no amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are ` german-expressionist , ' according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable .


hawn and sarandon form an acting bond that makes the banger sisters a fascinating character study with laughs to spare .


there 's nothing to gain from watching they .


how this one escaped the lifetime network i 'll never know .

an overstylized , puréed mélange of sex , psychology , drugs and philosophy .


it all plays out ... like a high-end john hughes comedy , a kind of elder bueller 's time out .


a hugely rewarding experience that 's every bit as enlightening , insightful and entertaining as grant 's two best films -- four weddings and a funeral and bridget jones 's diary .

i love the opening scenes of a wintry new york city in 1899 .


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


i have a new favorite musical -- and i 'm not even a fan of the genre

the wild thornberrys movie is pleasant enough and the message of our close ties with animals can certainly not be emphasized enough .


first , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .


even with all its botches , enigma offers all the pleasure of a handsome and well-made entertainment .

a good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .


nothing happens , and it happens to flat characters .


the low-key direction is pleasingly emphatic in this properly intense , claustrophobic tale of obsessive love .

as a film director , labute continues to improve .


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


snoots will no doubt rally to its cause , trotting out threadbare standbys like ` masterpiece ' and ` triumph ' and all that malarkey , but rarely does an established filmmaker so ardently waste viewers ' time with a gobbler like this .

i 'd be hard pressed to think of a film more cloyingly sappy than evelyn this year .


the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


the film starts promisingly , but the ending is all too predictable and far too cliched to really work .

but there 's plenty to offend everyone ...


the re-release of ron howard 's apollo 13 in the imax format proves absolutely that really , really , really good things can come in enormous packages .


full frontal , which opens today nationwide , could almost be classified as a movie-industry satire , but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre 's definitive , if disingenuous , feature .

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


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


there 's a whole heap of nothing at the core of this slight coming-of-age\/coming-out tale .


with an unusual protagonist -lrb- a kilt-wearing jackson -rrb- and subject matter , the improbable `` formula 51 '' is somewhat entertaining , but it could have been much stronger .


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

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 .


serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .


a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .


it celebrates the group 's playful spark of nonconformity , glancing vividly back at what hibiscus grandly called his ` angels of light . '

the emotion is impressively true for being so hot-blooded , and both leads are up to the task .


michele is a such a brainless flibbertigibbet that it 's hard to take her spiritual quest at all seriously .


it ai n't art , by a long shot , but unlike last year 's lame musketeer , this dumas adaptation entertains .

there are so few films about the plight of american indians in modern america that skins comes as a welcome , if downbeat , missive from a forgotten front .


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


` film aficionados can not help but love cinema paradiso , whether the original version or new director 's cut . '


a soul-stirring documentary about the israeli\/palestinian conflict as revealed through the eyes of some children who remain curious about each other against all odds .

with this masterful , flawless film , -lrb- wang -rrb- emerges in the front ranks of china 's now numerous , world-renowned filmmakers .


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


it 's good , hard-edged stuff , violent and a bit exploitative but also nicely done , morally alert and street-smart .


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


hollywood ending is the most disappointing woody allen movie ever .

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


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


if you 're the kind of parent who enjoys intentionally introducing your kids to films which will cause loads of irreparable damage that years and years of costly analysis could never fix , i have just one word for you - -- decasia


the problem with the bread , my sweet is that it 's far too sentimental .


a bittersweet contemporary comedy about benevolent deception , which , while it may not rival the filmmaker 's period pieces , is still very much worth seeing .


and they succeed merrily at their noble endeavor .

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 .


adrift , bentley and hudson stare and sniffle , respectively , as ledger attempts , in vain , to prove that movie-star intensity can overcome bad hair design .


make like the title and dodge this one .

... the whole thing succeeded only in making me groggy .


and , there 's no way you wo n't be talking about the film once you exit the theater .


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

below may not mark mr. twohy 's emergence into the mainstream , but his promise remains undiminished .


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


a dark comedy that goes for sick and demented humor simply to do so .


on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .


a harrowing account of a psychological breakdown .


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


imagine kevin smith , the blasphemous bad boy of suburban jersey , if he were stripped of most of his budget and all of his sense of humor .


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


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

first , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .


with this masterful , flawless film , -lrb- wang -rrb- emerges in the front ranks of china 's now numerous , world-renowned filmmakers .


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 .

one of the most gloriously unsubtle and adrenalized extreme shockers since the evil dead .


the country bears wastes an exceptionally good idea .


a droll , bitchy frolic which pokes fun at the price of popularity and small-town pretension in the lone star state .


the story 's scope and pageantry are mesmerizing , and mr. day-lewis roars with leonine power .


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

although god is great addresses interesting matters of identity and heritage , it 's hard to shake the feeling that it was intended to be a different kind of film .


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


ourside the theatre roger might be intolerable company , but inside it he 's well worth spending some time with .

it 's good , hard-edged stuff , violent and a bit exploitative but also nicely done , morally alert and street-smart .


so devoid of pleasure or sensuality that it can not even be dubbed hedonistic .


a baffling mixed platter of gritty realism and magic realism with a hard-to-swallow premise .

enough is not a bad movie , just mediocre .


your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


a fake street drama that keeps telling you things instead of showing them .


adam sandler 's heart may be in the right place , but he needs to pull his head out of his butt

a seriously bad film with seriously warped logic by writer-director kurt wimmer at the screenplay level .


blessed with a searing lead performance by ryan gosling -lrb- murder by numbers -rrb- , the movie is powerful and provocative .


the film has -lrb- its -rrb- moments , but they are few and far between .

if ever such a dependable concept was botched in execution , this is it .


below may not mark mr. twohy 's emergence into the mainstream , but his promise remains undiminished .


woody allen has really found his groove these days .

the wild thornberrys movie is pleasant enough and the message of our close ties with animals can certainly not be emphasized enough .


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

little more than a well-mounted history lesson .


it establishes its ominous mood and tension swiftly , and if the suspense never rises to a higher level , it is nevertheless maintained throughout .


i 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal - arnold is not , nor will he be , back .

the film has -lrb- its -rrb- moments , but they are few and far between .


mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


nothing happens , and it happens to flat characters .

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


with an admirably dark first script by brent hanley , paxton , making his directorial feature debut , does strong , measured work .


the film has a terrific look and salma hayek has a feel for the character at all stages of her life .

an uncluttered , resonant gem that relays its universal points without lectures or confrontations . '


ah , yes , that would be me : fighting off the urge to doze .


while easier to sit through than most of jaglom 's self-conscious and gratingly irritating films , it 's still tainted by cliches , painful improbability and murky points .

