamura 's latest film is an odd but ultimately satisfying blend of the sophomoric and the sublime .


one of the more glaring signs of this movie 's servitude to its superstar is the way it skirts around any scenes that might have required genuine acting from ms. spears .


jaw-droppingly superficial , straining to get by on humor that is not even as daring as john ritter 's glory days on three 's company .


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


a true pleasure .


lacks the spirit of the previous two , and makes all those jokes about hos and even more unmentionable subjects seem like mere splashing around in the muck .


if you go into the theater expecting a scary , action-packed chiller , you might soon be looking for a sign .


a movie of technical skill and rare depth of intellect and feeling .


i loved this film .


if this is cinema , i pledge allegiance to cagney and lacey .


could this be the first major studio production shot on video tape instead of film ?


for the most part , it works beautifully as a movie without sacrificing the integrity of the opera .


it 's loud and boring ; watching it is like being trapped at a bad rock concert .


probably the best case for christianity since chesterton and lewis .


i suspect that you 'll be as bored watching morvern callar as the characters are in it .


this ill-conceived and expensive project winds up looking like a bunch of talented thesps slumming it .


this is one of mr. chabrol 's subtlest works , but also one of his most uncanny .


sparse but oddly compelling .


despite the opulent lushness of every scene , the characters never seem to match the power of their surroundings .


it 's a powerful though flawed movie , guaranteed to put a lump in your throat while reaffirming washington as possibly the best actor working in movies today .


the movie is virtually without context -- journalistic or historical .


-lrb- the film 's -rrb- taste for `` shock humor '' will wear thin on all but those weaned on the comedy of tom green and the farrelly brothers .


as a remake , it 's a pale imitation .


lan yu is a genuine love story , full of traditional layers of awakening and ripening and separation and recovery .


-lrb- washington 's -rrb- strong hand , keen eye , sweet spirit and good taste are reflected in almost every scene .


only about as sexy and dangerous as an actress in a role that reminds at every turn of elizabeth berkley 's flopping dolphin-gasm .


i 'm left slightly disappointed that it did n't .


this is lightweight filmmaking , to be sure , but it 's pleasant enough -- and oozing with attractive men .


i was impressed by how many tit-for-tat retaliatory responses the filmmakers allow before pulling the plug on the conspirators and averting an american-russian armageddon .


entertaining enough , but nothing new


pure cinematic intoxication , a wildly inventive mixture of comedy and melodrama , tastelessness and swooning elegance .


changing lanes tries for more .


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


the film exudes the urbane sweetness that woody allen seems to have bitterly forsaken .


ludicrous , but director carl franklin adds enough flourishes and freak-outs to make it entertaining .


for his first attempt at film noir , spielberg presents a fascinating but flawed look at the near future .


a lively and engaging examination of how similar obsessions can dominate a family .


certainly the performances are worthwhile .


fifty years after the fact , the world 's political situation seems little different , and -lrb- director phillip -rrb- noyce brings out the allegory with remarkable skill .


i do n't feel the least bit ashamed in admitting that my enjoyment came at the expense of seeing justice served , even if it 's a dish that 's best served cold .


the acting in pauline and paulette is good all round , but what really sets the film apart is debrauwer 's refusal to push the easy emotional buttons .


spectacularly beautiful , not to mention mysterious , sensual , emotionally intense , and replete with virtuoso throat-singing .


a weird and wonderful comedy .


smart and taut .


a non-britney person might survive a screening with little harm done , except maybe for the last 15 minutes , which are as maudlin as any after-school special you can imagine .


this is one of the outstanding thrillers of recent years .


in the end , the film is less the cheap thriller you 'd expect than it is a fairly revealing study of its two main characters -- damaged-goods people whose orbits will inevitably and dangerously collide .


a searing , epic treatment of a nationwide blight that seems to be , horrifyingly , ever on the rise .


every individual will see the movie through the prism of his or her own beliefs and prejudices , but the one thing most will take away is the sense that peace is possible .


an extraordinary dramatic experience .


piccoli 's performance is amazing , yes , but the symbols of loss and denial and life-at-arm 's - length in the film seem irritatingly transparent .


no film could possibly be more contemptuous of the single female population .


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


drowning 's too good for this sucker .


if i could have looked into my future and saw how bad this movie was , i would go back and choose to skip it .


as inept as big-screen remakes of the avengers and the wild wild west .


everything -- even life on an aircraft carrier -- is sentimentalized .


a bittersweet film , simple in form but rich with human events .


a classic fairy tale that perfectly captures the wonders and worries of childhood in a way that few movies have ever approached .


directed with purpose and finesse by england 's roger mitchell , who handily makes the move from pleasing , relatively lightweight commercial fare such as notting hill to commercial fare with real thematic heft .


it 's an odd show , pregnant with moods , stillborn except as a harsh conceptual exercise .


cletis is playful but highly studied and dependent for its success on a patient viewer .


would benigni 's italian pinocchio have been any easier to sit through than this hastily dubbed disaster ?


this is a fudged opportunity of gigantic proportions -- a lunar mission with no signs of life .


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 .


i 'll stay with the stage versions , however , which bite cleaner , and deeper .


it 's a movie that ends with truckzilla , for cryin ' out loud .


chalk it up as the worst kind of hubristic folly .


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


they just do n't work in concert .


an unintentionally surreal kid 's picture ... in which actors in bad bear suits enact a sort of inter-species parody of a vh1 behind the music episode .


both damning and damned compelling .


it 's not original enough .


apart from anything else , this is one of the best-sustained ideas i have ever seen on the screen .


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


a meditation on faith and madness , frailty is blood-curdling stuff .


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


this 100-minute movie only has about 25 minutes of decent material .


a serious movie with serious ideas .


attal 's hang-ups surrounding infidelity are so old-fashioned and , dare i say , outdated , it 's a wonder that he could n't have brought something fresher to the proceedings simply by accident .


plot , characters , drama , emotions , ideas -- all are irrelevant to the experience of seeing the scorpion king .


stripped almost entirely of such tools as nudity , profanity and violence , labute does manage to make a few points about modern man and his problematic quest for human connection .


it 's the cute frissons of discovery and humor between chaplin and kidman that keep this nicely wound clock not just ticking , but humming .


leave it to the french to truly capture the terrifying angst of the modern working man without turning the film into a cheap thriller , a dumb comedy or a sappy melodrama .


beautiful to watch and holds a certain charm .


campbell scott finds the ideal outlet for his flick-knife diction in the role of roger swanson .


then you 'd do well to check this one out because it 's straight up twin peaks action ...


that neither protagonist has a distinguishable condition hardly matters because both are just actory concoctions , defined by childlike dimness and a handful of quirks .


land , people and narrative flow together in a stark portrait of motherhood deferred and desire explored .


barney 's ideas about creation and identity do n't really seem all that profound , at least by way of what can be gleaned from this three-hour endurance test built around an hour 's worth of actual material .


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 .


cineasts will revel in those visual in-jokes , as in the film 's verbal pokes at everything from the likes of miramax chief harvey weinstein 's bluff personal style to the stylistic rigors of denmark 's dogma movement .


bottom-rung new jack city wannabe .


