an atonal estrogen opera that demonizes feminism while gifting the most sympathetic male of the piece with a nice vomit bath at his wedding .


bad beyond belief and ridiculous beyond description .


the parts are better than the whole -lrb- bizarre , funny , tragic - like love in new york -rrb- .


however , it lacks grandeur and that epic quality often associated with stevenson 's tale as well as with earlier disney efforts .


a classy item by a legend who may have nothing left to prove but still has the chops and drive to show how its done .


it sounds sick and twisted , but the miracle of shainberg 's film is that it truly is romance


what could have been a neat little story about believing in yourself is swamped by heavy-handed melodrama .


a very funny look at how another culture handles the process of courting and marriage .


instead , we just get messy anger , a movie as personal therapy .


like old myths and wonder tales spun afresh .


with danilo donati 's witty designs and dante spinotti 's luscious cinematography , this might have made a decent children 's movie -- if only benigni had n't insisted on casting himself in the title role .


nervy and sensitive , it taps into genuine artistic befuddlement , and at the same time presents a scathing indictment of what drives hollywood .


i regret to report that these ops are just not extreme enough .


i loved looking at this movie .


binoche and magimel are perfect in these roles .


doug liman , the director of bourne , directs the traffic well , gets a nice wintry look from his locations , absorbs us with the movie 's spycraft and uses damon 's ability to be focused and sincere .


the film 's sharp , often mischievous sense of humor will catch some off guard ...


i wish i could say `` thank god it 's friday '' , but the truth of the matter is i was glad when it was over .


lauren ambrose comes alive under the attention from two strangers in town - with honest performances and realistic interaction between the characters , this is a coming-of-age story with a twist .


occasionally , in the course of reviewing art-house obscurities and slam-bam action flicks , a jaded critic smacks into something truly new .


`` men in black ii , '' has all the earmarks of a sequel .


this is a raw and disturbing tale that took five years to make , and the trio 's absorbing narrative is a heart-wrenching showcase indeed .


the cast is uniformly excellent ... but the film itself is merely mildly charming .


yeah , these flicks are just that damn good .


a worthy entry into a very difficult genre .


there 's no mistaking the fact that this hybrid misses the impact of the disney classic , and even that of the excellent 1934 mgm version .


soul is what 's lacking in every character in this movie and , subsequently , the movie itself .


this charmless nonsense ensues amid clanging film references that make jay and silent bob 's excellent adventure seem understated .


his warriors collide in balletic explosion that implies an underlying order throughout the chaos .


feels like the grittiest movie that was ever made for the lifetime cable television network .


majidi gets uniformly engaging performances from his largely amateur cast .


the kind of nervous film that will either give you a mild headache or exhilarate you .


an impressive if flawed effort that indicates real talent .


the best way to hope for any chance of enjoying this film is by lowering your expectations .


still pretentious and filled with subtext , but entertaining enough at ` face value ' to recommend to anyone looking for something different .


woo 's fights have a distinct flair .


the only thing that could possibly make them less interesting than they already are is for them to get full montied into a scrappy , jovial team .


... has virtually no script at all ...


if it 's another regurgitated action movie you 're after , there 's no better film than half past dead .


we are left with a superficial snapshot that , however engaging , is insufficiently enlightening and inviting .


flawed but worthy look at life in u.s. relocation camps .


why he was given free reign over this project -- he wrote , directed , starred and produced -- is beyond me .


gloriously goofy -lrb- and gory -rrb- midnight movie stuff .


the film makes a strong case for the importance of the musicians in creating the motown sound .


the movie is saved from unbearable lightness by the simplicity of the storytelling and the authenticity of the performances .


at its best , the good girl is a refreshingly adult take on adultery ...


nair does capture the complexity of a big family and its trials and tribulations ...


throwing caution to the wind with an invitation to the hedonist in us all , nair has constructed this motion picture in such a way that even the most cynical curmudgeon with find himself or herself smiling at one time or another .


although life or something like it is very much in the mold of feel-good movies , the cast and director stephen herek 's polished direction pour delightfully piquant wine from aged bottles .


at its best early on as it plays the culture clashes between the brothers .


the story ... is moldy and obvious .


scotland , pa. is a strangely drab romp .


better at putting you to sleep than a sound machine .