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


ourside the theatre roger might be intolerable company , but inside it he 's well worth spending some time with .


a film of delicate interpersonal dances .

although shot with little style , skins is heartfelt and achingly real .


it 's just that it 's so not-at-all-good .


like the hanks character , he 's a slow study : the action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed .

director elie chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?


this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .


with this masterful , flawless film , -lrb- wang -rrb- emerges in the front ranks of china 's now numerous , world-renowned filmmakers .

and they succeed merrily at their noble endeavor .


adam sandler 's heart may be in the right place , but he needs to pull his head out of his butt


first , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .


an essentially awkward version of the lightweight female empowerment picture we 've been watching for decades

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


serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .


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


what makes the film special is the refreshingly unhibited enthusiasm that the people , in spite of clearly evident poverty and hardship , bring to their music .


but unless you 're an absolute raving star wars junkie , it is n't much fun .

a seriously bad film with seriously warped logic by writer-director kurt wimmer at the screenplay level .


the emotion is impressively true for being so hot-blooded , and both leads are up to the task .


if you 're as happy listening to movies as you are watching them , and the slow parade of human frailty fascinates you , then you 're at the right film .

your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , madonna 's cameo does n't suck !


i 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal - arnold is not , nor will he be , back .


the movie is so resolutely cobbled together out of older movies that it even uses a totally unnecessary prologue , just because it seems obligatory .


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

the story 's scope and pageantry are mesmerizing , and mr. day-lewis roars with leonine power .


there 's nothing to gain from watching they .


the script was reportedly rewritten a dozen times -- either 11 times too many or else too few .

this bond film goes off the beaten path , not necessarily for the better .


-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 .


first-time director joão pedro rodrigues ' unwillingness to define his hero 's background or motivations becomes more and more frustrating as the film goes on .


a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .

although shot with little style , skins is heartfelt and achingly real .


pretend like your sat scores are below 120 and you might not notice the flaws .


imamura has said that warm water under a red bridge is a poem to the enduring strengths of women .


how this one escaped the lifetime network i 'll never know .


and , there 's no way you wo n't be talking about the film once you exit the theater .

one of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of acting , direction , story and pace .


there 's nothing to gain from watching they .

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 .


the lady and the duke is a smart , romantic drama that dares to depict the french revolution from the aristocrats ' perspective .


imagine susan sontag falling in love with howard stern .

its initial excitement settles into a warmed over pastiche .


what makes the film special is the refreshingly unhibited enthusiasm that the people , in spite of clearly evident poverty and hardship , bring to their music .


offers a clear-eyed chronicle of a female friendship that is more complex and honest than anything represented in a hollywood film .


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


too much of storytelling moves away from solondz 's social critique , casting its audience as that of intellectual lector in contemplation of the auteur 's professional injuries .

a sham construct based on theory , sleight-of-hand , and ill-wrought hypothesis .


with an admirably dark first script by brent hanley , paxton , making his directorial feature debut , does strong , measured work .


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

mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


a sham construct based on theory , sleight-of-hand , and ill-wrought hypothesis .


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


has all the complexity and realistic human behavior of an episode of general hospital .

director elie chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?


dogtown & z-boys evokes the blithe rebel fantasy with the kind of insouciance embedded in the sexy demise of james dean .


visually breathtaking , viscerally exciting , and dramatically moving , it 's the very definition of epic adventure .

... by the time it 's done with us , mira nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery , of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over .


a loud , brash and mainly unfunny high school comedy .


with so many bad romances out there , this is the kind of movie that deserves a chance to shine .


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

an edifying glimpse into the wit and revolutionary spirit of these performers and their era .


i 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal - arnold is not , nor will he be , back .


this gorgeous epic is guaranteed to lift the spirits of the whole family .


like life on the island , the movie grows boring despite the scenery .

how this one escaped the lifetime network i 'll never know .


it 's about issues most adults have to face in marriage and i think that 's what i liked about it -- the real issues tucked between the silly and crude storyline .


cherry orchard is badly edited , often awkwardly directed and suffers from the addition of a wholly unnecessary pre-credit sequence designed to give some of the characters a ` back story . '

a waterlogged version of ` fatal attraction ' for the teeny-bopper set ... a sad , soggy potboiler that wastes the talents of its attractive young leads .


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


i 'd be hard pressed to think of a film more cloyingly sappy than evelyn this year .


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


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


an edifying glimpse into the wit and revolutionary spirit of these performers and their era .

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


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

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


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


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

a soul-stirring documentary about the israeli\/palestinian conflict as revealed through the eyes of some children who remain curious about each other against all odds .


enough is not a bad movie , just mediocre .


the film , despite the gratuitous cinematic distractions impressed upon it , is still good fun .


anyone who suffers through this film deserves , at the very least , a big box of consolation candy .


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

these people are really going to love the piano teacher .


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


while insomnia is in many ways a conventional , even predictable remake , nolan 's penetrating undercurrent of cerebral and cinemantic flair lends -lrb- it -rrb- stimulating depth .


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


the characters are more deeply thought through than in most ` right-thinking ' films .

with this masterful , flawless film , -lrb- wang -rrb- emerges in the front ranks of china 's now numerous , world-renowned filmmakers .


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


i love the opening scenes of a wintry new york city in 1899 .

a good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .


although god is great addresses interesting matters of identity and heritage , it 's hard to shake the feeling that it was intended to be a different kind of film .


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


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


no amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are ` german-expressionist , ' according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable .


i have a new favorite musical -- and i 'm not even a fan of the genre


a lightweight , uneven action comedy that freely mingles french , japanese and hollywood cultures .

dull , a road-trip movie that 's surprisingly short of both adventure and song .


dogtown & z-boys evokes the blithe rebel fantasy with the kind of insouciance embedded in the sexy demise of james dean .


offers a clear-eyed chronicle of a female friendship that is more complex and honest than anything represented in a hollywood film .

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


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


if you 're the kind of parent who enjoys intentionally introducing your kids to films which will cause loads of irreparable damage that years and years of costly analysis could never fix , i have just one word for you - -- decasia

a droll , bitchy frolic which pokes fun at the price of popularity and small-town pretension in the lone star state .


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


an overstylized , puréed mélange of sex , psychology , drugs and philosophy .

the film was produced by jerry bruckheimer and directed by joel schumacher , and reflects the worst of their shallow styles : wildly overproduced , inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one -lrb- and no one -rrb- .


