Splat 3/10 |
Bad Boys II (2003) |
"The movie is one big raging pile of macho steam-blowing. Maybe the participants got something out of their systems, but the result just feels like hot air." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Bad Education (2004) |
"The best thing about Pedro Almodóvar movies is how you can never tell where they're going." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 4/10 |
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) |
"By the time the show ended I was laughing pretty hard just thinking about how the movie made no sense while it was trying to be so serious." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Bambi II (2006) |
"Playing it safe renders it mediocre, unaligned with its predecessor in spirit, though its thoughtful efforts in visual and musical homage shouldn't go unnoticed." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Bandits (2001) |
"Who in his right mind would fall for the woman in this movie?" |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
The Barbarian Invasions (2003) |
"[I] felt it was trying to do too much with what looked increasingly like a fantasy premise." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Barbershop (2002) |
"Strongest when just letting us watch the people, this movie showcases the barbershop as a kind of roundtable of ideas being exchanged among social classes and generations." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) |
"Sullivan clearly has his own ideas, but wisely uses the established characters to flesh them out instead of making them act out of character for his purposes." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 2/10 |
Basic Instinct 2 (2006) |
"You're just hoping for some good trashy fun... That's why it's such a surprise when the movie turns out to be just plain boring." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Batman Begins (2005) |
"I expect Batman Begins to make most fans of the Caped Crusader very happy. Memorable? I'm not sure yet." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Be Cool (2005) |
"Really shouldn't work, but it's smarter than it looks, handles itself assuredly, and does manage to be funny." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 10/10 |
Be Kind Rewind (2008) |
"An ode to finding one's creative side and the joys of being able to share one's creations with others." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
A Beautiful Mind (2001) |
"Formula Hollywood at the top of its form." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Beauty Shop (2005) |
"Takes the most outwardly memorable characteristics of Barbershop ... and replays them again, with less genuine verve." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 5/10 |
Bee Movie (2007) |
"Bland, watered-down Seinfeld-ian humor for kids, amusing at best, grating at worst." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 9/10 |
Before Sunset (2004) |
"Deft at exposing the cracks in the psychological foundations we build for ourselves as we approach middle age." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) |
"The skill of the movie comes in using its structure to peel away the outer layers of these people and to slowly reveal the depths of their psychological damage." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Being Julia (2004) |
"Smeared by a very childish ending ... But there is that Bening performance to savor." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 6/10 |
Bend It Like Beckham (2003) |
"Chadha does a decent job directing, while Parminder Nagra does a good job acting. The movie's main problem is that it's a little more fussy than it needs to be." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Beowulf (2007) |
"Why take the time to draw or render characters if you're just going to try to make them look real? ... Yet, despite my broken-record misgivings, I confess to enjoying Beowulf." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Better Luck Tomorrow (2003) |
"Being simultaneously proud of and embarrassed by one's scholarly perfectionism is a trait I find particularly identifiable to young, male Asian-Americans. Better Luck Tomorrow draws on this trait for its strength." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Beyond the Sea (2004) |
"The movie is about Bobby Darin, but we don't learn a thing about him other than he was arrogant. So, actually, the movie's about Kevin Spacey." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 9/10 |
Big Fish (2003) |
"The fantasy sequences ... win the audience over with their effusiveness, even as viewers are all too aware of that effusiveness." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Black (2005) |
"It's the details that make the whole thing work, from the performances ... to its deadly honest observations that Michelle's disabilities would create obstacles that would reach far beyond her loss of sight and hearing." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Black Book (2007) |
"Pulpy, almost James Bond-like in its mix of spy thrills, action, sex, intrigue, and bold characters." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 5/10 |
The Black Dahlia (2006) |
"Although the style amps the attractiveness of individual scenes, it undercuts believability across the whole." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 9/10 |
Black Hawk Down (2001) |
"Intense, realistic battle sequences power this movie, magnifying the difficulty of the choice between valuing life and valuing war efficiency." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 9/10 |
Black Snake Moan (2007) |
"[Craig Brewer] proves he can control atmosphere with the best of them." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Blade 2 (2002) |
"The joy in Blade II simply comes from watching Snipes as Blade doing his thing -- destroying vampires and whipping out martial arts on whomever gets too close." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 6/10 |
Blades of Glory (2007) |
"A spirited addition to this line of movies, but, alas, the formula is starting to wear around the edges." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
The Blind Side (2009) |
"Incessantly positive because it's about good deeds and its ripple effects." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi/Sonatine (2004) |
"I'd call Zatoichi stylish to the point of distraction, except I'm not sure what I was being distracted from." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Blood Diamond (2006) |
"The movie doesn't know when to quit." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 4/10 |
Blow (2001) |
"I was wondering how I would feel about [Jung] at the end of the movie. My answer was this: I felt indifferent." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Blue Crush (2002) |
"Much credit must be given to the water-camera operating team of Don King, Sonny Miller, and Michael Stewart. Their work is fantastic." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 5/10 |
Body of Lies (2008) |
"A certain rawness and despairing urgency is never quite achieved for the message the film wants to deliver, and so it remains a well-intentioned, well-produced, yet generally unmemorable entertainment." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Bolt (2008) |
"What Bolt lacks in originality it makes up for in execution." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
The Bourne Identity (2002) |
"A well-executed spy-thriller." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 9/10 |
Bowling for Columbine (2002) |
"This movie has intelligence and a thirst for the truth, and even if it doesn't find simple answers, it does its job by asking the questions." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 8/10 |
Breach (2007) |
"A more subtle character study about the inexplicability and inevitability of the darker of human tendencies." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
The Break-Up (2006) |
"I think it's courageous -- it's something we're not used to seeing from this category of movies these days. A stark honesty is presented here." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 5/10 |
Breakfast on Pluto (2005) |
"I couldn't help but feel that I've already seen this character, and always portrayed in this similar manner -- fey, fanciful, indefatigable." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Bride and Prejudice (2005) |
"Although [certain] issues detract from the movie's effectiveness as a star vehicle, nevertheless this humorous, lighthearted journey is mostly a pleasant one." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 5/10 |
Bridget Jones' Diary (2001) |
"What audiences found so endearing about this movie escapes me." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 4/10 |
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) |
"Not only does it rehash the original's elements, its story is one of the most unimaginative I've seen." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Bringing Down the House (2003) |
"Even without the movie pushing our buttons with its racist antagonists, Latifah would have won us over with her charm, attitude, and overwhelming self-confidence and assuredness." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 10/10 |
Brokeback Mountain (2005) |
"Foremost about a love that can never break out of its societal prison." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Tomato 7/10 |
Broken Flowers (2005) |
"Propping the film up ... is Murray, here given only a bareboned subset of his emotional range to work with and still able to create a being of identifiable depth." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Brother Bear (2003) |
"To put it frankly, it's generic." |
Jeffrey Chen |
Splat 6/10 |
Bruce Almighty (2003) |
"A goofy crowd-pleaser, which is all right, I suppose, yet strange. After all, if you have the powers of God to play with, you'd expect to have a little more ambition." |
Jeffrey Chen |
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