so fiendishly cunning that even the most jaded cinema audiences will leave the auditorium feeling dizzy , confused , and totally disorientated .


despite an overwrought ending , the film works as well as it does because of the performances .


a film of ideas and wry comic mayhem .


effective in all its aspects , margarita happy hour represents an auspicious feature debut for chaiken .


goldmember has none of the visual wit of the previous pictures , and it looks as though jay roach directed the film from the back of a taxicab .


quietly engaging .


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


not completely loveable -- but what underdog movie since the bad news bears has been ?


a 94-minute travesty of unparalleled proportions , writer-director parker seems to go out of his way to turn the legendary wit 's classic mistaken identity farce into brutally labored and unfunny hokum .


what starts off as a satisfying kids flck becomes increasingly implausible as it races through contrived plot points .


the dirty jokes provide the funniest moments in this oddly sweet comedy about jokester highway patrolmen .


has none of the crackle of `` fatal attraction '' , `` 9 1\/2 weeks '' , or even `` indecent proposal '' , and feels more like lyne 's stolid remake of `` lolita '' .


a sensitive , modest comic tragedy that works as both character study and symbolic examination of the huge economic changes sweeping modern china .


fathers and sons , and the uneasy bonds between them , rarely have received such a sophisticated and unsentimental treatment on the big screen as they do in this marvelous film .


as a director , eastwood is off his game -- there 's no real sense of suspense , and none of the plot ` surprises ' are really surprising .


there 's much tongue in cheek in the film and there 's no doubt the filmmaker is having fun with it all .


... `` bowling for columbine '' remains a disquieting and thought-provoking film ...


it 's a loathsome movie , it really is and it makes absolutely no sense .


phoned-in business as usual .


the only thing to fear about `` fear dot com '' is hitting your head on the theater seat in front of you when you doze off thirty minutes into the film .


blade ii merges bits and pieces from fighting games , wire fu , horror movies , mystery , james bond , wrestling , sci-fi and anime into one big bloody stew .


to the vast majority of more casual filmgoers , it will probably be a talky bore .


there is a real subject here , and it is handled with intelligence and care .


bigelow offers some flashy twists and turns that occasionally fortify this turgid fable .


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


it 's a mystery how the movie could be released in this condition .


an unforgettable look at morality , family , and social expectation through the prism of that omnibus tradition called marriage .


a sad and rote exercise in milking a played-out idea -- a straight guy has to dress up in drag -- that shockingly manages to be even worse than its title would imply .


a funny film .


a gangster movie with the capacity to surprise .


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


it 's possible that something hip and transgressive was being attempted here that stubbornly refused to gel , but the result is more puzzling than unsettling .


an entertaining , if somewhat standardized , action movie .


a generous , inspiring film that unfolds with grace and humor and gradually becomes a testament to faith .


eight legged freaks ?


malcolm mcdowell is cool .


the movie wavers between hallmark card sentimentality and goofy , life-affirming moments straight out of a cellular phone commercial .


as a thoughtful and unflinching examination of an alternative lifestyle , sex with strangers is a success .


a reality-snubbing hodgepodge .


-lrb- a -rrb- slummer .


it 's a big idea , but the film itself is small and shriveled .


an engrossing portrait of a man whose engaging manner and flamboyant style made him a truly larger-than-life character .


sayles has a knack for casting , often resurrecting performers who rarely work in movies now ... and drawing flavorful performances from bland actors .


for all its violence , the movie is remarkably dull with only caine making much of an impression .


this is a finely written , superbly acted offbeat thriller .


at the end , when the now computerized yoda finally reveals his martial artistry , the film ascends to a kinetic life so teeming that even cranky adults may rediscover the quivering kid inside .


ferrara 's strongest and most touching movie of recent years .


... a cinematic disaster so inadvertently sidesplitting it 's worth the price of admission for the ridicule factor alone .


even if it made its original release date last fall , it would 've reeked of a been-there , done-that sameness .


unfortunately , it 's also not very good .


the most wondrous love story in years , it is a great film .


too much power , not enough puff .


despite an impressive roster of stars and direction from kathryn bigelow , the weight of water is oppressively heavy .


finally , the french-produced `` read my lips '' is a movie that understands characters must come first .


even before it builds up to its insanely staged ballroom scene , in which 3000 actors appear in full regalia , it 's waltzed itself into the art film pantheon .


a film which presses familiar herzog tropes into the service of a limpid and conventional historical fiction , when really what we demand of the director is to be mesmerised .


the rare movie that 's as crisp and to the point as the novel on which it 's based .


here , common sense flies out the window , along with the hail of bullets , none of which ever seem to hit sascha .


-lrb- dong -rrb- makes a valiant effort to understand everyone 's point of view , and he does such a good job of it that family fundamentals gets you riled up .


once she lets her love depraved leads meet , -lrb- denis ' -rrb- story becomes a hopeless , unsatisfying muddle


nothing too deep or substantial .


but what is missing from it all is a moral .


splendidly illustrates the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity .


obvious , obnoxious and didactic burlesque .


it 's definitely a step in the right direction .


vaguely interesting , but it 's just too too much .


the film sounds like the stuff of lurid melodrama , but what makes it interesting as a character study is the fact that the story is told from paul 's perspective .


this one is a few bits funnier than malle 's dud , if only because the cast is so engagingly messing around like slob city reductions of damon runyon crooks .


the writing is clever and the cast is appealing .


although commentary on nachtwey is provided ... it 's the image that really tells the tale .


a nearly 21\/2 hours , the film is way too indulgent .


... unlikable , uninteresting , unfunny , and completely , utterly inept .


some of the visual flourishes are a little too obvious , but restrained and subtle storytelling , and fine performances make this delicate coming-of-age tale a treat .


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


earnest , unsubtle and hollywood-predictable , green dragon is still a deeply moving effort to put a human face on the travail of thousands of vietnamese .


jeffrey tambor 's performance as the intelligent jazz-playing exterminator is oscar-worthy .


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


a clash between the artificial structure of the story and the more contemporary , naturalistic tone of the film ...


` christian bale 's quinn -lrb- is -rrb- a leather clad grunge-pirate with a hairdo like gandalf in a wind-tunnel and a simply astounding cor-blimey-luv-a-duck cockney accent . '


i 'm not exactly sure what this movie thinks it is about .


it 's a scorcher .


a real snooze .


like its title character , this nicholas nickleby finds itself in reduced circumstances -- and , also like its hero , it remains brightly optimistic , coming through in the end .


the kids in the audience at the preview screening seemed bored , cheering the pratfalls but little else ; their parents , wise folks that they are , read books .


partly a schmaltzy , by-the-numbers romantic comedy , partly a shallow rumination on the emptiness of success -- and entirely soulless .


for its 100 minutes running time , you 'll wait in vain for a movie to happen .


a chronicle not only of one man 's quest to be president , but of how that man single-handedly turned a plane full of hard-bitten , cynical journalists into what was essentially , by campaign 's end , an extended publicity department .


a movie that harps on media-constructed ` issues ' like whether compromise is the death of self ... this orgasm -lrb- wo n't be an -rrb- exceedingly memorable one for most people .


fresnadillo has something serious to say about the ways in which extravagant chance can distort our perspective and throw us off the path of good sense .


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


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


at once subtle and visceral , the film never succumbs to the trap of the maudlin or tearful , offering instead with its unflinching gaze a measure of faith in the future .


lookin ' for sin , american-style ?


it drowns in sap .


laggard drama wending its way to an uninspired philosophical epiphany .


interminably bleak , to say nothing of boring .


believability was n't one of the film 's virtues .


filled with alexandre desplat 's haunting and sublime music , the movie completely transfixes the audience .


the four feathers is definitely horse feathers , but if you go in knowing that , you might have fun in this cinematic sandbox .


the movie attempts to mine laughs from a genre -- the gangster\/crime comedy -- that wore out its welcome with audiences several years ago , and its cutesy reliance on movie-specific cliches is n't exactly endearing .


steadfastly uncinematic but powerfully dramatic .


