Tomato 3/4 |
Baadasssss! (2004) |
"Mario Van Peebles celebrates not just his father but the ragged glory of independent cinema in the risky days before DVD, Sundance and the Internet." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Babel (2006) |
"Inarritu is the auteur as puppet master -- a Dr. Mabuse of the art house." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Baby Mama (2008) |
"The 'Saturday Night Live' veterans make a great team..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Bad Boys II (2003) |
"Pauline Kael once famously described 'Dirty Harry' as fascist. But it's brain-dead, escapist movies like this that propagandize, however cluelessly, for public acceptance of a lawless class of 'law enforcers'..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Bad Education (2004) |
"Not as much a film of social protest as a sexually fluid update of a classic Hollywood mystery-melodrama..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato '3.5/4' |
Bad News Bears (2005) |
"Linklater's message is almost subversive, not just for an underdog sports move but for our We're No. 1 political culture: Winning isn't everything." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Baghead (2008) |
"Alternately funny and scary, 'Baghead' suggests that 'The Blair Witch Project' may be as responsible for mumblecore as any of the self-consciously anti-commercial movies that usually are credited with jump-starting the trend." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato '3/4' |
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) |
"A fable of the end of innocence, complete with such symbols of paradise lost as a snake (a fugitive copperhead) and a toppled playhouse." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Balls of Fury (2007) |
"Both 'Balls' and 'Rush Hour 3' include scenes in which the lead characters walk gingerly because of an unfortunate, um, butt circumstance; yet such lowbrow antics are much easier to take in the movie that DIDN'T cost $140 million." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Band's Visit (2007) |
"The formality and the deliberate pace suggest the influence of Laurel and Hardy and Jacques Tati..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Barbarian Invasions (2003) |
"Covers familiar movie-of-the-week territory... but the acting and writing are sharp enough to transcend such limitations..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) |
"This series offers an inner-city equivalent of Mayberry, where greed and cynicism don't stand a chance against homespun truths, family values and just plain folks." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (2006) |
"Could cause more gender confusion than 'Transamerica.'" |
John Beifuss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Basic (2003) |
"A more accurate title would be 'Convoluted,' 'Incoherent' or 'Dishonest.'" |
John Beifuss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Basic Instinct 2 (2006) |
"If Paul Verhoeven's film was a potent if hard to swallow sex-and-blood pop cocktail, this London-set sequel is a cup of thin, tepid tea.
" |
John Beifuss |
Splat '2.5/4' |
Batman Begins (2005) |
"Offers much to admire, but it's shrouded in the pall of the comic book industry's hard-won 'respectability' ..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato '3/4' |
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) |
"The storytelling is elliptical; subplots that seem important simply vanish without resolution, as they do in life if not melodrama." |
John Beifuss |
Splat '2.5/4' |
The Beautiful Country (2005) |
"A well-intentioned but not entirely successful blend of tragic melodrama, social-issue expose and compassionate portraiture..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Beauty Shop (2005) |
"Ice Cube and his investors continue their box-office gentrification of the inner city. As obvious and visually bland as a sitcom, but likable..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Becoming Jane (2007) |
"Thank goodness there was a man around to stimulate Jane's creativity! Such is this film's retrograde premise..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Bedtime Stories (2008) |
"A big step backward for director Adam Shankman ('Hairspray')." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Bee Movie (2007) |
"Events veer from the apocalyptic (the near-extinction of America's flowers) to the inexplicable (the finale is a parody of an 'Airport' movie), all presented with a glib yada-yada sense of inconsequentiality." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Bee Season (2005) |
"Intriguingly, it can be viewed as a thrill-less update of a Val Lewton thriller... It asks the viewer to decide whether its characters are crazy, cursed or blessed as they encourage the incursion of the supernatural into their lives.