-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 .


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

a weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern l.a. 's show-biz and media subcultures .


to the filmmakers , ivan is a prince of a fellow , but he comes across as shallow and glib though not mean-spirited , and there 's no indication that he 's been responsible for putting together any movies of particular value or merit .


a loud , brash and mainly unfunny high school comedy .

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


the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


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 .


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

a harrowing account of a psychological breakdown .


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


woven together handsomely , recalling sixties ' rockumentary milestones from lonely boy to do n't look back .

ourside the theatre roger might be intolerable company , but inside it he 's well worth spending some time with .


below may not mark mr. twohy 's emergence into the mainstream , but his promise remains undiminished .

a good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .


mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


spielberg 's picture is smarter and subtler than -lrb- total recall and blade runner -rrb- , although its plot may prove too convoluted for fun-seeking summer audiences .

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


true to its animatronic roots : ... as stiff , ponderous and charmless as a mechanical apparatus ... ` the country bears ' should never have been brought out of hibernation .


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

its initial excitement settles into a warmed over pastiche .


it ai n't art , by a long shot , but unlike last year 's lame musketeer , this dumas adaptation entertains .


but seriously , folks , it does n't work .

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


an improvement on the feeble examples of big-screen poke-mania that have preceded it .


fortunately , elling never gets too cloying thanks to the actors ' perfect comic timing and sweet , genuine chemistry .

i love the opening scenes of a wintry new york city in 1899 .


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


your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , madonna 's cameo does n't suck !

an uncluttered , resonant gem that relays its universal points without lectures or confrontations . '


an inexperienced director , mehta has much to learn .


woven together handsomely , recalling sixties ' rockumentary milestones from lonely boy to do n't look back .


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

... unlike -lrb- scorsese 's mean streets -rrb- , ash wednesday is essentially devoid of interesting characters or even a halfway intriguing plot .


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


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

director elie chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?


with an unusual protagonist -lrb- a kilt-wearing jackson -rrb- and subject matter , the improbable `` formula 51 '' is somewhat entertaining , but it could have been much stronger .


at times , the movie looks genuinely pretty .


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


enough is not a bad movie , just mediocre .

imagine kevin smith , the blasphemous bad boy of suburban jersey , if he were stripped of most of his budget and all of his sense of humor .


dark and unrepentant , this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten .


almodovar is an imaginative teacher of emotional intelligence in this engaging film about two men who discover what william james once called ` the gift of tears . '

serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .


a portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake .

fortunately , elling never gets too cloying thanks to the actors ' perfect comic timing and sweet , genuine chemistry .


yet another iteration of what 's become one of the movies ' creepiest conventions , in which the developmentally disabled are portrayed with almost supernatural powers to humble , teach and ultimately redeem their mentally `` superior '' friends , family ...


an enjoyable comedy of lingual and cultural differences ... the château is a film -- full of life and small delights -- that has all the wiggling energy of young kitten .

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


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


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

the characters are more deeply thought through than in most ` right-thinking ' films .


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

a weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern l.a. 's show-biz and media subcultures .


while easier to sit through than most of jaglom 's self-conscious and gratingly irritating films , it 's still tainted by cliches , painful improbability and murky points .


even accepting this in the right frame of mind can only provide it with so much leniency .

it 's difficult to conceive of anyone who has reached puberty actually finding the characters in slackers or their antics amusing , let alone funny .


this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .


... the whole thing succeeded only in making me groggy .

gets the look and the period trappings right , but it otherwise drowns in a sea of visual and verbal clichés .


your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


angel presents events partly from the perspective of aurelie and christelle , and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .


if ever such a dependable concept was botched in execution , this is it .


rarely does a film so graceless and devoid of merit as this one come along .

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


turturro is fabulously funny and over the top as a ` very sneaky ' butler who excels in the art of impossible disappearing\/reappearing acts


it must be the end of the world : the best film so far this year is a franchise sequel starring wesley snipes .

it all plays out ... like a high-end john hughes comedy , a kind of elder bueller 's time out .


this bond film goes off the beaten path , not necessarily for the better .


it 's about issues most adults have to face in marriage and i think that 's what i liked about it -- the real issues tucked between the silly and crude storyline .


the movie is so resolutely cobbled together out of older movies that it even uses a totally unnecessary prologue , just because it seems obligatory .


it 's fairly solid -- not to mention well edited so that it certainly does n't feel like a film that strays past the two and a half mark .

the film has a terrific look and salma hayek has a feel for the character at all stages of her life .


adults , other than the parents ... will be hard pressed to succumb to the call of the wild .


but the movie 's narrative hook is way too muddled to be an effectively chilling guilty pleasure .

what 's hard to understand is why anybody picked it up .


hawn and sarandon form an acting bond that makes the banger sisters a fascinating character study with laughs to spare .


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


on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .


if you 're willing to have fun with it , you wo n't feel cheated by the high infidelity of unfaithful .

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


a fake street drama that keeps telling you things instead of showing them .

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


the story 's scope and pageantry are mesmerizing , and mr. day-lewis roars with leonine power .

all leather pants & augmented boobs , hawn is hilarious as she tries to resuscitate the fun-loving libertine lost somewhere inside the conservative , handbag-clutching sarandon .


the script was reportedly rewritten a dozen times -- either 11 times too many or else too few .


a bittersweet contemporary comedy about benevolent deception , which , while it may not rival the filmmaker 's period pieces , is still very much worth seeing .

the movie is hardly a masterpiece , but it does mark ms. bullock 's best work in some time .


cherry orchard is badly edited , often awkwardly directed and suffers from the addition of a wholly unnecessary pre-credit sequence designed to give some of the characters a ` back story . '


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

it 's fairly solid -- not to mention well edited so that it certainly does n't feel like a film that strays past the two and a half mark .


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


the lady and the duke is a smart , romantic drama that dares to depict the french revolution from the aristocrats ' perspective .

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


hollywood ending is the most disappointing woody allen movie ever .


adrift , bentley and hudson stare and sniffle , respectively , as ledger attempts , in vain , to prove that movie-star intensity can overcome bad hair design .


while insomnia is in many ways a conventional , even predictable remake , nolan 's penetrating undercurrent of cerebral and cinemantic flair lends -lrb- it -rrb- stimulating depth .