... del toro maintains a dark mood that makes the film seem like something to endure instead of enjoy .


this filmed tosca -- not the first , by the way -- is a pretty good job , if it 's filmed tosca that you want .


features one of the most affecting depictions of a love affair ever committed to film .


a journey spanning nearly three decades of bittersweet camaraderie and history , in which we feel that we truly know what makes holly and marina tick , and our hearts go out to them as both continue to negotiate their imperfect , love-hate relationship .


starts out strongly before quickly losing its focus , point and purpose in a mess of mixed messages , over-blown drama and bruce willis with a scar .


though an important political documentary , this does not really make the case the kissinger should be tried as a war criminal .


swims in mediocrity , sticking its head up for a breath of fresh air now and then .


although the film boils down to a lightweight story about matchmaking , the characters make italian for beginners worth the journey


even fans of ismail merchant 's work , i suspect , would have a hard time sitting through this one .


the high-concept scenario soon proves preposterous , the acting is robotically italicized , and truth-in-advertising hounds take note : there 's very little hustling on view .


what 's worse is that pelosi knows it .


a `` home alone '' film that is staged like `` rosemary 's baby , '' but is not as well-conceived as either of those films .


although made on a shoestring and unevenly acted , conjures a lynch-like vision of the rotting underbelly of middle america .


everything about girls ca n't swim , even its passages of sensitive observation , feels secondhand , familiar -- and not in a good way .


brian tufano 's handsome widescreen photography and paul grabowsky 's excellent music turn this fairly parochial melodrama into something really rather special .


it is definitely worth seeing .


a heroic tale of persistence that is sure to win viewers ' hearts .


will probably be one of those movies barely registering a blip on the radar screen of 2002 .


a bilingual charmer , just like the woman who inspired it


allen 's underestimated charm delivers more goodies than lumps of coal .


everybody loves a david and goliath story , and this one is told almost entirely from david 's point of view .


both lead performances are oscar-size .


as a good old-fashioned adventure for kids , spirit : stallion of the cimarron is a winner .


it 's super - violent , super-serious and super-stupid .


all the small moments and flashbacks do n't add up to much more than trite observations on the human condition .


elaborate special effects take centre screen , so that the human story is pushed to one side .


the film is ... determined to treat its characters , weak and strong , as fallible human beings , not caricatures , and to carefully delineate the cost of the inevitable conflicts between human urges and an institution concerned with self-preservation .


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


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


though frida is easier to swallow than julie taymor 's preposterous titus , the eye candy here lacks considerable brio .


the film is hard to dismiss -- moody , thoughtful , and lit by flashes of mordant humor .


the first five minutes will have you talking 'til the end of the year !


... silly humbuggery ...


predecessors the mummy and the mummy returns stand as intellectual masterpieces next to the scorpion king .


worth a look by those on both sides of the issues , if only for the perspective it offers , one the public rarely sees .


it zips along with b-movie verve while adding the rich details and go-for-broke acting that heralds something special .


... too sappy for its own good .


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


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


if s&m seems like a strange route to true love , maybe it is , but it 's to this film 's -lrb- and its makers ' -rrb- credit that we believe that that 's exactly what these two people need to find each other -- and themselves .


little is done to support the premise other than fling gags at it to see which ones shtick .


one of those decades-spanning historical epics that strives to be intimate and socially encompassing but fails to do justice to either effort in three hours of screen time .


the kind of sweet-and-sour insider movie that film buffs will eat up like so much gelati .


a huge disappointment coming , as it does , from filmmakers and performers of this calibre


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


richard pryor mined his personal horrors and came up with a treasure chest of material , but lawrence gives us mostly fool 's gold .


a movie of riveting power and sadness .


robert john burke as the monster horns in and steals the show .


the new insomnia is a surprisingly faithful remake of its chilly predecessor , and when it does elect to head off in its own direction , it employs changes that fit it well rather than ones that were imposed for the sake of commercial sensibilities .


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


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


it 's a film with an idea buried somewhere inside its fabric , but never clearly seen or felt .


one can only assume that the jury who bestowed star hoffman 's brother gordy with the waldo salt screenwriting award at 2002 's sundance festival were honoring an attempt to do something different over actually pulling it off


seeks to transcend its genre with a curiously stylized , quasi-shakespearean portrait of pure misogynist evil .


not a stereotype is omitted nor a cliché left unsaid .


a smart , steamy mix of road movie , coming-of-age story and political satire .


it 's coherent , well shot , and tartly acted , but it wears you down like a dinner guest showing off his doctorate .


k-19 will not go down in the annals of cinema as one of the great submarine stories , but it is an engaging and exciting narrative of man confronting the demons of his own fear and paranoia .


a four star performance from kevin kline who unfortunately works with a two star script .


god bless crudup and his aversion to taking the easy hollywood road and cashing in on his movie-star gorgeousness .


it 's a feel-good movie about which you can actually feel good .


if anything , see it for karen black , who camps up a storm as a fringe feminist conspiracy theorist named dirty dick .


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


moonlight mile gives itself the freedom to feel contradictory things .


it 's a movie that accomplishes so much that one viewing ca n't possibly be enough .


the film aims to be funny , uplifting and moving , sometimes all at once .


the film never gets over its own investment in conventional arrangements , in terms of love , age , gender , race , and class .


nicely combines the enigmatic features of ` memento ' with the hallucinatory drug culture of ` requiem for a dream . '


sorvino makes the princess seem smug and cartoonish , and the film only really comes alive when poor hermocrates and leontine pathetically compare notes about their budding amours .


-lrb- a -rrb- stale retread of the '53 original .


more concerned with overall feelings , broader ideas , and open-ended questions than concrete story and definitive answers , soderbergh 's solaris is a gorgeous and deceptively minimalist cinematic tone poem .


alarms for duvall 's throbbing sincerity and his elderly propensity for patting people while he talks .


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


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


zigzag might have been richer and more observant if it were less densely plotted .


to better understand why this did n't connect with me would require another viewing , and i wo n't be sitting through this one again ... that in itself is commentary enough .


is a question for philosophers , not filmmakers ; all the filmmakers need to do is engage an audience .


at some point , all this visual trickery stops being clever and devolves into flashy , vaguely silly overkill .


a ragbag of cliches .


overburdened with complicated plotting and banal dialogue


the picture runs a mere 84 minutes , but it 's no glance .


steers refreshingly clear of the usual cliches .


niccol the filmmaker merges his collaborators ' symbolic images with his words , insinuating , for example , that in hollywood , only god speaks to the press


it 's a beautiful film , full of elaborate and twisted characters - and it 's also pretty funny .


the milieu is wholly unconvincing ... and the histrionics reach a truly annoying pitch .


the picture emerges as a surprisingly anemic disappointment .


whatever complaints i might have , i 'd take -lrb- its -rrb- earnest errors and hard-won rewards over the bombastic self-glorification of other feel-good fiascos like antwone fisher or the emperor 's club any time .


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


another entertaining romp from robert rodriguez .


but here 's a movie about it anyway .


if -lrb- jaglom 's -rrb- latest effort is not the director at his most sparkling , some of its repartee is still worth hearing .


i did n't smile .


the script by david koepp is perfectly serviceable and because he gives the story some soul ... he elevates the experience to a more mythic level .


kapur fails to give his audience a single character worth rooting for -lrb- or worth rooting against , for that matter -rrb- .


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


befuddled in its characterizations as it begins to seem as long as the two year affair which is its subject


nothing more than an amiable but unfocused bagatelle that plays like a loosely-connected string of acting-workshop exercises .


it 's horribly depressing and not very well done .


now as a former gong show addict , i 'll admit it , my only complaint is that we did n't get more re-creations of all those famous moments from the show .


enough may pander to our basest desires for payback , but unlike many revenge fantasies , it ultimately delivers .


this is cruel , misanthropic stuff with only weak claims to surrealism and black comedy .


a pale xerox of other , better crime movies .


strange it is , but delightfully so .


the story has little wit and no surprises .


crummy .


just another disjointed , fairly predictable psychological thriller .


this is a very funny , heartwarming film .


good-naturedly cornball sequel .


the french director has turned out nearly 21\/2 hours of unfocused , excruciatingly tedious cinema that , half an hour in , starts making water torture seem appealing .


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


a small movie with a big impact .


the sort of picture in which , whenever one of the characters has some serious soul searching to do , they go to a picture-perfect beach during sunset .


crammed with incident , and bristles with passion and energy .


an intelligent and deeply felt work about impossible , irrevocable choices and the price of making them .


-lrb- gosling 's -rrb- combination of explosive physical energy and convincing intelligence helps create a complex , unpredictable character .


and it sees those relationships , including that between the son and his wife , and the wife and the father , and between the two brothers , with incredible subtlety and acumen .


in the new guy , even the bull gets recycled .


reggio and glass so rhapsodize cynicism , with repetition and languorous slo-mo sequences , that glass 's dirgelike score becomes a fang-baring lullaby .


marshall puts a suspenseful spin on standard horror flick formula .


there might be some sort of credible gender-provoking philosophy submerged here , but who the hell cares ?


a movie that 's held captive by mediocrity .


an admirable , sometimes exceptional film


this is a film that manages to find greatness in the hue of its drastic iconography .


a whole lot of fun and funny in the middle , though somewhat less hard-hitting at the start and finish .


... spiced with humor -lrb- ' i speak fluent flatula , ' advises denlopp after a rather , er , bubbly exchange with an alien deckhand -rrb- and witty updatings -lrb- silver 's parrot has been replaced with morph , a cute alien creature who mimics everyone and everything around -rrb-


has a customarily jovial air but a deficit of flim-flam inventiveness .


not all of the stories work and the ones that do are thin and scattered , but the film works well enough to make it worth watching .


a strangely stirring experience that finds warmth in the coldest environment and makes each crumb of emotional comfort feel like a 10-course banquet .


matthew lillard is born to play shaggy !


a dark-as-pitch comedy that frequently veers into corny sentimentality , probably would not improve much after a therapeutic zap of shock treatment .


there 's lots of cool stuff packed into espn 's ultimate x.


the mothman prophecies is best when illustrating the demons bedevilling the modern masculine journey .


at its best , it 's black hawk down with more heart .


invigorating , surreal , and resonant with a rainbow of emotion .


a tired , unimaginative and derivative variation of that already-shallow genre .


