Tomato 3/4 |
W. (2008) |
"Equal parts comedy (inevitably only-in-America satire) and Oedipal psycho-drama...[from] the bard of American political cinema." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2.5/4 |
The Wackness (2008) |
"As for Squires' outlandish behavior and Kingsley's theatrical performance, they're entertaining, but very hard to believe. The film lives more comfortably in the milieu of '90s youth culture..." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Wages of Fear (1952) |
"A classic suspense film...also the screen equivalent of a classic existentialist drama...The chemical reaction Clouzot gets from these genres is pure dynamite. [Blu-ray]" |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 1.5/4 |
Waiting... (2005) |
"A movie for young people, and they're welcome to it. Anyone older than teenage already will have seen every joke in Waiting... in more finely crafted, funnier movies." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) |
"That the picture walks and sometimes crosses the line into the products it parodies is a measure of its zealous thoroughness and also its central pitfall." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Walk on Water (2005) |
"Interest never wanes as this story unfolds, though [screenwriter] Uchovsky starts a lot more than he can finish satisfactorily in 104 minutes." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Walk the Line (2005) |
"A dash more authentic--or, at least, more subtle--than its Hollywood spawning and Taylor Hackford's come-on-strong take on [Ray] Charles would seem to predict." |
Peter Canavese |
- |
WALL-E (2008) |
"Andrew Stanton: 'The big myth--I've been asked this for fifteen years. And we'll give it the same answer fifteen years from now. We never think of who our audience is. We always just made the movies we want to see.'" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
WALL-E (2008) |
"It's best not to ask too many questions during Wall-E...Take the film's outstretched hand and go with it. That's the best way to enjoy a film that's as charming as a tale of two robots falling in love can be." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) |
"Charming...inspired....ridiculously entertaining." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) |
"The official story of Walt Disney, the genius, and it's surely a story worth telling." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Wanted (2008) |
"Delivers slam-bang action entertainment, and does it while putting a surprising twist on the archetypal heroic journey." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2.5/4 |
War of the Worlds (2005) |
"Has all the mechanized ingenuity of one of those dazzling Tripods, but the bigger they are....it's the gutless ending that renders War of the Worlds most insulting." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
The War Tapes (2006) |
"Watching The War Tapes is a bit like sifting though puzzle pieces and studying the images, but it's possible to make at least some of those pieces fit." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
The Warrior (2005) |
"Narrative elegance and rapturous imagery highlight The Warrior...[as well as] the dark charisma of leading man Khan...and lovely vistas." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Wassup Rockers (2006) |
"A photo essay with moving pictures: anthropological snapshots of seven Salvadoran and Guatemalan skaters...[also] may be [Larry Clark's] most immature film." |
Peter Canavese |
- |
Wassup Rockers (2006) |
"Larry Clark: 'Jonathan and Kiko, one day, didn't go to school...And I said, "Why aren't you going to school?" and they said, "We don't feel like fighting today."'" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Watchmen (2009) |
"Any film that depicts a 'superheroic' rapist-brute as a self-styled parody of America's 'true face' can hardly be accused of thematic squeamishness, and any film that sends readers back to the comic for Moore (and Gibbons) has served the public interest." |
Peter Canavese |
- |
Watchmen (2009) |
"Matthew Goode: '[We] flesh out a few things in Adrian Veidt's past...So he has a kind of private, now, and a public persona. And may or may not have American and German accents.'" |
Peter Canavese |
- |
Water (2006) |
"Deepa Mehta: 'I said to myself that I would definitely make Water, but that I would make it when I stopped being angry. And that anger took about four years to dissipate.'" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Water (2006) |
"Detailed and graced with irreverent humor and fine performances, Mehta's film deals powerful blows to economic injustice and misogyny." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007) |
"Pleasingly evokes the days when Roddy McDowall frolicked with Flicka and Lassie, [but] it must be said that a CGI pet is not quite so easy to love as a flesh-and-blood performer, animal or human." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Waterboy (1998) |
"There's an innocence to The Waterboy that makes the picture part slapstick and part fairy tale...The only problem with letting kids see this Adam Sandler movie? They might want to see another one. [Blu-ray]" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Wayne's World (1992) |
"With Myers feeling his oats as a comedy star, Wayne's World turned out to be an irresistibly silly (and masterfully marketed) option for audiences. [Blu-ray]" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Wayne's World 2 (1993) |