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


but this time , the old mib label stands for milder is n't better .


forget the misleading title , what 's with the unexplained baboon cameo ?


it 's clotted with heavy-handed symbolism , dime-store psychology and endless scenic shots that make 105 minutes seem twice as long .


what 's surprising about this traditional thriller , moderately successful but not completely satisfying , is exactly how genteel and unsurprising the execution turns out to be .


yet another entry in the sentimental oh-those-wacky-brits genre that was ushered in by the full monty and is still straining to produce another smash hit .


every conceivable mistake a director could make in filming opera has been perpetrated here .


the film 's desire to be liked sometimes undermines the possibility for an exploration of the thornier aspects of the nature\/nurture argument in regards to homosexuality .


a standard police-oriented drama that , were it not for de niro 's participation , would have likely wound up a tnt original .


with notorious c.h.o. cho proves she has the stuff to stand tall with pryor , carlin and murphy .


watching this film , one is left with the inescapable conclusion that hitchens ' obsession with kissinger is , at bottom , a sophisticated flower child 's desire to purge the world of the tooth and claw of human power .


e.t. works because its flabbergasting principals , 14-year-old robert macnaughton , 6-year-old drew barrymore and 10-year-old henry thomas , convince us of the existence of the wise , wizened visitor from a faraway planet .


yes , it 's as good as you remember .


for veggietales fans , this is more appetizing than a side dish of asparagus .


full of detail about the man and his country , and is well worth seeing .


little more than a well-mounted history lesson .


peter jackson and company once again dazzle and delight us , fulfilling practically every expectation either a longtime tolkien fan or a movie-going neophyte could want .


this tale has been told and retold ; the races and rackets change , but the song remains the same .


a joyous occasion


-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 .


novak contemplates a heartland so overwhelmed by its lack of purpose that it seeks excitement in manufactured high drama .


one-of-a-kind near-masterpiece .


trying to figure out the rules of the country bear universe -- when are bears bears and when are they like humans , only hairier -- would tax einstein 's brain .


a thoroughly engaging , surprisingly touching british comedy .


you have no affinity for most of the characters .


its salient points are simultaneously buried , drowned and smothered in the excesses of writer-director roger avary .


whether or not you buy mr. broomfield 's findings , the film acquires an undeniable entertainment value as the slight , pale mr. broomfield continues to force himself on people and into situations that would make lesser men run for cover .


a relentless , bombastic and ultimately empty world war ii action flick .


charlotte sometimes is a brilliant movie .


move over bond ; this girl deserves a sequel .


an exceptionally dreary and overwrought bit of work , every bit as imperious as katzenberg 's the prince of egypt from 1998 .


for a story set at sea , ghost ship is pretty landbound , with its leaden acting , dull exposition and telegraphed ` surprises . '


congrats disney on a job well done , i enjoyed it just as much !


a muddy psychological thriller rife with miscalculations .


is it possible for a documentary to be utterly entranced by its subject and still show virtually no understanding of it ?


it 's a piece of handiwork that shows its indie tatters and self-conscious seams in places , but has some quietly moving moments and an intelligent subtlety .


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


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 .


expect no major discoveries , nor any stylish sizzle , but the film sits with square conviction and touching good sense on the experience of its women .


an exit sign , that is .


beautifully crafted and brutally honest , promises offers an unexpected window into the complexities of the middle east struggle and into the humanity of its people .


entirely suspenseful , extremely well-paced and ultimately ... dare i say , entertaining !


just dreadful .


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


a superlative b movie -- funny , sexy , and rousing .


the advantage of a postapocalyptic setting is that it can be made on the cheap .


yet another genre exercise , gangster no. 1 is as generic as its title .


before it collapses into exactly the kind of buddy cop comedy it set out to lampoon , anyway .


... while dark water is n't a complete wash -lrb- no pun intended -rrb- , watched side-by-side with ringu , it ultimately comes off as a pale successor .


plays out with a dogged and eventually winning squareness that would make it the darling of many a kids-and-family-oriented cable channel .


one feels the dimming of a certain ambition , but in its place a sweetness , clarity and emotional openness that recalls the classics of early italian neorealism .


the script 's judgment and sense of weight is way , way off .


despite its dry wit and compassion , the film suffers from a philosophical emptiness and maddeningly sedate pacing .


is a mess .


adroit but finally a trifle flat , mad love does n't galvanize its outrage the way , say , jane campion might have done , but at least it possesses some .


... quite endearing .


hip-hop prison thriller of stupefying absurdity .


a domestic melodrama with weak dialogue and biopic cliches .


a little better than sorcerer 's stone .


nothing short of wonderful with its ten-year-old female protagonist and its steadfast refusal to set up a dualistic battle between good and evil .


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


imagine susan sontag falling in love with howard stern .


there 's no point of view , no contemporary interpretation of joan 's prefeminist plight , so we 're left thinking the only reason to make the movie is because present standards allow for plenty of nudity .


a listless sci-fi comedy in which eddie murphy deploys two guises and elaborate futuristic sets to no particularly memorable effect .


renner carries much of the film with a creepy and dead-on performance .


the film fits into a genre that has been overexposed , redolent of a thousand cliches , and yet remains uniquely itself , vibrant with originality .


the sequel plays out like a flimsy excuse to give blade fans another look at wesley snipes ' iconic hero doing battle with dozens of bad guys -- at once .


wendigo wants to be a monster movie for the art-house crowd , but it falls into the trap of pretention almost every time .


steven soderbergh does n't remake andrei tarkovsky 's solaris so much as distill it .


a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .


if routine action and jokes like this are your cup of tea , then pay your $ 8 and get ready for the big shear .


tale will be all too familiar for anyone who 's seen george roy hill 's 1973 film , `` the sting . ''


warm and exotic .


the movie 's blatant derivativeness is one reason it 's so lackluster .


rehearsals are frequently more fascinating than the results .


like a grinning jack o ' lantern , its apparent glee is derived from a lobotomy , having had all its vital essence scooped out and discarded .


a dazzling thing to behold -- as long as you 're wearing the somewhat cumbersome 3d goggles the theater provides .


it 's a wonderful , sobering , heart-felt drama .


here 's yet another cool crime movie that actually manages to bring something new into the mix .


one of those movies that make us pause and think of what we have given up to acquire the fast-paced contemporary society .


done in mostly by a weak script that ca n't support the epic treatment .


unfortunately , kapur modernizes a.e.w. mason 's story to suit the sensibilities of a young american , a decision that plucks `` the four feathers '' bare .


uneven , self-conscious but often hilarious spoof .


deserving of its critical backlash and more .


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


more mature than fatal attraction , more complete than indecent proposal and more relevant than 9 1\/2 weeks , unfaithful is at once intimate and universal cinema .


the wonder of mostly martha is the performance of gedeck , who makes martha enormously endearing .


a battle between bug-eye theatre and dead-eye matinee .