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


a solid cast , assured direction and complete lack of modern day irony .


rodriguez has the chops of a smart-aleck film school brat and the imagination of a big kid ...


a movie you observe , rather than one you enter into .


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


-lrb- barry -rrb- gives assassin a disquieting authority .


its plot and animation offer daytime tv serviceability , but little more .


a moving and important film .


these people are really going to love the piano teacher .


a disappointment for a movie that should have been the ultimate imax trip .


a portrait of alienation so perfect , it will certainly succeed in alienating most viewers .


yes , but also intriguing and honorable , a worthwhile addition to a distinguished film legacy .


`` cremaster 3 '' should come with the warning `` for serious film buffs only ! ''


what 's most refreshing about real women have curves is its unforced comedy-drama and its relaxed , natural-seeming actors .


surprisingly insightful


to those who have not read the book , the film is a much better mother-daughter tale than last summer 's ` divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood , ' but that 's not saying much .


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


earnest yet curiously tepid and choppy recycling in which predictability is the only winner .


brash , intelligent and erotically perplexing , haneke 's portrait of an upper class austrian society and the suppression of its tucked away demons is uniquely felt with a sardonic jolt .


arguably the best script that besson has written in years .


it is most of the things costner movies are known for ; it 's sanctimonious , self-righteous and so eager to earn our love that you want to slap it .


pretend it 's a werewolf itself by avoiding eye contact and walking slowly away .


you can fire a torpedo through some of clancy 's holes , and the scripters do n't deserve any oscars .


truly terrible .


it 's hard to imagine acting that could be any flatter .


each scene drags , underscoring the obvious , and sentiment is slathered on top .


fluffy neo-noir hiding behind cutesy film references .


a special kind of movie , this melancholic film noir reminded me a lot of memento ...


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


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


highly watchable stuff .


exceptionally well acted by diane lane and richard gere .


content merely to lionize its title character and exploit his anger - all for easy sanctimony , formulaic thrills and a ham-fisted sermon on the need for national health insurance .


a charming but slight comedy .


an unusually dry-eyed , even analytical approach to material that is generally played for maximum moisture .


a beyond-lame satire , teddy bears ' picnic ranks among the most pitiful directing debuts by an esteemed writer-actor .


it looks like an action movie , but it 's so poorly made , on all levels , that it does n't even qualify as a spoof of such .


but mostly it 's a work that , with humor , warmth , and intelligence , captures a life interestingly lived .


as an introduction to the man 's theories and influence , derrida is all but useless ; as a portrait of the artist as an endlessly inquisitive old man , however , it 's invaluable .


young hanks and fisk , who vaguely resemble their celebrity parents , bring fresh good looks and an ease in front of the camera to the work .


excellent performances from jacqueline bisset and martha plimpton grace this deeply touching melodrama .


the cast is spot on and the mood is laid back .


its generic villains lack any intrigue -lrb- other than their funny accents -rrb- and the action scenes are poorly delivered .


while bollywood\/hollywood will undoubtedly provide its keenest pleasures to those familiar with bombay musicals , it also has plenty for those -lrb- like me -rrb- who are n't .


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


in a big corner office in hell , satan is throwing up his hands in surrender , is firing his r&d people , and has decided he will just screen the master of disguise 24\/7 .


captures all the longing , anguish and ache , the confusing sexual messages and the wish to be a part of that elusive adult world .


in a movie full of surprises , the biggest is that secret ballot is a comedy , both gentle and biting .


deep down , i realized the harsh reality of my situation : i would leave the theater with a lower i.q. than when i had entered .


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


well cast and well directed - a powerful drama with enough sardonic wit to keep it from being maudlin .


an ambitiously naturalistic , albeit half-baked , drama about an abused , inner-city autistic teen .


it is just too bad the film 's story does not live up to its style .


a wild ride juiced with enough energy and excitement for at least three films .


a muted freak-out


lead actress gaï , she of the impossibly long limbs and sweetly conspiratorial smile , is a towering siren .


absolutely not .


by turns gripping , amusing , tender and heart-wrenching , laissez-passer has all the earmarks of french cinema at its best .


the cat 's meow marks a return to form for director peter bogdanovich ...


vibrantly colored and beautifully designed , metropolis is a feast for the eyes .


` stock up on silver bullets for director neil marshall 's intense freight train of a film . '


at its best , which occurs often , michael moore 's bowling for columbine rekindles the muckraking , soul-searching spirit of the ` are we a sick society ? '


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


barney throws away the goodwill the first half of his movie generates by orchestrating a finale that is impenetrable and dull .


an indispensable peek at the art and the agony of making people laugh .


at 78 minutes it just zings along with vibrance and warmth .


the film , while not exactly assured in its execution , is notable for its sheer audacity and openness .


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


sayles has an eye for the ways people of different ethnicities talk to and about others outside the group .


the irony is that this film 's cast is uniformly superb ; their performances could have -- should have -- been allowed to stand on their own .


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


a dreary movie .


a thriller whose style , structure and rhythms are so integrated with the story , you can not separate them .


cruel and inhuman cinematic punishment ... simultaneously degrades its characters , its stars and its audience .


you may think you have figured out the con and the players in this debut film by argentine director fabian bielinsky , but while you were thinking someone made off with your wallet .


the premise itself is just sooooo tired .


like any good romance , son of the bride , proves it 's never too late to learn .


the emotional overload of female angst irreparably drags the film down .


there 's undeniable enjoyment to be had from films crammed with movie references , but the fun wears thin -- then out -- when there 's nothing else happening .


an engrossing and grim portrait of hookers : what they think of themselves and their clients .


a lovely and beautifully photographed romance .


... while each moment of this broken character study is rich in emotional texture , the journey does n't really go anywhere .


the film 's messages of tolerance and diversity are n't particularly original , but one ca n't help but be drawn in by the sympathetic characters .


aside from the fact that the film idiotically uses the website feardotcom.com or the improperly hammy performance from poor stephen rea , the film gets added disdain for the fact that it is nearly impossible to look at or understand .


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


a simple tale of an unlikely friendship , but thanks to the gorgeous locales and exceptional lead performances , it has considerable charm .


no such thing is sort of a minimalist beauty and the beast , but in this case the beast should definitely get top billing .


it 's not particularly well made , but since i found myself howling more than cringing , i 'd say the film works .


aniston has at last decisively broken with her friends image in an independent film of satiric fire and emotional turmoil .


... blade ii is still top-heavy with blazing guns , cheatfully filmed martial arts , disintegrating bloodsucker computer effects and jagged camera moves that serve no other purpose than to call attention to themselves .


every joke is repeated at least four times .


a smart and funny , albeit sometimes superficial , cautionary tale of a technology in search of an artist .


if you like an extreme action-packed film with a hint of humor , then triple x marks the spot .


stanley kwan has directed not only one of the best gay love stories ever made , but one of the best love stories of any stripe .


just about the best straight-up , old-school horror film of the last 15 years .


in the director 's cut , the film is not only a love song to the movies but it also is more fully an example of the kind of lush , all-enveloping movie experience it rhapsodizes .


samuel l. jackson is one of the best actors there is .


it does give a taste of the burning man ethos , an appealing blend of counter-cultural idealism and hedonistic creativity .


a plethora of engaging diatribes on the meaning of ` home , ' delivered in grand passion by the members of the various households .


an imponderably stilted and self-consciously arty movie .


this real-life hollywood fairy-tale is more engaging than the usual fantasies hollywood produces .


waiting for godard can be fruitful : ` in praise of love ' is the director 's epitaph for himself .


it 's all about anakin ... and the lustrous polished visuals rich in color and creativity and , of course , special effect .


solondz is so intent on hammering home his message that he forgets to make it entertaining .


... pitiful , slapdash disaster .


the crap continues .


while the story 's undeniably hard to follow , iwai 's gorgeous visuals seduce .


it 's a terrible movie in every regard , and utterly painful to watch .


this is a monumental achievement in practically every facet of inept filmmaking : joyless , idiotic , annoying , heavy-handed , visually atrocious , and often downright creepy .


a rock-solid gangster movie with a fair amount of suspense , intriguing characters and bizarre bank robberies , plus a heavy dose of father-and-son dynamics .


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


unfortunately , the experience of actually watching the movie is less compelling than the circumstances of its making .