... one of the most ingenious and entertaining thrillers i 've seen in quite a long time .


denzel washington 's efforts are sunk by all the sanctimony .


despite a powerful portrayal by binoche , it 's a period romance that suffers from an overly deliberate pace and uneven narrative momentum .


she must have a very strong back .


ultimately , it ponders the reasons we need stories so much .


we get some truly unique character studies and a cross-section of americana that hollywood could n't possibly fictionalize and be believed .


the story drifts so inexorably into cliches about tortured -lrb- and torturing -rrb- artists and consuming but impossible love that you ca n't help but become more disappointed as each overwrought new sequence plods on .


an utterly compelling ` who wrote it ' in which the reputation of the most famous author who ever lived comes into question .


this is the kind of movie that used to be right at home at the saturday matinee , and it still is .


a standard haunted house tale transplanted to the high seas .


not sweet enough to liven up its predictable story and will leave even fans of hip-hop sorely disappointed .


-lrb- drumline -rrb- is entertaining for what it does , and admirable for what it does n't do .


the two leads are almost good enough to camouflage the dopey plot , but so much naturalistic small talk , delivered in almost muffled exchanges , eventually has a lulling effect .


despite a story predictable enough to make the sound of music play like a nail-biting thriller , its heart is so much in the right place it is difficult to get really peeved at it .


noyce 's film is contemplative and mournfully reflective .


the title helpfully offers the most succinct review of it you 'll read anywhere .


despite the premise of a good story ... it wastes all its star power on cliched or meaningless roles .


succumbs to the same kind of maudlin , sentimental mysticism that mars the touched by an angel school of non-god spiritual-uplift movies .


i enjoyed time of favor while i was watching it , but i was surprised at how quickly it faded from my memory .


watching beanie and his gang put together his slasher video from spare parts and borrowed materials is as much fun as it must have been for them to make it .


it does n't quite work , but there 's enough here to make us look forward to the russos ' next offering .


bears is bad .


any movie this boring should be required to have ushers in the theater that hand you a cup of coffee every few minutes .


a film of precious increments artfully camouflaged as everyday activities .


the inherent strength of the material as well as the integrity of the filmmakers gives this coming-of-age story restraint as well as warmth .


i just did n't care as much for the story .


very solid , very watchable first feature for director peter sheridan


while super troopers is above academy standards , its quintet of writers could still use some more schooling .


the overall effect is so completely inane that one would have to be mighty bored to even think of staying with this for more than , say , ten ... make that three minutes .


pumpkin sits in a patch somewhere between mirthless todd solondzian satire and callow student film .


if kaufman kept cameron diaz a prisoner in a cage with her ape , in his latest , he 'd have them mate .


still , it gets the job done -- a sleepy afternoon rental .


if the message seems more facile than the earlier films , the images have such a terrible beauty you may not care .


consider the title 's clunk-on-the-head that suggests the overtime someone put in to come up with an irritatingly unimaginative retread concept .


leave it to rohmer , now 82 , to find a way to bend current technique to the service of a vision of the past that is faithful to both architectural glories and commanding open spaces of the city as it was more than two centuries ago .


sam jones became a very lucky filmmaker the day wilco got dropped from their record label , proving that one man 's ruin may be another 's fortune .


a minor picture with a major identity crisis -- it 's sort of true and it 's sort of bogus and it 's ho-hum all the way through .


a taut , intelligent psychological drama .


barney has created a tour de force that is weird , wacky and wonderful .


it settles for being merely grim .


a work of astonishing delicacy and force .


dark and disturbing , but also surprisingly funny .


a loving little film of considerable appeal .