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


it 's hard to say who might enjoy this , are there tolstoy groupies out there ?


this movie is to be cherished .


in all fairness , i must report that the children of varying ages in my audience never coughed , fidgeted or romped up and down the aisles for bathroom breaks .


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


entertains not so much because of its music or comic antics , but through the perverse pleasure of watching disney scrape the bottom of its own cracker barrel .


ryan gosling ... is at 22 a powerful young actor .


i am highly amused by the idea that we have come to a point in society where it has been deemed important enough to make a film in which someone has to be hired to portray richard dawson .


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


for those who are intrigued by politics of the '70s , the film is every bit as fascinating as it is flawed .


an absorbing and unsettling psychological drama .


like the best of godard 's movies ... it is visually ravishing , penetrating , impenetrable .


spare but quietly effective retelling .


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


this is an insultingly inept and artificial examination of grief and its impacts upon the relationships of the survivors .


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


a series of immaculately composed shots of patch adams quietly freaking out does not make for much of a movie .


harks back to a time when movies had more to do with imagination than market research .


all the queen 's men is a throwback war movie that fails on so many levels , it should pay reparations to viewers .


fessenden 's narrative is just as much about the ownership and redefinition of myth as it is about a domestic unit finding their way to joy .


the exclamation point seems to be the only bit of glee you 'll find in this dreary mess .


a banal , virulently unpleasant excuse for a romantic comedy .


a must see for all sides of the political spectrum


the storylines are woven together skilfully , the magnificent swooping aerial shots are breathtaking , and the overall experience is awesome .


skip the film and buy the philip glass soundtrack cd .


... unspeakably , unbearably dull , featuring reams of flatly delivered dialogue and a heroine who comes across as both shallow and dim-witted .


forages for audience sympathy like a temperamental child begging for attention , giving audiences no reason to truly care for its decrepit freaks beyond the promise of a reprieve from their incessant whining .


an action\/thriller of the finest kind , evoking memories of day of the jackal , the french connection , and heat .


beyond the cleverness , the weirdness and the pristine camerawork , one hour photo is a sobering meditation on why we take pictures .


the best part about `` gangs '' was daniel day-lewis .


... hypnotically dull .


we ca n't accuse kung pow for misfiring , since it is exactly what it wants to be : an atrociously , mind-numbingly , indescribably bad movie .


but then again , i hate myself most mornings .


although purportedly a study in modern alienation , it 's really little more than a particularly slanted , gay s\/m fantasy , enervating and deadeningly drawn-out .


it can be safely recommended as a video\/dvd babysitter .


the movie should jolt you out of your seat a couple of times , give you a few laughs , and leave you feeling like it was worth your seven bucks , even though it does turn out to be a bit of a cheat in the end .


part of the film 's cheeky charm comes from its vintage schmaltz .


a fun family movie that 's suitable for all ages -- a movie that will make you laugh , cry and realize , ` it 's never too late to believe in your dreams . '


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


there is something that is so meditative and lyrical about babak payami 's boldly quirky iranian drama secret ballot ... a charming and evoking little ditty that manages to show the gentle and humane side of middle eastern world politics


it winds up moving in many directions as it searches -lrb- vainly , i think -rrb- for something fresh to say .


it 's as if de palma spent an hour setting a fancy table and then served up kraft macaroni and cheese .


with or without the sex , a wonderful tale of love and destiny , told well by a master storyteller


rifkin no doubt fancies himself something of a hubert selby jr. , but there is n't an ounce of honest poetry in his entire script ; it 's simply crude and unrelentingly exploitative .


but it will just as likely make you weep , and it will do so in a way that does n't make you feel like a sucker .


the acting is just fine , but there 's not enough substance here to sustain interest for the full 90 minutes , especially with the weak payoff .


romantic comedy and dogme 95 filmmaking may seem odd bedfellows , but they turn out to be delightfully compatible here .


-lrb- a -rrb- rather thinly-conceived movie .


good , solid storytelling .


it 's a treat watching shaw , a british stage icon , melting under the heat of phocion 's attentions .


the film does n't sustain its initial promise with a jarring , new-agey tone creeping into the second half


a smug and convoluted action-comedy that does n't allow an earnest moment to pass without reminding audiences that it 's only a movie .


um ... is n't that the basis for the entire plot ?


-lrb- has -rrb- an immediacy and an intimacy that sucks you in and dares you not to believe it 's all true .


a deftly entertaining film , smartly played and smartly directed .


bogdanovich taps deep into the hearst mystique , entertainingly reenacting a historic scandal .


a terrible movie that some people will nevertheless find moving .


to blandly go where we went 8 movies ago ...


the film 's lack of personality permeates all its aspects -- from the tv movie-esque , affected child acting to the dullest irish pub scenes ever filmed .


craig bartlett and director tuck tucker should be commended for illustrating the merits of fighting hard for something that really matters .


rosenthal -lrb- halloween ii -rrb- seems to have forgotten everything he ever knew about generating suspense .


but it 's defiantly and delightfully against the grain .


famuyiwa 's feature deals with its subject matter in a tasteful , intelligent manner , rather than forcing us to endure every plot contrivance that the cliché-riddled genre can offer .


` matrix ' - style massacres erupt throughout ... but the movie has a tougher time balancing its violence with kafka-inspired philosophy .


-lrb- toback 's -rrb- fondness for fancy split-screen , stuttering editing and pompous references to wittgenstein and kirkegaard ... blends uneasily with the titillating material .


at a time when commercialism has squeezed the life out of whatever idealism american moviemaking ever had , godfrey reggio 's career shines like a lonely beacon .


the type of dumbed-down exercise in stereotypes that gives the -lrb- teen comedy -rrb- genre a bad name .


elegant and eloquent -lrb- meditation -rrb- on death and that most elusive of passions , love .


weird .


-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 .


pair that with really poor comedic writing ... and you 've got a huge mess .


the audience when i saw this one was chuckling at all the wrong times , and that 's a bad sign when they 're supposed to be having a collective heart attack .


nicholas nickleby celebrates the human spirit with such unrelenting dickensian decency that it turned me -lrb- horrors ! -rrb-


romanek 's themes are every bit as distinctive as his visuals .


no worse a film than breaking out , and breaking out was utterly charming .


scooby doo is surely everything its fans are hoping it will be , and in that sense is a movie that deserves recommendation .


a dim-witted and lazy spin-off of the animal planet documentary series , crocodile hunter is entertainment opportunism at its most glaring .


... an airless , prepackaged julia roberts wannabe that stinks so badly of hard-sell image-mongering you 'll wonder if lopez 's publicist should share screenwriting credit .


will anyone who is n't a fangoria subscriber be excited that it has n't gone straight to video ?


your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


exciting and well-paced .


lasker 's canny , meditative script distances sex and love , as byron and luther ... realize they ca n't get no satisfaction without the latter .


like rudy yellow lodge , eyre needs to take a good sweat to clarify his cinematic vision before his next creation and remember the lessons of the trickster spider .