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


what starts off as a potentially incredibly twisting mystery becomes simply a monster chase film .


you may leave the theater with more questions than answers , but darned if your toes wo n't still be tapping .


nobody seems to have cared much about any aspect of it , from its cheesy screenplay to the grayish quality of its lighting to its last-minute , haphazard theatrical release .


as in aimless , arduous , and arbitrary .


aside from rohmer 's bold choices regarding point of view , the lady and the duke represents the filmmaker 's lifelong concern with formalist experimentation in cinematic art .


a fascinating glimpse into an insular world that gives the lie to many clichés and showcases a group of dedicated artists .


this is a poster movie , a mediocre tribute to films like them !


there is no solace here , no entertainment value , merely a fierce lesson in where filmmaking can take us .


the graphic carnage and re-creation of war-torn croatia is uncomfortably timely , relevant , and sickeningly real .


the ingenious construction -lrb- adapted by david hare from michael cunningham 's novel -rrb- constantly flows forwards and back , weaving themes among three strands which allow us to view events as if through a prism


the most horrific movie experience i 've had since `` ca n't stop the music . ''


but it also has many of the things that made the first one charming .


weaver and lapaglia are both excellent , in the kind of low-key way that allows us to forget that they are actually movie folk .


it 's never laugh-out-loud funny , but it is frequently amusing .


a movie in which laughter and self-exploitation merge into jolly soft-porn 'em powerment . '


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


not to mention absolutely refreshed .


you can take the grandkids or the grandparents and never worry about anyone being bored ... audience is a sea of constant smiles and frequent laughter .


arteta paints a picture of lives lived in a state of quiet desperation .


there 's no reason to miss interview with the assassin


i like this movie a lot .


comes off more like a misdemeanor , a flat , unconvincing drama that never catches fire .


close enough in spirit to its freewheeling trash-cinema roots to be a breath of fresh air .


while the transgressive trappings -lrb- especially the frank sex scenes -rrb- ensure that the film is never dull , rodrigues 's beast-within metaphor is ultimately rather silly and overwrought , making the ambiguous ending seem goofy rather than provocative .


blue crush has all the trappings of an energetic , extreme-sports adventure , but ends up more of a creaky `` pretty woman '' retread , with the emphasis on self-empowering schmaltz and big-wave surfing that gives pic its title an afterthought .


a man leaving the screening said the film was better than saving private ryan .


-lrb- a -rrb- strong piece of work .


daring and beautifully made .


a well-crafted film that is all the more remarkable because it achieves its emotional power and moments of revelation with restraint and a delicate ambiguity .


... hits every cliche we 've come to expect , including the assumption that `` crazy '' people are innocent , childlike and inherently funny .


slight but enjoyable documentary .


adam sandler 's eight crazy nights grows on you -- like a rash .


when compared to the usual , more somber festival entries , davis ' highly personal brand of romantic comedy is a tart , smart breath of fresh air that stands out from the pack even if the picture itself is somewhat problematic .


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


not even solondz 's thirst for controversy , sketchy characters and immature provocations can fully succeed at cheapening it .


and in a sense , that 's a liability .


the romance between the leads is n't as compelling or as believable as it should be .


hugh grant , who has a good line in charm , has never been more charming than in about a boy .


poignant and funny .


this is pure , exciting moviemaking .


never having seen the first two films in the series , i ca n't compare friday after next to them , but nothing would change the fact that what we have here is a load of clams left in the broiling sun for a good three days .


a straight-ahead thriller that never rises above superficiality .


the film 's constant mood of melancholy and its unhurried narrative are masterfully controlled .


there are scenes of cinematic perfection that steal your heart away .


a low-key labor of love that strikes a very resonant chord .


one of those movies that catches you up in something bigger than yourself , namely , an archetypal desire to enjoy good trash every now and then .


an old-fashioned scary movie , one that relies on lingering terror punctuated by sudden shocks and not constant bloodshed punctuated by flying guts .


there 's an energy to y tu mamá también .


the problem with the film is whether these ambitions , laudable in themselves , justify a theatrical simulation of the death camp of auschwitz ii-birkenau .


the whole mess boils down to a transparently hypocritical work that feels as though it 's trying to set the women 's liberation movement back 20 years . '


not even steven spielberg has dreamed up such blatant and sickening product placement in a movie .


miyazaki is one of world cinema 's most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers .


the paradiso 's rusted-out ruin and ultimate collapse during the film 's final -lrb- restored -rrb- third ... emotionally belittle a cinema classic .


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


all in all , an interesting look at the life of the campaign-trail press , especially ones that do n't really care for the candidate they 're forced to follow .


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


ryan gosling is , in a word , brilliant as the conflicted daniel .


i do n't think so .


at best this is a film for the under-7 crowd .


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


poetry in motion captured on film .


parts of the film feel a bit too much like an infomercial for ram dass 's latest book aimed at the boomer demographic .


the script is a dim-witted pairing of teen-speak and animal gibberish .


almost peerlessly unsettling .


despite auteuil 's performance , it 's a rather listless amble down the middle of the road , where the thematic ironies are too obvious and the sexual politics too smug .


-lrb- ferrera -rrb- has the charisma of a young woman who knows how to hold the screen .


a solid and refined piece of moviemaking imbued with passion and attitude .


flamboyant in some movies and artfully restrained in others , 65-year-old jack nicholson could be looking at his 12th oscar nomination by proving that he 's now , more than ever , choosing his roles with the precision of the insurance actuary .


while this one gets off with a good natured warning , future lizard endeavors will need to adhere more closely to the laws of laughter


the hot topics of the plot are relegated to the background -- a welcome step forward from the sally jesse raphael atmosphere of films like philadelphia and american beauty .


daughter from danang reveals that efforts toward closure only open new wounds .


if not a home run , then at least a solid base hit .


it 's a fine , old-fashioned-movie movie , which is to say it 's unburdened by pretensions to great artistic significance .


what it lacks in substance it makes up for in heart .


carrying off a spot-on scottish burr , duvall -lrb- also a producer -rrb- peels layers from this character that may well not have existed on paper .


there are enough throwaway references to faith and rainbows to plant smile-button faces on that segment of the populace that made a walk to remember a niche hit .


suffice to say its total promise is left slightly unfulfilled .


the picture 's fascinating byways are littered with trenchant satirical jabs at the peculiar egocentricities of the acting breed .


walter hill 's undisputed is like a 1940s warner bros. .


parents beware ; this is downright movie penance .


whatever satire lucky break was aiming for , it certainly got lost in the `` soon-to-be-forgettable '' section of the quirky rip-off prison romp pile .


fred schepisi 's tale of four englishmen facing the prospect of their own mortality views youthful affluence not as a lost ideal but a starting point .


there 's no energy .


starts off witty and sophisticated and you want to love it -- but filmmaker yvan attal quickly writes himself into a corner .


kosminsky ... puts enough salt into the wounds of the tortured and self-conscious material to make it sting .


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


seems based on ugly ideas instead of ugly behavior , as happiness was ... hence , storytelling is far more appealing .


alternates between deadpan comedy and heartbreaking loneliness and is n't afraid to provoke introspection in both its characters and its audience .


true to its title , it traps audiences in a series of relentlessly nasty situations that we would pay a considerable ransom not to be looking at .


with exquisite craftsmanship ... olivier assayas has fashioned an absorbing look at provincial bourgeois french society .


a hard look at one man 's occupational angst and its subsequent reinvention , a terrifying study of bourgeois desperation worthy of claude chabrol .


the ethos of the chelsea hotel may shape hawke 's artistic aspirations , but he has n't yet coordinated his own dv poetry with the beat he hears in his soul .


grant is certainly amusing , but the very hollowness of the character he plays keeps him at arms length


definitely in the guilty pleasure b-movie category , reign of fire is so incredibly inane that it is laughingly enjoyable .


it 's not just the vampires that are damned in queen of the damned -- the viewers will feel they suffer the same fate .


as simple and innocent a movie as you can imagine .


extremely bad .


although disney follows its standard formula in this animated adventure , it feels more forced than usual .


deserves a place of honor next to nanook as a landmark in film history .


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


any attempts at nuance given by the capable cast is drowned out by director jon purdy 's sledgehammer sap .


it 's lost the politics and the social observation and become just another situation romance about a couple of saps stuck in an inarticulate screenplay .


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


it made me want to get made-up and go see this movie with my sisters .


argento , at only 26 , brings a youthful , out-to-change-the-world aggressiveness to the project , as if she 's cut open a vein and bled the raw film stock .


as refreshing as a drink from a woodland stream .


... a sweetly affecting story about four sisters who are coping , in one way or another , with life 's endgame .


beautifully directed and convincingly acted .


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


ritchie 's film is easier to swallow than wertmuller 's polemical allegory , but it 's self-defeatingly decorous .


the charm of the first movie is still there , and the story feels like the logical , unforced continuation of the careers of a pair of spy kids .


purports to be a hollywood satire but winds up as the kind of film that should be the target of something deeper and more engaging .