watching the film is like reading a times portrait of grief that keeps shifting focus to the journalist who wrote it .


a free-for-all of half-baked thoughts , clumsily used visual tricks and self-indulgent actor moments .


the problem is n't that the movie hits so close to home so much as that it hits close to home while engaging in such silliness as that snake-down-the-throat business and the inevitable shot of schwarzenegger outrunning a fireball .


can see where this dumbed-down concoction is going .


parker holds true to wilde 's own vision of a pure comedy with absolutely no meaning , and no desire to be anything but a polished , sophisticated entertainment that is in love with its own cleverness .


these are names to remember , in order to avoid them in the future .


if somebody was bored and ... decided to make a dull , pretentious version of jesus ' son , they 'd come up with something like bart freundlich 's world traveler .


new best friend should n't have gone straight to video ; it should have gone straight to a mystery science theater 3000 video .


as a revenge thriller , the movie is serviceable , but it does n't really deliver the delicious guilty pleasure of the better film versions .


i was perplexed to watch it unfold with an astonishing lack of passion or uniqueness .


-lrb- director peter -rrb- jackson and his crew have so steeped themselves in the majesty of tolkien 's writing that every frame produces new joys , whether you 're a fan of the books or not .


... ambition is in short supply in the cinema , and egoyan tackles his themes and explores his characters ' crises with seriousness and compassion .


it does n't help that the director and cinematographer stephen kazmierski shoot on grungy video , giving the whole thing a dirty , tasteless feel .


baran is n't the most transporting or gripping film from iran -- or , indeed , by its director -- but it 's a worthy companion to the many fine , focused films emerging from that most surprising of nations .


what is captured during the conceptual process does n't add up to a sufficient explanation of what the final dance work , the selection , became in its final form .


-lrb- two -rrb- fairly dull -- contrasting and interlocking stories about miserable scandinavian settlers in 18th-century canada , and yuppie sailboaters in the here and now .


somewhere short of tremors on the modern b-scene : neither as funny nor as clever , though an agreeably unpretentious way to spend ninety minutes .


their film falters , however , in its adherence to the disney philosophy of required poignancy , a salute that i 'd hoped the movie would avoid .


the latest installment in the pokemon canon , pokemon 4ever is surprising less moldy and trite than the last two , likely because much of the japanese anime is set in a scenic forest where pokemon graze in peace .


it 's still worth a look .


jolie 's performance vanishes somewhere between her hair and her lips .


it 's a count for our times .


chao was chen kaige 's assistant for years in china .


never engaging , utterly predictable and completely void of anything remotely interesting or suspenseful .


although trying to balance self-referential humor and a normal ol' slasher plot seemed like a decent endeavor , the result does n't fully satisfy either the die-hard jason fans or those who can take a good joke .


a pleasant enough movie , held together by skilled ensemble actors .


intriguing and beautiful film , but those of you who read the book are likely to be disappointed .


too close to phantom menace for comfort .


without heavy-handedness , dong provides perspective with his intelligent grasp of human foibles and contradictions .


somehow we 're meant to buy that this doting mother would shun her kids , travel to one of the most dangerous parts of the world , don fatigues and become g.i. jane .


marvelous , merry and , yes , melancholy film .


reinforces the talents of screenwriter charlie kaufman , creator of adaptation and being john malkovich .


the timing in nearly every scene seems a half beat off .


despite its title , amy 's orgasm is not a porno , though it is as tedious as one .


more than makes up for its mawkish posing by offering rousing spates of genuine feeling .


a woozy , roisterous , exhausting mess , and the off-beat casting of its two leads turns out to be as ill-starred as you might expect .


the story 's so preposterous that i did n't believe it for a second , despite the best efforts of everyone involved .


its underlying mythology is a hodgepodge of inconsistencies that pose the question : since when did dumb entertainment have to be this dumb ?


and forget about any attempt at a plot !


watstein handily directs and edits around his screenplay 's sappier elements ... and sustains off the hook 's buildup with remarkable assuredness for a first-timer .