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 .


femme fatale offers nothing more than a bait-and-switch that is beyond playing fair with the audience .


combines sharp comedy , old-fashioned monster movie atmospherics , and genuine heart to create a film that 's not merely about kicking undead \*\*\* , but also about dealing with regret and , ultimately , finding redemption .


just a bunch of good actors flailing around in a caper that 's neither original nor terribly funny .


the movie does its best to work us over , with second helpings of love , romance , tragedy , false dawns , real dawns , comic relief , two separate crises during marriage ceremonies , and the lush scenery of the cotswolds .


filled with honest performances and exceptional detail , baran is a gentle film with dramatic punch , a haunting ode to humanity .


rodriguez does a splendid job of racial profiling hollywood style -- casting excellent latin actors of all ages -- a trend long overdue .


takashi miike keeps pushing the envelope : ichi the killer


more likely to have you scratching your head than hiding under your seat .


fairly run-of-the-mill .


so could young romantics out on a date .


despite its flaws ... belinsky is still able to create an engaging story that keeps you guessing at almost every turn .


the secrets of time travel will have been discovered , indulged in and rejected as boring before i see this piece of crap again .


the script boasts some tart tv-insider humor , but the film has not a trace of humanity or empathy .


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 .


satin rouge is not a new , or inventive , journey , but it 's encouraging to see a three-dimensional , average , middle-aged woman 's experience of self-discovery handled with such sensitivity .


due to stodgy , soap opera-ish dialogue , the rest of the cast comes across as stick figures reading lines from a teleprompter .


it 's so crammed with scenes and vistas and pretty moments that it 's left a few crucial things out , like character development and coherence .


a hypnotic cyber hymn and a cruel story of youth culture .


noyce has worked wonders with the material .


a sometimes incisive and sensitive portrait that is undercut by its awkward structure and a final veering toward melodrama .


no thanks .


despite the predictable parent vs. child coming-of-age theme , first-class , natural acting and a look at `` the real americans '' make this a charmer .


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


action - mechanical .


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


this would have been better than the fiction it has concocted , and there still could have been room for the war scenes .


it 's a bad sign in a thriller when you instantly know whodunit .


while the production details are lavish , film has little insight into the historical period and its artists , particularly in how sand developed a notorious reputation .


although olivier assayas ' elegantly appointed period drama seems , at times , padded with incident in the way of a too-conscientious adaptation ... its three-hour running time plays closer to two .


the moral shrapnel and mental shellshock will linger long after this film has ended .


a sleek advert for youthful anomie that never quite equals the sum of its pretensions .


overall , it 's a very entertaining , thought-provoking film with a simple message : god is love .


some movies were made for the big screen , some for the small screen , and some , like ballistic : ecks vs. sever , were made for the palm screen .


a confident , richly acted , emotionally devastating piece of work and 2002 's first great film


labute 's careful handling makes the material seem genuine rather than pandering .


the whole film has this sneaky feel to it -- as if the director is trying to dupe the viewer into taking it all as very important simply because the movie is ugly to look at and not a hollywood product .


an inelegant combination of two unrelated shorts that falls far short of the director 's previous work in terms of both thematic content and narrative strength .


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


as tricky and satisfying as any of david mamet 's airless cinematic shell games .


the story is smart and entirely charming in intent and execution .


the action clichés just pile up .


not only does the thoroughly formulaic film represent totally exemplify middle-of-the-road mainstream , it also represents glossy hollywood at its laziest .


a delicious and delicately funny look at the residents of a copenhagen neighborhood coping with the befuddling complications life tosses at them .


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


you may be captivated , as i was , by its moods , and by its subtly transformed star , and still wonder why paul thomas anderson ever had the inclination to make the most sincere and artful movie in which adam sandler will probably ever appear .


`` brown sugar '' admirably aspires to be more than another `` best man '' clone by weaving a theme throughout this funny film .


highlighted by a gritty style and an excellent cast , it 's better than one might expect when you look at the list of movies starring ice-t in a major role .


gently humorous and touching .


puportedly `` based on true events , '' a convolution of language that suggests it 's impossible to claim that it is `` based on a true story '' with a straight face .


vulgar is too optimistic a title .


`` the adventures of pluto nash '' is a big time stinker .


visually captivating .


as each of them searches for their place in the world , miller digs into their very minds to find an unblinking , flawed humanity .


writer-director stephen gaghan has made the near-fatal mistake of being what the english call ` too clever by half . '


for the future , one hopes mr. plympton will find room for one more member of his little band , a professional screenwriter .


the story plays out slowly , but the characters are intriguing and realistic .


very predictable but still entertaining


if you 're not a fan , it might be like trying to eat brussels sprouts .


has far more energy , wit and warmth than should be expected from any movie with a `` 2 '' at the end of its title .


mr. deeds is sure to give you a lot of laughs in this simple , sweet and romantic comedy .


it all seemed wasted like deniro 's once promising career and the once grand long beach boardwalk .


its gentle , touching story creeps into your heart .


armed with a game supporting cast , from the pitch-perfect forster to the always hilarious meara and levy , like mike shoots and scores , doing its namesake proud .


... works on some levels and is certainly worth seeing at least once .


a potentially good comic premise and excellent cast are terribly wasted .


a small gem from belgium .


the characters are complex and quirky , but entirely believable as the remarkable ensemble cast brings them to life .


worth a look as a curiosity .


if you 've got a house full of tots -- do n't worry , this will be on video long before they grow up and you can wait till then .


eddie murphy and owen wilson have a cute partnership in i spy , but the movie around them is so often nearly nothing that their charm does n't do a load of good .


short and sweet , but also more than anything else slight ... tadpole pulls back from the consequences of its own actions and revelations .


poignant and delicately complex .


and we do n't avert our eyes for a moment .


simply and eloquently articulates the tangled feelings of particular new yorkers deeply touched by an unprecedented tragedy .


... could easily be called the best korean film of 2002 .


the title , alone , should scare any sane person away .


for all the time we spend with these people , we never really get inside of them .


it does n't matter that the film is less than 90 minutes .


the plot is paper-thin and the characters are n't interesting enough to watch them go about their daily activities for two whole hours .


the film is a hoot , and is just as good , if not better than much of what 's on saturday morning tv especially the pseudo-educational stuff we all ca n't stand .


the ending feels at odds with the rest of the film .


in the end there is one word that best describes this film : honest .


the movie barely makes sense , with its unbelievable naïveté and arbitrary flashbacks .


it 's a quirky , off-beat project .


if you can get past the taboo subject matter , it will be well worth your time .


coy but exhilarating , with really solid performances by ving rhames and wesley snipes .


starts slowly , but adrien brody -- in the title role -- helps make the film 's conclusion powerful and satisfying .


feeble comedy .


no amount of blood and disintegrating vampire cadavers can obscure this movie 's lack of ideas .


