Splat 1.5/4 |
Ma Mere (2005) |
"Absurd at best, and most absurd when it's tiresomely trying to shock us." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
The Machinist (2004) |
"There is more to Bale's performance than the stick figure physique. Trevor is a man literally being consumed with angst, eyes hollow, posture stooped and mouth agape." |
Lisa Rose |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Mad Hot Ballroom (2005) |
"A lovely movie, full of real-life drama (you can almost see it being turned into an off-Broadway musical)." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 2/4 |
Madagascar (2005) |
"This doesn't signify progress for the computer-animated medium. If anything, it's regression." |
Lisa Rose |
Splat 2/4 |
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) |
"Whenever we move away from their scenes -- sharp and quickly edited -- the film slows a bit. Whenever we skip to one of the main characters learning yet another life lesson, the fun begins to fade." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Made of Honor (2008) |
"Do yourself a favor: Send 'regrets' to this affair, and rent My Best Friend's Wedding again." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 1/4 |
Madea's Family Reunion (2006) |
"Goodwilled? Sure. Good filmmaking? Lord no." |
Lisa Rose |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Madison (2005) |
"A stubbornly up-with-people schmaltzfest, it's the kind of corn that gives angst a good name." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato 3/4 |
Mafioso (1962) |
"[Director] Lattuada still moves the story forward with cold and devious skill. He knows how to get you to laugh, and he knows how to make that laugh stick in your throat." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
The Magdalene Sisters (2003) |
"It may well be a stinging attack on the church. But it can also be read as a hymn of praise to the faith." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
Malibu's Most Wanted (2003) |
"At its worst, Malibu's Most Wanted resembles a 10th-generation dupe of some bottom-dwelling teen comedy daubed with fake family uplift." |
Bob Campbell |
Splat |
Mambo Italiano (2003) |
"Unfortunately, although we're meant to root for Angelo, he often comes off as whiny and arrogant, and his attempts at screenwriting are so bad it's impossible to take his dreams of being an artist seriously." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 1/4 |
Mamma Mia! (2008) |
"Even minor elements like sound editing and makeup are botched, a sure sign of carelessness, or cluelessness. Early scenes show characters forgetting to lipsynch to their prerecorded songs." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Man (2005) |
"Unfortunately the movie is pretty trashy itself, getting most of its laughs from Jackson's habit of interrogating people by running them down in his car and then beating them with a phone book." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 2/4 |
Man of the Year (2006) |
"Only in filmmaking does one very good idea plus another very good idea sometimes add up to one less-than-great picture." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
Man on Fire (2004) |
"A depressingly gory parade of vengeance." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
Man on the Train (2003) |
"Two magnetic male presences command the screen in Man On the Train, but Patrice Leconte finds a friendship between weathered Frenchmen more difficult to forge than the far more asymmetrical relationships of previous films." |
Bob Campbell |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Man Who Copied (2005) |
"The Man Who Copied is an awfully stylish film. But like its hero, it foolishly tries to trick us -- and, in the end, doesn't even tell the truth to itself." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato 3/4 |
Management (2009) |
"A large part of Management's charm, [is that] it wanders through some fresh locations (Maryland, Arizona and Washington), takes some offbeat detours and just generally refuses to be predictable." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) |
"Still works as a scary thriller, and if this version no longer seems absurdly impossible -- well, that's scarier still." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Manderlay (2006) |
"Deadly slow and repetitious." |
Lisa Rose |
Splat |
Manic (2003) |
"It begins to feel a little like one of those made-for-TV, issue-of-the-week melodramas Linda Blair used to star in." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
Manito (2003) |
"Ragged but intense, this compassionate little movie is stocked with enough skillful touches and sensitive moments to stir interest in Eason's future work." |
Bob Campbell |
Tomato |
Marathon (2004) |
"It makes for a satisfyingly excruciating experience." |
Lisa Rose |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
March of the Penguins (2005) |
"It's an amazing story, and director Luc Jacquet brings it to the screen in astonishing close-up" |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
Marci X (2003) |
"This is the kind of movie that would leave a hopeful crowd feeling let down, but might sparkle like a tiara in a trash can for someone who discovers it by chance." |
Bob Campbell |
Tomato 3/4 |
Marebito (2004) |