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


an undeniably gorgeous , terminally smitten document of a troubadour , his acolytes , and the triumph of his band .


halfway through the movie , the humor dwindles .


the magic -lrb- and original running time -rrb- of ace japanimator hayao miyazaki 's spirited away survives intact in bv 's re-voiced version .


michael moore has perfected the art of highly entertaining , self-aggrandizing , politically motivated documentary-making , and he 's got as potent a topic as ever here .


frei assembles a fascinating profile of a deeply humanistic artist who , in spite of all that he 's witnessed , remains surprisingly idealistic , and retains an extraordinary faith in the ability of images to communicate the truth of the world around him .


predictable and cloying , though brown sugar is so earnest in its yearning for the days before rap went nihilistic that it summons more spirit and bite than your average formulaic romantic quadrangle .


sadly , though many of the actors throw off a spark or two when they first appear , they ca n't generate enough heat in this cold vacuum of a comedy to start a reaction .


such a bad movie that its luckiest viewers will be seated next to one of those ignorant pinheads who talk throughout the show .


a modest masterpiece .


neil burger here succeeded in ... making the mystery of four decades back the springboard for a more immediate mystery in the present .


and thanks to kline 's superbly nuanced performance , that pondering is highly pleasurable .


it 's still a comic book , but maguire makes it a comic book with soul .


shiri is an action film that delivers on the promise of excitement , but it also has a strong dramatic and emotional pull that gradually sneaks up on the audience .


seems content to dog-paddle in the mediocre end of the pool , and it 's a sad , sick sight .


takes a fresh and absorbing look at a figure whose legacy had begun to bronze .


but it does n't leave you with much .


the trick when watching godard is to catch the pitch of his poetics , savor the pleasure of his sounds and images , and ponder the historical , philosophical , and ethical issues that intersect with them .


broomfield has a rather unique approach to documentary .


as the mediterranean sparkles , ` swept away ' sinks .


two-bit potboiler .


a poignant and gently humorous parable that loves its characters and communicates something rather beautiful about human nature .


a smart , provocative drama that does the nearly impossible : it gets under the skin of a man we only know as an evil , monstrous lunatic .


at once overly old-fashioned in its sudsy plotting and heavy-handed in its effort to modernize it with encomia to diversity and tolerance .


it 's just rather leaden and dull .


problem is , we have no idea what in creation is going on .


the movie is a mess from start to finish .


its rawness and vitality give it considerable punch .


one of the best inside-show-biz yarns ever .


but the feelings evoked in the film are lukewarm and quick to pass .


a burst of color , music , and dance that only the most practiced curmudgeon could fail to crack a smile at .


the best animated feature to hit theaters since beauty and the beast 11 years ago .


the only camouflage carvey should now be considering is a paper bag to wear over his head when he goes out into public , to avoid being recognized as the man who bilked unsuspecting moviegoers .


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


a beautifully observed character piece .


compared to his series of spectacular belly flops both on and off the screen , runteldat is something of a triumph .


as plain and pedestrian as catsup --


some people march to the beat of a different drum , and if you ever wondered what kind of houses those people live in , this documentary takes a look at 5 alternative housing options .


that jack nicholson makes this man so watchable is a tribute not only to his craft , but to his legend .


with each of her three protagonists , miller eloquently captures the moment when a woman 's life , out of a deep-seated , emotional need , is about to turn onto a different path .


a college story that works even without vulgarity , sex scenes , and cussing !


a loquacious and dreary piece of business .


behan 's memoir is great material for a film -- rowdy , brawny and lyrical in the best irish sense -- but sheridan has settled for a lugubrious romance .


a rather tired exercise in nostalgia .


` linklater fans , or pretentious types who want to appear avant-garde will suck up to this project ... '


there 's little to recommend snow dogs , unless one considers cliched dialogue and perverse escapism a source of high hilarity .


one lousy movie .


it 's such a mechanical endeavor -lrb- that -rrb- it never bothers to question why somebody might devote time to see it .


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


until its final minutes this is a perceptive study of two families in crisis -- and of two girls whose friendship is severely tested by bad luck and their own immaturity .


abandon spends 90 minutes trying figure out whether or not some cocky pseudo-intellectual kid has intentionally left college or was killed .


needs more impressionistic cinematography and exhilarating point-of-view shots and fewer slow-motion ` grandeur ' shots and quick-cut edits that often detract from the athleticism .


with the prospect of films like kangaroo jack about to burst across america 's winter movie screens it 's a pleasure to have a film like the hours as an alternative .


where this was lazy but enjoyable , a formula comedy redeemed by its stars , that is even lazier and far less enjoyable .


a highly watchable , giggly little story with a sweet edge to it .


skillfully weaves both the elements of the plot and a powerfully evocative mood combining heated sexuality with a haunting sense of malaise .


-lrb- soderbergh -rrb- tends to place most of the psychological and philosophical material in italics rather than trust an audience 's intelligence , and he creates an overall sense of brusqueness .


writer-director juan carlos fresnadillo makes a feature debut that is fully formed and remarkably assured .


the kind of film that leaves you scratching your head in amazement over the fact that so many talented people could participate in such an ill-advised and poorly executed idea .


each story is built on a potentially interesting idea , but the first two are ruined by amateurish writing and acting , while the third feels limited by its short running time .


sweetly sexy , funny and touching .


like all of egoyan 's work , ararat is fiercely intelligent and uncommonly ambitious .


even if invincible is not quite the career peak that the pianist is for roman polanski , it demonstrates that werner herzog can still leave us with a sense of wonder at the diverse , marvelously twisted shapes history has taken .


the film is really closer to porn than a serious critique of what 's wrong with this increasingly pervasive aspect of gay culture .


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


it 's a cool event for the whole family .


time literally stops on a dime in the tries-so-hard-to-be-cool `` clockstoppers , '' but that does n't mean it still wo n't feel like the longest 90 minutes of your movie-going life .


a beautiful , entertaining two hours .


though it pretends to expose the life of male hustlers , it 's exploitive without being insightful .


too long , and larded with exposition , this somber cop drama ultimately feels as flat as the scruffy sands of its titular community .


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


the chateau belongs to rudd , whose portrait of a therapy-dependent flakeball spouting french malapropisms ... is a nonstop hoot .


the story ... is inspiring , ironic , and revelatory of just how ridiculous and money-oriented the record industry really is .


love may have been in the air onscreen , but i certainly was n't feeling any of it .


this director 's cut -- which adds 51 minutes -- takes a great film and turns it into a mundane soap opera .


`` the dangerous lives of altar boys '' has flaws , but it also has humor and heart and very talented young actors


movies like high crimes flog the dead horse of surprise as if it were an obligation .


an amusing and unexpectedly insightful examination of sexual jealousy , resentment and the fine line between passion and pretence .


producer john penotti surveyed high school students ... and came back with the astonishing revelation that `` they wanted to see something that did n't talk down to them . ''


it 's just a movie that happens to have jackie chan in it .


what redeems the film is the cast , particularly the ya-yas themselves .


but what 's nice is that there 's a casual intelligence that permeates the script .


adam sandler 's 8 crazy nights is 75 wasted minutes of sandler as the voice-over hero in columbia pictures ' perverse idea of an animated holiday movie .


a mess .


the filmmakers wisely decided to let crocodile hunter steve irwin do what he does best , and fashion a story around him .


so purely enjoyable that you might not even notice it 's a fairly straightforward remake of hollywood comedies such as father of the bride .


talk to her is so darned assured , we have absolutely no idea who the main characters are until the film is well under way -- and yet it 's hard to stop watching .


a genuinely funny ensemble comedy that also asks its audience -- in a heartwarming , nonjudgmental kind of way -- to consider what we value in our daily lives .


after seeing ` analyze that , ' i feel better already .


mazel tov to a film about a family 's joyous life acting on the yiddish stage .


the characters are never more than sketches ... which leaves any true emotional connection or identification frustratingly out of reach .


reign of fire just might go down as one of the all-time great apocalypse movies .


though few will argue that it ranks with the best of herzog 's works , invincible shows he 's back in form , with an astoundingly rich film .


monte cristo smartly emphasizes the well-wrought story and omits needless chase scenes and swordfights as the revenge unfolds .


it shows us a slice of life that 's very different from our own and yet instantly recognizable .


interesting both as a historical study and as a tragic love story .


what we have here is n't a disaster , exactly , but a very handsomely produced let-down .


there 's a reason the studio did n't offer an advance screening .


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


though it 's equally solipsistic in tone , the movie has enough vitality to justify the notion of creating a screen adaptation of evans ' saga of hollywood excess .


one of the worst films of 2002 .


lazy , miserable and smug .


-lrb- t -rrb- he script is n't up to the level of the direction , nor are the uneven performances by the cast members , who seem bound and determined to duplicate bela lugosi 's now-cliched vampire accent .


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


an animation landmark as monumental as disney 's 1937 breakthrough snow white and the seven dwarfs .


this thing is just garbage .


`` the road paved with good intentions leads to the video store ''


still , this flick is fun , and host to some truly excellent sequences .


a disoriented but occasionally disarming saga packed with moments out of an alice in wonderland adventure , a stalker thriller , and a condensed season of tv 's big brother .


like the world of his film , hartley created a monster but did n't know how to handle it .


what 's surprising is how well it holds up in an era in which computer-generated images are the norm .


it 's a clear-eyed portrait of an intensely lived time , filled with nervous energy , moral ambiguity and great uncertainties .


the extent to which it succeeds is impressive .


proves a servicable world war ii drama that ca n't totally hide its contrivances , but it at least calls attention to a problem hollywood too long has ignored .


a fascinating , bombshell documentary that should shame americans , regardless of whether or not ultimate blame finally lies with kissinger .


never inspires more than an interested detachment .