... the good and different idea -lrb- of middle-aged romance -rrb- is not handled well and , except for the fine star performances , there is little else to recommend `` never again . ''


would that greengrass had gone a tad less for grit and a lot more for intelligibility .


sadly , as blood work proves , that was a long , long time ago .


the performers are so spot on , it is hard to conceive anyone else in their roles .


the first mistake , i suspect , is casting shatner as a legendary professor and kunis as a brilliant college student -- where 's pauly shore as the rocket scientist ?


wise and deadpan humorous .


twenty-three movies into a mostly magnificent directorial career , clint eastwood 's efficiently minimalist style finally has failed him .


boring and meandering .


while certainly more naturalistic than its australian counterpart , amari 's film falls short in building the drama of lilia 's journey .


make chan 's action sequences boring .


simply put , there should have been a more compelling excuse to pair susan sarandon and goldie hawn .


proves a lovely trifle that , unfortunately , is a little too in love with its own cuteness .


but its storytelling prowess and special effects are both listless .


an energizing , intoxicating documentary charting the rise of hip-hop culture in general and the art of scratching -lrb- or turntablism -rrb- in particular .


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


-lrb- ramsay -rrb- visually transforms the dreary expanse of dead-end distaste the characters inhabit into a poem of art , music and metaphor .


works as pretty contagious fun .


in the pianist , polanski is saying what he has long wanted to say , confronting the roots of his own preoccupations and obsessions , and he allows nothing to get in the way .


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


if there was ever a movie where the upbeat ending feels like a copout , this is the one .


... the cast portrays their cartoon counterparts well ... but quite frankly , scoob and shag do n't eat enough during the film . '


the sheer dumbness of the plot -lrb- other than its one good idea -rrb- and the movie 's inescapable air of sleaziness get you down .


those who do n't entirely ` get ' godard 's distinctive discourse will still come away with a sense of his reserved but existential poignancy .


provides a very moving and revelatory footnote to the holocaust .


... there is enough originality in ` life ' to distance it from the pack of paint-by-number romantic comedies that so often end up on cinema screens .


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


if you saw benigni 's pinocchio at a public park , you 'd grab your kids and run and then probably call the police .


it is dark , brooding and slow , and takes its central idea way too seriously .


it cuts to the core of what it actually means to face your fears , to be a girl in a world of boys , to be a boy truly in love with a girl , and to ride the big metaphorical wave that is life -- wherever it takes you .


an enjoyable , if occasionally flawed , experiment .


it is , however , a completely honest , open-hearted film that should appeal to anyone willing to succumb to it .


i do n't think this movie loves women at all .


american musical comedy as we know it would n't exist without the precedent of yiddish theater , whose jolly , fun-for-fun 's - sake communal spirit goes to the essence of broadway .


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 .


... -lrb- the film -rrb- works , due mostly to the tongue-in-cheek attitude of the screenplay .


features nonsensical and laughable plotting , wooden performances , ineptly directed action sequences and some of the worst dialogue in recent memory .


too smart to ignore but a little too smugly superior to like , this could be a movie that ends up slapping its target audience in the face by shooting itself in the foot .


the director 's many dodges and turns add up to little more than a screenful of gamesmanship that 's low on both suspense and payoff .


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


... no charm , no laughs , no fun , no reason to watch .


thanks largely to williams , all the interesting developments are processed in 60 minutes -- the rest is just an overexposed waste of film .


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 .


it would take a complete moron to foul up a screen adaptation of oscar wilde 's classic satire .


jackass is a vulgar and cheap-looking version of candid camera staged for the marquis de sade set .


everyone should be able to appreciate the wonderful cinematography and naturalistic acting .


one well-timed explosion in a movie can be a knockout , but a hundred of them can be numbing .


where their heads were is anyone 's guess .


scotland looks wonderful , the fans are often funny fanatics , the showdown sure beats a bad day of golf .


the music makes a nice album , the food is enticing and italy beckons us all .


one of the best silly horror movies of recent memory , with some real shocks in store for unwary viewers .


the film is a very good viewing alternative for young women .


beautifully shot against the frozen winter landscapes of grenoble and geneva , the film unfolds with all the mounting tension of an expert thriller , until the tragedy beneath it all gradually reveals itself .


griffin & co. manage to be spectacularly outrageous .


it is hard not to be especially grateful for freedom after a film like this .


a well-put-together piece of urban satire .


too much of nemesis has a tired , talky feel .


pan nalin 's exposition is beautiful and mysterious , and the interviews that follow , with the practitioners of this ancient indian practice , are as subtle and as enigmatic .


given the fact that virtually no one is bound to show up at theatres for it , the project should have been made for the tube .


with more character development this might have been an eerie thriller ; with better payoffs , it could have been a thinking man 's monster movie .


an entertaining british hybrid of comedy , caper thrills and quirky romance .


but ... in trying to capture the novel 's deeper intimate resonances , the film has -- ironically - distanced us from the characters .


the modern master of the chase sequence returns with a chase to end all chases


queen of the damned as you might have guessed , makes sorry use of aaliyah in her one and only starring role -- she does little here but point at things that explode into flame .


a loud , witless mess that has none of the charm and little of the intrigue from the tv series .


a cartoon ?


a crass and insulting homage to great films like some like it hot and the john wayne classics .


the problem with `` xxx '' is that its own action is n't very effective .


` yes , that 's right : it 's forrest gump , angel of death . '


with a romantic comedy plotline straight from the ages , this cinderella story does n't have a single surprise up its sleeve .


... while certainly clever in spots , this too-long , spoofy update of shakespeare 's macbeth does n't sustain a high enough level of invention .


no new plot conceptions or environmental changes , just different bodies for sharp objects to rip through .


australian actor\/director john polson and award-winning english cinematographer giles nuttgens make a terrific effort at disguising the obvious with energy and innovation .


twohy knows how to inflate the mundane into the scarifying , and gets full mileage out of the rolling of a stray barrel or the unexpected blast of a phonograph record .


at once a testament to the divine calling of education and a demonstration of the painstaking process of imparting knowledge .


insufferably naive .


these are textbook lives of quiet desperation .


worth a salute just for trying to be more complex than your average film .


it excels because , unlike so many other hollywood movies of its ilk , it offers hope .


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 .


far too clever by half , howard 's film is really a series of strung-together moments , with all the spaces in between filled with fantasies , daydreams , memories and one fantastic visual trope after another .


serious and thoughtful .


soderbergh skims the fat from the 1972 film .


a remarkably insightful look at the backstage angst of the stand-up comic .


alternately hilarious and sad , aggravating and soulful , scathing and joyous .


this is the case of a pregnant premise being wasted by a script that takes few chances and manages to insult the intelligence of everyone in the audience .


it 's unlikely we 'll see a better thriller this year .


it 's provocative stuff , but the speculative effort is hampered by taylor 's cartoonish performance and the film 's ill-considered notion that hitler 's destiny was shaped by the most random of chances .


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


though harris is affecting at times , he can not overcome the sense that pumpkin is a mere plot pawn for two directors with far less endearing disabilities .


schneidermeister ... makin ' a fool of himself ... losin ' his fan base ...


in this case zero .


the young stars are too cute ; the story and ensuing complications are too manipulative ; the message is too blatant ; the resolutions are too convenient .