ice cube holds the film together with an engaging and warm performance ...


all this turns out to be neither funny nor provocative - only dull .


whether -lrb- binoche and magimel -rrb- are being charming or angst-ridden , they easily fill their scenes and , fine judges both , never overcook the hysteria .


tom green just gives them a bad odor .


each story on its own could have been expanded and worked into a compelling single feature , but in its current incarnation , storytelling never quite gets over its rather lopsided conception .


it 's obviously struck a responsive chord with many south koreans , and should work its magic in other parts of the world .


it has fun being grown up .


this is a great subject for a movie , but hollywood has squandered the opportunity , using it as a prop for warmed-over melodrama and the kind of choreographed mayhem that director john woo has built his career on .


you 're too conscious of the effort it takes to be this spontaneous .


children may not understand everything that happens -- i 'm not sure even miyazaki himself does -- but they will almost certainly be fascinated , and undoubtedly delighted .


a distant , even sterile , yet compulsively watchable look at the sordid life of hogan 's heroes star bob crane .


this is the type of movie best enjoyed by frat boys and college kids while sucking on the bong and downing one alcoholic beverage after another .


the film is a travesty of the genre and even as spoof takes itself too seriously .


the long-range appeal of `` minority report '' should transcend any awards it bags .


it 's haunting .


the film starts out as competent but unremarkable ... and gradually grows into something of considerable power .


ihops do n't pile on this much syrup .


a pleasant enough comedy that should have found a summer place .


lucas , take notes .


the unique tug-of-war with viewer expectations is undeniable , if not a pleasure in its own right .


you would n't call the good girl a date movie -lrb- an anti-date movie is more like it -rrb- , but when it 's good , it 's good and horrid .


this is a particularly toxic little bonbon , palatable to only a chosen and very jaundiced few .


sound the trumpets : for the first time since desperately seeking susan , madonna does n't suck as an actress .


the truth is that the truth about charlie gets increasingly tiresome .


much-anticipated and ultimately lackluster movie .


disturbingly superficial in its approach to the material .


flat , but with a revelatory performance by michelle williams .


unless you are in dire need of a diesel fix , there is no real reason to see it .


i 'm afraid you wo n't get through this frankly fantastical by-the-numbers b-flick with just a suspension of disbelief .


every good actor needs to do his or her own hamlet .


the movie gets muted and routine .


-lrb- morgan -rrb- , judd and franklin ca n't save the script , rooted in a novel by joseph finder , from some opportunism .


madonna still ca n't act a lick .


`` the mothman prophecies '' is a difficult film to shake from your conscience when night falls .


if you 're not a prepubescent girl , you 'll be laughing at britney spears ' movie-starring debut whenever it does n't have you impatiently squinting at your watch .


some actors have so much charisma that you 'd be happy to listen to them reading the phone book .


energetic and boldly provocative .


not only does the movie fail to make us part of its reality , it fails the most basic relevancy test as well .


the kooky yet shadowy vision clooney sustains throughout is daring , inventive and impressive .


in the end , white oleander is n't an adaptation of a novel .


sympathetically captures the often futile lifestyle of young people in modern japan .


i 'd give real money to see the perpetrators of chicago torn apart by dingoes .


occasionally funny and consistently odd , and it works reasonably well as a star vehicle for zhao .


there 's a disturbing ` great white hope ' undertone to the other side of heaven that subtly undermines its message of christian love and compassion .


awkward but sincere and , ultimately , it wins you over .


the whole damn thing is ripe for the jerry springer crowd .


a lousy movie that 's not merely unwatchable , but also unlistenable .


flounders due to the general sense that no two people working on the production had exactly the same thing in mind .


no wonder they 're talking about `` talk to her . ''


with youthful high spirits , tautou remains captivating throughout michele 's religious and romantic quests , and she is backed by a likable cast .