` film aficionados can not help but love cinema paradiso , whether the original version or new director 's cut . '


if you 're the kind of parent who enjoys intentionally introducing your kids to films which will cause loads of irreparable damage that years and years of costly analysis could never fix , i have just one word for you - -- decasia


pretend like your sat scores are below 120 and you might not notice the flaws .


a harrowing account of a psychological breakdown .


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

adam sandler 's heart may be in the right place , but he needs to pull his head out of his butt


it all plays out ... like a high-end john hughes comedy , a kind of elder bueller 's time out .


little more than a well-mounted history lesson .


a weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern l.a. 's show-biz and media subcultures .


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

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


as a film director , labute continues to improve .


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


a rambling ensemble piece with loosely connected characters and plots that never quite gel .

a sham construct based on theory , sleight-of-hand , and ill-wrought hypothesis .


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


dogtown & z-boys evokes the blithe rebel fantasy with the kind of insouciance embedded in the sexy demise of james dean .

blessed with a searing lead performance by ryan gosling -lrb- murder by numbers -rrb- , the movie is powerful and provocative .


yet another iteration of what 's become one of the movies ' creepiest conventions , in which the developmentally disabled are portrayed with almost supernatural powers to humble , teach and ultimately redeem their mentally `` superior '' friends , family ...


the lively appeal of the last kiss lies in the ease with which it integrates thoughtfulness and pasta-fagioli comedy .


how this one escaped the lifetime network i 'll never know .


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


a portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake .


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

a lightweight , uneven action comedy that freely mingles french , japanese and hollywood cultures .


one of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of acting , direction , story and pace .

on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .


the film was produced by jerry bruckheimer and directed by joel schumacher , and reflects the worst of their shallow styles : wildly overproduced , inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one -lrb- and no one -rrb- .


one ca n't shake the feeling that crossroads is nothing more than an hour-and-a-half-long commercial for britney 's latest album .

... unlike -lrb- scorsese 's mean streets -rrb- , ash wednesday is essentially devoid of interesting characters or even a halfway intriguing plot .


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


spider-man is about growing strange hairs , getting a more mature body , and finding it necessary to hide new secretions from the parental units .

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


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


as a film director , labute continues to improve .


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


its initial excitement settles into a warmed over pastiche .

adrift , bentley and hudson stare and sniffle , respectively , as ledger attempts , in vain , to prove that movie-star intensity can overcome bad hair design .


with so many bad romances out there , this is the kind of movie that deserves a chance to shine .


true to its animatronic roots : ... as stiff , ponderous and charmless as a mechanical apparatus ... ` the country bears ' should never have been brought out of hibernation .


the wild thornberrys movie is pleasant enough and the message of our close ties with animals can certainly not be emphasized enough .

this gorgeous epic is guaranteed to lift the spirits of the whole family .


does n't deserve a passing grade -lrb- even on a curve -rrb- .


the emotion is impressively true for being so hot-blooded , and both leads are up to the task .

almodovar is an imaginative teacher of emotional intelligence in this engaging film about two men who discover what william james once called ` the gift of tears . '


there 's a whole heap of nothing at the core of this slight coming-of-age\/coming-out tale .


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


it 's a funny little movie with clever dialogue and likeable characters .


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

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


although god is great addresses interesting matters of identity and heritage , it 's hard to shake the feeling that it was intended to be a different kind of film .


it 's just that it 's so not-at-all-good .

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


-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 .


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

but there 's plenty to offend everyone ...


it establishes its ominous mood and tension swiftly , and if the suspense never rises to a higher level , it is nevertheless maintained throughout .

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


the film was produced by jerry bruckheimer and directed by joel schumacher , and reflects the worst of their shallow styles : wildly overproduced , inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one -lrb- and no one -rrb- .


... by the time it 's done with us , mira nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery , of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over .


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


it 's a funny little movie with clever dialogue and likeable characters .

the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


the re-release of ron howard 's apollo 13 in the imax format proves absolutely that really , really , really good things can come in enormous packages .


mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


... unlike -lrb- scorsese 's mean streets -rrb- , ash wednesday is essentially devoid of interesting characters or even a halfway intriguing plot .

even accepting this in the right frame of mind can only provide it with so much leniency .


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


an improvement on the feeble examples of big-screen poke-mania that have preceded it .

although shot with little style , skins is heartfelt and achingly real .


an overstylized , puréed mélange of sex , psychology , drugs and philosophy .


a good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .


this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .

fortunately , elling never gets too cloying thanks to the actors ' perfect comic timing and sweet , genuine chemistry .


imagine susan sontag falling in love with howard stern .


it should be doing a lot of things , but does n't .

the movie is so resolutely cobbled together out of older movies that it even uses a totally unnecessary prologue , just because it seems obligatory .


your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , madonna 's cameo does n't suck !


undoubtedly the scariest movie ever made about tattoos .

it is scott 's convincing portrayal of roger the sad cad that really gives the film its oomph .


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


a pretty decent kid-pleasing , tolerable-to-adults lark of a movie .

a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .


chan 's stunts are limited and so embellished by editing that there 's really not much of a sense of action or even action-comedy .


a waterlogged version of ` fatal attraction ' for the teeny-bopper set ... a sad , soggy potboiler that wastes the talents of its attractive young leads .

despite terrific special effects and funnier gags , harry potter and the chamber of secrets finds a way to make j.k. rowling 's marvelous series into a deadly bore .


a film of delicate interpersonal dances .


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

with so many bad romances out there , this is the kind of movie that deserves a chance to shine .


full frontal , which opens today nationwide , could almost be classified as a movie-industry satire , but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre 's definitive , if disingenuous , feature .


the film was produced by jerry bruckheimer and directed by joel schumacher , and reflects the worst of their shallow styles : wildly overproduced , inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one -lrb- and no one -rrb- .

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


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

enough is not a bad movie , just mediocre .


with an admirably dark first script by brent hanley , paxton , making his directorial feature debut , does strong , measured work .


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

hawn and sarandon form an acting bond that makes the banger sisters a fascinating character study with laughs to spare .


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

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


serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .


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

does n't deserve a passing grade -lrb- even on a curve -rrb- .


dark and unrepentant , this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten .


lovingly photographed in the manner of a golden book sprung to life , stuart little 2 manages sweetness largely without stickiness .

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


but there 's plenty to offend everyone ...


on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .


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

your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


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


what makes the film special is the refreshingly unhibited enthusiasm that the people , in spite of clearly evident poverty and hardship , bring to their music .


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

adrift , bentley and hudson stare and sniffle , respectively , as ledger attempts , in vain , to prove that movie-star intensity can overcome bad hair design .


a film of delicate interpersonal dances .