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


sexy and romantic .


by the time the plot grinds itself out in increasingly incoherent fashion , you might be wishing for a watch that makes time go faster rather than the other way around .


arteta directs one of the best ensemble casts of the year


vividly conveys the passion , creativity , and fearlessness of one of mexico 's most colorful and controversial artists -- a captivating drama that will speak to the nonconformist in us all .


the concept is a hoot .


it may not be particularly innovative , but the film 's crisp , unaffected style and air of gentle longing make it unexpectedly rewarding .


in its own way , joshua is as blasphemous and nonsensical as a luis buñuel film without the latter 's attendant intelligence , poetry , passion , and genius .


perhaps a better celebration of these unfairly dismissed heroes would be a film that is n't this painfully forced , false and fabricated .


... you can be forgiven for realizing that you 've spent the past 20 minutes looking at your watch and waiting for frida to just die already .


the director , mark pellington , does a terrific job conjuring up a sinister , menacing atmosphere though unfortunately all the story gives us is flashing red lights , a rattling noise , and a bump on the head .


even if the naipaul original remains the real masterpiece , the movie possesses its own languorous charm .


delivers more than its fair share of saucy hilarity .


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


more intimate than spectacular , e.t. is carried less by wow factors than by its funny , moving yarn that holds up well after two decades .


i thought the relationships were wonderful , the comedy was funny , and the love ` real ' .


amid the shock and curiosity factors , the film is just a corny examination of a young actress trying to find her way .


wickedly funny , visually engrossing , never boring , this movie challenges us to think about the ways we consume pop culture .


the spaniel-eyed jean reno infuses hubert with a mixture of deadpan cool , wry humor and just the measure of tenderness required to give this comic slugfest some heart .


a film with almost as many delights for adults as there are for children and dog lovers .


a depraved , incoherent , instantly disposable piece of hackery .


the animation and game phenomenon that peaked about three years ago is actually dying a slow death , if the poor quality of pokemon 4 ever is any indication .


the camera soars above the globe in dazzling panoramic shots that make the most of the large-screen format , before swooping down on a string of exotic locales , scooping the whole world up in a joyous communal festival of rhythm .


what 's really sad is to see two academy award winning actresses -lrb- and one academy award winning actor -rrb- succumb to appearing in this junk that 's tv sitcom material at best .


-lrb- jackson and bledel -rrb- seem to have been picked not for their acting chops , but for their looks and appeal to the pre-teen crowd .


whatever the movie 's sentimental , hypocritical lessons about sexism , its true colors come out in various wet t-shirt and shower scenes .


piercingly affecting ... while clearly a manipulative film , emerges as powerful rather than cloying .


gussied up with so many distracting special effects and visual party tricks that it 's not clear whether we 're supposed to shriek or laugh .


if only it had the story to match .


`` frailty '' has been written so well , that even a simple `` goddammit ! ''


the pianist is the film roman polanski may have been born to make .


the film has an infectious enthusiasm and we 're touched by the film 's conviction that all life centered on that place , that time and that sport .


an excellent sequel .


the trouble with making this queen a thoroughly modern maiden is that it also makes her appear foolish and shallow rather than , as was more likely , a victim of mental illness .


it 's a technically superb film , shining with all the usual spielberg flair , expertly utilizing the talents of his top-notch creative team .


the story really has no place to go since simone is not real -- she ca n't provide any conflict .


both a detective story and a romance spiced with the intrigue of academic skullduggery and politics .


all the sensuality , all the eroticism of a good vampire tale has been , pardon the pun , sucked out and replaced by goth goofiness .


a quiet , disquieting triumph .


anyone who ever fantasized about space travel but ca n't afford the $ 20 million ticket to ride a russian rocket should catch this imax offering .


-lrb- carvey 's -rrb- characters are both overplayed and exaggerated , but then again , subtlety has never been his trademark .


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


rashomon-for-dipsticks tale .


sleek and arty .


a terrific date movie , whatever your orientation .


the exploitative , clumsily staged violence overshadows everything , including most of the actors .


it takes a really long , slow and dreary time to dope out what tuck everlasting is about .


it 's splash without the jokes .


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 .


you begin to long for the end credits as the desert does for rain .


a coming-of-age movie that hollywood would n't have the guts to make .


` possession , ' based on the book by a.s. byatt , demands that labute deal with the subject of love head-on ; trading in his cynicism for reverence and a little wit


did no one on the set have a sense of humor , or did they not have the nerve to speak up ?


cinematic pyrotechnics aside , the only thing avary seems to care about are mean giggles and pulchritude .


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


the story is lacking any real emotional impact , and the plot is both contrived and cliched .


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 .


an awfully good , achingly human picture .


but no. .


it never plays as dramatic even when dramatic things happen to people .


i have n't seen such self-amused trash since freddy got fingered .


a cross between blow and boyz n the hood , this movie strives to be more , but does n't quite get there .


it 's a bad action movie because there 's no rooting interest and the spectacle is grotesque and boring .


provides the kind of ` laugh therapy ' i need from movie comedies -- offbeat humor , amusing characters , and a happy ending .


a prolonged extrusion of psychopathic pulp .


little action , almost no suspense or believable tension , one-dimensional characters up the wazoo and sets that can only be described as sci-fi generic .


director nancy savoca 's no-frills record of a show forged in still-raw emotions captures the unsettled tenor of that post 9-11 period far better than a more measured or polished production ever could .


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


the sum of all fears pretends to be a serious exploration of nuclear terrorism , but it 's really nothing more than warmed-over cold war paranoia .


the hypnotic imagery and fragmentary tale explore the connections between place and personal identity .


it 's fun , splashy and entertainingly nasty .


... the first 2\/3 of the film are incredibly captivating and insanely funny , thanks in part to interesting cinematic devices -lrb- cool visual backmasking -rrb- , a solid cast , and some wickedly sick and twisted humor ...


rather , pity anyone who sees this mishmash .


return to never land may be another shameless attempt by disney to rake in dough from baby boomer families , but it 's not half-bad .


the movie , despite its rough edges and a tendency to sag in certain places , is wry and engrossing .


much like robin williams , death to smoochy has already reached its expiration date .


a pleasing , often-funny comedy .


a tour de force drama about the astonishingly pivotal role of imagination in the soulful development of two rowdy teenagers .


good actors have a radar for juicy roles -- there 's a plethora of characters in this picture , and not one of them is flat .


after all , it 'll probably be in video stores by christmas , and it might just be better suited to a night in the living room than a night at the movies .


it concentrates far too much on the awkward interplay and utter lack of chemistry between chan and hewitt .


her performance moves between heartbreak and rebellion as she continually tries to accommodate to fit in and gain the unconditional love she seeks .


bad company .


so vivid a portrait of a woman consumed by lust and love and crushed by betrayal that it conjures up the intoxicating fumes and emotional ghosts of a freshly painted rembrandt .


if you 've grown tired of going where no man has gone before , but several movies have - take heart .


swiftly deteriorates into a terribly obvious melodrama and rough-hewn vanity project for lead actress andie macdowell .


almost everyone growing up believes their family must look like `` the addams family '' to everyone looking in ... `` my big fat greek wedding '' comes from the heart ...


an excruciating demonstration of the unsalvageability of a movie saddled with an amateurish screenplay .


despite its old-hat set-up and predictable plot , empire still has enough moments to keep it entertaining .


otherwise , this could be a passable date film .