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


this is a smart movie that knows its classical music , knows its freud and knows its sade .


instead of trying to bust some blondes , -lrb- diggs -rrb- should be probing why a guy with his talent ended up in a movie this bad .


delivers roughly equal amounts of beautiful movement and inside information .


meyjes 's movie , like max rothman 's future , does not work .


a weird , arresting little ride .


but i had a lot of problems with this movie .


it 's dull , spiritless , silly and monotonous : an ultra-loud blast of pointless mayhem , going nowhere fast .


the year 2002 has conjured up more coming-of-age stories than seem possible , but take care of my cat emerges as the very best of them .


nakata 's technique is to imply terror by suggestion , rather than the overuse of special effects .


the cinematic equivalent of patronizing a bar favored by pretentious , untalented artistes who enjoy moaning about their cruel fate .


there 's a part of us that can not help be entertained by the sight of someone getting away with something .


but mr. polanski creates images even more haunting than those in mr. spielberg 's 1993 classic .


the performances are strong , though the subject matter demands acting that borders on hammy at times .


never does `` lilo & stitch '' reach the emotion or timelessness of disney 's great past , or even that of more recent successes such as `` mulan '' or `` tarzan . ''


a wild ride with eight boarders from venice beach that was a deserved co-winner of the audience award for documentaries at the sundance film festival .


the mushy finale turns john q into a movie-of-the-week tearjerker .


a venturesome , beautifully realized psychological mood piece that reveals its first-time feature director 's understanding of the expressive power of the camera .


that it 'll probably be the best and most mature comedy of the 2002 summer season speaks more of the season than the picture


my own minority report is that it stinks .


cage makes an unusual but pleasantly haunting debut behind the camera .


brosnan is more feral in this film than i 've seen him before and halle berry does her best to keep up with him .


ben kingsley is truly funny , playing a kind of ghandi gone bad .


frankly , it 's pretty stupid .


ozpetek 's effort has the scope and shape of an especially well-executed television movie .


too clever by about nine-tenths .


horns and halos benefits from serendipity but also reminds us of our own responsibility to question what is told as the truth .


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


an unorthodox little film noir organized crime story that includes one of the strangest love stories you will ever see .


watching the powerpuff girls movie , my mind kept returning to one anecdote for comparison : the cartoon in japan that gave people seizures .


there 's no good answer to that one .


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


cantet beautifully illuminates what it means sometimes to be inside looking out , and at other times outside looking in .


if you think it 's a riot to see rob schneider in a young woman 's clothes , then you 'll enjoy the hot chick .


with the same sort of good-natured fun found in films like tremors , eight legged freaks is prime escapist fare .


a bore that tends to hammer home every one of its points .


a non-mystery mystery .


there 's back-stabbing , inter-racial desire and , most importantly , singing and dancing .


there 's more repetition than creativity throughout the movie .


together , miller , kuras and the actresses make personal velocity into an intricate , intimate and intelligent journey .


i enjoyed the movie in a superficial way , while never sure what its purpose was .


fear dot com is more frustrating than a modem that disconnects every 10 seconds .


instead of a witty expose on the banality and hypocrisy of too much kid-vid , we get an ugly , mean-spirited lashing out by an adult who 's apparently been forced by his kids to watch too many barney videos .


feels like the work of an artist who is simply tired -- of fighting the same fights , of putting the weight of the world on his shoulders , of playing with narrative form .


it is very difficult to care about the character , and that is the central flaw of the film .


gangster no. 1 is solid , satisfying fare for adults .


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


no doubt the star and everyone else involved had their hearts in the right place .


-lrb- rises -rrb- above its oh-so-hollywood rejiggering and its conventional direction to give the film a soul and an unabashed sense of good old-fashioned escapism .


captures that perverse element of the kafkaesque where identity , overnight , is robbed and replaced with a persecuted `` other . ''


never once predictable .


the film does n't really care about the thousands of americans who die hideously , it cares about how ryan meets his future wife and makes his start at the cia .


offers a guilt-free trip into feel-good territory .


the filmmakers are playing to the big boys in new york and l.a. to that end , they mock the kind of folks they do n't understand , ones they figure the power-lunchers do n't care to understand , either .


i wish it would have just gone more over-the-top instead of trying to have it both ways .


the whole affair , true story or not , feels incredibly hokey ... -lrb- it -rrb- comes off like a hallmark commercial .


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


a puppy dog so desperate for attention it nearly breaks its little neck trying to perform entertaining tricks .


nice piece of work .


the events of the film are just so weird that i honestly never knew what the hell was coming next .


episode ii -- attack of the clones is a technological exercise that lacks juice and delight .


this is a dark , gritty , sometimes funny little gem .


though there 's a clarity of purpose and even-handedness to the film 's direction , the drama feels rigged and sluggish .


noyce 's greatest mistake is thinking that we needed sweeping , dramatic , hollywood moments to keep us


what emerges is an unsettling picture of childhood innocence combined with indoctrinated prejudice .


the 3-d vistas from orbit , with the space station suspended like a huge set of wind chimes over the great blue globe , are stanzas of breathtaking , awe-inspiring visual poetry .


cacoyannis ' vision is far less mature , interpreting the play as a call for pity and sympathy for anachronistic phantasms haunting the imagined glory of their own pasts .


jackie chan movies are a guilty pleasure - he 's easy to like and always leaves us laughing .


-lrb- gayton 's script -rrb- telegraphs every discovery and layers on the gloss of convenience .


i know i should n't have laughed , but hey , those farts got to my inner nine-year-old .


... has about 3\/4th the fun of its spry 2001 predecessor -- but it 's a rushed , slapdash , sequel-for-the-sake - of-a-sequel with less than half the plot and ingenuity .


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


plays like one of those conversations that comic book guy on `` the simpsons '' has .


dong never pushes for insights beyond the superficial tensions of the dynamic he 's dissecting , and the film settles too easily along the contours of expectation .


this charming but slight tale has warmth , wit and interesting characters compassionately portrayed .


the movie slides downhill as soon as macho action conventions assert themselves .


delightfully rendered


shows that jackie chan is getting older , and that 's something i would rather live in denial about


many insightful moments .


made to be jaglomized is the cannes film festival , the annual riviera spree of flesh , buzz , blab and money .


the performances are immaculate , with roussillon providing comic relief .


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


director claude chabrol has become the master of innuendo .


as comedic spotlights go , notorious c.h.o. hits all the verbal marks it should .


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


they were afraid to show this movie to reviewers before its opening , afraid of the bad reviews they thought they 'd earn .


especially give credit to affleck .


a fragile framework upon which to hang broad , mildly fleshed-out characters that seem to have been conjured up only 10 minutes prior to filming .


and it marks him as one of the most interesting writer\/directors working today .


this picture is murder by numbers , and as easy to be bored by as your abc 's , despite a few whopping shootouts .


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


according to wendigo , ` nature ' loves the members of the upper class almost as much as they love themselves .


even a hardened voyeur would require the patience of job to get through this interminable , shapeless documentary about the swinging subculture .


it is refreshingly undogmatic about its characters .


a gratingly unfunny groaner littered with zero-dimensional , unlikable characters and hackneyed , threadbare comic setups .


a vibrant , colorful , semimusical rendition .


but as you watch the movie , you 're too interested to care .


a mediocre exercise in target demographics , unaware that it 's the butt of its own joke .


thumbs down .


while the story does seem pretty unbelievable at times , it 's awfully entertaining to watch .


at a time when we 've learned the hard way just how complex international terrorism is , collateral damage paints an absurdly simplistic picture .


upper west sidey exercise in narcissism and self-congratulation disguised as a tribute .


as a kind of colorful , dramatized pbs program , frida gets the job done .


an uneven look into a grim future that does n't come close to the level of intelligence and visual splendour that can be seen in other films based on philip k. dick stories .


-lrb- shyamalan -rrb- turns the goose-pimple genre on its empty head and fills it with spirit , purpose and emotionally bruised characters who add up to more than body count .


totally overwrought , deeply biased , and wholly designed to make you feel guilty about ignoring what the filmmakers clearly believe are the greatest musicians of all time .


there 's so much to look at in metropolis you hate to tear your eyes away from the images long enough to read the subtitles .


woody allen used to ridicule movies like hollywood ending .


lightweight but appealing .


there is nothing redeeming about this movie .


what 's infuriating about full frontal is that it 's too close to real life to make sense .


the movie 's seams may show ... but pellington gives `` mothman '' an irresistibly uncanny ambience that goes a long way toward keeping the picture compelling .


macdowell ... gives give a solid , anguished performance that eclipses nearly everything else she 's ever done .


director paul cox 's unorthodox , abstract approach to visualizing nijinsky 's diaries is both stimulating and demanding .


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


the unique niche of self-critical , behind-the-scenes navel-gazing kaufman has carved from orleans ' story and his own infinite insecurity is a work of outstanding originality .


the stunt work is top-notch ; the dialogue and drama often food-spittingly funny .


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


a fine effort , an interesting topic , some intriguing characters and a sad ending .