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

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


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


all leather pants & augmented boobs , hawn is hilarious as she tries to resuscitate the fun-loving libertine lost somewhere inside the conservative , handbag-clutching sarandon .

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


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


woody allen has really found his groove these days .


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


... too contrived to be as naturally charming as it needs to be .

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


the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .

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


it 's just that it 's so not-at-all-good .


true to its animatronic roots : ... as stiff , ponderous and charmless as a mechanical apparatus ... ` the country bears ' should never have been brought out of hibernation .


the lively appeal of the last kiss lies in the ease with which it integrates thoughtfulness and pasta-fagioli comedy .


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


ah , yes , that would be me : fighting off the urge to doze .


hollywood ending is the most disappointing woody allen movie ever .


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

it 's difficult to conceive of anyone who has reached puberty actually finding the characters in slackers or their antics amusing , let alone funny .


it is scott 's convincing portrayal of roger the sad cad that really gives the film its oomph .

the movie is hardly a masterpiece , but it does mark ms. bullock 's best work in some time .


these people are really going to love the piano teacher .


a loud , brash and mainly unfunny high school comedy .


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

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


i have a new favorite musical -- and i 'm not even a fan of the genre


it 's difficult to conceive of anyone who has reached puberty actually finding the characters in slackers or their antics amusing , let alone funny .

a waterlogged version of ` fatal attraction ' for the teeny-bopper set ... a sad , soggy potboiler that wastes the talents of its attractive young leads .


and , there 's no way you wo n't be talking about the film once you exit the theater .


your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


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


if ever such a dependable concept was botched in execution , this is it .

little more than a well-mounted history lesson .


turturro is fabulously funny and over the top as a ` very sneaky ' butler who excels in the art of impossible disappearing\/reappearing acts


mostly , shafer and co-writer gregory hinton lack a strong-minded viewpoint , or a sense of humor .

an essentially awkward version of the lightweight female empowerment picture we 've been watching for decades


a buoyant romantic comedy about friendship , love , and the truth that we 're all in this together .

a good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .


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


after one gets the feeling that the typical hollywood disregard for historical truth and realism is at work here , it 's a matter of finding entertainment in the experiences of zishe and the fiery presence of hanussen .

there are so few films about the plight of american indians in modern america that skins comes as a welcome , if downbeat , missive from a forgotten front .


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


a seriously bad film with seriously warped logic by writer-director kurt wimmer at the screenplay level .

the film never finds its tone and several scenes run too long .


to the filmmakers , ivan is a prince of a fellow , but he comes across as shallow and glib though not mean-spirited , and there 's no indication that he 's been responsible for putting together any movies of particular value or merit .

no amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are ` german-expressionist , ' according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable .


the solid filmmaking and convincing characters makes this a high water mark for this genre .


chan 's stunts are limited and so embellished by editing that there 's really not much of a sense of action or even action-comedy .

how this one escaped the lifetime network i 'll never know .


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


as a feature-length film , it wears out its welcome as tryingly as the title character .

michele is a such a brainless flibbertigibbet that it 's hard to take her spiritual quest at all seriously .


this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .


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


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

there 's nothing to gain from watching they .


angel presents events partly from the perspective of aurelie and christelle , and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .


the solid filmmaking and convincing characters makes this a high water mark for this genre .

if you 're willing to have fun with it , you wo n't feel cheated by the high infidelity of unfaithful .


we just do n't really care too much about this love story .


the film never finds its tone and several scenes run too long .

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


a bittersweet contemporary comedy about benevolent deception , which , while it may not rival the filmmaker 's period pieces , is still very much worth seeing .


there 's got to be a more graceful way of portraying the devastation of this disease .


the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


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

the movie is so resolutely cobbled together out of older movies that it even uses a totally unnecessary prologue , just because it seems obligatory .


dark and unrepentant , this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten .


there 's got to be a more graceful way of portraying the devastation of this disease .

an overstylized , puréed mélange of sex , psychology , drugs and philosophy .


one of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of acting , direction , story and pace .


this is a fragmented film , once a good idea that was followed by the bad idea to turn it into a movie .

too much of storytelling moves away from solondz 's social critique , casting its audience as that of intellectual lector in contemplation of the auteur 's professional injuries .


the emotion is impressively true for being so hot-blooded , and both leads are up to the task .


this bond film goes off the beaten path , not necessarily for the better .

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


offers a clear-eyed chronicle of a female friendship that is more complex and honest than anything represented in a hollywood film .


a weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern l.a. 's show-biz and media subcultures .

although frailty fits into a classic genre , in its script and execution it is a remarkably original work .


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 .


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

woody allen has really found his groove these days .


has all the complexity and realistic human behavior of an episode of general hospital .


first-time director joão pedro rodrigues ' unwillingness to define his hero 's background or motivations becomes more and more frustrating as the film goes on .

mostly , shafer and co-writer gregory hinton lack a strong-minded viewpoint , or a sense of humor .


a portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake .


the country bears wastes an exceptionally good idea .

like life on the island , the movie grows boring despite the scenery .


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


yet another iteration of what 's become one of the movies ' creepiest conventions , in which the developmentally disabled are portrayed with almost supernatural powers to humble , teach and ultimately redeem their mentally `` superior '' friends , family ...


on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .


nothing happens , and it happens to flat characters .


the script has less spice than a rat burger and the rock 's fighting skills are more in line with steven seagal .

jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin , inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder .


the low-key direction is pleasingly emphatic in this properly intense , claustrophobic tale of obsessive love .


` film aficionados can not help but love cinema paradiso , whether the original version or new director 's cut . '

the lively appeal of the last kiss lies in the ease with which it integrates thoughtfulness and pasta-fagioli comedy .


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


never inspires more than an interested detachment .

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


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


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


it 's fairly solid -- not to mention well edited so that it certainly does n't feel like a film that strays past the two and a half mark .


talky , artificial and opaque ... an interesting technical exercise , but a tedious picture .

even accepting this in the right frame of mind can only provide it with so much leniency .


a moving tale of love and destruction in unexpected places , unexamined lives .


adults , other than the parents ... will be hard pressed to succumb to the call of the wild .

i 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal - arnold is not , nor will he be , back .


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


it all plays out ... like a high-end john hughes comedy , a kind of elder bueller 's time out .

` film aficionados can not help but love cinema paradiso , whether the original version or new director 's cut . '


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


so devoid of pleasure or sensuality that it can not even be dubbed hedonistic .