-lrb- at least -rrb- moore is a real charmer .


leaves viewers out in the cold and undermines some phenomenal performances .


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 .


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


by not averting his eyes , solondz forces us to consider the unthinkable , the unacceptable , the unmentionable .


... better described as a ghost story gone badly awry .


the movie itself appears to be running on hypertime in reverse as the truly funny bits get further and further apart .


does n't get the job done , running off the limited chemistry created by ralph fiennes and jennifer lopez .


tsai has a well-deserved reputation as one of the cinema world 's great visual stylists , and in this film , every shot enhances the excellent performances .


a movie that 's about as overbearing and over-the-top as the family it depicts .


a movie that both thrills the eye and , in its over-the-top way , touches the heart .


elegantly crafted but emotionally cold , a puzzle whose intricate construction one can admire but is difficult to connect with on any deeper level .


it 's hard to understand why anyone in his right mind would even think to make the attraction a movie .


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 .


donovan ... squanders his main asset , jackie chan , and fumbles the vital action sequences .


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


in spite of featuring a script credited to no fewer than five writers , apparently nobody here bothered to check it twice .


as underwater ghost stories go , below casts its spooky net out into the atlantic ocean and spits it back , grizzled and charred , somewhere northwest of the bermuda triangle .


the most compelling performance of the year adds substantial depth to this shocking testament to anti-semitism and neo-fascism .


though this saga would be terrific to read about , it is dicey screen material that only a genius should touch .


a sentimental hybrid that could benefit from the spice of specificity .


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 .


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- .


like a veteran head cutter , barbershop is tuned in to its community .


brisk hack job .


thumbs up to paxton for not falling into the hollywood trap and making a vanity project with nothing new to offer .


performances all around are tops , with the two leads delivering oscar-caliber performances .


it does n't offer audiences any way of gripping what its point is , or even its attitude toward its subject .


miller comes at film with bracing intelligence and a vision both painterly and literary .


this odd , poetic road movie , spiked by jolts of pop music , pretty much takes place in morton 's ever-watchful gaze -- and it 's a tribute to the actress , and to her inventive director , that the journey is such a mesmerizing one .


as gamely as the movie tries to make sense of its title character , there remains a huge gap between the film 's creepy , clean-cut dahmer -lrb- jeremy renner -rrb- and fiendish acts that no amount of earnest textbook psychologizing can bridge .


as earnest as a community-college advertisement , american chai is enough to make you put away the guitar , sell the amp , and apply to medical school .


if you 're not , you 'll still have a good time . ''


has a certain ghoulish fascination , and generates a fair amount of b-movie excitement .


although it lacks the detail of the book , the film does pack some serious suspense .


-lrb- cuarón has -rrb- created a substantive movie out of several cliched movie structures : the road movie , the coming-of-age movie , and the teenage sex comedy .


and second , what 's with all the shooting ?


billy crystal and robert de niro sleepwalk through vulgarities in a sequel you can refuse .


shrewd but pointless .


the problems and characters it reveals are universal and involving , and the film itself -- as well its delightful cast -- is so breezy , pretty and gifted , it really won my heart .


proof once again that if the filmmakers just follow the books , they ca n't go wrong .


... wise and elegiac ...


though filmed partly in canada , paid in full has clever ways of capturing inner-city life during the reagan years .


not counting a few gross-out comedies i 've been trying to forget , this is the first film in a long time that made me want to bolt the theater in the first 10 minutes .


all of the elements are in place for a great film noir , but director george hickenlooper 's approach to the material is too upbeat .


the overall fabric is hypnotic , and mr. mattei fosters moments of spontaneous intimacy .


friday after next is a lot more bluster than bite .


opera on film is never satisfactory .


nicole holofcenter , the insightful writer\/director responsible for this illuminating comedy does n't wrap the proceedings up neatly but the ideas tie together beautifully .


but , like silence , it 's a movie that gets under your skin .


gooding and coburn are both oscar winners , a fact which , as you watch them clumsily mugging their way through snow dogs , seems inconceivable .


loud , silly , stupid and pointless .


while it 's nothing we have n't seen before from murphy , i spy is still fun and enjoyable and so aggressively silly that it 's more than a worthwhile effort .


mctiernan 's remake may be lighter on its feet -- the sober-minded original was as graceful as a tap-dancing rhino -- but it is just as boring and as obvious .


if you 're looking to rekindle the magic of the first film , you 'll need a stronger stomach than us .


an average b-movie with no aspirations to be anything more .


a film that plays things so nice 'n safe as to often play like a milquetoast movie of the week blown up for the big screen .


the movie straddles the fence between escapism and social commentary , and on both sides it falls short .


only masochistic moviegoers need apply .


is anyone else out there getting tired of the whole slo-mo , double-pistoled , ballistic-pyrotechnic hong kong action aesthetic ?


like shrek , spirit 's visual imagination reminds you of why animation is such a perfect medium for children , because of the way it allows the mind to enter and accept another world .


statham employs an accent that i think is supposed to be an attempt at hardass american but sometimes just lapses into unhidden british .


a yawn-provoking little farm melodrama .


for all its shoot-outs , fistfights , and car chases , this movie is a phlegmatic bore , so tedious it makes the silly spy vs. spy film the sum of all fears , starring ben affleck , seem downright hitchcockian .


kicks off with an inauspicious premise , mopes through a dreary tract of virtually plotless meanderings and then ends with a whimper .


one of the greatest films i 've ever seen .


feels strangely hollow at its emotional core .


it gets old quickly .


feels less like a change in -lrb- herzog 's -rrb- personal policy than a half-hearted fluke .


exudes the fizz of a busby berkeley musical and the visceral excitement of a sports extravaganza .


good performances keep it from being a total rehash .


tsai convincingly paints a specifically urban sense of disassociation here .


he thinks the film is just as much a document about him as it is about the subject .


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 .


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


hollywood ending just is n't very funny .


a jaw-droppingly beautiful work that upends nearly every cliché of japanese animation while delivering a more than satisfactory amount of carnage .


but kouyate elicits strong performances from his cast , and he delivers a powerful commentary on how governments lie , no matter who runs them .


