Tomato A- |
Babe (1995) |
"Its seemingly effortless synthesis of humor and pathos [is] almost as wonderful as is its ability to capture the sense of awe and fear that attends youth's initial exposure to the big wide world." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
Babel (2006) |
"There isn't a second when Iñárritu's film feels as if it's replicating life's coincidental nature." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A |
Bad Lieutenant (1992) |
"[Ferrara's] crowning achievement." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) |
"May not result in a coherent whole but nonetheless delivers bursts of random, inspired madness." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A- |
The Bad News Bears (1976) |
"Remains the best film ever made about kids and sports." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A- |
Bad Santa (2003) |
"An uproarious all-out assault on propriety." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B- |
Baghead (2008) |
"The Duplass Brothers...get some decent mileage from their Cassavetes-lite, semi-improvisatory filmmaking approach, capturing authenticity in their cast's fumbling gestures, half-spoken lines, and stumbling advances." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C+ |
Bangkok Dangerous (2001) |
"Doesn't make much of a lasting impression except as a case study in the dreariness of style-over-substance filmmaking when said style is the height of derivativeness." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Basket Case (1982) |
"A thing of modest B-movie beauty." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
Battle in Heaven (2006) |
"Reygadas proves that rare filmmaker interested in tackling both the personal and the political through expressly confrontational means." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
Battle Royale (2000) |
"Races along with the swift, brutal precision of a samurai sword cutting through cotton." |
Nick Schager |
Splat F |
Battle Royale II (2003) |
"A film in which the heroes are al Qaeda surrogates." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Because of Winn-Dixie (2005) |
"A children’s film that embraces storytelling modesty and a balanced view of the world as both depressing and joyous." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
Before Sunrise (1995) |
"Agreeably alluring." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) |
"A triumphantly brisk, bleak B-movie." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2007) |
"Other than displaying a textbook awareness of its ancestors, Behind the Mask offers next to nothing" |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
Being Julia (2004) |
"Benning ... brings this constantly disguised vixen to ferocious, flamboyant life." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
Benny's Video (1992) |
"[Makes] arguments that Haneke delivers with frosty menace but, alas, an also typically pedantic, haranguing tenor." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
The Beyond (1981) |
"Atmosphere alone can’t keep this creaky pseudo-zombie flick from rapidly decaying into confusing, derivative tedium." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Beyond the Rocks (1922) |
"A ravishing example of the incandescent grandeur of Swanson and Valentino." |
Nick Schager |
Splat D |
Beyond the Sea (2004) |
"Gimmicky recounting of the crooner’s life." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A- |
Big Fish (2003) |
"An ebullient tall tale about the magic of imagination and the power of myth." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (2008) |
"Addresses its complex topic with both humor and intelligence." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
Biggie and Tupac (2002) |
"Short on concrete evidence but long on compelling insinuation." |
Nick Schager |
Splat D+ |
Birth (2004) |
"Frustratingly stillborn." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C+ |
Black Book (2007) |
"Paul Verhoeven tries to go respectable with the WWII drama Black Book, and the question that persists is: Who wants a respectable Paul Verhoeven?" |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
Black Caesar (1973) |
"Suffused with socio-political resentment and enlivened by James Brown's classic soul-funk soundtrack." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Black Christmas (1974) |
"Corrodes jolly yuletide cheer with some cruel prank calls, sexual tension and sorority girl slayings." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C+ |
The Black Dahlia (2006) |
"Nails the tale's particulars but not its soul." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A- |
Black Sabbath (1963) |
"An exemplar of expressionistic visual storytelling." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A- |
Black Sunday (1960) |
"One of the cinema's preeminent examples of gothic horror." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
The Blackout (2001) |
"Ferrara ... proves incapable of making distinctions between his inspired and indulgent impulses." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C- |
Blindness (2008) |
"The director's parade of self-conscious compositions and pushy musical cues ... prove most repellent of all." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C- |
Blood Diamond (2006) |
"Zwick may as well have titled his newest action-adventure The Constant Gardener II: Diamonds Are Forever, as it peddles the same distasteful, condescending attitudes toward Africa as did Fernando Meirelles' 2005 fiasco." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) |
"Comes across as a prologue teaser for a yet-to-be-established franchise." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B+ |
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (2006) |
"A neorealist coming-of-age story infused with the pulse-pounding anxieties and excitement of first love." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
Blow-Up (1966) |
"Speaks to the inescapability of modern man’s emotional and spiritual alienation." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato A- |
Boarding Gate (2007) |
"Distills genre tropes (and their consequent pleasures) to their lean, potent essence." |
Nick Schager |
Splat D+ |
Bobby (2006) |
"A preachy, liberal-courting slog." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B- |
Body Snatchers (1993) |
"Offers a few stunning moments of paranoia-laced terror." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
Bodyguard (1948) |
"Ends in pure tedium, its 62-minute running time feeling more like three hours." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Bone (1972) |
"Mixes righteous anger with a devilish sense of humor." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C- |
The Boondock Saints (1999) |
"[A] dim-witted, aesthetically clunky Tarantino clone." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato B |
Born to Kill (1947) |
"Competent if slightly too tame for a supposedly sleazy story." |
Nick Schager |
Tomato |
The Bourne Supremacy (2004) |
"Polished, efficient." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) |
"A trio of superb cat-and-mouse sequences ... more effectively pinpoint Bourne's psychological anxiety and confusion than Damon's robotic, one-note performance." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C |
The Brave One (2007) |
"Just a more superficially sober version of Death Wish." |
Nick Schager |
Splat B- |
Breakfast on Pluto (2005) |
"Despite its sometimes-delectable whimsy, Breakfast on Pluto ... winds up being only moderately satisfying." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C+ |
Brick (2006) |
"Never really offers an adequate justification for its central genre-transplant conceit." |
Nick Schager |
Splat C+ |
Bride of Chucky (1998) |
"Redundant and more than a little wearisome." |
Nick Schager |
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