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


featherweight romantic comedy has a few nice twists in a standard plot and the charisma of hugh grant and sandra bullock .


hypnotically dull , relentlessly downbeat , laughably predictable wail pitched to the cadence of a depressed fifteen-year-old 's suicidal poetry .


everything about the quiet american is good , except its timing .


it 's a smartly directed , grown-up film of ideas .


the bourne identity should n't be half as entertaining as it is , but director doug liman and his colleagues have managed to pack it with enough action to satisfy the boom-bam crowd without a huge sacrifice of character and mood .


once he starts learning to compromise with reality enough to become comparatively sane and healthy , the film becomes predictably conventional .


a touching , small-scale story of family responsibility and care in the community .


the gifted crudup has the perfect face to play a handsome blank yearning to find himself , and his cipherlike personality and bad behavior would play fine if the movie knew what to do with him .


an artsploitation movie with too much exploitation and too little art .


unless you 're a fanatic , the best advice is : ` scooby ' do n't .


nicole kidman evolved from star to superstar some time over the past year , which means that birthday girl is the kind of quirkily appealing minor movie she might not make for a while .


and the positive change in tone here seems to have recharged him .


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


the script is high on squaddie banter , low on shocks .


go back to sleep .


this movie plays like an extended dialogue exercise in retard 101 .


it 's as if a bored cage spent the duration of the film 's shooting schedule waiting to scream : `` got aids yet ? ''


secret ballot is a funny , puzzling movie ambiguous enough to be engaging and oddly moving .


a visionary marvel , but it 's lacking a depth in storytelling usually found in anime like this .


nair just does n't have the necessary self-control to guide a loose , poorly structured film through the pitfalls of incoherence and redundancy .


one of the most slyly exquisite anti-adult movies ever made .


this low-rent -- and even lower-wit -- rip-off of the farrelly brothers ' oeuvre gets way too mushy -- and in a relatively short amount of time .


happily stays close to the ground in a spare and simple manner and does n't pummel us with phony imagery or music .


fails as a dystopian movie , as a retooling of fahrenheit 451 , and even as a rip-off of the matrix .


whatever one makes of its political edge , this is beautiful filmmaking from one of french cinema 's master craftsmen .


jagger , stoppard and director michael apted ... deliver a riveting and surprisingly romantic ride .


banal and predictable .


takes a clunky tv-movie approach to detailing a chapter in the life of the celebrated irish playwright , poet and drinker .


the trashy teen-sleaze equivalent of showgirls .


best of all is garcia , who perfectly portrays the desperation of a very insecure man .


it does n't flinch from its unsettling prognosis , namely , that the legacy of war is a kind of perpetual pain .


scooby-doo does n't know if it wants to be a retro-refitting exercise in campy recall for older fans or a silly , nickelodeon-esque kiddie flick .


a dramatic comedy as pleasantly dishonest and pat as any hollywood fluff .


unfunny and lacking any sense of commitment to or affection for its characters , the reginald hudlin comedy relies on toilet humor , ethnic slurs .


`` the best disney movie since the lion king ''


best indie of the year , so far .


feels less like a cousin to blade runner than like a bottom-feeder sequel in the escape from new york series .


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


simone is not a bad film .


a sexy , peculiar and always entertaining costume drama set in renaissance spain , and the fact that it 's based on true events somehow makes it all the more compelling .


as the sulking , moody male hustler in the title role , -lrb- franco -rrb- has all of dean 's mannerisms and self-indulgence , but none of his sweetness and vulnerability .


the first bond movie in ages that is n't fake fun .


the problem is that for the most part , the film is deadly dull .


for the rest of us , sitting through dahmer 's two hours amounts to little more than punishment .


the rollerball sequences feel sanitised and stagey .


ramsay and morton fill this character study with poetic force and buoyant feeling .


the film is saved from are n't - kids-cute sentimentality by a warmth that is n't faked and a stately sense of composition .


death to smoochy is often very funny , but what 's even more remarkable is the integrity of devito 's misanthropic vision .


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


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


it collapses when mr. taylor tries to shift the tone to a thriller 's rush .


it 's also not smart or barbed enough for older viewers -- not everyone thinks poo-poo jokes are ` edgy . '


it gives poor dana carvey nothing to do that is really funny , and then expects us to laugh because he acts so goofy all the time .


efficient , suitably anonymous chiller .


... stylistically , the movie is a disaster .


it 's mildly entertaining , especially if you find comfort in familiarity .


... a guiltless film for nice evening out .


what makes salton sea surprisingly engrossing is that caruso takes an atypically hypnotic approach to a world that 's often handled in fast-edit , hopped-up fashion .


an opportunity missed .


canada 's arctic light shines bright on this frozen tundra soap opera that breathes extraordinary life into the private existence of the inuit people .


fresh and raw like a blown-out vein , narc takes a walking-dead , cop-flick subgenre and beats new life into it .


dignified ceo 's meet at a rustic retreat and pee against a tree .


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


the overall vibe is druggy and self-indulgent , like a spring-break orgy for pretentious arts majors .


the transporter bombards the viewer with so many explosions and side snap kicks that it ends up being surprisingly dull .


beneath the film 's obvious determination to shock at any cost lies considerable skill and determination , backed by sheer nerve .


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


the film 's trailer also looked like crap , so crap is what i was expecting .


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


puts a refreshing and comical spin on the all-too-familiar saga of the contemporary single woman .


there are some laughs in this movie , but williams ' anarchy gets tiresome , the satire is weak .


boisterous , heartfelt comedy .


it 's as if allen , at 66 , has stopped challenging himself .


the characters seem one-dimensional , and the film is superficial and will probably be of interest primarily to its target audience .


i 'm sure mainstream audiences will be baffled , but , for those with at least a minimal appreciation of woolf and clarissa dalloway , the hours represents two of those well spent .


very amusing , not the usual route in a thriller , and the performances are odd and pixilated and sometimes both .


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


coral reef adventure is a heavyweight film that fights a good fight on behalf of the world 's endangered reefs -- and it lets the pictures do the punching .


but it could be , by its art and heart , a necessary one .


i wanted more .


the entire cast is extraordinarily good .


as if trying to grab a lump of play-doh , the harder that liman tries to squeeze his story , the more details slip out between his fingers .


a bracing , unblinking work that serves as a painful elegy and sobering cautionary tale .


a fine , rousing , g-rated family film , aimed mainly at little kids but with plenty of entertainment value to keep grown-ups from squirming in their seats .


it 's immensely ambitious , different than anything that 's been done before and amazingly successful in terms of what it 's trying to do .


... a pretentious mess ...


it sends you away a believer again and quite cheered at just that .


terminally bland , painfully slow and needlessly confusing ... the movie , shot on digital videotape rather than film , is frequently indecipherable .


a very depressing movie of many missed opportunities .


captures the raw comic energy of one of our most flamboyant female comics .


if the man from elysian fields is doomed by its smallness , it is also elevated by it -- the kind of movie that you enjoy more because you 're one of the lucky few who sought it out .


writer-director walter hill and co-writer david giler try to create characters out of the obvious cliches , but wind up using them as punching bags .


this wretchedly unfunny wannabe comedy is inane and awful - no doubt , it 's the worst movie i 've seen this summer .


in the process of trimming the movie to an expeditious 84 minutes , director roger kumble seems to have dumped a whole lot of plot in favor of ... outrageous gags .


singer\/composer bryan adams contributes a slew of songs -- a few potential hits , a few more simply intrusive to the story -- but the whole package certainly captures the intended , er , spirit of the piece .


does n't come close to justifying the hype that surrounded its debut at the sundance film festival two years ago .


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


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


if you value your time and money , find an escape clause and avoid seeing this trite , predictable rehash .


boasts a handful of virtuosic set pieces and offers a fair amount of trashy , kinky fun .


the jokes are flat , and the action looks fake .


it 's a ripper of a yarn and i for one enjoyed the thrill of the chill .


weirdly , broomfield has compelling new material but he does n't unveil it until the end , after endless scenes of him wheedling reluctant witnesses and pointing his camera through the smeared windshield of his rental car .


once folks started hanging out at the barbershop , they never wanted to leave .


choppy , overlong documentary about ` the lifestyle . '


better still , he does all of this , and more , while remaining one of the most savagely hilarious social critics this side of jonathan swift .


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


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


though there are many tense scenes in trapped , they prove more distressing than suspenseful .


the last kiss will probably never achieve the popularity of my big fat greek wedding , but its provocative central wedding sequence has far more impact .


low rent from frame one .


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


unfortunately , carvey 's rubber-face routine is no match for the insipid script he has crafted with harris goldberg .


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


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


what one is left with , even after the most awful acts are committed , is an overwhelming sadness that feels as if it has made its way into your very bloodstream .


it hates its characters .


... an incredibly heavy-handed , manipulative dud that feels all too familiar .


with `` ichi the killer '' , takashi miike , japan 's wildest filmmaker gives us a crime fighter carrying more emotional baggage than batman ...


anyone who wants to start writing screenplays can just follow the same blueprint from hundreds of other films , sell it to the highest bidder and walk away without anyone truly knowing your identity .


comes off as a long , laborious whine , the bellyaching of a paranoid and unlikable man .


we do n't even like their characters .


just a collection of this and that -- whatever fills time -- with no unified whole .


the characters never change .


even kids deserve better .


while scorsese 's bold images and generally smart casting ensure that `` gangs '' is never lethargic , the movie is hindered by a central plot that 's peppered with false starts and populated by characters who are nearly impossible to care about .


once ice-t sticks his mug in the window of the couple 's bmw and begins haranguing the wife in bad stage dialogue , all credibility flies out the window .


this is more fascinating -- being real -- than anything seen on jerry springer .


into how long is this movie ?


the work of an artist tormented by his heritage , using his storytelling ability to honor the many faceless victims .


think the lion king redone for horses , with fewer deliberate laughs , more inadvertent ones and stunningly trite songs by bryan adams , the world 's most generic rock star .


you 'll probably love it .


and for all the wrong reasons besides .


reminiscent of alfred hitchcock 's thrillers , most of the scary parts in ` signs ' occur while waiting for things to happen .


in his debut as a director , washington has a sure hand .


if you love him , you 'll like it .


what 's so fun about this silly , outrageous , ingenious thriller is the director 's talent .


i like that smith , he 's not making fun of these people , he 's not laughing at them .


the logic of it all will be greek to anyone not predisposed to the movie 's rude and crude humor .


the movie 's downfall is to substitute plot for personality .