if this is an example of the type of project that robert redford 's lab is willing to lend its imprimatur to , then perhaps it 's time to rethink independent films .


a great comedy filmmaker knows great comedy need n't always make us laugh .


while this film is not in the least surprising , it is still ultimately very satisfying .


recalls quiet freak-outs like l'avventura and repulsion .


remarkably accessible and affecting .


writhing under dialogue like ` you 're from two different worlds ' and ` tonight the maid is a lie and this , this is who you are , ' this schlock-filled fairy tale hits new depths of unoriginality and predictability .


bourne , jason bourne .


this cheery , down-to-earth film is warm with the cozy feeling of relaxing around old friends .


plays as hollow catharsis , with lots of tears but very little in the way of insights .


will probably stay in the shadow of its two older , more accessible qatsi siblings .


what would jesus do if he was a film director ?


credibility sinks into a mire of sentiment .


director brian levant , who never strays far from his sitcom roots , skates blithely from one implausible situation to another , pausing only to tie up loose ends with more bows than you 'll find on a french poodle .


it 's hard to tell with all the crashing and banging where the salesmanship ends and the movie begins .


but it 's emotionally engrossing , too , thanks to strong , credible performances from the whole cast .


francophiles will snicker knowingly and you 'll want to slap them .


the pacing is glacial , the screenplay is stiff as a board , and things heat up only in the movie 's final scenes .


-lrb- plays -rrb- in broad outline as pandering middle-age buddy-comedy .


one hour photo is an intriguing snapshot of one man and his delusions ; it 's just too bad it does n't have more flashes of insight .


a one-trick pony whose few t&a bits still ca n't save itself from being unoriginal , unfunny and unrecommendable .


this examination of aquatic life off the shores of the baja california peninsula of mexico offers an engrossing way to demonstrate the virtues of the imax format .


an ungainly , comedy-deficient , b-movie rush job ...


will only satisfy those who ca n't tell the difference between the good , the bad and the ugly .


if this movie were a book , it would be a page-turner , you ca n't wait to see what happens next .


` dragonfly ' is a movie about a bus wreck that turns into a film wreck .


-lrb- villeneuve -rrb- seems to realize intuitively that even morality is reduced to an option by the ultimate mysteries of life and death .


hits one out of the park for the ` they do n't make 'em like that anymore ' department .


rather , you 'll have to wrestle disbelief to the ground and then apply the chloroform-soaked handkerchief .


feel bad for king , who 's honestly trying , and schwartzman , who 's shot himself in the foot .


it 's also clear from the start that the transporter is running purely on adrenaline , and once the initial high wears off , the film 's shortcomings start to shine through .


involving at times , but lapses quite casually into the absurd .


for benigni it was n't shakespeare whom he wanted to define his career with but pinocchio .


starts off with a bang , but then fizzles like a wet stick of dynamite at the very end .


together , tok and o orchestrate a buoyant , darkly funny dance of death .


de niro looks bored , murphy recycles murphy , and you mentally add showtime to the pile of hollywood dreck that represents nothing more than the art of the deal .


the film 's real appeal wo n't be to clooney fans or adventure buffs , but to moviegoers who enjoy thinking about compelling questions with no easy answers .


guaranteed to move anyone who ever shook , rattled , or rolled .


unlike his directorial efforts , la femme nikita and the professional , the transporter lacks besson 's perspective as a storyteller .


at about 95 minutes , treasure planet maintains a brisk pace as it races through the familiar story .


this limp gender-bender-baller from a first-time director and rookie screenwriter steals wholesale from that 1982 's tootsie , forgetting only to retain a single laugh .


so stupid , so ill-conceived , so badly drawn , it created whole new levels of ugly .


there has been much puzzlement among critics about what the election symbolizes .


a masterful film from a master filmmaker , unique in its deceptive grimness , compelling in its fatalist worldview .


a great idea becomes a not-great movie .


an inspiring and heart-affecting film about the desperate attempts of vietnamese refugees living in u.s. relocation camps to keep their hopes alive in 1975 .