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


although shot with little style , skins is heartfelt and achingly real .


the story is bogus and its characters tissue-thin .

it should be doing a lot of things , but does n't .


with this masterful , flawless film , -lrb- wang -rrb- emerges in the front ranks of china 's now numerous , world-renowned filmmakers .


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

the characters are more deeply thought through than in most ` right-thinking ' films .


gets the look and the period trappings right , but it otherwise drowns in a sea of visual and verbal clichés .


a hugely rewarding experience that 's every bit as enlightening , insightful and entertaining as grant 's two best films -- four weddings and a funeral and bridget jones 's diary .


does n't deserve a passing grade -lrb- even on a curve -rrb- .


... by the time it 's done with us , mira nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery , of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over .

the lively appeal of the last kiss lies in the ease with which it integrates thoughtfulness and pasta-fagioli comedy .


the film was produced by jerry bruckheimer and directed by joel schumacher , and reflects the worst of their shallow styles : wildly overproduced , inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one -lrb- and no one -rrb- .


a lot more dimensional and complex than its sunny disposition would lead you to believe .


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


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

as a film director , labute continues to improve .


michele is a such a brainless flibbertigibbet that it 's hard to take her spiritual quest at all seriously .

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


i love the opening scenes of a wintry new york city in 1899 .


anyone who suffers through this film deserves , at the very least , a big box of consolation candy .

mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


it 's about issues most adults have to face in marriage and i think that 's what i liked about it -- the real issues tucked between the silly and crude storyline .


adrift , bentley and hudson stare and sniffle , respectively , as ledger attempts , in vain , to prove that movie-star intensity can overcome bad hair design .

adults , other than the parents ... will be hard pressed to succumb to the call of the wild .


after one gets the feeling that the typical hollywood disregard for historical truth and realism is at work here , it 's a matter of finding entertainment in the experiences of zishe and the fiery presence of hanussen .


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


wonder of wonders -- a teen movie with a humanistic message .

-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 .


make like the title and dodge this one .


what 's hard to understand is why anybody picked it up .

a rambling ensemble piece with loosely connected characters and plots that never quite gel .


nohe 's documentary about the event is sympathetic without being gullible : he is n't blind to the silliness , but also captures moments of spontaneous creativity and authentic co-operative interaction .

angel presents events partly from the perspective of aurelie and christelle , and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .


cherry orchard is badly edited , often awkwardly directed and suffers from the addition of a wholly unnecessary pre-credit sequence designed to give some of the characters a ` back story . '


it 's never dull and always looks good .


the script has less spice than a rat burger and the rock 's fighting skills are more in line with steven seagal .


one of the most gloriously unsubtle and adrenalized extreme shockers since the evil dead .

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


there 's nothing to gain from watching they .


although god is great addresses interesting matters of identity and heritage , it 's hard to shake the feeling that it was intended to be a different kind of film .

this bond film goes off the beaten path , not necessarily for the better .


the characters are more deeply thought through than in most ` right-thinking ' films .


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

a bittersweet contemporary comedy about benevolent deception , which , while it may not rival the filmmaker 's period pieces , is still very much worth seeing .


full frontal , which opens today nationwide , could almost be classified as a movie-industry satire , but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre 's definitive , if disingenuous , feature .


like the hanks character , he 's a slow study : the action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed .


turturro is fabulously funny and over the top as a ` very sneaky ' butler who excels in the art of impossible disappearing\/reappearing acts


gets the look and the period trappings right , but it otherwise drowns in a sea of visual and verbal clichés .

despite terrific special effects and funnier gags , harry potter and the chamber of secrets finds a way to make j.k. rowling 's marvelous series into a deadly bore .


dark and unrepentant , this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten .


maybe there 's a metaphor here , but figuring it out would n't make trouble every day any better .

the script was reportedly rewritten a dozen times -- either 11 times too many or else too few .


lovingly photographed in the manner of a golden book sprung to life , stuart little 2 manages sweetness largely without stickiness .


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


despite terrific special effects and funnier gags , harry potter and the chamber of secrets finds a way to make j.k. rowling 's marvelous series into a deadly bore .

the story is bogus and its characters tissue-thin .


with an admirably dark first script by brent hanley , paxton , making his directorial feature debut , does strong , measured work .

it 's fairly solid -- not to mention well edited so that it certainly does n't feel like a film that strays past the two and a half mark .


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


there are so few films about the plight of american indians in modern america that skins comes as a welcome , if downbeat , missive from a forgotten front .

a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .


make like the title and dodge this one .


an uncluttered , resonant gem that relays its universal points without lectures or confrontations . '


an inexperienced director , mehta has much to learn .


one of those films that seems tailor made to air on pay cable to offer some modest amusements when one has nothing else to watch .


although frailty fits into a classic genre , in its script and execution it is a remarkably original work .

blessed with a searing lead performance by ryan gosling -lrb- murder by numbers -rrb- , the movie is powerful and provocative .


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

no amount of arty theorizing -- the special effects are ` german-expressionist , ' according to the press notes -- can render it anything but laughable .


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


-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 .

it 's a day at the beach -- with air conditioning and popcorn .


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


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

your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


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


a raunchy and frequently hilarious follow-up to the gifted korean american stand-up 's i 'm the one that i want .

on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .


jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin , inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder .


serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .

... by the time it 's done with us , mira nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery , of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over .


director elie chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?


a lot more dimensional and complex than its sunny disposition would lead you to believe .


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


angel presents events partly from the perspective of aurelie and christelle , and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .

this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .


we just do n't really care too much about this love story .


with an unusual protagonist -lrb- a kilt-wearing jackson -rrb- and subject matter , the improbable `` formula 51 '' is somewhat entertaining , but it could have been much stronger .

all leather pants & augmented boobs , hawn is hilarious as she tries to resuscitate the fun-loving libertine lost somewhere inside the conservative , handbag-clutching sarandon .


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


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

it must be the end of the world : the best film so far this year is a franchise sequel starring wesley snipes .


the country bears wastes an exceptionally good idea .


a moving tale of love and destruction in unexpected places , unexamined lives .


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


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

an inexperienced director , mehta has much to learn .


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


another trumpet blast that there may be a new mexican cinema a-bornin ' . '

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


... the whole thing succeeded only in making me groggy .


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

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


one ca n't shake the feeling that crossroads is nothing more than an hour-and-a-half-long commercial for britney 's latest album .


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


if you 're as happy listening to movies as you are watching them , and the slow parade of human frailty fascinates you , then you 're at the right film .


