Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 98%
| The Band's Visit (2007) | "
The Band's Visit blends gentle comedy and softly aching pathos into a low-key, deeply affecting wonder, a sort of alternate-universe version of Aki Kaurismäki's raucous 1989 hoot Leningrad Cowboys Go America." Posted Feb 29, 2008 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 50%
| Penelope (2008) | "
Penelope is an odd concoction -- a witch's gentle brew of modern-day fairy tale, feather-light romance and slapstick comedy. It's not a knockout potion, but it goes down smoothly and is harmless enough to serve to the kids." Posted Feb 29, 2008 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 96%
| 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2008) | "
A film of brutal, breathtaking intelligence, a work of pellucid, shimmering art without a scintilla of compromise, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is surely one of the very best films of the year. And you can pick the year." Posted Feb 22, 2008 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 100%
| Taxi to the Dark Side (2008) | "
A methodically constructed, step-by-step detailing of how the Bush administration's policy of condoning torture trickled -- flowed, really; poured -- down the chain of command to inundate the largely untrained troops in the field." Posted Feb 8, 2008 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 14%
| Untraceable (2008) | "
Hateful, brutalizing, inexcusable." Posted Jan 25, 2008 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 71%
| Beowulf (2007) | "
Director Robert Zemeckis moves things along lickety-split; for such a dark, heavy tale, lit by gray, diffuse far-northern skies and golden torchlight, the film is remarkably light on its feet." Posted Nov 16, 2007 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Rotten 29%
| Next (2007) | "
Not overly ambitious, Next nonetheless keeps you thinking, guessing and entertained." Posted Apr 27, 2007 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 11%
| Perfect Stranger (2007) | "
A Halle Berry-Bruce Willis vehicle fresh as a Commodore 64." Posted Apr 13, 2007 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 8%
| The Number 23 (2007) | "
If there's any real fun to be had at all with The Number 23, it's in post-op dismantling; so little of it, in retrospect, makes any sense." Posted Feb 22, 2007 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 85%
| Hurricane on the Bayou (2006) | "
[Features] a knockout soundtrack, some very impressive gators and two irresistible forces: Hurricane Katrina and 14-year-old fiddler and eco-warrior Amanda Shaw." Posted Feb 16, 2007 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 16%
| Eragon (2006) | "
Been to that galaxy, done that ring." Posted Dec 15, 2006 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 15%
| Turistas (2006) | "
What's infuriating about Turistas is that it's slick, gorgeously shot and riddled with brilliantly crafted set-pieces." Posted Dec 1, 2006 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 70%
| Roving Mars (2006) | "
It's shot through with edge-of-your-seat excitement." Posted Oct 6, 2006 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 76%
| The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006) | "
The clips of Lennon and Ono (who appears as one of the present-day talking heads, and a most thoughtful one, at that) are every one of them fascinating." Posted Sep 29, 2006 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 90%
| Half Nelson (2006) | "
Too smart a film to plod along the rutted trail of the standard drug flick." Posted Sep 8, 2006 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 38%
| Scoop (2006) | "
Reminiscent of the short humorous fiction Allen has written for the New Yorker in recent years. They're tortured parodies of his pieces from a few decades back." Posted Jul 28, 2006 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 91%
| Deep Sea (IMAX) (2006) | "
The Halls have taken an artistic leap beyond their masterful Coral Reef Adventure (2003), stripping away much of the narrative thread and allowing the film to drift to and fro on currents of sheer beauty." Posted Jun 30, 2006 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Fresh 75%
| The Devil Wears Prada (2006) | "
A flat comedy that pretends to cluck its tongue at gloss and glitz and the surface tension of lives attuned only to appearances, then spends most of its time drooling over them." Posted Jun 30, 2006 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 67%
| Before the Fall (2004) | "
Friedrich isn't particularly sharp, but Riemelt's wonderfully nuanced performance gives him intricate layers of feeling." Posted Apr 14, 2006 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 19%
| Firewall (2006) | "
Although there are a number of small, internal twists and turns, the outline of the plot sags from having had so many movies hung on it for so many years." Posted Feb 10, 2006 |
Rotten 1/4
| Rotten 10%
| Annapolis (2006) | "
Bulling ahead through hackneyed scene after hackneyed scene, it grinds out an hour and 48 minutes of nonstop cliche, never offering so much as a marginally clever line, never succumbing to an original thought, never veering from the rutted path." Posted Jan 27, 2006 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 48%
| Hoodwinked (2006) | "
A small, lightweight, enormously clever and never cloying little jewel." Posted Jan 13, 2006 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 20%