passion , lip-synching , tragedy , and lots of really really high notes .


its over-reliance on genre conventions , character types and formulaic conflict resolutions crushes all the goodwill it otherwise develops .


demme 's loose approach kills the suspense .


a gorgeous , somnolent show that is splendidly mummified and thoroughly unsurprising .


there is no insight into the anguish of heidi 's life -- only a depiction of pain , today 's version of greek tragedy , the talk-show guest decrying her fate .


even if you feel like you 've seen this movie a thousand times before , it is kind of enjoyable thanks mainly to belushi 's easy-going likableness .


harsh , effective documentary on life in the israeli-occupied palestinian territories .


steers turns in a snappy screenplay that curls at the edges ; it 's so clever you want to hate it .


this is what imax was made for : strap on a pair of 3-d goggles , shut out the real world , and take a vicarious voyage to the last frontier -- space .


though certainly original in form , altar boys requires a taste for swamp thing-type animation , doubled with a deafening score .


but this costly dud is a far cry from either the book or the beloved film .


the essential problem in orange county is that , having created an unusually vivid set of characters worthy of its strong cast , the film flounders when it comes to giving them something to do .


... if you 're in a mind set for goofy comedy , the troopers will entertain with their gross outs , bawdy comedy and head games .


a work of the utmost subtlety and perception , it marks the outstanding feature debut of writer-director eric byler , who understands the power of the implicit and the virtues of simplicity and economy .


there are just enough twists in the tale to make it far more satisfying than almost any horror film in recent memory .


... hudlin is stuck trying to light a fire with soggy leaves .


... a haunting vision , with images that seem more like disturbing hallucinations .


this kind of dark comedy requires a delicate , surgical touch .


hopkins .


consists of a plot and jokes done too often by people far more talented than ali g


a breezy , diverting , conventional , well-acted tale of two men locked in an ongoing game of cat-and-cat .


the premise is in extremely bad taste , and the film 's supposed insights are so poorly thought-out and substance-free that even a high school senior taking his or her first psychology class could dismiss them .


imagine a really bad community theater production of west side story without the songs .


an ironic speculation on democracy in a culture unaccustomed to it .


smith profiles five extraordinary american homes , and because the owners seem fully aware of the uses and abuses of fame , it 's a pleasure to enjoy their eccentricities .


it 's this memory-as-identity obviation that gives secret life its intermittent unease , reaffirming that long-held illusions are indeed reality , and that erasing them recasts the self .


with its hints of a greater intelligence lurking somewhere , the ring makes its stupidity more than obvious .


ja rule and kurupt should have gotten to rap .


an afterschool special without the courage of its convictions .


uneasy mishmash of styles and genres .


the period -- swinging london in the time of the mods and the rockers -- gets the once-over once again in gangster no. 1 , but falls apart long before the end .


earnest falls short of its ideal predecessor largely due to parker 's ill-advised meddling with the timeless source material .


tailored to entertain !


in his debut as a film director , denzel washington delivers a lean and engaging work .


the scope of the silberstein family is large and we grow attached to their lives , full of strength , warmth and vitality . .


the tone is balanced , reflective and reasonable .


but you 'll definitely want the t-shirt .


a real story about real people living their lives concerned about the future of an elderly , mentally handicapped family member .


or , you can do something fun tonight .


if shayamalan wanted to tell a story about a man who loses his faith , why did n't he just do it , instead of using bad sci-fi as window dressing ?


the way coppola professes his love for movies -- both colorful pop junk and the classics that unequivocally qualify as art -- is giddily entertaining .


an intimate , good-humored ethnic comedy like numerous others but cuts deeper than expected .


fans of the animated wildlife adventure show will be in warthog heaven ; others need not necessarily apply .


the story loses its bite in a last-minute happy ending that 's even less plausible than the rest of the picture .


it is interesting and fun to see goodall and her chimpanzees on the bigger-than-life screen .