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

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


it 's never dull and always looks good .


the movie is hardly a masterpiece , but it does mark ms. bullock 's best work in some time .

a raunchy and frequently hilarious follow-up to the gifted korean american stand-up 's i 'm the one that i want .


but there 's plenty to offend everyone ...


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


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


the film is so busy making reference to other films and trying to be other films that it fails to have a heart , mind or humor of its own .

the problem with the bread , my sweet is that it 's far too sentimental .


ah , yes , that would be me : fighting off the urge to doze .

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


as a film director , labute continues to improve .


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


a weird little movie that 's amusing enough while you watch it , offering fine acting moments and pungent insights into modern l.a. 's show-biz and media subcultures .


on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , the powerpuff girls is a fast , frenetic , funny , even punny 6 -- aimed specifically at a grade-school audience .

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


but unless you 're an absolute raving star wars junkie , it is n't much fun .


a good film with a solid pedigree both in front of and , more specifically , behind the camera .

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


impostor is a step down for director gary fleder .

a dark comedy that goes for sick and demented humor simply to do so .


what makes the film special is the refreshingly unhibited enthusiasm that the people , in spite of clearly evident poverty and hardship , bring to their music .


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

woody allen has really found his groove these days .


little more than a well-mounted history lesson .


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

an enjoyable comedy of lingual and cultural differences ... the château is a film -- full of life and small delights -- that has all the wiggling energy of young kitten .


mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


director elie chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?


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


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

has all the complexity and realistic human behavior of an episode of general hospital .


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


we just do n't really care too much about this love story .

director elie chouraqui , who co-wrote the script , catches the chaotic horror of war , but why bother if you 're going to subjugate truth to the tear-jerking demands of soap opera ?


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


an essentially awkward version of the lightweight female empowerment picture we 've been watching for decades


... by the time it 's done with us , mira nair 's new movie has its audience giddy with the delight of discovery , of having been immersed in a foreign culture only to find that human nature is pretty much the same all over .


blessed with a searing lead performance by ryan gosling -lrb- murder by numbers -rrb- , the movie is powerful and provocative .

the emotion is impressively true for being so hot-blooded , and both leads are up to the task .


what 's hard to understand is why anybody picked it up .


the country bears wastes an exceptionally good idea .


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


although shot with little style , skins is heartfelt and achingly real .

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


if ever such a dependable concept was botched in execution , this is it .


jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin , inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder .

hollywood ending is the most disappointing woody allen movie ever .


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


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

a hugely rewarding experience that 's every bit as enlightening , insightful and entertaining as grant 's two best films -- four weddings and a funeral and bridget jones 's diary .


jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin , inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder .


your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .

and they succeed merrily at their noble endeavor .


like the hanks character , he 's a slow study : the action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed .


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 .

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


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


the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


it should be doing a lot of things , but does n't .


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


the low-key direction is pleasingly emphatic in this properly intense , claustrophobic tale of obsessive love .


it 's a day at the beach -- with air conditioning and popcorn .

offers a clear-eyed chronicle of a female friendship that is more complex and honest than anything represented in a hollywood film .


mostly , shafer and co-writer gregory hinton lack a strong-minded viewpoint , or a sense of humor .


a harrowing account of a psychological breakdown .

with so many bad romances out there , this is the kind of movie that deserves a chance to shine .


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


there are now two signs that m. night shyamalan 's debut feature sucked up all he has to give to the mystic genres of cinema : unbreakable and signs .

the film never finds its tone and several scenes run too long .


dark and unrepentant , this excursion into the epicenter of percolating mental instability is not easily dismissed or forgotten .

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


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

a loud , brash and mainly unfunny high school comedy .


at times , the movie looks genuinely pretty .


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


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


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


nohe 's documentary about the event is sympathetic without being gullible : he is n't blind to the silliness , but also captures moments of spontaneous creativity and authentic co-operative interaction .


dull , a road-trip movie that 's surprisingly short of both adventure and song .

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


it all plays out ... like a high-end john hughes comedy , a kind of elder bueller 's time out .


does n't deserve a passing grade -lrb- even on a curve -rrb- .


the characters are more deeply thought through than in most ` right-thinking ' films .


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

talky , artificial and opaque ... an interesting technical exercise , but a tedious picture .


a compelling yarn , but not quite a ripping one .


what makes the film special is the refreshingly unhibited enthusiasm that the people , in spite of clearly evident poverty and hardship , bring to their music .


adrift , bentley and hudson stare and sniffle , respectively , as ledger attempts , in vain , to prove that movie-star intensity can overcome bad hair design .


hawn and sarandon form an acting bond that makes the banger sisters a fascinating character study with laughs to spare .

this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .


first , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .


how this one escaped the lifetime network i 'll never know .

like the hanks character , he 's a slow study : the action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed .


an edifying glimpse into the wit and revolutionary spirit of these performers and their era .


a hugely rewarding experience that 's every bit as enlightening , insightful and entertaining as grant 's two best films -- four weddings and a funeral and bridget jones 's diary .

your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , madonna 's cameo does n't suck !


i have a new favorite musical -- and i 'm not even a fan of the genre

undoubtedly the scariest movie ever made about tattoos .


but unless you 're an absolute raving star wars junkie , it is n't much fun .


first , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .

adults , other than the parents ... will be hard pressed to succumb to the call of the wild .


even with all its botches , enigma offers all the pleasure of a handsome and well-made entertainment .


its initial excitement settles into a warmed over pastiche .


the low-key direction is pleasingly emphatic in this properly intense , claustrophobic tale of obsessive love .

one of those rare films that come by once in a while with flawless amounts of acting , direction , story and pace .


spider-man is about growing strange hairs , getting a more mature body , and finding it necessary to hide new secretions from the parental units .


snoots will no doubt rally to its cause , trotting out threadbare standbys like ` masterpiece ' and ` triumph ' and all that malarkey , but rarely does an established filmmaker so ardently waste viewers ' time with a gobbler like this .


the film has a terrific look and salma hayek has a feel for the character at all stages of her life .


the film starts promisingly , but the ending is all too predictable and far too cliched to really work .

snoots will no doubt rally to its cause , trotting out threadbare standbys like ` masterpiece ' and ` triumph ' and all that malarkey , but rarely does an established filmmaker so ardently waste viewers ' time with a gobbler like this .


a portrait of hell so shattering it 's impossible to shake .


full frontal , which opens today nationwide , could almost be classified as a movie-industry satire , but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre 's definitive , if disingenuous , feature .

but seriously , folks , it does n't work .


there 's a whole heap of nothing at the core of this slight coming-of-age\/coming-out tale .


wonder of wonders -- a teen movie with a humanistic message .