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


victor rosa is leguizamo 's best movie work so far , a subtle and richly internalized performance .


psychologically savvy .


a stirring tribute to the bravery and dedication of the world 's reporters who willingly walk into the nightmare of war not only to record the events for posterity , but to help us clearly see the world of our making .


a chilling movie without oppressive gore .


we assume he had a bad run in the market or a costly divorce , because there is no earthly reason other than money why this distinguished actor would stoop so low .


star trek was kind of terrific once , but now it is a copy of a copy of a copy .


several of steven soderbergh 's earlier films were hailed as the works of an artist .


the riveting performances by the incredibly flexible cast make love a joy to behold .


the most audacious , outrageous , sexually explicit , psychologically probing , pure libido film of the year has arrived from portugal .


a thoughtful movie , a movie that is concerned with souls and risk and schemes and the consequences of one 's actions .


the dramatic scenes are frequently unintentionally funny , and the action sequences -- clearly the main event -- are surprisingly uninvolving .


directed by kevin bray , whose crisp framing , edgy camera work , and wholesale ineptitude with acting , tone and pace very obviously mark him as a video helmer making his feature debut .


because the intelligence level of the characters must be low , very low , very very low , for the masquerade to work , the movie contains no wit , only labored gags .


viewers of barney 's crushingly self-indulgent spectacle will see nothing in it to match the ordeal of sitting through it .


they ought to be a whole lot scarier than they are in this tepid genre offering .


as it turns out , you can go home again .


it 's far from a frothy piece , and the characters are complex , laden with plenty of baggage and tinged with tragic undertones .


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


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


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


what bubbles up out of john c. walsh 's pipe dream is the distinct and very welcome sense of watching intelligent people making a movie they might actually want to watch .


abysmally pathetic


instead of a balanced film that explains the zeitgeist that is the x games , we get a cinematic postcard that 's superficial and unrealized .


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


blessed with two fine , nuanced lead performances .


it all unfolds predictably , and the adventures that happen along the way seem repetitive and designed to fill time , providing no real sense of suspense .


an exhilarating experience .


a dazzling dream of a documentary .


narc is a no-bull throwback to 1970s action films .


jones ... makes a great impression as the writer-director of this little $ 1.8 million charmer , which may not be cutting-edge indie filmmaking but has a huge heart .


in the disturbingly involving family dysfunctional drama how i killed my father , french director anne fontaine delivers an inspired portrait of male-ridden angst and the emotional blockage that accompanies this human condition


animated drivel meant to enhance the self-image of drooling idiots .


but rather , ` how can you charge money for this ? '


`` austin powers in goldmember '' has the right stuff for silly summer entertainment and has enough laughs to sustain interest to the end .


not really a thriller so much as a movie for teens to laugh , groan and hiss at .


an erotic thriller that 's neither too erotic nor very thrilling , either .


family portrait of need , neurosis and nervy negativity is a rare treat that shows the promise of digital filmmaking .


the uneven movie does have its charms and its funny moments but not quite enough of them .


it manages to squeeze by on angelina jolie 's surprising flair for self-deprecating comedy .


demme finally succeeds in diminishing his stature from oscar-winning master to lowly studio hack .


i 'm not sure which is worse : the poor acting by the ensemble cast , the flat dialogue by vincent r. nebrida or the gutless direction by laurice guillen .


it 's an ambitious film , and as with all ambitious films , it has some problems .


like the best 60 minutes exposé , the film -lrb- at 80 minutes -rrb- is actually quite entertaining .


the lousy lead performances ... keep the movie from ever reaching the comic heights it obviously desired .


medem may have disrobed most of the cast , leaving their bodies exposed , but the plot remains as guarded as a virgin with a chastity belt .


is it really an advantage to invest such subtlety and warmth in an animatronic bear when the humans are acting like puppets ?


art-house to the core , read my lips is a genre-curling crime story that revives the free-wheeling noir spirit of old french cinema .


madonna has made herself over so often now , there 's apparently nothing left to work with , sort of like michael jackson 's nose .


so exaggerated and broad that it comes off as annoying rather than charming .


... the story , like ravel 's bolero , builds to a crescendo that encompasses many more paths than we started with .


it has fun with the quirks of family life , but it also treats the subject with fondness and respect .


it should have stayed there .


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


bravo for history rewritten , and for the uncompromising knowledge that the highest power of all is the power of love .


what a pity ... that the material is so second-rate .


it 's that good .


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


enthusiastically taking up the current teen movie concern with bodily functions , walt becker 's film pushes all the demographically appropriate comic buttons .


a truly wonderful tale combined with stunning animation .


directors brett morgen and nanette burstein have put together a bold biographical fantasia .


... a confusing drudgery .


it 's a testament to the film 's considerable charm that it succeeds in entertaining , despite playing out like a feature-length sitcom replete with stereotypical familial quandaries .


-lrb- a -rrb- mess .


plays like a bad blend of an overripe episode of tv 's dawson 's creek and a recycled and dumbed-down version of love story .


black-and-white and unrealistic .


-lrb- lin chung 's -rrb- voice is rather unexceptional , even irritating -lrb- at least to this western ear -rrb- , making it awfully hard to buy the impetus for the complicated love triangle that develops between the three central characters .


it 's not helpful to listen to extremist name-calling , regardless of whether you think kissinger was a calculating fiend or just a slippery self-promoter .


hardly an objective documentary , but it 's great cinematic polemic ... love moore or loathe him , you 've got to admire ... the intensity with which he 's willing to express his convictions .


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


a lovely film ... elegant , witty and beneath a prim exterior unabashedly romantic ... hugely enjoyable in its own right though not really faithful to its source 's complexity .


a summary of the plot does n't quite do justice to the awfulness of the movie , for that comes through all too painfully in the execution .


taken as a whole , the tuxedo does n't add up to a whole lot .


good-looking but relentlessly lowbrow outing plays like clueless does south fork .


intimate and panoramic .


suffers from all the excesses of the genre .


hate it because it 's lousy .


this rather unfocused , all-over-the-map movie would be a lot better if it pared down its plots and characters to a few rather than dozens ... or if it were subtler ... or if it had a sense of humor .


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


a doa dud from frame one .


why spend $ 9 on the same stuff you can get for a buck or so in that greasy little vidgame pit in the theater lobby ?


just the sort of lazy tearjerker that gives movies about ordinary folk a bad name .


`` home movie '' is a sweet treasure and something well worth your time .


it 's enough to watch huppert scheming , with her small , intelligent eyes as steady as any noir villain , and to enjoy the perfectly pitched web of tension that chabrol spins .


the bottom line with nemesis is the same as it has been with all the films in the series : fans will undoubtedly enjoy it , and the uncommitted need n't waste their time on it .


robinson 's web of suspense matches the page-turning frenzy that clancy creates .


... a hokey piece of nonsense that tries too hard to be emotional .


intelligent , caustic take on a great writer and dubious human being .


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


where janice beard falters in its recycled aspects , implausibility , and sags in pace , it rises in its courageousness , and comedic employment .


throws in enough clever and unexpected twists to make the formula feel fresh .


a fairly harmless but ultimately lifeless feature-length afterschool special .


i did n't laugh .


holm does his sly , intricate magic , and iben hjelje is entirely appealing as pumpkin .


one of the funniest motion pictures of the year , but ... also one of the most curiously depressing .


bielinsky is a filmmaker of impressive talent .


such a premise is ripe for all manner of lunacy , but kaufman and gondry rarely seem sure of where it should go .


the film is ultimately about as inspiring as a hallmark card .


the troubling thing about clockstoppers is that it does n't make any sense .


uneven performances and a spotty script add up to a biting satire that has no teeth .


even on its own ludicrous terms , the sum of all fears generates little narrative momentum , and invites unflattering comparisons to other installments in the ryan series .


boasts enough funny dialogue and sharp characterizations to be mildly amusing .


the most offensive thing about the movie is that hollywood expects people to pay to see it .


you do n't know whether to admire the film 's stately nature and call it classicism or be exasperated by a noticeable lack of pace .


the author 's devotees will probably find it fascinating ; others may find it baffling .


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


it 's quaid who anchors the film with his effortless performance and that trademark grin of his -- so perfect for a ballplayer .


often messy and frustrating , but very pleasing at its best moments , it 's very much like life itself .