despite its good nature and some genuinely funny moments , super troopers suffers from a bad case of arrested development .


branagh , in his most forceful non-shakespeare screen performance , grounds even the softest moments in the angry revolt of his wit .


a droll , well-acted , character-driven comedy with unexpected deposits of feeling .


the screenplay sabotages the movie 's strengths at almost every juncture .


a beautiful and haunting examination of the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the mundane horrors of the world .


he 'd create a movie better than this .


my response to the film is best described as lukewarm .


diane lane shines in unfaithful .


drags along in a dazed and enervated , drenched-in-the - past numbness .


thurman and lewis are hilarious throughout .


extreme oops - oops , ops , no matter how you spell it , it 's still a mistake to go see it .


an uneven film dealing with too many problems to be taken seriously .


ana is a vivid , vibrant individual and the movie 's focus upon her makes it successful and accessible .


a few artsy flourishes aside , narc is as gritty as a movie gets these days .


even if the ride 's a little bumpy , with a final lap that 's all too suspiciously smooth , you gotta give director roger michell , best known for the superfluous notting hill , credit for trying .


... a polished and relatively sincere piece of escapism .


both stars manage to be funny , but , like the recent i spy , the star chemistry begs the question of whether random gags add up to a movie .


as an entertainment , the movie keeps you diverted and best of all , it lightens your wallet without leaving a sting .


aspires for the piquant but only really achieves a sort of ridiculous sourness .


chicago is , in many ways , an admirable achievement .


fisher has bared his soul and confronted his own shortcomings here in a way ... that feels very human and very true to life .


a disturbing and frighteningly evocative assembly of imagery and hypnotic music composed by philip glass .


the warm presence of zhao benshan makes the preposterous lying hero into something more than he reasonably should be .


a charming yet poignant tale of the irrevocable ties that bind .


`` my god , i 'm behaving like an idiot ! ''


or some damn thing .


its mysteries are transparently obvious , and it 's too slowly paced to be a thriller .


its gross-out gags and colorful set pieces ... are of course stultifyingly contrived and too stylized by half .


there is a refreshing absence of cynicism in stuart little 2 -- quite a rarity , even in the family film market .


creepy but ultimately unsatisfying thriller .


without resorting to hyperbole , i can state that kissing jessica stein may be the best same-sex romance i have seen .


a sensitive and expertly acted crowd-pleaser that is n't above a little broad comedy and a few unabashedly sentimental tears .


the experience of watching blobby old-school cgi animation in this superlarge format is just surreal enough to be diverting .


... too slow , too boring , and occasionally annoying .


this is pretty dicey material .


the premise is overshadowed by the uberviolence of the clericks as this becomes just another kung-fu sci-fi movie with silly action sequences .


as is most commonly case with projects such noble and lofty ambitions , the film is less poetic than simply pretentious .


subversive , meditative , clinical and poetic , the piano teacher is a daring work of genius .


-lrb- a -rrb- hollywood sheen bedevils the film from the very beginning ... -lrb- but -rrb- lohman 's moist , deeply emotional eyes shine through this bogus veneer ...


it does n't do the original any particular dishonor , but neither does it exude any charm or personality .


beers , who , when she 's given the right lines , can charm the paint off the wall ... -lrb- but -rrb- the script goes wrong at several key junctures .


... blade ii is more enjoyable than the original .


there 's suspension of disbelief and then there 's bad screenwriting ... this film packs a wallop of the latter .


an often-deadly boring , strange reading of a classic whose witty dialogue is treated with a baffling casual approach


the problem with concept films is that if the concept is a poor one , there 's no saving the movie .


safe conduct , however ambitious and well-intentioned , fails to hit the entertainment bull 's - eye .


a film made with as little wit , interest , and professionalism as artistically possible for a slummy hollywood caper flick .


to enjoy this movie 's sharp dialogue and delightful performance by jolie and burns , you have to gloss over the no sense ending .


but here 's the real damn : it is n't funny , either .