` drumline ' shows a level of young , black manhood that is funny , touching , smart and complicated .


upper teens may get cynical .


welles groupie\/scholar peter bogdanovich took a long time to do it , but he 's finally provided his own broadside at publishing giant william randolph hearst .


the most brilliant and brutal uk crime film since jack carter went back to newcastle , the first half of gangster no. 1 drips with style and , at times , blood .


it might not be 1970s animation , but everything else about it is straight from the saturday morning cartoons -- a retread story , bad writing , and the same old silliness .


birthday girl lucks out with chaplin and kidman , who are capable of anteing up some movie star charisma when they need it to sell us on this twisted love story , but who can also negotiate the movie 's darker turns .


stay for the credits and see a devastating comic impersonation by dustin hoffman that is revelatory .


it is a likable story , told with competence .


a gushy episode of `` m \* a \* s \* h '' only this time from an asian perspective .


bread , my sweet has so many flaws it would be easy for critics to shred it .


a delightful romantic comedy with plenty of bite .


you 'll forget about it by monday , though , and if they 're old enough to have developed some taste , so will your kids .


a good thriller .


you could easily mistake it for a sketchy work-in-progress that was inexplicably rushed to the megaplexes before its time .


it 's hard to imagine any recent film , independent or otherwise , that makes as much of a mess as this one .


rumor , a muddled drama about coming to terms with death , feels impersonal , almost generic .


works on the whodunit level as its larger themes get lost in the murk of its own making


there 's nothing like love to give a movie a b-12 shot , and cq shimmers with it .


while not for every taste , this often very funny collegiate gross-out comedy goes a long way toward restoring the luster of the national lampoon film franchise , too long reduced to direct-to-video irrelevancy .


the movie is not as terrible as the synergistic impulse that created it .


the characters are based on stock clichés , and the attempt to complicate the story only defies credibility .


it 's petty thievery like this that puts flimsy flicks like this behind bars


... an adorably whimsical comedy that deserves more than a passing twinkle .


with or without ballast tanks , k-19 sinks to a harrison ford low .


mr. koshashvili is a director to watch .


about as big a crowdpleaser as they possibly come .


but on the whole , you 're gonna like this movie .


we can tell what it is supposed to be , but ca n't really call it a work of art .


the art direction and costumes are gorgeous and finely detailed , and kurys ' direction is clever and insightful .


the film is delicately narrated by martin landau and directed with sensitivity and skill by dana janklowicz-mann .


sad nonsense , this .


every note rings false .


the evocative imagery and gentle , lapping rhythms of this film are infectious -- it gets under our skin and draws us in long before the plot kicks into gear .


succeeds as a well-made evocation of a subculture .


plunges you into a reality that is , more often then not , difficult and sad , and then , without sentimentalizing it or denying its brutality , transforms that reality into a lyrical and celebratory vision .


an immensely entertaining look at some of the unsung heroes of 20th century pop music .


the action scenes have all the suspense of a 20-car pileup , while the plot holes are big enough for a train car to drive through -- if kaos had n't blown them all up .


howard conjures the past via surrealist flourishes so overwrought you 'd swear he just stepped out of a buñuel retrospective .


eisenstein lacks considerable brio for a film about one of cinema 's directorial giants .


even if you do n't know the band or the album 's songs by heart , you will enjoy seeing how both evolve , and you will also learn a good deal about the state of the music business in the 21st century .


inherently caustic and oddly whimsical , the film chimes in on the grieving process and strangely draws the audience into the unexplainable pain and eccentricities that are attached to the concept of loss .


like being able to hit on a 15-year old when you 're over 100 .


it 's better than the phantom menace .


an effortlessly accomplished and richly resonant work .


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


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 .


this kind of hands-on storytelling is ultimately what makes shanghai ghetto move beyond a good , dry , reliable textbook and what allows it to rank with its worthy predecessors .


formulaic to the 51st power , more like .


when your subject is illusion versus reality , should n't the reality seem at least passably real ?


the results are far more alienating than involving .


these characters become wearisome .


it finds its moviegoing pleasures in the tiny events that could make a person who has lived her life half-asleep suddenly wake up and take notice .


i could have used my two hours better watching being john malkovich again .


comes across as a relic from a bygone era , and its convolutions ... feel silly rather than plausible .


the movie is as padded as allen 's jelly belly .


the story is bogus and its characters tissue-thin .


more busy than exciting , more frantic than involving , more chaotic than entertaining .


although ... visually striking and slickly staged , it 's also cold , grey , antiseptic and emotionally desiccated .


though in some ways similar to catherine breillat 's fat girl , rain is the far superior film .


you leave feeling like you 've endured a long workout without your pulse ever racing .


one-sided documentary offers simplistic explanations to a very complex situation .


instead , it 'll only put you to sleep .


the only way to tolerate this insipid , brutally clueless film might be with a large dose of painkillers .


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


the comedy is nonexistent .


a real winner -- smart , funny , subtle , and resonant .


... comes alive only when it switches gears to the sentimental .


an instance of an old dog not only learning but inventing a remarkable new trick .


romantic , riveting and handsomely animated .


try as you might to scrutinize the ethics of kaufman 's approach , somehow it all comes together to create a very compelling , sensitive , intelligent and almost cohesive piece of film entertainment .


every once in a while , a movie will come along that turns me into that annoying specimen of humanity that i usually dread encountering the most - the fanboy


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


the acting , for the most part , is terrific , although the actors must struggle with the fact that they 're playing characters who sometimes feel more like literary conceits than flesh-and-blood humans .


-lrb- less a movie than -rrb- an appalling , odoriferous thing ... so rotten in almost every single facet of production that you 'll want to crawl up your own \*\*\* in embarrassment .


funny and touching .


an awkward hybrid of genres that just does n't work .


affirms the gifts of all involved , starting with spielberg and going right through the ranks of the players -- on-camera and off -- that he brings together .


a fifty car pileup of cliches .


will warm your heart without making you feel guilty about it .


one of the most unpleasant things the studio has ever produced .


a glib but bouncy bit of sixties-style slickness in which the hero might wind up caught but the audience gets pure escapism .


this one is not nearly as dreadful as expected .


the result is a powerful , naturally dramatic piece of low-budget filmmaking .


as a science fiction movie , `` minority report '' astounds .


does n't deliver a great story , nor is the action as gripping as in past seagal films .


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


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


a rehash of every gangster movie from the past decade .


shattering , devastating documentary on two maladjusted teens in a downward narcotized spiral .


the somber pacing and lack of dramatic fireworks make green dragon seem more like medicine than entertainment .


below is well below expectations .


a generic international version of a typical american horror film .


includes too much obvious padding .


at just over an hour , home movie will leave you wanting more , not to mention leaving you with some laughs and a smile on your face .


the movie 's ultimate point -- that everyone should be themselves -- is trite , but the screenwriter and director michel gondry restate it to the point of ridiculousness .


a fine documentary can be distinguished from a mediocre one by the better film 's ability to make its subject interesting to those who are n't part of its supposed target audience .


in the wake of saving private ryan , black hawk down and we were soldiers , you are likely to be as heartily sick of mayhem as cage 's war-weary marine .


peppered with witty dialogue and inventive moments .


-- is a crime that should be punishable by chainsaw .


whether or not you 're enlightened by any of derrida 's lectures on `` the other '' and `` the self , '' derrida is an undeniably fascinating and playful fellow .


the people in jessica are so recognizable and true that , as in real life , we 're never sure how things will work out .


parents may even find that it goes by quickly , because it has some of the funniest jokes of any movie this year , including those intended for adults .


a good music documentary , probably one of the best since the last waltz .


-lrb- gulpilil -rrb- is a commanding screen presence , and his character 's abundant humanism makes him the film 's moral compass .


the screenplay never lets us forget that bourne was once an amoral assassin just like the ones who are pursuing him ... there is never really a true `` us '' versus `` them '' .


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