"And if the trip doesn't have the clear-cut directions of a Hollywood film, it has all the ideas -- and cold, unsettling flights of fantasy -- of a nightmare, where faceless people look and look and look, but never see." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato 3/4 |
Margot at the Wedding (2007) |
"In its sharp characters and unexpected moods, Margot at the Wedding is something like a small gift for audiences." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Maria Full of Grace (2004) |
"It has a respect for the cultures it observes, and a nice sense of place. But it has no compelling character. It might have in real life. But on the screen she's as diluted as the drugs she helps to sell." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Marie Antoinette (2006) |
"Dazed and confused, it feels like a teenager's diary, read aloud over some awesome mixtape." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 2/4 |
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2006) |
"For a movie centered on a class where students learn poise and grace, Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School is woefully clumsy." |
Lisa Rose |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Marley & Me (2008) |
"I thought the first three-quarters of it about as engrossing as a Puppy Chow commercial, and the last quarter pretty depressing. But that's chiefly because it only made me think of my own dogs." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
Marooned in Iraq (2003) |
"Though Marooned in Iraq falls short of greatness, its timing couldn't be more brilliant." |
Bob Campbell |
Splat 3/4 |
Married Life (2008) |
"Rather than real emotion, the movie stops at irony...It's an entertaining approach, all right, but it does the material no real service." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
Martian Child (2007) |
"There is something disingenuous and calculating about the work of his director and composer." |
Steven Boone |
Splat |
Masked and Anonymous (2003) |
"Less the product of a '60s icon than a sixtyish crank, it tediously commutes between anger and inanity -- and whatever answers it pretends to offer aren't blowing in the wind, but merely carried along by a lot of hot air." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) |
"It's an adventure movie by an artist." |
Bob Campbell |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Matador (2005) |
"The lulls in plausibility diminish the kick of the portrayals, as the performers are cheated by a script that spins in circles until it grinds to a spurious halt." |
Lisa Rose |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Match Point (2005) |
"If Allen hasn't quite figured out the social landscape of England yet, he does know what he wants to talk about: Fate, or more commonly, Luck." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
Matchstick Men (2003) |
"There's only one smart con in Matchstick Men. And it's the way it cleverly parts us from our Alexander Hamiltons without ever truly delivering what it's promised." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 0/4 |
Material Girls (2006) |
"The movie, which was not screened for critics, makes a joke of everyone who isn't wealthy, white and pencil thin." |
Lisa Rose |
Splat |
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) |
"The film has the same problems as The Empire Strikes Back, offering neither the novelty of an initial episode nor the satisfaction of a climactic one." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
The Matrix Revolutions (2003) |
"What is the Matrix?, the first film asked. This film answers that. The Matrix is the marketing software that encourages movies like this to be made. And it must be disabled." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato |
The Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003) |
"Ultimately isn't so much about Rodney, or show business, as it is about the empty nature of fandom and celebrity itself." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat |
MC5 * A True Testimonial (2004) |
"Like the band itself, the movie is loud and noisy and undeniably eye-catching. But like them, too, it fatally can't see beyond the immediate to realize there's a better way of making its point then simply shouting louder than anyone else." |
Stephen Whitty |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Me and Orson Welles (2009) |
"I'm getting very weary of filmmakers making up conversations, inventing motives and creating events so that their "based on a real story" movie can get to "the real truth." Because, actually, there's only one real truth." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) |
"The debut film from performance art crossover Miranda July delivers an unlikely blend of irreverence and optimism. For all its dark humor and fringe qualities, the movie never descends into easy misanthropy." |
Lisa Rose |
Tomato |
Mean Creek (2004) |
"Has a level of moral and psychological intricacy that is rare in high school fables." |
Lisa Rose |
Tomato |
Mean Girls (2004) |
"Takes on issues of self-loathing, body image, competition and female sabotage. Even better, it does it with a smile." |
Stephen Whitty |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Medallion (2003) |
"A B-movie worthy of the term." |
Bob Campbell |
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