" |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 4/4 |
Before Sunset (2004) |
"Linklater gives his characters something we rarely get in real life: an opportunity to resolve the sense of loss and regret created by a blown chance at love and happiness." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) |
"Lumet's rejection of despair and cynicism despite the grimness of the events he depicts ('Fail-Safe' ends with the obliteration of New York) and his refusal to disrespect the intelligence of his audience seem more valuable every day." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato |
The Believer (2002) |
"Gosling projects a feral intelligence that is riveting..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Bella (2007) |
"Its anti-abortion argument is loaded: How many pregnant waitresses discover they've been working alongside a kind, sensitive and handsome former millionaire soccer star with no girlfriend who's happy to become an adoptive father?" |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Bend It Like Beckham (2003) |
"It's like the innocent, idealistic little sister to the grown-up 'Monsoon Wedding'..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Beowulf (2007) |
"Simultaneously celebrates and critiques the audience's centuries-spanning hunger for heroic epics..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
The Best Two Years (2004) |
"Earnest but bland depiction of Mormon missionaries as normal guys, even if they do live within the drug-, alcohol- and sex-free context of an old TV series." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Better Luck Tomorrow (2003) |
"Reviewers seem surprised that a young Asian-American filmmaker has been reading Bret Easton Ellis and watching Quentin Tarantino, when in reality the opposite would be startling..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008) |
"If celebrity purebred Tinkerbell sees this canine consciousness-raiser, there could be a putsch in Paris Hilton's purse." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Beyond the Sea (2004) |
"Not so much a biopic as a performance art project..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 0/4 |
The Big Bounce (2004) |
"Wilson's spaced-out surfer style seems to have infected the entire project (or maybe it was Willie's weed)." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Big Fish (2003) |
"A minnow of a movie camouflaged within the gaudy spines and barbels of some exotic species..." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 0.5/4 |
Big Momma's House 2 (2006) |
"So desperate that barely a half hour passes before we get the inevitable jokes about Dr. Phil, Oprah, Al Sharpton, Tupac and Billy Dee." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato |
The Birth of the Blues (1941) |
"A remarkable Bing Crosby vehicle that pays heartfelt homage to the creators and innovators of jazz... It seems almost like the first rock 'n roll movie..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Black Book (2007) |
"Contains the violence, nudity and sex we expect from a movie by Paul Verhoeven, but moves with the narrative drive and surprise of a war film from decades past." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2/4 |
Black Christmas (2006) |
"Director Glen Morgan has a nice pictorial sense and a flair for ghoulish caricature, but the film is muddled and choppy." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Black Dahlia (2006) |
"Reaffirms De Palma's status as American cinema's cruelest social satirist..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Black Snake Moan (2007) |
"A bravely irresponsible movie anchored to a visual metaphor so outlandish and powerful it seems destined for cinema immortality." |
John Beifuss |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Blade: Trinity (2004) |
"Lots of posing, scowling, quipping, leather-modeling and slow-mo cool-walkin'." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Blades of Glory (2007) |
"Stupid is as stupid does, and 'Blades of Glory' does stupid right." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato |
Blind Husbands (1919) |
"One of the most assured directorial debuts in movie history..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Blind Side (2009) |
"Sarah Palin isn't the only gun-toting, ex-cheerleader, conservative Christian sports mom back in the news. This week also gives us Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi/Sonatine (2004) |
"Kitano critiques genre conventions and poses, linking himself to the Jarmusch of 'Dead Man' and 'Ghost Dog' rather than to Kurosawa or Eastwood..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Blindness (2008) |
"Pretentious, yes, but scary and gripping..." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Blood Car |
"This ingenious heir to Roger Corman's 'Little Shop of Horrors' and 'Bucket of Blood' literalizes the idea that the comfort and clout that Americans enjoy are the benefits of a Faustian blood-for-oil contract to which all of us are de facto signees." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Blood Car |
"This ingenious heir to Roger Corman's 'Little Shop of Horrors' and 'Bucket of Blood' literalizes the idea that the comfort and clout that Americans enjoy are the benefits of a Faustian blood-for-oil contract to which all of us are de facto signees." |
John Beifuss |
Tomato 3/4 |
Blood Diamond (2006) |
"A 'King Solomon's Mines' for the troubled consciences of a post-colonial age. (Is that why the lead African character is named Solomon?)" |
John Beifuss |
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