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


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


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

this bond film goes off the beaten path , not necessarily for the better .


woven together handsomely , recalling sixties ' rockumentary milestones from lonely boy to do n't look back .


it celebrates the group 's playful spark of nonconformity , glancing vividly back at what hibiscus grandly called his ` angels of light . '

an enjoyable comedy of lingual and cultural differences ... the château is a film -- full of life and small delights -- that has all the wiggling energy of young kitten .


it ai n't art , by a long shot , but unlike last year 's lame musketeer , this dumas adaptation entertains .

the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


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


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


angel presents events partly from the perspective of aurelie and christelle , and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .


a soul-stirring documentary about the israeli\/palestinian conflict as revealed through the eyes of some children who remain curious about each other against all odds .

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


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


it 's good , hard-edged stuff , violent and a bit exploitative but also nicely done , morally alert and street-smart .

a soul-stirring documentary about the israeli\/palestinian conflict as revealed through the eyes of some children who remain curious about each other against all odds .


does n't deserve a passing grade -lrb- even on a curve -rrb- .


hollywood ending is the most disappointing woody allen movie ever .

an overstylized , puréed mélange of sex , psychology , drugs and philosophy .


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


a moving tale of love and destruction in unexpected places , unexamined lives .


the problem with the bread , my sweet is that it 's far too sentimental .

it 's just that it 's so not-at-all-good .


it 's good , hard-edged stuff , violent and a bit exploitative but also nicely done , morally alert and street-smart .


and they succeed merrily at their noble endeavor .

this gorgeous epic is guaranteed to lift the spirits of the whole family .


make like the title and dodge this one .

so devoid of pleasure or sensuality that it can not even be dubbed hedonistic .


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


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


this is a fragmented film , once a good idea that was followed by the bad idea to turn it into a movie .


a dark comedy that goes for sick and demented humor simply to do so .

true to its animatronic roots : ... as stiff , ponderous and charmless as a mechanical apparatus ... ` the country bears ' should never have been brought out of hibernation .


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


serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .


imagine kevin smith , the blasphemous bad boy of suburban jersey , if he were stripped of most of his budget and all of his sense of humor .

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


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

but unless you 're an absolute raving star wars junkie , it is n't much fun .


this comic gem is as delightful as it is derivative .


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 .

turturro is fabulously funny and over the top as a ` very sneaky ' butler who excels in the art of impossible disappearing\/reappearing acts


a droll , bitchy frolic which pokes fun at the price of popularity and small-town pretension in the lone star state .

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


it is scott 's convincing portrayal of roger the sad cad that really gives the film its oomph .


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

what 's hard to understand is why anybody picked it up .


a hugely rewarding experience that 's every bit as enlightening , insightful and entertaining as grant 's two best films -- four weddings and a funeral and bridget jones 's diary .


ourside the theatre roger might be intolerable company , but inside it he 's well worth spending some time with .

your 20th outing shows off a lot of stamina and vitality , and get this , madonna 's cameo does n't suck !


a baffling mixed platter of gritty realism and magic realism with a hard-to-swallow premise .

one of those films that seems tailor made to air on pay cable to offer some modest amusements when one has nothing else to watch .


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


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


jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin , inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder .


adam sandler 's heart may be in the right place , but he needs to pull his head out of his butt

the story is bogus and its characters tissue-thin .


your children will be occupied for 72 minutes .


the film has -lrb- its -rrb- moments , but they are few and far between .

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


hawn and sarandon form an acting bond that makes the banger sisters a fascinating character study with laughs to spare .


woody allen has really found his groove these days .

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


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


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


i 'm sorry to say that this should seal the deal - arnold is not , nor will he be , back .

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


a moving tale of love and destruction in unexpected places , unexamined lives .


mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .

full frontal , which opens today nationwide , could almost be classified as a movie-industry satire , but it lacks the generous inclusiveness that is the genre 's definitive , if disingenuous , feature .


nothing happens , and it happens to flat characters .

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


the banter between calvin and his fellow barbers feels like a streetwise mclaughlin group ... and never fails to entertain .


the film has a terrific look and salma hayek has a feel for the character at all stages of her life .

it celebrates the group 's playful spark of nonconformity , glancing vividly back at what hibiscus grandly called his ` angels of light . '


mr. wollter and ms. seldhal give strong and convincing performances , but neither reaches into the deepest recesses of the character to unearth the quaking essence of passion , grief and fear .


while easier to sit through than most of jaglom 's self-conscious and gratingly irritating films , it 's still tainted by cliches , painful improbability and murky points .


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


a film of delicate interpersonal dances .

the film , despite the gratuitous cinematic distractions impressed upon it , is still good fun .


does n't deserve a passing grade -lrb- even on a curve -rrb- .


like the hanks character , he 's a slow study : the action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed .

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


undoubtedly the scariest movie ever made about tattoos .


with this masterful , flawless film , -lrb- wang -rrb- emerges in the front ranks of china 's now numerous , world-renowned filmmakers .

a lot more dimensional and complex than its sunny disposition would lead you to believe .


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


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


angel presents events partly from the perspective of aurelie and christelle , and infuses the film with the sensibility of a particularly nightmarish fairytale .


an essentially awkward version of the lightweight female empowerment picture we 've been watching for decades

first , for a movie that tries to be smart , it 's kinda dumb .


a bittersweet contemporary comedy about benevolent deception , which , while it may not rival the filmmaker 's period pieces , is still very much worth seeing .


jackson shamefully strolls through this mess with a smug grin , inexplicably wearing a kilt and carrying a bag of golf clubs over one shoulder .


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


but unless you 're an absolute raving star wars junkie , it is n't much fun .


i have a new favorite musical -- and i 'm not even a fan of the genre


if you 're as happy listening to movies as you are watching them , and the slow parade of human frailty fascinates you , then you 're at the right film .

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


the movie is so resolutely cobbled together out of older movies that it even uses a totally unnecessary prologue , just because it seems obligatory .

never inspires more than an interested detachment .


serious movie-goers embarking upon this journey will find that the road to perdition leads to a satisfying destination .


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

and they succeed merrily at their noble endeavor .


like the hanks character , he 's a slow study : the action is stilted and the tabloid energy embalmed .


the script was reportedly rewritten a dozen times -- either 11 times too many or else too few .


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