Tomato 3.5/5 |
Edmond (2006) |
"Mamet's script may not be entirely convincing as either satire or social commentary, but in Macy's hands, poor, pathetic Edmond's story finds its shocking, darkly funny resonance." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
The Ground Truth (2006) |
"perhaps the most important protest statement yet committed to film since the outbreak of this war..." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2/5 |
Jesus Camp (2006) |
"Jesus Camp doesn't just preach to the converted, it bores and frightens them" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Lunacy (2006) |
"Lunacy lacks the teeth to be truly audacious. Yet its leisurely pacing and silly send-ups of psychosexual perversions make it an amusing enough gothic comedy." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2/5 |
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) |
"takes all that was so charming about the first Pirates...and amps it up to the wattage of a Looney Tunes cartoon" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Quinceanera (2006) |
"In the end, what keeps Quinceañera so engaging are the wonderfully sweet, unselfconscious performances from Emily Rios and Jesse Garcia" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Kontroll (2005) |
"a gleeful demonstration of Antal's flair for the medium" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2.5/5 |
La Moustache (2005) |
"an awfully rickety, hollow exercise in style over substance" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Ma Mere (2005) |
"...a dispirited affair and often feels like a parody — a decidedly self-serious one — of one of Bertolucci or Pasolini’s boundary-pushing offerings from the ‘70s" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Machuca (2005) |
"Wood's story-world details are rendered beautifully, but without a framework to hang them on" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1/5 |
Mail Order Wife (2005) |
"a simple-minded circle jerk about exploitation, peopled by characters without the least bit of originality, vitality or appeal" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
The Man Who Copied (2005) |
"utterly fresh and appealing from start to finish" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Oldboy (2005) |
"Oldboy is a true-to-form sendup of grittier, more lurid manga fare. This is good news for die-hard fans of the form and teeth-gritting torture for those who are not." |
Jay Antani |
- |
Palindromes (2005) |
"Nothing's Shocking" |
Blake French |
Splat 2.5/5 |
Palindromes (2005) |
"Take away the subversive hilarity of his movies, and [Solondz] could well be the cinematic equivalent of the Unabomber." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Steamboy (2005) |
" In spite of...obvious and unfortunate flaws, if you’re going to see Steamboy do so on the big screen so as to be reminded of the marvels of hand-drawn animation" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Before Sunset (2004) |
"[a] charming, intelligent romance" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi/Sonatine (2004) |
"Zatoichi triumphs where few movies dare to tread" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Born Into Brothels (2004) |
"documentary activism at its most galvanized, charged with action and, while often emotional, never bogged down with dewy-eyed sentimentalism" |
Jay Antani |
Splat |
Bright Young Things (2004) |
"Bright Young Things lacks free-spiritedness and bite." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
Bukowski: Born Into This (2004) |
"a loving tribute to a writer, his craft and, above all, the idea of living and dying by one’s own creed" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Code 46 (2004) |
"a noir snore with no moral desperation, no clear-cut point-of-view and a love story whose eroticism feels about as urgent as yardwork" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Coffee and Cigarettes (2004) |
"Coffee and Cigarettes feels thin and slight at times.... But at its best, the movie achieves the charm and delight that underscores Jarmusch’s best work" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2/5 |
Crimson Gold (2004) |
"an artful failure, a moped-fueled odyssey into dramatic weariness and monotony" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
DIG! (2004) |
"Timoner’s...narrative entertains but also offers an unflinching look at the rage and heartbreak that result in trying to stay true...in [a] soulless, image-driven business.
" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) |
"Eternal Sunshine is undeniably ambitious filmmaking and a feather in this year's cap of indie movies" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
Father and Son (2004) |
"for a hit of pure cinema, you could do no better...than to spend a few moments reveling in its high" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1/4 |
Happy Hour (2004) |
"Happy Hour is strictly college-level compost, content with its mediocrity, if not wholly unaware of it." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2.5/5 |
House of Flying Daggers (2004) |
"a tedious...excuse for this director to indulge his fetish for digitalized blood and daggers and...immaculately composed nature shots" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
Intermission (2004) |
"Dizzily paced and structured, the Irish import Intermission charms with a never-let-‘em-see-you-sweat exuberance" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1.5/4 |
It's All About Love (2004) |
"while watching it you might be hit with the urge to grab the Danish writer-director by the collar and shout 'No, it’s all about story!'" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2.5/5 |
A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) |
"Gabel has potentially challenging material on her hands but her treatment of it feels too hygienic, mistaking tastefulness for subtlety
" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) |
"Garcia Bernal and de la Serna offer heartfelt, charismatic performances which...give Diaries its simple, enduring appeal." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1.5/5 |
Nicotina (2004) |
"Nicotina feels so comfortably middle-of-the-road...that it makes us ponder the purpose of its very existence and makes the task of reviewing it an absolute redundancy." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
Open Water (2004) |
"an expertly modulated horror movie" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Overnight (2004) |
"Overnight always holds our interest, not so much as a documentary as an episode of a junky reality TV show.
" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4.5/5 |
The Return (2004) |
"an absorbing psychological drama and coming-of-age story in the guise of a road movie" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2/5 |
Saved! (2004) |
"tired old fodder" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Showboy (2004) |
"a legitimately smart and appealing work" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 4/5 |
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring (2004) |
"a mystical primer on Buddhist spirituality, and an immediately absorbing story about lessons that we all must grapple with, regardless of faith and culture" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Tarnation (2004) |
"Caouette’s movie succeeds because of its cinematic showmanship, injecting the personal documentary form with an urgently expressive avant-gardism." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
The Woodsman (2004) |
"Bacon’s Walter is a searing creation...breaking through the The Woodsman’s well-behaved exterior to reveal something of the...untrodden depths churning at its heart." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1/5 |
21 Grams (2003) |
"21 Grams thrashes wildly...exhorting us to feel something. Apart from the fleeting satisfaction of its structural parlor game, I felt little...save exhausted boredom." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
American Splendor (2003) |
"It gets the mood right, but never slows enough to explore its rich, existential landscape--the cynical, ultimately humanist, musings at the heart of Pekar's comic manifestos." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 1/5 |
The Barbarian Invasions (2003) |
"...jerkily paced, dramatically obvious, and seems penned by a self-serious 16-year-old" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Bend It Like Beckham (2003) |
"its irresistible charms and performances are what linger and make Beckham a popcorn, er, samosa flick worth savoring." |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2/5 |
Bubba Ho-Tep (2003) |
"Bubba Ho-Tep tries ineffectually to be both a lyrical character study and a darkly satirical horror flick." |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3/5 |
Cabin Fever (2003) |
" Fever packs its share of jolts and none-too-shabby black humor, both worthy of a place alongside Romero" |
Jay Antani |
Tomato 3.5/5 |
Confidence (2003) |
"While it sometimes fails to live up to its title, Confidence ultimately, wins us over—in short, it dazzlingly does what all good cons are supposed to do.
" |
Jay Antani |
Splat 2/5 |
The Cooler (2003) |
" The Cooler is too earnest a morality tale, saddled with derivative characters, to heat up much sympathy or interest.
" |
Jay Antani |
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