| Rumor Has It... (2005) | "
Complications ensue, but little else does." Posted Dec 22, 2005 |
Rotten
| Fresh 79%
| Santa vs. the Snowman (2002) | "
Fluffy, schizophrenic (there's liberal borrowing from both Care Bears and The Empire Strikes Back) and oddly annoying." Posted Nov 18, 2005 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 21%
| Two for the Money (2005) | "
Sports gambling! Big money, big games, big romance, big stars. Double down, all in. Problem is, the game's crooked." Posted Oct 7, 2005 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 92%
| Hotel Rwanda (2004) | "
The tears it inspires -- the tears it demands -- are earnest and earned and true." Posted Jan 7, 2005 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 78%
| Team America: World Police (2004) | "
Three times in the course of Team America: World Police I laughed so hard I thought I was crying, and when I checked, sure enough." Posted Oct 15, 2004 |
Fresh 3/4
| Rotten 26%
| The Stepford Wives (2004) | "
A comedy, with the screenwriting assignment awarded to Paul Rudnick, who delivers, per a subclause in the contract, a pretty decent one-liner every couple of minutes." Posted Jun 11, 2004 |
Rotten 1/4
| Fresh 64%
| Spartan (2004) | "
A genuinely ugly film." Posted Mar 12, 2004 |
Rotten
| Rotten 20%
| Honey (2003) | "
Watching Honey is like having the fluids drained out of your system and replaced by a sugar-loaded, mixed-drink concoction of a color not found in nature." Posted Dec 5, 2003 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 37%
| Duplex (2003) | "
Duplex is a disaster. Just about everything in it is wrong." Posted Sep 26, 2003 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 91%
| The Weather Underground (2003) | "
Compelling, troubling documentary." Posted Sep 20, 2003 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 87%
| Bugs! (2003) | "
Captivating, peppered with breathtaking images." Posted Aug 8, 2003 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 55%
| American Wedding (2003) | "
The thing is harmless." Posted Aug 1, 2003 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 78%
| Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) | "
The only special effect Pirates of the Caribbean needed was the eyeliner beneath the unsteady eyes of Johnny Depp." Posted Jul 11, 2003 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 35%
| The In-Laws (2003) | "
Screenwriters Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon, and director Andrew Fleming, miscalculate badly by putting the best stuff up front." Posted May 23, 2003 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 90%
| Kilimanjaro: To The Roof of Africa (2002) | "
Were you to be shown some of the Kilimanjaro vistas, along with the explanation that these are the first transmissions from our interstellar explorer freshly landed on Tau Ceti IV, you might buy it. It's that weird, and that wonderful." Posted May 16, 2003 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 29%
| Dreamcatcher (2003) | "
Dreamcatcher's biggest shock is that it flat runs out of ideas." Posted Mar 20, 2003 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 91%
| Coral Reef Adventure (IMAX) (2002) | "
A moving and not infrequently breathtaking film." Posted Feb 20, 2003 |
Fresh 3.5/4
| Fresh 93%
| IMAX - Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002) | "
There's enough science to make it count as educational, and enough beauty to make it unforgettable." Posted Nov 15, 2002 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 76%
| Comedian (2002) | "
A portrait of an artist." Posted Nov 1, 2002 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Fresh 71%
| The Ring (2002) | "
Much less than the sum of its stylish parts, but for a while there, it'll curl your hair, or your toes, or whatever it is you've got that curls up when you're getting the holy popcorn scared out of you." Posted Oct 18, 2002 |
Rotten 2/4
| Fresh 64%
| Moonlight Mile (2002) | "
However sincere and heartfelt its intent, Moonlight Mile remains very much a contraption." Posted Oct 4, 2002 |
Fresh 2.5/4
| Rotten 24%
| Who is Cletis Tout? (2002) | "
The whole mildly pleasant outing -- the R rating is for brief nudity and a grisly corpse -- remains aloft not on its own self-referential hot air, but on the inspired performance of Tim Allen." Posted Aug 16, 2002 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 90%
| The Fast Runner (2002) | "
One senses in its playing out that right here, right now, these people, these deeds, these lessons are the stuff of a great legend, one that will be told and retold for countless generations." Posted Jun 28, 2002 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 30%
| American Adobo (2002) | "
While American Adobo has its heart (and its palate) in the right place, its brain is a little scattered -- ditsy, even." Posted Jun 14, 2002 |
Rotten 1.5/4
| Rotten 44%
| Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) | "
Gothic-lite claptrap in the service of feel-good histrionics." Posted Jun 7, 2002 |
Fresh 3/4
| Fresh 92%
| Insomnia (2002) | "
A fairly classy thriller." Posted May 24, 2002 |
Fresh 4/4
| Fresh 91%
| Murderous Maids (2002) | "
A sensitive, moving, brilliantly constructed work." Posted May 16, 2002 |
Rotten 2/4
| Rotten 25%
| The Sweetest Thing (2002) | "
Replace 'fun' with gross-out sketches, and you've pretty much got the tone of the movie." Posted Apr 12, 2002 |
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