"Wayne's World 2 revels in silliness even more than the first movie, but it turns out that's a good thing as compensation for the otherwise repetitive feel. [Blu-ray]" |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2/4 |
We Are Marshall (2006) |
"I suppose there's a place for this studio picture's brand of popcorn catharsis. One just wishes the powerful story at its heart felt more genuine and less manipulative." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) |
"We Don't Live Here Anymore frames with precision emotional moments in the lives of people who build their own prisons and, over time, plot escapes." |
Peter Canavese |
- |
We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) |
"Laura Dern on We Don't Live Here Anymore and Career Highlights" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Wedding Crashers (2005) |
"Seen with forgiving eyes, Wedding Crashers is trashy, raunchy fun." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 1.5/4 |
The Wedding Date (2005) |
"It's a blessing that The Wedding Date doesn't try too hard, but it's a curse that it doesn't try hard enough." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2/4 |
The Wedding Singer (1998) |
"The tone set by director Frank Coraci tends to the cartoonishly broad while making jokes at the expense of grotesques. [Blu-ray]" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Wendy and Lucy (2008) |
"America is about to see a sharp upturn in hard-luck stories, which makes Kelly Reichardt's small-scale drama Wendy and Lucy sadly timely." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 1.5/4 |
What Happens in Vegas (2008) |
"Another predictable romantic comedy, one that insists that spending time locked into an unhappy marriage doesn't breed contempt, but sows love. [Blu-ray]" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
What Just Happened (2008) |
"A scathing insider look at Hollywood...De Niro gives one of his most winning performances of recent years..." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Whatever Works (2009) |
"Part of Boris' worldview seems to be to excuse the movie in which he stars. Try not to overthink it, Allen seems to say: just enjoy it." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat .5/4 |
When a Stranger Calls (2006) |
"Download the trailer. It's cheaper, quicker, and efficiently shows you everything you think you want to see from the movie." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
When Did You Last See Your Father? (2008) |
"Tucker delivers a stroke of casting so perfect it might seem obvious: Oscar winner Jim Broadbent as the father and Colin Firth as the son." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Where the Wild Things Are (2009) |
"A fine conversation piece for gifted kids%u2014assuming parents willing to talk to their kids about their feelings...also a fascinating psychological study for adults looking back on the roiling emotions of childhood." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
White Countess (2005) |
"[The] soft-glowing facade always seems more real to Ivory than harsh reality...represent[s] our own attempts to stave off reality with the romantic projections of cinema." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 0/4 |
White Noise (2005) |
"As inherently unthrilling, incoherent, and unsatisfying as scrambled porn." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2/4 |
Whiteout (2009) |
"At least 10% more exciting than correction fluid." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Who Killed The Electric Car? (2006) |
"Paine amasses evidence--including dissenting voices--that's consistently illuminating." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Wicker Park (2004) |
"An interesting formal exercise: exceedingly hard to swallow, but quietly engrossing...deserves style points for sticking to an unconventional narrative." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat .5/4 |
Wild Hogs (2007) |
"If you listen closely, you can hear your brain cells fizzling." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3/4 |
Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2005) |
"The gentle, G-rated documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill records the sort of story that used to simply pass into urban legend." |
Peter Canavese |
- |
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004) |
"Lynn Collins on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Career Highlights" |
Peter Canavese |
- |
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004) |
"Michael Radford on The Merchant of Venice" |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004) |
"Radford takes a stylish but decidedly low-key tack, demanding naturalist acting to crawl under the viewer's skin." |
Peter Canavese |
Splat 2/4 |
Wimbledon (2004) |
"The generic parallel plots of sports-movie suspense and falling-in-love sap squeeze stars Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst together like so much peanut butter and jelly." |
Peter Canavese |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2007) |
"Gracefully condenses the complicated history of the Irish Troubles in ways both literal and allegorical." |
Peter Canavese |
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